After doing three different Rev3 races this year, I have to say that if I had to choose between an Ironman-branded event and a Rev3 event, I’d pick Rev3. The level of personalization and care that the company shows to each athlete is absent from any Ironman race I’ve done. Plus, in a world where Ironman essentially has a monopoly on the multisport endurance industry, I feel good about supporting smaller race organizations. Attention to detail is much appreciated and doesn’t go unnoticed. Here are just a few reasons why I love Rev3:
- A phone call from the race organizers thanking you for signing up to race
- No junk emails clogging my inbox about all the race merchandise I need to buy
- NormaTec sleeves at the race expo (for a little pre-race and post-race action)!
- A personalized note in my bib packet, this one said “I hope you ‘chick’ your fiance!” (hahahaha if only they knew)
- Personalized name tags in transition, because we aren’t just a number
- A hand shake from the race director himself, thanking us for being there that day as we entered the water to start the swim
- No crazy port-o-potty lines!
- Delicious post-race food and beer
- Gift cards for podium finishers
- And registration fees are cheaper than Ironman
Having said all of that, Rev3 Poconos Half was a challenging race. It was also a two-transition race. Logistically, I thought that would add another layer of stress to race prep and race day, but Rev3 had it all organized perfectly.
I made the decision not to taper too much the week leading up to the race, but to just train through it and then enjoy my week-long mid-season break afterwards. Three days before the race, I accompanied my friend Sarah on a trail run in Cold Spring and ended up running almost 11 miles that day. Probably a bit excessive and definitely not ideal if you really want to crush your race a few days after 🙂
THE DAY BEFORE – Olof and I drove to the Pocono Mountains Saturday morning, a pretty easy drive from NYC. Check-in was seamless and we got to spend a good 15 minutes in the sample NormaTec recovery sleeves (definitely needed after that trail run), one of my favorite parts of the Rev3 race expo! We drove over to T1 (about a 5 minute drive from T2/Finish), racked our bikes, and took the rest of the evening to relax and race prep.
THE MORNING – The alarms went off at 4:30 AM. I immediately woke with a feeling of “why am I doing this again, this is waaay too early,” which was quickly washed away by pings of excitement. We arrived at T2/Finish at 5 AM, right when it opened, and found parking 50 meters away. It was notably chilly out (always a good sign)! We set up T2 and hopped right on the bus that was waiting to take us to T1. After a short drive, we arrived, set up our T1 transition, and had plenty of time for the port-o-potty, some dynamic stretching (lunge matrix stretch anyone?) and putting on our wetsuits.
SWIM – The water temperature was 76.5 degrees. Perfect! We walked down the boat ramp and into the river for an in-water start. We could see a slight current from the land but it was unnoticeable in the water. The gun went off for my wave (Females 39 and under), and we started swimming up stream, against the current. The in-water swim starts are much less stressful; I was never once smacked in the face or swam on top of. I immediately found feet to draft off of. After a few minutes, we started swimming into a shallow underwater grassland and you could see the bottom! With every catch of my stroke, I grabbed a handful of grass. I honestly probably looked like a green sea monster at some point. I didn’t bother looking at my watch; I knew my time was slow because we were against the current. At the first turn buoy we started swimming out into the middle of the river to the other side. At the second turn buoy we swam downstream. I was hoping to feel a pretty good current in our favor, but honestly I didn’t feel much of anything and it was a bit choppier in the middle of the river. It was at this point that I pretty much lost everyone around me. I was told I should swim closer to the middle of the river than the shore, to avoid the grass and take advantage of the current, but no one else was around me. I just kept swimming, trying to aim for the buoy far up ahead of me. After the final turn, we swam towards the shore. Volunteers were in the water lending a helping hand to get us out (so nice!). I look at my watch and was shocked, 29:46.
Distance: 1.2 miles
Time: 29:46
Pace: 1:31 per 100yd
Gear: Roka Sports Maverick Pro wetsuit, Roka R1 goggles
2nd age group | 12th female out of the water
T1: Immediately out of the water is a short but steep hill up onto the grass, so I walked it and I proceeded to unzip my wetsuit. The run to T1 is a good quarter of a mile on grass, a bit muddy from the rain the day before. In transition, I set up the bare minimum, since we had to have everything packed in our transition bag before grabbing our bikes (these bags would be transported to the finish, waiting for us). I had my cycling shoes and socks set up on top of my T1 bag, and my helmet on my bike. That was it. I packed my wetsuit and goggles in the bag, tied it shut, grabbed my bike and was off.
