2012 REV3 Quassy Half Ironman

2012 REV3 Quassy Half Ironman This was a WONDERFUL event that was extremely well organized and professionally run. It was FUN for all athletes from pros to amateurs and spectators from adults to kids of all ages. I first would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all those who helped make this such a GREAT race! It was just AWESOME and I look forward to racing at many more REV3 triathlons in the near future. I had another good learning experience at this race. I am sad to say I had to pull out of the race on the run course. I believe I messed up on my nutrition again and this caused some severe cramping on the run. I knew it would not be good to try to push through the cramping so I pulled out. I was happy with most of the race and I felt pretty good up until the cramping. I plan to keep working on my training and nutrition. I am going to add in some more bricks with long bikes followed right away with long runs to get the nutrition right. Even though I did not finish I left this race with a smile on my face and a good feeling inside because I felt like I finally can hang with this group (even though I did not finish). I was happy with how I felt up until the cramping and I was happy with where I was placed in the field at the end of the swim and bike not going all out. Unfortunately, I did not get to see what the end result was but I’m going to keep going for it and try to correct my mistakes and do better in the next one. I was very nervous about racing in this race because this was my 1st half ironman that I was racing in the female pro field and some of the females I was racing against are the best in the world including Mirninda Carfrae. There were pro’s from the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK and more. This race had a purse prize of $125,000.00 so the best of the best came to compete for the great awards and the AWESOME experience of racing at a REV3 Triathlon. I got to the race site early on Sat. hoping to see my two teammates finish the REV3 Olympic triathlon that was taking place that day. I was unable to get to the finish line in time to see them finish but I did meet up with them while I was picking up my race packet close to the awards ceremony of the Olympic Triathlon. My AWESOME teammates Yvonne Wandless and Alexiss Wheeler did an AMAZING job braving the tough cold, wet elements and extremely difficult hilly bike and run courses. They both finished and had a BLAST. I am very proud of them. They truly did an AWESOME job. After talking to them for a bit I picked up my race packet and headed out to drive the bike and run course. The bike course was the hilliest half ironman course I have ever competed on. It was extremely tough and pretty technical with a lot of turns. After driving the bike course I decided to change my approach to racing it. I was at first going to go very hard in the swim and push it hard on the bike and then just try to get through the run but after seeing all the climbs I was going to have to tackle I changed my race strategy. I decided I was going to pace myself and keep it aerobic. I really wanted to finish the entire 70.3. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and ate a grilled piece of Tilapia (fish) and ate some whole grain bread and a banana. I had a cup of coffee and then I drank a lot of water and some Powerade. I also cooked a bake potato in the hotel microwave and took it with me to eat later on. I took a shower packed my bike and gear into my car and checked out of the hotel at 4:30 a.m. to drive to the race site for 5 a.m. Race day morning was AWESOME. The weather was perfect and the athlete turnout was unbelievable. The pro rack was right against the side of the transition area. It was a long row of who’s who that was gated and carpeted off to let everyone know where the pros where at. Each of our bib numbers had our names on them and we even had posters with huge pictures of ourselves with our full names and places we were from printed on them hanging on the fence right by our bike racking spots. I thought this was pretty awesome. I looked up and saw a picture of myself on a poster behind my bike and I was almost going to take a picture of it but then I thought maybe I shouldn’t I’m a pro now and I guess this is some of the stuff we get (lol). I remember the great service I was given. One of the volunteers walked me over to where my bike rack spot was and asked me if I needed anything I said thank you and I’m all set. It is nice being a pro and there are some nice benefits that go with it. These are just a few and it really meant a lot to me to get such great help and service. I racked my bike and set up all of my gear and then I ate half of the bake potato I brought from my hotel in my car by the transition area. While setting up my transition spot I was debating if I should I put on socks before the