*Athlete: Corbin Kappler

*Name of Race/Event: Revolution 3 Olympic, Quassy in Middlebury, CT

*Race/Event Category: I raced in the 30-34 age group. I swam in the lead pack and into the age group ahead, I biked in the lead pack with the #1 female mostly, and the run pack was sparse.

Date: 06/04/2011

Time: 7am

Sleep: Plenty of sleep, 6 hours

Athlete Mood: I felt a little fatigued from last weeks training. I was mentally prepared and ready to race.

Pack Mood: I was riding and running with a much more serious pack than I am used to. Practically nobody laughed at my jokes, it was a focused group.

Weather conditions: Perfect weather, cool with little wind

*Course/Road Conditions: I drove the bike and run course the day before. The bike roads were poor, really torn up. It was a beautiful course.

Rate the Race/Event: This was a 5 (1-5 five being the highest rating)

*Items you liked about the Race/Event: Well organized race, I liked the hills

Race/Event Objectives: I had high hopes for this race. This is the only race I raced last year so I had time specific goals. I wanted to complete the swim 25 minutes, the bike in 1:25, and the run in 45 minutes. Last years times were 25:10, 1:20:53, and 47:15. I knew I needed to get ahead get ahead on the bike. I thought the hills favored my riding style and I thought I could bank on that. I wanted to just hold on for the run.

*Race/Event Goals: I intended to podium for this race.

*Race/Event Details: I can into this race fatigued but prepared. I knew the course, I knew my strengths and when to attack, and I had clear objectives. I had a strong race and met my goals; unfortunately my goals weren’t high enough.

I felt cold and disoriented on the swim. I found some fast feet early and help on for the first leg. At turn #1 I lost them and swam alone for leg #2. After the last turn I fought through the pack and had some solid drafting opportunities.

T1 was uneventful.

Just onto the bike (at mile 2) I dropped my water bottle. This could have been a fatal mistake if a marshal had been around or if the weather had been warmer. I dropped it because my hands were still numb from the water. I will wait a bit longer next time to get the hands working again.

My bike was okay. It was on par with what I have been churning out but it is where I lost a lot of time on the pack. I found the #1 female and paced off of her for a while. She was strong but not strong enough. Towards the end I passed her and realized I should have done this much sooner.

T2 sucked. I forgot that when racing without socks it is difficult to get my feet into my shoes. I lost 30 seconds fumbling with this. My positioning in the corral was poor which made flying mounts and dismounts necessary. They went without incident.

I felt strong on the run though I just wasn’t fast enough. I was able to attack on the hills and maintain on the flats.

Pros: Beautiful day, well organized, met time goals, killed last year’s time, learned about early bottle handling and shoe trouble in T2

Cons: I didn’t podium as planned, bike road was sketchy, I accidentally took Gatorade out of the water and was sticky the rest of the race

*Lessons Learned: I have improved by 10% (14:31) since this race last year. My swim was 11% (2:26) faster, bike 9% (7:00) faster, and run 11% (4:52) faster. Generally, I learned that I am a competitor and I am going to think and act more like one. I can improve my bike and swim easily. Three miles per hour down on the bike is unacceptable. Specifically, I need to loosen my laces or put power in my running shoes and let my hands thaw before handling anything.