Rev3 Maine Half Rev Race Report - Longest Race Report EVER! (Will add pictures at some point)
- Race Name: Rev 3 Maine, Half Rev
- Race Date: August 26, 2012
- Race Location: Old Orchard Beach, Maine
- Race Distance: 70.3 (1.2 mile swim, 56 mi bike, 13.1 mile run)
- Division: Women 30-34
- Total Time: 7:28:56
- Time Breakdown: Swim – 46:09, T1 – 7:17,
Bike – 3:29:25, T2 – 1:31, Run – 3:04:33
- Age Group Placing: 33/37
- Gender Placing: 143/159 (women only)
- Overall Placing: 413/444 (overall)
Pre-race – Days before
I registered during early bird registration when the race was
first announced. I think I paid about $215 for the race – a steal for a half
distance race!
Once we got settled in Old Orchard Beach, ME (OOB from here on
out), we headed over to figure out where Rev3 was setting up and where
transition was going to be. I have to say, I was immediately impressed that the
OOB police department set up shop to guard the transition area as early as
Thursday – even when there was nothing in it!
Rev3 knows how to throw a party. There were so many events planned
pre-race that we didn’t attend everything. We drove the bike course on Friday
morning, which was probably one of the best things we could’ve done – other
than ride it. Later that afternoon and picked up my packet, got my swag, and
picked up a few (too many) pieces of race memorabilia. Friday night, we headed
out to dinner with Jon’s cousins and had a fun, and relaxing, time with them.
The headsweats visor is one of my favorite items from the race – hands down!
On Saturday morning, I headed out at 8am for the practice swim. I
haven’t been in my wetsuit since TriRock Annapolis, so I figured it’d be a good
idea to see if it even fit (um… right…). The first thing I discovered is that
the water temp wasn’t horrible. It was about 65 degrees – definitely at the
high end of what they told us to expect. The second thing I noticed is that the
water was very clear! Much different than the mid-Atlantic region! The only bad
part about this is that you noticed where the shelf drop was during the swim. Around
9am, Rev3 did the worst-wetsuit competition, so we hung around for that.
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| Trying to figure out where we were starting the practice swim from. These guys were awesome and allowed me to tag along in their group. |
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| Swimming, swimming, in a swimming pool... wait... this is the ocean. |
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| Um... where are they moving the buoy to? |
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| Chillin for a mid-swim discussion |
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| Out of the water after a successful practice swim |
We headed back to the room, I showered and set out the wetsuit to
dry a little bit for the next morning, we ran out for a quick lunch, then back
to get my bike. Around 12:45 or so, we headed toward transition, and I racked my
bike. It was so cool that Rev3 had volunteers escort us to our space. The
volunteer who walked with me told me this is his first triathlon event, and he
was super excited to learn all about it. That enthusiasm radiated over the
entire weekend.
Around 1:00, we sat down and listened to the pro-athlete chat and
then stayed for the 1:30 athlete meeting. I didn’t find it all that helpful,
but it was good to be there. I felt a little weird as we walked away, knowing
my bike was staying outside overnight. I knew it’d be out with all of the other
bikes; it was just a bit unsettling.
We had an early dinner at Olive Garden, I finished putting my
transition bag together, and then we headed to bed around 8:30pm, knowing it’d
be an early morning.
Pre-race – Day Of
The alarm went off at 4am. We snoozed until about 4:15 and then
hopped out of bed and started the morning routine. Jon helped me apply the race
number tattoos. He accidently didn’t take off the plastic on the ‘3’ for my age
tattoo, so that was a little stress inducing (for him, not me – I packed
permanent markers and knew I could just write it on). I ate breakfast, had some
water, and we headed out at 5am.
Transition opened at 5am and was fully buzzing when I got there at
5:10! Susie (Jon’s cousin) was already there and found Jon pretty quickly. They
went to get coffee and I went into transition.
It was a bit chilly, so I kept my warm-up pants on for a while. I
pumped up my tires and loaned my pump to someone near me. A DC Tri team member,
Toby, came over and said hello. The one GREAT thing about wearing the Team Z
green is that people who are from our area generally chat with us – especially
when we’re not close to home! Toby was telling me that this was her second
attempt at the 70.3 distance. Her first attempt was Musselman, and it ended
when she was found in a ditch at mile 9 of the bike. She said she spent 2 days
in the hospital after that race. I wished her better luck for this one and
continued to set up. At some point, Brenda (my friend) arrived at the race. It
was so great to finally meet her!
