Augusta 2017 Race Report (long)
HIM Augusta is basically my “local” Half Ironman Race, which means it’s attendees consist of many people I know and that makes the experience so much more fun. This year was my second time racing and after a few hopeful weeks where it looked like the weather might actually act like Fall, it returned to summer temps and humidity.
I arrived on Friday and made it to the expo (in a monsoon tstorm!) before the crowds to get through registration. Once I spent all my $$$ in the Ironman store, I visited with the Base Performance tent and met Danny and Cyril. At the last second, I arranged to meet Stacy, her Sonic teammates, Julie and Woody for a practice swim in the river. I went sans wetsuit since it was almost a certainty that wetsuits would be optional on race day. The river grass had just been cut and that combined with the earlier rain made for pockets of weeds all down the route. I survived despite feeling like the creature from the black lagoon – pulled handfuls of weeds out of my sports bra afterwards. I couldn’t find Stacy after the swim (no glasses=blind me) and she was sure I had been eaten by an alligator!!
On Saturday I dropped my bike off at transition early and had the most awesome phone call from my tri buddy Lucy. She calmed me down and got my head out of my arse! I had lunch and a nap and then spent a little more time with the Base guys and scored some of the new Base Hydro flavours! Saturday night I had dinner with Ceci from the Base team and her hubby, made sure my transition stuff was all in order and tried to get some sleep.
Sunday morning – up bright and early to get the shuttle to transition. Julie and I rode over there together – her first HIM and always good to have a friend to calm the morning nerves. As expected, the announcement came for not wetsuit legal. I bumped into Debbie and Jeff – hugs all around!! After we were back on the shuttle I realized I left my bike pump!! Back off the shuttle, grabbed pump, ran into Stacy. Stayed while Stacy borrowed my pump and then back to the hotel to get ready for the swim. Julie and I got down there in time to see the male pros start – also saw more friends – Jeff and Debbie again, DaveGizmo, Tamara, Carrie, Woody, Stacy, Scott, Stormi, Chad, Ceci and Cynthia. Hugs and then it was time to line up.
Swim: At this point, the swim is my weakest of the three sports. The swim at Augusta is downriver, which definitely helps. I got in the water near the buoys and after the initial rush of bodies, arms and legs flying everywhere, settled into my stroke. My goal for the swim was to keep my heart rate down. Finally I saw the red buoy and turned to head to the ramp. Cue large men swimming over me and then one kicked me right in the goggles!! Thank goodness that was at the end of the swim.
Swim time: 40:41 – 2:06/100m
Swim time 2016: 40:38 – 2:06/100m
Bike: Ran into transition and managed to go down the wrong lane! I had unzipped my swim skin and pulled it down to my waist coming out of the water and then completely forgot I had it on. I had one bike shoe on before I realized! Quickly rectifed that, finished getting dressed and headed out of T1. Even with that mishap, T1 was faster than last year! The bike course this year was different than 2016, which meant a couple of hills fewer. I started off strong on the first half and soon realized with the heat that I would need to try and grab water at an aid station. As I approached aid station 2, I pointed to one of the women volunteers and had her run with me and I was able to grab the water bottle! I drank some, and shoved the rest into my Speedfil. This is something I have never done before or practiced!! The second half of the bike I kept steady and also grabbed another water bottle at aid station 3. I felt good as I reached the dismount line. I worked hard on getting faster on the bike during the past year and I definitely think it is paying off. Side note: At about mile 10 or so, the cyclist in front of me swerved and as I got closer I realized there was a teeny tiny kitten in the road!! Fear not, it was rescued and handed off to a volunteer.
Bike time: 3:08:27 – 17.83mph
Bike time 2016: 3:21:53 (albeit the course was different) – 16.64mph
Run: I tried to make T2 as fast as possible. As I passed over the T2 mat, I heard another racer ask someone what the time was…”12:45pm”. I knew that meant it was going to hot on the run. My goal was to run the entire route. The first few miles I felt good, despite a few twinges in my left calf/lower knee. Stacy’s coach Scott and Woody ran by me offering words of encouragement on the first loop. I used my Base salt and took water/ice at each aid station (kudos to the volunteers who had everything ready as we passed by). The heat was bad but with occasional cloud cover and a breeze definitely not as brutal as 2016. Between mile 8 and 9 my knee started hurting more and I was worried it was going to lock up. I decided to walk through the aid stations but ended up having to walk more than I wanted. I still felt good besides the knee pain and I feel I could have run it all without that issue. I took Coca-Cola and ice at the last 2 aid stations for an extra boost and it worked! When I turned onto Reynolds St for the final time I decided I would push through and run the rest…it was at that time that I changed my watch setting to overall time and saw that I had a chance to get to 6:30! Then I was in the chute and getting teary-eyed like last year (seriously, it is such an overwhelming emotion to complete something this hard) and crossing the finish line.
Run time: 2:32:05 11:37min/mile
Run time 2016: 2:39:44 12:11min/mile
Overall time: 6:30:41
Overall time 2016: 6:53:41
Overall, I was very happy with my race. I had some self-doubt going in and while my unspoken ultimate goal time was 6:30, I wasn’t sure that I could make it happen. Huge thanks go out to my wife and kids, who support me while I’m taking off to run or spending hours on the bike trainer – I couldn’t do it without them! Thanks also to all my friends who trained with me and raced with me or cheered on the course – you all are my support network and cheerleaders and seeing a friendly face is worth more than you can even imagine! I hope to be back in 2018!
Swim Bike Run - Tri Mum 