2014 Rev3 Williamsburg 70.3 Race Report - Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

My first triathlon of the 2014 season is officially in the books and it was a success despite some challenges. I was pumped to make my first tri of the season a destination race in beautiful Williamsburg, Virginia with my awesome Rev3 Triathlon Team! Last year Steve and I had done the inaugural olympic distance race and both enjoyed it so we were both looking forward to racing the half distance this time around.

Prerace:

setting up my bike for her maiden voyage!

Last year we had combined our race with a family vacation and the kids loved it so much so we decided to bring them again. We arrived in Williamsburg and checked into our condo on Thursday evening. Friday we spent the day with the family in Virginia Beach. Saturday we did the Rev3 practice swim at Jamestown Beach Park while the kids hung out and then went to the expo to pick up our packets and goodies with the kids. It was nice to see some of the teammates at the practice swim and expo. After packet pick up we dropped the kids off at the condo and headed out to check our bikes in at T1 and then headed out for a prerace beer at the Dog Street Pub. Later that evening we made a big pasta dinner and enjoyed another beer...along with a lot of water. We turned in around 9:30 to get a good night's sleep before the race.

Race Morning:

Prerace with Steve...all smiles!

With the two transititon setup, we knew we had to arrive at T2 (where the finish was) at the Warhill Sports Complex between 5:45-6am. We set the alarm for 4:45 and were dressed, ate breakfast and out the door by 5:30. We arrived at T2 around 5:45 to setup our running stuff. We ran into some of my teammates and got to sit by each other on the shuttle bus to the swim start and T1 located at Jamestown Beach Park. The shuttle ride took about 15-20 minutes so we arrived around 6:30 to set up our T1 area and get the bike all ready with drinks and fuel, helmet, shoes, etc and then hit the restroom before walking down to the swim start, which was about 1/4 mile walk. Steve's wave was first starting at 7:05 so I gave him a kiss and wished him goodluck and then hung out with my teammates Meghan and Laura until our wave (women under 40) started about 20 minutes later.

The Swim (1.2 Miles):

Race officials had already announced the day before that with the water temperature being 80 degrees wetsuits were not legal. Rev3 still allowed a final wave of those athletes wishing to use their wetsuits but I opted not to use mine as if would make me ineligible for any awards. I had practiced the day before without it and knew I would be okay swimming with the current so I just lined up in my tri kit with my cap and googles and my trusty noseplugs.

The start was very relaxed as the water was shallow for a while - maybe as much as 400 meters was shallow enough to run so many of us did just that and saved the arms. I dophin dived a couple times just to get used to the water but this relaxed approach really helped keep my heart rate down and when I did start to freestyle I felt relaxed and ready. I freestyled the majority of the swim and felt great and I did use my breaststroke at times to sight around buoys or just to give my arms a break. I was able to stay calm and even somewhat on course despite the counter clockwise swim. The swim seemed to go faster than usual and I actually enjoyed the experience more than most of my prior races. My time of 40:51 was actually pretty good for me in the open water so I was happy with this leg of the race and was at 8/14 in my division after this leg.

T1:

My T1 was long for a few reasons: first we all had to run the 1/4 mile back to T1. Second, I stopped to use the restroom and then third I struggled to get my transition bag into the swim to bike dry bags that were provided to get our T1 stuff back to the finish. In hindsight I should have just put my # on the transition bag as well as the plastic bag provided. I took in a Powerbar energy blend just before the bike and was off through the trails leading out of the park to the road. My T1 time was 6+ minutes versus the 3-4 minutes most people had so I definitely could have shaved off a couple minutes from my time here.

The Bike (56 Miles):

First race with the new QR was a success!

This was my first race on the new Quintana Roo tri bike so I was even more excited than usual to race this leg, which is often my favorite part of the race. There's nothing like flying on your bike to make you feel alive! The bike course started out flat and fast for the first 20 miles or so. I felt great and made sure to hydrate as it was already getting warm. I did my first fuel around an hour, which was one of the new Powerbar chocolate wafers. I just love those! I hit an aid station and refilled my aero drink as I was out of water.

