Back in February, I was browsing the web site for the Ironman Augusta. I decided since having the stroke that running alone was not good enough for this aging male. I must get myself in better shape. I can tell you that I did not browse long and in fact went straight to filling out the registration form. Before I could finish it, I decided I better become a member of USA Triathlon first. I had a feeling that I may need that Member number. So, I got the number and then finished the application for Augusta 70.3. This became my number one goal race for 2013.
I put in my credit card, $300, for a Half Iron Man I thought? Well they must be pretty proud of the name. Done. Registered. I just made the commitment despite not having a bike and not even having swum 50 yards in over 30 years. The thought of swimming 1.2 miles was very intimidating for me. I have absolutely no swimming back ground. I did have a rode bike back in 1987 but had not ridden the roads since 1988.
My original thoughts were to make Augusta my first Tri. I am glad that I nixed that idea. I am very thankful that I was able to start with sprint distance Tri’s in June and complete several Tri’s including Rocket Man. It was a perfect way for a beginner to work their way up to the Half distance and get some experience. I can tell you that being a beginner is hard work. Learning to swim is very difficult and I still have a lot to learn about the swim. I am being very patient.
Fast forward to September. I have remained focused on training. September has turned out to be my biggest month ever training. It is Thursday, September 26. My day started like most at 4am. First 30 minutes, core and upper body work at the gym. Next a 3 hour bike ride followed by a 45 min run. 4:15 of training for the day. Suzanne says, “Augusta is Sunday, aren’t you doing too much?” I am not sure just what all I said except, “I know that you are worried that I am doing too much, but I know what I’m doing.”
I am not a big fan of long tapers for races. I have found that they leave me feeling flat and out of rhythm. I like to train. I enjoy it. I train daily. I do take days off occasionally; in fact, I took one off on June 29, doctors’ orders. That is a whole other story and I would rather not even discuss it unless I absolutely have too. While I don’t like to take days off I do however take easy days and lots of them. I promised myself for Augusta that I would take it easy two days prior to the race.
Friday. I did an easy 30 min swim outside in the pool. The water was cold and it felt good. That was it. I definitely felt like this was a rest day, especially since I did not run. I typically run more than most triathletes. I usually run 7 days per week and sometimes 6 if I feel I need a break. Friday was also a pack and travel day. If there is one thing that I have learned, it is that you got to have a lot of “Stuff” to do these Tri’s.
We pick up the Skylor from school at 2:15pm and hit the road, 6 hour drive ahead. Immediately, the child starts complaining about going to yet another race. He is in the 7th grade and has now decided he wants nothing to do with any more travel and races, he prefers time with his friends. It became a constant battle for the next 3 hours. I was almost to the point of turning around and going back home. I felt like the stress of this situation was going to have a negative effect on the event that was my number one goal for 2013. It was draining my energy. Things eventually got better and I tried to encourage Suzanne to go back home on Saturday morning and I would find a ride back home after the race on Sunday. She would have nothing to do with that idea.
Saturday morning. I got up and went for a 3 mile run. Sunny and gorgeous with a nice crispness in the air. My legs felt a little flat. It was hilly and I just ran from the hotel. Since this was my first time to Augusta and had no idea where to run and since it was only a scheduled 25 minute run, why go to the trouble. I got the run done and felt better the last half mile. Now I started going into my relax mode. Yes, I still had to go get my race packet and take my bike to transition, but mentally I was going into relax mode. I just had two easy days in a row.
What better way to relax than a trip over to Starbucks? We sat outside, drank coffee, enjoyed the weather and then went to the Expo.
The expo was pretty big. We timed it just right. Not so early that we had to deal with the early goers and just before the lunch crowd. We had no wait. The race organization was very good. I got my race packet. Next I bought some Ironman 70.3 items. Why do I mention this? Because I just don’t buy much stuff at races! I have been running races since 1979 but I have never been to an Ironman event.
I got my bike over to transition. It was fun to see all the bikes. Lots of nice ones. My bike was the first one on my rack. I used this time to look around at the transition area. I checked out the exit of the swim, the bike out/in and the run out. I like to get myself very familiar with the transition area. This was the largest Ironman 70.3 race of them all; they took 3500 entries this year. I knew it was important to be familiar and not waste any time here on race day.
