When it comes to fitness and racing, I know from past experience I have the natural tendency to target a relatively significant goal, focus on it, attain it, and then IMMEDIATELY get consumed by all the crap life and work stuff that I have (out of necessity) ignored in order to accomplish said goal. Note that I said “crap” life and work stuff: I am talking about the stuff that takes over just because we let it; it is mostly stuff that probably should go ignored or undone anyway, but we allow to consume increasing amounts of our lives. Because it took a year of preparation, I figured Ironman Lake Placid most likely would fit well into this pattern, so I decided to go ahead and sign up for another longer-distance race so I would have something to focus on beyond Ironman. I have also heard countless stories where some sort of lethargy and lack of motivation sets in for many folks post-Ironman, and I was determined to keep that from happening to me. So way back in March, when my good friend Ken Newton issued his smack-down challenge to race the Augusta 70.3 triathlon, I just could not turn him down.

The “70.3″ in the title of this race alludes to the fact that the race is 70.3 miles in total length, or exactly half the Length of a full Ironman race (140.6 miles). This “Half Ironman” distance can be a little misleading, as (for me anyway) an Ironman is both considerably more and simultaneously significantly less than the sum of two Half Ironman races. Augusta would prove to be no different.

Pre-Race Routine
Augusta was always meant to be a fun season-ender for me – no real worries. In my brain though it took on this real “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” quality, in that on one hand I decided it would be a really low-key, toss-off kind of race, but this then led me to really want to throw caution to the wind, race it wide open, and not really care if I blew up doing it. This ambivalence allowed me to put off packing until Friday afternoon, at which time I simply threw everything I could think of into bags and then jammed it all into the car willy-nilly. We were off around 6pm in the evening. We cruised out of town through the normal Atlanta Friday evening traffic, ate Chick-fil-a (ugh) out of my lap while driving, and arrived in Augusta at about 9:30pm. We checked into the downtown Ramada, which is nothing to write home about, except that the staff is really, really friendly and we got a nice high-floor corner suite with a good view of the river and downtown business district. Normally we would have probably rather procured lodging at the official race hotel which was a couple of blocks away, but by the time we decided to sign up for the race it was completely booked. Although a little threadbare, the Ramada was in a great location and proved to be a good alternative all-around. We unpacked the car, changed clothes, and walked down the street to meet our friends and fellow racers for a couple of beers at The Rooster’s Beak which has a great beer selection that unfortunately I was not able to sample too broadly due to the upcoming race. Rats.

Up early the next morning, we all headed down the street to The New Moon Cafe for breakfast, where we were fortunate enough to meet Nick Waninger, a young pro with a good bit of experience racing this particular course. Nick proved to be a really fast but still down-to-earth guy, who seems to have a real talent at finishing 6th at Augusta. After a leisurely breakfast, Ken, Todd and I went out for a 30 minute easy spin followed up by a 15 minute run. Afterwards we met the girls and Wes down on the river at the swim start, and paddled around a bit just to get our bearings. I thought the water temp was great, and was actually pleasantly surprised at how clean and clear the water appeared. There was a little river grass (not really seaweed if it is in a river, right?) floating around in clumps, but it was not too bothersome to me. There were a few reports over the previous few weeks of alligator sightings in the river, but I was put on restriction by my wife from even mentioning it. Oh well, a great opportunity to aggravate my friends (especially Molly) gone to waste. After the swim we headed over to athlete check-in to pick up our race packets and timing chips and wander around a rather lackluster expo. From there walked back to the hotel, grabbed our bikes and rode them down to the transition area. The transition area was in a nice, grassy field immediately next to the river and pretty roomy. My designated spot was pretty crappy (down one side and inordinately far from the bike in-and-out), but I did not complain as I have been fairly fortunate in scoring cherry spots more than my fair share of times recently. Molly was kind enough to come pick us all up saving a mile-and-a-quarter walk back to the hotel. Once back, I showered quickly, organized all of my stuff that I would need for the race, and rather than taking a nap, decided I would set up a TCX course using Bike Route Toaster. These are pretty cool, as once loaded up it allows my Garmin 800 bike computer to give me turn-by-turn directions during the race, provide me with distances and projected time to the next waypoint, and (the feature I like most) look-ahead elevation profile. The Augusta course is pretty flat, but this feature is cool in that it allows you to see the terrain that is approaching on the bike. With everything packed and ready to go, we headed down to the lobby to catch up with our friends and then headed down the street for dinner at The Bee’s Knees Tapas Restaurant and Lounge. Here again my ambivalence toward the race reared its head, and I had a pre-dinner martini (Hendrick’s, up, two olives), a wide assortment of tapas, spicy shrimp curry (WHAT?!?!? – you have a race tomorrow!!!) all accompanied by a couple of glasses of wine. Brilliant pre-race fueling strategy, I know, but it really was a pretty good meal! Poor decisions made, we walked back to the hotel and got to sleep relatively early, all things considered.

