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 Swim
Comments: I was wearing new goggles so I had no issues with them filling with water. It was easy to sight because the exit of the marina had land on the left and right. Swim between the land and stay in the water. Once out of that area I tried to maintain a good steady pace. There was very little contact with other swimmers, but I think I swam into a fish or he swam into me. The water was pretty calm as I swam along the island, until I made the left back into the marina. That area was rough and I swallowed some nasty water. he rough area didnt last and I started the second loop. This swim was not the monster I thought it was going to be. Hats off to Rev 3 for having a backup swim plan. They have had that backup every year but this was the first time they had to use it. What would you do differently?: I did ok so I cant think of any bone head mistakes.  Transition 1
Comments: It was a half mile run to transition. Once there I ran to the place where my swim to bike bag was. I yelled my number and a volunteer grabbed my bag. I ran into the changing tent and dug in the bag. There were orange running shoes in it, not mine. It didnt register for a minute, then I ran back to the peg board and grabbed the right one myself. I had my helmet and shoes on my bike so I only needed to put on a bike shirt, gloves, some snacks and I was gone. What would you do differently?: Get my own gear bag. These volunteers really didnt know what they were doing. They were motivated enough, but kind of got in the way.  Bike
Comments: I had such hopes for this bike. As soon as I got on the bike and hit the road I noticed that my neck was stiff. I managed to stay on the pedals and maintain an 18.5mph speed. The weather got colder and it started to rain, this meant being more careful. The chip seal roads were horrible, like riding on rumble strips. Around mile 20 I made my first stop. This aid station was at the top of a hill that rivaled savageman. While I went to the port a Jon a volunteer was kind enough to hold my bike and even fill my aero bottle. I grabbed a spare water bottle and took off. A block down the road the spare water bottle fell out of my shirt, bad idea. This was a kind of historic part of the town and there were lots of people out cheering. Once out of that area it was corn fields, country, and maybe another bike way ahead or way behind. There was not a lot out there to see. The rain let up and the 24-29mph winds kicked in. Headwind and cross winds dominated the ride. Any direction I turned it seemed that there was a head wind or cross wind. When I finally had some sort of tail wind it was on that chip seal. After 50 miles I was averaging 18.5mph. I stopped at the special needs and used the bathroom. I spent too much time there but needed to stretch my legs. After a power bar and grabbing my other bottle of infinit I took off. My average speed started to drop fast. The strong winds and starting too fast got to me. I averaged around 17.75mph for the rest of the bike. As we rode right into the headwind for what seemed like an eternity I could feel my quads give up. I started standing in the saddle trying to keep the momentum going. Mile 90 I took another break and stretched one last time. This didn’t help my time but I needed the break. Coming back down the causeway to transition I had Erie on my right. The waves were crashing up against the rock barrier. Im so glad we didn’t swim in that. The final few miles were on a road that was all buckled and full of holes. Why not end it like it started, a suckfest. Finally I dismounted and headed for T2. What would you do differently?: I did the best I could with the conditions I had. I trained on hills and the course was not hilly. The headwinds and crosswinds got me. Transition 2
Comments: I did pretty good here. I got my own bag this time. Shoes, sunglasses, suntan lotion, singlet, fuel belt ( 1 serving of infinit) and I was gone. 5 minutes wasnt the fastest time but I didnt have anything that held me up either. As I ran out of transition I grabbed my new Rev 3 visor and turned on the garmin. What would you do differently?: nothing  Run
Comments: I wanted to run 13 miles of this. My infinit didnt taste good anymore so I scrapped that for whatever was on the course. I did eat one of my chocolate chip peanut butter lara bars. Each aid station was lined with eager volunteers wanting to hand me water, Gatorade, pretzels, coke, ice, power bar gels. Most stations I stopped and walked through. When I finished my coke or water I took off again. The first 7 miles I had a 10:20 pace. That was good for me. Then I slowed down. I still ran but walked the aid stations. We would have to run up a street on one side of the road and then come back down on the other. Then we moved over to the next road and did the same thing, it wasn’t a good run route. One part that was fun to run was some park by the water. There was a wood bridge that we had to run over, and the scenery was nice. The rest of the run was old brick buildings, nothing nice. We did that twice to get the miles. I made it back to the turnaround cone. I could hear people at the finish line. I headed back out for what is the worst part of an ironman, the second loop of the run. I think I averaged around 13.7 minute miles on the last half of the run. At my special needs bag I stretched and dropped off my fuel belt and sunglasses. I wouldn’t need sunglasses where I was going. I linked up with a firefighter who was doing the complete marathon in his turnout gear. That dude is tough. I would walk some and run some, depending on when the person next to me said, “come on lets go”. Sometimes I was the one who said “come on lets go”. There were not a lot of people doing this race and so you were all along for long stretches. I thanked the folks who sat on their front porches waving a flag and saying “good Job”. There was a sports bar I passed on the first loop, around 4pm or so. I asked what the 49er game score was and they said to ask on the next loop (the game was just starting). By the time I got back to that spot the 49er game was over and those folk were gone. It was now dark. The tendon on the top of my feet hurt and I could