Ironman 70.3 Augusta - Triathlon

The swim felt a heck of a lot worse than it really was. I sat on the deck (unlike others who jumped in early and had to keep swimming back upstream as the current was taking them past the start line). I took advantage of that and took a pee break, then slipped into the water at the 30 second countdown. I stuck my face in and filled my wetsuit with water. I never heard the starter's pistol, but everyone in front of me started swimming, so I did, too.

I felt like I was going nowhere, but in reality, I actually had a better swim time than last year when the current was running faster. My swim wave felt more crowded than last year, so there was quite a bit of bumping. I was able to find a pair of feet of somewhere swimming a little faster than me for part of the course, but then one of us must've veered of course as I lost them eventually. The 2nd half of the course seemed like it took FOREVER. I was pretty happy to get out of the water.

I did feel as though my body position was good. I really don't like swimming in a wetsuit, though.

Get in an open water swim before race day (last open water swim was in June). Clearly, not being able to train the 4 weeks prior to race day didn't help.

I felt pretty gassed getting out of the water. I walked until I got to the wetsuit strippers, had them pull off my suit, then jogged the rest of the way to T1. Once there, I got my bike shoes, helmet and glasses on fairly quickly. There were SO many people exiting T1 at the time, that there was no room to jog, so I just followed the pack and was patient.

I need to try to figure out how to keep my heart rate down during transition. Once I finish the previous discipline, my heart rate just goes through the roof and then I get winded and stupid.

The first 15 miles to Jackson went well for me. I actually felt really good and was probably averaging 18 mph. I was sipping water from my aerobottle every 10 minutes, and eating three or four peanut butter pretzels every 20 minutes. I took a SaltStick tablet every 45 minutes.

There was a tiny bit of headwind the first 15 miles. The course was really crowded, and there was a lot of very close passing being done by the faster age groups behind me. Once I left Jackson, things slowed down considerably.

SR1 to the SRS site was in worse shape than I remember. Bumpy roads plus a headwind that was gusting for the first parts of the climbing section wasn't too enjoyable. I had a good water grab at the first aid station (one of my 8th grade students from last year was my water girl, too! She was pretty excited to see me), dumped it in my aerobottle, and dumped some on my head to keep the sweat out of my contacts. Continued on the next 15 miles through the hillier section of the course. At mile 25, I started drinking some of the Ucan in my 3rd bottle. My plan was to drink that bottle within the next hour on the bike (small bottle).

Had another good water grab at the 2nd aid station (mile 35) and was happy that the rest of the course was relatively flat. At this point, the lack of riding over the past month was taking a toll on my nether region. I was pretty uncomfortable by mile 40. At mile 43, we passed Amazing Grace Baptist Church who plays this awesome recording over and over for the athletes to hear. It was exactly what I needed to hear as I was on the verge of tears and wanted OFF THE BIKE.

I tried REALLY hard the final 15 miles of the race to pee on my bike. I really had to go, but my body just wouldn't cave.

I skipped the last aid station and worked my way back towards T2. The bike course was so congested that it was impossible to pass anyone without being in danger of being red carded for drafting. Honestly, the bike course can't take that much traffic. They need to limit the number of racers at this event.

Was ELATED to see T2 and get off the bike.

Ride my bike more than once in the previous month, perhaps? As uncomfortable as I was, I can't really complain since my training wasn't as solid as I would have liked.

Learn to pee on the bike.

When I got to T2, the thought entered my mind briefly to just pull the plug on the day. I was pretty gassed and just didn't have much energy. I sat down and started to put on my socks and compression sleeves, and a couple other age groupers came in. With whined and complained, and I finally got up, went to the loo (since I couldn't get it done on the bike), and finally left transition.

If I'm going to run in compression sleeves, I probably just need to wear them under my wetsuit if I ever want a decent T2 time. Unfortunately, I don't like how my feet feel when I wear them on the bike. That would save me a ton of time. If I didn't have to go to the Port-o-john and then fight my shorts back up, I'd save more time, too. Maybe I should just sit down in T2 and pee where I'm sitting?

I don't even know that I could call this a run. I actually did jog consistently the first 3 miles, and for miles 4-6, alternated back and forth. I had to keep making deals in my head (you can walk to the next cross street, but then you HAVE to jog for 5 blocks). Once I was 10K into it, though, I was pretty spent. I tried jogging for a minute, walking for a minute, but I was gassed. I hit all 10 aid stations in 13.1 miles, and dumped ice water on my head. The temperature wasn't hot, but I felt hot.

The good news is that I didn't feel sick to my stomach during the run.

I really just need to suck it up and get a seriously good run base on me. This has been a bad year for me with regards to running and injuries/illness, but truth be told, if I could fix my run, all of the rest of triathlon would be so much more enjoyable.

I felt like a complete failure with a 3 hour half marathon run. I know I shouldn't because of the year I've had, but that's what stuck with me most of the afternoon.

Finish chute...get water, medal and hat. Drank water, ate 1 slice of pizza and then went to find my family.


Lack of consistent training due to injury early in the season and then illness/infections during summer and fall.


The race is very, very well run. The city of Augusta are amazing hosts, the volunteers are phenomenal, and the on-course support is excellent. I don't know if there's a better run with regards to cheering, screaming spectators anywhere. The run course is packed. It's a pretty exciting atmosphere.