Ironman 70.3 Augusta - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Gender rank was 718. The swim was fast. The current was pretty strong as about 150 of us swam within a 40 foot wide stretch. There were a lot of people swimming who never put on a wetsuit before, and that was a mistake. Some were holding on to kayaks from the start. I tried to avoid others and avoid the seaweed that was growing from the bottom of the river. It was within reach on my pulls. Once in a while I swam into some floating seaweed which hung around for a while before falling away. For the first time my goggles did not fog or fill with water. Everything went smooth and before I knew it I was seeing athletes running up the dock. A few minutes later I was running with them, awesome swim.

nothing.

Used a wetsuit stripper and ran to the bike. The only issue I had was trying to get my garmin on my wrist. I put on the glasses, helmet, gloves, shoes, race belt.and ran out of there. The area was all grass so I carried the bike so I wouldnt run over some unseen pointy thing.

Figure out how to get my garmin on easier.

Gender rank was 753. I started with a double serving of infinit on my bottom tube. The aero bottle had regular water. The water stops were at mile 17,37,47 (or somewhere around there) so I could get refills there. I started out strong but kept thinking "I hope my tire doesn’t blow". I was being passed by madmen. They had us old guys starting before the young guns, so they started catching up and passing us on the bike. I did my share of passing. There were a few long uphill inclines that tested us, but for the most part there were short inclines or even semi flat. This was not the hills I was told would be there. The weather was perfect, around 70. There was even some mist in the air. It was going to rain but I was thinking it would hold off until after the race. The first aid station came up and bikes were pulled over everywhere. People were not paying attention to anything around them. One guy pulled in front of me and then slowed down to stop. I had to dart around him to miss the collision. I decided not to stop and pee. I grabbed a water bottle and kept going. There was a waffle, lara bar, gel, and chews in my bento box so I really didn’t need anything. I had to pee. Nope, I won’t do that so I guess I’ll stop at the next aid station. There was nothing different on the next stretch of road. There was a pack of people ahead of me drafting. It was perfect timing when the USAT official rode by me on his motorcycle. I watched him go up to the pack and soon there was no drafting. I don’t know if he gave out any penalties or just broke them up. Reality was with 3300 people out on the same 56 mile course there is going to be people bunched up. I did stop at the next water point to pee. I wanted to get a couple things in me besides infinit. I didn’t touch anything in my bento box. I need to think about that before B2B next month. I went through the last aid station and grabbed another water bottle, then a banana, then a gel. The last of the bike was supposed to be flat but it sure didn’t seem that way. At the finish I did a simple dismount with shoes on feet and ran to my rack. My legs felt good. We were used to our long bikes being over 100 miles so this went smooth.

I did the best I could on the bike. I did stop to pee which brings up the question "should I have"

I ran with the bike to my rack. The guy next to me had a big white trash bag with his wetsuit and god knows what else right where I needed to rack my bike. That was not smart because he should have known I was going to throw it out of the way. I tossed it somewhere hard, harder than I needed to (just to make a point). I took off the helmet, gloves, shoes and put on my visor and running shoes. That was easy enough and I was off to the races.

nothing

Gender rank 597. I started the run around 8:20's and kept it as long as I could. I wanted to try to do the first loop at 8:20's and then slow down on the second loop. There were lots of people cheering us on which made the time go by quicker. There were aid stations every mile with iced down sponges and all kinds of nutrition. I didn’t use my fuel belt so I took water at each one. I usually grab a cup take a gulp then toss it. I can do that twice at the same aid station and not slow down. I saw Gee, a tri-warrior team member, but never saw Maria. She started 20 minutes after me so I did expect to see her on the second loop. There were some funny signs like "Chuck Norris never did a triathlon". Some aid stations had people in costumes. One guy had like a superman costume but with a big marsh mellow looking head. I saw a little girl dressed like a hot dog. I just kept moving. The second loop was going smooth and I tried to hold my pace. The garmin did show I was running a lot slower but still in the mid 9 min range. Some lady was behind me talking about the history of snuff (yes really). The rich were bored so they used snuff in their noses so they can sneeze. This passed the time and kept them from being bored. It also was the origin of the phrase "nothing to sneeze about". I almost stopped and turned to her asking if she was serious. She said she was so I’m going to have to look it up. I heard people yell out for the tri warriors and they yelled my name, and Fayetteville (later I would find out it was Christy, a team member who was there watching). The last 3 miles were slower and slower. I was about ready to end this thing. I was going as strong as I could which with B2B coming up may not be the smart choice. Finally I saw the chute and ran up it. I threw my arms in the air and they announced my name. It was over and I had a blast.

nothing

After the race I received my medal and hat and went into the finishers area. They had massage tables but the line was too long for that so I just stretched. The GOOD tent was on the right. They had pizza, snacks, all kinds of drinks, BEER, fruits. Thats the kind of post race I like. Pizza and beer. I would have really got into it but it was cold and misty so I wanted to get a space blanket for Maria. When she finished she was going to be cold. Once she finished we ate pizza, drank a beer, then went to the hotel for a shower. After the shower we took the bus to the bike transition. It started to pour rain. We got all of our things together and rode the bikes back to the hotel, and showered again.


not much, I did my best and set a PR by 26 minutes over my previous.


IMFL was the best experience I have ever had but this was the best RACE I have ever had. Everything went right from the weather to my body. Ironman put on another awesome event that had no shortage of volunteers wanting to help you. The hotel was the best I have ever stayed at. There was lots of great post race food at the finish. The transportation was spot on!! Busses took us to T1 and back. After the race they took us to T1 again. They were running until 7PM. The only down sides were 1) Rain and 2) they only had 1 roll of space blankets. It is usually hot and humid but today was cold. I was lucky enough to get one, which of course went to my girl.