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 Swim
Comments: no swim  Transition 1
Comments: This would be a fantastic time if we actually swam. Since we didn't, I guess this is so-so.  Bike
Comments: The first 15 miles or so were great - we had a tailwind most of the time. After that, it was pretty much all headwind or crosswind/headwind until the last mile when we got the tailwind again. We had 4 draw bridges to cross. They were not big bridges, but you had to be careful with the metal grate. There were plans to cover the grates with carpet, but the wind would not allow it. On the second drawbridge, I got hit with a huge crosswind that pushed me almost over the bridge! Thankfully, I was near the bottom of the bridge, so I wouldn't have fallen too far :) Also, if I had been at the top of the bridge when that gust hit, I'm not sure what would have happened. It was a bit scary. A lot of the ride was on busy streets and the roads were not closed. It wasn't too bad, however, as the police were at all the intersections controlling traffic and there were bike lanes. At an intersection at about mile 20, things were a little messed up as there was an accident. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but there was a man lying flat on his back in the road and a cyclist standing over her bike. After the race I heard that the man was someone on one of those motorized scooters who apparently did not pay attention and rode into the road in front of the cyclist. I didn't hear how they both were. My plan for the wind was to keep the chain on the big chain ring, but to otherwise just try to spin easily. I did not want to force the issue and completely destroy myself for the run. I think this worked out pretty well, but even so, it was just brutal conditions out there; so I don't know that I could have done anything to make the bike easy enough not to hurt the run. Some people did not seem affected by the wind at all as they came blowing by me, others were hurting even more then I. With the exception of the bridges, I spent the entire ride in aero. Thankfully, most of my long rides had been on flat roads were I worked on staying aero. I think this really helped as although I would have liked to sit up to ride from time to time, i was not really in any discomfort from that position. I always seem to have some weird injury and I had one going into this race. I have capsulitis in my left foot. Basically that means that the joint of my second toe is inflamed. On the run, it feels like my sock is bunched up under my foot and then it starts to hurt as the foot flexes. Starting about 2 weeks ago, it also started to affect my bike as my foot swells up. On my last training ride, my foot went completely numb before I figured out that it was swollen and I needed to unstrap my shoe. Once unstrapped, the swelling went down and all was fine. For some reason, when I put my shoes on I forgot to keep the left shoe loose and the foot began to swell and go numb. I loosened it, but it did not resolve, so I ended up completely unstrapping the shoe. That helped the swelling, but lead to other issue. At about mile 30-35 the tip of one of the toes on my left foot started to really hurt. I couldn't figure out what the issue was, but it was really, really painful and I started to worry that I wouldn't be able to run with that amount of pain. Then it hit me, because the shoe was unstrapped, my foot was moving around a lot in my shoe, so my toe was probably banging the front of the shoe. I then made a concerted effort to keep my heel back in the shoe. I couldn't do it the whole time, but it did offer relief and I started to feel better about things. Another unforeseen affect of not having my shoe strapped properly, is that i used my muscles differently while pedaling. This came back to haunt me on the run. Other then that, I felt pretty good on the bike, but was so tired of the wind I couldn't wait to get off the bike. What would you do differently?: I don't know, I think I did pretty good considering the conditions. Transition 2
 Run
Comments: When I got of the bike I was feeling really good. My foot and toe issues did not bother me at all. I headed out and almost immediately saw Chris (with his wife?) cheering for me. I asked them if I was winning and was assured I was. They lied :) As I said, I felt great and my pace was sub 9. When I noticed that, I thought I should slow to 9s, but I didn't. I got back to the turn around - which was just past the finish, so we had to go past the finish line, do a u-turn and pass the finish again. Very mean thing for them to do to us - still running pretty strongly. There was a nice bathroom just before the start of the 2d loop, so I made a little detour. I've never had to stop during a race before, so I take that as a sign that i was hydrating either just enough or a little too much. Then it was time for the second lap. It was during this lap that things started to go badly. I started getting funny pains in my left knee. I've never had that before and chalk it up to riding all those miles with that loose shoe. My left hamstring also started to hurt. This is an on-going injury, so I wasn't too surprised to feel it tightening up. I utilized the ART massage provided at packet pick-up and wondered if that tweaked it a bit. In any event, running became a mental game. I allowed myself to walk through the aid stations and then a bit past them. That last long-straight away on the back end of the loop was brutal. It just wouldn't end. Plus it was hot and I could feel myself over heating. All the aid stations had ice, so i would grab some and hold it in my hands, put some under my hat and suck on some. That seemed to help. What also helped was the few times clouds would roll over and block the sun. The wind also helped, although running into it was not much fun. Nor was the sand being blown into my face. Thankfully, I kept my sunglasses on for the run, so none got in my eyes. Finally, i saw the sign for .5 mile to go! I could also hear the course announcer which helped me to keep my legs moving. I actually passed a few people in that last .5 mile. As I crossed the finish line they called my name and put the picture they took of me at packet pick up on the jumbo tron. That wasn't very nice of them :) Looking at my splits you can see how things started to come apart: split 1- avg pace 8:44 2- 9:09 3 10:05 4 10:36 5 10:58 The bathroom break was captured in either split 3 or 4. What would you do differently?: I think this run was a function of the hard bike and I don't know if I could have done anything to make the bike easy enough to really help the run. I may need to do more runs when the sun is up to help acclimate to that. Post race
Warm down: My quads started to cramp right when I was finishing, so I tried to get a massage, but there was a wait, so instead I just drank a bottle of water, had a little gatorade and found the beer. Sat at a table drinking the beer and talking with other racers. What limited your ability to perform faster: The conditions were brutal. Event comments: I heard that one of the men pros commented that the conditions of the race made it the hardest race he had ever done. I agree with him. This was Rev3's first time putting on a race in Florida. It had to compete with Miami 70.3 which was the same day; a long time running oly in the same area; and MiamiMan which is in 2 weeks. As a result, there were just under 500 competitors. I was worried that with that few people, the course would be lonely. It wasn't. The volunteers were all great. I've never been cheered for so much. A lot of locals came out of their houses and cheered us on too. As I was running and starting to break down, I thought, why am I doing this? I am not cut out for this kind of distance. Now that it is over, I'm starting to think I need to go back next year and try this race in better conditions! Last updated: 2012-07-11 12:00 AM
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United States
REVOLUTION3 Triathlon
85F / 29C
Sunny
Overall Rank = /
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Age Group Rank = 2/6
In the days leading up to every race I do (except 5 or 10ks), I start to worry about the race and question the training I've done. This race was even worse because hurricane Sandy and an incoming cold front were going to make the conditions really rough. As a result, my regular angst was double it's normal annoying amount.