Event Warm Up
What is it with race morning? No matter if you have to travel an hour-and-a-half to get to the race site or it is across the street from the hotel, you still have to wake up at 4:30am. Ugh, spicy shrimp curry, really? Eat some breakfast (banana, peanut butter, yogurt, orange juice) and get suited. When I was in the water the day before my goggles were fogging up a lot, so I spritzed them with anti-fog spray. Then

Spicy shrimp curry.

Molly was awesome enough to (again) ferry us down to the transition area, so we all met in the hotel lobby at 5:45am for a quick jaunt down to the bikes. We get there just as the sun is coming up, and I go through my pre-race set up: Towel on the ground, running shoes with socks rolled up like cotton and polyester condoms in each one, and visor, sun glasses, gels and salt tablets in a 1 gallon ziplock bag. In front of that goes my bike shoes, helmet, and race number belt. On the bike goes my computer and bento box with extra gels and salt tabs. Then I add my flat kit to the back of my seat and mount two bottles, one on the aerobars and one on the downtube. Finally I calibrate my power meter, and walk through the transition visualizing the in and outs and

Spicy shrimp curry.

Catching up with Wes, Ken, and Todd, we walk over to where the buses are loading to transport us down to the swim start. When we get there a volunteer tells us along with several hundred other racers that there will be no more buses coming and we should just walk the “mile” to the start. We are smart enough to know that it is actually a mile and a quarter as the Cheetos bag floats, but that does not keep us from heading out. So our race will be a 71.55 – no big deal. We get to the swim start about 25 minutes later and

Spicy shrimp curry.

Finding a place to stretch out and relax is pretty easy, so we settle in to wait for about 30 minutes before Wes’ start time. It starts to rain a bit, which just adds to the humidity. Time passes slowly, 15 minutes to go before our waves start, and

Spicy shrimp curry.

The drizzle stops, and suddenly it is our turn – we jump into our wetsuits, and queue up – Todd one wave before Ken and me. Down on the pier and ready to go, I hop into the water immediately after Todd’s wave because I want to get at least a little warmed up, and there are only four minutes between each wave. My plan is to go easy for a couple of hundred yards, but then hammer the swim, so I want to be ready…

Swim Course
The swim course is a 1.25 mile point-to-point downstream swim in the Savannah River, making for one very fast first leg.

Swim
Airhorn start – SKYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK – and off. Wide of the outer buoy, I swim as far out in the river as the kayakers will let us. Easy for about 4 minutes, then begin to push it. There seemed to be a natural drift in the river toward the bank, or maybe I was tending to swim in a clockwise circle due to my recovering right shoulder, but it seemed that I had to sight quite a bit to keep in a straight line. Although I am not a terribly fast swimmer, pride myself on swimming good lines, so this is kinda unusual for me, but it is no big deal. It actually turns out to be good strategically as it allows me understand where I am in relative to others in my wave. I start to labor just a bit, but instead of backing of like I normally unfortunately often do, I instead shook it off and began to try and chase down other swimmers one by one. with about 400 yards to go I catch on to a pretty large group of guys swimming packed close together, and decide to sit on and ride them in to the transition. Out of the water I look at my watch and surprised to see 26:xx. I knew the current would make the swim fast, but I was expecting to see something more in the 28 minute range. Today is shaping up to be a good day.

