Rev3 Cedar Point - Half Rev - Triathlon

Due to high winds and rip tide warnings, the swim was moved to the other side of the parking lots in the bay instead of in the lake. You could not see the entire race course due to the majority of it being behind the break wall. Even though the race director announced many times how to navigate the course, I did not realize that there was a turn at the first buoy. This caused me to take a very wide path to that first buoy until I realized I needed to turn. I probably swam an extra 100-150 yards due to this mistake.
I also had to stop about 100 yards into the swim because my timing chip came loose. I took it off and stuffed it in the top of my wetsuit.
The rest of the swim felt great. I was able to draft for most of it and I was also passing a lot of people for once.

Take the correct line to the first buoy. My time last year (although a different swim course) was 36:50. So I shaved a minute off of that time even with the mistake and chip issue.

Due to the change in the swim, there was a half-mile run to transition. Because of this, we were allowed to keep shoes next to the swim exit to run in. I wasted at least a minute getting my timing chip back on my ankle and then getting my shoes on wet feet.

Find better way to secure timing chip.

There was 15-20 mph north winds the entire race as well as rain about half way through for about 20 minutes. These conditions were brutal. I started out at my target power for the first half of the ride. Then when the course turned north into the wind, it also had a gradual uphill section. I kept going over my target power thinking that I would be able to back off once I made it through that section. This was a mistake as nearly the rest of the ride was into the wind. It didn't feel like I was working a lot harder, but I didn't realize how much it was taking out of me.
Stuck to the nutrition plan I used in training with success: sports drink every 10 minutes, gel every 30.

Stick to power goals. My time this year was 2 minutes faster than last year when conditions were perfect. I should have been much more conservative.

The transition area was much smaller than last year. Made for quick transition times.

Nothing

Started out at my target pace and felt great. I also started with my nutrition plan from training of a gel every 3 miles along with sports drink. Right at mile 6, my mistakes on the bike caught up with me as my right quad felt like someone stuck a knife in it. Then at mile 7, my left quad felt the same. I had to slow my pace by nearly a minute per mile. I started taking sports drink at every aid station and walked while drinking to make sure I got it in my mouth.
At mile 9, I tried drinking coke. It seemed to help as the pain became less than it was before. The rest of the aid stations, I drank coke and sports drink.

Not push so hard on the bike. My time this year was 3 minutes, 25 seconds slower than last year.

Stretched and drank lots of water/sports drink. Checked results and waited for others to finish.


Not adapting to the weather conditions. My overall time this year was 6 minutes slower than last year. While 5 of those minutes were due to the swim/T1 changes, my improvements in the swim and bike were wiped out by the worse run time.

It was a much faster field this year too. Last year I finished 1st in AG, 6th overall. This year was 3rd AG, 21 OA. Even if I had the same time as last year, the 2 AG guys in front of me would have beat me by 6 & 7 minutes and I would have been 17th OA. Last year was definitely a lucky year!


Once again, Rev3 did a great job. I stayed until midnight with other CTC members to experience the "140.6 finishers party". I wish that the race was bigger though as there was not a very big crowd for this.