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| A nod to everyone who had encouraged me in their own ways while I was on my journey to this race |
I put on my wetsuit (and performed the wetsuit dance, pretty much
like everyone else there) and headed out of transition to hang out with my
cheer crew. We headed to the beach for swim start. After a few minutes, I sent
my cheer crew on their way so that I could have some mental prep time. I opted
not to get in to do a swim warm-up, given the amount of time that I had until
my wave started. It wasn’t terribly long, but it was long enough that I was a
bit worried about getting chilly while standing on the beach. Before too long,
Rev3 was making their announcements, played the National Anthem, and the first
wave of the HalfRev was off!
The water was a cool 65 degrees; definitely a wetsuit legal race!
The water was so calm, it was awesome. Being my first ocean swim (I guess
technically second since I swam the day before), I was super nervous about this
swim. I had nightmares about it months before the race – ones involving
breaching whales. Turns out, the scariest thing I had to deal with was other
swimmers and the shelf drop!
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| I'm in there somewhere |
The swim course was great – straight out to the 2nd
buoy, turn left, go straight, turn left at the 4th buoy and head
back in to shore while sighting on the huge Ferris wheel (thanks for making it
simple Rev3!). My goggles fogged up pretty badly and even after fixing them the
first time, they fogged up again. I decided just to deal with it as best as I
could and swim through it.
I felt a little sea sick when coming in to shore because you could
see the bottom of the ocean again and you could tell when the current was
pulling the water and sand back out, while you were trying to move forward. At
some point, I decided that it was just better to stand up even though I was a
bit further out than I’d normally stand up. Wasn’t worth wanting to throw up!
Coming out of the water, I was a little disoriented at first, but quickly got
my bearings. The funny thing is, I can normally pick Jon out of a crowd so
easily. I had a hard time with that coming out of the swim. Not sure why, but
it threw me off a little too. I like to make eye contact with him so that he
knows I’m OK and good to go. (He probably doesn’t realize that I like to see
him for that reason after the swim!)
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| Gotta love the post-swim face |
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| Now to get to my bike |
T1
T1 was so long. It was at least a .35 mile slog back to the
transition area from the beach (complete with dumbfounded tourists as to why
they couldn’t go where they wanted to). I chose to walk the beach part of it
and even some of the road. I knew it was going to be a long transition and had
allowed myself 8-10 minutes for it. When it turned out to be 7:17, I was
actually really happy with that time.
I put on all of my bike gear, reapplied sunscreen, grabbed my
bike, and headed out.
Yes, I could’ve moved faster, but I knew that today was more about
just getting it done and not necessarily getting it done quickly. I’ll aim to
do it a bit faster next time.
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| Ready to go |
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| Headed out of T1, thanks hill! |
Bike
The bike course definitely had some rolling hills. The city of OOB
and the surrounding areas did a great job to make sure we were protected
against crazy drivers (though, I didn’t see too many of those in Maine in
general!). They had also repaved several sections of the course in the days
leading up to the race, which was a great touch!
It took a while for my legs to warm up – especially with the first
thing to hit out of transition being a hill. I got settled in and took it
easier than I thought I should, knowing it would be a long 56 miles if I
didn’t. The first water stop was around mile 15. I managed to get a water
bottle, but had to stop to refill. A couple of other people asked if I was ok,
which was nice of them. I just am not quite coordinated enough yet to refill on
the fly. I’ll be practicing that for next year.
At mile 20, I went over the timing chip pad and noticed that I didn’t
beep like I should’ve. I made a mental note to listen at the next one, just in
case something was weird with my foot positioning. The first 25 miles of this
course trended uphill, so that kind of sucked. On the hills, we’d get all
bunched up, and then spread out over the downhills and flats.
Somewhere around mile 30 was the next water stop and I got my
water and stopped to refill again. I didn’t beep at the timing chip mat there
either. I figured my chip died and that was that. Oh well! Around mile 35, I
saw Toby from DC Tri on the side of the road. She had the bike mechanics with
her, so I figured I’d be seeing her zoom up past me at some point.
Miles 40-45 were the most challenging of the course, by far.
Simpson Road wasn’t repaved and it was just nasty. You could tell the winter
heaving is bad in Maine just by this road. I think all of us were throwing
nasty words either out or thinking about them. Just after Simpson Road, there
was a one lane bridge, where we had traffic control (which was great). I went
down just after another woman and going back up, she was having trouble
shifting. I had already down-shifted and was in my easier gears. She almost ran
into me – thankfully just at the split second they needed to, her gears clunked
into the right spots and we were able to avoid being on the ground. WHEW!