Next, I went back over to the river. I checked out the big orange buoys in the water. Each one was numbered; the last one was number 9. I made a mental note of this. The river looked wonderful but it was a windy day and the wind was strong blowing against the current. I thought, everyone has made a fuss about how fast this swim is, downstream and it was looking like just the opposite. I thought, just my luck.
Anyone who knows me knows I am not a swimmer. It is without a doubt my weakest event. I stood and looked up river. I could not see the 1.2 miles back to the start. I took a picture with my phone and put it on facebook along with a few other pics. Lots of my friends were commenting on the pictures. I am also notorious for looking at swims and saying, “that swim looks long.” Dianna Cioppi sent me a message on facebook and said “don’t look at the swim, just swim.” That is exactly what I needed to hear to put this behind me and I continued to feel relaxed.
Suzanne decided we needed a light lunch since it was already getting late and we had an early dinner planned. Panera bread was perfect. It also gave me a place to pick up a bagel for breakfast. If there is one thing that is new to me in the triathlon world, it is food. What do I mean? I have never been a big eater. Food has always been unimportant to me and lots of times it is just plain ole inconvenient. Over 90 percent of what I eat is strictly for fuel not fun. I make healthy choices and I feel my diet is as about as good as anyone’s. Food has become more important to me since I started doing the Tri’s. I am constantly hungry, thinking of what and where my next meal is coming from or what I am going to eat. I am consuming more calories now than at any other point in my life. I eat lots of fruits, vegetables, yogurt, lean cuts of meat once a week, chicken and lots of seafood. I definitely have been making the best eating decisions of my life.
We went back to the hotel. I wanted to relax and check out some of the Alabama football game. Auburn was off this weekend. Suzanne was going to make a trip to the grocery store and pick up stuff we had decided we needed or just forgot to bring with us. I don’t believe I have made it to a Tri yet with everything I needed, not once.
Dinner was at “The Pizza Joint” with the Fleet Feet Huntsville Tri 70.3 training group. Everyone was there and excited about the race. Everyone looked pretty nervous and tense, especially Melissa Johnson, sorry Melissa, you were a wreck! I was still relaxed. Call me crazy but I drank 4 beers. This is nothing new to me. I have 3 or 4 the night before every race, no exceptions. I have a routine. It consists of 3 and no more than 4 beers first, and then I eat dinner. I require no special dinners. I make healthy choices and eat whatever is available. I had vegetarian pizza on this night.
We got back to the hotel early. I turned the TV on football and cranked the AC down. I was already dozing off before 9pm. Although I went to sleep early, I did not sleep that well. Sleep for me is very inconsistent. I typically sleep well about 2 nights per week; this was not one of them. I sort of woke up around midnight and never slept sound after that. This does not bother or concern me. I take this time to just relax and rest my body; you can do this without sleeping. I got a good 3 hours first before the frequent wake ups starting occurring.
I had an alarm set for 4:30am. Of course, as usual, I did not need it and went ahead and got up just before 4am. I went through my usual routine. I had packed everything and had it ready to go the day before. All I had to do was get dressed and have my coffee. I usually have one or two cups and then that is it for me, no more caffeine for the day. I was anxious and ready to get over to the transition area and get my bike ready. I wanted to make sure my bike was ready to go before I ate breakfast. Coffee is my first priority and since I was a little nervous, I did not have an appetite.
I made it to transition by 5:30, two full hours before the pro’s would start and an additional 30 minutes before my start at 8am. I got to my bike and I already knew it was going to be a good day. The bike to my left was a no show and the two bikes to my right were no shows! I could not believe it. It was wall to wall bikes everywhere expect by me. Tim Pitt came rolling up and he said “They knew whose spot this was!” I was in disbelief that I had a lot of room to work with. I filled up my aero bottle plus two other water bottles below, water only. I decided that I was not going to depend on aid stations for my fluids. 3 bottles should be enough for me. I also loaded my snack box with GU. 6 Gu and roctane on the bike and a small container of sea salt. 2 GU by my running shoes for the run. My plan was for 8 total, 100 calories every 30 minutes from beginning to end.
