Finish time: 4:28:28
Pre-Race
Going to the mandatory pre-race meeting, picking up my packet, getting parking passes for me and the family, and dropping off my bike was a huge hassle/ordeal. What I estimated as a 90 minute process ended up taking around 4 hours and involved several miles of walking and a lot of standing. Not ideal the day before the race. By the time we were done (my son was with me) I was SO ready to get out of there! Not a good first impression.
Race Morning
I woke up around 4:30 AM at my family's lake house about 30 minutes outside Augusta. My dad and stepmom also got up and made me a nice breakfast. I was out of the house by 5:30 AM and at the race site around 6:00 AM. They would come to the race later with my son and my wife and two girls would be driving in from Lexington later in the morning.
I drove straight to transition and was able to park within a half mile. I loaded up a backpack and hauled the rest of my gear to transition and set it up. Then I drove to the parking lot and walked to the swim start where I picked up my chip and got in line with the rest of my swim wave.
Pretty hectic morning!
Swim 22:35
The water was 69 degrees and felt a little cool at first. There was a lot of debris in the water from the recent rains and the current was moving fast. I seeded myself in the front right by my friend Chris Olson (who placed 3rd in our AG) and tried to stay on his feet as long as I could. I think he must have gotten annoyed with me tapping his feet because he made a few zig zags and was gone :-) . Without a swim warm up it took me a few hundred meters to find my rhythm and get my breathing steady. By the halfway mark I was all up in the M30-34 wave that went off 4 minutes ahead of us. The swim flew by ... before I knew it we were at the boat ramp. When I looked down and saw 22 minutes I was a little shocked.
T1 2:57
Wow, my lack of racing recently (since June) really showed here. I thought I was at my bike and started stripping my wetsuit only to realize that I was on the wrong row. Lost some time here for sure
Bike 2:27:48
The bike course was very nice with a mix of all kinds of terrain except really steep climbs. It was fast going out with a nice tailwind and produced a 25+ average speed over the first 20 miles. Once we hit the rollers the pace started to slow a little. I stayed with a few M30-34s for pretty much the entire ride. Unfortunately once we started heading back to Augusta the wind was in our face and although it was mostly flat and downhill, the average held steady. I rode this ride very conservatively ... sort of between ironman and half ironman pace. The nutrition worked very very well ... just Gatorade + maltodextrin (Cytocarb) and electrolyte tablets. My average HR for the ride was only 151 and the average speed was just under 23 mph. Had I known how far up front I was in the AG I would have ridden more aggressively for sure!
T2 1:31
Again, it took me a little while to find my spot ... what's up with that?
Run 1:33:37
Coming out of T1 the legs felt good and ready to run. The first couple of miles were just under a 7
minute pace as I waited on my body to adjust to running and find my rhythm. I ran by HR keeping it just at or below 160. On miles where I would walk a little in aid station to get fluids my mile spits would be slightly higher. The run felt smooth and easy through 9 miles and then it took a more focus to finish it strong. The crowd support was amazing and I was able to see my family several times during the the run. My nutrition of gel + water worked very well also. I was able to meet my goal of negative splitting the run ...
RUN SPLIT 1: 7 mi 7 mi (3:46:29) 7:22/mi
RUN SPLIT 2: 13.1 mi 6.1 mi (4:28:28) 6:52/mi
TOTAL RUN 13.1 mi. (1:33:37) 7:08/mile
My average HR for the run was right on target (160) with a max of only 169 which was during mile 13 as I was bringing it home. The cheerleader squad along the finishing chute doing the cheer as I came through was an awesome touch!!
I ended up finishing 6th in my age group of 531 athletes. I'm sure I could have taken 5th with just a little more effort on the bike as he was only 38 seconds in front of me.
There were 5 spots for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and I was able to get the first roll down which changes my plans for the rest of the season. Instead of racing the B2B iron distance race I'll be heading to Clearwater to race the 70.3 world champs. Fun stuff ...
In the end I'm very pleased with how this race turned out as I achieved all my goals (although some of which are now moot with the change of race plans). So now I will focus on building some speed over the 70.3 distance and see if I can PR in Clearwater and get that run in the 1:20s.
Pre-Race
Going to the mandatory pre-race meeting, picking up my packet, getting parking passes for me and the family, and dropping off my bike was a huge hassle/ordeal. What I estimated as a 90 minute process ended up taking around 4 hours and involved several miles of walking and a lot of standing. Not ideal the day before the race. By the time we were done (my son was with me) I was SO ready to get out of there! Not a good first impression.
