Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Augusta Race Report

Save the Best For Last

The final triathlon of the season was my biggest and longest of the year. I guess that is how you want to end the season. I'm not sure why I signed up for the Augusta 70.3 Ironman but I'm glad I did.

The Drive Over

Driving into the Atlanta metro I look in my mirror and see another car with a nice looking tri bike. I always check out bikes I see on the road like this so it got my attention. It turned out to be a bike I see quite often, my friend John and his wife Katie. Together we drove through what I can only guess was like Hell if Hell was filled with terrible rain storms and idiot drivers. We stopped for dinner out Outback before parting ways. I sort of have a spread out family and whenever possible I'll plan trips that allow me to take advantage of free lodging and a chance to catch up. On the way over I stopped and stayed with my brother and his wife. I short stay but nice since I got to see my nephew Drew. He is just 3 months old but already turning into a character.

Check in

I figured getting to packet pick up early would be a good idea since I didn't really know what I was doing, this was a good call as it was very crowded and slower than I thought. I caught a break when they decided to open transition area early so I was able to check in my bike and avoid the really bad traffic. My lodging for the race was with my Aunt and Uncle in Aiken, SC, just about 25 minutes from the race start and about 2 miles from part of the bike course.

69!

So I don't own a wetsuit and I figured I could wait till 2010 before making the couple hundred dollar plunge. In the pre race meeting the race director mentioned the water temperature at 69 degrees. That is much colder than I thought and while I was concerned, I figured I'd be ok. At dinner the night before the wetsuit comments finally got the best of me. "You don't have a wetsuit?!?!", "I'm glad I have my wetsuit", "Kyle you might want to get a wetsuit". I went to the expo and got a wetsuit, got a great deal too.

Race Day

The morning was indeed a bit chilly and overcast. I was thrilled to be wearing a wetsuit. John and I were in the same wave so we were able to calm or enhance each others nerves depending on how you see it. There were a lot of people there, it was a little overwhelming and I really had to go to the bathroom.

Swimming in a Wetsuit

It is probably all mental but I had some trouble swimming in the wetsuit. The first 7 minutes went great, then I started to feel like the wetsuit was suffocating me. I had a minor freakout and looked at a kayak. I thought I'm done, but then a realized that even treading water I was going way faster than I ever swam upstream in the Black Warrior at the USAT Age Group Championships. I refocused and actually had a good swim the rest of the way. I was out of the water at 30 minutes, faster than I had hoped and just in time to see John leaving transition as I entered. That was a huge lift of confidence to know that I only moderately sucked.

Not as Flat as Advertised

So word had it that the bike course was pretty flat. Now it wasn't Birmingham hills, but it wasn't flat either and there were a lot of turns most of them seemed to come right after a downhill and right before a hill. Just past half way I thought I saw John's distinctive orange jersey. Indeed it was him, that made me feel like I was putting in a good bike leg and also gave us a chance to ride together and chat a little bit. We rode in together for most of the ride. The last 10 miles were tough, my lower back was hurting and I still had to run. I turned in a good bike split, just under 2:40:00.

A Terrible and Great Run

I had just a few minute head start on John. Now he's a far superior triathlete to me so I do kind of use him as a measuring stick. If my strength is my bike, his is probably the run, although dude can bike too! I never saw him again till the end if you want to read his race report check out this blog. The first mile is always tough and you have to gut it out. I made up my mind that I would run the first mile and I did, but barely. My calf and lower back were in bad shape. It was here that John flew by and yelled a few words of encouragement. I'd like to say it helped but I was in bad shape. The plan was to finish the run in 2 hours, new plan just finish the run. I would set a goal of running for 4 minutes then walk a minute, then build on to that longer run intervals. It took me till about the 5 mile mark before my body started to feel better. By this point I was knocking out about 9:30 miles. I got to half way and decided I might still have a chance at the 2 hour goal. I would need to do sub 8:30's and my math skills aren't near good enough to figure out how close or not I was. I fell short of the goal, but managed to turn in a 8:47 pace for the second lap. I true negative split and a run that I was proud of even though it was slower than my original target.

