Rev3 Half Portland Race Report

Preamble:

As per usual, I picked this race based on timing and location rather than the course itself. Portland in July…and a Rev3 event. Perfect. Perhaps I need to rethink this strategy.

My training had gone quite well with no major injuries or interruptions. I will admit to feeling pretty worn down in the final weeks, but I attributed that to the long months of training behind me and my attempts to adjust to a lower carb, higher fat (i.e. more “metabolically efficient” ) diet. Still, my last two bricks felt reasonably good and the taper went off with limited neuroses. I’d also been watching the weather in Portland for weeks and was pleased to see the area seemed to be suffering from the same “summer” that Seattle was facing with temps rarely reaching above 70. And then it began to happen. The clouds icons were replaced by bright full suns and the 60’s and 70’s were only showing up in the overnight lows. By the time I left Kodiak on Thursday, the forecast was calling for low 80’s on race day.  Oh yeah and there was that little matter of the warnings that Rev3 was posting on the site about the extremely difficult and technical bike course for 2012.  Nonetheless, I felt arrived in Portland feeling optimistic and ready to race.  

Saturday: After a glorious 10+ hours of sleep, I went out for a wee brick workout to wake up my legs and make sure my bike survived the trip. It was about 10:30 in the morning and was already in the mid-70’s. By this time, the Portland weather gods were laughing their asses off and were predicting 91 for Sunday’s race.  But my bike was humming with my new Flo wheels and the brief run I did felt good, so I really tried to push the weather out of my mind. But I was sweating. A lot.

Pete and I were then off to the race venue, Blue Lake Park, for packet pick-up and bike racking. I will say it now and will say it again. I love Rev3! They know how to put on a race. As expected, the venue was already hopping and you could feel the electricity and nervous energy in the air, even though I was one of the first to rack. I got my packet, timing chip and goodie bag and was assigned #108. The goodie bag was chalk full of the some sweet swag, as expected. Bree + Rev3 forever. In the bag was the usual pamphlets and paraphernalia, but also samples of tri-swim shampoo and conditioner, a Powerbar and Powerbar chompy things, a Portland Rev3 Headsweats visor and a pair of Blue Seventy swim goggles. Yeah, they don’t skimp!  When picking up my goodie bag, I finally had the chance to meet the Rev3 goodess of retail and holistic health guru, Christine Lynch. I’ve worked with Christine on and off for several years and despite the fact that we hve been in the same city and the same time on a number of occasions, including last fall’s Beach2Battleship, we had never met face-to-face.  It was great to get a nice squeeze from her and to chat a bit. She strongly encouraged us to drive the bike course saying it was pretty intense. Pete and I exchanged glances and said maybe we would try to fit it in.

Then I was off to rack my stead. My spot in transition was prime. I was in the first rack near the bike in/bike out shoot. As Rev3 always does, my spot on the rack was personalized with my name and number. LOVE Rev3! I let the air out of my tires because, even though I did not want to admit it, it was hot and I knew I risked blown tubes if I didn’t. Pssssssssst.

I caught sight of my friend, Stu, who was also working for Rev3 and I hadn’t seen since Quassy in 2010. After some friendly chit-chat, he asked if I’d driven the bike course yet. Jeez…what is it with this bike course?! No, I said. And, like Christine, he said I really needed to. I had studied the profile and felt I was being cautiously optimistic about the course, but perhaps I was being overly naïve. Ok, ok. We will forego our planned outing to the Saturday market with my cousins and drive the course.

I didn’t think it was that bad. Sure the hills were steep and long and the descents were highly technical, but it didn’t seem so different than the rides I did in Kodiak, especially from the comfort of an air-conditioned truck. Besides, it was absolutely stunning. So, after 56 miles, I was able to replace my blissful ignorance of the course with a comfortable denial. Same, same, right? I do have to admit to swallowing hard when I saw heat waves radiating off of the asphalt as we drove along the shadeless run course.

We spent the rest of the day and early evening at my cousins house, where she and her roommates hosting a lovely BBQ.

