Monday, June 07, 2010

REV3...Nasty!

Total Time: 07:00:42

Swim:   00:44:58    age group:  15/27
Bike:     03:35:39    age group:  13/27
Run:      02:32:32    age group:  14/27


Okay, let me just start by telling you guys who are about to do Lake Placid that Rev3 was a lot more difficult than what you'll encounter in the Adirondacks. This race was just plain nasty!

Here's how it went for me.

I was awakened by our dog a bit earlier than I wanted. Boys forgot to put her in the crate before they went to bed so she was up at 3:00 a.m. barking and wondering why no one had taken care of her. Once my brain was awakened, the butterflies began to do their work on my stomach and my nerves. Got out of bed at 4:00 a.m., dressed immediately, drank coffee, ate oatmeal, couple of nuts, a Chobani and a string cheese I think — don't remember exactly... We got to the race site a little later than I wanted. The sky looked threatening which added to my nerves. We had a kayak atop the car and it was making this irritating buzzing noise. Dave had volunteered to be out on the water for the swim — which was great — but I needed him to help me with my gear and get stuff I didn't need back to the car. I just wasn't that organized so I needed more assistance than usual. I like to keep things simple and, in order to do simple, you have to be organized — and I wasn't.

First order of business — pump the tires up. Next, secure the aerodrink, attach the bento box and load up 11 GUs, attach the salt stick dispenser, water bottle on the down tube, one in the rear rack, fill the aero bottle with water. Helmet. Check. Glasses for bike. Check. Bike shoes. Check. Running Shoes. Check. Sunglasses for the run. Check. Race belt and number. Check. Goggles. Check. Wetsuit. Check. Cap. Check. Okay, I'm quite near-sighted so at some point I have to leave my glasses behind and leave all other eyewear in place in transition before I head to the loo and down to the water. I have prescription goggles that are awesome, but I have to wear them to walk around before the swim which makes me look like a total dork. My worst nightmare is to arrive at transition after the swim to find that someone has stomped all over my prescription cycling glasses! It hasn't happened yet, so all good.

Meet some team mates for the first time. Check. Team picture. Check. Really great to meet everyone and say hi!

Down to the water to put on the wetsuit and await my wave start. Dave is out there somewhere in a kayak. I miss seeing him right before the start, but I know I'll see him later — or sooner.

It got hot standing on the beach in a full sleeve wetsuit. First mistake was to not have water to sip on while waiting for our wave -- the last one -- to go. The wait seemed longer than usual and this made me nervous which, in turn, made me thirsty.

Finally, the oldsters were called into the corral. This after being scolded by the race director for not being quiet and following directions about how to properly enter the corral. Some of us giggled a little, but this was indeed serious business. Everyone that goes in must be accounted for so that they know that everyone comes out. Come on people, grow up!

I hung to the back a little. The horn sounded and we were off. I felt good in the water. Got my breathing under control pretty much right away. Found space to swim in pretty quickly and probably because the pack pretty quickly left me behind. Sighted well as the buoys were to our right and we swam counter-clockwise. Good, steady effort. I'd have liked to have done about 40 minutes, but I'm okay with the 44 and change.

Top half of the wetsuit off on the way to transition. Plopped myself down on the ground at my bike to get the bottom half off. Last foot wouldn't come out. Sat there and struggle with it for like 90 seconds. Nice guy on the other side of the fence tried to talk me through it. "Just relax," he said. "It'll come right off if you just take it easy" Umm. Yah, its a freakin' race!! Finally, he grabbed hold of it and yanked it off! My new BFF!! Pretty much exhausted after that, but figured I should press on.

