Sunday exactly one week before my race I went out for a training ride and realized that my front derailleur on my TT bike was not shifting. I thought nothing of it except that the battery for my Di2 needed to be charged that night and it would be fine. So I did. The next day it still wasn't working with the fully charged battery. I took my bike to my local shop in Clermont and came to find out that one of the cables had stopped working. It happened to be a cable that Shimano no longer makes. I went on a wild goose chase for the cable and no dice. I wasn't worried about the bike I would have plenty of time to figure it out next week but I didn't have anything to race on this weekend.
I racked my brain for ideas. I am a pretty tall guy so there aren't many options for me when it comes to bikes in the first place, much less one i could borrow. I had one option, I texted a friend of mine and speedy pro triathlete Jake. I told him my situation and before i could ask without hesitation was gracious enough to offer me his bike for the weekend.
Trusty stede for the weekend. C/O Jake.
Pre Race: I was originally coaxed into doing this race because my good friend Frank was already doing it and driving there from miami and could get me along the way. So travel was going to be cheap and i could race without the hassle of flying with my bike. It seemed like such a good idea until around 8 hours of sitting in the car. We drove up early friday with plenty of time to get settled and rested before the race.
The day before the race we went out to the swim start for shake out swim and to test the water temp. They called it at 76, fat chance it was gonna jump 2 degrees in 24 hours. Now that my swimming has progressed so much I'd actually prefer a non wetsuit swim. Later we went for an easy spin and got to see some beautiful South Carolina roads. I was feeling in surprisingly good form coming off a race just 2 weeks ago. I went with the standard Panera Bread lunch and Pizza dinner which has been working well for me. I was ready for an early night and a not so early wake up when it comes to race day, thanks to Rev3 having the sense to leave transition open for later waves!
I was so hoping for warmer water.
Panera Bread is a standard.
Race Morning: I was up around 5:30am as opposed to the regular 4am race day wake up since my wave start wasn't till 8:45am and transition would stay open till 8am. It was a little different than usual preparing my stuff to race because there would be two different transitions. Athletes had to park at T2/Finish line area, set up your run shoes then be shuttled to T1/Swim start to set up your bike. I was in T2 and done setting up in all of 5min and on the shuttle headed to the start. Like I said earlier T1 was open till just before each athletes start so there was no rush which I felt made things way more relaxed. I chatted with a few other athletes before donning my wetsuit and getting in a nice swim warm up.
Swim: I dont consider myself a top tier swimmers so I typically will seed myself somewhere in the middle at the swim start but today I was gunning for a top spot and wasn't going to let any one have an early advantage over me so I bumped and nudged my way to the front. 30 seconds, 10 seconds, GO. For what seemed like not many people around me I was getting hit, pulled and ran into an awful lot. After the first 15 seconds of that I got tired of it and decided to put in a quick 20-30 second effort to get myself out front. I was successful in doing that. At the first left turn buoy I took a breath to my left and could see I was putting time on everyone except a pack of about 5 or 6 guys out front that were putting time on me. I swam all alone the rest of the way, staying fairly relaxed not burning any matches early on in the race. I came out of the water in 23:42 swimming the exact pace I planned on, over a mile long course.
T1: Since there were two transitions you were given a draw string bag that while in T1 you had to put anything you wanted back (wetsuit and googles) in and pull shut which made times a little longer than usual but it worked out fine. I always have trouble getting a wetsuit off and today was no exception.
Bike: We drove the bike course the day before the race so I knew what was in store for me. My game plan was to stay nice and controlled on the up hills and push the downhills. I passed almost everyone that had come out of the water ahead of me within the first mile or two. Half way through I felt really good and thought I could push the second half a little harder but instead decided to stay nice and smooth continuing to push the downhills. If I encounter another bike course similar to this I would refer back to this plan. I got off the bike with fresh legs after 1500+ feet of elevation gain and a bike split of 1:01:59, not nearly a PR but good for the course and effort level. Jakes bike worked out perfectly. I was able to stay comfortable the whole way.***
Run: Just like the bike course the run was entirely uphill or downhill, not a single flat section. My plan for the run would be the exact opposite of the bike. Push the uphills and cruise the downhills. Even though I had come off the bike in second overall there was a Colligate wave that had gone off 10 minutes before us so there were still a few people out in front of me. Right out of transition I saw two guys ahead that looked like they were running about the same pace as me so I put in a short surge to get on their heels. After probably 2 miles they started slowing down so I quickly pulled around and continued to run a bit faster pace. At the 5K point i looked down at my watch and saw just under 19 minutes. I was right on pace for the time I wanted to run. ***
At the turn around which was closer to 3.5 miles in I was running with the only guy who came off the bike before me. As we approached an aid station I wanted to be in front so I didn't get stuck without water so I took a couple strides to pull out front. Once we passed the aid station I let him come up on the side of me again and just looked over to gauge how he felt. He looked uptight and pretty close to the limit on how fast he wanted to go. I knew I was in a good place just cruising next to him and wanted to wait till the last 1-1.5 miles to gap him. With about a mile and a half to go I started to put the pressure on and what seemed like simultaneously someone ran up next us. Not three seconds later he flew by us at an unbelievable pace. It happened so fast, the race was decided. I hesitated. Five seconds later by the time I realized if I didn't go with him I was gonna lose, I surged as hard as I could. I looked down on my watch and it read 31:something with 1 mile to go. I was gonna PR, all I had to do was hold it together. I ran that last mile as hard as I could at around 5:45 dropping the first person I was running next to and the guy in front was still pulling away(he ended up running a 31:50). I finished the run with a new run PR of 37:21 and second overall. On the podium!