BIKE: Ooof so many things to say about this bike course, but I’ll try to keep it short (relatively). It had so many different elements of difficulty (very sharp corners, steep descents, steep ascents, uneven pavement). But I do have to note that the entire bike course was CLOSED. No cars!!! Within the first 5 miles, I had already used my lowest gear and my highest gear (and everything in between), been in aero, and out of my saddle climbing. I saw so many dropped chains. You HAVE to be good at changing your gears quickly to navigate those rollercoaster hills. After about 10 miles, we got onto 209 and the pavement was pristine (and pretty much a straight out and back). There were definitely some good climbs, but I felt good, and I was making good time. At the turnaround around mile 24, my average speed was 20.6. As I started heading back, I immediately felt a strong headwind, and it seemed like everyone around me disappeared (I had dropped some, and some had dropped me I suppose). This was probably the lowest point of my ride. I was by myself for 15 miles, grinding it out against the wind. My legs started to burn and no matter how hard I pushed, my speed kept dropping. With every technical turn and steep ascent, my speed dropped. It was mentally grueling but I had to keep reminding my tired legs that I didn’t taper too much for this race, and that it was OKAY. Around mile 40, a woman passed me, giving me the extra push I needed, and I vowed to try to stick with her to the end (which I did!). The last 10 miles were the first 5 miles of the course plus a bit more – the same roller coaster hills, but with net elevation loss. Instead of trying to gain back time by speeding up, I was slamming on my breaks trying not to lose control (we all saw those accidents in the TDF where they took the corners just a little too fast…), or hit a pot hole and fly over my handlebars. The bike course kept me on my toes in every sense of the expression. We rode into T2 and I was so happy to get off my bike and be on my own two feet.
Distance: 56.2 miles
Time: 2:51:13
Speed: 19.7 mph
Gear: Felt B16, Coeur Sports kit, Giro Air Attack helmet
1st AG | 7th female
T2: Super fast T2. I finally did the flying bike dismount which I was pretty proud of 🙂 Oh, and my entire quad seized up on my while trying to put on my running shoe and I almost fell over (hope nobody saw that).
RUN: I thought I remembered this run course from when I did this race a few years ago, but it was definitely different. The run is an out and back twice for the half athletes (with a total of 1,200 ft of elevation gain) and starts out on the pavement (the same road we came into T2 on after the bike), up and over a few rolling hills. Around mile 1.5, we took a right turn on to a gravel path. If you want to run a fast road race, you won’t do it on gravel, that’s for sure. Parts of the path were uneven and I was just focused on trying not to roll my ankles (that would be the last thing I need right now). The path entered the woods and became more of a trail run. I turned a corner and came upon a super steep downhill that everyone coming the other way was slowly walking up. Great, I thought, that’s gonna be super fun on the way back! Right before the turn around mark after mile 3, there was another steep hill to climb. I ran up part of it, but my heart rate skyrocketed so I walked up the latter half. On the second lap, I passed a guy who recognized my pigtails and Coeur kit from Rev3 Williamsburg. He told me I was a beast and I laughed and told him to have a great run. I saw Denise (one of my Coeur teamies doing the Olympic) a few times, crushing it, and that gave me little boosts of energy! Fortunately, most of the run course was shaded, which provided a huge relief from the heat. I only needed to grab ice twice from aid stations and started drinking coke halfway through the run (tradition!). I had my Huma Gel at mile 7 and my stomach was happy. I saw Olof twice and he looked super strong. I told myself I would be happy with my run so long as he didn’t lap me…. It actually was a beautiful and fun run course, just not a fast one 🙂 I kept my pace around 7:50-8:00 min/miles, but having to walk some of those steep hills added to my time (Olof said even the pros were walking the hills). But saving my energy by walking those hills kept my legs from cramping up and my heart rate from spiking too high, allowing me to hit the pavement and finish strong!
Distance: 12.9 miles
Time: 1:46:40
Pace: 8:16 min/mile
Gear: Coeur trucker hat, Smith Optics Arena sunnies, Newton Gravity shoes
Overall Time: 5:13:19
1st Age Group
6th Female Overall
My main motivation to get me through that run was knowing I had a week-long mid-season break coming up, oh and the beer at the finish 🙂 I really wasn’t expecting to finish as well as I did in the rest of the field. I didn’t see a lot of women around me on the bike or the run so I had no idea where my current place was. I felt like I was going pretty slow but I kept reminding myself this was not a PR course. This was honestly probably one of the toughest half Ironman races I’ve ever done, comparable in difficulty to Rev3 Quassy or IM Syracuse due to the elevation, but also the added technicality on the bike and the trail aspect of the run. And special congrats to Olof who placed 3rd overall in the entire race!
And now, it’s definitely time for my mid-season break, and what better way to spend it than in Sweden visiting friends and family with my fiancé! Just two short months and we’ll finally be toeing the line at Ironman Louisville!
Coach Cait 