Right around 20-25 miles it started to get more hilly as we traveled on 60. That stretch of rollers on the highway seemed to go on for miles and miles. Slowly climb and pass people and then hammer the downhills. There was a turn around on the course around mile 40 with some good climbs coming back and there was a bumpy section where my straw for my aero drink went flying. I just left it because we were starting a climb. There was one big hill that I recall but most were just rollers and then things started to flatten back out as we approached the Warhill Sports Complex.

Overall I loved the bike. It was more challenging than I expected from racing the olympic last year but it kept things interesting. My goal was to average 19-20mph and I ended up with a 2:55 or average of 19.2 mph. This moved me up to 6/14 in my division.

T2:

T2 was pretty straight forward but slow at 2:56. After changing into running gear and downing a Powerbar energy blend I think I just casually strolled through the transition area to start the run so again this could have been a minute or two faster for sure. Guess I will have to work on this is my shorter races especially where every minute is precious!

The Run (13.1 miles):

The run was definitely challenging but I also loved the course. It was hot and humid and the 4-loop course was about 2.25 miles of wooded trail with some nice hills with a mile of ashphalt paved trail. It was more shaded on the trail but definitely not as fast going as the asphalt part of the trail. This definitely slowed things down on the run for a lot of people. I know for me personally I am usually 30 seconds to a minute slower per mile in trail running than road running. That coupled with the heat and fatigue and my run just not really being there for me left me with a slower than anticipated run time of 2:05 versus my last 70.3 run, which was 1:54. Not happy with the 9:30 pace as it is nowhere near my running ability for a half marathon, which is normally 1:39-1:45 on a decent day.  After the run I finished 3/14 in my division.

The Finish:

Happy to finish 3rd in my AG with some fast ladies!

I was pumped for the last loop of the run - especially that last mile on the asphalt where I knew I was almost there! I felt strong through the finish and the people cheering including Steve pumped me up and I sprinted past a woman in front of me at the finish to grab 3rd in the 35-39 age group. If I didn't I would have been 4th so thank god for my ability to kick at the end. My final time of 5:50:32 was not a huge PR but still a PR by 2 minutes and I was happy to end up on the podium at one of my team races.

Considering my running season has been going so well this year I find it a little disappointing that my run failed me Sunday but I did the best that I could do and at least two of my sports went well!

Post Race:

My sweet dual medal!

Steve had a huge PR of 30 minutes, finishing in 5:07 so I was really excited for him. We hung around with the team and had some food and a couple IPAs and picked up my award. The age group medals clip on to the finisher medals and make one bigger, cooler medal. We headed back to the condo to shower and take the kids out to eat for Father's Day.

Later I went out with the team for another drink to celebrate. It was an absolute blast and I am so glad to be able to race and celebrate with people that are just so easy and fun to be around. I just love them! Kudos to Rev3 for another fabulous event and looking forward to doing my first full with them this year at Cedar Point! Being on the team is awesome and we are so lucky to have great sponsors like Powerbar, Pearl Izumi, Quintana Roo, Blueseventy, etc.

post race drinks with my teammates!

Next up is Champ Racing's Milton Man Olympic Tri in 12 days and I'm excited to see how hard I can push the intensity there given it's a shorter distance!

Never a Dull Moment at the 2013 Rev3 Cedar Point Race

I am happy to say that another Rev3 Cedar Point 70.3 is in the books! It was a tough day out there this year due to rough winds and a moved swim but I was able to come out with a PR anyways! As always there was never a dull moment for this race!

Prerace:

Teammate Kate McDowell & Me

Steve and I had pretty much wrapped up our packing Friday night after work and we headed out Saturday morning around 11 to Sandusky. It was a short 1.5 hour drive. We stopped for a quick lunch and headed over to Cedar Point for the Rev3 race expo. When we got there I ran into my sweet teammate Kate who was working timing. It was great to see her and then we quickly started running into other Rev3 folks including Laura Mount, Race MC Sean English and the Rev3 man himself Charlie Patten. 

