Rev3 Knoxville- Age Group Championship Race

My big outing in May this year was to journey down to Knoxville, TN for the Rev3 Age Group Series Championship race.  This race had been on my calendar for a long time, and Ben and I rearranged our schedules to turn it into a short "race-cation" with a stop in Asheville, NC afterwards.  The age group series worked by recording the best 2 Rev3 race finishes of each participant throughout the previous race season. The top scorers were invited to compete in the championship race, which was a distance in between the Olympic Rev and Half Rev course lengths.  Along with bragging rights, there was prize money on the line for the 1st-3rd place finishers in each age group in the series, and sponsor prizes for 4th and 5th places.  It was a great opportunity for age groupers to have a competitive, "pro"-type experience, so of course I couldn't pass it up.  The Age Group Series is running again in 2014 with the championship in Knoxville in 2015, so start planning and collecting your race finishes now!

The Knoxville Sunsphere at World's Fair Park, site of the expo and finish line

Friday
It's a long drive from Wisconsin (10.5 hours, if you believe Google) so we left Madison reeeeally early Friday morning (closer to Thursday night...) in order to make it to Knoxville in time for dinner with the race staff and Team Rev3. We also ended up with time to check in at the expo, so we were able to pick up our packets and swag.  Rev3 seems to have upped their game in the swag department this year with a few new and unique items, which was cool to see.  Included among my freebies: a little Rev3 logo bag inspired by cycling musettes, a Rev3 Buff, a Rev3 sticker, a PowerBar, a cute female-cut black shirt that was specific to the championship race, and a Headsweats Rev3 Knoxville visor.  Quite a haul!  We stuck around after dinner to cheer in the runners at the Rev3Glow run. They had both a 5k and a 1 mile course, so a lot of families and kids were racing and seemed to have a blast.

Saturday
In typical Team Rev3 fashion, my morning was spent at the practice swim introducing athletes to the great products SBR Sports makes.  Team members handed out samples from the TriSwim line, samples of Foggies, and even sprayed athletes down with TriSlide to help them slip in and out of their wetsuits with ease and avoid chafing. The water temperature much warmer than last year, hovering around 70*F- perfect for just shimmer suits!

Next on the docket was a quick bike ride to wake up our legs.  I was eager to see the new section I would be running on the AG Champ course after racing the Olympic distance last year.  I always highly recommend checking out courses in advance of racing them if possible, to learn the nature of any technical or difficult sections and check out road quality, etc.  However, you should always do so carefully!  Keep an eye out for pedestrians and vehicles as well as any other hazards that you might not be dealing with on race day.  In this case, Blake, Ben, and I were startled by a bridge lip coming down a steep hill at mile 5.4 of the championship course.  A small bump that wouldn't have been worth mentioning on a run turned into a problem while cycling- Ben flatted and I warped the rim on my race wheel slightly with the impact.  Always pay attention!

The last major task of the day was to check in our bikes at transition.  The transition area at Knoxville changed locations slightly from last year, from the bottom floor of a parking garage into a pretty spot next to the greenway that also made for a shorter run in transition 1.  The bike check went quickly and smoothly.  I like advance check-in a lot, especially for large races, because it cuts down so much on race morning chaos for both the athletes and staff.  For example, there are no lines in the morning to check race numbers and bar ends, and no athletes distractedly careening around trying to make last minute checks and repairs.  I like being able to roll out on race morning with just a backpack, knowing that my bike is already safely where it needs to be. 

Iggy is all settled in for the night

Race Day
Last year, Rev3 Knoxville took place on a somewhat chilly and rainy day that had most people longing for the usual southern heat and humidity.  Luckily, this year Mother Nature smiled upon us with beautiful weather!

Swim: 1.2 mi, 30:33
The Knoxville swim is point-to-point in the Tennessee River, from Calhoun's dock down to the Lady Vols rowing boathouse. The only change from the Olympic course was that the Half Rev and Championship swimmers had a longer stretch upriver to start off. 30+ is not a great time for me, but I always take swim splits with a grain of salt since conditions vary so widely (current, chop, etc.) and it's hard to set an accurate buoy course and keep all of them from moving.  The best way I know to judge a swim is to consider what I felt like in the water, how straight I swam, and how my time stacks up compared to others whose swimming ability I am familiar with.  I felt like I put in a good effort and I came out of the water just ahead of my Rev3 teammate Maggie, who is very strong, so I am happy with this swim.
T1: 1:37

Team Rev3, pre-race!

Bike: 40 mi, 2:08:06
This course was REALLY FUN: quiet, twisty, and green; rolling terrain with a few good climbs.  It actually reminded me a lot of one of my other favorite bike courses, the American Triple-T course.  Unfortunately this year Triple-T and Knoxville were on the same weekend so I had to make a choice, but I think I made the right one-- the Knoxville course was definitely a challenge! The race was a little bit longer than I was really prepared to be competitive at this year at that point in the season, so coach Bill and I decided it would be wisest for me to ride at my half iron power and use any extra energy later on the run.

My one major mishap of the race happened within the first two miles of the bike- my front water bottle, which was new for this race but a style I'd ridden with before, flew forward completely out of its bracket. The velcro strap holding it in was slightly shorter than on my last bottle, and it had popped open as I hit a hard bump. Miraculously, I caught it before it crashed onto my wheel or to the ground (I am not known for my hand-eye coordination).  I awkwardly fumbled with it for a minute or two trying to put it back on while keeping my bike moving forward in a straight line.  It was useless.  I quickly considered my options.  Ditch it?  It's an expensive bottle, and there were no aid stations for over 10 miles. Attach it somewhere else on the bike?  No place was secure.  I landed on the best option being to carry it in one hand and try to chug it while controlling the bike with the other hand.  The only way to carry the bottle without it compromising my handling was to put it down my tri top, and the only way that would work was if it was empty.  Game on.
I cringe to think of how much time I lost as I was soft-pedaling and riding super conservatively over bumps and around corners holding that darn water bottle, but looking back I can't see how I could have handled the situation any better in the moment.  C'est la vie.  I did lose my straw out of my back jersey pocket sometime during the bike ride, but on the whole this was a successful equipment save.  I was able to ride at the goal power we'd chosen, and before I knew it I was back at transition.
T2: 1:33

^- "What the heck is she doing?"

