Race Report - Rev 3 Quassy, June 2014

1.2 mi swim, 56 mi bike, 13.2 mi run centered at Lake Quassapaug amusement park in Middlebury, CT.

Another hard course.  But since that description is relative and has been used recently (eh hem, Zofingen, looking at you!), I thought I'd share some elevation gain data from all the 70.3's and 140.6's I've done, including also the American Zofingen duathlon and the upcoming Ironman Boulder.  As anyone who tries to look this stuff up can tell you, reported elevation gain for any course is all over the place.  What I'm showing is either from my 910XT or information I found on the internet (in grey). 

Course	Date	Bike Distance	Bike Elevation	Run Distance	Run Elevation	Total Gain	Bike Gain/Mi	Run Gain/Mi	Course Gain/Mi
Buffalo Springs	June 2002	56	992	13.1	882	1874	17.7	67.3	27.1
De Diamondman	Sept 2003	56	1000	13.1	236	1236	17.9	18.0	17.9
IM Lake Placid	July 2010	112	4804	26.2	998	5802	42.9	38.1	42.0
AmZof short	May 2012	29	2885	10	1565	4450	99.5	156.5	114.1
AmZof middle		58	5770	15	2484	8254	99.5	165.6	113.1
IM Syracuse	June 2012	56	2306	13.1	834	3140	41.2	63.7	45.4
IM Wisconsin	Sept 2012	112	6437	26.2	1138	7575	57.5	43.4	54.8
IM Mt. Tremblant	Aug 2013	112	5686	26.2	981	6667	50.8	37.4	48.2
Rev3 Quassy	June 2014	56	4101	13.1	876	4977	73.2	66.9	72.0
IM Boulder	Aug 2014	112	3200	26.2	624	3824	28.6	23.8	27.7

(Distance is reported in miles.  Elevation gain is reported in ft.)

-- The swim course was a triangle shape run in the clockwise direction.  The middle leg had us swimming straight toward the sun which made visibility difficult for me.  The water was lovely, aside from a couple of moments of motor-boat gas/oil odors.  My wave (all women over 40) was last, which resulted in less contact than in other events I've done.

-- The swim exit/T1 was up hill on shoddy chip seal, which was very uncomfortable for my feet.  I wouldn't have wanted to run it.  Being in the last wave meant very few bikes in transition when I got there.

-- This translated to a pretty clean bike course, as 90% of the field had left me in their dust.  Many of the steep downhill segments had pretty nice pavement, which I scouted ahead of time by car.  Nice pavement + straight steep descents + few people --> new max speeds in the Cervelo's aerobars.  There are also a couple of dodgy sections involving tight s-curves descending to intersections, and I saw an injured participant pretty early on.  The course is a single loop with only a short out-and-back section between miles 35.5 and 41.5, so there is little opportunity to check for friends until you get to miles 53-56, which the run course shares (mi 0-3).

-- The run course is quite tough, and shaped something like a figure 8 with the first/top loop much larger than the bottom one.  It has 2 short out-and-back sections, at miles 4.8-6.1 and miles 10.0-11.7, and offers little opportunity to find friends in different swim waves on the course.  It is all on roads adjacent to the lake, with a mix of full sun and full shade.  A portion of one road, leading to the first out-and-back segment, was dirt and had some fairly prominent ruts, so I paid more attention to my footing than I tend to in races of this kind.  The final 100 yd or so were on a grass field.  

-- Race organization/details.  This was a nicely run event with bike aid stations at miles 15, 30, and 45, and run aid stations something like every 1-1.5 mi.  The event felt warm and friendly, an impression I gained b/c they let my friend Ashley do race morning check in (she flew in from France the morning of mandatory bike check in so without this accommodation, could not have done the event), and because they held the finish line open for the last participant to cross at clock-time 9:45.  Personally though, I could do without the pre-race prayer.

Why this event?
Once upon a time (25 years ago), I lived in CT and I used to go to this amusement park.  And while I rode my bike somewhat often, I never really went anywhere other than the 5 mi loop around my neck of the woods or the 5 mi loop over to my friend Kathy's house.  I also ran track in high school, but almost never ran anywhere but the track.  So it seemed somewhat fitting to go back and explore more of this place while enjoying a hobby I've been involved with now for some 13 years.

My race... was not a race.  I knew the course was tough, and my training just didn't go well over the winter.  This was a long, brutal and somewhat soul-crushing training day, but nothing more.  However, because my nutrition went well and because I managed to mostly skirt the sea of negativity, I can consider this day a success. 
 
Results
S, 46:47 (including wetsuit strip), pace 2:25/m (division place 41/55)
T1, 4:04
B, 4:00, 14.0 mph (division place 44/55)
T2, 4:12
Run, 2:42, 12:21 min/mi (division place 45/55)
Finish, 7:37 (gender place 157/197, overall place 640/745).