Rev3 Williamsburg Olympic Tri - June 23, 2013

Pre-race
I re-packed my transition bag(s) on Saturday night before headed to bed. Sunday, we got up at 3am and started getting ready. No tri-tat problems this year! Woo hoo! When we woke up, it was raining... and raining... and raining. I had my normal breakfast of oatmeal. I stashed a Larabar & applesauce, just in case I was hungry pre-race.

It's EARLY!

 We finished getting ready and got in the car right around 4am and headed to transition. We got parked (which was really the big concern) and sat in the car for a bit. At 4:40, I decided to suck it up and get T2 set up.

Too much rain makes for a quiet morning

Trying to keep things dry

Around 5 or so, I decided we needed to get on one of the busses to take us to T1. This decision would be the single best decision I'd make all day. Turns out that the line for the busses got REALLY long and caused some people to be late to the start line. Once in T1, I got my bike tires pumped up, set up everything else (well, kept it all in a bag to keep it as dry as possible since it was still raining), and then walked around to hang out with Jon for a bit. Around 6:25, we headed down to the swim start so that we could watch the pros go off at 6:30. Except, they didn't. The start was held for about 15 minutes because of the busses being busier than anticipated & apparently some people decided to park on the bike out course, so the Rev3 group had to flip the swim in/bike out locations. The pros went off at 6:45 and they changed the swim starts to be 3 minutes between waves instead of 5 to try to make up some of the time.

Setting up transition - blurry!

We got to ride on the bus!

I look so happy, don't I?! Nadia just looks nervous.

Swim
No question about it, this swim was hard. Apparently the super moon has a HUGE effect on the currents and tides. I didn't know this (mostly because I don't pay attention to those sorts of things). We watched the pro men & women go off, then all of the half athletes. You could see the current moving every one left. That definitely meant it was best to start as right as possible, so that the current took you left towards the first turn buoy.

Chillin before the start

Pro guys going out

My new heros. Seriously. These parents are outstanding.

Sky blue caps headed out! Look at all of those Zs!

One of the many boats bringing people in. There's a count of up to at least 100 being pulled out of the water.  Rough current!

A friend, Alexis, came over & said hi before our wave start. Sandy found me in the corral, as did Jess & Tracy. Nadia was staying towards the back and taking her time, so I found my way to my starting position.

Around 7:25 (which was our original start time), our wave was off. I started as right as I could. We walked out to the first buoy. Then, the swim/fight started. The current was definitely taking us left. I got past the second (sighting) buoy and started making my way towards the turn buoy. I feel like I spent 5 minutes trying to get to the buoy after I turned to make the turn around it. It was like being in one of those never-ending pools. Anyhow, I finally made it to the red buoy and then kept fighting the current. And fighting, and fighting, and fighting.

At some point, I had another sky blue cap was backstroking and kept swimming directly over top of me. Every stroke, she'd hit my legs down. I was seriously being pushed down every time she stroked and no matter where I moved, she seemed to move with me. Needless to say, I popped up and let her go past me just to get away. The current and chop was enough to keep me from moving too far forward. I didn't need someone pushing me down too!

I finally reached the second turn buoy and made the turn. This turn was definitely easier to make. I set myself on a course for the shore and started heading in. It seems like the current changed because I found myself very far left (headed in... which would've meant the current was now in the opposite direction as when I was headed out) of everyone else.  I swam in as much as I could and then walked the rest of the way in. I saw Jon and yelled for him a few times, but he didn't see me. He was so worried about finding me in the water, he never looked for me coming OUT of the water!

Apparently a few of the spectators figured out who he was and got him to get up to T1 to meet up with me. Thank you spectators!

My head is just behind the woman in the white hat. Guess it was good that Jon caught me there.

T1
I got into T1 and Alexis showed up. We seem to be rack buddies at almost every race we do together. It's awesome. Jon & Kevin (her tri-sherpa) showed up and we chatted with them for a few seconds while getting helmets & shoes on and packing up our swim to bike stuff. I made a split second decision to hand my swim to bike bag to Jon. Alexis did the same (to Kevin). This turned out to be a VERY good decision. We grabbed our bikes and headed out of T1.

