Rev 3 Full

This is illustrates how I feel today.

I'm calling the Rev 3 Full a success.  I didn't beat last year's time or win the race.  However, I went 8:38:32 without training for the distance at all.  My longest run was at Pigman Half, which was also my longest bike ride.  In the end, I finished third, but didn't get the run I was hoping for.

My splits for the day were 50:17 for 1.2 mi swim, 4:43:01 for 112-113 mi bike, and 3:02:28 for 26.1 mi run.  The bike course was slightly different this year because of construction.  Some people told me their bike computers measured the course to be 113 miles in distance.  Hopefully, no body complains because the construction was supposed to be done, but it wasn't.  Rev 3 had to come up with a new course 3 days before the race.

The plan was to swim and ride easy, and run to win.  I thought is was possible for me to run a high 2:30s.  The run started out great.  I ran just over 6 minute pace without pushing myself.  I had to take a number 2 port-a-potty break around mile 7.  At that point, I had cut the leaders gap from 17 minutes to 12 and 9 minutes.  Grahm O'Grady was leading and Andrew Starykowvicz was second.   Chris McDonald was behind me about 8 or 9 minutes.  Chris actually went off course on the bike lrg which added about14 to 20 minutes onto his bike time.  Kudos to him for soldering on.

I had make another port-a-potty stop 15 minutes after the first, which wasn't a good sign.  It was all liquid, which meant my hydration was off - not enough sodium or something.  After that, I never got back into a running rhythm.  My feet started barking at me and 7:10 was as good as it got.  The good news is that I didn't re-injure my Knee.  I've patella chondromalacia (damage to knee cartilage).  Last year the race did a number on my knee, and I could do anything until February.

Last years race compared to 2011
Year     Swim       Bike         Run         Total
2010    53:01        4:35:57    3:04:07   8:35:48
2011    50:17        4:43:01    3:02:28   8:38:28

2011 Run Splits
1        2        3       4       5       6       7        8        9        10        11       12       13       
6:00  6:01   6:02  6:08  6:13  6:10  7:32  6:11   6:15    11:03   6:20    6:23    6:30

14      15      16     17     18     19      20      21      22       23       24       25       26
6:39   7:09   7:21  7:23  7:20  7:15  7:10   7:26    7:25   7:01   7:18     7:25    7:19

The Rev 3 Full was at Cedar Point is a great race and would recommend it to anyone.  However, if I wasn't racing for money I would choice the half option.

Hy-Vee 5150 Championship

This was probably the best championship event I've ever raced.  Twenty-five of the best triathlete in world qualified to race the Hy-Vee 5150 Championship, and 5 more past champions were invited for a total of 30 athletes.  Des Moines was a great city to hold the event - not to big, not too small, just right.  Des Moines has great trails, roads, and water for a triathlon, and people of Des Moines supported the event too.  They spectated, volunteered, and put up with an invasion of triathletes.  Hy-Vee also got behind the event fully.  In addition to the 1.1 million dollar prize purse, the production of the was top notch: grandstands, Jumbo-tron, live video coverage, beer gardens, concerts, and more.

The swim was the defining discipline of the race.  It took place in the Des Moines River right in downtown.  We swam 3 laps around 4 bouys in a 2-3 knot current by my estimation, which is strong.  You're hardly going anywhere swimming into the current.  Spectators can watch the entire swim from shore or from above on two bridges.  All the bridges and shore were packed with spectators.  Everyone wanted to see how 30 of us were going to make it around this tight course.  I'm sure is was fun to watch.  I watched the women's race 3 hours earlier and it looked like a roller derby.  Our was more like a cage match for the first lap. If you weren't getting smack in the face, someone was pulling your leg or you were getting catch on the anchor rope for the buoy.  I spent a good 5 seconds underwater trying to free myself one lap.  After the race, Andy Potts, Matt Reed, Rasmus Henning, Macca, and I all were showing of our wounds from the swim.

As for my race, I wasn't happy with my swim, but I was happy to have survived in better than a few others.  In a normal swim, the gap to the leaders is smaller.  Fighting with each other at 12 buoys and the river slows the weaker swimmer even more.  However, I did have a good first lap on the swim.  To add even more spice to the event, there were eleven $5150 primes for each lap of the race: 3 laps swim course, 4 lap bike course, 4 lap run course.  So, a good swimmer could make out like a bandit.  Josh Amberger took all 3 swim primes.  Ben Collins (a good swimmer) came out near the front and then hammered the bike to take all 4 bike primes and the first run prime for a total of $25,750.  Then, Ben just focused on finishing the race so he could collect his bounty.

After the swim, I had to ride as hard to make up time.  The technical nature of the course also played to my strength, but not enough to totally make up for my poor swim.  The hills, turns, and wind on the bike course helped break up the athletes on the bike, so it was truly a non-drafting race as advertised.  On the bike, I move up into 10th and started running well out of T2.   I past Ben Collins, Fraser Cartmell, Bertrand Billard, and Matt Reed.  I also held off Kris Gemmel for 2 laps and Filip Ospaly for 3.5 laps.

If you're a triathlete from Minnesota, I would make plans to go down to Des Moines to race and spectate next year.  The amatuer race was great too.  Hannah and I went out to cheer age groupers Sunday morning and were impressed with the course and race in general.  If you can't qualify for the 5150 Amatuer Championship, you can still do the regular age group race.

RESULTS
Pl  No Athlete                   Co      Time    Back

1	21	Greg Bennett	AUS	1:49:42	0:00:00
2	27	Hunter Kemper	USA	1:50:12	0:00:30
3	1	Stuart Hayes	GBR	1:50:30	0:00:48
4	2	Paul Matthews	AUS	1:50:51	0:01:09
5	26	Rasmus Henning	DEN	1:51:16	0:01:34
6	11	Kris Gemmell	NZL	1:52:00	0:02:18
7	10	Filip Ospaly	CZE	1:52:13	0:02:31
8	12	David Thompson	USA	1:52:20	0:02:38
9	5	Matt Reed	USA	1:52:32	0:02:50
10	28	Chris McCormack	AUS	1:52:39	0:02:57
11	29	Andy Potts	USA	1:53:23	0:03:41
12	4	Martin Krnavek	CZE	1:53:36	0:03:54
13	22	Timothy O'Donnell	USA	1:53:44	0:04:02
14	19	Kaleb Vanort	USA	1:54:09	0:04:27
15	7	Bertrand Billard	FRA	1:54:22	0:04:40
16	18	Jordan Jones	USA	1:54:26	0:04:44
17	30	Jarrod Shoemaker	USA	1:54:33	0:04:51
18	8	Benjamin Collins	USA	1:54:35	0:04:53
19	6	Csaba Kuttor	HUN	1:54:44	0:05:02
20	3	Cameron Dye	USA	1:54:50	0:05:08
21	16	Kyle Leto	USA	1:55:14	0:05:32
22	23	Fraser Cartmell	GBR	1:55:39	0:05:57
23	20	Timothy Reed	USA	1:55:44	0:06:02
24	9	Joshua Amberger	AUS	1:55:47	0:06:05
25	13	Chris Foster	USA	1:55:51	0:06:09
26	17	Igor Sysoev	RUS	1:56:01	0:06:19
27	14	Ritchie Nicholls	GBR	1:56:54	0:07:12
28	15	Brian Fleischmann	USA	1:57:52	0:08:10
29	25	Marcus Ornellas	BRA	1:58:30	0:08:48
30	24	Kevin Everett	USA	1:59:35	0:09:53