Rev3 Florida Race Recap Part II

If you missed Part I, you can find it here.

T2 (4:07)

Ok, so this was really long. Why? Because Rev3 has those awesome individual spots for your bike and your stuff. They are awesome until one of your fellow competitors is in too much of a hurry to put their bike in the right spot, and consequently everyone else has to put their bikes in the wrong place. I was tired, and not looking forward to the run, and just sort of staring around trying to figure out where the hell to rack my bike. A volunteer spotted me and ran over, and helped me shuffle some things so I had a place to rack. I squeezed in through the other bikes there and pulled on my shoes and grabbed the Honey Waffle waiting for me - I was starving!

Run (2:49)

My longest half marathon ever. Mentally, I was just done. I was so beat down from the windy bike and was absolutely appalled that I had to run a full half marathon. I just didn't want to do it. So I walked. And walked. Not even fast, just a slow, grumbly stroll. The run was a two loop course, with aid stations about every 1.5 miles. I just didn't want to do it though. I couldn't fathom doing the whole distance. So I shuffled a few times, jogged a couple times, and mainly felt like I was on a death march. The bright spot was getting to see E and a couple times, as well as the amazing volunteers. The ones located at the turnaround point were wonderful, sporting Halloween costumes and funky hats, and telling us about their wares like old school baseball game barkers ("Salt tabs! Gatoraide! Ice cold water! Get'em while they last!"). They were a nice bit of sunshine in my struggle.

Soon after starting on the run, I ate my waffle, downed a couple tylenol, and after realizing that I was positively coated in salt, a couple Endurolytes. I just wanted to feel like me - you know, the person who absolutely adores running. I duitifully kept to my nutrition plan of PowerBar gels every 30-35 minutes, and took water and Pepsi at most aid stations.

Yay, I'm done. Please take off my chip.

By lap two, I was ready to be done so I pushed myself to pick up the pace. My stride started to feel a little more normal, and I just kept setting goals for myself, like run from this orange cone to that one.

And finally, I finished, in 6:21. I know had I fought my mental barriers in the half marathon better, I would definitely have finished more quickly.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a great race. I really love the job that Rev3 does. Their events make everyone feel like family, and it's always a good time.

As far as the 70.3 distance goes...I'm not sure. I'm not in love with it. My original instinct is that I'm cut out for the Olympic distance, and that was my feeling when I finished.

I feel a little conflicted that with the swim cancellation, I didn't really get to cross this distance off my bucket list. So we'll see. At this point in time, no more 70.3s on the agenda, just Olympics and hopefully more Rev3 races next year.

Next on the list is the Jax Bank Marathon in mid-December. 

Oh yes, and we celebrated with a delicious post-race dinner. My choice? An Amberbock, fried shrimp and french fries.

Rev3Tri Florida Race Recap Part I

My first 70.3 was like everything and nothing that I expected! Since this race report is rather long, I've broken it up into two parts. Here is part the first!

Race Morning

By Saturday night, it was still up in the air as to whether we would swim, as at the athlete meeting Saturday afternoon, Rev3 told us they would keep us posted and make the final call at 5:30 a.m. race morning as to whether we could swim. Looking out at the churning Gulf, I was torn; I wanted to swim of course, but the surf was a little intense.

The alarm went off Sunday morning, and E and I were immediately checking social media to see if a call had been made on the swim. At 5:30 a.m. on the dot, Rev3 tweeted and Facebooked that the swim was cancelled, and that the race would feature a time trial start instead. While a lot of people griped about missing the swim, it was the smartest call they could make. It just wouldn't have been safe for folks out there.

Rev3 gives you temporary tattoos with your number instead of doing body marking with a marker like most races (which also eliminates a step once you get there in the morning). I also applied sunscreen. Tips for anyone gearing up for their first 70.3: Just because your tri top never rides up, don't assume that it will stay in place during the race. By that I mean, take a minute to perhaps make sure that you apply sunscreen to your lower back and make sure that you get most of your upper back. Because most of my pain in the couple days following the race is from the horrific sunburn I endured and less from any lingering muscle pain.