Run: 9.8 mi, 1:18:07
The run went about as well as I hoped it would, considering all of the factors involved.  I started out at a smart pace, knowing it would get harder to hold as the race went on.  I have to admit I was a bit jealous of the Olympic racers as we passed their turn-around point, but hills build character, right?  The climbs were gnarly, but I was glad I was mentally prepared for them and had left some gas in the tank.  I started to struggle about mile 7.5 as the day heated up and my lack of training volume caught up to me, but it helped a lot to see so many friendly faces heading the other direction and have some Olympic racers ahead to chase down.

  
Total: 3:59:56, 3rd F25-29

Well, I ended up the 4th amateur female at this race, coming in long behind three superstars (2 of whom were in my AG-- congrats, Leslie and Maggie!) but through the way the series was scored, I actually had the best series total in F25-29.  Honestly, I had not reread the age group series info page for a while and was under the impression that the cash prizes were based on this race's results, not the series.  So I was quite surprised to be called up to receive the top prize of $500, plus a gift certificate to the Rev3 store (where I picked up some cute Oiselle gear!).  So I guess I was somewhat lucky in my choice of Rev3 races last year, and very grateful that I was able to put together good races where it mattered.

Overall,  Rev3 Knoxville was definitely an honest, championship-caliber course, and I hope the circumstances come together for me to return next year.  If you have any questions about the Knoxville courses or the age group series, feel free to ask in the comments section!


I even made it into the Age Group Recap video this year with my thrilling pre-race insight. Haha.

Getting in Gear

Wow.  With respect to the weather, this winter has seemed abnormally long.  However, on the other hand I feel like I blinked and the off season had come to a screeching halt.  With my first outdoor triathlons of the season coming up this weekend (yes, multiple...), it's high time for a blog update! 

As the title of the post suggests, I've been spending the past few weeks "getting in gear" both figuratively and literally.  A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be able to make it down to Manassas, VA for the annual Team Rev3 summit- along with about 45 of the coolest and most inspiring people I know!  It was a blast to bond with both the new and returning team members before the Rev3 season kicks off in Knoxville next month.  We also received our new kits for the season, and as usual the Pearl Izumi custom department outdid themselves with those.  I'm so excited to rock mine this year!  With the addition of a new team visor, a couple of shirts, a Polar bottle, and a wealth of exciting information about where Rev3 is going as a company, I definitely headed home feeling like a very lucky girl to be back with the Rev3 team this year.

But this coming weekend is all about my other team... the Wisconsin Triathlon Team, which has been more like a family to me over my 6 years as a grad student at UW.  I'm back in Tempe for what will be my final Collegiate National Championships.  And just like last year, I'll be racing "the triple":

Friday, 11 a.m.- Individual Draft-legal Sprint
Saturday, 7:30 a.m.- Individual Olympic distance (non-drafting)
Saturday, 4 p.m.- Draft-legal Mixed Team Relay

Of course, I always want to do well and leave the race course with no regrets, no doubts about whether I could have pushed any harder.  But my primary goal this year is just to enjoy the experience, no matter the outcome.  As I had anticipated late last year, my training this spring has been much less consistent than I would've liked due to work/school priorities.  My practice performances haven't been too bad, just (again) a bit inconsistent. My running has probably been, relatively, the best of the three.  However, it is where I am most likely to suffer due to heat.  The women race first in the Olympic distance this year, so hopefully I will be ok and be able to race to my ability level.  But coming from Madison, where 40F still seems like a warm day right now, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about it. 

To make up for my somewhat shaky confidence in my current fitness, I've been doing the best I can to prepare my equipment well and ready myself for the tactical parts of the races.  I'm absolutely a detail-oriented person, and there are a ton of details involved in executing these races.  Competing in the two draft-legal races requires a road bike and helmet, so I'm traveling with even more equipment than usual.  Taking the time to think through each part of each race, including strategy, possible scenarios I might be in, and each piece of gear I might use is a valuable exercise- I'd recommend a similar process to anyone else who might be facing a bit of pre-race anxiety.  Looking after all of these little details helps to calm me down, help me focus, and help me feel more mentally prepared for the challenge at hand.  Once I'm out on the course, it's time to just be in the moment, enjoy the journey, and let the results follow.

Thanks to a quick tune-up from Pete at Rocket Bicycle Studio, Denali is ready to play!

The Badgers have almost 30 athletes competing this year, and our coach (and my own coach) Bill also made the trip down to help us out.  Since this is a collegiate championship, I'll be racing in Badger red, white, and black all weekend (along with a few Team Rev3 tats and accessories when possible). In addition to on my own social media accounts, you can follow along with our adventures here:

Team twitter: @WisconsinTri
Event twitter: #USATCN14
Team Facebook
USA Triathlon coverage (DL- live blog, Olympic- live stream)

Go Badgers!

Aquabike Nationals-- Rev3 South Carolina

Balloons Over Anderson, pic by Rev3 teammate Jen

1800+ miles.  30+ hours of driving within an 80 hour period.  Worth it?  Oh yes. 

Though I signed up for this race last year after I found out it was USAT Aquabike Nationals, travel plans were slow to come together.  Throughout the year I leaned on a few Wisconsin triathletes to come race with me, but for various reasons things fell through with each.  Within a couple of weeks of the race it became clear that it was going to be a solo mission, and I was left to decide the best way to get there.  Fly?  Rental car?  Yes, I have 3 bikes and no car... I know.  Cue luck/ serendipity/ good friends.  Ben was on his way to Hawaii for the week and graciously lent me his "blue toaster" to use while he was gone.

I'm certainly a gal who enjoys a road trip, and I've driven several impressive/borderline stupid trips before, including: 1.) 10 hours straight to Kansas for a sprint tri, but at least I had one other along to chat with, and  2) 12 hours straight, solo, during the night, to Rapid City for work.  I mapped out a route, but the more I thought about it, the dumber it sounded to drive 14 hours straight by myself so soon before a big race.  I have family in Ohio, and it would only be an extra half hour out of the way to stop there.  Perfect.  I was able to get a few hours of sleep, but had to be up early to finish the drive and get into Anderson by midday.  I finished the trip without any major problems, but was still a bit zombielike by the time I rolled into the Anderson Civic Center, the site of the race expo.