Race Morning
I woke up around 4:30 AM at my family's lake house about 30 minutes outside Augusta. My dad and stepmom also got up and made me a nice breakfast. I was out of the house by 5:30 AM and at the race site around 6:00 AM. They would come to the race later with my son and my wife and two girls would be driving in from Lexington later in the morning.
I drove straight to transition and was able to park within a half mile. I loaded up a backpack and hauled the rest of my gear to transition and set it up. Then I drove to the parking lot and walked to the swim start where I picked up my chip and got in line with the rest of my swim wave.
Pretty hectic morning!
Swim 22:35
The water was 69 degrees and felt a little cool at first. There was a lot of debris in the water from the recent rains and the current was moving fast. I seeded myself in the front right by my friend Chris Olson (who placed 3rd in our AG) and tried to stay on his feet as long as I could. I think he must have gotten annoyed with me tapping his feet because he made a few zig zags and was gone :-) . Without a swim warm up it took me a few hundred meters to find my rhythm and get my breathing steady. By the halfway mark I was all up in the M30-34 wave that went off 4 minutes ahead of us. The swim flew by ... before I knew it we were at the boat ramp. When I looked down and saw 22 minutes I was a little shocked.
T1 2:57
Wow, my lack of racing recently (since June) really showed here. I thought I was at my bike and started stripping my wetsuit only to realize that I was on the wrong row. Lost some time here for sure
Bike 2:27:48
The bike course was very nice with a mix of all kinds of terrain except really steep climbs. It was fast going out with a nice tailwind and produced a 25+ average speed over the first 20 miles. Once we hit the rollers the pace started to slow a little. I stayed with a few M30-34s for pretty much the entire ride. Unfortunately once we started heading back to Augusta the wind was in our face and although it was mostly flat and downhill, the average held steady. I rode this ride very conservatively ... sort of between ironman and half ironman pace. The nutrition worked very very well ... just Gatorade + maltodextrin (Cytocarb) and electrolyte tablets. My average HR for the ride was only 151 and the average speed was just under 23 mph. Had I known how far up front I was in the AG I would have ridden more aggressively for sure!
T2 1:31
Again, it took me a little while to find my spot ... what's up with that?
Run 1:33:37
Coming out of T1 the legs felt good and ready to run. The first couple of miles were just under a 7
minute pace as I waited on my body to adjust to running and find my rhythm. I ran by HR keeping it just at or below 160. On miles where I would walk a little in aid station to get fluids my mile spits would be slightly higher. The run felt smooth and easy through 9 miles and then it took a more focus to finish it strong. The crowd support was amazing and I was able to see my family several times during the the run. My nutrition of gel + water worked very well also. I was able to meet my goal of negative splitting the run ...RUN SPLIT 1: 7 mi 7 mi (3:46:29) 7:22/mi
RUN SPLIT 2: 13.1 mi 6.1 mi (4:28:28) 6:52/mi
TOTAL RUN 13.1 mi. (1:33:37) 7:08/mile
My average HR for the run was right on target (160) with a max of only 169 which was during mile 13 as I was bringing it home. The cheerleader squad along the finishing chute doing the cheer as I came through was an awesome touch!!
I ended up finishing 6th in my age group of 531 athletes. I'm sure I could have taken 5th with just a little more effort on the bike as he was only 38 seconds in front of me.
There were 5 spots for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and I was able to get the first roll down which changes my plans for the rest of the season. Instead of racing the B2B iron distance race I'll be heading to Clearwater to race the 70.3 world champs. Fun stuff ...
In the end I'm very pleased with how this race turned out as I achieved all my goals (although some of which are now moot with the change of race plans). So now I will focus on building some speed over the 70.3 distance and see if I can PR in Clearwater and get that run in the 1:20s.
4 comments:
Great job. I was really disappointed in the way the race was run. The course was awesome, all the crowds downtown was great, but race management did a poor job.
wow, way to go Nic! a 4:28 half is really impressive! and making the championship is awesome. but i am sad you won't be doing the b2b. oh well.
followed you all the way Nick! You nailed it bro...
"my avg speed was just under 23 mph"..."I would have ridden more aggressively." I'd crap a brick if my "steady effort" spit out a 23 mph bike split!!!
Awesome race. I can't wait to see how fast you can go with a focus on 70.3!
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