Race Report - Rev3 Knoxville Olympic Triathlon

Let's just start off by saying kudos to Knoxville for being a great site for a race. It's a nice little city that's completely walkable with plenty of fun local places to eat and see. For Meredith and I, that's exactly how we love to do races - settle in and don't move the car unless we have to.

We arrived on Friday night, and basically just had time to check in and make it up to the restaurant area of town before everything closed down around 9:00. A little early, but still better than most of Columbus' downtown restaurants! We found a little cafe called Trio, and the food was good enough that we'd return the next morning for breakfast. There was also an art show/community gathering going on in the park outside, with lots of hula hooping, dreadlocks, dancing, and the like.

Saturday morning, Meredith had some team obligations for Team Trakkers, so we headed down to the expo/finish area and met up with her team. I met lots of people there, and not knowing names coming into it, I failed big time at remembering them all! Sorry... However, everyone seems really nice and really fast! And thank you Carol for my shiny new Trakkers visor for doing the hard work of hanging around during the photo shoot. :) I was joking with Meredith later that someone should have taken MY picture - while the age group team all lined up on stage, I was lined up on the side with Richie Cunningham, Michael Lovato, and Dede Griesbauer. If you're scoring at home, the four of us hold a combined FOUR Ironman titles AND a top 20 overall finish in the 2009 Last Chance For Boston 10K!

After the shoot and some breakfast, Meredith and I scampered down to the river with fellow ELFlete Rachelle to get in a practice swim.



My "Andre the Giant" Look



Mid-swim picture break!

The water was warmer than expected, but just about as murky as expected. We swam down a couple buoys and back, and realized the only way out of the water was to press yourself up and out onto a floating dock. Not a huge issue, but might be difficult after a hard swim. We figured they would have a ramp, or ladder, or something on race day. After the swim, Meredith got to man the Trakkers booth while I went back to the room and got our bikes packed up and ready to check in to transition. One more trip down to the river, and we were finally all done for the day. Somewhere in all that, I also managed to acquire a decent sunburn. Oops. I was never outside for an extended amount of time, but it all must have added up. We did dinner at Altruda's, a nice local Italian place that was out away from the race atmosphere. Lasagna, ravioli, and some garlic rolls to die for...yum!

Race morning came later than most, since we were only a couple blocks from transition and we didn't have to be out of there until 7:40. The previous morning, we had picked up some homemade bread at a local farmer's market, so we ate some chunks of that (yeah, forgot the plastic silverware), honey, and bananas. Setup was quick and painless, if a little chilly, and before we knew it, we were lined up to hop in the water.

The swim start was an in-water start, a first for me. We all jumped off the landing, treaded water for a couple minutes, and then swam off into the morning sun. The course went upriver for maybe the first 250 meters, then did a u-turn and came straight back down. That first stretch between the start and the turnaround was definitely the roughest swim I've been in so far. No particular hard hits, but I felt like I didn't have much room - always right in between two people, and sometimes getting squeezed out. I felt like I was swimming hard, though, and holding on to a pack from my wave. The good news was that I sighted this course probably better than any other to date. I never felt off line whatsoever, and when I climbed out (nope, no ramp or ladder), my watch verified it. 22 minutes and change! My goal coming in had been to break 30 minutes. Yeah, I guess I did that.

Swim: 23:05 (1:32/100m) (PR)

As I jogged up toward transition, I fumbled for my wetsuit zipper and couldn't quite get it. No problem, I'll just get it once I get up there. But even then...stuck fast. I thought I might be the only one out on the bike course in a wetsuit, but finally another athlete came by and was willing to help me out. So, a slower T1 than I would have liked.

T1: 3:55

I got out on the bike and really didn't feel too hot to start. I might have swum just a little out of my league, and now I was feeling it. Apparently, so was my speedometer, because it didn't start working until about mile 10. I just went on perceived effort and my cadence, which was working. This course was WAY hillier than anything I've ridden. CDA and Maysville had hills that probably outdid anything in Knoxville, but they also had some flat parts. This was pretty much nonstop up or down, and the down was usually twisty. I never really got my bike legs and my mind both in the same place at the same time, and ended up biking a little slower than intended. I kept a high cadence because my legs didn't feel like pushing hard, but couldn't make up the lost speed purely through cadence. I never had a problem getting up any of the hills; I just didn't do it quickly. By the time I rolled back into T2, I was more than ready to do some running. The course was about a mile long, we think, so my time was a little high, but it still wouldn't have been a bike PR.

Bike: 1:29:15 (16.7 mph official, 17.3 mph real)

I had three things to remember in T2. Hat. Race Number. Gel Flask. I remembered two, and my nutrition wasn't one of them. But hey, it was a pretty fast T2 at least!

T2: 1:44

As I started on the run, I realized that I had forgotten my gel and was already overdue for some calories. I also realized that my legs were kind of fried, so I took the good advice of my coach and held back for the first mile. At mile 1, I was running under a 9 minute pace, and I asked the volunteers for "anything except water!" They handed me a cup of Cerasport, which wasn't altogether bad - I've certainly had worse. It tasted kind of like sweet tea, but in looking at their site, that's not a flavor, and I can't figure out what I drank. So Cerasport, maybe your flavoring is a little off. :) Anyhow, I finally had some calories, and my legs started settling into a decent rhythm. At mile 2, I grabbed a Gu, downed it, and was back on track nutritionally.

I was expecting the turnaround around mile 2, but apparently, the course had changed last minute. At an aid station near mile 3, I stopped to ask a volunteer if I was still on course, but she didn't really understand me.

Me: "What mile am I at?"
Her: "3"
Me: "Where is the turnaround?"
Her: *blank stare*
Me: "Am I past the turnaround?"
Her: "3?"

So, somewhere in there, our communication broke down just a bit. It turned out that the turnaround was pretty much just around the corner out of sight, and soon I was headed for home. A few minutes later, I saw Meredith flying down the course, and started doing the math in my head to see if she was going to catch my time. I knew it would be close! I knew I would also be close to a PR time, but as my watch climbed past 9 minutes on mile 5, I figured I would just fall short. However, once it then climbed past 10...11...I knew I had just not seen the last mile marker. As we passed transition, a volunteer let us know that we had half a mile to go, and I realized I still had a chance! I used whatever energy I had left to power up the last hill, into the park, and across the finish line with a big run PR. My goal pace was 8:30s - didn't quite hit that, but still snuck into my goal range for the run of 50-55 minutes.

Run: 54:50 (8:49/mile)

Overall: 2:51:50 (21/31 AG, 165/372 Overall)

In the end, it was good enough for a new overall PR, and I knew it when I hit the line! In all, it was an amazing swim for me, a "meh" bike, and a pretty solid run. I think on a flat course, I would likely give back a little swim time, but I could easily make that back on the bike. (And subtract a few minutes for that extra bike mile) I'm pretty happy with the way everything went. Rev3 has a few glitches to work out, and there were some city construction issues that weren't under their control and impacted the course, but I think Knoxville has a LOT of potential as a destination race. I'd certainly consider going back.



Post-race, we got to catch up with friends old and new about the race, and then refueled with gelato, pizza, and margaritas! (Yes, in that order) It was great to hear all the stories of success and perseverance from the day, and a nice way to cap off a good weekend.