Williamsburg, Virginia
United States
REVOLUTION3 Triathlon
80F / 27C
Overcast
Total Time = 2h 35m 58s
Overall Rank = 90/443
Age Group = M 40-44
Age Group Rank = 14/46
Pre-race routine:
Oh where to begin with this one. I was really looking forward to this race, a brand new venue, a relatively flat course which just seemed to set up perfectly for a PR. Well things seemed to be pointing in that direction, was feeling really strong and bounced back after the Quassy Revolution. Then things started to get tough. First my youngest son start hacking up a lung. Sure enough the first day of summer, I started getting sick. Friday night I had chills was aching, stuffed up and nose running off my face. The next morning I finally packed and was feeling a little better, and I hit the road at 11:30 am. The drive was downright evil. Should have been a 6 hour drive turned into over 8 hours. Finally started freaking out on I-64 as the road stopped completely due to a multi car wreck in the fast lane. Barely made it to the Expo in time to check in by 7:00pm then immediately headed to T1 and Jamestown to drop off my bike. Plus it was starting to pour. Got down there to drop my bike and pull it out of the car and my rear tire is flat. Worry about that in the AM. Headed to Yorktown and my hotel and they had me in a smoking room. WTF? No other rooms available and no other hotels available down to Norfolk so I was stuck. Fortunately Farm Fresh Foods was next store so I got a healthy dinner. Couldn't breathe in my hotel room and hacked up a lung all night so only got about 2 hours of sleep. Got up and out to the hotel at 4:30. Wasn't raining when I got out to the car but poured hard a few minutes later on the highway. Got a bit lost then found the main parking lot already full and went to the Giant shopping center parking lot about a mile away. Walked to transition set up T2 in the drizzle and covered my shoes with my extra t-shirt. Got in line for the shuttles and waited. Finally got down to T1 and then remembered I had to take care of my tire. Brought it up to the mechanical support folks and they were awesome taking care of my tire and pumping me up. Fortunately I was in the Olympic and had 8 waves to start before me, so I set up T1 and covered my stuff with the Transition bag. Hit the porta potties and met up with Matt and Tracie and then strolled down to the beach via the road. Ate a Powerbar apple strawberry performance blast when I got up and after breaking transition and drank a bottle of Perform on the ride.
Event warmup:
The practice swim was down the way near the swim out and the last two waves of the half were already going off, so I just wadded by the start then headed to the corral as the rain picked up again. Watched the first Olympic wave and then funneled into the start corral.
Swim
Time 35m 44s
Distance 1931 yards
Pace 01m 51s / 100 yards
Comments:
I still wasn't feeling good and my head was a balloon with sinus pressure. Water was great though. Started in the middle but it ended up being a long walk out to nearly the first buoy in knee to quad deep water. Found a hole and went down. Later I would find out I had broken my right middle toe, but I didn't know it at the time. Once I finally got swimming I was totally lost. I banged into people, could tell where I was going. Couldn't find a rhythm and could even find the next buoy. The current was dragging me all over the place and the deeper the water the more the waves kicked up. Somehow I found myself on the turn buoy and saw a bunch of folks who just plan missed it and were cutting the corner. Again I was either way out by myself or was in the middle of a clump and banging off everyone. Saw pink caps, blue caps, yellow caps, then nothing. Found the buoy and way, way inside and led my clump back to it. Got tight on the next turn buoy and caught the rope a bit. Started heading back in and guess we were with the current as it started to get easier to find the buoys, but still had people drifting into me due to the waves and current, Suddenly everyone is standing up and the long wade back in started. Man that was draining. Worst swim I've ever had.
What would you do differently?:
No idea. Not be sick and have the sinus issues which make it hard to swim straight, but just wasn't ready to go. wasn't amped up thanks to being sick and coughing up smoke. Whatever it was I never had a feel for the water and couldn't navigate and totally lost confidence.
Transition 1
Time 05m 25s
Comments:
Long run up the beach and across the field uphill to transition and then into transition and all the way down to my rack. Felt about as long as the run to T1 at Maine. Not a bad transitions in terms of getting my wetsuit off, couldn't stuff my wetsuit in the transition bag and then tri sided my feet put on damp swiftwick which took time and then loaded my gel and tied my bag and shuffled off. Muddy at exit so went slow and then up to the road and mounted and went.