Got the bike together and trotted out of transition. There were not too many other bikes hanging around. I knew I had to giddy-up to regain at least a small shread of respect. Saw Max and posed for a close up before mounting my bike and heading out. I do love riding my bike! My plan was to do a GU every 20 minutes with water and 1 saltstick capsule every 30 minutes. It was hot and steamy getting on the bike so I started with the salt at 10 minutes in and did those at :10 and :50 on every hour. GUs were at :20, :40, 1:00. I drained my aerodrink just before the first aid station. They were out of water!! No problem. I emptied the bottle on the down tube into the aerodrink and that got me through to the next. At aid station 2, I refilled the aerodrink. I believe I did this at least one more time. So I drank about 4 aerodrink bottles of water. I did not touch the bottle in rear rack. I got a nasty cramp on my right side under my ribcage that lasted for about 40 minutes. This happens a lot. Like Christina, I may have drank too much water. I executed the GU and salt very well.

I can't say I didn't enjoy this bike course. It was very challenging. Had some awesome downhills and great scenery. It was tough though. Very unrelenting. No easy parts. Just 56 miles of hard work. I had hoped for about 3:20. I'm not unhappy with my bike split. I would have liked to have averaged at least 16 mph though. I've got better bike dangit!!

On to the run. Oy. Really...? Screaming into transition. There was Dave as I biked in. Always motivating. Just took too long getting into the shoes, hat on, race belt and number. Should have put more sunscreen on — I got burnt.  On the way out, I had to hit the can. Peed heartily so clearly I drank enough, if not too much water. Ran by Max and then Dave. I felt good for about 5 minutes and then I was feeling the heat and humidity and wondering how quickly there'd be an aid station. The only nutrition I had on me was a couple of GUs and the saltsick loaded with 6 capsules. I tried to stay on them, but they eventually got wet and the device was useless. I pretty much struggled through the entire run. Started immediately with Coke (it was Pepsi actually) and water at the stations. This may have been a mistake. Might have been better off with GU and water and then Coke and water every other and not sure why I didn't do this. 

The run was just plain difficult. The course is just ridiculously difficult. It just went up and up and up. Made it difficult to get into any kind of sustainable running rhythm. I had a nasty spasm happening in my lower back that developed at some point during the run. Been struggling with a tweaked muscle or tendon in my lower back or glute or something that connects my butt to my leg on the left side and it was really talking to me on the run. It felt better when I ran and hurt quite a bit when I walked.  When I swing my left leg out in front of me, its tight and a bit painful so its limiting my stride in an uncomfortable way. I basically did a walk run the entire way. I bonded with a guy who was having an equally rough time and we leap frogged each other for several miles. He was quite entertaining. Finally came down off the freaking mountain around mile 10 and onto the bike path to finish the last 5K. Dave was there and that was a huge lift to my waning enthusiasm. I ran here. Like I was an actual runner. It felt good. It didn't last long... 

The last 3 miles... oh boy. I pretty much hit the wall. Was starting to feel dizzy and out of sorts. Just survival at this point. Once we came up out of that dark cave of a road at the end and I could hear the finish, I did manage a nice little kick to run down the chute and across the finish line. Almost fell into the guy taking off my timing chip.

I'm not unhappy with the results of this race. It was the most difficult course I have yet encountered. I may have to do it again next year... my biggest regret is that I couldn't shave off a minute or two so that that first number in my finish time could be a six rather than a seven... by far the worst HIM time I've posted yet. However, given that I was 14 of 27 in my age group — this is fairly decent relative result...

WOD: 3 sets of 12 each: bench press (30#), push ups, KB swings (20#), pull ups, hip extensions, sit ups

I also rode my road bike for about 45 minutes super easy and light on the pedals just to loosen things up before the strength training.

NOTE: Hip Extensions actually helped the back/glute thing feel better.

6 comments:

  1. Well done Pam on what sounds like an incredibly difficult course

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  2. Wow where was this race? Seems like you did great....Seems like it was tough. What an accomplishment!

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  3. Nice! Amazing...

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  4. Great right up Pam. It was really fun to see you on the run a few times, even knowing you were way ahead of me. Relentless is my new favorite word - it never stopped on Sunday!

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  5. Nice job battling Pam. You guys are inspiring me. I thought of a quote by Lance Armstrong during the race "Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever" Way to go!

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  6. a great race report and congrats on sticking to it through the race. I love when you said. I was running like an actual runner! seriously nice work.

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