Hale said one of her motivations for entering Xterra was to get better at mountain biking.
"It is just a new challenge, really, and Sam and a lot of my friends are right into mountain biking and I want to get better so I can go out riding with them."
She recently completed her first off-road triathlon at The Dual event on the Hauraki Gulf, where she placed third overall in the women's race and first for her age group.
Hale will compete in the 25-29 age group tomorrow.
"I really just want to be able to do all the mountain biking confidently and I would like to qualify for Hawaii for my age group."
The Xterra World Championships are being held in Hawaii in November and she would love to take part.
Hale said that when it came to triathlon, her strength was definitely her swimming.
"I did swimming all through school and most of university and then got into triathlon after that, but I have been doing mainly road triathlon."
The Xterra New Zealand race tomorrow begins with a 1km swim, followed by a 26km mountain bike and 11km run.
Hale said to train for Xterra she had been spending a lot of time on her bike, but most of it without her partner Thompson, who works at the Waiariki Academy of Sport.
"Everyone else apart from him has helped," she said, laughing.
"It does not really go so well if we try and go out riding together, let's put it that way."
Rotorua's Olly Shaw is also entered in the pro elite men's race, after finishing third last year. Last year's champion Conrad Stolz (South Africa) will try to defend his title.
Just over 2000 people should take part in events at the Paymark Xterra Rotorua Festival tomorrow. It is the biggest such festival in the world.
