Augusta 70.3 Race Report 2013

We definitely had the best Augusta trip this year! When we first started triathlon we went to Augusta and had a wonderful time in 2009, and I surprised myself with a performance beyond what I expected. That definitely hadn’t happened since. The year after, I did a relay. The year after that I was sick and DNF’d. Last year we weren’t able to go. So I was hoping to recapture the magic of the first year.

We had over forty folks racing from ATC. I was especially excited to see the performances of those I’ve been individually coaching- Heather, Sondra, and Rich as they’ve been working very hard and were coming into this race rested and raring to go! My heart was also at Lake Lanier though and I was bummed I couldn’t be in two places at once. Over the last 12 weeks we’ve also been training a huge group from Time Warner to compete in their first sprint triathlon- over 200 newly minted triathletes!

Right before heading down the ramp to start the swim I was chatting with some folks and stubbed my toe. No big deal, but then I looked down and it looked like I scraped the top of my toe off. Lots of blood and very painful. It was too late to try to get something to put pressure on it. I left little blood glops all the day down the ramp. Sorry Augusta!

I was concerned starting the swim. It hurt when I kicked so I just didn’t kick at all on my right side. It also hurt when I kept banging my feet together, which I never noticed I do while I’m swimming.  Maybe it’s because only one leg was kicking. Also, I kept feeling little warm globules against my foot and I was thinking I need that blood and worried about losing too much!

Otherwise, the swim was uneventful.  Due to my late wave (8:52 with a 7:30 start!) we were swimming right into the sunrise so I couldn’t really see to look for feet. I wasn’t too worried, though, because I knew the current was pretty decent this year and the differences between swim times would consequently be quite small.

Ran up the long ramp post-swim and I could see blood squirting out of my toe. I thought about stopping to wrap it but decided not to bother. Hopefully it would sort itself out during the bike and be good to go on the run.

Hopped on the bike and immediately was in what felt like a 3000 person line from one end of the bike course to another. Complicated to navigate legally and frustrating. I know that starting in the back lends itself to an advantage theoretically, but not when there are a million different speeds, folks riding three across, and nowhere to go. I eased into it, because I felt like I literally couldn’t keep my power up because there was so much passing, slowing, surging, and weaving.  In retrospect, I wasn’t aggressive enough in this section and  my power was ~15 watts below goal.

At mile 20 things got a lot better as the course got hillier and strung folks out. About that time my aero bottle setup, that also includes my Garmin came off. I weighed the pros and cons of stopping, but the fact was I had no other way to hold fluid and the next aid station was 20 miles away unless I went backwards. I had to pull over and try to fix it for an agonizing 3 plus minutes as everyone I had passed in the first 20 proceeded to quickly pass me back. Frustrating! After that the upside was that I felt more motivated to push the power no matter what and started riding more aggressively. I had to go sans Garmin because I thought my poor repair job would likely fail and I didn’t want my Garmin to be lost forever so I tucked it away in my pocket.

So I just rode the rest on RPE.  Ironically, once I put the Garmin away I held my race power perfectly for the second two thirds of the race. Hmm. I really love this bike course. I do think they are pushing the limits in terms of the number of people the bike course can safely hold.  At some point it’s a disadvantage to start in the back and dangerous to boot. I was wave 21 and started 90 minutes after the first wave.

The run was good. The goal going into it was to run a 1:30. I didn’t quite make it but I was close. I started out pretty hard. I was feeling a big woozy and I kept talking myself out of the cause being blood loss. (In the aftermath, I don’t think I bled That much) It was very crowded and I just ran to the inside the entire time.

It was great seeing the ATC and Podium cheering sections multiple times. I was actually surprised by the lack of ATC folks I saw racing on the course. Everyone was really spread out.

I heard a voice that really sounded like Rick’s and I was very confused as the person wasn’t in a race kit (it turns out that he had to drop out). I saw Ted and Jamal and the rest of the ATC crew and they told me I was in 5^thwhich I determined to mean that I started the run in 5^th. I knew I had passed at least three in my age group but at some point it gets confusing because there were two laps.

I saw Heather and Sondra running strong and I was very happy that they were doing so well. I also saw Stephanie Dean, Ryan Diehl,  and Carrie. Everyone who I saw in an ATC kit was running and looked pretty good.

I passed one more 30-34 and knew there was still one girl ahead because I had met her before the race and she was racked next to me. I picked it up as much as I could but since I started pretty strong that meant keeping close to the same pace.  I heard John finishing and I still had a mile or so to go so I knew he was having a good day too.  I knew my bike was okay, but my main goal on this day was to see what I could do on the run. I could see on my watch early that I was probably going to miss my goal by 2 minutes or so which is exactly what happened.

Was happy to finish and found out that I was ~45 seconds from first in the AG! Very close finish but low stakes/expectations going in meant I was pretty happy with the performance. Originally I really wanted to join the “4:39 club” but I knew when I stopped by the side of the road that I wouldn’t be able to make up the time later, it likely would be the thing that kept me out of the club, and in the end it did.

Afterwards I was very excited to see that John, Rich, and Heather had great races. Rich and Heather basically hit their splits right on the nose!

 Also, I got to finish in time to see Sondra CRUSH her goal and finish her first HIM strong which literally brought tears to my eyes. Great day for most everyone on the team.. lots of PRs and first-timers and the atmosphere was fantastic.

John and I had sort of talked about the possibility of going to Mont-Tremblant and whether we would take the option if it was presented. We had almost decided against it, but Kim and Paul, who had great races and got first and second in their age groups, were planning on taking their slots, so in the end I decided to take it! Very excited and looking forward to a few weeks of solid training for IM Florida.