Because of this, the race started later than originally planned. It was decided that the pros would do a 1.5 mile run to start, and afterward, the Age Groupers would do a time trial start, in numerical order. We could wear socks and sunglasses, but otherwise had to act like we were going into T1.

I set up T1 like normal. Nutrition: Aero bottle with a nuun tab (mmm....lemon tea!), bottle of Hammer Perpetuem, and a PowerBar gel just in case. Otherwise, all the normal things were there. Rev3 has these nice individual boxes/racks for your bike and transition area, so no mat needed, and things stay neat.

T1 (1:43)

It was when everyone got in line that I realized by waiting until the last minute to sign up, I had put myself 1) at the back of the back (481 out of about 486) and also with all the guys. The line moved pretty quickly, but I knew I was at a disadvantage for the day if I went slow time-wise; there wouldn't be a lot of folks behind me. 

Overall, I was in and out relatively quickly.

Bike (3:28)

We had studied the course map the night before, and figured out where the worst of the wind would be. This turned out to be about miles 25 through 56. Yay. So the first 25 miles were awesome; an easy cruise with the wind at my back, with wonderful views of the Gulf, and big, shady oak trees overhead. It was lovely and peaceful.

Then, at mile 25, a left hand turn went directly into the wind. The next 31 miles were mostly headwind and crosswinds, 20 mile per hour wind speed with gusts up to 40 miles per hour. Doing most of my training on A1A has prepared me to ride in the wind. But not like this. Oh my god. It was ridiculous.

I made a point to stay on my nutrition, taking a swig of Perpetuem every 15-20 minutes. Overall, I haven't been a huge fan of having a liquid nutrition. I don't like not having exact amounts doled out in increments, like you would with a gel for example. However, I trained with this, and it does work. If I ever do a longer distance again, I'll probably do gels. For anything shorter, I would likely do Hammer Heed, which I like a lot. The other thing is that Perpetuem spoils after many hours, and that always worries me, though it's never been an issue.

But anyways. I drank my nuun-laced water, and felt pretty good. Aid stations were located at miles 15, 30 and 45, though I didn't take advantage until mile 45, when I grabbed a water bottle (first time ever doing that on the bike! Super proud of myself for not spazzing out and falling). 

By around mile 35, my legs were starting to ache. The problem with being in such a strong, sustained headwind is that it made it really difficult to tell what kind of effort you were putting out. It also made it difficult to tell how much I was sweating. It was on the cooler side out, but the sun was strong.

The course was overall really nice. Police and volunteers were everywhere, and the volunteers in particular were amazing. I never felt alone on the course, even when I couldn't see other riders, because there was always a volunteer, or even members of the local community, out there cheering me on.

I stayed pretty strong mentally against the wind. The only bad part was at about mile 54 when I knew I was almost done, and realized that there was a medium-sized bridge to be conquered. I can't tell you the number of nasty things I was saying to that bridge in my head. I was swearing a blue streak. It was just the very last thing I wanted to see at the moment! But it wasn't a large bridge, my legs were just tired and I was over the wind. I was rewarded on the other side with newly paved roads as smooth as butter.

Stay tuned for Part II!

Rev3 Florida 70.3 Eve

I'm now less than 24 hours until my first 70.3

We arrived yesterday afternoon, and went straight to packet pickup/check in/expo. The expo opened at 3 p.m., so we were one of the first ones to arrive, which was kind of nice, because there were no lines and no waiting. I love coming to Rev3 races; there is always such a sense of community, and it's great to see Charlie and Eric and the whole Rev3 family.

We checked in and I got my athlete wrist band, which will be my companion until after the race tomorrow, or until I decide to take it off. :)

Rev3 also does number temporary tattoos instead of body marking, which is something that I really like, so I look forward to putting those on in the morning. Our race swag included the Rev3 Florida HeadSweats visor, really nice Rev3-branded Blue Seventy goggles (with case!), some random coupons, Powerbar samples and a Muscle Milk sling bag.

