Ironman 70.3 Augusta Race Report, GA USA, 23 Sep 2018

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Preparation

I had about 14 weeks in between my last 70.3 and this race, so I started training in pretty good shape. Training went pretty smooth, only had to stop biking/running for about a week and a half due to pain in my right knee, most likely caused by new bike shoes and cleat position not being exactly the same. Got resolved by having my bike fitting re-done and moving the cleat around a bit. Again re-used the training plan of my Oct 2017 race. From an equipment point of view only my bike shoes changed. As always I read some race reports to get an idea about the race in past years, they basically all said the same: fast with the current swim, hilly bike and a really hot/humid flat run. Because of the hilly bike course I doubted I would be close to my PR, but wanted a sub 5 hours for sure.

Location

I selected the Augusta race as it was close by, fitted perfect in my schedule, and as I hadn't done it before it would be yet another addition to the races I can check of. 

Everything is conveniently located near the center of Augusta: Ironman village in the convention center near the Marriott hotel, swim start at the river walk Marina, swim exit/T1/T2 at the riverfront marina & rowing club, and the finish line in downtown. So from a logistics point of view this race is pretty easy, especially as they provide shuttle services on race morning and race afternoon. The swim is a point to point swim in the Savannah river with the current, bike course is a one loop located to the south of Augusta, run course is a 2 loop setup in downtown Augusta. 

Stay

Stayed in the Wingate hotel about 10 minutes out from downtown Augusta. It was convenient as there were multiple restaurants and stores close to the hotel, and the drive to downtown/convention center/transition was pretty straight forward. As far as I know they didn't provide additional services to the athletes, but brought my race morning breakfast so all good. Arrived on Friday around noon in town, grabbed some pasta lunch at olive Garden and headed to the convention center to pick up the race package and listen to the pre race meeting. As always the package pickup was easy and well organized. After walking down to the swim start to see how that was setup had dinner at Zoës Kitchen near the hotel. On Saturday had more pasta at Olive Garden for lunch, drove to T2, parked in some street close by, dropped of the bike at T2 and checked out the rack position, swim exit, bike in/out and run out. The remainder of the day relaxed in the hotel. Sunday morning the alarm sounded at 4 am, to give me time to have my breakfast (bagels, banana, Gatorade and a GU) and head out by 5 am.

Swim 0:27:08 AG-25/178

  • Swim course was very well indicated, and it is a pretty simple setup, one straight line basically, and starting this year a rolling start with self seeding was used. From race reports I read that it was a swim with the current and that it would be a close call between wet suit and non wet suit legal. Friday morning water temperature was 78°F ish so it was pretty clear that it would be a non wet suit legal swim. 
  • As always I didn't had a real warm up besides stretching a bit. I went in with a 30 - 33 min wave if I recall correct, as I was hoping to swim around 30 min. First 100 meter I went easy to get my breathing and heart rate under control. After that initial period where I never feel great I got into a good rhythm and started to pass people. Surprisingly enough I had clear water for most of the swim and felt pretty strong almost all way through. When I started to feel tired it was only a few buoys left and pushed through to the swim finish. Running up the ramp, looking at my watch I was very happy to see I did the swim under 28 minutes. 
  • AG 14% is actually not that great compared to previous swims, as my best so far was 11%, but still happy how I felt in the water.


T1 0:03:34

  • No wet suit this race so pretty straight forward transition, long run out of the water to the bike though, but managed to pass some athletes on that section as well so overall a very smooth transition.