@SummerOhlendorf tell Charlie I said hi! And snap a picture of the blue toaster in front of some @REV3TRI gear!
— Ben Cagle (@bcagle25) October 11, 2013

Here you go, Ben.  I couldn't figure out how to get any hot air balloons in the frame, though.

Pre-Race

The afternoon was frenzied as I tried to condense all of my normal race prep activities.  I was tired and kind of out of it mentally.  I did make it just in time for the first athlete meeting though (whew!), checked in, and said hi to a few teammates.  Anderson is a two transition race, so the swim and T1 were at a separate location about 3 miles away.  I headed over there hoping to have time for a quick shake-out ride and splash around before checking my bike in and heading to the Rev3 team/staff dinner at 6.  Ahh, the best laid plans.  I managed to flat the latex tube inside my rear tire half an hour into the ride, and ended up on the side of the road unable to get my valve extender to work with the spare tube I had on me.  A Good Samaritan fellow racer named Morgan spotted me and stopped to help, and ended up giving me a ride back to transition.  Morgan, if by some chance you come across this blog- thank you, thank you, again.  The triathlon community is full of wonderful people.  I drove back to the expo to buy a new tube, then back to T1, and by that time only had time to check-in my bike if I was going to make it to dinner on time.  So much for swimming or driving the bike course.  Attempt 1 to wheel it in- forgot its number sticker.  D'oh.  Trotted it over to transition again, said goodbye to my little buddy, and I was off.

At Rev3 South Carolina both the Glow Run and the Rev3 staff/ Team Rev3 dinner were on Saturday night instead of Friday, so at last I was able to do both!  There was a pretty good showing of team members at this race, and it was great to catch up.  Kristin and I had fun chatting during the glow "run" (jog, since I was racing the next day... and we'd both just eaten Mexican food...).  The run course wrapped around the Balloons Over Anderson festival, a pretty cool weekend-long hot air balloon and carnival event.

Team Rev3 members post-dinner!

With a race the next morning, we couldn't stick around the post run festivities (fireworks, movie, popcorn) for long.  I was staying the night with Rev3 teammates Chloe, Kristin, and Heidi.  The four of us got all of our things together for the next day while following the Kona pro race and our friends with the online coverage.  I think I amused my roommates with my routine- emptying everything out of all of my bags and re-packing them to make sure everything would be where I needed it- but it's just one of those things that makes me feel more at ease before a race.  Triathlon has so much more gear involved than other sports, and I didn't want to take the chance of misplacing anything I needed.  I wouldn't be running, but I still had shoes to drop off at T2 so I could cross the finish line when I was done, I had certain things I wanted at the car after the race, and I obviously had swim and bike gear to bring with me to T1, as well as a few things to use before the race (an extra water bottle and PowerGel, sunscreen, etc.).  The race was going to be around 3 hours long...

Race Day

For an aquabike race like this (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike) I ideally would have wanted to get a solid warm up on the bike, then a good swim.  With all bikes being checked in the day before the race, it wasn't possible to take the bike back out on the road in the morning.  My second choice would have been to bring a trainer into transition and ride inside there- I've seen a few pros do this at other Rev3 races.  But with two transitions, that wasn't an option either: I would have had to bring the trainer on the athlete bus with me in addition to my other bags, plus the race wouldn't be able to transport it back to the finish area for me.  So instead I got to T2 in the morning and started with a run warm up sequence and  squats to get my leg muscles firing, then dropped off my shoes and visor at my transition spot and boarded one of the athlete buses to T1 with my swim and bike gear.  As I set up my spot, I noticed that my front water bottle was leaking from the bottom.  I didn't have a way to fix it or bring another bottle with me, so I would have to make do with one good water bottle on my bike frame and just drink quickly from the front bottle each time I filled it on the course.  Once I was finally satisfied that everything was set up on my bike the way I wanted it, I found some teammates and hung out for a while to try to calm my nerves.  Then it was time to drop off my dry clothes bag and go remind myself how to swim!

Swim
I was starting in wave 3 of the day at 8 a.m., ten minutes behind wave 1.  Wave 1 contained the Half Rev men under age 40, wave 2 was men 40-55, and my wave was a mix of men 55+, all relays, and all of the Half Aquabike participants.  The swim course was fun: we started on one side of a peninsula and did a big loop around it to finish on the other side.  I figured the start might be aggressive, so I started in the second line of athletes instead of the front.  My start was clean and I found someone to follow for the first few hundred meters.  After the second turn we started catching the orange caps of the  second wave, and I navigated my own way through the chaos.  I felt strong and in control. Eventually I started catching some green caps of wave 1 swimmers as well, but I tried to focus on keeping my stroke smooth and my effort high.  I tend to perform well in open water compared to swimmers of the same level in the pool, and I think that's mainly due to being able to maintain concentration in the second half of the swim leg.  I was hoping for a sub 29 minute split here, and was a little bit off of that.  The swim is always the hardest split to compare race to race.  Times seemed a little slow across the board here, and weaving through athletes probably slowed me down a bit, but I'm happy with how I felt in the swim regardless of the time itself.
Split: 30:29

Transition
One thing I definitely did not do well was put my wetsuit into the transition bag quickly.  This is not something I've practiced since it is only done at races with two transitions, but it might be worth taking the time to figure out the best way to do it since I had trouble!  As I ran out barefoot with my bike I heard someone say "First female," but I was skeptical...
Split: 1:11

transition 1

Bike
This bike course was "lollipop" design, with one giant loop, a short jaunt on the same roads around T1, and then a few more roads continuing past there to T2 (my finish).  With 3 speed bumps along the road out of the park, it wasn't possible to build much speed right away.  I hit the button to start my bike computer after the second bump, but as I exited the park and looked down, I saw that the computer was off.  I hit it again and saw a flash of numbers, then nothing.  Confused, I did it a third time and caught the empty battery icon out of the corner of my eye.  No.  I remembered looking at its cord the night before and figuring it didn't need charging, but I didn't verify.  I'd had plans for what power I wanted to put out on different parts of the course, but now I'd be doing it entirely on feel.  My pacing plan, since I didn't have to run, had been to do the first half at the effort I usually bike at in Olympic distance races, then try to bring it up in the second half and make sure I was completely exhausted by the time I got to the dismount line.  For the Aquabike our finish times were taken at the entrance to transition 2, so I would need to get off my bike and run about 4 steps at the end.  Trying to sprint into the dismount area would be dangerous, so I didn't want to have anything extra left.
 