Except my heart rate monitor was reading 184, which is off the charts for me in the water. Evidently I was really hoofing it to stay on the feet of the pack in front of me!

Out of the water and into transition

Swim Time: 26:11 (1:22 per 100m)

What I would do Differently on the Swim
I think I need to do more fast open water swims. For some reason I can push a little bit harder in the pool, maybe because it is very clear and quantifiable how long of an effort I have to sustain. In open water, you lose your points of reference. Swimming from person to person really broke this race down into manageable bits for me. I am looking forward to try this strategy out on my next race that includes an open water swim.

Transition 1: Swim to Bike
Up the ramp I take off my goggles and swim cap, then my wetsuit top (DeSoto sleeveless Speedvest). Into transition, I make the long run to my bike, skirting around the wetsuit strippers. At the bike, I walk out of my wetsuit bottoms (DeSoto First Wave Farmer John) the Computer on, helmet on, shoes on, race belt on, grab bike, go. Another long run to the bike exit, past the mount line and off. Tough time getting my cleats to engage – the long run through the grass packed a food bit of debris in them – a couple of quick, hard sideways taps on the pedals cleared them well enough, and I cruised up to speed.

T1 Time: 3:33

What I would do Differently in T1
I really have to work on my transitions – I am tired of getting beat here. My spot was particularly bad in this race race, but that is not the real problem. I go too slow and check/recheck everything – after all these years of racing I still forget things. I go back and forth relative to the shoes on the feet versus shoes on the bike. I am comfortable either way, even though I did actually lose a shoe in the last race where I had them already on the bike. If it is a paved run through transition, I would probably have the shoes already mounted up, with a grass/mud/gravel/dirt transition like this one, I would lots rather keep my feet clean and put on the shoes before heading out. Of course then they stand the risk of getting the cleats jammed, so who really knows what the right answer might be…?

Bike Course
The 56 mile bike course is a mostly flat loop through the beautiful countryside outside of downtown. There are a few rolling parts in the middle, but for the most part this is a fast course. While the bike begins and ends in Georgia, the bulk of the ride takes place across the east bank of the Savannah River in South Carolina.

Bike
My plan going into the bike portion of the race was to average about 210~215 watts, but allow heart rate to be a secondary limiter: if it begins to creep up above 170bpm, I am supposed to back off. I head out of transition with a HR of 175, so immediately ease up on the pedals. Within about 5 minutes however, Ken comes blowing by me like a madman. “Crap,” I thought – “I guess it is on!” Of course I had to chase him. So much for getting my heart rate under control.

For the next 20 miles or so I paced off Ken from about 10 bike lengths back. The middle section of the course has a few rolling hills, and Ken backed off a little and we swapped off pacing a few times – he would come by me on the ups, but then let me run out a bit on the downs. About the only really exciting moment was when we were overtaking a rather substantial pack of riders spread across the road on a sharp little uphill. As Ken was passing the group, one of the riders drifted left into him. Ken practically head butted the guy ala Mark Cavendish and pushed him back into the pack – I really am not sure how he did not go down. Years of bench presses, I guess.

Now Ken is a runner, so with about 10 miles or so to go, I figured my only chance was to get a little separation on the bike, so as the course headed back into town and began to flatten out again, I came around him one last time and picked up the pace a notch. With about 2 miles to go my quads started to cramp just a tiny bit, but I just ignored it, hoped i had at least a little bit of separation, and just kept on pushing. Coming around the last corner into transition, Ken rolled up on my left shoulder and we came in side-by-side. Double crap.

