Rev3 Race Report

The first B race of the year was June 4th at Rev3.  Unlike in 2010, this was not the focus race for the first part of the year as I chose to focus on Providence 70.3.  Instead, this was a priority training race where I was hoping to better my times from last year.  Going into the race I had a setback with my run training after Shamrock.  In the two weeks in-between I only got in 2 shorts runs and cancelled a planned 5k on Memorial Day to ensure I hit Rev3 ready to run.

 

This year’s race had very different weather than last year with much cooler temperatures and a bit of a headwind on the second half of the bike.

 

Swim – 1500 meters – 32:00, 1:57/100y (2010 – 28:44, 1:45/100y)

Swim start:

I lined up on the inside hoping to cut inside the first buoy on my way to the first right turn.  Had a good start and felt like I was holding a pretty good pace.

However, on the last leg I made a bit of a mess of picking the right line.  I tried to swim straight at the swim exit from the orange buoy.  What I forgot was there was a dock and a line of buoys (in yellow below).  So I swam a line roughly like the green one below.  Although it bypasses a directional buoy the faster line is clearly the red line.  This cost me a bunch of time and led to a really slow swim, more than 3 minutes slower than last year.  This is something to remember for next time, although spotting the dock while swimming is tough. 

Nearing the end, in the blue cap:

Disgusted with swim split:

 

Time to get my hustle on:

T1 – 3:13 (2010 – 2:35)

Good news here as I was 45 seconds faster than last year.

 

Bike – 25.68 miles – 1:21:43, 18.86 mph (2010 – 1:24:54, 18.23 mph)

Had a much faster bike split than last year, at a lower average heart rate so I was pleased with the bike.   The course is very hilly, so while the average speed doesn’t seem very high it was a top 25% overall split.  I also passed 1/3 of the people who came out of the water in front of me.  Unfortunately the only picture from the bike is coming out of T1:

T2 – 1:17 (2010 – 1:27)

Again, slightly faster than 2010.

 

Run – 6.2 miles – 53:54, 8:40/mile (2010 – 58:44, 9:28/mile)

I wasn’t sure how I would fare on the run with minimal training the two week’s prior to the race.  The first part of the run is slightly downhill for the first 2 miles.  My first mile was very quick at about 7:37.  I figured I would take advantage of the downhill while I could, as it gets very hilly at the 2 mile mark.  Despite a quick bathroom stop I still managed a 8:14 second mile.  The third mile gains 150 feet in 4/10 of a mile before heading back downhill.  I still managed to keep a 9:08 pace.

 

Then it gets nasty.  Another 170 foot hill in the 4th mile.  This slowed me down to a 9:32 pace and I even had to walk a few steps on the steepest section, something I didn’t have to do in 2010.  The fifth mile starts with a steep downhill (below, left) and then keeps heading down at a gradual rate.  I got back on track here with a 8:04 fifth mile.  Then in the 6th mile it’s one last 120 foot hill to the finish.  Pushed hard up this hill to get a 8:58 mile.  Then coming off the hill its 1/4 mile to the line.  I had some guys hot on my heels (below, right) and I really pushed it hard to the line, averaging 6:35 pace in the last quarter mile.

Just before the final turn to the finish:

Trying not to stumble down the dirt path:

Done:   

 

 

Although my time was better than last year, the % results were actually slightly worse.  Last year I was top 55% age group and top 34% overall.  I think a lot of people are bringing their A game to this race and now in it’s third year people are probably getting more familiar with the hill training required to do well here.

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Place	%	Overall Place	%
# Entries				60		539
Swim	32:00	1500 meters	1:57/100yd	51	85%	352	65%
T1	3:13			45	75%	n/a
Bike	1:21:43	25.68 miles	18.86 mph	26	43%	136	25%
T2	1:17			11	18%	n/a
Run	25:14	6.2 miles	8:40/mile	45	75%	267	50%
Total	2:52:07			40	67%	205	38%

 

This chart shows 2011 as the base line in red.  The 2010 line in blue shows the massive time loss on the swim and the faster other phases leading to a faster time overall.