With the way the starting waves were structured, I found myself around a lot of riders of similar ability level right away, and it was interesting.  Since I didn't have power numbers to rein me in on the first part of the course, I revised my plan to try to bring up the effort a little bit every 10 miles, and take it easy on the climbs in the first half of the race.  I was surrounded by men and it was hard not to absorb their pacing, but I figured based on what I'd seen at other long races that a lot of them were probably climbing too hard.  I ended up around a bunch of guys that were hard to shake: they'd fly by me up the hills, and I'd gradually pull them back on the flatter sections and descents.  I was careful to follow the non-drafting rules, though it was frustrating to have to sit up and slow down a few times for people.  I'm used to being on my own most of the time at races when the women start together- the women's amateur field isn't usually deep enough to get bunched up.  My sympathies to those of you who deal with this all the time!

Ten miles in, I passed a girl in Dynamo kit.  That's the team female pro Haley Chura swims with, so I wasn't too surprised that this great swimmer was apparently on the team too.  I didn't know if there were any other women still up the road (after all, that spectator had apparently missed this one), so I kept riding like I was chasing someone.  Throughout the middle of the ride, I was... I was chasing everyone.  The field spread out, so I was on my own much more, but I tried to keep slowly picking off the people in front of me while sticking to my pacing strategy.  At 30 miles I got a special "hey, I'm over halfway" kind of excitement and picked it up considerably for the next 10 miles... maybe a little bit too much. 

There were 3 aid stations on the bike course, at 15, 30, and 45 miles.  I got water at each and poured it in the front bottle, but the leaking was noticeable.  I drank as much as I comfortably could after each aid station before the water ran out, but I wasn't getting quite as much as I wanted overall.  I also realized that my normal bike food for a half distance race (PowerBar Gel Blasts) was too solid for my more aggressive aquabike pacing... should've stuck exclusively to gels.  Lesson learned.  By the time I got to mile 45 my legs hurt pretty badly, and my stomach felt like it was holding a lot of fuel that wasn't being absorbed. I told myself that there was only half an hour to go, and kept using the people in front as motivation.  This is what you wanted to happen.  The last half hour of a half distance race is always painful, but it was novel to experience that on the bike instead of the run.  I caught teammate Josh around mile 50 and gave him a cheer, hoping he remembered that I had nothing to hold back for at that point (he was doing the entire half, not the aquabike).  During the last few miles it felt like my legs were shredding apart, and I pushed harder, just wanting it to be over faster.  Finally I heard the noise of the expo and made the turn into the Civic Center grounds, got off the bike and shuffled my way the last few steps into transition.  DONE.

Split: 2:40:18, Total: 3:11:58

what a beautiful, beautiful sign

It was strange to slowly hobble my way through transition with my bike while people were running by.  I got to my spot and tried to stand there and take off my cycling shoes.  My legs wobbled and I had to brace myself on the bike to stop myself from falling over.  Interesting.  Finally I got both running shoes on, put on my visor as I walked the rest of the way through transition, and jubilantly jogged the opposite way most people were going- right around the corner to the finish chute to get my t-shirt and finisher medal! 

Post Race

One of the best things about traveling by myself was the freedom to make my own schedule.  I was in no hurry to get back on the road after the long trip down, so I enjoyed a few hours at the race cheering people in, attending the awards ceremony (found out I won the Aquabike!), and running around chatting with friends.  After a quick break to take a shower and sit in Ryan's NormaTec boots, I met up with other Team Rev3 members and Rev3 staff to cheer in the final finisher of the day- a Rev3 tradition! After grabbing some dinner with Ryan and Anthony it was time to hit the road again.  Another great weekend with the Rev3 family-- can't wait until next year!

I split up the drive on the way home too, and decided to sleep in, see Ohio in the daylight, and spend more than a couple of minutes with my aunt!  If you find ever find yourself in Oxford and need a place to stay, check out Presidio Pines--  then you can see these guys too:

Out with a Bang: Rev3 Branson

I came into this season in an interesting place.  For the first time in years, I didn't have a big "A race" in mind. I wanted to perform well at the Olympic and Half distances and had quite a few "process" goals for the year, but that was it.  I'm a big believer in keeping things flexible and doing what motivates you, and there was no single event that I wanted to qualify for, etc.  I kind of had in mind from the beginning that it would be a building year.  Some of this was probably the need for a mental break after my borderline-obsession with Ironman Wisconsin last year (which went very well and turned into one of those sobs-of-joy-at-the finish-line type races, despite the fact that I didn't end up with a Kona spot.  I was not a blogger yet, but my coach wrote a good recap of my race on his blog here).  Anyway, our plan this year had an early season peak and an extended peak for my end-of-season tris: Iowa's Best Dam Triathlon (MWCTC  Championships) and the Half Rev at Rev3 Branson.

I enjoyed rocking the Team Rev3 tats with the UW kit for IBDT!  Justin Torner Photography got some cool shots.

At this point, some of you might notice that I never published a race report for IBDT.  And I don't plan to.  My approach to blogging is a lot like racing: I do it when I feel inspired to, when I feel passionate about it.  I need an angle, some broader perspective than just a play-by-play race recap.  As with any Badger road trip it was a really fun weekend, but the race itself was unremarkable for me. So-so non-wetsuit swim, pretty fast bike with a few stupid mistakes, and a run that started off well but faded to the point that it ended up only 30 seconds faster than in the previous year's race (which was 1 week post ironman).  The brightest spots were that I nailed the mount and dismount I had been practicing all week (woot!). I came away with the collegiate female win, which was my primary point in making the trip, but I left with a fire in my belly for Branson.

