Early in the morning, they announced that the swim would not be wetsuit legal, the first time ever for this event! I was surprised, but didn't really let it bother me as I am very comfortable in the water.
Given the size of the event (and my wave), I was expecting mass chaos with the rather tight space on the dock to start. However, I never really had much contact with other swimmers and for the majority of the swim had plenty of open space to swim. Because of the nature of the course, the only sighting that I did was to make sure that I kept the same distance from the shore line when I was grabbing a breath.
I would say that this was the easiest swim course I have ever experienced!

Nothing different here, my swim was very good and I was happy with the performance.

The T1 time looks bad, but it had more to do with the long run from the river to my bike. The chute was set up so that we had to run all the way around the transition area to the back side, and since my bike was then all the way to the other side, it was a very long run!

I think this is a good, challenging bike course. Several hills and some tight turns force you to really focus on your cadence and gear changes. There were stretches that allowed you to just hammer, but they were the exception.
The three complaints that I have for the course:
1. Lots of rough pavement! I felt like my teeth were going to chip and it was like hitting hundreds of little speed bumps.
2. The first aid station wasn't until mile 20! Usually, Ironman is always good about having aid stations every ~10-15 miles on the bike. As the miles kept going, and with the heat, I was getting nervous because I didn't have enough water for 56 miles. I'm not sure I've ever been so happy to see a station.
3. The put one of the aid stations in the middle of a hill! I'm already fighting to climb the hill and then I need to add in grabbing water?!?! Are you really telling me that they couldn't have set up a half mile further up the road on the flat section?

I would have liked to have been faster, but understood that, between the heat and my sub-par training, it was going to be a crapshoot.

However, I was able to find and maintain a good pace, and actually had a negative split on the bike!

Well, I didn't want to do it, but I had to sit on the ground to put my shoes on. When I tried to just bend over and slip on my running shoes, I thought I was going to fall. I don't think it really cost me more than a few seconds.
On the way out, I let them douse me with sunscreen and I was off

nothing

All I can say is that it was HOT!! I knew it would be a rough run because I simply hadn't put in the time, but once I got going, the heat really pounded me. I decided early to run a light pace and put in frequent walk breaks to try and keep everything steady. I had to constantly dump water on myself and was very glad that my wife had suggested a hydration belt because I used those bottles frequently to dump water and then re-filled at the aid stations.
I didn't eat anything for the whole run, but hit gatorade and coke at each station (along with tons of water). I also tried to keep a steady uptake of BASE salt to prevent muscle cramps.
My strategy was working until mile 11, when I started to feel cramps in both of my calves. I'm pretty sure that there just isn't much you can do with that kind of heat...
I knew I would make it, but had to shut down the running completely to avoid cramping up completely.

Re-emphasize my run training and also a few more brick workouts

Ate a half slice of pizza and had about a quarter of a beer in the finishers area. Then found a nice, shady spot to sit for a few minutes.
Walked back to the hotel and changed into some dry clothes, grabbed a quick lunch with my wife and then we had to hit the road and head back home.


The heat and spotty training


Overall, this was a great race and Augusta is a great venue! I understand why so many first-timers target this one, with the easy swim and flat run. The bike is challenging, but if you've trained, it's not too bad. The biggest issue is that Augusta can be very hot even in late September. I know that there were many that didn't finish.
Generally, I have tried to spread out my Ironman races and not hit the same venue twice, but I do think I'd be happy to take another shot at Augusta. It seemed like a nice town to visit and it was a great host city. Also, with better training (and better weather), this is a PR course.