bike or just the run. I decided to put on socks because this was such a long race and I didn’t want to chance getting blisters and having to deal with the pain of them especially through a long run. I decided to put on my socks and then my bike shoes on the ground because it wasn’t a far run out of transition and I could run the short distance in my bike shoes without any problem. I knew nutrition was going to be a HUGE part of this race and I was hoping I would get it right this time. I laid a squeeze bottle filled with 7 Power Bar Chocolate Gel packets. I put another one of these squeeze bottles in a zip pocket on my TT bike. I also had a 2 bottle jet stream holder that I filled one section with water and the other with Powerade. I also put a small water bottle filled with OJ with and a High Protein Energy Meal powder mix. The protein powder mix consisted of 110 calories, 12 g of carbs, 14 g of protein, and lots of vitamins plus everything in the orange juice it was mixed in. My goal was to consume some of the Power Bar Gels every 10 miles (enough to have it all gone by the end of the bike) and then to constantly drink the water and Powerade, and then drink the orange juice with the protein mix at mile 40. This was my plan but I did not do this and I think not doing all of this caused the severe cramping on the run. The female pro swim start went off at 6:53 a.m. It was a very well marked swim course that looked like an open ended rectangle. We swam keeping all buoys to our right shoulder; out 4 white buoys turned at the 1st orange buoy, swam straight for 2 white buoys then turned at the 2nd orange buoy and headed back to shore swimming straight for 4 white buoys. I took a GU packet about a half hour before my swim start. Our wave was sent off off 3 minutes behind the pro men. I placed myself in the front far left of the female pro wave. I knew to place myself in the front because the swim is my strongest leg of the three and far left because this wave is a wave of very competitive and strong athletes. It’s very hard if you get caught up in the middle of them. It becomes a tough battle if you need to try to get around them and you are in the middle of them. I’d rather swim a longer distance and know I can have the outside to pass anyone I can then get stuck in the middle of the wave. The loud start horn went off and the large field of some of the best of the best pro females ran down to the water. Once we hit the right level to dive I dove in and started to sprint. I knew I had to get out and around the large wave. I wanted to stay with the leaders and to do this the best way was to go as hard as needed for the first however many yards to make sure you stay with the leaders. I sprinted and pushed it very hard almost like sprinting for a 100 yard free style event. I was able to stay right with the front and then I let two females who also sprinted go a bit in front of me. I knew I wanted to save some of my energy and the best way to do this was to draft on the swim. This was going to be a long race and I wanted to stay aerobic and keep enough energy to finish it. I did go anaerobic for the first 100 yards but then I recovered and settled in very nice behind the two females in front of me. There were many times I questioned myself as to if I should try to pass them and break away and create a bit of a lead to go out onto the bike with but I knew I was conserving a little energy by drafting behind them. I thought to myself maybe I’ll try to pass them after we pass the second orange buoy and pick up the pace to the home stretch to shore. I could see we were pulling somewhat in front of the others in our wave and creating a small lined gap from the majority and as we turned around on the 2nd orange buoy I felt the pace pick up a bit. These two Pro women seemed to want to do the same thing I did. I just stayed behind them the entire way. I came out of the 1.2 mile swim on the heels of the 1st and 2nd place pro females and I was very happy with this finish of this leg especially because I was not breathing really hard nor did I for most of the swim. I felt good and was breathing every 4 strokes with 2 breaths in between for the most of the swim. This helped me to keep my breathing in check and not letting it get to the point of hyper ventilating which has happened to me in some swims at other triathlons when I have been super nervous at the start. I ran into transition tearing off my speed suit and then I quickly put on my socks, bike shoes, bike helmet and glasses. I did get passed by 1 female pro who did not put on socks or shoes. I quickly grabbed my bike and headed out onto the extremely HILLY 56 mile bike course. While biking down the first section of the bike course I re-passed the same pro female who passed me in transition. She was then putting her feet in her bike shoes as she was biking (I believe that she later passed me