With Branson, a number of factors collided that made me strangely (for me) at ease in the the lead-up to the race.  I mentioned the fact that I wasn't really viewing it as an A race.  One of my goals at the beginning of the season was to break 5 hours in a half this year.  I have been close now many times-- Door County 2010: 5:01:49, Racine 2011- 5:01:49 (NOT A TYPO, I went the same time down to the second!), High Cliff 2012- 5:00:12, Oceanside 2013- 5:01:43.  However, I knew going in that Branson would not be the course to do that on, unless I turned into Wonder Woman overnight (the winning female pro in 2012 went 4:57), so I didn't feel any pressure about that. I'd also already hit a long-shot goal for the year by pro qualifying at Rev3 Dells, so that wasn't an issue either.  I was just excited to race, and that pretty much blocked out everything else.

home away from home for the weekend

I made the trip down to Missouri with Badger teammate Simon, who was racing the Olympic Rev in the collegiate division, and Milwaukee-area tri friend Pete, who was also racing the Half Rev.  The drive went quickly, and our hotel was pretty entertaining and Branson-esque.  Saturday was a busy day with the official practice swim, packet-pick-up at T2, easy ride and bike drop off at T1, and a quick drive of the bike course.  As usual I was dealing with a few minor crises (this time, some foot pain that kept me out of running the second half of the week, and a painful insect sting on our shake-out bike ride) but I tried to focus on managing the things I could control and hoped for the best in the morning!

green screen fun at the race expo!

5 a.m. rolled around quickly, and it was chilly (mid-40s) but we were pretty well prepared.  All of the week's little niggles melted away.  We parked at T2 and dropped off our run gear, then were able to board one of the Branson Ducks right away (no line!) to shuttle us to the swim start.  It was pretty much as stress-free as a two transition race can be.  There was space to warm up in the water while the earlier waves went off, which was great since the 76* water felt much nicer than the air did, and my sleeveless blueseventy wetsuit was perfect.  The air-water temperatures and humidity were working together to create a fog layer right at water level, though, and even during my warm up I could tell that it was going to make things interesting...

Swim

^ hey look, I'm running

Our wave start was a beach start, and I was able to line up just where I liked- on the front and to the inside- in hopes of avoiding the fray.  I found myself following some fast feet for the first 400m or so.  Quickly I noticed that I could see the candy-corn-like orange and yellow Olympic turn buoys just fine (great), but not the red buoys that signaled the Half Rev turns. My stroke felt good, and it seemed like the people in front were veering off course (at least, if the red buoy was where it seemed like it should be) so I left the person in front of me in hopes of swimming a straighter line.  But after a little while I realized I was lost in the fog: I had passed the Olympic turn buoy, but I couldn't see the Half one yet.  After failing to sight it a few times in a row, I did a few breaststroke strokes to take a better look around.  Nope.  My only choice was to keep following the path of the swimmers I was catching from earlier waves until I saw the buoy myself.  This  continued throughout the swim, and I completely lost momentum.  It was hard to trust the people in front of me, and I know I was swimming much too tentatively.  This is definitely something I need to work on. Slowing down wasn't helping- I needed to trust that I was going the right way, and periodically check for appearing buoys.  I might try out a different colored goggle tint in the future as well.  Finally I hit sand and started running, and heard RD Eric yell that my speedy Rev3 teammate Maggie was up just ahead.  I charged up the steep path as quickly as I could manage, did a solid bike mount (yay!) and set off in pursuit.  Split: 30:57

Bike

The first two miles were very decidedly uphill, and my legs felt good but I tried not to get too excited.  The next ones were more gradual, and I slowly reined Maggie in and gave her a cheer as I passed.  It was fun to glance around and remember running the same road a couple of years ago. At about 6 miles we popped out onto our playground for the day, the Ozark Mountain High Road.  The Half Rev athletes had about two and a half laps on there before turning off towards Branson Landing.  The entire multi-lane High Road was completely closed to traffic for us, so crowding was never an issue, and there were 5 opportunities to get fluids at aid stations on course, which was great.  This whole middle section of the bike course was filled with long slow climbs followed by open sweeping downhills.  Normally I'm not a big fan of hills, but the fun of carrying high speeds through the descents just about made up for all of the climbing.  My ride data shows that I went over 40 mph 16 times during the Branson bike.  Crazy!  The climbs weren't too steep, so you could get into a rhythm and grind them out.   

great bike course photo by ericwynn.org

I tried to stay as steady as possible on the climbs, and use them as chances to eat, drink, and move around.  Coach Bill and I had discussed power goals for the flats (ha!) and power ceilings for the climbs in the week before the race, but I ended up climbing a little bit above what we had discussed.  It allowed me to ride at a more comfortable cadence, and since my legs felt strong it seemed like the smartest thing to do.  I was getting plenty of rest of the downhills, and I knew from hilly rides earlier in the summer that I could climb hard repeatedly without destroying my legs.  I feel like I'm getting better at identifying different types of pain and what they mean for me.  My legs hurt for most of the bike ride, but I still had plenty of power, and that was the important part.  This is the kind of situation when I appreciated having power data as an independent measure of how hard I was working.  Without it, I probably would have backed off to make sure I wasn't  killing myself before a half marathon. Still, I was a little nervous turning off the High Road that I'd done too much. With 9 miles to go, I looked down and realized that on most other half courses I'd be getting off the bike around then.  From my scouring of previous years' results, 3:00 seemed like a competitive amateur bike split, and would be in the mix with the back half of the female pros.  So that was a smaller goal for the race, and I knew I could get close if I stayed focused.

in the zone on the High Road

The final miles down to Branson Landing were really fun and mostly downhill.  There was a screaming fast descent at mile 53 on James Epps Rd.--  I was grateful that the RD intelligently routed us up around the corner and through a wide turnaround to run out some speed instead of having us making a tight left into the park right at the bottom of the hill.  The path through the park was narrow and twisty, and I was all alone so I was momentarily concerned that I missed a turn.  Soon enough, though, I found myself at the exit and ready for the last hill- a sharp little kick that was actually the steepest section on the course (ouch!).  I was really glad I knew it was coming, because I probably would've dropped my chain otherwise.  My wind-chilled feet made for a less than graceful flying dismount, but oh well.  Split: 3:01:48 (gah!)

