Cedar Point FullRev - Race Report - Days before the Race

Travel

Traveling to the race wasn’t as big of a deal as I feared. Alex (who was driving the all3sports truck up to the expo) had my bike and most of my stuff. I was able to miraculously get myself, the boys and our overnight stuff to Pittsburgh via airplane from Atlanta without any major issues. My parents bascially took over the parenting of AJ and Jason from that moment on. I drove from Pittsburgh to Ohio on Friday morning by myself, got the lay of the land, registered and rode my bike. My parents arrived that evening with the boys.

Practice Swim

I got up early with the boys on Saturday morning (didn't sleep well at all Friday night) and after breakfast, handed the boys off to my parents and headed over to the practice swim.

Holy freaking waves batman!!!! Lake Erie was crazy (to me) that morning. I’d never been in anything like it, well, actually it was a lot like North Carolina beach waves, but I’d never been expected to swim 2.4 miles in waves like that before. Dani, Jason and Jason’s brother Steven (who was doing the half) and I took some pictures, put on our caps and goggles and headed out into it.

It was scary, I’m not gonna lie, and any worries I may have had suddenly became focused on surviving the swim. We tried to get out to the turn buoy but before we even got there, I realized we’d been in the water for 15 min and I was wasting a ton of energy out there. I wasn’t going to learn to swim in big waves this morning, so there wasn’t a point to wasting any more energy.

I called out to Dani and Steven that I was heading back in. They agreed and came back with me. On the way in, the current pulled them far down the beach and I spent a couple of nerve wracking moments waiting to see them on the beach. Yeah, it was really that bad out there to me. I was lucky to run in to Carole Sharpless on the beach. She was my first coach and is an awesome person. She is also a super swimmer, so I asked her advice on how to approach the water. She gave me some great advice about trying to go under the water as much as possible.

Final Bike/Run

We all headed back to Dani, Jason and Steven’s hotel room and got cleaned up from the swim and ready for a bike/run. Getting our bikes to the front of the park was a bit of a nightmare, but we eventually made it. Bike was just as windy as day before, but today more of a head/tail wind than just cross winds. It confirmed what everyone had been saying about Cedar Point – the wind changes, daily, hourly. I had brought a disc wheel for my bike for the first time (it was actually borrowed from my friend Tatyana). I felt like I was handling the bike well in the crosswinds, and the boost I felt like I got in the head/tail wind with the disc, I decided it was worth the cost in the crosswinds and kept in on. (My other option was to trade for my 404s). I’m 5’2” and 125lbs. and I get blow around no matter what… I honestly didn’t feel that much difference between crosswind with the disc vs. 404s. I made the decision to keep the disc for the race.

Final run, I ran out and back with Jason (2 miles) and it felt super good… 8 min. miles.

Jason surprised us with these awesome shirts with the famous Jens Voigt quote "shut up legs!"


And just for reference:


I parked my baby bike in transition for the night and headed back to the hotel

Race Evening

I wanted to get a nap in during the afternoon, but because of the extended swim, and issues with the bikes, I didn’t get back to the hotel until 5 pm. At which time I had to pack my bags (T1/T2 and special needs) and get ready for the am.



I also had to get the boys dinner (with my parents of course) and get them to bed. Boys slept in my parents room. Alex got back to the room around 9pm and showed me how to change a flat tubular (yes, I really waited until that moment to learn how to do that). I filled my bottles and put them in the fridge. I’d planned to freeze two of them, but decided against it because the weather was so cool. I was in bed by 10pm.

I did write a list of all the stuff "to do" in the am (get bottles out of fridge, exchange espresso for pit stop in bike bag, add knife to bike bag, put 1 gel flask in bento box on bike, etc.) This was awesome on race morning as it helped me stay focused and less stressed.

Nutrition

Some folks have asked me what I ate in the days leading up to the race. I ate completely normally until Friday. For some reason on Friday I was starving and so I ended up eating a lot more than normal.

Friday: Eggs and yogurt at my parents house for breakfast, an egg sandwhich and fruit on the way to Ohio, a turkey subway sandwich once I got to ohio, huge pasta dinner with chicken on Friday night. No green veggies, i know that seems weird, but I've had bad luck eating greens before races. I also started a serious nuun and water regimen on Friday am, which I followed through Saturday night to stay hydrated.

Saturday: Eggs and toast for breakfast, huge ass burrito for lunch at qdoba, We went to dinner at Chilis and I ordered what we joked of as “the white plate”. Margarita Chicken with mashed potatoes and rice.

next up RACE DAY!!!!