Steve and I visited the Bike Authority tent to have Sean Gilbert check out our bikes and we got all setup. We headed over to the Hotel Breakers and got checked in then headed out around 5 to meet my teammate Jaime Dix and her husband Andrews for a delicious, carb-heavy dinner at Wezey's Italian Eatery. The food was excellent and it was fun catching up with Jaime and Andrew before their race. They were both doing the full rev. 

After dinner we stopped for a couple snacks and headed back to our room. Much to my happiness there was a Harry Potter movie on so we vegged out and watched the movie and I proceeded to eat leftover pizza until I could no longer move. Think we were out around 10:30 for the night. Woke up around 3:30 and fell back asleep until 5. 

Race morning:

Waking up I was bummed to hear that the swim had been moved to the bay due to a weather advisory with high winds. I had never done the bay swim before and wasn't sure what to expect. We got up, had coffee and breakfast and headed out to transition around 6:30. We were setup before 7 and had plenty of time to snack, use the restroom a few times, get our wetsuits on and head over to the swim start. 

Swim: 1.2 miles in Lake Erie, Cedar Point Bay

I am almost always nervous before the swim. It is the thing I like and practice the least and doing a "new" swim was even more nervewracking for me. After talking with some friends it was time to line up by waves. My wave (women under 40) was the last wave. I lined up with teammate Heather Oravec and went in with her on the timetrial start. The swim felt long to me. We had to swim out and around an island through a shallow channel with rocks on the left side (which I hit a couple times) and boats to the right. I actually did not mind that part. After coming around the island it was much tougher for me and it seemed to take forever. I am sure I was off course with the buoys to the left. My goal for the swim time was 45 minutes but I came in a little slower at 52. One of the slowpokes in my wave placing 35/42. Fortunately I don't bank on my swim time but looking at my time from 2 years ago I see I was better then.

T1

We had a long T1 with about a 1/3-1/2 mile run from the swim start back to transition. I had brought my flip flops to run in. Maybe not the best shoe selection but I did not want my running shoes to be wet for the 13.1 miles. My T1 was 8:59. Wow! Compared to my 3:36 for T1 last year. Big difference but again we were all slowed down this year and I did stop for a potty break after the swim too which may have added a couple extra minutes.

Bike: 56 miles along Hellaciously Windy Lake and Country Roads

On the bike. Can u see the wind?

I was excited to start the bike; however, heading out of the park along the lake it was clear this was going to be a tough day for biking. The winds were brutal especially the stretch along the lake. Starting out I felt wobbly in my aerobars and with my race wheels so I alternated between aero and road position. My energy level was definitely better for the first bike split and I averaged just under 20mph at 19.86. The second split was brutal with wind and my slow split of 16.94 shows that. The final split was 19.52 with a final bike time of 2:55:12 (average speed of 19.18). This was very comparable to my bike time last year of 2:56. I had hoped to do better than 20mph this year but with the winds I am happy that I was even able to be a tad faster than last year. I was 6/42 in my division.

T2

Leaving T2 Checking the watch!

I was very happy to get off my bike and out of those killer winds. My back and neck were hurting so I sprayed on some topical spray, changed into my running shoes and visor and headed out. T2 was 1:54, which included a super fast potty break.

Run: 13.1 Mile Half Marathon

Starting the run I was unsure I would PR. My watch said 4 hours. I thought I will have to push it to break 6. Fortunately I was able to do that! My first 5-6 miles I was running okay at an average 8:30-8:40 pace but didn't feel too great. Then around mile 7 or 8 I had a burst of energy and felt terrific so I was able to average 6:55-7:55 pace. This was my fastest run of the past couple of years where I had sustained foot injuries. In looking at the results I was 4/42 in my division. I felt steady and strong on the run and the finish.