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| This is the only photo I have of me actually riding that's not to/from transition. Thanks Rev3 photographers! |
Right around mile 46, I heard a “GO TEAM Z” from the side of the
road. I look over and it’s Toby, pulling on another shirt and getting her bike
loaded into the back of the truck. I literally yelled out “OH NO!” and kept
going. I felt bad that her second attempt was ending early, but was glad that
she wasn’t being taken to the hospital!
I took water at the last water station, around mile 48, and
stopped to refill once again. I knew it was mostly downhill back into town
(with just a couple of uphills) and my mood definitely went from good to
better! I was almost done with this thing! I started singing songs to myself
and my pace apparently picked up a bit.
I was so proud of myself for sticking to my nutrition. I had my
pre-mixed Infinit and water. I just drank and drank and drank. It served me
well and I was happy to not be messing around with gels! The only think I’ll do
different next time is that I’ll only put one hour’s worth in my aero drink at
first, and I’ll keep the super concentrated version down below.
I ended up rolling back in towards transition about 2 minutes
earlier than I had thought. Not a HUGE amount, but enough to make me a little
worried about the run.
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| Headed back to transition. Only 13.1 miles to go! |
T2
After dismounting and getting back into transition, there was a
bit of chaos. Rev3 was allowing people to leave who had already finished, which
was a bit of an issue to those of us who were still coming in. Nothing huge,
but it was a minor annoyance. I made the mistake of sitting down to put on my
socks/shoes (mostly because I was falling over trying to do it standing up).
Toby was coming into transition at the same time. She told me her tire was
shredded and there was nothing she could do – she had to pull out of the race.
I was so bummed for her. I got encouragement from a couple of other racers,
grabbed my run stuff, and headed out. (Forgot to reapply sunscreen during this
one!)
If I were going to redo this transition, I wouldn’t put my sock on
upside down. That cost me a few seconds, but since I wasn’t going for broke, I
was ok with that.
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| Headed out to the run |
Run
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| While I was out running, my bike was having a good time hanging out with the other bikes. |
At first, my legs felt GREAT! Coming out of the chute, I felt
really good. Good enough to smile and wave to my cheer crew. I ran down the
street and this little boy was yelling from the balcony “keep running! We
support you! The entire town supports you!” It. Was. Awesome. He couldn’t have
been more than 10. It was everything I needed to keep my mood light… and then,
my body started to revolt. I knew it’d happen, it was a matter of when. I didn’t
expect it so early in the run. At 0.6 miles in, the insides of both knees
started to bother me. A volunteer asked if I was ok and I told him what was
going on. I said “you know, it’s ok. I’ll run what I can, walk what I have to,
but I’ll get this thing done!” His response was “I love your resolve. Do it!”
It was just what I needed. I ran/walked as much as I could. I’d run until the
pain was too much and then I’d walk until it didn’t hurt any more. At some
point, I went to a full walk. I walked at least half of the half marathon. I
was ok with it. At the turn around, I caught up with another woman and we
walked the rest of it together. We chatted and encouraged each other – we even
started to run a little as we got closer in. Her boyfriend caught up with us on
one of the streets coming back into town, so I decided to go ahead and run in
and left her with him.
Coming into the chute was so amazing. I was thinking about the
past year, from the chat I had with last year’s coach about this race, to the
bike rides, the swims, the runs (and runs that should’ve been), and Jon and my
family & friends putting up with me during this training season. Then, I
looked up and saw Jon. He was jumping up and down and took off running for the
finish line. I’ve never seen him as excited. I heard Susie and Brenda. I heard
the announcer. It was so overwhelming. I crossed the finish line and just let
the tears flow. The volunteers immediately asked if I was ok after wrapping a
cold, wet towel around my shoulders (man that felt amazing!). I said I was
great, just so overwhelmed. Another volunteer put my medal around my neck and
hugged me and just let me cry for a second. A third volunteer offered me a
medium shirt since they had run out of smalls. I was fine with it. She said
that they’d send me a small if I wanted, but I was fine with the medium. I wasn’t
leaving without my finisher shirt! (If it had been a large, I would’ve had them
send it to me.)
