Rev3 Anderson - Half Rev - Triathlon

I can't figure out the Rev3 swim time. It lists the above time as my split, but then adds in Corral time and gives me over a 39 minute swim, for some reason. 37 is what I swam it in, even by Garmin backed that up, so that's the number I'm going with.

Not a lot; I made an effort to work hard on this swim, and I was happy with my performance. I'm especially happy with my progression over this year.

I threw my stupid goggles down...just like last year! I'd only had them two days!!! I just lose track of all the stuff when I have to take my wetsuit off and pack it up. Overall, I'm happy with the transition time. I tried to be efficient, but take enough time to not screw anything up.

Hold onto my goggles!

Good lord, there were some fast people at this race! My goal for this race was twofold: get through the bike feeling ok, and following my nutrition plan: three one-hour Perpetuem bottles, 1/3 of a bottle every 20 minutes. I nailed both of those, so I'm happy.
The first few miles are straight uphill, but all those crazy-fast disc wheel freaks of nature were out of the saddle just blowing by me. Seriously, I've never been passed so many times in a race, just time after time, people came flying by. I didn't care all that much, either I would catch them later, or they were too fast. Either way, it would be worked out later.
About 10 miles in, I think, I witnessed a crazy incident: a cyclist was a few seconds in front of me, when a crappy old RV just pulled out into the road...right in front of him. He had no choice but to fly off the left side of the road, and I mean fly: he must have launched 10 feet through the air. I stopped to make sure he was ok, and it seemed like he was, although he was a little worried he might have broken his disc wheel. I stayed long enough to make sure he seemed physically ok, then wished him luck and continued riding. I really hope something terrible happened to the driver of that RV; he clearly saw us, clearly saw what he did, and just kept on driving.
The rest of the ride was pretty simple: pedal uphill as fast as my HR would allow, then try to get enough speed downhill to get up the next. Seriously, this course was ALL downhill or up. It made Louisville look flat. I feel like I handled it well enough, and wouldn't do things differently. I nailed my nutrition, kept a good HR, and got off the bike feeling pretty good, overall.

Invent a time machine, travel back in time, meet the parents of that RV driver, and slap them for the terrible job they would raising their child with terrible decision-making skills.

I got off the bike, and took a little extra time to dry off, especially my feet, and then I put on a new pair of socks. I got my race belt on, shoes on, visor on, and was off.

Nothing I can think of

The course was two loops, and right from the start it went up a steep hill, which set the precedent for the entire course. It was just like the bike: push uphill as much as my HR would allow, and then try to make up some time going down. I handled the aid stations well: on the first loop I went with Gatorade to drink, and water on the head. On the 2nd loop, they offered Coke, so I took that and kept up the water on the head, which worked well. I also took a PowerGel at the one-hour mark, which I carried and though I'd try. I seemed to tolerate it well.The first loop felt OK, I could've gone faster, but I knew that this was not a Sprint or Olympic race, so I held back, and I'm glad I did! I felt good about my pace, for the most part, and hoped to speed up some for the 2nd loop.
Well, I couldn't speed up...those hills were killers! I didn't slow down too badly, at most a 1'/mile, or so, but I wanted to go faster. I talked with Nate afterward, and we both felt the same way: I felt like my "engine" could've gone harder, but my legs just didn't have any more speed in them. I kept pushing, trying to keep my HR up, and watched my pace/time. I decided in the last 5 miles that my goal would be a sub-2:00 run split. I knew I'd be happy with that, so I worked to keep my pace up and ticked off the miles. I got to the last mile and knew that I had plenty of time to get my sub 2-hour finish, and felt pretty happy. The finish line was great, the people cheering was just enough to help you push through. I ran through, gladly took my medal and a cold, wet towel (a great idea) and then started pounding cookies and chips! This was a challenging run, and I'm please with how I performed.

Not much I can think of, I could've gone harder on the first loop, but would have really paid for it later. I made the right choice holding back.

Wet towel, cookies, chips, and a turkey sandwich. Nate mentioned he went to the med tent, just in case, and I thought that he had a great idea, so I got my blood pressure checked: 110/70, which is right at normal, so that was good to find out.


Basically, I need to be able to hold like 400 watts an hour on the bike to be competitive in this race. Seriously, though, I am happy with how I did. I cut 16 minutes off my 70.3 since Raleigh, and it was a harder course than Raleigh. I can't help it that this was the USAT National Long Course Championship race and everyone there had the quads of a sumo wrestler. I exceeded my personal expectations.


I'd give this race a 5, except that Nate and I were talking afterward about how difficult it was. Leaving the race, there were lots of people still walking to finish the course: let me repeat, this is a tough course. Nate and I both agree that for a run-of-the-mill triathlete, this is a killer, especially if it was your first Half-Iron race. The times look spectacular because of the caliber of athlete competing, but for Joe and Jane Triathlete, train for hills! It's definitely not a bad course, just challenging.