I was fortunate to have Suzanne to drive me back to the start. I did not have to ride the buses. The walk to transition was long enough and I considered that enough warm up. We drove over to the swim start. I walked up to get my body markings, checked things out in reference to where we were parked. I was only parked about 100 yards from the start of the swim. It was still dark. Although I was not hungry, I ate my whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and honey; One Honey Stinger waffle and a bottle of water. I was ready to get my wet suit on.
What did I forget? My ear plugs and sunblock. I like ear plugs because they reduce the noise in the water. I usually swim without them anyway, so this was a minor detail. Sunblock. I forgot to bring it. Suzanne bought me some the day before on the grocery store run and I still forgot it. Another minor detail, I have trained all summer long and my skin could handle a day without it just fine. I do prefer to use it but it was not a factor on the sunny day.
I got my wetsuit on and got with my group. This would be the first Tri I have done that was not a time trial start. It was a group start and I really liked it. Ironman folks did a great job with this part of the race. You started with your age group. I had around 130 in my group #8. We all had lime green swim caps so you knew who was in your age division. What I did not know was that men 45-49 was so big that there were two groups of 130+ each.
We walked down the pier; it was a floating pier close to the water. We sat down on the pier, 60 across the front and one person stood behind. My goggles got something in them but they felt right. I was afraid to take them off so close to the start. An older man was standing on the pier, a volunteer. I walked up to him, grabbed the bottom of his shirt and ended up wiping the goggle lens off. He said “I hope that helps.” And it did. Vision was clear and fit was right.
I felt very relaxed before the start. The horn sounded and off we went. My goal was to get my stroke going and stay with it from start to end. I also wanted to keep a straight line. In the beginning I was getting kicked a little and a few guys were just getting in my way. I back off a touch and just let things clear out. It did not take long for me to realize that the entire fuse about the swim was true. I breathed to my left and saw buoy #3, I had just started and already did not see the first two.
Breathing to my right I could see the boat docks and houses just flying by. Being the slow swimmer that I am this just blew me away. I had my Garmin set to alert me at 1000 yards. It beeped and I glance on a breath and saw 12 minutes. I was in disbelief. I thought, I like this swim. Let’s do this. Sub 30 minutes in going to be in my range. 30 minutes was my “A” goal swim split. My projection came from past results, I saw where David Rawlings had done 30:59 and if there is one person I can out swim, it’s David. Sorry Dave.
I came out of the water in 28:10. 102nd in my age division. I knew the transitions were long but I had not done any research on just how long. I wanted to be on my bike at 32:30 (A goal) and I was exactly there. I got through transition fast enough without panic or being rushed. Since this was my first race over Olympic distance, I could only go on my training and feel for the ride. At all the sprints, you go hard and make the quads burn from start to end. I went out on the bike and rode comfortably hard. No quad burning.
I turned on my bike computer. My Garmin was set to alert me every 5 miles. This is how I train and I am more familiar with transferring minutes to MPH in my head. My bike computer was set on total bike time and MPH. This way I could get an idea of current MPH. The very first thing I did on the bike was take a GU. I had been told that things would be different at this event. The big dogs were going to be here and don’t expect things to be like back home at the local Tri’s. Since I am a slow swimmer, I typically get on the bike and pass from beginning to end. This Ironman event was not to be any different. I spent most of my time in the left lane passing. One thing that was different was I did get passed for the first time during the bike, I got passed twice. I resisted the temptation to race and stuck to my plan. I went through the first 1/3 of the bike at a little over 22mph and felt comfortable. The next 1/3 the roads were a little rough and there were a few hills. The side winds on some of the 40mph downhill’s were a little nerve racking. My goal on the bike was to stay in aero and pedal the entire 56 miles. I came out of the saddle one time briefly on the biggest hill. The middle part of the bike I averaged a little over 21mph and I was questioning my ride a little. Was I not riding well? Or being too conservative.
At 39 miles I decided I had to pee. I had been told to pee on the bike but I never had. The problem was I just could not pee and pedal at the same time. So, I found a big downhill, stopped pedaling and peed, right through my Tri kit, down my leg and right out of my shoes! I found this rather amusing. I finished right at the 40 mile marker and then decided that I had been taking it easy long enough.
