Race Report: Georgia Veterans Triathlon 2012
Another great day at the Georgia Veterans Triathlon (Sprint). I managed to put up a personal best for this race, despite sucky swim and bike conditions.
My previous posts for this race:
This may be my last prep race before Augusta 70.3 and then, Ironman Florida. My main goals were to test some recent equipment changes, some transition tweaks, and nutrition strategies. From those respects, everything went very nicely.
Down and Dirty
I really enjoy this race. It was my first triathlon. This is my third time doing it. The swim, swim transition, bike course, and run course are all very friendly, and conducive to the first-timer, or the vet looking for something fun. This time around, the weather was less than friendly with recent thunderstorms creating choppy lake water, and wet bike pavement. There was a slight drizzle for the swim start, but it was gone by the time we got out of the water. The roads were wet for the bike, making navigation on the older road beds tricky. However, the roads had dried a good bit by the run start. I put up a personal best on this course, despite these issues. It was a good day.
Distances: 400 yard swim, 13.6 mile bike, 5k run. With relay team option, also
Course: Loop 400 yard swim in Lake Blackshear;
13.6 mile loop bike, no aid stations;
5k out and back run, 2 aid stations (can hit them going each way).
Registration: $55, early mail-in, USAT member. I hate online registration through those thieves at Active.com .
Host: Georgia Multisport
Weather: I could see thunderstorms in distance on the road to the race. It had clearly recently rained, and the race start was delayed 30 min, due to the delay in clearing the course from the recent thunderstorms. (good thing too, because a tree had evidently needed to be cleared from the bike course roadway). It was drizzling as we waited to start the swim, but that ended before we got out of the water. The wind did, however, create the choppiest swim conditions I’ve seen to this point. Even more difficult than Turtle Crawl. Good training though–we can’t predict what race conditions will be for any future race, and it is necessary to train and be prepared for all sorts of things. Same goes for the bike. The road was wet, and at least one guy I passed got some road rash. He stated all was good, though. My front tire was skipping on the older eroded sections of asphalt. Perhaps I could have taken a few pounds of pressure out of the front tire, but then again it was fine on the smooth sections which make up maybe three-quarters of the course. Weather for the run ended up being ideal, and I was blowing past people at a high rate of speed.
Terrain:
- Swim–Start at a sandy boat ramp. A simple out for 150 or so yards, hang a right for 100 or so, and back.
- Bike–Fairly flat. The first third to half is twisty and mildly technical. A couple of slow risers on the second half. Virtually dead flat on the last stretch.
- Run–Fairly flat also, a couple of short rollers between mile 1.5 and 2.5. Punch it after the last turn.
Competition: Mixed bag of super fast guys, and first-timers.
My results: Mid pack on swim, Mid pack on bike, and front on run. An improvement for me all things considered. My greatest opportunities still lie in the swim and bike. Need to work on muscular endurance for swim to better overcome tough swim conditions. Once warmed up on the bike, I was able to build speed and hold it. On the run, I kept my strokes short, and continued to build speed after first mile.
General Impression: I really enjoy this race. It is well organized. Safety, especially on the tricky portion of the bike is a priority. There is roadway traffic, but it is light with no jerks. Nice looking t-shirt.
Room for improvement: No complaints.
This time I made the three hour drive from home race day morning with no hotel stay. This year it is important that I control my expense with two very expensive races on the calendar. The previous two years I’ve spent the night before in a local hotel. Also, with more experience, for these shorter races, I can wake up early, make the road trip, bust a race, ride back, all in one day. Trick being, as with all races, to get a really good night’s sleep the second night before. How many races can you really get a good night’s sleep the night before anyhow?
My goals were to test some things in preparation for Florida.
- I had recently installed an new wheel set, which works beautifully, however the new gearing had some kinks to work out.
- I’ve been training in Vibrams, but don’t want to race in them for a couple of reasons, hence I recently bought some Saucony Hattoris and wanted to test them in a race scenario.
- New water bottle configuration, and homemade sports drink.
- New bungee swim goggle straps, which have been working great in the pool, also worked great in the lake.
