Rev3 Williamsburg Race Report

June 21st kicked off an awesome weekend for me. It was the inagural Rev3 Williamsburg triathlon. This race had been on my schedule since it was announced. Nothing like having a big event in my backdoor. 

Friday afternoon Oscar and I headed down to Williamsburg for the evening. Kirstin was going to meet us there when she was done working. We arrived around 3:30 and were greeted by my teammate Tara Martine. She took the awesome picture of Oscar and I.

I worked the Rev3 Booth with my other teammates and the best part was having the Biotta Juices tent next to ours. The beet juice is the bomb. Check out Laura's blog for a great article on beet juice and the athlete. Rev3 put on a team dinner which was fantastic. We hung out with the staff and other teammates and their families. After dinner, we headed to the Glow Run.

Oscar is the blur out front. Thanks Tara for the Picture

We headed home afterwards and prepared for Saturday. Great thing about a race in your back door is sleeping in your own bed. We kicked off the morning with the Rev3 Team Picture and swim. 

Afterwards we headed back to the expo and hung out till bike check in. 

Once it was time to check in my bike I headed over to T1. With this being a point to point race, T1 and T2 were not together. This was my first point to point race and I loved it. When I rolled into T1 the volunteer asked if he could take my bike and show me to my spot. I felt like I was at a wedding or something. I asked him if I had to tip him and he laughed. 

After checking in my bike and talking with friends, I went home to rest up for the day ahead. Got all of my thing layed out and put into the right bags. Set the alarm and went to bed early. Laying it bed I could hear rain on the sky light. One thought was running through my mind, the humidity is going to be high in the morning.

Race morning came early since I stayed at home. The alarm went off at 3:45 and I was out the door by 4:15. Opened the garage door and to my surprise, it was still raining. My cousin Stefanie and her husband Matt had came from Ohio for the race. Matt was racing the Olympic in preparation for his first HalfRev at Cedar Point later this year. They met me at the rest stop and followed me to the race. Along the way we picked up a hitch hiker, I mean teammate, Chis Garges. He was in town from Bethlehem, PA and though it was a good idea to let his family sleep in. Glad I could help out. 

The swim has always been my weakest leg. One off season I need to focus solely on swimming and get my act together. The swim kicked my ass! It was a river swim with a out, over and back in setup. I was in a bad place mentally after the first turn bouy. My lack of fitness was starting to show. After I hit the last turn bouy, I just kept telling myself to keep going. Since I decided to wear my wetsuit for the swim, I decided to remove the whole suit before I got to shore. Figured it was going to be easier to run the 1/8 mile to T1 without the suit on. Once I hit the shore, my mindset was to DNF. With everything I had been going through the last two months, I felt exhausted. Looked at my watch and was shocked at how long the swim took. One lady in the crowd yelled don't worry everyone's time is slow. This hit me like a ton of bricks. Started to run to T1 and was getting my wind back. Matt was coming out of the swim from the Olympic as I was coming in and we ran to T1 togther. Told him good luck on the bike and got refocused. 1.2 mile plus swim done.

Transition went well and off I went on the bike. Having lead two prerides on the course over the past two months, I knew what to expect. I started to settle into my groove and get my nutrition going. It was still over cast from the morning rain and this helped a lot. 

Saw many familiar faces on the bike. Coming in from the bike, I felt good. The sun was starting to shine through and I know the run was going to be a cooker. Got my last bit of nutrition on board. Thanks Powerbar for the awesome products!! Turned out to be a good bike split for me. 56 miles complete 

Came into T2 and found my race pretty easy. Oscar and Kirstin came running over to check on me. Told them I was good and gave O a high five and Kirstin a kiss. Started out steady on the run. Got a big grin seeing Magic Mike (John Stevenson) at the first aid station. Have to love my Rev3 teammates!

My run turned into a mental battle with myself. Just focused on keeping my legs going. It was great to see so many friends out on the run. This is one of the nice things about a two loop run course. Came back by T2 and saw my family and friends. Got some encouragement and headed out for lap two. At each aid station I grabbed two sponges, water and a cup of ice. Nothing cools the body down like dumping ice down your pants and into your jersey. Thanks to the awesome Pearl Izumi kits we have, the ice stays in place. 

Coming up the last hill, I took in the noise from the crowd. Looked for my family and grabbed my son's hand for the finish line shoot. I told him that we were going to finish this journey today together. 13.1 miles complete.

Looking back I learned a lot during the race that I will be able to use in future races. Was glad that my body cooperated and lasted for the whole day. Rev3 rocked another stellar event. Cannot wait to come back next year!



