Rev3 Quassy - Half Rev - Triathlon

With the sound of the horn, we ran into Lake Quassapaug, and off we went. The usual kick, push, punch deal went on for a little bit and then I found myself in the middle of a pretty spread out group. I definitely have some work to do when it comes to swim starts, but I knew that going in. I didn’t really worry much about anyone around me and just concentrated on swimming my own race. As the race went on I realized I was swimming pretty much next to someone else. That someone else was sighting frequently, which I was able to see every time I took a breath so I stopped sighting often which definitely helped my rhythm. Eventually I lost this person before we got to the first turn buoy, but I was still surrounded by many others and with the glare in our faces on the 2nd leg of the swim, I pretty much used the group to guide me to the next turn. It worked for most part, and there was only one time where I found myself maybe a bit too much on the inside of the buoys, but nothing too horrible. Before I knew it we were headed back to shore. I did end up on some feet on the way back albeit very briefly, as I got kicked in the face and I had all I needed. (thankfully somehow my goggles stayed on) With goggles still in place, and with only a little leak as a result of the kick, I left the feet and went on my own marry way towards the finishing arch. This was seriously the first swim ever, when I didn’t think that the swim was too long. I felt good, I felt strong, and definitely in control the whole time. I am pretty sure I was on course the entire time for most part (I may have taken that first leg a bit too wide), but I am very happy with my mental headspace and the fact I wasn’t swimming buoy to buoy but rather what I thought was a straighter shot to the turn buoys and the finish line. I didn’t swim with a watch so I didn’t know what my swim time was at the time, but I wanted it that way. I felt great getting out of the water, “Fireball” wasn’t alone in T1 when I got to it, and that’s all I needed to know. It was time to ride!

More OWS and just keep on swimming ... I'll continue to get faster

One word describes T1 – rusty! My wetsuit got stuck a bit on my timing chip, I fumbled with my garmin and trying to get that on, and finally I had a hard time snapping in the buckle on my helmet – ugh! I felt like I was in there FOREVER, but apparently I still passed 20 females in transition so now I was 63rd instead of 83rd coming out of T1.

4min 7sec faster than last year, fastest amateur bike split by 6+ minutes, 7th overall including PRO’s, 3rd/270 females)

If my quick ride yesterday was any indication of how the bike would go on race day, I knew it was going to be fast! My legs had plenty of energy yesterday, and I had a hard time holding them back. My mega legs were ready to go! I had specific instructions (I do train/race with power), but to be honest come race day, my power meter is there to hold me back from totally hammering the uphills and avoiding any crazy spikes I am certainly very capable off. I don’t spend my ride staring at my powermeter and riding to numbers at all. I ride by feel and if that means on the given day I am 5 watts of from my target that’s where I am at, and that’s where my legs are on that day. I know better by now to no trash my legs on the bike. With that said, my legs felt absolutely awesome the entire time. I knew some sub 30 min swimmers that were ahead of me on the bike so when I went by all of them by mile 20ish on the bike, I knew my swim wasn’t terrible and I was riding well. By mile 38.6 (The first turn around, I had moved from 63rd overall female to 7th overall female, and I was still feeling awesome. There is a reason why the back of this years medal says: “You Conquered the Mountains of Quassy” but for some reason, the bike course seemed almost flat.

The first time I did this race 2 years ago, I had felt like I was climbing to the clouds, but not this time. My legs were on, and the heat wasn’t affecting me. I did grab water/Gatorade at every aid station and made sure to cool off and pour an entire bottle of water (not Gatorade) all over myself. When I went by the last aid station at mile 43, I grabbed a new bottle of water to have for the rest of the ride, but unfortunately had fumbled it at mile 45, which meant I was left with no water, and Gatorade only for the last 11 miles. Ugh! Taking in a gel and washing it down with Gatorade is slightly gross, and I knew I wasn’t quite as hydrated as I would have liked to be going into the run. I wasn’t exactly dying of thirst, but I am a master of peeing on the bike (yes – I said it) and normally I am like clock work, so I knew when I didn’t have to go for the entire 56 miles, I wasn’t quite hydrated enough. However, the thought of more Gatorade wasn’t appealing either.

I did leave some time on that course when having to deal with cars that don’t believe bikers can ride over 45 mph and decide to just block the road, but I would rather be safe than sorry. I came into T2 as 3rd overall female and ready to run!

Nothing really - just wish cars would stay off the road so we can just worry about racing!

As rusty as I was in T1, my T2 went pretty much perfect. Well, except for the fact that somehow I tried to put my right show in left foot and vice versa. Duh! Socks/shoes on, visor/gels in hand and I was out of there.


Wish noone messed with my shoes but it didn't really take too long to figure that out

Aaaah the run! I have been running much better and stronger than I have ever been so I am a little bit disappointed with my performance here. I definitely had hopes for a faster run, but it just wasn’t there on Sunday. This run course is no joke, and when combined with heat, it becomes that much harder. I was right where I wanted to be for the first 7ish miles, and my legs felt great! I didn’t have that brick like feeling getting off the bike at all, and I was trucking along just fine. I took the first 3 miles a bit easier, and was saving a little energy for those punishing ups and downs that were awaiting starting with mile 3.5. I felt great on the ups, and my legs were responding great, but I was starting to get really hot regardless of my cooling routine I used when going through every aid station. I would grab water, throw ice down the shorts, and hold ice in both of my hands to stay cool, which worked great until about mile 7. I did however feel quite hungry which was most likely the result of under fueling on the bike. By mile 7, I had already gone through 2 gels, and from that point on switched to coke. It was also mile 7 where the heat started to get to me, and the ice down the shorts, hold ice in hands routine didn’t exactly work for very long. Until mile 7 I was able to stay relatively cool with whatever I was doing, but by not having an aid station every mile (yes – I am spoiled from Kona), after mile 7, my hands and face turned into quite a bit of a heating unit. As in, my hands would get so hot, I could melt 3 to 4 ice cubes in a few minutes. I could probably fry an egg in the palms of my hands! This has also happened to me last year in both Buffalo Springs and Vegas (both silly hot races) so it’s something that I will work on going forward. My run performance was affected a bit by the heat, and I didn’t really get to run as hard as I could have because I was afraid I would melt but I am happy about keeping it together the way I did for most part. The last 2 miles were tough, especially with the last one being all uphill. By then it was just about holding on to whatever pace felt manageable given my state of “hotness” ;). I know the run was tough for anyone because I think for the first time ever, I didn’t get passed by anyone on the run (girls or guys), and I had actually made up a few spots, and ran myself from 3rd overall female out of T2 to 2nd.

Wish I could have stayed cooler but I'll figure this out and run to my true potential one of these days!

Ice Tub! Hell yeah!


The heat definitely affected my run


Rev3 puts on absolutely AWESOME races, but I do wish they had a bit more aid stations out there especially when it's hot. I am just a tad bit spoiled from doing Kona last year