I woke up about 3am, got packed, out the door, and on the road by 4am. Arrived at the venue right at 7am, set up transition, chilled out for a while. Got a good warm up swim. Bust the race. Ate some post race food. Saw I had no chance of medalling, and made the three hour drive to the princess’s soccer tournament. After the tournament, drove home one hour. Showered and made it to Keb Mo / Aaron Neville concert not too late.
Such is the life.
It was a good day.
.
.
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–Jalal
Find me on Twitter. Twitter.com/Old454
60 Mile Ride, Warrior Training?
Yesterday I was scouting out a new 60 mile bicycle route for the Crew. What was supposed to be a ride punctuated with map checks, became a mini Warrior-Up session. This weekend I finished installing a new wheelset, exchanged my 8-speed Hyperglide for a 9-speed, new chain, new rear shift cable, and adjusted my bar-end shifters for the new set-up. Saturday night all seemed well.
Everything started out well enough. The route starts out the first 10-15 miles or so sharing the same roads of other routes we ride. I had to conduct a couple of map checks, to verify intersections, etc., but all was well.
Before the halfway point, my front derailleur stopped shifting to the big chain ring. I made a pit stop in Rutledge, GA, made the field adjustments, and proceded. Then the front derailleur began dropping my chain to the outside. Several roadside adjustments later, and I had that under control.
By adding time to the ride, my water began to get low.
Then, in the second half I couldn’t shift to my lowest gear.
Later in the second half, I couldn’t hit the #8 sprocket.
Then the #7 sprocket.
I stopped the check it out. Clearly a couple turns on my cable nut would square it away. I succeeded in up-shifting to my 12 tooth #1 with a completely stretched out cable, and the one nut on the whole bike I couldn’t adjust with my new onboard multi-tool.
Warrior-Up time.
I had to ride it out like that, hills and all.
There were at least two hills I considered dismounting and walking.
Eventually, the school parking lot where my truck was parked was in sight.
It didn’t kill me.
I’m glad it happened–now. We don’t want to have to Warrior-Up every training session. Once in a while, we need a little extra suck–those sessions where one thing after the other, after the other, goes wrong to really test and stretch us mentally.
Familiar Routes
The last couple of months have found me riding and running new and unfamiliar routes. In the last week I’ve revisited some of my tried and true, if somewhat recently neglected, routes. I often desire to seek out new scenery, new stimulation in my training. Along with this, time constraints force me to closer, well-worn trails–Often with a sense of drudgery.
That sense of drudgery never lasts very long though. Once on the trail, I begin to relish in the training.
Recently, I’ve run a couple of my old standbys, and found myself remarkably stronger in certain dreaded sections. Over the years, I’ve steadily improved on these hills. However, the recent improvement has been dramatic and surprising. Particularly so, given the time away.
Hence, another, more practical benefit to familiar routes is their benchmark factor.
When you’ve been away from one certain dreaded hill for several months, and return to it, never quite hitting the wall, still strong as the hills begins to top out–you now have confirmation that the training has been paying off.
Another reason to Praise Familiar Routes.
–Jalal
20 Week Ironman Training: Road to Ironman
Today will finish out Week 2 of a 20-week build to Augusta. The 20-week plan is actually a full Ironman distance plan. My objective is to build 20 weeks into Augusta, take a week off, and then repeat the last five weeks going into Panama City.
For the past several months my focus has been building muscular strength and power, as well as rebuilding my swim stroke. At some point in my final training stretch I need to cut down the heavy lifts and gym session frequency. A couple of weeks ago my right knee felt weird doing front squats, which precipitated a break from leg work in the gym. That on the heels of my back seizure incident, let’s me know the timing for this switch was right. With double sessions virtually every day, the recovery time needed from heavy lifts and three times a week frequency creates too heavy a training load.
Week one went well, and I capped it off with Jekyll Island Turtle Crawl Olympic Triathlon.
This past week, my local county pool was closed for routine maintenance going into Memorial Day, so that gave me the opportunity to get some extra gym work in. Knees are feeling better.
Right now I am as fit as I was going into Augusta last year. My specific race fitness isn’t there, particularly in the run. However, on the bike and in the water, with little race specific training, I am stronger than ever.
For the past several weeks I’ve been repeating the week one training going into the actual 20 Week build. However, my recent back incident and Life have made it slightly difficult. I have however, been able to reproduce the swim side for the past few weeks.
