Inaugural REV3 Williamsburg Olympic Race Report

Awesome finish line setup!

As many people know, my race season has been turned upside down by a tragedy in my family.  I’ve been solely focused on my three young daughters and making sure they “survive and thrive”.  My training has not been consistent through the past few months, but it’s getting there as I find some more normalcy and balance in my life.  Given all that, I was excited to travel to this inaugural REV3 race and be with my supportive Team REV3 teammates!  There was no taper here and no expectations besides try to rekindle my tri passion and finish.  Coming off a family vacation in Tahoe where I pr’d a hard windy 72mi ride around Lake Tahoe, I wasn’t sure how my legs would feel.  I need to give huge props to NormaTec here, as my boots were a huge help in recovering from that effort!

Team REV3 Peeps!

Personalized race nameplates!

It was great seeing so many friendly faces at the expo on Friday and Saturday.  After getting fitted on my QR rental by Alex and the REV3 crew and dropping it off at T1, I went back to hotel to relax.  The fit was a snap, as I just brought my Retul numbers! My brother in law Steve drove down from Potomac to see me race.  We grabbed an early dinner on Saturday before crashing early for the early morning wake up call.

Ready for my first race of the year!

Sweet pic of pro race swim start!

Swim Leg(0.90mi):  30:49, exited 12th in Age Group and 85th overall out of approx 500

The swim took place on the James river near the historic Jamestown Island.  After taking the bus from T2 to T1 earlier and setting up in the rain, it was nice to have the skies open up for us before the swim start.  I was able to mingle with a few fellow Team REV3 peeps as we waited to start.  There was a slight delay in the overall start due to some parking issues resulting in the switching the entrance/exit of T1.  When they were ready, the Pro’s sprinted into the water.  I was glad to have the pros and other waves go off before me, as they quickly discovered that you could run/walk to the first buoy about 100yds out.   In watching those earlier waves, it also became evident that there was a strong current pulling the athletes to the left.  That was a helpful piece of info as well.  Once my Oly wave was off, I quickly found my groove aiming for that first turn buoy.  I was able to sight well to that turn and then headed directly into the current for the long straightaway before the turn buoy to the finish.  I felt ok in the water and just kept fighting the current.  Unfortunately swimming is were I’ve lacked the most consistent training the past few months and I definitely felt it.  Regardless, I was happy to finish in just over 30min and then I sprinted the .25mi run up to T1.

Loved my QR Di2 rocket!

Bike Leg(24mi):  1:07.15 (21.41 mph avg), maintained 12th in Age group and improved overall to 68th

Strava link:   http://app.strava.com/activities/62335590

Last year I rented a nice QR from REV3 at Maine and loved the experience.  I’m hesitant to bring my Kestrel on connecting flights, especially when not traveling to an “A” race.  If you ever have these concerns, look into the REV3 QR Rental program.  You don’t have to go with the high end Di2, but I did to further play with this new toy.  I’m now sold on Di2 and I hope pricing continues to come down so I can rewire my bike for 2014!

I love this bike course and was in aero the whole time!  Only once did I even need to drop down into my small ring.  Having just hammered around Lake Tahoe on Wednesday, this was the perfect course for me!  I successfully dropped from 85th out of the swim to 68th out there on the bike, so I was doing something right.  I did have my Team REV3 and last years Vegas champs buddy, Maggie fly by me like I was standing still though.  I tried to no avail at first to hang on for dear life behind her (not drafting of course) and then just struggled to just keep her in view!

Solid numbers from my bike leg

What was interesting for me on this bike was my lack of data.  I had forgotten my Garmin aero bar connector and had to ride blind with my garmin in my pocket.  Overall I was very pleased with my fastest bike split ever, but know looking at hr data after that I had more to give 🙂

Run (6.2mi):  45:48 (7:32/mi avg pace), Finished 12th in age group and picked up ten more spots to finish 57th overall!

Strava link:  http://app.strava.com/activities/62757142/overview

Psyched with my solid run!

The run course is mainly on the college of William and Mary and is definitely a challenging leg.  The first two miles were fairly easy as I settled into a nice pace.  Mile two started with a nasty little climb on the outskirts of the College.  The great news was the turn around was at the top and then you could recover on the downhill.  The next few miles were fairly easy and I started to ratchet up my pace to help my avg pace.  The finish line route was a bit disheartening though, as you passed the finish shoot to then go out another .40mi downhill before the final turn around.  Over those last few miles I was working out times in my head and knew if I help sun 7:40’s that I would break 2:30 for a new PR.  That drive helped me finish strong uphill for the PR!  I was ecstatic that I PR’d my first race back and felt great doing so!

REV3 continued to own best race medal award here!

Overall: 2:29:13 for 12th in age group and 57th overall out of approx 500!

Overall I’m excited to have participated in the inaugural race with a new Olympic distance PR by almost 2 minutes.  It was a great way to ease back into racing and also to see many of my Team REV3/Powerbar Team Elite peeps.  Next up for me is my favorite race in Vineman 70.3 on July 14th.  This was a great confidence building and I hope to keep up my training consistency up to then.  After that is Maine REV3 and I’m up in the air on if I race the oly or the half.

A few of my Team REV3 peeps!

Top pro woman Kelly Williamson showing great emotion at finish!