Run

The Branson run course is 3 laps (more like 2.9 laps) and pretty much as flat as I could hope for.  It's lovely.  From T2 we ran right through the middle of the Branson Landing shopping center, along the river to a big loop turnaround in Sunset Park, then all the way past transition along the water to a quick out and back in North Beach Park.  Like the bike course, the run was incredibly well-supported, with 14 aid stations in 13 miles.  And I appreciated every single one of them.

In my pre-race meeting with Bill we'd decided I should go out at about 7:30 pace if I felt good, or about 8s if I was having trouble getting my legs to come around.  Well, as I headed out of transition my legs felt GREAT-- like all the bike did was warm them up for the run.  What?!  My excitement combined with the rush of heading through the crowds at the shopping center caused me to take it out hot.  I came through 1 mile and hit my watch: 7:01, crap.  I tried to convince myself to simmer down.  Mile 2: 7:06. Double crap. Even if I was having an awesome day, that was probably not going to be sustainable.  Attempt #2 to back off: 7:22.  Ok.  I tried to hold it there.

The day had slowly been warming up and the sun was shining brightly.  I had taken a few salt tablets on the bike, and packed some for the run even though they would be on course.  I tried to stay on top of cooling myself and fueling: at each aid station I dumped water on myself and grabbed a drink, and  make sure I was taking in calories and salt regularly. Around mile 6 I started getting toasty, and running wasn't as easy.  I focused on my cadence and kept an eye on my splits.  It was great to see Sharpie and my Rev3 teammates and other friends around the course: every time I ran into one of them it was a pick-me-up.  The third quarter of the run is always so mental.  I grabbed cola, which is always a nice treat in races.  I chased people.  I'd been keeping tabs on where Maggie was, and I could see that she was slowing pulling time back.  She is a solid runner who's had a few fantastic races this year, so I couldn't afford to ease up at all.  Since we were now mixed in with Olympic racers and doing multiple laps, I couldn't tell where anyone else was.  I made an effort to pick things up at the start of the third lap, but it cost me.  My lower body was tightening up. At mile 10 I found myself above 8:00/mi pace for the first time in the race.  Nooo.  At that point I realized the aid stations had ice, and shoved a bunch down my top.  Mile 11.  My left IT band felt like a rock.  HOLD IT TOGETHER, SUMMER.  I imagined ticking off every tenth of a mile.  Past 12 miles, a woman came floating by me looking impossibly fresh.  It was the final kick in the butt I needed.  I fought to stay on her heels, and was delighted when she continued straight as I veered left towards the finish.  I got an enthusiastic greeting from Rev3 announcer Sean English and couldn't help but grin as I crossed the line.  Split: 1:39:59 (!)

Time: 5:15:14, 1st OA amateur female, 11th OA female

Whoa.  I am very, very happy with the way this race went, and as such, it will definitely be my last triathlon this season.  It was my first time breaking 1:40 in a 70.3 run (by the skin of my teeth! but still!), when at the start of 2013 I hadn't cracked 1:50. To do it off of a difficult bike ride is icing on the cake. It would have still been the slowest run in the women's pro field by a couple of minutes, but at least I'm moving in the right direction.  1:40 was a big mental barrier.  Maybe by the end of next year I'll be able to take my run out in 7s and actually hold them.  Time will tell... 

My travel buddies turned in solid races too, with Simon winning the Olympic overall and Pete placing in the top part of the amateur field in the half.  It was also great to see some of my collegiate friends down at the race, too- they always make things more fun.  And of course the Rev3 family was out in full force!  It was a great trip.

Rev3 girls represent

This weekend I have my final real race of the year- USAT Aquabike Nationals at Rev3 South Carolina in Anderson, SC.  I referred to this as the "dessert of my triathlon season" to a friend recently, and it totally is.  A 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and I'm done.  I signed up for it last year even before I made it onto the Rev3 team.  For once I get to go out and leave it all on the bike, without worrying what it will do to my run.  In the second half of that bike ride, the gloves are coming off, and the claws are coming out.

I can't wait.

South Dakota in (Mostly) Pictures

Well, I'm back from a pretty epic road trip to Rapid City to work with a colleague at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.  Research went well, motivation is high, and the training environment (as least for cycling/running) was excellent to boot.  The Black Hills are an amazing place for an outdoorsy person who is into earth science.  I finally sprang for a new camera charger while I was there (after about 10 months of vainly hoping mine would materialize), so I have some nice photos to share trip highlights in addition to a few questionable quality phone pictures. Enjoy!

- Driving past the Badlands during the foggy sunrise.

little camera phone working its hardest here

- Double-takes at most corners in downtown Rapid City due to the "City of Presidents" sculptures.

Hello, John Adams.

-Hiding from a giant thunderstorm, complete with pebble-sized hail, in Deadwood.

IT'S COMING.

- Some wild west history above Deadwood.

- Sunset run on the Mickelson Trail.

I saw a very small piece of it... it's 109 miles long!

-That night I got really lost on gravel roads without cell service and ended up a mile from Wyoming.

My handwritten directions said to follow Rochford Rd. south.  Come on.
  Clearly this was intended to mess with tourists.

- Miles and miles of gorgeous roads to ride on.

And just look at those rocks!

The exception that proves the rule.  Guess which way my directions had me going?
The sign at far left says "Motorcycles use extreme caution." This was a fun bike descent.

- Roadside geology stops.

folding in the Minnekahta limestone near Hot Springs

- Cave tour at Wind Cave National Park

It was hard to pry me out of there.  I took the Natural Entrance Tour, but I'll have to go back some day to take the others- particularly the Wild Cave Tour (the only actual public caving tour).

- Shamelessly touristy stops.

Wall Drug.  Enough said.

Adventures in Boulder: UNAVCO visit

Yeah, I'm cool.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled race report to bring you some SCIENCE!

Though it may not always seem like it from this blog, triathlon is far from my day job.  Life as a grad student can certainly get hectic and stressful, and athletics have always been my release, my escape, my means of maintaining my sanity.  But many times there are fun opportunities as a student as well, and I recently took advantage of one of them: a trip out to Boulder, CO for a short course in Finite Element Modeling of Deformation at Volcanoes.

