Rev3 South Carolina Half
If you want a fluffy PR, DON'T RACE THIS ONE! But, if you want to challenge yourself on neverending quad-searing rollers, then, here's your place 
I've been knocking on the 5' mark at Augusta for the last 2 years (PR 5:02) and I knew that wouldn't be in the cards here, so, I was trying to do my best in the AG. Summary, IMO, I think I had my best race (tho the results might not show it) on a very tough course.
Goals:
Swim 40:00
Bike 2:40, FTP 245, Goal Watts 196-200, TSS 170-173, IF .80.
Run 1:50 using 8min run to the mile markers and walk 20-30sec as recommended.
Race Day:
02:00 downed 3 chocolate Ensure shakes, used NJ smoothies in RR but left them at home and didn't want to hunt for them, Ensure was actually much easier to stomach due to less volume with more calories.
04:30 2 frozen waffles/PB/banana/agave nectar, a cup of coffee
05:45 setting up 2 transitions was low stress, Rev did a great job with this. my only hangup was that T2 was very nondescript as far as finding 'sights or marks' to find my spot. After setting up T2, shuttled to swimstart/T1. and got suited up as I drank a bottle of cytomax, downed 2 Tylenol ES + endurolytes + sportslegs.
7:45 swim start, smaller field so pretty smooth swim all around. BEST swim ever. Good cloud cover so sun never played an issue and I sighted well, unusual for me. Absolutely easiest 1.2mi I've ever done and probably the fastest for a lake swim and a RPE of about 6/10. Really helped that I actually did most of the swim workout prescribed. For the first time ever, I feel that I may be able to improve on the swim, had kinda given up on this about 2 years ago. Gonna work on it some before Jan OS. Exited the water in....40:00
T1 I don't enjoy wrestling with my wetsuit. It's like Peter Parker trying to get that tarred up Venom off of himself. And Rev wanted us to roll up our suits and pack them up before we headed out to the bike (they tported everthing to the finish line while we rode), this added a little time. about 3:19 (?)
Bike: windy day, lots of rolling hills, lots of technical turns. Hills had enough grade that it often dropped me down to 8-9mph to manage my watts and I still failed most of the time. Very frustrating. Speed was solid but frustrating (this holding back is new to me). I found myself in a bad limbo. I was holding back so I was losing time on the bike but I was still hovering over the danger zone according to my Joule. QUESTION...MY JOULE WAS READING IF .89-90 AND TSS OF 190, WITH 30 MIN OF BIKING LEFT TO DO 
. HOWEVER, JUST DOWNLOADED IN WKO AND IT SPITS OUT IF .802 AND TSS 176 FOR THE ENTIRE RIDE. WHAT GIVES? My RPE felt more like what the Joule was telling me and I backed off a good bit for the last 30min to save something for a grind of a run coming up. Knew I had cut my lifeline but I wasn't going to just give up. 2 bottles of CytoMax and 3 gels throughout. Time 2:49.
T2 Though we didn't discuss it this time, my darling wife knows to line up on my row. Thank God she did cuz I didn't have a clue where my stuff was. Once I saw her, I remembered that she spots my gear and 'just cheers' so that there's no outside assistance 
got the stuff and got out 1:20
Run: More Hills. Felt surprisingly good right off the bat. Right on pace for first 3 miles, 8:20-8:30 to the mile marker, then walked about :20. Then, crap, the mile markers started slipping into the half mile area. NOOOOO, that's not what I planned. At this point the hills were getting longer with steady grades and quads starting to resist. Took Coke when I could, ice water on head as much as possible. Holding pace but REALLY hard to do, pace drops off a little but looking at the splits and the elevation profile showed that it did coincide with some of the longer inclines. I didn't have a pace watch, just a timex and rpe. Rev posted the run into 3 splits, my averages went 8:48 min/miles, 8:54 min/miles, 8:56 min/miles. Time 1:56
Total Time 5:31
12th in M40-44, so I'm cool with that.
I had no idea that this course would be this hard. And I don't think I really executed that well. But, I'm happy with the improvement on the swim, I'm seeing the utility of working on FTP and continuing to improve with using/racing with power, and, tho I wanted to run faster, I'm pretty happy that I didn't explode and I was pretty close to the desired pace.
Big props to Rev3. The hype behind them is true to form. Good product. Smaller fields but the energy they bring is big. Good Job to them.
Now looking forward to a couple of months of unscheduled stuff to stay fit and then plan on jumping into Jan OS.
Thanks to everyone for their help this year. You guys are awesome.
Comments
Thanks for the props on the race. I'm cool with it, but I'm still feeling like I can do much better. At least, I'm not feeling burned out and ready to split.
Talk soon,
C
Chris,
Nice race on a tough course. I'm one of those swimmers around 40-45" for a 1/2, it's good that you are seeing some improvement. There is hope.
Gordon