Additionally, those unexpected interruptions have left me feeling stronger. And if there were any doubt, today in the gym I was able to do five sets of power cleans, where my best to that point has been three.
Strength training wise, I’ll go down to twice a week in the gym, with a calisthenic & running speed session, for example Tabata protocol, or Crossfit-style “Helens”.
Given the past few races, and recent long sessions these are my emphases for this season:
- Swim–technique and endurance.
- Bike–muscular endurance.
- Run–Muscular endurance, Speed.
–Jalal
Spring Fling Sprint Triathlon: Race Report
I just put my first triathlon of the season in the bag (I have a few more races scheduled)–it was the Spring Fling at West Point Lake, on the border of Georgia and Alabama. (West Point, Georgia, near LaGrange). This event actually consists of two races–the West Point Triathlon, an olympic distance, and the Spring Fling Sprint.
My selection of this race was that it was the first sprint distance scheduled on a Sunday. My Saturdays are impossibilities until after soccer season. In fact my next race will be the Turtle Crawl Olympic at Jekyll, the first Saturday after soccer season!
Down and Dirty
This is a fun race. The weather was great, the water temp was a tad cool, but I always feel the lake temps are cool. The people are fun, and the volunteers super helpful.
Distances: 600 yard swim, 15 mile bike, 5k run. With relay team option, also
Course: Out and back 600 yard swim in West Point Lake;
15 mile out and back (essentially) bike, no aid stations; 5k out and back run, water at start and 1.5 mile mark.
Registration: $65, early mail-in, USAT member. I hate online registration through those thieves at Active.com .
Host: Georgia Multisport
Weather: Weather was beautiful and warm. The water was still a tad cool–Wetsuit legal. I was able to test my new Xterra john suit. Weather stayed sunny and rain-free all day. I didn’t notice the heat until after the race.
Terrain:
- Swim–Start and end on a boat ramp, which is always slightly tricky in terms of toe scrapes. A simple out for 250-300 yards, hang a left for 50 or so, and back.
- Bike–Rolling hills. Somewhere this course was called flat and fast. It is not flat. No killer climbs, but don’t look for the flats. A Pit/Staffordshire mix came charging out on one uphill. Thank you to the sheriff who chased him off.
- Run–Again, not flat. Rolling hills, no killer climbs. I’m sure I negative split on the way back.
Competition: Mixed bag of super fast guys, and first-timers. The first olympic distance guy was out of the water in 17 minutes. The last olympic people were behind me.
My results: Back of the pack swim, mid-pack bike, front pack run. Mid-pack overall, back of the pack for my age group. My biggest opportunity still lies in the swim, but I feel that getting better with every training session. My next opportunity is in the bike, getting stronger and smarter there all the time.
General Impression: Fun race. Close enough to home to get up early and drive to, race, and drive home. Well supported during all legs, with nice post race recovery food (I did not try, and cannot vouch for, the pizza though)
Room for improvement: Swag period. We got our numbers before hand, and the t-shirt. No swag at all though 😐
I woke up at 3:30am to get ready and leave for the race. I had done minimal preparation the night before (which I regret). My aim was to be on the road at 4:30. I finally got going pushing 5am. From my house it was right at 2 hours to get there. Definitely load up all your stuff once your parked, and head down to transition in one shot. the closest parking is 1/4 mile. Where I ended up parking is 1/2 mile easy. You don’t want to make that round trip unnecessarily.
Once I got parked, unloaded and down to transition, transition was technically closed. (One reason I recommend you stay the night if this is your first race.) I set up transition fairly quickly, copped a squat in someone’s chair, and squeezed into my wetsuit.
With a little time to kill, I hit the bathroom (no, not the port-a-potty). By the time that was over, the Olympic distance had already started. I slipped into my start wave and waited.
The swim was uneventful, except I need to work on my wetsuit adjustments. I had not hoisted the crotch enough, and it ended up pulling on my shoulders, chest and legs. I think this is an adjustment issue, not a sizing one. Although, I’m finding the triathlon sizing charts are made for skinner guys than I, and I’m not a bulky guy.