The Finish: 

I had a little kick left at the end and finished in 5:52:55. I was excited to hear Steve cheering for me and Rev3 MC Sean announce my name and he played the Ramones for my finish, which was awesome! My results were good for 9/42 in my division and 56/246 females. It felt great to PR although my goal had been 5:45. I think I will get there soon. I may have even been there this year with normal T1 and less wind. 

Post race celebrating with the hubby :)

Postrace Steve had ice cold IPAs at the finish. What an awesome hubby! Steve also had a good race. Not a PR but a comparable time to last year.

It is great being able to train together day in and day out and then to share the ups and downs of racing together! 

This was a great race for me and my last triathlon this season. I am looking forward to making some forward progress for next season!

Rev3 Cedar Point 70.3 Race Report...Love me Some Rev3!

Last Sunday's Rev3 Cedar Point 70.3 triathlon was my biggest race of the 2012 season. I'm happy to say that it went well - in fact better than I expected given the setbacks I have experienced this season! I had planned to attempt the full 140.6 earlier in the season but after suffering a series of injuries to the left foot (see earlier posts), I decided completing the half was more realistic for me this year.

Prerace:

Just arriving at Cedar 

Steve and I were super excited to arrive in Sandusky on Saturday afternoon! We had packed most of our gear Friday night after work and planned to just get moving in the morning, drop my daughter off at a friends and get on the road. The drive went smooth. We arrived at the Rev3 expo around 1:00. We bumped into some teammates including Heather Oravec and her other half Matt in line to have our bikes checked out one last time by Bike Authority's Sean Gilbert. We picked up our bibs and headed over to the timing chip area where we were greeted by teammate Jen Small's smiling face. We also spotted Laura Mount who was hard at work though I did get a quick hug!

Rev3 Teammate Lauren Bogenberger & Me

We got our goodie bags and were greeted by Rev3 owner Charlie Patten and teammate Laura Veeden Wheatley. Then we ran into some of other friends: Laurie, Alex and Collen that were all doing their first 70.3s! On the way to the bike check-in we ran into teammates Jeff Vanis, Ryan Heisler and Heidi Austin. We chatted for a few minutes and got the details of where the team house was so we could meet up for dinner that night. While setting the bike up in my area I bumped into teammate Lauren Bogenberger. Talk about a Team Rev3 presence!

Steve and me checking in our bikes

Following the expo we checked in at the host hotel, which was Hotel Breakers. We could literally see the swim start from our room! We headed over to the grocery store to pick up food and headed over the Rev3 team house and had an awesome dinner and couple beers with the Team. Got to hang out with Ryan, Jeff, Lauren and her beau, Heidi, Tim Andrus and meet Elizabeth Wittmaack Kaplanis and her beau and Anthony Beeson. We headed back to the hotel around 8 and stopped there at the Perkins for some French Silk pie! Mmm, you gotta love the guilt-free carb coma before a big race! We played a little scrabble on the iPad and called it a night around 10. Sleep was off and on as is usually the case before a big race.

Race Morning:

The alarm went off at 6. We got to sleep in a little since Rev3 let the 70.3 racers have until 7:30 to be out of transition. The triathlon gods were again kind to us as we awoke to learn that the normal swim was on and Lake Erie was again very calm for the race as it was last year. That was a relief. We arrived at transition around 7, got setup and headed back to Hotel Breakers to finish getting ready. I had a hard time eating due to nerves but was able to have one multi-grain gluten-free waffle with peanut butter and a good bit of watermelon.

The Swim (1.2 miles):

Our waves started at 8:45am for Steve and 8:50 for me. We headed out to the beach around 8:20 for a swim warm up. The water was nice at just under 75 degrees and wetsuit legal for us age groupers, which was also a good thing! I cheered for Steve as his wave started and headed in with teammate Lauren B for our wave (female 34 and under). Next year I believe I will be in the older wave, which maybe will help me in the swim ranking (one can hope). We started and I took a very relaxed approach of letting the fast swimmers go for it and running in for a bit since the water is shallow for quite a while. Finally diving in, I felt good. The sun was shining, the lake was calm and I actually had a peaceful feeling. The swim was clockwise about 800 meters out, 800 meters over to the right and 400 back to the beach. I felt good but really dragged the last 400. This is likely due to my lack of discipline with swimming late season. Aside from Rev3 Wisconsin olympic, which was 1500m I maybe did two other 1600-1800m swims. Additionally I was slow getting out of the water. This showed in my time of 49:24 versus my time last year of 45:22.