Look how pissed this dude is to get passed by my awesomeness

Bike Time: 2:29:35 (22.5mph)
Average Heart Rate: 175bpm (!!!!)

What I would do differently on the Bike
If this was an “A” race, I would have let Ken go and rode my own paces as dictated by my plan. But I had come to Augusta prepared to go hard and maybe blow up, so I was not too worried at this point.

Transition 2: Bike to Run
Into transition, I stayed in my bike shoes and made the long run to my rack. hung the bike, kicked off my shoes, actually sat down on the ground and put on my socks & shoes, grabbed my ziplock stuffed full of goodies, and off. when I turned into the exit chute, there was Ken, right in front of me charging hard out onto the course. I put on my hat and sunglasses, knocked back a gel, grabbed two cups of water, and went after him.

T2 Time: 2:36

What I would do Differently in T2:
Leave my shoes on the bike and run barefooted – the ground was pretty lumpy and tough to run on in bike shoes. Also, I need to get some running shoes that I can run in sockless for the half distance – I love my racing flats, but I just did not want to risk running that far in shoes that have no support.

Run Course
The 13.1 mile run course consists of two loops of a circuit that snakes its way through downtown Augusta. The course turns back on itself numerous times, making for a very spectator friendly race. It is incredibly flat, with no change in elevation to speak of.

Run
out of T2, Ken was really moving – much, much faster than I would normally go right out of transition. I usually like to ease into the run a bit, but I remember thinking “what is the point of staying with him on the bike if you don’t go with him now?”

Then my quads locked, seizing up with cramps.

And just like that, I am walking. Then stopping, and finally squatting down on the side of the road fighting quadricep cramps that feel like knots of steel in my legs. I look up, and Ken is gone, swallowed up by the crowd and motoring around the next corner. The good news about this change in circumstance is that I think to myself “finally! Now I can “run” my own race. I gather myself up, and begin walking again.

Praying to the run gods to end the cramping

Four minutes later, my quads begin to loosen up and I am able to jog a bit. Two more minutes, and I am running along at an 8 minute pace. Not bad, but about 30 seconds per mile slower than I planned. I turn the corner to begin the first of several trips through the downtown business district and suddenly surprised to see Ken squatted down on the side of the street in a carbon-copy performance of the show I had put on just a few moments before. Like the true friend that I am, I slowed down a bit, grab his hand, and offer to run with him. He failed to see the humor in it, and I guess in hindsight it was kind of a dick move, but hey, that is what friends are for, right? From my perspective the only real problem is that it committed me; from here on out I better not have another bad moment because if Ken catches me I would never hear the end of it. So I push right up to the limits of my “tempo” heart rate, not really sure if I will be able to hold it for the next hour-and-a-half.

The aid stations on the run are not particularly evenly spaced, instead they are scattered along the course with anywhere between 3/4 to 2 miles separating each one. At every aid station I grab two sponges and shove them down my jersey, take 1~2 salt tablets, and pound as much water as I can. About 3 miles in I see Jennifer and the rest of the girls, and they tell me Todd is struggling, so I redouble my efforts. At about mile 4 we are on an out-and-back section, so I start looking for him. Soon I see him, but he does not look in too bad of shape to me – and Molly is running along with him, in clear violation of WTC rules. Cheater. I yell at him that I am coming, but only Molly hears me. I hit a split to see how far back I am at the turn around, which I hit exactly 5 minutes later. Awesome, only 10 minutes back, which translates to 6 minutes as his wave started the race 4 minutes earlier than my own. At the turn, there is a much needed aid station, and then soon after another “independent” aid station set up by folks that live in the neighborhood. At this point I really needed the fluids, so I loaded up, despite the fact that accepting outside aid is also a violation of WTC rules. So I am a cheater as well; now Todd and I are even. One more circuit through town and I find myself at the finish line, albeit with one more loop to go.

