Ironman 70.3 Augusta - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Swim was great for me. The current and wetsuit helped a ton. No way I could swim that fast in still water. I have had a string of reasons..er, excuses, keeping me out of the water over the last few months (eye surgery, shoulder injury, trips to Korea for work), and was no where near prepared.

Nothing. I did the best I could. The swim turned out to be the best event for me this day.

T1 went pretty smoothly for me. Got out of the water, ran up the ramp, through the chute and to the strippers. Wet suit came right off and I was on my way. Got to my bike, helmet on, belt on, shoes on and go. Everything was going great.

Nothing.

Ahh, I made it to the bike..my favorite event. Got on the bike and started hammering. Everything felt great. My legs were feeling good, the weather was great, I was pumped up for getting out of the water in a decent time, my goal time was more than in reach, I was going to have a great day...so I thought. Everything was going great. I was passing plenty of people, not getting passed by too many. Trying hard to play by the rules (which, by the way, with an overloaded course it can be hard to keep three bike lengths). I passed several people with flats, or other problems, and kept thinking "please, not me"! Well...mile 33 and I flat. Crap!!! I have been riding for months with no problem, and on race day I get a flat. WTF!! So I pull over and start changing the tire. I am not great at it, and obviously need to practice more. I had one tube, and one C02. Got the tube changed, back on the rim, back on the bike and blew it up. Got back on the bike and started rolling. Took about 3 seconds to realize the tube wasn't set correctly. Crap! No more C02, so I roilled with. Praying it would make 23 more miles. So I keep going, trying to regain some of the time I missed changing the tire. Maybe I was pushing too hard, or maybe it was just muscle fatigue finally reaching me, but at mile 42 I got a cramp in my hamstring. It was bad enough I had to pull over, again, and try to stretch it out. I had to walk it out for a few minutes and finally got back on the bike. I just eased it in the last ten miles, not trying to push it too hard. Not sure what my pace was leading into the flat, but averaged 19.3 counting the time changing the flat and the cramp. Probably I pushed too hard.

Train more on the bike. Work on changing tires, learn to control myself and set out on a decent pace.

T2 was good. I took the time to put on socks and hit the latrine on my way out of transition.

Nothing. Good transition

Ugh..the run. The one event I had the most time to train for, but performed the worst. I started out of transition feeling pretty decent. Two miles in I was at 15 minutes. Not blistering, but a good pace for me. Mile 3 is when the trouble started. Cramps. Oh, the cramps. Not just a little cramp..but major cramps, all major muscle groups of the legs. Sometimes altogether, sometimes one at a time. Sometimes both legs, sometimes just one. These weren't cramps you run with. These were cramps that make you look like a rubber chicken trying to stand up. I would run 100 yards or so, cramp up, move to the side, wait for the muscle to release, walk out the pain, try to run until the next one hit. This went on the entire run. My pace got slower and slower and the pain got worse and worse. It was a complete death march. No doubt I supplied plenty of entertainment for the masses along the side of the road.

Not kill myself on the bike.

Found my wife, gave her a hug. I have never been so glad to finish a "run".
Got a couple pieces of pizza, went to transition and got my gear. Then it was 5 hours in the van (another story all together).


Definetly my lack of time to train. I travel alot and it's never close enough to drive...so the bike stays home. I work a lot of weekends too, so long rides are hard to come by. I have to work something out for the next one, and have no decided that until I get a couple of 1/2 Ironmans under my belt with no problem, the full Ironman will have to wait.

Even with the problems...I set a new PR and have confirmed the fact that I LOVE THIS SPORT!!!!


This race was well organized, tons of volunteers, tons of support. They had frequent updates on the websites and sent out reminders. Even had phone calls with race reminders.