again LOL). I felt really good at the beginning of the bike and I started to push it pretty hard but I kept telling myself, o.k. now push it but you need to save enough for all the hills in front of you then a 13.1 mile hilly run so don’t push it too much. I told myself to keep it aerobic. This was very hard for me to do because I really wanted to see what I could do going hard. I had to let several pro women pass me and I don’t like to get passed by competition (who does LOL). I remember I was around 7th place maybe 6th and around mile 15ish when I got passed by Mirinda Carfrae and this passing actually brought a smile to my face! I was like OMG… I just got passed by Mirinda Carfrae… OMG… I was in front of her for a bit (A VERY SHORT BIT lol)… but still a BIT (lol). I actually picked up the pace at this time and I wanted to see what her pace was like. I stayed with her for a few miles and kept her in my sight for a few more but then my breathing was getting harder and I thought if I wanted to finish the run I’d have to stay aerobic and pull back on the pace. I slowed and lost sight of her but I don’t think I’ll ever forget the experience or the feeling of getting passed by such an amazing athlete that I admire so much. The bike course was the toughest half ironman bike course that I have ever competed on. It was very challenging and extremely hilly. I kept my bike at a strong steady aerobic pace. I was having some trouble with my shifting. There were many time after going down to the small ring up front after a long climb I tried to switch into the large ring up front but it would not switch. I think this happened to me at least 6 times but I eventually found a gear I could switch in. I plan to get it checked out and fixed. I tried to take the Power Bar Gel in my squeeze bottle every 10 miles but it just didn’t come out of the squeeze bottle in the amount I wanted it too. I felt like I was wasting time trying to get it out of the bottle so I didn’t take the whole bottle of 7 Power Bar Gel packets… By the end of the 56 mile bike course when I looked at the bottle I think I only consumed 3 Power Bar Gel packets. I did drink all of my water (a full bottle) and all of my Powerade (2 bottles) but that was it. I did grab another water bottle from one of the aid stations but I never got to drinking it. I also never drank my OJ with the protein powder meal mix at mile 40. When I got to mile 40 I just didn’t want to take it. I felt like if I did it may come back up? I have lots to learn about my nutrition and what I need to take and when. I need to really work on this and correct it. I entered transition pushing my bike and I could begin to feel something up with my legs. I brushed it off at being a bit tired from the hard hilly bike course. I racked my bike, changed my bike shoes into my running shoes and then grabbed my number belt, visor and squeeze bottle of Power Bar gels to take out onto the run. I started the run with my breathing feeling great but I could tell something was up with my legs. My quad muscles felt pretty tight and other areas felt stiff. I thought I could loosen them up with just running a nice aerobic pace. I passed the first water station and took two bags of water. I drank as much from each bag as I could but my legs where still not right. I kept going trying to push though the sore and stiffness and then it turned to cramping. I tried to keep going thinking it’ll pass it’s just the transition from the bike to the run but it was getting worse. I stopped and stretched and drank more water then I tried to run some more. I kept at this for a while and finally I had to make the call to pull out. The cramping was just not going away and I didn’t think it would be good to push through it. I sadly pulled out of the race. I went back to the start and transition area and handed in my timing chip telling the officials I pulled out. I was very disappointed with not finishing but at the same time I was very happy for the portion of the race I felt I did right. I was happy with my swim and I was somewhat happy with the place I came in off the bike when I kept it aerobic. I was upset with my nutrition and not getting it right or not doing enough long bricks in practice to make sure I got it right but to me it was still a good day and another lesson on what my body can do. I just need to correct it and work harder and then maybe I can figure it out and do it right. I have lots to work on. I highly recommend the REV3 Triathlons to all athletes. I had a WONDERFUL time and I really enjoyed every aspect of the race. It’s a very inviting race for all athletes from beginners to professionals. I look forward to racing at many more REV3 Triathlons in the near future. CONGRATS to all those who competed in the challenging Olympic & Half Ironman REV3 Triathlons. HATS OFF TO YOU! THEY WERE VERY DIFFICULT & CHALLENGING COURSES! CONGRATS!