Final Thoughts: This was my first Rev3 race and I have to say, they put on one of the best races I've ever competed in. From pre race, to the course, to post race recovery and everything in between. It was set up perfectly. I will definitely be racing more Rev3 events next season. I met Sean "the guy" who ran past me in the last mile and he ended up being a really cool person and a former colligate cross country runner (that explained it). I am really excited to have set another Olympic distance PR with an overall time of 2:04:51 which is good progress but I know there is still loads of room for improvement. I have one more race this season, Then one "off-season race". I'm ready to get into the off-season and start putting in the work to get even faster. I had such a Blast getting to hang with all my Wattie Ink team mates all weekend. Again huge thank you to Jake for making this racing happen with his bike and Frank for championing 99.9% of the driving to, from, and around the race!
***Im going to attempt to re-update once race photos are up.
Swim: I dont consider myself a top tier swimmers so I typically will seed myself somewhere in the middle at the swim start but today I was gunning for a top spot and wasn't going to let any one have an early advantage over me so I bumped and nudged my way to the front. 30 seconds, 10 seconds, GO. For what seemed like not many people around me I was getting hit, pulled and ran into an awful lot. After the first 15 seconds of that I got tired of it and decided to put in a quick 20-30 second effort to get myself out front. I was successful in doing that. At the first left turn buoy I took a breath to my left and could see I was putting time on everyone except a pack of about 5 or 6 guys out front that were putting time on me. I swam all alone the rest of the way, staying fairly relaxed not burning any matches early on in the race. I came out of the water in 23:42 swimming the exact pace I planned on, over a mile long course.
T1: Since there were two transitions you were given a draw string bag that while in T1 you had to put anything you wanted back (wetsuit and googles) in and pull shut which made times a little longer than usual but it worked out fine. I always have trouble getting a wetsuit off and today was no exception.
Bike: We drove the bike course the day before the race so I knew what was in store for me. My game plan was to stay nice and controlled on the up hills and push the downhills. I passed almost everyone that had come out of the water ahead of me within the first mile or two. Half way through I felt really good and thought I could push the second half a little harder but instead decided to stay nice and smooth continuing to push the downhills. If I encounter another bike course similar to this I would refer back to this plan. I got off the bike with fresh legs after 1500+ feet of elevation gain and a bike split of 1:01:59, not nearly a PR but good for the course and effort level. Jakes bike worked out perfectly. I was able to stay comfortable the whole way.***
Run: Just like the bike course the run was entirely uphill or downhill, not a single flat section. My plan for the run would be the exact opposite of the bike. Push the uphills and cruise the downhills. Even though I had come off the bike in second overall there was a Colligate wave that had gone off 10 minutes before us so there were still a few people out in front of me. Right out of transition I saw two guys ahead that looked like they were running about the same pace as me so I put in a short surge to get on their heels. After probably 2 miles they started slowing down so I quickly pulled around and continued to run a bit faster pace. At the 5K point i looked down at my watch and saw just under 19 minutes. I was right on pace for the time I wanted to run. ***
At the turn around which was closer to 3.5 miles in I was running with the only guy who came off the bike before me. As we approached an aid station I wanted to be in front so I didn't get stuck without water so I took a couple strides to pull out front. Once we passed the aid station I let him come up on the side of me again and just looked over to gauge how he felt. He looked uptight and pretty close to the limit on how fast he wanted to go. I knew I was in a good place just cruising next to him and wanted to wait till the last 1-1.5 miles to gap him. With about a mile and a half to go I started to put the pressure on and what seemed like simultaneously someone ran up next us. Not three seconds later he flew by us at an unbelievable pace. It happened so fast, the race was decided. I hesitated. Five seconds later by the time I realized if I didn't go with him I was gonna lose, I surged as hard as I could. I looked down on my watch and it read 31:something with 1 mile to go. I was gonna PR, all I had to do was hold it together. I ran that last mile as hard as I could at around 5:45 dropping the first person I was running next to and the guy in front was still pulling away(he ended up running a 31:50). I finished the run with a new run PR of 37:21 and second overall. On the podium!
Trying to balance the 15 things they hand you when you walk on stage.
Final Thoughts: This was my first Rev3 race and I have to say, they put on one of the best races I've ever competed in. From pre race, to the course, to post race recovery and everything in between. It was set up perfectly. I will definitely be racing more Rev3 events next season. I met Sean "the guy" who ran past me in the last mile and he ended up being a really cool person and a former colligate cross country runner (that explained it). I am really excited to have set another Olympic distance PR with an overall time of 2:04:51 which is good progress but I know there is still loads of room for improvement. I have one more race this season, Then one "off-season race". I'm ready to get into the off-season and start putting in the work to get even faster. I had such a Blast getting to hang with all my Wattie Ink team mates all weekend. Again huge thank you to Jake for making this racing happen with his bike and Frank for championing 99.9% of the driving to, from, and around the race!
This was a first. They were Amazing! Thanks Rev3.
So awesome racing with these peeps!
***Im going to attempt to re-update once race photos are up.
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