REV3 Quassy Race Report

Well, Quassy Olympic was going to be my first team race for 2013. With the mono situation still going on and my issues racing two weeks before had changed my outlook on this race. After talking with my doctor, coach and wife, it was decided that I would be better suited to just do the Olympic Aqua Bike at Quassy. I needed to look big picture and see how my body would react. With Rev3 Williamsburg half only three weeks away, I played it safe.

With the Olympic race being on Saturday, I decided it would be best to leave on Thursday to head to Connecticut. From Richmond it is only 425 to Middlebury, CT, but you have to deal with DC, Baltimore, Philly and NYC traffic. One of my Rev3 teammates, Chris Garges invited me to stay at his house Thursday night. I left Richmond around 12:30 and headed to PA with my on the go snacks.

Thanks Powerbar for keeping me fueled during my travels!

We would both drive from his house in Bethleham, PA  Friday morning over to the race site about 3 hours away. Once we arrived at the Heritage Hotel, we dropped our bags off and headed to the race site. The race site was really quite. Powerbar, Compex, Normatec and Biotta Juice were still getting their booths setup at the expo. Its amazing to think that all those empty bike racks will be filled in just a few hours.

REV3 Quassy Early Friday

Chris and I walked around for awhile. Talked to some teammates and asked if anyone needed help. We were gladly taken up on the offer and helped in packet pickup for the afternoon. Around 5:30 we need to get check in ourselves and rack our bikes for the day ahead. The team dinner was at 6pm, so we hustled to get our crap together. 

Race Morning

Alarm went off at 5am. I jumped in the shower really fast and then had a bananna, cliff bar and some water for breakfast. It was going to be a hot day and wanted to start on the hydration early. Arrived at the race site at 5:45. It was a short 10 minute drive from the hotel. Got all my bottles loaded onto my trusty stead and was ready to rock.

 With me doing the aqua bike, I was in the last swim wave. The first wave went off at 7am, but my wave did not start until 7:35 am. Since I had not been in my wetsuit in awhile, a warm up was in order. Chris, Jordan and I put on some Trislide and started to get our wetsuits on. I got in and did a 600m warm up. Told Chris good luck and waited for my wave. As I waited in the hot sun in my black wetsuit, I continued to go to the outdoor shower and put cold water down my suit.

Swim- 30:43
The horn sounded and off we went. I positioned myself to the right and had a good line to the first bouy. The sighting went well and I found some feet to draft off. Not much contact until I got to the turn bouy. The course was almost a triangle on it's point going clockwise. Once I made the turn, I was surprised immediately. I was sighting directly into the sun. Even with my mirrored Blue Seventy googles, I could not see the next sighting bouy. I picked out some swimmers and tried to follow them. When I heard a kayaker say left, I took a moment, treaded some water and looked hard for the bouy. Once locked back in, I got rolling. Lost all the feet to draft off. One final turn and no more sun glare. HTFU and got going again. Found some more feet and had the most contact of the swim on the way back in. Was happy with my swim until I started running towards transition. My left calf cramped.

Transition- 1:59
Got my wetsuit down to my waist on the run into transition. Could feel the cramp getting worse. Once I got to my bike, I had issues getting the wetsuit off from around my timing chip. Grabbed my glasses, helmet and was off.

Bike- 1:27:00
Went to do a flying mount and bam! The other calf cramps. Start out of the parking lot, hear Laura yell go Matt and off I went. It wasn't until I hit mile 2-3 that the legs loosened back up. I had driven the course on Friday and was glad I did. The course is either climbing or descending.


The course was humbling to say the least! I had some fun on the down hills to the tune of 47mph. It was the first time my aero helmet had started to lift off my head. I took two bottles with me on the bike. I was glad I did since the heat continued to rise. All and all I loved the course but was glad to be done on the downhill back into transition. The people were telling me to slow down, but I was flying. Got the feet out of my shoes, cruised in and perfect flying dismount. Race Complete!!

Post Race- 2:00:00 Finish Time
Talked with teammates and grabbed my finishers medal.

They had some Gatorade towels in ice water. It was the best feeling putting that towel across my back. Chris was at the finish. We chatted and I learned he took 2nd in his age group. Pulled out my phone and looked at the results. This is the best thing with Rev3, live results. Turns out I took second place overall in the male aqua bike. missed first place by 45 seconds. Now the mind starts to replay the race and where I could have got a minute faster. The joys of racing. The coolest thing was the finishers medals and how they messed with the award medals. When you put them together, you get this bad ass piece!

            Big THANKS goes out the the Rev3 crew, all the volunteers, my coach Bob Flanigan at CVE and my teammates. It was great to see everyone. Cannot wait until Rev3 Williamsburg in 3 weeks. I should be back in the run game by then.