Road bike shoes today

Headed out

Once out of T1, we ran into traffic. No, literally... ran into traffic. Apparently the ferry had just gotten in and the police allowed them to go ahead and held us up. This didn't bother me all that much given that I'd rather that the angry motorists (and some of them were down right rude) go ahead and I'll follow behind so that they can't hit me. Just sayin. (Side note, I saw my old coach while we were all held up in this. I can't say that I was happy about how she acted during this. Having someone there who knew her name did get her to snap out of it though.)

Traffic Jam!

Bike
After the traffic jam, we mounted our bikes and headed out. The olympic and half courses were the same for a while. It was nice when the courses split. Things definitely spread out a good bit when that happened. For the most part, the bike was uneventful. I had my custom Infinit blend on my bike and made sure to drink at least a sip every 5-10 minutes. I knew that even though the swim & bike temperatures were comfortable, the run was going to be hot. Had to get those electrolytes in!

Around mile 14 or so, there was a caution on the course. There was also a volunteer out vocalizing and using hand signals to let us know that a rough patch of road was coming up. We had been warned about this section during the pre-race athlete meeting. It was definitely rough. After the rough patch, I went to change gears in the front and I couldn't down shift. Crap! I was stuck in my big ring (up front) for the remaining 10 miles of the race. Thankfully this wasn't a super hilly course or I would've been in trouble. But, I made do and just went for it.

I had been playing leap frog with another woman throughout the course (depending on the hill/part of the course, one of us would be in front of the other). She dropped almost everything off her bike at one point trying to get nutrition out of her bento box. So, when she pulled over, I asked if she was ok. She came back and kicked my butt getting back in. Either way, it was nice having someone around!

I was so happy to be coming in to transition. When I got there, I saw/heard Jon and then our friends Donna & Jim. It was so great to see them! With the rain in the morning, I wasn't sure they'd be there.

Dismounting

T2
T2 was pretty uneventful. I racked my bike, dumped out my T2 bag, sat down, put on my socks, put on my shoes, and reapplied Body Glide under my arms. I drank a bit of water, threw on my hat & race belt and headed out to the run.

Just chillin in T2

Hiiiii!

Run
The run went ok. I started out kind of slow. Given the quad problems I've been having lately, I was taking the first couple of miles pretty conservatively. Like 12 minute miles conservatively. I took my first Island Boost around 25 minutes in. After the turn-around, I was able to pick up my pace a bit and for the first time EVER ran a negative split! Say what?! (I didn't figure this out until it was confirmed after the race by my results.) I took another Island Boost around 45 minutes in, knowing I had about 30 minutes left.

I saw Nadia starting her run when I was at about mile 4.5. I was soooo excited to see her! I yelled "Is that a Nadia S that I'm seeing on the run course?!" I gave her a huge hug and told her she was doing great and to keep going. A guy behind me told me that it was awesome that I motivated her like that (as he passed me).

Shortly after that, there was a guy running in briefs. There was a woman behind him. At first she had this look like "what the?!", then the look changed to "I might as well enjoy the view!" I said to her "I saw that!" She laughed and said "no you didn't!". Totally made me laugh. I needed that right about then.

Coming down towards the transition area, headed out towards the last turn around gave me just the burst of energy I needed. After the turn around, I headed back up the hill towards the finish line.

Seriously. My heros.

Headed in

And DONE!

Post-race

I was so excited to see Jon, Donna, Jim, and their family. They were so sweet & it was good to meet some of her family. They said congrats & chatted for a few minutes and then headed out. I sat down at the Team Z tent, changed my shoes, and eventually changed my shirt. It wasn't until I got back to the trailer that I realized they gave me a half shirt instead of the olympic. Oops!

It started out as a rainy day and turned into a hot, humid day. The one thing I regret is not putting my sunscreen in my T2 bag. I should've done it even though the radar said it was going to rain for the rest of the morning. Lesson learned.

We waited for Nadia to come in. I was so excited to see her finish this race. She wasn't sure she'd even finish the swim, so to see her finish was amazing. Love ya girl!

Mmmm, Island Boost! Gave me the boost I needed to get to the finish!

Overall, not my best showing, but I had a GREAT race & had fun. That's what this season's all about, so I'm good with it!

Results
Swim: 45:21 (Not bad for how hard it was! Also, the results say it was a 1932m swim instead of 1500m.)
T1: 7:07
Bike: 1:31:15 (This included the long wait to get onto the course)
T2: 1:05
Run: 1:14:23 (Negative split baby!)
Overall: 3:39:11

Placements
Division: 44/52
Overall: 382/443
Gender: 176/216
Wave: 88/107