Augusta 70.3 Race Report

Well the season is done. I am sitting in Corbin right now and am headed back to Lexington today. Beth, Eric, Jeff, Neely, Casey Gilvin, Ben, Dave K, and myself all raced in Augusta, GA yesterday and we had a blast. Ben and I drove down Friday morning from Corbin and arrived just before 5 pm. We hung out at the hotel before going to get some steak with Jeff and Neely. Everyone else arrived a little bit later in the evening. Saturday we did our usual pre race activities. We ate a big breakfast, went for a short bike ride and a short run, got all of our racing gear ready, and went to the pre race meetings. Saturday evening we watched UK get destroyed by UF while we enjoyed our pizza from Mellow Mushroom.

My alarm went off at 4:30 am Sunday morning so I could eat my usual breakfast before the race. We were mostly packed and were headed towards the transition area by 5:30. My wave was the first wave to go off at 7:30. This was my first ever 70.3 race without swimming in a wetsuit, but I wasn't too worried about that. It was a point to point swim, with the current of the river, and with a strong wind at our back.

The gun went off at 7:30 and we dove right in. I had a different mind set about this race. I told myself I would race my own race, as opposed to focusing on what everyone else was doing like I had been doing for the past few races. The swim is where I have been getting a little nervous about and really trying to swim with the fast guys. Once we were in the water, I focused on a strong, efficient stroke, as opposed to worrying about swimming fast. Well, this worked out great. I was in the front of the lead pack for about 5 minutes until everyone picked up the pace a little. I ended up at the back of the 1st pack and I stayed there for the rest of the swim. I was very controlled and comfortable the whole swim and never felt overwhelmed like I did at Tuscaloosa or Steelhead. I came out of the water side-by-side with Victor Zyemtsev (who won Ironman Louisville) and we went ran into T1. I could see the leaders heading out of T1 as I was heading in so I knew there wasn't a big gap at all.

Once on the bike, I passed 2 guys early, then just put my head down and kept rolling. Chris Legh passed me about 5 miles into the bike and made me look like I was standing still. He is really strong. We had a tail wind for the first hour so it was fast. I covered almost 13.5 miles in the first 30 minutes and just under 26 miles for the first hour. Nick Waninger caught me around mile 12 - 14 and kind of gave me a little boost. We have raced many times this year and are very equal in ability. Once he caught me, I put my head down to stay close to him. We ended up riding the rest of the bike course together (not drafting, just using each other's energy to keep moving fast). We caught several guys over the next 20 - 30 miles. 2 - 3 guys actually rolled us up pretty good too. There were some strong guys there. This bike course was a lot tougher than I expected and the strong winds did not make it a fun day. I really suffered the last 10 - 15 miles because of the strong head winds that we were fighting to get back to transition. I really slowed down a lot over the last hour of the bike ride. I came into T2 behind Nick and 2 guys that had just passed us on the bike. We headed out on the run, and I knew it was going to be tough. I did not feel good at all, but I sure hoped it would get better.

Nick started to pull away, but I ran the other two guys down (they had about a 30 - 45 second lead off of the bike) within the first 3 miles. I was still chasing Nick, but he had a great run and he only distanced me even further throughout the run course. The rest of the run was a battle with myself. I never passed another guy and no one passed me. I managed to run 1:19 and change on a 13 mile course ( 1/10 of a mile short). I crossed the finish line in 11th place overall and just under 4 hours for my finishing time (3:59:35).

This was my worst result in a 70.3 race this year, but my best race. Those were the toughest conditions that I've had to race in this year, and the strongest field that I've raced against. They pushed me to my fastest 70.3 of the year and a good finishing note for the 2009 season. I've had a long season and am glad to be finished. But the thing about these races is they really motivate me for other races. A little fire inside of me wants to race at Clearwater. This will most likely not happen since I'm not qualified but ....

It would probably be the best decision to figure out my bike position (I could barely walk after the race because my knee hurt so bad from the bike ride), work on my swim stroke, and build up my running miles so that I'm able to run 5:40 pace for 13.1 miles after a hard swim/bike. Guys like Greg Bennett just make it look so easy.

And our Lexington crew really did well. Ben finished 5th in his AG and this was also his first ever attempt at this distance. Beth finished 3rd in her AG, Jeff finished 3rd in his AG, Eric finished 6th in his AG and got a spot for Clearwater. Neely finished her first ever 70.3 race.
Overall we had a great time and I would love to race there again next year.

Preliminary results can be found here:

http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/augusta70.3/?show=tracker&rid=260&year=2009

Until next time.

T-Bird