Post-Race
After crossing the finish line and getting my towel, medal, and
shirt, one of the volunteers grabbed me by both shoulders and said “I’m Ed’s
girlfriend! Way to represent Team Z!” It took me a minute to figure out who
“Ed” was – she meant Coach Ed! I forgot to ask for her first name, I definitely
wasn’t thinking straight. I was still in tears about the fact that I had actually
just completed my first 70.3! The lobster medal was AWESOME. It’s currently
hanging on my armor, because I just don’t want to put it away. It was great to
get a finisher’s shirt too. It’s a great touch.
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| Talia, Ed's girlfriend, is in orange. |
After chatting with Talia (Ed’s girlfriend) for a minute, I found
Jon, Susie, and Brenda. They were so awesome. I fell into Jon’s arms and just
cried. Susie and Brenda gave me hugs – which goes WAY above “friend” duties! I
was sweaty, salty, and just nasty!
Post race, all I wanted to do was get out of my running shoes. Susie
had my flip flops and man did they feel good! I’m glad I left them with the
cheer crew. Turns out it was my biggest need of the day!
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| It hurts really bad right... here... |
By the time I got done, things were winding down a little and
there wasn’t much of a party left. I really need to get faster so that I can
experience the post race parties a bit more! I knew I had a timing chip
problem, so I posted on Rev3’s Facebook wall asking if there had been an issue
and they asked me to email them about it. I emailed back and forth with Kati,
and she determined that my chip had, in fact, died on the course. She was super
apologetic about it. Between the finish time they had for me based on pictures
and the GPS data I had, we were able to get my times down and entered into the
results. It’s a bummer that they’re not technically “official” times, but I’m
glad they were able to work with me on it!
After I packed up transition and changed my shirt (which Jon
wasn’t too thrilled with me doing in the middle of transition), we took a few
pictures. Then, the cheer crew came back to our hotel room so that I could
shower and actually change. Note to self: it helps to bring clothes into the
bathroom when you have people in your hotel room.
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| And done! |
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| Susie, me, & Brenda - thanks ladies for coming out! |
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| The BEST sherpa ever. |
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| "Like a BOSS" |
Jon asked what I wanted for dinner and my response was “chicken”.
We had seen a Famous Dave’s about 15 minutes away, so we drove Brenda and Susie
to their cars and then all headed to Famous Dave’s for dinner. It is the only
one in Maine! So weird given that we have a couple of them around here. It was
so great to sit and chat with everyone and to hear about their day. It was
Susie and Brenda’s first time spectating a tri, so it was really awesome to
hear about what they thought. Jon and I exchanged stories over the next couple
of days as well.
Lessons Learned
Looking back on the race, I’m so pleased with so many things:
- I’m glad I didn’t hesitate to call
Infinit and change my formula to not contain any protein in my mix. Best
decision I’ve ever made with respect to race day nutrition.
- No matter what happened, I was
resolved to take it all in stride and roll with the punches.
- Setting my overall goal to finish
before cut-off made this be a very low-pressure race.
- Jon being an awesome Sherpa fielded
all sorts of phone calls, text messages, and Facebook posts when my timing chip
died. Poor guy didn’t know what was going on and had to rely on the fact that
he hadn’t gotten a phone call that I was being taken to the hospital, so I was
ok.
- Took a chance on a new venue Rev3.
They put on an awesome race and I was so happy to be a part of it.
- Earned the awesome lobster claw
medal.
- That I was able to stay positive
throughout the day.
- Allowed myself to be emotional at
the finish line. I’m not an overly emotional person, but some things just bring
it out – and accomplishing a major goal is one of them.
- I’m glad I did my “tribute” on my
arm and carried around those who have put up with me for the past year as I’ve
trained for this event.
- The way Rev3 treats their
participants is just awesome. We saw the last place finisher come across the
line – it was amazing.
There are also so many things I need to improve upon for next
season’s 70.3:
- NEVER run a 13.1 in old shoes. It
will not go well.
- Try not to get sick 2 weeks before
race day.
- Research a little more about the
restaurants in the area before arriving. Usually I’m on top of this, but I’ve
learned to look for pictures of the places too – especially in a beach town!
- Figure out why my wetsuit chafed so
badly around my neck. I’m tired of the “wetsuit hickey”!
- Do my run training. I really
slacked on that this season and it came back to bite me.
- Do more hill and speed work on the
bike. I know I can ride the distance, but I want to ride it FASTER. I need to
get STRONGER on the bike.
- Find an aero-drink solution that
doesn’t splash all over the place. My makeshift solution worked, but it’s
annoying.
- Practice drinking more on my tri
bike.
