Ironman 70.3 Augusta - Triathlon

After watching my brother start his swim, I started my walk down the ramp to the swim start. The nerves were high due to my previous event's panic session in open water. That was only a sprint so I was feeling quite anxious to get this going and over with.

As I entered the water, it was nice to see some others that were equally nervous about this swim. We held back a few seconds when the wave started. I knew that I had 4 minutes until the next wave so there was no rush. As I began, I remembered to take slow methodical strokes. There was no rush. I just needed to get through the swim and then start the race.

Even with the occasional bump and the weeds climbing up on me from the bottom, I did not go into panic mode at all. I kept my head down and kept a slow methodical pace. I was passed by people from the next two waves behind me, but I didn't care. I needed to stay focused on my race, not theirs.

Not much. I did what I wanted to do. I didn't want to try to break any records. I just wanted to get through the swim, and I did.

T1 was very slow. I knew I still had a very long day ahead of me so a few minutes wasn't going to kill me. Being my first real triathlon, I wanted to make sure I had what I needed and wasn't forgetting something. I wanted to relax and then get moving.

I did what I wanted to do.

Will probably look at cutting the time in half for next year.

Getting out of T1, I felt good. I had survived the swim. The rest was downhill. Well, I wish it were downhill. Actually, the first 2/3 of the race is mostly uphill or rollers that tend to go uphill more than downhill.

Around mile 12, I noticed a tweaky feeling in my right knee. Mentioned it to my bother, who had graciously waited at T1 for me. I tried not to think about it and just keep riding.

As the ride went further, I noticed the tweaky feeling getting a little stronger. This was not what I had hoped for. Nothing good comes out of an IT band issue while still on the bike.

I finished the bike in around the time I wanted. I wouldn't have minded cutting a few minutes, but overall, it was in the ballpark of what I expected.

Another year of training will help with endurance.

T2 was fine. I noticed during the dismount that my knee was not going to be good for the rest of the day. I could not jog my bike to the rack. It was a walk, and a painful one at that.

Spent some time trying to stretch my leg/IT band.

Nothing. Got in, got out. Will work on loosening up my IT band before the race.

By the time I started the run, my IT band was as tight as it can get. The pain was already shooting through the side of my knee. Luckily, the weather had warmed up to around 78 degrees and the humidity was around 75%. It was the ideal conditions for running if you are a masochist. Nonetheless, the 13.1 miles wasn't going to run itself.

I started out on the run with my bother and by the time I had the first 10 steps in, I knew I was in trouble. Pain was followed by more pain.

By the end of the first mile, we pulled over to the side to stretch. I thought my knee was as bad as it could get (little did I know) and bros back was getting tight. After stretching, we were off again.

It seemed to continue to get worse and worse. My planned nonstop jog quickly turned into a jog and then walk and then stretch and repeat. It was slow and bad.

By the time I hit the 8-9 mile area, I was in so much pain that I thought my day was over. I was overcome by all of the feelings of failure, pain, and an overall overwhelming feeling of depression. The excitement of the crowd was not able to keep my spirits up. I was at the point that I was ready to hang it up for the day. Too much pain for too long. I stopped for a minute to assess the situation. When I decided to start again, my brain decided that it was a bad idea to continue and told my leg/knee to stop moving forward.

I was done. Just then another runner stopped for a second to ask if I needed help. I did. I needed a Segway to ride the final 4 miles. However, she did not have one I could use. She graciously gave me some Ibuprofen instead. I took it and hoped for the best. After another minute of pitying myself, my brother talked me into getting that knee moving. I didn't want to. I wanted to sit down with the people on the side watching. However, he talked me into it.

After that, I was able to keep myself moving forward for the rest of the race. It was the ugliest 13.1 I had ever done, but I did it. I finished it whether my body wanted me to or not.

Need to keep working on my endurance. Also, I am adding in yoga for my training this year.

Walked over to the beer tent and grabbed one. Ate a couple of pieces of pizza. However, I really just wanted to get some ice on my knee and try to forget how much the day sucked. It was the longest pain session I had had so far. I did not enjoy my first 70.3 due to the IT band. However, I will work on some things and come back stronger and even more ready than I was for this one.


IT band. Hadn't tweaked an IT band in 4-5 years. Not sure why it happened, but hopefully it will be a thing of the past going forward.


The race venue is great. The city did a great job of hosting the event. The people of Augusta are great. The course beat me, but I will book this one again and I will have my revenge...