Rev3 Maine

I wish I had an assistant who could run or bike with me so I can dictate all the marvelous blog ideas that percolate in my head while training but never find the time to sit down and put on "paper" and hit publish for...

As I have mentioned, trying to balance everything this summer has left me neglecting my poor little blog which totally bums me out. So since I am on taper, I have tons of time (ok, not really) to do some posts!

Race Morning with Angela!

REV 3 MAINE
Aug 25th

What a difference a year makes. Last year my husband begrudgingly made an appearance at the race and we spent the entire weekend with a great amount of stress and animosity between us. This was literally the beginning of the end for us.

Luckily, things have changed.

This year? Dude was along for the ride AND the other half of my relay team, A Small Team.

The idea of a relay started what chatting with Coach Sharpie about how the race season would play out. With Cedar Point just two weeks after Maine, we were considering the Oly or an aquabike option. There was NO WAY I was sitting out my favorite race on my home turf and I had to be honest with Coach, there was no way I could "take it easy" on the bike at a home game either.  That's when the idea hit me...we could race TOGETHER> I'd swim and bike, Casey could run.

Coach gave me the greenlight on this idea, said I could chick as many fella's as I wanted so it was GO!
I checked out the previous years results for relay teams and they had some pretty fast times.
Sub-5 and the podium was the goal! 

I gotta hand it to the folks at Rev3 (Ashley, Jonathan, Charlie, Carole ??) ... not sure who is responsible for the perfect mornings on race day for Maine, but it was another amazing race start with a beautiful sunrise.

Beautiful Photo Courtesy of Chris Dodd

kayaks heading out to the swim course
Photo Courtesy of Angela Campos

Seriously--Ahhhmazing!
Photo Courtesy of Angela Campos

The Swim
Photo Courtesy of Hannah Heisler 

I was standing in the water with a new tri-friend, Leslie (Maine was her first half and she finished in 5:53) and I just stopped, stood there and took in the moment--and asked her to do the same. It was just breathtaking...

The ocean water was chilly (barely 60*) and there was a lot of grumbling and BRR's going on. With a wind change, the temps had dropped quite a bit over the last several weeks leading into race day but the water was actually a few degrees warmer than it had been all week.

...and the purple caps are ready!
Photo Courtesy of Angela Campos

There was nothing remarkable about the swim except I got up front, I swam and I rarely had anyone near me--very strange for a race! After the initial scrum of the start, I had clear water. Head down and swim. By the time I got to the final turn buoy, I could see no purple caps around me and I was passing the two waves ahead. My effort was steady but more paced for Cedar Point vs. a half. Upon exit of the water, Garmin flashed a 37:xx and I was like "crap" SLOW but apparently, the swim was longish (most report 1.4 miles and I was told that this was due to water level changes with the tide). I looked at some local "fasties" swim times and this longer distance rings true. Regardless, I was happy with my effort and my time.

SWIM 38:35
5th of 108 in my wave (F40+, Relays & Athena)
(1:32/100 based on my Garmin distance of 1.45)

It's a bit of a haul from the water to transition, but I don't understand why so many make a big deal out of it really...this year they offered a "special needs" shoe bag for those who wanted to put something on. Honestly, I don't remember thinking it was that bad in 2012 and again this year, it was not bad. Just a short jog to the best leg of the day....THE BIKE!

Ahhhh, the bike. My happy place. 
Onto my chariot and I was spinning easy until I was able to get away from the crowds. After I got thru town, across Route 1 and out into the "country roads", I settle into pace. Sucked down some Perform and popped a Powerbr Apple Gel. Up ahead quite a bit, I spotted a QT2 systems kit and let him be my "rabbit". I caught him rather quickly and we played a game of back and forth.

About 20 miles in, I dropped my chain (uuuggghhhh--c'mon Kid! rookie mistake here!) changing into my small ring and lost about a minute hopping off and getting it back on. Back on and GO!

The miles were ticking by quickly and I was on top of my hydration and nutrition (priority of the day) and there was not a female in sight. I was riding with a small group of men and there were two others that I'd play the back and forth game with through most of the ride. I finally saw a female (Veronica, Newton Kit) and we took turns passing the boys and eachother. We would all get clustered up on the hills but there was  no drafting going on. It was simply a testosterone festival with two chicks in the mix.

The bike route had a change this year, taking out Simpson Road which is under construction, and what a great change! You hit up some small rollers instead and I really liked the flow of the new bike route.

With about 10 miles left to go, this is when I put some power into it and tried to break away from this pack of fellas I'd been riding with for 40 miles. I broke away from them and spotted my superfast team mate, Alyssa, up ahead. My first thought was HOLYSH*T!! I can catch Alyssa!! (she was 2nd or 3rd OA)...and catch her I did. And then I passed her...
Highlight of my freaking race!! 
When Alyssa caught back up to me, she yelled "Girl, You are pulling 30 guys!" and I rolled my eyes and told her I was trying to lose 'em all! ha ha I chased Alyssa "home" and she entered T2 just seconds ahead of me and it was time for Casey to run!

BIKE 2:31 
2nd of 108 in my wave
I had one of the fastest female bike splits of the day! wooo hooo
My Garmin shows that I did the ride in 2:29 and I hope I did not lose an entire 2 mins messing with my chain!

Happy Happy Girl!!

**

Dawn, Me & Lola

Team Pace Booty! 

I said hi to my parents, got to see Angela come in and head out on the run and see my BFF for a bit while Casey did his thing. I got to hang out with Team Pace Booty and pick up Sara!


Before I knew it, Casey was coming in from his run (1:46) and it was time to FINISH!!

It is all very symbolic of how things have changed in the last year. We are finally a solid family unit, doing things TOGETHER. As a TEAM.

Hand in hand, we crossed the finish line!
5:02

Our Finish
Photo Courtesy of Michael Brillant, Brillant Images

I think my expression says it all

So our goal going into this day was to have fun and celebrate a year of change, for the better.
We also wanted sub-5 and the podium.

Well, we did have fun.
We ALMOST went sub-5 (and had soooo many discussions about those 2 minutes!! ugh).
We made podium, 3rd place Relay team. Taking 3rd place to two VERY fast teams with times of 4:20 and 4:40!!



Best of all, we celebrated being a family that now plays TOGETHER.

Next Stop: Cedar Point 140.6