Rev3 Quassy 2012 - Heather's Race Report

The podium. Contrary to Sir Mix-A-Lot – little isn’t in the middle

So Rev3 Quassy is in the books, and it was a cracker of a race!

Rather than the boring old play-by-play, this race report is going to be a little session of fact vs. fiction.

Fiction: Pro triathletes jet-set around the country and stay in fancy places to do fancy races while their entourage of personal chefs, massage therapists, and psychic readers take care of them.

Fact:   Most pro triathletes fly coach on planes with the cheapest bike fees.  The generosity of homestay families make travelling across the country to race possible.

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Fiction: Homestays with 3 kids, and a dog are pretty much a total nightmare

Fact: Immersion in a normal family is a really nice way to chill before a race. It gets your mind off it, and keeps you from thinking too much. Kids and dogs are awesome (well some peoples’ kids and dogs) and meeting generous strangers who then become your friends is fantastic.

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Fiction: The lake, haunted by the aquatic monster Quassapaug, was really cold so we got to wear wetsuits.

Fact: Any lake named Quassapaug really needs a resident monster, but it was only sort of cold (69oF) so swim skins it was. I was fine, cold for a bit, but I felt that the cut-off was reasonable, and race-day weather was great, sandwiched between days of rain. Trust me, Trevor has made me appreciate the agony that comes from extreme sensitivity to cold water, but I am more sensitive to over-heating, and like non-wetsuit swims, so it worked for me. I think a combo of water temp and outside air temp should be used to decide wetsuit cut-offs.

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Fiction: I rocked the swim and stuck with the lead pack

Fact: I couldn’t quite hang with the lead swimmers, and swam in no man’s land between them and the main chase pack.

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Fiction: I put the hammer down on the bike with the sole thought of trying to get a big enough gap from the runners behind me

Fact: I rode my watts. I know that if I follow my plan, I will have one of the fastest bike splits and be able to run well.  What other people do is out of my control, so I just try to stay in the moment and not do anything stupid.

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Fiction: It was really annoying having press camera’s etc, in my face the whole time while I lead the race from about mile 5 of the bike, to mile 11 of the run.

Fact: The live race-day updates online from Rev3 were awesome (see below) but most of the on course press didn’t get the memo so they missed getting any sort of video of me on the bike. I actually went back out with a film crew between the finish and the awards at 1pm, to get mock race footage. Fiction: It was pretty fun hammering to look like I was racing, right after I finished one of the hardest fought races of my life…

Fiction: when I saw Mirinda on the out and back at mile ~6, I freaked out and pretty much figured that her catching me was inevitable

Fact: I aggressively dismissed any negativity, thought “Heather, you’ve held her off before, just RUN” and really stayed positive. I kept the pressure on and was happy with my mental place. This was a big accomplishment for me.

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Fiction: I ran with all I had and hung on to the lead, winning the race and beating Mirinda Carfrae by a mere 17 seconds!

Fact: I ran with all I had and hung on to the lead, until mile 11 or so. Then I ran with all I had to stay with Mirinda Carfrae, but couldn’t hang and she beat me by a mere 17 seconds.

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Fiction: when you say dammit at the end of the race, b/c you just couldn’t hang on to the win, no one will ever know

Fact: you can totally tell what people say right when they finish from video footage. Lip reading captures stuff for all time. Sweet.

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Here is the Rev3 race recap video. The women’s race coverage starts at minute 9.

Fiction: It is really awesome having people point out all the possible places where you lost 17 seconds and, hence, the entire race – putting socks on in T2, losing the aero straw on my TorHans bottle…

Fact: Yes the little things DO matter in a 4.5hr race, but imagining all possible fixes to all unknown outcomes and variables is of limited utility.

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Some serious mud in the finish shoot from rain the day before. Almost ate it a couple times!

Fiction: I am in such good shape I don’t get sore from racing.

Fact: It doesn’t get any easier, you just go faster. If you’ve raced HARD, a walker for the trip to the bathroom the next morning would be handy.

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Fiction: Dunkin Doughnuts is awesome. See 2:25 in on video below…

Fact: Dunkin Doughnuts is not even close to as good as Tim Hortons (sorry New England), and Timmy Ho’s is decidedly underwhelming.

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Fiction: It’s pretty easy to do this for a living. Getting to the top of the podium is all talent and magic and it’s not like there have been many hard years of training behind everyone’s performances.

Fact: I would not have a career as a pro triathlete without a ton of hard work and support from loved ones, friends, and of course my AWESOME sponsors. Huge thanks to Saucony, Blue, First Endurance, Manitoba Harvest, Rolf Prima Wheels, Aqua Sphere, Iron Gear Sports, UltrAspire, CycleOps Power, Giro, Tifosi Optics, TorHans Aero Hydration, and Bonk Breaker.

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Last but not least, thanks to my amazing husband Trevor, my coach Paulo, and The Triathlon Squad. It’s so important to be surrounded by driven, positive people who are all striving to reach big goals!

Next up is Ironman Coeur d’Alene on June 24th. Looking forward to it!

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~ by trevorandheather on June 5, 2012.