Augusta 70.3 Race Report
I know-no pics or it didn't happen. GF has pics on her camera. Will add when I get them downloaded.
I raced this event last year and PR’d it. I was looking for sub 5:30 and did 5:28. That race was my 10th ½ and as I’ve started pushing harder I kept running into GI issues coming off the bike. Between that and slowing down too much on the run, I thought I left 10-15 minutes on the table. This year has been all about fixing the GI stuff and shore up the run. This being my 14th 1/2, I decided to move to the advanced plan.
Going in to this race I really had 2 goals, first and foremost was run sub 2:00, and second was to beat last year’s overall time. Last year we had 85-90 degrees by the run. This year it was raining and 75’ish until late in the run when the sun came out and the humidity came calling. I was really looking forward to this year’s race, feeling like I was prepared as never before. I had a nervous stomach before the start and took an immodium after about the 4th trip to the porta johns.
The swim: This is a fast downriver point to point swim. Last year I was out in 26 minutes. This year was the same and the effort was very comfortable. No swim goals, just get to T1.
T1 is a lengthy jog down to the bikes. The rain made for a mess. Nothing too fast happening here, just try to be smooth.
The bike course is a fast one, with a few minor hills, some rollers, and a fast downhill run back in to T2. Last year was 2:45, this year was 2:40. To combat previous GI issues, I backed way down on the calories. I rode with 1 gatoraide bottle, 2 water bottles, and a couple shots of Hammer Gel. That’s a lot less than I have done in the past. The rain kept the temps down and it was hard to keep drinking as I didn’t feel thirsty. But I made myself drink. A few stomach rumbles at the midway point talked me into another immodium at mile 40. That solved the problem once and for all. I was targeting about .80IF. This felt really easy compared to all the hard work the Advanced Plan had me doing lately. The course was crowded with over 2500 riders on it and it was hard to navigate through legally. I saw a couple peletons of 40-44 and 45-49M waves go by. They were clearly working together in a paceline. Never saw a ref.
T2 was a mud hole. So, I kept my bike shoes on to run to the rack. I normally leave them on the bike and run barefooted. It was raining as I finished the ride, so I took the time to rub liberal amounts of Vaseline on my feet before putting on the socks. Slowed T2 down a bit, but my goal was run <2 hours. I didn’t want any blisters.</div>
The run-This run course is pancake flat. Maybe 10 feet elevation coming out of T2. Plan was to do 3 miles @ 9:30, then nock off 7 miles @ 9:00, then turn it up and finish with whatever I had. I started off feeling very good, looked at the Garmin and was running too fast. Running 8:30 was easy. I forced myself to slow down, walking the water stops. Things went very well until about mile 10 when it started to get hard and hurt. About this time, it quit raining and the sun started showing up. The humidity was there. I struggled through miles 11, and 12, passing a lot of peeps in my AG. It hurt and I wanted it to be over. With about ½ mile to go, I knew I had a great shot at sub 2:00 and picked it up some more. Calves wanted to cramp, so I modified my stride a bit. About 50 yards before you make the last right hand turn to the finish chute, both hamstrings locked up at the same time. I could barely walk. I was within 75 yards of the finish and was having to walk. A 52yo woman came by and said “ Don’t walk this close to the finish line.” I guess that motivated me enough and I finally got moving again and ran in.
So, I accomplished both goals and got a 14 minute PR out of it. Here’s the stats for all who dig the data: Note, the rain messed up my cadence readings for some reason on sections 2 and 3. Normally do all rides 85-90 rpm’s
The Bike
1st 14 miles:
Duration: 42:18 (43:08)
Work: 415 kJ
TSS: 44 (intensity factor 0.803)
Norm Power: 181
VI: 1.07
Pw:HR: -7.12%
Pa:HR: -5.76%
Distance: 14.01 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 345 169 watts
Heart Rate: 134 158 147 bpm
Cadence: 31 103 83 rpm
Speed: 0 35.8 20.0 mph
Pace 1:41 0:00 2:60 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 174 56 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 551 173 lb-in
2nd 14 miles:
Duration: 41:30 (41:34)
Work: 411 kJ
TSS: 46.3 (intensity factor 0.82)
Norm Power: 184
VI: 1.11
Pw:HR: 6.52%
Pa:HR: -5.65%
Distance: 14.006 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 416 166 watts
Heart Rate: 121 156 145 bpm
Cadence: 47 82 65 rpm
Speed: 0 31.6 20.3 mph
Pace 1:54 0:00 2:57 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 202 59 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 748 229 lb-in
3rd 14 miles:
Duration: 41:35
Work: 419 kJ
TSS: 49.3 (intensity factor 0.843)
Norm Power: 190
VI: 1.13
Pw:HR: -3.02%
Pa:HR: 5.64%
Distance: 14.007 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 379 168 watts
Heart Rate: 115 155 144 bpm
Cadence: 38 105 76 rpm
Speed: 8.8 36.7 20.2 mph
Pace 1:38 6:48 2:58 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 188 64 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 574 201 lb-in
4th 14 miles:
Duration: 34:59
Work: 307 kJ
TSS: 32.3 (intensity factor 0.746)
Norm Power: 168
VI: 1.14
Pw:HR: 12.26%
Pa:HR: -3.43%
Distance: 13.023 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 409 147 watts
Heart Rate: 117 152 142 bpm
Cadence: 39 105 90 rpm
Speed: 2.4 41.3 22.4 mph
Pace 1:27 24:46 2:41 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 198 45 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 570 140 lb-in
Entire workout (163 watts):
Duration: 2:40:19 (2:41:13)
Work: 1551 kJ
TSS: 172.2 (intensity factor 0.807)
Norm Power: 182
VI: 1.11
Pw:HR: 5.76%
Pa:HR: -8.32%
Distance: 55.025 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 416 163 watts
Heart Rate: 115 158 145 bpm
Cadence: 31 105 78 rpm
Speed: 0 41.3 20.7 mph
Pace 1:27 0:00 2:54 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 202 56 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 748 188 lb-in
The Run
Mile 1 8:39
2 8:49
3 8:56
4 8:19
5 9:01
6 8:53
7 8:47
8 8:57
9 8:52
10 9:20
11 9:15
12 9:31
13 9:54
.1 7:42
From the Race website 2009 Results
Overall-743
AG 26/114 27
Swim 26:49 26:17
T1 4:28 3:51
Bike 2:40:42 2:45:26
Avg Speed 20.9 20.3
T2 5:26 5:46
Run 1:57:37 2:07:16
Pace 8:59 9:43
Total Finish Time 5:14:59 5:28:34
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Comments
Nice job Dave ! I think I saw you in first half mile of bike...great work.
Nice way to break 5:30! Congrats!