Bike 2:22:05 AG-8/178

  • The bike course was new as of this year, so previous race reports didn't help much, there were however folks that shared the elevation charts / their impressions of the new course on Facebook. From those impressions I got that the first 20ish and the last 15ish kilometers were fast and in between it was hilly with 2 serious inclines, so I knew more or less what to expect. Furthermore they warned for rail road tracks, a whole lot of rail road tracks!
  • I fell great right away on the bike, and started of flying. Had told myself to slow down for the rail road tracks to avoid bottels jumping, but on the first RR tracks I already hit the jackpot and had to cycle back to pick up one of my bottles. I kept flying for the first 30 minutes and told myself slow down slow down as for sure I would blow up my engine like this. I tried to slow down but it was just to much fun passing all those folks and especially when the hilly part started! Just love inclines! Really couldn't help it! By the time I got to the last stretch which was supposed to be flat again I already knew the run would suck for me, as I had no legs left at that point. The last part wasn't flat by the way, seemed more like false flat and with changing winds rarely seeming to blow in favor. Might have just been my legs being dead though. 
  • My previous bike PR was 2:24 on a pancake flat course, this time I clocked ... 2:22! So 2 minutes of my PR on a hilly course! So basically pushed it way to hard on the bike. AG 5% best vs. 11% best so far.
  • For nutrition I added another GU, so 5 in total, in an attempt to have more carbs left on the run as I always fall flat there. Besides that bike nutrition stayed the same, might have taken less Base salt near the end compared to past race though. 
 
 


T2 0:02:02

  • Bike rack was really close to the bike out and in, so very good rack position. No cramping up while I jumped of the bike. Stopped by the sun block table near the run out to get some blocker on my shoulders and neck, overall a smooth transition.

Run 2:07:56 AG-66/178

  • From the race reports I read this would be really hot, humid and there was barely any shade on the course. In my opinion it wasn't so bad though. 
  • Running out of T2 I had some slight cramp in one hammy, stopped and stretched for a few seconds and it was gone. After about one mile my fears became true, my quads started to play up and I knew if I even try to push the pace I would start to cramp up, all thanks to my stellar/dumb bike leg. So just kept the legs moving at a non impressive pace. Even at a low pace from time to time my quads cramped up and forced me to walk for a bit to walk it of and get back at it. About 100 meters from the red carpet my left quad cramped up entirely, wasn't able to move at all. Some passing athlete threw some HOTSHOT at me but I couldn't even pick it up! Some spectator saw this, crossed the street, picked it up from my feet and handed it over to me. Never had a HOTSHOT before, it burned a hole in my throat it seemed! But after like 15 seconds my cramp was gone! Might need to look into taking a HOTSHOT during my next race.
  • Cant be happy about my run, run training went way better than for past races so I was hoping for a PR on the run, I believe however that the reason is pretty clear and purely due to my nuts bike leg. Run AG 37% and over 2 hours where my best so far was 15%.
  • Nutrition: running out of T2 I had a bottle of Gatorade to be able to get some drink in before getting to the first aid station. Plan was to take Base salt every 4 minutes and a GU at 3/6/9 miles, but I had to step away from that after my first GU as my stomach wasn't liking it. So I eased of from the salt and GUs and just had Gatorade at each aid station.


Overall 5:02:43 AG-35/178

  • I knew my swim and bike time, but at the finish line I didn't knew my run time, as I stopped my watch during the run as I knew it was a disaster. Taking the run into account I thought I would be far over the 5 hour mark. When I finally was able to check my time I was surprised that with such a bad run I almost managed to pull a sub 5 hour of! While 1 years ago I would have never thought I would be able to do a sub 5 race. 
  • Swim: out of the water I was happy with my time, looking back at the AG%, it wasn't my best swim so far though, 14% vs. 11%
  • Bike: out of this world! Did 2 minutes better than my previous PR and that was a flat course while this one was pretty hilly! Blew up my engine though. Best AG% so far as well, being 4,5%.
  • Run: cant be happy about the run as I never could push it due to upcoming cramps. Positive is that I kept running although at a low pace. 37AG% is far below my 20% best so far. 

Some lessons learned

  • Nutrition plan: go back to 4 GUs, 4 bottles plus Base salt during the last hour on the bike to avoid digestive problems on the run. 
  • Put the handbreak on during the first hour on the bike! Otherwise no legs left for the run moron!
  • Great race if you want to break your PR because of the fast swim, bike and run.

Result

  • Swim   0:27:08     AG-25/178
  • T1       0:03:34
  • Bike    2:22:05     AG-8/178
  • T2       0:02:02
  • Run     2:07:56     AG-66/178
  • Total   5:02:43     AG-35/178



Tags: HIM Augusta race report, race report HIM Augusta, 70.3 Augusta race report, race report 70.3 Augusta, Ironman 70.3 Augusta race report, race report Ironman 70.3 Augusta

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