The official 2009 racing season came to a close for me this past weekend at my final A race, Augusta 70.3. I’m not sure the race itself could have gone much better, which is nice because I feel like I’ve earned some unstructured time off. This will probably get old in a week or so, but comes at a good time since work and school are busy at the moment. Anyways, to the race report.
The wife and I left for Georgia Friday afternoon hoping to get most of the way from Cincinnati before 10pm so we could get a good nights’ sleep. We made really good time and ended up stopping in Newbury, SC Friday night for a late dinner and sleep. I would not have stopped here on my own, but my parents and sister who were ahead of us were there already, so we just met them. Saturday AM, we continued down to Augusta and headed straight to packet pickup/check in/mandatory meeting, etc… I was a little concerned about 1) How well they, in their first year, would handle the 3000+ entrants, and 2) Having to attend the pre-race meeting to be able to check in.
As a whole, things went smoothly considering. We were able to attend a meeting around 11 and check in went quickly after that, including bike drop off even though it was about a mile and a half away down the river. After doing all the required activities, we headed for lunch and to the hotel to relax. A few hours of college football later and it was dinner time then bed.
Race Day
My dad, sister and I were all up and out the door by 5:30AM. We had to head to park near the swim start (race finish was nearby), then take a shuttle to transition to setup our areas, then shuttle back to swim start to pick up timing chips and start the race. We all had later starting times (~1hr after the pros), so never felt rushed with having to change locations and catch multiple shuttles. We hung out and watched the pros and early AG waves while letting the nerves build, but before long the M18-24 AG was on deck, so off I went.
Swim
The swim was a straight shot downriver swim with a strong current. The water was seemingly clean of pollution, but did have some plant life near the surface or floating in areas. The water was perfect, right around 70 degrees. However, you would have thought we were taking the polar bear plunge by the reaction of all the Georgia, Florida, Alabama, etc competitors from the deeper south in my AG. I had to laugh a little at the wimpyness, but I guess it’s all relative to what you’re used to. Anyways, the horn sounded and off we went. I managed to find open space early, even though I was near the middle of the pack. I was able to sight well to both sides and had a great start. I could already tell this was going to be a fast swim. We passed under 2 bridges I used as checkpoints, but then I started to lose my ability to swim straight as my goggles started fogging up. After not too long, I knew I had to be close to the finish, but couldn’t tell where I was. I noticed a large restaurant on the Augusta side shore I had seen yesterday at bike check in and used it to guide me home. Up the ramp and into T1…
Swim Time: 28:21
T1
It was a longer run since we had to wrap around the transition area, but I felt pretty efficient here. Time: 3:39
Bike
Heading out on the bike
I really enjoyed the bike course here. We took off with a tailwind and I settled into my comfort zone pretty quickly. The course crosses into South Carolina almost immediately and stays there until the last mile. It was pretty flat for the first 15 miles or so, and then was a series of rollers, mostly at shallow grade for the next 15-20. The last 15-20 miles was mostly flat to downhill, but into a headwind for the majority. The first section I went pretty quickly with it being flatter with a tailwind, so set a good pace out of the gate. In the middle, I just tried to not burn too many matches on the uphill rollers and really focused on nailing my nutrition plan. The last leg, my back was getting a little sore, but I tried to stay tucked as much as possible to minimize the effects of the wind. As I made it back to transition, my legs felt worn, but definitely not worse than they had at Steelhead, so I felt like a strong run was a good possibility.
Time: 2:36:02 (21.53mph avg)
T2
I came to the bike dismount a little fast and nearly took a tumble when I dismounted, but otherwise very smooth. Grabbed my hat, fuel belt, and # belt and off I went. Time: 1:48
Run
Heading up Broad St on the Run
The run course takes you from transition into downtown, and then basically runs up and down parallel streets in 2 loops. It’s not the most creative course in the world, but it’s flat, spectator friendly, and easy to support from an aid station perspective. My legs settled into a decent pace almost immediately. It was a little slower than my goal pace, but I like to ease into the run so I was pleased with it. 2 or 3 guys from my AG passed me in the first 2 miles. I wasn’t racing for a Clearwater spot by any means, but I do like to compete, so I sized them up and decided I’d let them go while keeping an eye on them. I got into a groove and knocked out the first 6 miles without too much difficulty. During this first loop, I was able to see my mom and wife twice, which was also nice. As I hit the split for loop 2, I caught a glimpse of the finish line clock. I started to do some calculating since I really wasn’t sure what I was on pace for to that point. It seemed like I was on pace for my goal time with a pretty solid cushion. That gave me a mental boost that lasted a mile or so, but then I started to wear out. I kept telling myself to be humble, I could hit my goal with 9minute miles the rest of the way in. This was not to convince me to slow down, but basically to not try and speed up and risk blowing up. I met a young lady on her first loop doing a similar pace to me, so we talked for a couple miles to pass the time…a good distraction and my pace did actually come up a bit here. She was too fresh for me to stay with her much longer, so I let her go at about mile 9 and got back into a comfortable pace for the final push. My right quad wanted to twitch a bit toward the end, but I knew I had a big PR, so didn’t let it bother me. As I turned into the finish chute, I didn’t throw in any kick…I just basically smiled at took in the finish. When I stopped I finally realized how tired I really was…and that it was hot, but I was done so all was good
Time: 1:38:33 (7:31/mile pace)
Overall Time: 4:48:23 (12/115 in AG, 199 OA)
I obviously wouldn’t have been sub 4:50 w/o the big current on the swim, but am confident I would have broken 5hrs, which was my goal. My dad came in under 6 hours, a 20 minute PR for him, and my sister finished with not her best time, but it was a gutsy performance considering she had a chest cold going in and had some trouble breathing on the swim. It was a fun race and the locals seemed to take to it well. There were plenty of people out in lawn chairs cheering the bikers on and the run course was loaded with spectators. For a first year event, they did a great job. Now it’s onto the off-season and planning next season’s race schedule.
A successful day completed