Bike transition went smooth. Slightly slow, as I carefully eased the wetsuit past my ankles. The bike ride was also uneventful, one Lincoln buzzed me and pushed my bike number into my wheel spokes and I had the annoyance of that flapping sound for the last six or seven miles. I passed some folks and lost them on the hills. The pit/Staffordshire mix came charging out right before the 7.5 mile marker. He had his sights set on a cyclist in front of me, but a deputy ran him off. I tested out one of my homemade Lara bars. The bar worked great, but my wrapping, and deployment needs some help. Definitely not as simple as ripping open a gel. No sports drink for this race, only water.
Run transition was super fast. Rack my bike. Take off my helmet. Slip on my running shoes. Zing my elastic laces. and I’m gone. Nothing else to it. I hit an espresso gel at the .5 mile or so. After the 1.5 mile turn around, the gel hit, I kicked it in a bit, and finished with some fast guys, making me look a lot better than I am. The finish line sneaks up on you a bit, and is in a slightly different spot than the transition area.
Muscle Milk, cookies, bananas, water and a Coke for my post recovery stuff. There was a ton of other stuff. I wasn’t really craving anything else, and those hit the spot. Talked to some local racers for a bit, and headed home.
Got home in time to help my buddy with his hot water heater, and my son with his AP Statistics homework!
It was a good day.
Tour de Pike 2012
This past Saturday was my first Tour de Pike Century cycling ride in Concord, Georgia. The bike ride actually has several mileage options from 8 miles to 10o miles. I opted for the 33 mile course. I was hoping to be ready for the century, but circumstances have hindered my training to this point. The 66 mile option was probably more in line with my training, but schedules in the Spring are super tight. Alas, 33 it was.
The ride is very nice. It is a low key start and finish. The rest stops in each town are nice, with friendly, helpful people. There is a good selection of refreshments. Some of the stops have port-a-potties, some real restrooms.
The route splits are well marked, but a decent map is provided for each distance route, just in case.
Terrain is rolling hills, with some longer climbs. Nothing too severe. However, the accumulation over miles can take it’s toll, so be prepared.
I had a good opportunity to test out some of my new nutrition strategy & my new water bottle/tool bag setup. There are a couple of things I still need to sort out, particularly placement of a spare tube & CO2 cartridges, give my new barebones tool bag.
Other Details:
Date: Saturday, 17 March 2012
Distances: 8, 18, 33, 66 & 100 miles
Times: Registration open 7am
Ride start 8:30am
Cost: $25 in advance, $30 after 9 March. walk-up registration available
Website: http://www.kiwanispike.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=115&Itemid=129
Race Rep Part 3: Augusta 70.3 Half Ironman 2011
Augusta 70.3 Half Ironman 2011 Finisher Medal
Part 3 of my Race Report. Read Part 1. … Read Part 2
After a not-good night’s sleep, I woke up race morning about 4am before Augusta 70.3 Half Ironmatn 2011. I tossed in bed after falling asleep late. I spent a good bit of my time last night hunting down a new cyclometer (see part 2). I got out of bed about 4:30am and made my way to the hotel breakfast for some coffee, and a waffle. Not much of an appetite, and I had my own preferred early morning. Orange juice, yogurt, banana, P&J (if I can get it down), not too much coffee. It was still a few hours before my 8:16 wave start.
Final equipment check, loaded up my transition bag, lubed up, put on my tri shorts, shirt, running shoes. My first race where a shirt was mandatory for the bike and run. Put on some tunes, and headed to the lobby for the shuttle. I don’t train with headphones, but I do usually listen to Damian Marley or something in the drive to a race.
The shuttle lady was extremely nice, and got us to the transition area very quickly. No parking pain. Extremely convenient. Had no cash for a tip (caught up with her later that afternoon)
I got to my bike about 6am. Transition was already packed with lines of people waiting for the race shuttles (school buses) headed towards the swim start. The space on either side of me was already staked out, and with the wrong-facing bike (guy still no where to be found), I had no space–a situation I promptly corrected. I borrowed a pump and topped of my tires. Affixed my new cyclometer. Did my normal layout. Headed to get in line for the buses.
By 6:30am the bus lines had died down, so we basically walked up and loaded buses. Easy. A couple of minutes later, we were unloading at the swim start.