Finally coming around on the run

While it is a little difficult to run past the finish line, especially when all those folks in the early waves are finishing up, I do like the fact that at least you know the course a little better the second time around. Heart rate in the high 170′s/low 180′s I know I am slowing a bit, but I actually still feel pretty good. With about 4 miles to go, I see the girls again, and this time Molly is with them, along with Wes who had already finished up. Wes had started good thirty minutes ahead of the rest of us, but even so, the fact that he was already finished and out cheering us on was a good sign that he had enjoyed a stellar performance. As I “sped” by them at what had deteriorated to about an 8:30 pace, I asked quickly how Todd was doing, to which Wes mysteriously answered “4:34″ and handed me a can of coke. I dashed off, wondering what the hell he was talking about, tried to take a sip of coke, but for the most part just got it up my nose and all down my neck. Oh well – I tossed the can in the trash and started to look for Todd again on the final out-and-back. (I found out later that wes had finished the race in a blazingly-fast 4:34!). When I finally see Todd again I quickly do the math and surmise that I have only put a few seconds on him since my last check; he evidently really laid it down for the first several miles of the run before he started to fade.

I should mention that I never saw Ken again, but I was constantly terrified that he was going to come around me at any moment. Before rounding the final corner to the finish and with this thought in my head, I actually slowed enough to turn around and take a good look behind me to make sure he was not pacing off of me and setting up for a sprint to the finish. Ken and I have a little history together in that regard, and it is safe to say that I really have it coming to me at some point in our race future. But fortunately for me today is not that day, although I know we all secretly fantasize about a sprint finish against each other! Around the final corner, and now it is my turn to peel off to the finish while everyone else continues on for a final 6.5 mile loop around town. I cruise in with a finish time of about 7 minutes slower than I had hoped, and a whopping 14 minutes slower than I had trained for on the run.

And with THAT my 2011 triathlon season is done!

Run Time: 1:51:53 (8:32 per mile)
Run Split for Loop #1: 53:17 (8:08 per mile)
Run Split for Loop #2: 58:36 (8:56 per mile)

What I would do Differently on the Run
1) Stick to my plan on the bike.
2) This year I am going to try to find some minimalist type shoes that are built for longer-course racing but are more friendly to sockless feet. It would save me a bit of time in transition, and also alleviate the squishy, wet sock problem caused by dumping water over my head while out on the run.

Overall Time: 4:53:48
175/2785 Total Racers
13/234 Age Group

Post Race
I would like to think that I was that much slower than planned because of the 90+ degree heat, but I just don’t think that was entirely the case. Despite the heat, I know I overcooked the bike by a wide margin; I think if I had backed off and kept my HR around 165ish I would have been able to run my splits much more closely to what I had planned. That would have given me a net gain of 6~7 minutes overall. Lesson learned: trust the plan. But it sure was fun to cat-and-mouse with Ken!

Jen and the crew are waiting at the finish (Todd of course is in the medical tent) and I grab some pizza and a beer while we wait for Ken to come in. We then head back to the hotel, where Jennifer has already organized and packed everything up (awesome, thanks Jen!). We grab quick showers, then down the street to grab a bite to eat and watch folks continue to stream in on the course. It begins to rain and we all head down to the chaos of the bike transition to pick up our soaking wet gear. We load up, say our goodbyes quickly in the drizzle (everyone is heading their separate ways) and Jennifer and I make a quick stop at Starbucks before hitting the road for The ATL. On Monday, my quads and hamstrings are killing me, but that is nothing compared to Tuesday.

What a fun year this has been – I am looking forward to the next, especially since Jennifer is back in the game. But first, a few weeks of unstructured down-time from training, which is great because October is shaping up to be one crazy, travel-filled month. Soon enough it will be time to start the off-season strength training though, and I am already kinda looking forward to it.