Augusta 70.3 Race Report
I've been kinda awol from posting much lately, lazy in my old age I suppose...
First of all, good luck to the Kona guys...go out there , have fun and rock it EN style.
Its been a long year, with my A race in April, but I signed up for Augusta as a secondary goal to keep training motivation. Along the way I've collected lots of local 1st places, 1 2nd in sprints, just to stay in touch with my buds. Lots of folks asking how, getting old and all, I just smile and tell them hard work in offseason in 7 hours or less....
Augusta was an awesome race. I live close enough that I rode the course twice as RR's so I knew it pretty well and thought I had a good handle on speed/pacing. Yesterday was much cooler though, raining, and helped produce a faster bike split.
The swim is in the savannah river, with current, so times are fast. Mine was faster, not fast. Goal was to be out of T1 in 30' total, actual about 31-32'.
Out on bike course, with my wave being #17, there would be a couple thousand folks ahead of me. Add in wet roads and it had potential for crashing. I stayed the EN course, paced wattage properly and finished in just over 2:26...nailed watts exactly at 252, right on 85% FTP plan. Goal was to be on run course in 3:00:00. I was out within a minute of that time.
Out on run course, which is dead flat, my legs felt terrific...for the first 3 miles at least. 0-3 miles great, 3-9 miles work, 9-11 miles some dark patches, 11-13.1 the clock was my pacer. Finished run in just over 1:45:00 for a total time of 4:45:40.
Time was good for 4th AG. PR at HIM distance by 7', 2 other PR's set in April and May of this year. Getting older AND faster feels pretty good.
I had 2 time goals for this race if the day went right for me....4:45 total and , more impotantly, 1:45 for the run. I nailed them both.
Here's the really good news....4th AG WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR A ROLL DOWN TO CLEARWATER !!!!!! While I planned to cool my heels after this race, now I'm in for another 6 weeks and the 70.3 World Championship experience...Thanks EN.
Comments
Congrats on the PR!
Awesome race, congrats on the roll down. Very exciting for ya. Funny how you were ready to chill this Fall and all of a sudden, motivation for one more race ain't so hard to find!
good luck in clearwater.
You just RULED that day! Congrats on such a fine performance, and the Clearwater slot!