Rev3 Quassy - Half Rev - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Middlebury, Connecticut
United States
Revolution 3
Sunny
Total Time = 6h 50m 29s
Overall Rank = 522/625
Age Group = m40-44
Age Group Rank = 124/649
Pre-race routine:

Pre-race stared on Friday with a practice swim in the afternoon. Drove back and forth since we lived about an hour away...wasn't too bad. Also put on the race wheels...finally...rented a set of zipp 808 and they came with cork brake pads...switched back and forth and finally went with the cork. After the practice swim in very choppy water for a lake (gust to 30 mph) did a quick spin on the bike and everything seemed set to go. Saturday was just running around with me and the kids and then it was off to bike check in. I usually have the race mechanics do a quick tune up by forgo that since the wait was so long. Back home and to bed early, restless night of sleep until the alarm went ff at 3:15am. Up and dressed and out of the house by 3:50 and to Dunkin Doughnuts..pre-race routine for my coffee. I was wearing my timing chip on my wrist so I wonder if the guy there thought I was on some home release program. :) he did not look like a person that does tri's. Got the the venue perfectly, no traffic at 4am. great spot and the sun was coming up. Took my time getting things all put together, saying hi to friends and wishing a few folks good luck.
Event warmup:

Went down to the beach and did a quick swim out to the first buoy and back. no chop this time and the water felt great. I love swimming in that lake! Always interesting to warm up swim since you have everybody going in every direction.
Swim
  • 40m 51s
  • 2310 yards
  • 01m 46s / 100 yards
Comments:

I actually PR'ed the swim as compared to the RI 70.3 in 2010. Still am a slow swimmer but it felt good to not get run over by folks and with a bit more open water time I think I'll have the confidence to swim faster....had to stop once to clean the fog out of the goggles, cause I couldn't see a darn thing looking into the sun. was in traffic most of the time and dealt with that well.
What would you do differently?:

Need to just get more experience in the open water so I can set a good pace for myself. I think I left a lot out in that lake....plus form work. The masters Swim has definitely helped me a lot...
Transition 1
  • 02m 14s
Comments:

nothing spectacular here...just a long run UPHILL...would be the trend of the day.
What would you do differently?:

felt good about T1
Bike
  • 3h 19m 32s
  • 56 miles
  • 16.84 mile/hr
Comments:

UPHILL UPHILL UPHILL, wow there is a large high in the middle of the course. Started at 22.4 mi at 352ft and ended at 31.1 miles and 1201ft. To put it another way... I made it mile 22.4 in 1:10 minutes, it then took me 38 minutes to go up that hill! Totally killing my overall pace.

I wasn't really into those cork pads...hard to go fast when you don't trust your brakes. Only had two mishaps during the bike, once going UPHILL, of course, a person in front popped chain and a shifted wrong bringing me to a stop and a quick bail. Then I later popped my chain but was able to recover very quickly.

Considering this course had more than 1000 feet additional elevation change over RI 70.3, and I finished RI in 3:01...I feel good and almost consider this a PR.
What would you do differently?:

Need to just get a set of wheels so that I can get them tuned to my bike and comfortable using them. This is the first time I didn't feel very comfortable with the wheels. I usually get 1080 but for this race the 808 were the set...these were FAST wheels!
Transition 2
  • 02m 55s
Comments:

Didn't really rush... :( all the UPHILL was starting to take its toll
What would you do differently?:

rush
Run
  • 2h 44m 56s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 12m 35s  min/mile
Comments:

The plan for the run was to treat it like a long training run...heart rate zone 3 and to just not re-injury the shin splints. Having blasted them away at the Phoenix 26.2 in Jan, I did not want to repeat and then have to sit on the sidelines for another 4 months...with NYC 26.2 coming up in Nov.

Training runs are only up to 4 miles 3x a week so I knew that I was not in a condition to run a 13.1 race....

Stuck to my plan...and as painful as it was just let people go by and ran my race. Got lots of encouragement but hard to explain my personal goal for the run so just said thanks and keep up what I was doing.

Saw Rinny as she was just about to finish...exchanged a quick wave as we passed....what a class act! I love racing with the pro's...
What would you do differently?:

I should be back to a good half distance pace in a couple months. I am really focusing, during this recovery to run in Zone 3 to help prevent injury and to build a better cardio engine.

Its too bad that this race just wasn't going to be my race to run or my performance would have been better. It was so hard to see all those people just pass me by. So if you are reading this and remember the Team Blazeman uniform....now you know the rest of the story.
Post race
Warm down:

Actually connected with the kids finally. Had thought about the finish line and if I would roll or not. Decided to forgo the roll since I've never been able to cross with my kids before. Afterwards the kids want to go back to the rides so I let the wife and kids go and just hung out a bit and got some food. Didn't really rush the eating. :) So glad my wife made it to the race. Really means a lot to have all the family there! No exchanging the support they give!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Having a consistent set of wheels would have helped a lot on the parts that were downhill. :) no confidence in the brakes really limited my speeds, however I still had a max speed of 38.5 mph which was faster than my max speed in RI. Saw people whizzing by me so can only imagine how fast they were going on those downhills. Of course the faster downhill just meant you got to the uphill sooner. :)

Event comments:

I challenge anyone to find a 70.3 race that is harder on the East Coast than this race. Incredible Pro field, excellent location. but at over 12,000 ft of elevation change...there is no hiding on this course.




Last updated: 2011-06-05 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:40:51 | 2310 yards | 01m 46s / 100yards
Age Group: 103/649
Overall: 433/625
Performance: Good
Suit:
Course:
Start type: Run Plus:
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Below average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 02:14
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
03:19:32 | 56 miles | 16.84 mile/hr
Age Group: 103/649
Overall: 433/625
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: UPHILL, I dont care what Garmin says it was 5502 feet up and 5520 feet down...but it felt like only up all the time
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 71
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 02:55
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Average
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
02:44:56 | 13.1 miles | 12m 35s  min/mile
Age Group: 124/649
Overall: 522/625
Performance: Below average
Course: UPHILL! Garmin says over 6700 feet (compared to 3600 feet at RI 70.3) and that is not including a 3/4 mile section in which the garmin turned off...and that was uphill
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5