An Epic Race at the Inaugural Rev3 Williamsburg

I have to admit I had a lot of race nerves leading up to Rev3 Williamsburg! Of course I was excited to race and see my awesome Rev3 teammates and staff but I was also nervous about my first open water swim since the whole Knoxville fail. I guess it was just one of those psychological things I needed to work through. Fortunately I was able to get through a mental battle with myself and have a fun and successful race!

Prerace:

Gracie and me checking in my bike 

Steve and I had the kids with us since we drove in Saturday and went straight to the Rev3 expo. We ran into quite a few of my teammates and Rev3 staff.

We picked up our packets, timing chips and Rev3 swag and headed down the road a few miles to check in our bikes at Jamestown Beach. The kids enjoyed helping us to get setup. As you can see from the picture here my stepdaughter Gracie was a terrific little helper!

After setting up our bikes we checked into our awesome condo and went to pick up some groceries to make ourselves a delicious pasta dinner and get some stuff for breakfast before the race. After a day of travelling and excitement we were ready for bed early and turned in around 10pm.
T2

Race Morning:

Prerace picture with the hubby

Steve and I were up at 4:30 to shower, get dressed, eat our tasty waffles with PB & J and head out to T2 first to setup our run stuff. We took a shuttle over to T1 to setup our bike stuff and had our swim stuff with us for the start. We were a little nervous but super excited to be racing in such a beautiful town!

We setup our T1 stuff and headed down for the walk to the swim start, which was about a 1/4 mile from T1. One more potty break prerace and it was time to get on the wetsuit, swim cap and hit the water to warm up a little. The water was warm at 76-77 degrees but happily for me still wetsuit legal!

The Swim:

I am always most nervous about the swim before every race and the swim at this race was even  more nerve wracking for me than usual with my last swim in Knoxville not going well. So as I warmed up and it was time for my wave females under 40 to start, I was very nervous and just tried to relax my breathing.

Happy to exit the swim to T1!

It was a long run in as the water was very shallow. I took my time and ran as long as possible, finally diving into the water for a few moments. I've been swimming in the pool sans noseplugs now with no issue but in the open water with the current I was not able to and was glad to have brought the trusty old noseplugs with me. It took a good 5-10 minutes for me to calm myself enough to begin a consistent freestyle. Finally I settled in. It still wasn't an easy swim for me. It seemed like I would never get to the buoys but once I did I just focused on the next one and I got through it okay. My time of 40:59 was much slower than usual but that is to be expected given my slow, shaky start. It was still a success to me as I got through it slowly but surely.

T1:

T1 was about a quarter mile run to the bike so it was pretty slow going and took 4:23 for the run, getting ready to start the bike. I took in a Powerbar double latte gel here and that really helped get me going!

The Bike:

Enjoying the ride!

What can I say about the bike? I absolutely LOVED this bike course! It was beautiful, relatively flat with an elevation gain of just 374 feet and a fast, fun course. I was able to settle into the bike right away and soon caught up with my teammate Brittany who was racing the half. We had a couple of minutes to chat and then she was off to the half course and I was focused on the oly course. Most of the course was straight forward and easy with a little climb and technical area thrown in. With the roads being wet there from the morning rain I was a little more conservative than perhaps I should have been. Still I was happy with my effort, finishing the 24 mile bike in 1:11:50 for an average of 20.05 mph. Not too shabby.

T2:

T2 was straight forward, rack the bike, get the running stuff on, down a Powerbar energy blends gel - yum and go. T1 time was 1:05.

The Run:

Focused and relaxed on the run

I equally enjoyed the 10K run on this course. It was a little hillier than I expected at only 197 feet of gain, but I was strong on the hills having run a very hilly half marathon a week before this race. I felt decent on the first split running an 8:19 pace warming up for the first 2.7 miles. I am happy to have had a negative split, running the balance of the race at a 7:32-7:34 pace. I am very happy with that effort as that is a good running off the bike time for me. I finished the run in 50:22 for the 10K. A decent effort for me and I can tell those transition runs payed off!

The Finish:

Sprinting the finish!

By far the best part of this race for me was the finish. I had enjoyed passing everyone I could at the end of the run and apparently when I passed one woman from Team Z she really wanted to catch me badly at the end. She passed me...but much to her surprise I sprinted past her again to finish ahead! It was such a rush to finish strong like that. I had hoped to finish a little faster than my final time of 2:48:39 but I was very happy overall with the race and my performance given the rocky swim.

Anthony, Maggie, Chloe, Andy, Me and Michael of Team Rev3

After the race it was great to be able to spend time with a number of my Rev3 teammates and their families and friends. I got to cheer for some of them finishing the half and we helped sort swim to bike bags for the athletes.

It was a great day and Steve and I both LOVED this course and this race! I highly recommend it and hope to race it again next year. Williamsburg has so much to offer including Busch Gardens, an adorable historic downtown area with shopping and pubs. We loved it and the kids loved it too and said it was their best vacation ever...I call that a successful racecation!