not bend my foot anymore. The last few miles I felt pretty good and wanted to keep running. OR perhaps I knew Maria was coming up fast behind me. Either way I knew one thing, I was about to finish and there were still a few people just starting their second loop. I wished them luck. I got coke and ice at most of the aid stations. Chicken broth was good that night so I had a few of those. Im not big on pretzels but I did have some of those. There wasn’t much else and I wasn’t about to pick that time to try power bar gels. As I headed for the park I could see the Ferris wheel lit up in the dark. Its lights danced in the sky and I watched it get bigger and bigger until I made the right turn into the chute. As I finished they announced my name and took pictures. Then I took the finisher photo, got my shirt and medal, and waited for Maria. Who was only a couple minutes behind me. What would you do differently?: Stay strong I guess. I would like to do an ironman where I ran the entire marathon. Then again so would everyone else. Post race
Warm down: After I finished I walked around a few minutes until Maria finished.We got a finisher photo together, that was cool. That is getting framed in my house. We walked over to the food tent where they had the makings for tacos and a pasta salad. Foof is food and I ate it all up. I dont think mexican was the best choice for after an ironman. We walked up the beach to the hotel and got the truck. We had to get all our stuff from transition that night. After the bikes were safe in the hotel it was beer time, and bed. Bed time. What limited your ability to perform faster: Swimming with Gee ( a team mate) on Wednesdays helped me have a pretty good swim. I guess I didnt train hard enough on the bike. All my bike rides were casual so I didnt gain strength. My run always turns into a run walk, so it wasnt that bad. I felt I did the best I could and my time was respectable. At least it was respectable to me. I enjoyed the entire race. Event comments: Rev 3 put on a good race. I would have liked to see them get set up a day earlier. Ironman had everything set up and running days before the race. They had the better bells and whistles than Rev 3. The fact that Rev 3 had a secondary swim location proved that they care about the athlete experience and are not just there for the money. Case in point was all the lifeguards at the practice swims. I think ironman would have just cut the swim and took the money anyway. Rev 3 is better in that respect. Rev 3 had the great family experience. The amusement park gave families something to do and they even encouraged finishers to have their families run to the finish line with them. Everyone got a free finisher photo and a really cool medal with LED lights. I would do another Rev 3. Profile Album Last updated: 2012-11-01 12:00 AM
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United States
REVOLUTION3 Triathlon
72F / 22C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 123/177
Age Group = 50-54
Age Group Rank = 12/16
We arrived at Cedar Point on Thursday evening. The park was closed and the hotel looked deserted. When we went inside the hotel we noticed that the entire place was decorated for Halloween, it was pretty cool. There was a Perkins and a TGI Fridays inside the hotel but both were closed. There was no sign of the Rev 3 crowd.
Friday morning we went out back for a practice swim in Lake Erie. The water was calm but I could swear that I smelled diesel fuel. The Rev 3 swim director was there with several lifeguards. Maria and I swam out towards a small boat and all of the lifeguards followed us (we were the only ones swimming). After a few pictures we went to Friendly's for breakfast.
After breakfast we decided to get our race packets. There were only a few people there, and the vendors were not even set up. Not like the Ironman, that’s for sure. After we got our timing chips and bags we went to the expo tent and bought our souvenirs. We have this part down, water bottles, coffee mugs, visor, t shirts, and cycle shirt, done. Back at the hotel we saw that they gave Maria 2 bike special needs bags but no swim to bike. This was a good time to test the bikes, so we rode back to the expo and got that squared away.
About 5PM the park opened. We got in for $15 instead of the normal $53. Most of the park was open but a few rides and the food stands were closed. I was able to hang with Maria on the roller coaster rides, until after we ate that chick filet. Then the next roller coaster was a huge old wood one that tested my stomach. Finally I had to back down as Maria rode the dragster, which was an 84mph coaster that goes straight up and down. We went to bed around 10. My neck was already stiff from the coasters.
Saturday we watched the sprint race. It was fun watching others race. We then decided to skip the practice swim and go for a short run along the lake. Perkins was open now so that became our new place to eat. The hotel was busy now, with athletes all over. We then rode the bikes over to transition and racked them for the race. The race meeting was next, and was the same old meeting, except that they said they had a backup plan in case the water was too rough to swim. There was supposed to be a front moving in during the night. Great. Since the finisher jackets were out we went ahead and bought one. Then it was back to Perkins for a pre-race dinner, and get ready for bed.
We woke up at 4AM, as usual and I had a little of my oatmeal along with a peanut butter and banana sandwich. The weather channel said that there was 3-6' waves and a rip current in the lake. Do not swim in the lake they say. Great I say. I had 2 water bottles of infinit (each had x3 servings). One for the bike and one for special needs. I had a waffle, power bar and some sports beans as fillers. I grabbed that and a tire pump and we walked to transition. The lake looked nasty with waves. Even in the dark you could see the white caps. There was no Rev 3 swim arch so that was a sign that our swim would not be in the lake. Sure enough they moved the swim to a marina, 6/10 of a mile from the transition. They wanted us there at 6:30 so we walked back to the hotel, got our wetsuits on and migrated to the transition.