Rev3 South Carolina /USAT Long Course National Championships

Anderson, South Carolina
United States
REVOLUTION3 Triathlon
83F / 28C
Overcast

Total Time = 5h 39m 33s
Overall Rank = 178/387
Age Group = M 40-44
Age Group Rank = 25/46

Pre-race routine:


This was my first USAT National Championship race and I did have a legitimate qualifying time even though I didn't need to qualify this year (same at Sprint Nationals) Things were looking good until Oct 2nd when I strained my right calf pretty good. A half week of ICE, heat, and COMPEX really didn't help much for Half Full Olympic which I hobbled through. The week leading up to USATs, I decided to try a little spin to see if I should go Aquabike. Felt it the entire ride but it loosened up and felt a lot better afterward. Did that for a week with more COMPEX each day and my calf felt good enough to decide to stick with the Half. Drove down to Anderson in a driving rain storm which turned it into a 12 hour drive. Saturday I checked in about noon drove my bike to Darwin Wright Park and dropped it off in Transition. Talked to a nice local lady with Team in Training then headed back to the Expo. I manned the NormaTec tent and got the entire Auburn Triathlon Team in the boots at one point, watched the Kona webcast coverage on the big screen and watch Michael Lavato doing Sean's job. Had a team/crew dinner and then a team picture and then waited for the Glow run and helped/ cheering everyone in.

Event warmup:

Woke up at 5:00am on race morning. Packed everything the night before so just brushed my teeth and had a bottle of Perform and a Performance Gel and a Harvest Bar. On the road by 5:20 and got a good parking spot at the convention center. Set up T2 and then headed to the bus to head down to T1. Had Heidi, Chloe, and Kristin right in front of me on the ride and found out about Maggie's troubles at Kona. Got to T1 walked in the dark to the transition area. Pumped up my tires first thing then set up T1 and sat down and caught a nap. Got up got my wetsuit out trislided my self and hit the potta potties. Had another Performance gel as I got my wetsuit on and got a short swim warmup in. Water was very nice. Did the invocation and National Anthem and head over to the starting area. Was in the second wave. so 5 minutes between waves. Soon the first wave was off and we herded in for wave #2.

Swim

Time: 37m 37s
Distance: 2112 yards
Pace: 01m 47s / 100 yards
Age Group: 17/46
Overall: 149/387
Performance: Average
Suit: Hurricane Cat 5 Full

Course: Couterclock wise loop from one side of the pennisula to the other. 5 turn bouys to negotiate. Unlike the last two years the lake was full of water The start was way back and the dock was actually in the water and the sandbar/island on the back side was covered. .

Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 76F / 24C
Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average
Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average
Drafting: Below average
Navigation: Good
Rounding: Average

Comments:

This was a National Championship race and there were a lot of serious Type A folks in the start corrall who had to get way up front. I started in the back to the outside and planned to stay outside until the mess calmed down. Well the media boat ended up on the path where I wanted to go. So we took off and I was forced to swim into the major traffic pattern. First 200 yards were very crowded and I got wacked about 6-7 times including a nice goggles swipe which would have been really bad it I didn't tuck it under my cap. Had to dump the water out though. After the first 200 yards I was able to maneuver to the outside and find some open water. FInally got in a rhythm and got swimming. Other than having to dodge the folks from the wave ahead and keep from running over them from that point on it was an easy swim, Had a guy from the wave behind catch me rounding the peninsula tip and those speed demons kept coming for the rest of the swim. Like last week I limited my kicking. Good swim overall but never really got after it.

What would you do differently?:

Better starting position and a HTFU attitude would have helped. In a field like that I needed to be more aggressive. Felt good though.

Transition 1

Time: 04m 11s
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Average
Helmet on/ Suit off: No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes
Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Below average

Comments:

Short run up to transition. Fought with my wetsuit a bit and then really took my time getting my glasses and sunscreen on and shoes, Then fought to get the big Performance Blend pouches into my uniform pockets. Kristin got a picture but it took a while. Trotted to the start and went well ahead of the line to mount. Didn't notice I was now in the small ring.

What would you do differently?:

Use small gel packs with the small pocks, large ones work fine for bike jerseys and similar type pockets. Lost a bunch of spots 17th to 21st AG and 149th to 174th. Pretty bad.

Bike

Time: 2h 51m 14s
Distance: 56 miles
Pace: 19.62 mile/hr
Age Group: 23/46
Overall: 152/387
Performance: Average

Splits: First 5 miles 18:18 (16.40 mph)
Mile 5 to mile 32.2 (27.20miles) 1:23:27 (19.56 mph)
Mile 32.2 to mile 56 (23.80 miles) 1:09:29 (20.55 mph)

Wind: Some

Course: Winding rolling course through the country side. First 30 miles was into a headwind. Rolling hills through out but none that I would classify as very difficult. Number of technical decents including Millers bend, a quick downhill with a sharp left turn onto a bridge over a creek with a nice drop off on either side right into another climb. After mile 30 you headed back towards Anderson, twisting thru Penbrook? with a ton of turns in order to avoid the railroad tracks which was appreciated. Then back to town over some of the larger hills, past the start area into Anderson itself and highway 81 bypass and then back to the civic center. Joined back up with the Olympic course (which started later) for the last 7 or so miles.

