Revolution3 Cedar Point Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Once I saw the water at day break, all anxiety left my body. I only slept 2 hrs the night before because I was so nervous and scared. I nailed this swim. I know.. 52 mins is SLOW.. but this was my first HIM. I'm always slow on the swim and I really trained hard this year. My plan was to do the swim with minimal effort. I did just that. I walked out as far as I could. When I finally started swimming, 1:30 had elapsed on my watch. So what?? I swam back until the water was waist deep then I started peeling stuff off. I saw my family- high-fived my nephew, and WALKED into transition. Again, minimal energy expenditure.

For the conditions for the day, I would do nothing differently. But, I will never ever do another September race in Lake Erie. I think that we got lucky with the lake conditions. I am not willing to risk that again. I live in Indiana and there is no way to replicate those conditions. I even went over to Lake Erie twice this summer to swim and that water then was perfect. I am very pleased with my race swim.

I took my sweet time. Goal was to get HR down, which I did. I didn't want to rush anything. Plus my family was there cheering me on and taking pictures. And, it was cold out too so I took some time to dry off.

Hurry it up a little.

I feel like I rode a smart bike ride. I stuck with my plan. My legs never once felt taxed on the ride, even with the hills and the wind. My goal was to keep the pace at around 16-17 unless I had the wind to my back. I did exactly this. My average HR stayed low.. my only issue was that I was hungry. But my stomach was feeling like the gel and fluids were just sitting there. I had not experienced that before. I guess they say that the gut can do funny things on race day. Mine did and I paid the price on the run. I took in about 600 calories total on the bike and only about 30 oz. of fluid. Definitely not enough..
I will say that I was really happy with this ride in that we came over in July and rode- and I thought, "wow, this is hillier than I thought." We came home and every long ride since that weekend was FULL of hilly terrain. It completely and totally paid off. That ride was great!! I could have done away with the chip-n-seal and the rough road of the Cedar Point Chausse. My lady parts were happy to get off of that bike!!

Not sure how I would have changed my nutrition. Force it? Hmmm..
No port-a-pots on the course either?? Maybe I would have drank more..

Did fine. Again, goal was to keep HR down and not rush. I accomplished this.

My first 3 miles, I felt great. I was running around 9:30 pace. I had to pee a little, but I didn't want to stop. Well, I hadn't drank enough on the bike and this is when it really started to show. I drank about 2-3 cups of fluid at probably 10 aid stations, walking through every one of them. Plus at mile 10, I finally stopped to pee. The wind took a lot out of me too.. I've improved enough as a runner that I think I could have done a 1/2 mary in 2:15, just not today.

Stick to my nutrition and hydration plan on the bike if possible. Pee.
Also, I need to do some longer bricks.. work on my stamina and muscular endurance.

Walked around a bit once I figured out what to do.. Felt woozy and light headed. Ate.. needed to lie down so we tore down my transition and went to room. I rested and then took a hot bath. Felt much better.


My nutrition and hydration on the bike.. or lack of..


This particular race was a first time race for the Rev3 series. I hope they send out a questionnaire for feedback because there was definitely some room for improvement. I'll leave it at that.

Overall, this was a great race. I was very happy with my performance for my first HIM. I felt like I was thoroughly and properly trained both physically and mentally. With my grandma's death this week and the stress of the lake, my nerves were shot, but I was able to focus and stay in the moment and not worry about anything else. I absolutely loved it and can't wait to do another one!! It was also great to meet so many great people too! Met Jonathan, David, our PBN guy, Brian, some pros.. our team T3 folks, all of our Lafayette Tri Tippe people.. It was a great weekend! Thanks to my brother and his family for coming over too. That was a huge relief and comfort for me!!