Life is Good...Ironman Augusta 70.3

We survived Augusta! You would assume the home of the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters would have a quaint deep south feel, with huge oak trees and beautiful old homes. The kind of place where you sit on the porch and sip bourbon and lemonade and talk about politics in seersucker suits. I expected Augusta to be something straight out of a John Grisham novel. Upon arrival I realized that this is not the case. The city is a little rundown and has more fast food joints and strip malls than big Oak trees.

The Ironman Augusta 70.3 triathlon is exactly half the distance of the full distance Ironman Florida, which is now only 6 weeks away. The race was a good measuring stick to test my fitness and help me set realistic expectations for Florida.

Katie and I drove through some pretty bad weather on Friday night before finally arriving at the lovely Hilton Garden Inn, next to I-20 and a package store, around 11:00 pm. On Saturday morning we drove the bike course, most of which actually takes place in South Carolina. It was much more challenging than expected, with continuous rolling hills and a lot of turns.

Later that day we began to prepare for the race, which seemed like an endurance event all by itself. After attending a mandatory meeting and standing in packet pickup lines for a couple hours, it was time to put my bike in transition. This led me to ask the question, where in the hell is transition? Although the race director had done a good job at the meeting explaining the rules, he didn't really provide any logistical support. I called Kyle, knowing he had already racked his bike, to get directions. His only directional help was, "Dude, transition is a long way away". It took some time, but we did eventually find transition and rack my bike.

Next on the list was dinner. The plan was to meet Kyle and Jeremy and family at the Italian restaurant at the Marriot. Although we'd already been to the Marriot, somehow I got lost and turned onto a parkway without any exits, which caused us to arrive about 15 minutes late. The food was very average, but I really enjoyed the conversation. It was entertaining to hear everyone else's experiences of navigating through the day's chaos.

I awoke early on race morning. Everything felt good and the goal of finishing the race under 5 hours still seamed realistic. On the bus ride to the swim we ran into Casey, another friend from Birmingham who was doing the race. We arrived at the swim start just in time to see the pros go off. I strapped on my wetsuit and chatted with a few familiar folks until my wave started.

THE SWIM

Holding onto the dock, waiting for the horn to go off, the current seemed strong. The downriver point to point swim in the Savannah River presented the opportunity for a great swim time. Due to the high number of entrants, the first few minutes were pretty rough. There was quite a bit of contact and people running into each other. I finally found my rhythm and started to really enjoy myself. The swim ended quickly. The current must have been strong or the 1.2 mile course must have been short because I finished in 26 minutes, 10 minutes faster than my previous best.

THE BIKE

The 56 mile bike course started out easy enough. The first hour was a straight shot into South Carolina over mostly flat terrain. I was able to hold 22 mph without much effort. Piece of cake, right? Wrong! Somewhere around mile 22, things changed. The wind picked up, the course got hilly, and it seemed like there were a million turns. At mile 30 I was getting passed by more people than I was passing and my legs and back were a little fatigued. The only word to describe the last hour on the bike is "painful". I finally finished the bike with a time of 2:45, about 12 minutes slower than expected. My average speed over the 56 mile course was 20.4 mph.

THE RUN

The 13.1 mile run course was 2 loops through downtown Augusta. I quickly calculated that I'd need to run about a 7:50 per mile pace to finish the run in 1:43, which would get me to the finish line in under 5 hours. Under normal circumstances this would not have been a huge challenge, but after 3:15 of redlining my body, I new it was a long shot. I decided to go for it.

Mile 1 : 7:15 – Wow, that was fast

Mile 2 : 7:20 – Feeling good.

Mile 3 : 7:45 – My legs feel so good it doesn't even feel like I've been on the bike today.

Mile 4 : 7:30 – In town, lots of fans and music. I am pumped. I am an animal. This is easy.

Mile 5: 8:00 – Uh Oh, don’t feel so good, starting to fade quickly.

Mile 6: 8:45 – My legs feel like lead. This is not fun. I want to quit. Don't quit. Just keep running

Mile 7: 9:15 – I see Katie. She cheers me on but later said she's never seen me look so bad in a race.

Mile 8: 9:30 – One of the pros who already finished and has now turned into a spectator / cheerleader for all the age groupers tells me that I need to relax my shoulders. For him to say that, I must look really bad.

Mile 9: 9:30 – My shoulders are killing me. Just keep running. No walking allowed.

Mile 10: 9:40 – I spent way to long at an aide station

Mile 11: 9:20 – I see Katie again. I try to think of something to say to her but no words come out of my mouth.

Mile 12: 9:20 – I feel bloated from drinking all that water.

Mile 13: 8:15 – Thank you God! I didn't think I was gonna make it.

After crossing the line I laid down and Katie tried to stand in front of the sun for me to provide shade. It was a nice gesture, but unfortunately (or fortunately) she's not big enough to block the sun. My run time was 1:50, a pace of 8:25 per mile. I fell a little short of my overall goal, finishing in 5:07. It was my best time at the 70.3 distance by over 8 minutes, good enough for 46th out of 189 finishers in the 25-29 male age groups.

Kyle, Jeremy, and Casey all did well. After spending months together swimming, biking, and running, its always great to see your friends and training partners have success.

This experience has made me rethink my approach to the upcoming Florida Ironman. Augusta was a rewarding, but painful race. At this point thinking about doubling the distance is kind of mind boggling. Here are my amended Ironman goals.

Pace myself, better to be a tortoise than a hare
Just finish. I have thrown out all finishing time goals
Have fun.

That's it. I'll try to post some pictures later.

JG