A science short course is an intensive class that is condensed into a short time frame, usually a few hours to a few days long.  In this case, the course took place over the Tuesday-Thursday of the week after Triple-T.  Our car arrived back in  Madison from Ohio very early Monday morning, and I flew out later in the morning.  So partly by accident and partly by design, I did absolutely zero swimming, biking, or running that Monday-Thursday.  Side note: don't expect to remember everything if you're packing while dead tired.  I think this turned out to be a very good thing, though.  The days in Colorado were full, with class from 9am to about 6pm and evening socializing and networking with the other participants.  It did make me a little bit jealous to see all the cyclists buzzing around the area during those few days, though.

Schematic of how InSAR works.  Blue: positions at
 time 1, pink: positions at time 2. Offset for ease of
viewing.  Range change is represented by rho.

The course took place at UNAVCO, which is a non-profit university-governed consortium that facilitates earth science education and research using geodesy: the study of the earth's shape, gravitational field, and rotation.  Some tools used in geodesy include GPS, gravimeters, tiltmeters, borehole strain measurements, and satellite radar measurements.  I was at the course because my dissertation is using data from technique called InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) to measure surface deformation at a volcano in Alaska, and I am learning to model this deformation using the finite element method.  For SAR, a satellite sends signals of a particular wavelength to the ground, and those signals bounce back to the satellite with an amplitude and phase that depend on the characteristics of the surface and the distance traveled by the signal.  Interferometric SAR involves using the difference in phase returned by a signal sent to a particular area on the ground at two different times to calculate the change in distance between the ground and the satellite, and therefore the uplift or subsidence of the ground, during that time period.  It's pretty amazing that this works when you consider all of the factors that go into making the measurements, and it's only possible because we know and can account for information such as satellite orbits so precisely.  InSAR is useful for volcano monitoring because volcanoes uplift when new magma moves into the system beneath them, so the amount of uplift of a volcano and the rate at which it occurs can be used to try to predict eruptions.

The course went really well- I feel like I learned a lot, and am much more competent with the modeling program I will be using!  Hurray.  I love the Boulder area, too... I could definitely see myself ending up out there one day.

With that, I'll leave you with some pictures snapped by the UNAVCO staff.

morning background lecture

loading our data sets

working through a demo model as a group

getting a tour of the UNAVCO warehouse- really fun stuff in there!

group shot in front of the office

American Triple-T Ohio

heading into transition rocking the Rev3 shorts

This race is one of my favorites, one that I look forward to heading back to year after year.  It's pretty much a racing junkie (guilty)'s dream: 4 triathlons over 3 days!  The event takes place in the Shawnee State Park near Portsmouth, Ohio.  I say "near" because there's really no town within miles, nothing close by except for the lodge and cabins up big a hill from the transition area at Turkey Creek Lake.  There isn't even reliable cell service from the lodge area.  Factor in a relatively small field of racers who are seeing each other on the courses all weekend, many of whom are returning racers, and most of whom are staying within the park, and you end up with a triathlon retreat weekend of sorts.  Everyone is required to wear the provided official Triple-T tri top.  We keep the same race numbers all weekend, so you end up chatting up the people who share your rack in transition, meeting people in the "ice bath" that is the creek post-race, etc.  The camaraderie makes the experience really fun.

So, how does this crazy thing work?  Athletes can enter "solo" or part as a two person "team".  The four races are a super sprint Friday night, an Olympic distance Saturday morning, another Olympic Saturday afternoon (but bike-swim-run) and a half distance on Sunday morning.  Your times from all four races are added together to get a total time for the weekend.  If you race as part of a team, you are allowed to draft off of your teammate on the bike leg of the third and fourth races, and the team's time includes the times of each member from the first two races, plus the time of the slower member from the third and fourth race (teammates are supposed to finish together on those two).  This was my third time at the race- it would've been the fourth, but I broke my hand in 2011 and had to back out.  The first two times I raced it as part of a coed team (thanks for pulling me around and being my run sherpas, Kory and Bill!).

Yeah.  Word on the street is that I punched a dragon.

Last year on the half distance's bike leg I remember being passed by a solo female and thinking she was a complete bada**... so of course this year I thought it would be a fun challenge to try it solo myself. This event always attracts some really fast folks, including a few pros, so I knew there would be great competition.  I always like seeing where I can stack up against the guys too.

The format of the race makes for a few unique challenges.  The main one is pacing.  Don't let yourself hear "Ohio" and be fooled, these courses are HILLY.  Go too hard on the first two races, and you'll find yourself walking up the trail on the half.  Fueling is another very important part of the weekend: you almost have to force yourself to keep eating on Saturday.  Recovery is key.  That's the part I messed up this year- academic deadlines meant much less sleep during the pre-race week and during the weekend than I really needed, and I definitely felt it catching up to me on the second two races.  Another challenge is managing all of your race gear. Nothing seems to really dry between races, so it is good to have spares of things if possible.  The tri top is necessarily the same for all 4 (kind of "ew," but unavoidable) but I packed 3 pairs of shorts: my new Pearl Izumi Rev3 ones for the super sprint and half, Endurance House ones for the morning Olympic, and Wisconsin tri ones for the afternoon Olympic.  I also recommend multiple pairs of socks, and bringing some newspaper to stuff shoes with, at least after the Saturday races.

Full race reports for each race would be completely overwhelming, so I'm going to attempt to cover just the highlights.  If you have any other questions about the courses or want any more details about my races, hit up the Comments section below!  I know these routes VERY well by now! :)

Friday p.m.: Prologue Super Sprint (250m swim/ 6k bike/ 1mi run)

Fast and furious, a good time to check out the competition and shake out the legs after a long drive. I went wetsuit-less since the lake was pretty warm this year compared to past years (mid-60s).  The bike is a short out and back, then a trip up the giant hill past the cabins and a screaming fast descent back to T2.  I have thankfully improved my descending since last year so my knuckles weren't quite as white at the bottom!  The run was flat, with a turnaround just before the spot where the trail we would be running on all weekend starts to climb. I kept myself to a quick clip without running too hard, and enjoyed seeing so many friends on the course.  The state of Wisconsin had a pretty good contingent out there this year for a race so far away!
Time: 25:53

Calm before the storm. They send us off TT -style by 3's

Saturday a.m.: Olympic (1500m swim/ 40k bike/ 6.55mi run)