We were back to the hotel by about 8:30 and I spent the next hour making final preparations, which included asking the hotel to freeze my bike bottles.

Sleep did not come easy, but it did come eventually.

Race day: The alarm was set for 5:45, but I woke up about 4:30 and did not get much sleep after that. I got out of bed and got dressed in my kit (new SOAS singlet, SLS compression tri shorts and calf sleeves). I had a breakfast of a sweet potato, banana, and coconut milk with Deep30 protein powder and a scoop of almond butter. I also mixed s a bottle with water, half a scoop of EFS grape, one scoop of EFS Pre-Race to take about 30 or 45 minutes before the start. I also planned to take 5 MAP caps.

Arriving at Blue Lake, my nerves were kicking into high gear. It was going to be hot. I was going to have to face reality and pull my head out of the sand.  My original goal was to try to beat my time at Quassy, which was the last half I did. I figured that was a reasonable goal because both the bike and run course at Quassy had been pretty hilly. I thought if I could beat my swim time by a minute or two and match or beat my bike split, I could easily run a relatively fast half marathon given that the course was flat. But I was finally facing the reality of the hills of this course and the heat of the day. I decided to just race. I would take each leg as they came and see how things unfolded.

In transition, I pumped up my tires, made sure my bike was in a low gear, and laid out my bike and run gear. Why did all of the women around me look so ripped?  I tried to chat with some of them, but everyone was in pretty intense pre-race mode and not in the mood for pleasantries. The five minute warning for getting out of transition was called, so I gave everything one last look, grabbed my wetsuit, goggles and cap and left it behind. Pete helped me goop up with sunscreen and I spent a few minutes running through some dynamic stretches before beginning the 45 minutes process of putting of my wetsuit. Water temps were reportedly in the low 70s. I had a brief thought to just wear my kit with a long-sleeve compression top, but that’s a hard call to make when everyone surrounding you is wearing neoprene. I stuck with my Helix.

And soon the pro men were off, followed by the pro women. Without me realizing it, my wave, which was all age-group women, had already made their way to the start. Crap! Ah! Quick hug and kiss to Pete and I joined my fellow racers.

Swim: There was a brief overview of the swim course, which no one could hear over the annoying announcer and then we were off. The water felt good. There was the usual jostling, punching, kicking, etc. as we all tried to find our space in the water. This lasted a lot longer than usual and I’m still not sure why.  The sun was directly in my eyes on the outbound leg, so I had to trust that all of the splashing I could make out was heading in the right direction. I had my Garmin set to buzz every 15 minutes, which was intended for nutrition on the bike and run but served as a nice marker in the water when I couldn’t see my watch. I felt really good in the water. I wasn’t just coasting like I sometimes find myself doing in the longer swim events. I tried to find some toes to hang on, but didn’t find anything that stuck. When I felt the first 15 minute buzzer, I was surprised at how long it had already felt, which, to me, meant I was making good time. Despite keeping a good pace and passing a number of swimmers, the swim just didn’t seem to want to end. The second buzzer came and went and I still couldn’t see the beach. WHAT? And then I finally made the last turn and powered into the beach. Out of the water, I looked my watch and was heart broken to see 43+. My worst split for 1.2 miles ever. You’ve got to be kidding me. That was not a 43 minute pace! I started to peel my wet suit off and in the process managed to break the band on my watch. Awesome. So I made my way to transition, ripping at the top of my wetsuit, carrying my watching in my hand and swearing like a sailor.  I spent far too long in transition, trying to get my wetsuit off my feet and making meager attempts and mending my watchband, all the while repeating, “That swim had to be long. Please tell me it was long.”  Pete was at the fence watching and cheering. I’m embarrassed now that I didn’t make an effort to at least smile for him.