The swim start was buzzing with spectators, family, racers–very good energy. The training teams were grouped, warming up. I hit the port-a-potty, turned in my swim clothe bag, and made my way to get in line for my wave. Had chance to watch the pros start.
The swim starts from a floating pier, extended perpedicular from the shore into the river. After walking out on the pier, each wave then gets in the water for a deep water start. Here you can feel that the current has an effect, but it is not a significant effect. Hence my point in part 1 that the current is a factor the longer you’re in the water, but not a huge factor. Even with 100 or 200 swimmers in my wave, the start was not that physical.
The swim course is well marked. It’s a straight shot along the shore. The area closer to the shore has some seaweed-like stuff. A little weird, but not terrible. I saw a snapping turtle–definitely something I would not want to surprise.
I came out of the water feeling strong. Hit the port-a-potties, found my bike, a good swig of water, loaded up, and headed out. The volunteers were abundant, and super nice–A constant theme throughout the race.
The bike exit was easy to find. Plenty of room to mount up and get going.
The bike leg exits the Marina and quickly heads out of town onto the freeway. The first third of the bike is
Transistion area the morning of Augusta 70.3 Half Ironman 2011
basically rolling hills. The first aid station was around mile 18. Grabbed some water, and hit the port-a-potty. (Need to work on the port-a-potty situation).
My bike nutrition strategy was to get down a bottle of my 6% electrolyte mix, replace that with water on the bottle exchange, then start working on my concentrated electrolyte, alternated with water. I planned to finish a water each aid station, and nurse my concentrated mix.
The stretch between each of the remaining bike aid stations have at least one or two decent ascents, depending on how one feels about hills. However, there aren’t any real killer hills. There are a couple of hairpin turns. One hairpin turn is at the bottom of a steep decline, and then a runs into a good incline. One rider wiped out ahead of me, and I had to break down to a bike stand while he was assisted off the course. Then a nice quarter mile climb out of that. My gearing was high for torque in the turn, but not for the resulting climb. A nice thigh buster.
The last ten miles or so of the course are very similar to the first (as might be expected).
Weather on the bike was hot and sunny. Not so bad on the bike because of the wind etc, and the downhills gave some good cool down opportunities. I topped out at one point at just under 40 mph.
The Run by the time I headed out on the run it was good and hot. Most of the run is in the sun. There are several shaded areas, tree lined sections and a few under passes. Going out on the first 3 miles, expect plenty of sun. Mile 5-6 is cooler on the back part of the first loop, and then back to the sun for the second loop.
The run is dead flat. There is literally only one hill as you leave the marina going through the levy wall.
With aid stations every mile. Water, Ironman electrolyte and gel products, cola, fruit. Very well stocked.
It’s amazing running through downtown Augusta, there are so many people cheering. Hanging out at the bars, having a good time. The aid stations are manned by various groups. There was a rugby team, a group of waitresses, JRTOC.
The split between finishers and second lappers is on the back half of the loop. It was something of a psychological hurdle watching those faster than me splitting off for the finishing shoot, while I was in for another 10k or so.
I had an unexpected second wind on the back half of the second loop, perhaps mile 7 or 8. The whole issue of second winds if baffling to me, and I was very surprised to have one at my longest distance to date. On the second loop there were some clouds and some rain. Both were very welcome, and certainly much better than the heat and sun.
There are aid stations every mile or so. Port-a-potties are not at every aid station, and are sometimes hard to visually locate.
The finish line was finally in sight. Here you should be sure to create some space, and take a good finish line photo, hands raised high, smiling. I got my medal, finisher’s hat, some water. The race over, I was afraid to sit down, lest I may not be able to stand back up. Definitely, the most brutal run of my life.
This is the point I missed my family most, as everyone else’s support crew and family greeted them coming out of the shoot, I felt distinctly alone.
Waited in line not too long for the Athletes Lounge (or something to that effect) pizza, chips, cookies, soda, water and beer. Had a good convo in line. Sat down, finally to munch with a fellow competitor.
I actually gave a post-race breakdown in my first post in this series.
So what next year? Getting psyched for a full Ironman. . .
If there’s some detail I missed, a question you have, or a comment, leave a comment below.