T1:

I was super hungry coming into T1 and a little discombobulated as T1 is always tougher for me than T2. I grabbed a gluten-free cinnamon doughnut, got all my gear ready, grabbed my bike and headed for the bike exit. I figured I would need to make up some time on the bike to compensate for my lackluster performance in the swim. In total T1 was 3:36. A bit lengthy but I just hate getting that wetsuit off!

The Bike (56 miles):

My bike affectionately known as Roxanne

I love the bike course at Cedar Point! For the most part it is flat and fast with a total elevation gain of just 600ft. Race temperatures were comfortable and I felt pretty strong on the bike averaging 19.97 mph for the first 22.5 miles and 18.42 for the back 33.5 (this includes a stop off road to pee as I could not try as I might pee off the bike). Total time according to my bike computer was 2:53 but that didn't factor in my break so my time per Rev3 was 2:56:43 (19.01mph) whereas my computer said I averaged 19.42mph. I enjoyed the ride and all went smooth. I felt more fatigued after mile 40 and especially for the last few miles heading back in. The bike was definitely my favorite and best performing part of the race!

T2:

By T2, I was tired of course and again starving so racked the bike, changed into running gear, grabbed another gluten-free cinnamon doughnut and ate on the way out to start the long run ahead. T2 time was sluggish at 2:59.

The Run (13.1 miles):

What is there to say about the run besides the fact that it hurts to run long after being on one's feet for around 4 hours? Quite honestly I was most afraid of the run, which is often one of my best events. With a lot of off-running time this year due to injury I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the half to begin with. I had gotten in some decent 7 milers and one 9.5 mile run a couple weeks before the race. I was a little worried but hoped if I paced myself slower than I would be okay. The first mile I was busy eating and felt strong and motivated as the spectators were cheering. I again had to pee so I grabbed a quick drink and hit the outhouse. I maybe lost a minute here but nature was calling and this was my only other bathroom break for the race. Around mile 6 I started to feel more fatigue and I ended up running for a few miles with an older triathlete from FL who talked my ear off. This passed the time for a while. I remember hearing cheers from the very awesome Cleveland Triathlon Club. This was a real pick me up as was the guy playing music from the Rocky soundtrack. I am very thankful for all the people who volunteer at the aid stations and who cheer! Another big pick me up was seeing Rev3 owner Charlie and our team mom Sharpie out on the course as well!

By mile 8 I had numerous aches and pains in my left arch and left knee and right calve but just went into the pain cave and stayed steady. I was happy to hit mile 10 and be in the double digits. Mile 11 I thought of my husband and figured he'd be finished by then and the last mile I gave it everything I had as I realized I could maybe break 6 hours! Also I was hungry!

The Finish:

I saw Steve waiting for me about 1/4 mile from the finish and I sprinted my heart out to finish in 6:00:37 - just a little over my goal. I heard the announcer call my name, I received my sweet finisher medal and walked over to Steve for a big hug and a couple tears of disappointment that I didn't break 6. I quickly realized that I had still done my best and still beat 2011's overall time despite numerous setbacks this season. I think my better performance had a lot to do with the support I receive from Steve and Team Rev3 and my friends and family and maybe a little bit of stubbornness!

Thanks to everyone who has been there for me and to all of the sponsors who made this day possible including of course Rev3 themselves, PowerBar who provided much fuel for 6 hours, Pearl Izumi for the kit and shoes, Swiftwick for happy feet, BlueSeventy for the awesome googles and of course Normatec for the recovery boots!