 

Bike: Whew. On my bike now. All is well. I love my bike. After a brief moment of debate on whether to leave my watch behind, I decided I really needed it to at least mark intervals for nutrition. So, I stuff the watch face down my top. Worked quite well actually and the buzzes every 15 minutes were a nice bonus. I settled in to a nice pace and cadence, as the first section of the bike was fairly flat with only a few turns. My heart rate wasn’t leveling out like I wanted, but I knew I had a lot of miles ahead so I just kept churning. Coach Lisa had advised me to build into my effort, so I held back in the early miles knowing that some massive hills were ahead and would MAKE me increase my effort no matter what. My nutrition strategy was to take a gel or ½ a larabar every 45 minutes, sip on fluids to thirst and snag a powerbar chompy thing whenever I needed a distraction. It worked quite well, especially since my bottles were defrosting nicely. The whole ride I was so happy to have driven the course the day before. It really made a huge difference. Being somewhat familiar with what was to come really gave me peace of mind. As I said before, the course was strikingly beautiful.  But, man, it was brutal. When the hills started, they started with vengeance. The first hill was over a mile long with a series of switchbacks and had grades of up to 18%. Huh…funny how they don’t seem as steep from a car. The next 25 miles continued as killer hills, followed by screaming fast descents. I opened up as much as I dared on the descents, especially the ones that I knew ended in a straight stretch rather than a corner. While these miles were really tough, they were virtually all in the shade, which was a saving grace for sure. Rev3 had volunteers stationed at literally every single cross street. Not just the intersections, but every time a side street met the main course, there was a volunteer. I cannot imagine the number of people this required but I was so impressed and so grateful. Coming out of the mountains, the race finished with about 10 miles of flats. While I had been looking forward to spinning my legs out a bit, I had considered the flat section also meant no more shade. And, yes it was getting toasty.  T2 was uneventful and went smoothly. I could already tell my legs weren’t with me. They were tired from the 2500+ feet of climbing and the heat was already taking its toll.

 

Run:

I honestly don’t have much to say about the run. I did not feel strong from the first step and I knew this was going to be a mission in survival and walking as little as possible.  The run course was flat, thankfully but also along an open highway so that meant major radiation from the street.  I will say that the volunteers and the aid stations were phenomenal. They were full of cheery faces and were all very sympathetic. They were equipped with loads of ice and also super soakers. I can’t say how hot it was, though I heard that it was 88 at the park, which would mean it was easily in the 90’s where we were running. I hate making excuses, but this girl just isn’t use to running in that kind of heat. The just worked my way aid station to aid station and ran along the white line on the road in between to distract myself. Someone asked if I was training for Badwater. I said no, but it was a good distraction. He followed suit and agreed. I used the trick of holding ice in my palms, as recommended by Rikki Keen. It definitely helped, but always seemed to melt before the next station. So, I slowly but surely made my way along the course. I had no idea what my pace was because I still had my watch stuffed in my top and would only glance it every once in a while to watch my overall time grow higher and higher. In the end, I wound up with my longest half marathon split to date (open or in a tri), but a victory of my own over the conditions. I was so happy to see the finish line and the towel soaked in ice water waiting for me across the line. Another Rev3 plus!

Post race:

I usually find myself asking what I did wrong or could have done better when a race goes less than ideal. While I’m disappointed in my time for the day, and maybe even a bit embarrassed, I really don’t know that I could have changed much.  I don’t have the option to acclimatize to the heat, so I will always be faced with that battle. I’m proud of my bike split…I beat my Quassy time by over a minute and this was definitely a harder course. There was a lot of chatter on the forums about the swim being long, so I also think I swam faster than my split would indicate. It turns out I finished higher in my age group than Quassy as well, which tells me everyone had a tough day. I definitely want to face this course again. I love Portland and Rev3 is a fantastic organization

As always thank you to Coach Lisa Keller for preparing me so well for race day and to Rikki Keen and Christine for nutrition advice. A big fat thank you to Pete for doing so much for me all weekend. He is the best race support and I’m so grateful he was there for me. Thanks also to my cousins, the Hinkleys, for enduring yet another Portland event and rooting me on through the finish.

Totals:

Swim:43:03

T1:4:17

Bike:3:29:54

T2:1:57

Run: 2:40:45

Total: 6:59:55