I drove from Orlando to Venice on Saturday, checked into the hotel and immediately went to the race site for packet pick up and bike check-in. The venue was beautiful: right on the gulf at a nice park. The wind, however, was not nice. I don't know the official wind speed, but it was bad - walking into it was even an adventure. Because the wind was so bad, bike check-in was cancelled. The water was crazy, scary looking. Nobody was getting in the water, it was way too dangerous.
Everyone was hopeful that the wind would go down overnight and we'd be able to get the swim in and not kill ourselves on the bike. I spent many minutes checking every weather website I could find, trying to find one that would make me feel better. Unfortunately, most of them were keeping the wind speeds in the 20's with gusts of 35 mph. One site did have the speeds down to 17 mph, but it was the only one and it turned out to offer false hope.
After picking up my packet I headed back to the hotel. Once at the hotel, I promptly locked my keys in my car. Ugh. Just something to add to my worry. No one at the hotel could help, but luckily, 2 weeks ago I decided to join AAA, unfortunately, the card with its number was locked in my car and no one around me seemed to belong to it. The hotel receptionist looked up the number for me, but she got it wrong. Anyway, it took a few phone calls to friends and family, but I finally got the number. They sent a locksmith and he had the car open in about 10 seconds.
After hanging at the hotel for a bit watching the Gators lose (yay!) and the Seminoles win (yay!), I headed back to the race site to eat (and have a beer) at the restaurant right on the water. Spent most of the meal speaking with the lady at the table next to mine. It was nice to speak to her as it helped keep my mind off the raging water right outside the window. After dinner I walked out on the pier to watch the sunset. It was beautiful, of course I was alone, so that was unfortunate :( Out on the pier, the wind was really crazy and a couple of times it was a bit scary as it pushed me quite easily.
Back to the hotel were I got my stuff ready, ranted on the Manatee thread and watched Notre Dame beat Oklahoma (yay!). I also got a work call, so all of that helped keep my mind from fixating on the weather.
Woke up around 5am and went down to the lobby for coffee. The hotel was very nice and catered to the racers' need for an early breakfast. While getting coffee, I spoke to 2 of the race officials and asked if they knew anything about the swim. They told me it was cancelled. They said that making those decisions race directors have to think about the least capable swimmer and make sure the course is safe for that person. In this case, they couldn't even get out to set the course.
A little while later the race director sent out an email confirming the swim was cancelled for the AGers, but stating they hadn't made a decision about the pros. I thought that was weird considering what the officials told me about not being able to set the course, but I guess they still held out some hope.
This was Rev3's championship race and there were about 40 pros vying for some really good money, so I suppose they really wanted to be able to do a complete race.
Along with copious amounts of coffee, I ate a bagel and banana; figuring that would hold me til I was into the bike about 15 miles.
Drove the 3 miles to the race site and set up the bike. They had us grouped by AG, so i was around a lot of other middle aged women. Everyone was very friendly and all were anxious about the wind. One woman said she was considering not racing at all because of it and that a friend of hers did decide not to participate. In a weird way, it made me feel better knowing that i was not the only one feeling anxious about the weather.
Since the swim was cancelled, they did a TT start at the swim in. Basically, they had us line up by race # and started us every 3 seconds. You could not wear your bike shoes, but they did let you wear socks.
They ended up cancelling the pro swim, so the pros had to run about 1.5 miles instead of swimming. They started first and were out on the bike before the AGs started.
As I ran to my bike I heard someone call out my name and looked to see fellow Manatee Chris cheering for me. We had never met in person before, so for a split second i didn't know who was calling my name, then my brain got itself in gear and I knew who it was. Unfortunately, all I could do was smile (did I wave too? Can't remember) as I was trying to get my heart rate under control.