What would you do differently?:
A bit of urgency and being able to pack my transition bag that totally kicked my butt. Still hadn't noticed my toe was broken but that didn't slow me down. lost 1 spot in my AG going from 23 to 24th but gained 2 spots overall from 200th to 198th
Bike
Time: 1h 04m 5s
Distance: 24 miles
Pace: 22.48 mile/hr
Comments:
Got on the bike and suddenly everything felt right. My nose was running and the pressure bled out too. got wound up and just held the momentum. This was a ride where no one passed me and stayed ahead of me. In fact only one person passed me at all and I got him back after 2 back and forths. The backside roads were rough and I was still paranoid about getting another flat and my front wheel was bouncing. Got through the pothole section and passed my buddy for the last time and then hammered the way back. Turned towards home and ripped up the long gradual hill and over to the transition. One final hill right up to transition and we were done. Passed Chloe on that last hill. Great ride!
What would you do differently?:
Scary but took it a bit too conservative at the start. It wasn't raining but the pavement was wet but it the course didn't have any technical parts. Had the 6th fastest bike split in my AG. Hammered out a 1:04:05 and 22.48 mph, never went over 22 mph in an Olympic before. Went from 24th to 13th and 198th to 87th (111 spot gain :). Legitimately awesome bike leg.
Transition 2
Time: 01m 5s
Comments:
Long clomp down the lane to my bike in the back on T2. Had some issues getting my tire in the rack again. Quick change of shoes, grabbed my hat, and race belt and was off.
What would you do differently?:
Should practice racking one of these days. Keep having issues on race day. Good transition held my position OA and AG wise.
Run
Time: 49m 39s
Distance: 6.4 miles
Pace: 07m 47s min/mile
Comments:
Started out and worked my legs in. Got out of transition behind Chloe so just stayed pace with her till my legs came to me, Passed her just before the cobblestones and then had two go around me on either side after the 1 mile mark. Good second mile, then ran well on the hill up to the turnaround. After the turn I guess I let up some as two people I had a good led on reeled me in on the downhill, including one in my AG. I snapped out of it and hung with the second person and pass back as we turned to the road, got passed back a bit later then pushed up the hill and got ahead again. Started to open up my stride at the top and started working and felt good. Had my buddy from the bike catch up to me after mile 4 aid station and I tried to hold with him, The trip back to T2 was good and I was gaining on him but I didn't preview the course so when we when right on past the finish line and knew where the out and back was going, I got squashed a bit mentally. Sort of faded on that last segment and lost a few spots to a few fast women. Saw the lead pro Eric Limkemenn in the half, so I was able to keep from being lapped. Plus my wake up call on the run ended behind me.
What would you do differently?:
Mentally a very poor run, especially the letdown at the end and the letdown on the downhill. Run was long so it was a 48:03 10K and I did have a broken toe but still didn't know it yet. Could have run a lot better not a challenging course but slow to get going and big let up at the end. Lost 1 spot in my AG 13th to 14th had the 13th fastest split in my AG, and lost 3 spots overall from 87th to 90th.
Post race
Warm down:
Got my medal which was awesome, my water, got asked my shirt size as my chip was removed then walked off without getting my shirt, so ad to come back to get my shirt. Post race food wasn't serving yet so went to VIP tent and got some fruit and a few drinks. Then headed over to the NormaTec tent. The NormaTec reps weren't there so me an Anthony spent the afternoon hooking everyone up. Was pretty fun actually. Teammates got us some food and more drinks and I got to make a lot of folks feel good in the boots. Got to hook up Tenelle Hoogland, 3rd place pro, and several other pros. She was really cool.
What limited your ability to perform faster:
Being sick, broken toe, not being able to breathe and being mentally out of race mode except for an hour on the bike. However, in the end run ended up top 20% overall, 23% for men, 20% in my wave and 30% in my age group. 1:54:58 from T1 exit to finish which is a PR, however the swim killed me. 2:35:58 is still my 4th quickest Olympic of 15, and better than my PR until last August.
Event comments:
A first time event at a brand new venue are expected to have a few glitches. The shuttles to the start took longer due to traffic pattern coming back led to long lines and it took a while to get the bags back from T1 since the labors didn't show up. Rev3 crew and team stepped up big time and sorted bags. NormaTec tent was great, food was really good and finally. I had a great time.
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