So it’s been almost 3 weeks since the race .. I was kinda waiting to write about until the high of it wore off but it hasn’t it’s still giving me strength and something to fall back on it was hands down the race of my life...
Let me back up Rev3 Quassy to me has had a special aura to it - it was “THE” race at least in this area - I think Rinny actually once refered to it as her 70.3 World Championships. So last year when I was looking for my first half I travel all the way to NH because I didn’t not feel I was worthy to race at Quassy - this year was a different story.
To add a little bit of pressure I had the honor of joining the Pacific Swim Bike Run Elite racing teem just he week before the race - I was really exited to be part of a team - because community is one of the things I’ve been missing out on a bit given that Team EC is based out of Atlanta - so that was about to change.
I was super excited about race weekend not only was this to be my benchmark race to see how training was coming for Lake Placid. I was going to be racing with my friend Lisa who is doing IM NYC and my coaches husband was flying up Michael, who is also doing IM LP so all around it was going to be a great weekend.
I pick Michael up at the airport on Friday afternoon and on Saturday we had a nice breakfast at home before heading to the race site to drop off bikes and do our pre-race brick a quick swim - the water temp was perfect and then a short bike and run - legs felt a little sleepy but I think is normal the day before such a big race - the most important thing was that they would be awake the next morning.
I felt oddly calm - normally I am an emotional wreck before races but for some reason I just wasn’t - we had a great meal at home Saturday night and got to bed just around 9pm - and I actually slept which again I think was a first for me before a race.
So this is how race day went down:
Quassy Rev3 - Middlebury, CT
Results: swim 0:36:32 T1 1:54 bike 3:01:12 T2 1:35 run 1:38:53 total 5:20:00
Age Group Finish 3/54
Pre-Race:
Sunday morning - it was up at 3:30 - I like to take my time in the mornings - made myself a nice bowl of oatmeal with banana and almond butter and packed up my bottles then around 4:45 we headed out to the race site which was about a 50 min drive.
After setting up transition I had another bonk breaker ( love those things ) and a banana about 20 min before swim start probably more than I have ever eaten before a race.
Warm - Up:
We were not allowed in the water to warm-up until 5d min before our start time - didn’t really do much warming up at all
Swim:
I decided to start on the far right an the front - to just get out there - we were starting with the 30-34 mean which was pretty scary to me and a first but I decided to not let that scare and just try to sprint the first couple 100 yards and find my spot the plan worked out great. Honestly I could not find my grove in the swim I kept feeling distracted thinking about everything and anything just not racing and swimming strong which the results show I was really hoping for much more of an improvement in my swim to last year - but that is just no how I was swimming.
T1:
The run to transition was over sand and gravel which was not so pleasant but all in all everything went really smoothly and I was happy to see that most bikes were still wracked around me so the swim wasn’t terrible...
Bike :
The bike course has a reputation of being very hilly - I had been out on it several times before the race - the home field advantage of only living 20 miles away so I knew exactly what I was in for and what to expect.
This was my first race using my power numbers and zones to race on - and the one thing I kept telling myself over and over was - stick to your zones - just let the hammer heads go they will pay for it later and that is exactly what I did. All in all I was happy with the bike - I know personally it’s the one area I want to work on most I believe that the bike is my strong point and I would really like to improve on my current ability and get my power numbers up.
T2
The disaster of T2 - so I have gotten in the habit of not wearing socks on the bike and doing flying mounts and dismounts but I have this special talent of dropping my chain now and again well coming up the last hill and just starting to roll into T2 I down shifted so I could prepare to get my feet out of my shoes and yup my chain drops so I manage to roll just into the drive way leading into T2
So not ideal - the other downside to this was that normally once my feet are on my shoes it gives me a couple seconds to brush any dirt stuck to the bottom of my feet which now I couldn’t so much time was added in T2 to wipe off my feet before putting socks and shoes on for the run but off I went.
Run
So this is where the day became truly magical for me from the moment I started moving my legs I knew something was very different they felt light and easy and just like running is what they wanted to be doing - it helps that the first mile out of T2 is a slight downhill I still could not believe my eyes when I saw 6:50 for the first mile - I just kept thinking to myself don’t get to excited just keep sticking to your plan just keep an eye on your HR and pace and you got this step for step - I have to say after the first 3 miles the course got pretty unforgiving at mile 5 it almost had worn me down when I see this guy on his bike riding towards with a big smile on his face - it was my friends Andrew’s coach Cliff - who is also the one who just recently I had been to for my LT and Vo2 max testing and who’s zones I was sticking to - he showed up just at the perfect time - and hearing him say “ you are flying, you look amazing - you are defiantly at the top of your age group and the only one really running keep it up - it’s downhill from here and just a slight bump in the road at mile 12” it was also right around that point that my legs took over and just started running in a way that I had never felt before and nothing was going to stop them they had a life of their own - totally amazing - granted that mile 12 was no bump in the road and I’m still having nightmares about it - once across the line I could not take another step my legs were done every part of me had been left out on the course and yet I had never felt stronger and that made this the race of my life so far.
Now it’s back to work for one more training block and then we head to Lake Placid for my first dance with the Ironman.....