The swim here begins 3 at a time, time-trial fashion, and in what is supposed to be number order (assigned by previous Triple T results and submitted best half distance times).  However, a lot of people seemed unmotivated to talk to each other to actually figure this out, so a lot more people started in front of me than should have.  I must have swam around 40 or 50 people. Argh!  The bike course for this one is really fun and includes the infamous Thompson Hill (which you can see in my power file as a sharp spike at ~22 min/7.7 mi in) as well as a couple of really fast descents with some tricky turns.  When you see an ambulance parked up the road waiting for someone to crash, you know the course means business!  My legs actually felt really great on the bike for this race and it turned out to be my favorite one of the weekend.  The run was our first time onto the pretty-but-brutal Lamp Black Trail, which is pretty much uphill for 2.5 miles, steep downhill for one, then a turnaround and back up and over.  My running legs showed up that morning too, so I had a ball and was really happy with the progress my run has made over the winter.  On the ride uphill back to the cabin after the race, however, I could tell my legs were starting to feel the effort...
Time: 2:33:24

Saturday p.m.: Olympic (40k bike/ 1500m swim/ 6.55mi run)

transition set-up is a little strange for a bike-swim-run

As is typical for this race, by the afternoon it had gotten sunny, humid, and hot!  It was the first race of the weekend that teams came into play, so again we were supposed to line up in number order, but this time teammates lined up at the faster member's number for a time trial bike start.  Unfortunately transition was set up poorly for this and people were even less organized than in the morning.  The slower numbers, who were racked closer to the mount line we would be starting from, swamped the transition area's center aisle and blocked most of the faster racers (lower numbers) from getting through.  Luckily for me overtaking people on the bike is much less violent than in the water, but I was plenty frustrated by having to weave around so many people in the first ten miles.  In retrospect, my adrenaline-fueled riding cost me a few matches that I should have saved for the long climb on the way back... I still need to learn to control my emotions a bit better when racing.  As I reached the hill summit on the way back, the sky suddenly opened up into an epic thunderstorm, one that made me yearn for the pleasant riding conditions of Knoxville.  This was an instantly soaking, struggling to keep my eyes open, gee-I-hope-that-car-can see-me kind of rain, just as I hit the first of 2 big descents.  Needless to say, I lost a lot of time on that one trying not to die.  The storm, though intense, turned out to be fairly small and isolated, so a few miles later we were back on dry roads.  Two or three miles from transition there was lightning directly overhead (enough to make me shriek a little and curse) so I started imagining possible scenarios for the rest of the race. Bike/run? Probably super muddy.  Stop after the bike?  Anyway, I was shocked to turn the final corner into the lake area and spot dozens of flailing shapes in the water.  Guess we were swimming after all...

Long story, but I did not have my beloved sleeveless BlueSeventy wetsuit for the weekend, and the idea of struggling into my full sleeve in T1 didn't seem worth any time savings in the relatively warm water.  So I took off the tri top and charged through transition in just the tri shorts and sports bra.  In case you were wondering, swimming after a hard bike ride and two other races is really, really not fun.  I'm not sure how much the wetsuit would have helped, but I felt a lot like this:

save me.

and was thrilled to get out of the water.  By the time I got out, though, I was apparently low on fluids/electrolytes/calories because I rode the struggle bus all the way to the run turnaround trying to revive myself with sports drink. I came around quite a bit on the second half, but it was a little too late to salvage a good result.  I took advantage of the on-site massage afterward (glorious!) to begin the recovery for the big one on Sunday.
Time: 2:45:00

Sunday a.m.: Half (1.2 mi swim/ 56 mi bike/ 13.1 mi run)

Racers foggily trying to scramble out of transition in
time for the start.

I made sure to start a lot farther towards the front of the line for this race and was rewarded with a pretty clean swim.  My shoulders and back were tired, but I still felt like I turned in a pretty strong split.  Once on the bike I found that I'd beaten a lot of the top guys out of the water, because a bunch of them came by me in a pack as we started the long climb on that course (sigh).  Madison rockstar Cindi Bannink also passed me up that climb and I expected that to be the last I saw of her until the run, but to my surprise I caught her again about 5 miles later after a flat/descending section.  Pretty cool, until I botched a sharp gravelly turn and wound up doing a little off-roading on a rocky section.  Luckily I managed to save it/ sta upright.  I checked my tires after maneuvering back onto the road- no flats, but the incident killed my cornering confidence a little bit, and Cindi was long gone.  I came through the aid station at the end of the lap pleasantly surprised to see myself on par with the pace Bill had pulled me around in the year before.  But the bike course of the Triple-T half is no time for heroics, so I backed off a little bit on the second and final lap and brought it in with my bike power just above what I'd ridden at Oceanside (and a little over 25 minutes slower than my split there, which should tell you a lot about this race course).  Aside from a dropped chain on one of the climbs (gah), the second lap was without incident, just a bit lonely.  Knowing the course helps a lot at a race like this.

Finally it was time to run, and the day had heated up considerably.  I began to suffer pretty quickly and found myself grasping at anything I could find to cool me down. I was wearing the Fuel Belt I won last year at Rev3 Wisconsin Dells to carry some extra fluids and salt, so in addition to fetching ice and other fluids at aid stations I used the belt's bottles to pour water over my head and take in salt while walking the steepest uphill sections.  The leading males actually lapped me while I was walking up the long hill after the first lap's turnaround, which was kind of embarrassing even though they told me "nice job" as they glided by. The ice and fluids eventually helped to start perking me up, but I was still out of it enough at the aid station halfway to beg a nice volunteer for the rest of their Coke (it worked!) and accidentally leave one of the bottles I had intended to fill sitting on the table.  A small rain storm on the second lap helped me to cool down and feel more like myself, and I'm pretty sure my second lap was much faster than the first.
Time: 5:51:53

Part of the Madison crew at the post-race pizza party/awards

Overall I think I performed pretty well considering the fatigue I was carrying into and through the race weekend, and either way I had a great time again out there.  I came out as the 4th solo "senior" female (ages 24-39-- way to make me feel old) which was just shy of getting an award.  But I'm sure I will be back, and I've got plenty of good years ahead of me.  Special congrats to Cindi and Dan for taking home division awards, as well as Justin and others for finishing their first Triple T!