The Final Numbers

So the goal going in was to finish in less the 5:30:00, I crossed the line in 5:16:58 with a huge smile on my face. Surprisingly, I felt like I could have kept going, probably not much longer but I didn't feel like dying. The race was great and while Augusta may not be the best city in the South it was a good course. Not the most spectator friendly, but still a pretty fast course. Next stop for me October 3rd in Chattanooga for the Stump Jump 50k, another race I'm not ready to do.


Friday, September 25, 2009

Headed to Augusta

Training is not my strength. With that in mind I'm trying to be realistic about my race this weekend in Augusta. This will be my first half ironman and I think an honest expectation is to just finish. Having a goal time is normal and I'm trying to figure out what mine should be. My guess is 40:00 for the swim, 2:50:00 for the bike, and 2:00:00 for the run, so that tells me 5:30:00 should be my target. I have no idea if I can do that. Last night I did my last workout, a good swim, good rpm class and nice easy PAIN FREE run. I don't feel near ready for this, especially compared with my friend John (who is training for a full ironman and actually training properly), but ready or not I'm going to try and just enjoy the race. If you want to keep up with the actual race on Sunday they have a live race tracker (www.ironman.com) where you can follow people's progress.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

4 days left!?!?! Ouch!

I was thinking about how lucky I've been to be injury free all year. After yesterday's run I'm really scared. Rain put a big kibosh on the weekend training, and while I'm sure I could have found time and a place to get some work in I chose football. At the time I figured I be fresh on Monday and I'd be able to get a great run in. Rain again pushed my run indoors and after about 3 laps around the track I felt a great deal of tightness in my right calf and shin. I stretched it out and tried to get going several times but something clearly was not right. Now I'm 4 days away from my first half ironman and I don't know if I can run. I'm going to give it another go today but I won't lie I'm scared. The worst part is I don't know what happened. On a more positive note, I'm finally learning how to swim. Full disclosure, I've always been able to swim, I just had maybe the worst form ever. Big thanks to my friend William, he's been patient with me and totally reworked my stroke, kick and position. I feel good about it and hope to see a nice difernece in the race on Sunday. I'll be leaving for Augusta on Friday, my plan is to crash with my brother and his wife Friday night, it will be cool to see my nephew Drew. I hear he's getting a lot more active so that should be neat. I'll be crashing in Aichen, SC with my Uncle Jack and Aunt Joyce so that will be cool and pretty affordable. At this point I'm very excited but also nervous. Luckily I'll have several friends there so that should make the who thing a lot easier. Gotta run, wish me luck; I need it!

Monday, September 14, 2009

10 miles is harder than 100

So I'm not going to lie, it was a tough weekend but definitely a fun weekend. Started things off Saturday morning with the big 100 mile bike ride, although it did not go as planned. We started with a big group, most of which had planned to turn off and do a shorter ride. The plan was for John and I to go to Pell City and then south for a big loop. We didn't account for highway 78 merging onto I-20. That wasn't going to happen. Luckily another rider we picked up knew a loop through Springville and that turned out to be a good ride. We encountered some angry dogs and a much more enjoyable 49 cent hot dog. We averaged 17 mph which was ok and I was surprised that I didn't feel that bad when it was all over. The real pain came Sunday... after a night of drinking John and I hit Oak Mountain for some pretty tough trail running. The plan was 15 miles, point to point so we dropped a car off at the end. 2 miles in I felt like death and was really slowing John down so I turned around. The run back to my car felt a lot better so I decided to loop around on the trail and meet up with John and at least finish the last leg. I guess I ended up doing just a little more than 10 miles and man did it hurt. Lots of chicken wings and beer afterward made it a little better but on Monday I'm in pain. I've got less then two weeks till my first half ironman, and three weeks till my first ultra race. Ready or not I'm registered.