One of the things that surprised me about the bike ride was not only did people try to draft off me when I passed but they also had pace lines going! I had never seen this before in a Tri. I stayed away from them and did not participate in any way. Another thing that made the bike ride fun was the men in my age group. If I passed them, they usually would try to pass me back. Some did, only the second time I passed them it was always for good, but it made the race a little more fun.
So, from 40-45 miles I averaged just over 25mph. I thought, now this feels more normal. Quads were burning a bit and the field was clearing out. By 50 miles I could not see another single rider. I was totally alone. My average for the last 1/3 of the bike ended up just over 24mph. The 56 miles was soon done at an average of 22.6mph. I was happy with that. I had moved from 102nd in my age division off the swim to 16th at the start of the run. My bike was the only one back in my section, this was a first. I knew I wanted to be starting my Half marathon run at right around the 3:05:00 mark and did.
The skies were sunny and 75 when the run started. I eased through transition, wiped my feet off, put socks on and made sure my laces were just right. I went out on the run comfortable. I focused on relaxing, keeping my form smooth and finding my pace. I began passing tons of folks right off the start. They were throwing up, walking and having all kinds of problems. I was thinking to myself, Why do people kill themselves for a fast transition when all they are doing is throwing up and walking? Kind of confusing to me. An extra :30 in transition may save you 30 minutes on your overall time. I believe transitions should be quick but in complete control and smooth, no mistakes. Transition also allows you a quick little recovery time that may prove beneficial later in the run.
First mile, 6:20. My first thought was that was a little quick but it was not stressful at all, maybe even easy. Maybe it was wrong? Maybe I was excited to be on the run? Next mile 6:20’s. 3rd mile 6:32. I had originally thought my pace should be 6:48 per mile based on Andrew Hodges advice. I ran 6:48 pace at the Boston Marathon this year and he said that should be my run pace for 70.3 run. Mile after mile I continued to run no slower than 6:30’s. I decided that my “A” goal run time of 1:29 was not going to be a problem.
This course was extremely flat. It ran through downtown Augusta and had lots of spectators. It was also good because I could see Suzanne several times and she was feeding me information about my age division. She said “you are ahead of pace and you are plowing through your completion!” “You started 16th but you have already moved up to 9th.”You are making it look easy.” I was having fun. Every time I saw a guy with age 45-49 on the back of his leg in front of me, he became my next target. My original thinking was I may have a shot at top 10 in my age division if things went well. This really wasn’t important to me, finishing it with a good run time was, since I’m a runner.
When I started the second loop of the run, it got crowded. I was not happy about moving through the masses. I could no longer pay much attention to my age division competition because it was simply too crowded. I also got worried about knowing where the turn to finish was. It felt like I was going to start a 3rd loop of the run. I did not want to start a 3rd loop!
11 miles into the run. All of my miles had been 6:20’s and 6:30’s. I was starting to feel tired for the first time. It was beginning to become real work. My 12th mile was 6:40’s, I thought damn, I’m crashing! The good news was I knew even if I slowed down I was not only going to beat my “A” goal time of 4:34, but I was going to break 4:30! Wow. 1 mile to go, I hung on for another 6:40 and came into the finish and boy was I pumped up! I yelled “That’s what I’m talking about!” The guys in medical ask me if I was okay. I said of course I’m okay; I am just a little excited about my time. I was totally blown away with my first Half Iron Man time of 4:28:17 and half marathon split of 1:24:47 (6:28 pace)
I would end up 4th in the men 45-49 out of 262 finishers and 50th overall of 2600 plus finishers. They tell me I qualified for World Championships with the roll down process. I did not even stay for the awards because my child was ready to get back home and I wanted to please him. I’m not concerned with any World Championships. I am not ready for such a competitive event and I won’t be until I learn to swim. I set a goal back in February to finish Augusta 70.3. Looking back I feel like I had the perfect race and made my best effort, that’s all I can ask of myself and I am happy with that.
This is what I put down on paper 1 week before the race. I like to have goals even though I had not done 70.3 before. Sometimes you can just wing it but I felt I needed a plan.
A Goal projections Actual
Swim 31:00 28:10
T1 2:30 (total guess) 3:40
Bike 2:26 (23mph) 2:28:34 (22.6mph)
T2 2:30 3:04
Run 1:29:00 1:24:47
70.3 4:34:00 4:28:17