Road: Rough Dry
Turns: Average
Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good
Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard
Drinks: Not enough

Comments:

Started out and we started the first few rollers and I wasn't catching any one and getting passed except on the uphills. About 7 miles in I figured out why. I was still in the small ring which I shifted to in T1 per Sean's advice to make sure it would shift and fix it before the race if needed. Well I left it there and until I started bouncing on a downhill I didn't figure it out. Once that was taken care of I was steadily making progress the rest of the ride. This isn't a ride with any monsterious hills but it is constant rolling for 56 miles which is a bit of a challenge. Did a few back and forths with a Tenn Valley Tri guy and a girl with a purple/pink disk wheel. I took the technical downhill very easy and since almost overcooked it at the bottom. I rode really well for the first 90 mins. I hit a few lulls but then my two buddies I was going back and forth with would pass me back and snap me out of it. I really got going on the way back into town and dropped the guy and ended up with a MPH negative split. Really glad to hit the merge up with the Olympic as that was the 7 miles to go marker. Catching some Olympic folks was good for the psyche as while I was going forward it wasn't that much. Rode really well up highway 11 and the last hills and followed my buddy on the pink disc in and found out she was Aquabiking it today.

What would you do differently?:

I was able to stand and started doing that the second half of the race. Should have check the front gears sooner as I lost a lot of spots but I got most of those back and it helped in the long run I suppose allowing negative splits. Couldn't get my Energy Blends out of my pockets without nearly wrecking so I went without. Did drink every 10 miles. 21st to 23 AG and 174th to 152nd OA.

Transition 2

Time: 02m 4s
Overall: Average
Jumping off bike: No
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Below average
Shoe and helmet removal Average

Comments:

Got in and had a long jog down to my rack. Got there to find the guy on the other side had his bike in my rack. Contemplated what to do but remembered the guy to my left was a no show. Quick change after that other than sunscreening.

What would you do differently?:

Was an OK transition after figuring out the racking issue which was beyond my control. Should have beat the other guy to T2. Maintained 23rd in my AG and dropped from 152nd to 154th OA.

Run

Time: 2h 04m 28s
Distance: 13.1 miles
Pace: 09m 30s min/mile
Age Group: 25/46
Overall: 178/387
Performance: Average

Splits: First 3.63 miles 31:19 (8:36/mile)
Next 6.69 miles 1:02:58 (9:25/Mile)
Next 0.54 miles 4:36 (8:41/mile)
Last 2.25 miles 25:35 (11:25/mile) Don't think the distances for the 2nd and 4th were right, distance from the post turn around timing mat to the finish was closer to 2.5 at least. I was slow but not that slow.

Course: Two loop course different from both the last two years since there was a carnival in a section of last years run course. Looped through the conventions center and sports complex to Civic Center Drive up to Martin Luther King Dr past the Convention Center entrance up a hill to a residential street to a divided highway for and up and back segment. Olympic turns first then the half. Then back to the Convention Center entrance. Up and down to the corner and down to the finish chute or start of second lap.

Keeping cool Average
Drinking Just right

Comments:

This was the big question mark and as I got going I was glad to find my legs felt OK or at least as good as they should after 56 miles of rolling hills. I let my legs come in for the first mile and was running farly well. The little rolling hills were actually pretty challenging. Did start getting hotter. The first loop I hung in well and saw Josh coming back. Made the end of the first turn around and felt decent. Not a lot of pop in my legs but for not running most of the last few weeks it was good. The little hill after the entrance to the convention center was tough and then down to start lap #2 as a few folks were finishing up was a bit demoralizing. Legs started to tighten up a bit the second loop and I was more in iron distance mode than race mode for the second loop. Did go back and forth with a few folks mainly do to running the water stations. I didn't have a Energy Blend on the bike and I don't do gels on the run so I finally bonked the last segment. However I did manage to pass someone in my AG am sneak into the top 25. Down to the finish chute and got called in my Sean.

What would you do differently?:

Not pull my calf 9 days before. Wasn't really able to race but at least I was able to run this week. Needed to do better nutrition wise on the bike since my tank hit Empty pretty hard. Only had coke at one aid station maybe should have got to that more often. 23rd to 25th in my AG and 154th to 178th on the run.

Post race

Warm down:

Got my water and medal and ice water soak towel. Got some food and shuffled down to the team tent. Ate then returned my chip and went to T2 to pack my stuff. They brought the T1 and dry clothes bags right to our racks which was awesome. Packed up the car. Walked back and gave back my chip and then visited the Norma Tec tent. They were having some issues with two set of boots. One wasn't reset/turned off so I fixed and used it for 20 min. Other one had a flat segment so it won't get out of the inflation stage. Did the NormaTec tent the res of the afternoon and then broke everything down as we cheered in the last few finishers and then got to be part of the final finisher ceremony.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Wasn't in the best racing mindset and then poor nutrition on the bike caught up to me at the end of the run.

Event comments:

By finishing 25th I was eligible for a roll down spot to the AG Worlds in China next year. Great race with the Collegate Championships and the USAT Nationals and Anderson is a great community. Clemson had a home game this weekend so the whole town was hyped and made for a cool atmosphere. Throw in the Lil Rev Adventure race and Glow run and it was a cool weekend. Plus the worst wetsuit contest!