Ironman 70.3 Augusta - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I'm happy w/swim--beat my time goal of 30 mins. BUT, several things went wrong. 1) My wetsuit velcro attached to my hair on the right side so I couldn't breathe on the left. Every time I took a stroke, OW! 2) Sighting was a breeze but I didn't know where I was on the course so I would speed up when I thought I was near the end, then slow back down coz I didn't want to overdo--just hoping for a nice warm up. 3) Got calf cramps after getting out of h20 and a stripper offered to massage my calf so I laid there for 30 secs or more but I didn't realize that added to my swim time. ARGH, I could've gone 27+ otherwise.
rank overall: 827;


TAKE AWAY: I should've swum the course at least once before this event since I live in town. I should've put this wetsuit on too. I knew from Jekyll that it was tight on the neck so I did rub glide everywhere but it got caught in my hair. Also, make sure swim cap is pulled down low enough to cover my hair. I'm last minute on cap/googles. we're in the water and some lady is like "pull your goggles down"! lol, i don't like the fogging up...Overall, I'm saying it was good because I beat my goal but could've been better fo sho.

I arrived same time as the two ladies on left/right of me, so did transition from the back side. There just wasn't enough room for everyone there! This slowed me down.

not be neighborly??

Way faster than my goal of 4 hours! I didn't stop at all--a first.
Rained hard at times but it was great coz I didn't get hot. Only one scary downhill because of the wet, but since I knew the course, I felt comfortable. Moving faster than normal allowed me to shoot up some hills that were very slow and hard in practice. NUTRITION: drank 4 bottles h20, 1 of accelerade. ate 1 powerbar, 2 pnut butter crackers, 3 endurolytes, 1 gel. great nutrition altho I planned to do more. Maybe should've taken more gatorade or enduros because of cramps but was worried about the pain in my side and overdoing the salt.

nada on race day. otherwise train more on bike. I've put in less than 1200 miles in my lifetime, and this is my weakest area of tri.
rank: 2373, so I only beat a couple hundred people. I was passed by HUNDREDS and only passed 10 or so people! good thing I don't race to beat other people LOL.
My left/right toes were numb for most of the ride. Could be a shoe fit issue. My right toes were curled under and crapped from mile 9 through 56 and on into most of the run!!! Yikes. Dr. Chris says I needed more salt, so next time I'll put salt in my Accelerade and maybe down a few more Endurolytes. I also had a stitch in my side during a lot of the ride.

much faster, good.

Goal: 2:30, beat it!
I ran/walked and this was faster than plodding. I am happy w/this time since 2 yrs ago I did the Augusta Half marathon in 2:12 or so WITHOUT the mile swim and 56 mile bike. I've made some running progress!
I put on huge globs of Aquaphor before running, plus carried a small tube with and stopped once to reapply when I felt the blisters coming on. Good idea. Nutrition was great, I ate oranges at each stop, drank water and gatorade, used sponges and ice.

My longest run was 9 miles, so I should've done a few more longer runs to make it easier to get through those last 4-5 miles. Also, my toes were curled MOST of the run, cramped and I had hip pain too, plus blisters.

none


The bike! In general I train much less than the plans say. I am worried about injury and I'm 47!!! I feel I now have a base and can build on this for next year, training longer and harder. Honestly, I had the goal only to finish without injury, not to "race". I did it and this HIM was so much easier than I thought it would be, but honestly I didn't have much of a kick at the end, which means I gave it my all. Psychologically I think I limit myself on running pace, going to work on that.


Support was awesome. My husband, kids, and lots of friends were on the course cheering, ringing cowbells, and strangers would even shout out your name (printed on bib) and encourage you. It was great to be a hometown girl! To have my fam in 3 places on the bike course was AMAZING. Their encouragement got me through the run so much easier!!! I can't criticize anything Ironman did; the race was 100% perfect despite rain.