We wandered around the expo a little bit, and then went to get the bikes. My drive train has been a little twitchy lately, and since I didn't have time to take it to my local bike shop before heading down, I wanted the race mechanic to take a look. Sure enough, I needed some adjustments, and they also pointed out that I have been riding with a chain that's a smidge too long for my bike, which is why my chain drops all the time. Looks like it's time for a replacement, which I'm due for anyway.

We hung out a little long while E got race wheels put on. He's renting the Reynolds 81s, and they are pretty sweet looking race wheels.

Waiting to get my picture taken for my finish line photo

Today we took a short swim in the hotel pool, then went for an equally short bike and run. The scary thing about today, and most definitely the race tomorrow, is the wind. The wind today is holding steady at about 20 mph, with gusts up to 30. If the race was today, there would be no swim. As it is, the practice swim scheduled for this morning was cancelled, as the water was way too rough. The forecast is calling for a drop in wind speeds tomorrow, but a rough surf is still in the works. We'll find out in the morning if they'll have to cancel the swim. As it is, I'm almost hoping they do, because the swim is against the current and the water looks incredibly rough, even by northeast Florida standards.

So wish me luck. The next time you hear from me, I'll have had my first 70.3 race experience!

7 Weeks....eek!

Seven weeks sounds like a long time, right? I thought so too. Until I was looking at my training plan last night and had a momentary panic attack realizing that I mostly have about 4 weeks of training left before I start peaking/tapering for the race.

This race felt so far away when we decided on it. The training period has felt infinitely long. And yet, not long enough. I lost a lot of time when I injured my knee, and while I feel like I made tremendous progress over the last training block, I'm still really nervous.

I did my first run of Build 1 last night, which was 3x8 minute intervals with a 15 minute warm up and a 10 minute cool down, with 2 minutes between each interval, and I felt great. It was a little cooler outside, a little breezy (amazing how much cooler things feel when the humidity is lower) and I knocked out the intervals, finishing the run feeling great. My legs are feeling it this morning, but in a good way. Looking forward to tonight's bike ride! If all goes according to plan, I'll actually be able to ride outside tonight!

Pumpkin Runs and Halloween Fun

I should have written this post yesterday when I was riding the high of my longest race to date, the Evergreen Pumpkin Run 10-Mile.  Today I'm a little cranky because it's Monday, but I'm still really stoked about my run.  I did it and I didn't die!  It was really, really nice.  Evergreen Cemetery is one of the oldest in Jacksonville, and exactly what you think of when you picture an old cemetery (or at least one in the South):  lots of hanging moss, towering oak trees, marble mausoleums and graves dating from the 1800s.  The run was a 10 mile or a 5k, starting at the same time and peeling off after the 5k.  The 10 mile route took you twice around the cemetery. 

1st Place Sports did a good job as usual with race setup.  They are one of the oldest (if not the oldest) running stores in town, and put on the majority of the big races.  They've got the formula down pretty well, so there is almost always plenty of water, post-run grub, mile markers and digital clocks, and this race was no exception.  This particular run has been going for a number of years, with this being the largest year yet, with around 1600 runners between the two distances.

Elton ran with me, which was really nice.  It was a beautiful morning, in the high sixties, which was the coolest we've had in a while.  Overall, it was just a great morning.  There are pumpkins everywhere, and post-race you can pick one to take home.  We got the bright idea of picking one up within the last two miles, since it wasn't that far.  Two miles seems a lot farther when you have a 13 pound pumpkin in your arms (we weighed it when we got home).  Elton was a trooper and carried it all the way across the finish line, so we had the prettiest pumpkin we saw out there.  It was a lot of fun to carve it and roast the seeds after we got it home, too! 

Overall, the distance and how I felt after made me feel totally ready for the half on Thanksgiving.  It also made me feel like I can do a marathon.  So that whole "seriously thinking about signing up for a marathon" just got a little more serious.