–Old 454
Please feel free to comment below.
Also, find me on twitter: Twitter.com/Old454
Race Rep Part 2: Augusta 70.3 Half Ironman 2011
Ironman Augusta 70.3 Transition--day before
Part 2 of my Race Report. Read Part 1. and Part 3.
I arrived in Augusta for the Augusta 70.3 Half Ironman 2011 triathlon Saturday afternoon (24 Sep 11). The road to Augusta that day was riddled with delays, traffic, complete traffic stoppages, an ingenious detour on my part, but I finally arrived. Having left late, I relied on my Blackberry GPS & Google Maps to navigate on the fly to the Marriott for check in.
Along the way I had a moment of panic, realizing I left my bike computer in my computer bag, sitting on my desk at home. My laptop was in the passenger’s seat next to me, no bag. Alas, bike “computer” is something of an overstatement for my $12 Wal-Mart cyclometer, more of a suped up Casio. Hence, my panic subsided when I convinced myself I could easily locate one on a local Wal-Mart shelf. Worst case, I could use my wrist watch, and obsess over arithmetical calculations while on the bike.
My focus today was to stay hydrated, continue my carbo-loading plan, keep my stress levels as low as possible, and do what I could to avoid snags race morning. I had booked two nights at the hotel, one check in and set up the night before, (besides I’m not a fan of driving longer distance to triathlon, set up transition and race all in the same morning.) The second because I really had no idea what my recovery would look like, how long it would take to clear transition, etc after the race, and I didn’t want the stress of even a late check out time looming. As it turns out, that was a good idea.
Check in/Packet pick up went smoothly. I parked on the street across the street from the Marriott Convention Center complex, and walked in. There was plenty of free parking in the complex, as it turned out. In some previous race reports, bloggers have pooh-poohed the athlete briefing, but I thought it was worthwhile, worth the thirty minutes or so. I was, however, surprised by the number of questions concerning what constituted a penalty (I would hope someone racing a half Ironman would have raced several shorter triathlons first, and become familiar with the penalties.) They do have a somewhat unique system for tracking and serving penalties, again something you may want to be clear and aware of.
Checked out the Ironman Store and bought an Ironman branded Augusta shirt for the Queen. Suffered some sticker shock, and moved on.
Next was bike check-in. I drove over to the Marina, again parking outside on the street. Numbered up my bike, pumped the tires not quite full, and road down to Transition. I had to retape my handle bars, and gave my bike a quickie spin to see if all was well. I had another momentary panic when I noticed a flat. May have been the railroad tracks past the Transition area (tracks you do not need to cross during the race.) Or it may have been a latent issue with my tube. Regardless, there it was. The bike mechanic guys wanted to charge me $20 to change it, or $10 for a just a tube. And no, I couldn’t use their bike racks. I did not ride down there with any money. Alas, I took my one spare tube out of my onboard tool bag, and put it on. No obvious puncture culprits. The mechanic guys did let me use their pump.
Now two things I needed to buy: A bike computer and a new inner tube. It was already late, and the Ironman Store was closed. So I found my spot and racked my bike. Some genius had racked his bike the wrong direction next to me, and was nowhere to be found–Something to deal with in the morning.
Off to check in at the hotel. The hotel desk clerk was super nice. They were totally ready for this event. Breakfast would open at an early 4 am on a Sunday (just for the race), and there would be a shuttle making round trips to Transition all morning. It is not the fanciest place, but had very nice staff, a clean room, and were completely accommodating–all things which rank high with me when it comes to these things. (Quality Inn Medical Center)
I literally drove to every Wal-Mart in the area looking for a 700×25 inner tube and a $12 bike computer. It seems that with 3500 racers, there were just enough triathletes with my same “El Cheapo cyclometer” mentality, and also somehow didn’t have one. At the last Wal-Mart, one of the stock ladies had just put out the new shipment of cyclometers. Somewhere along the way I picked up a 700×35 tube and apparently the only 700×25 left in Augusta.
Luckily I traveled with my own food for dinner, and didn’t have a great appetite.
I hit the room, and fell asleep.
More to follow. Stay tuned . . . Read Part 3.
Also — What am I missing? Comment below.
–Old 454
Please feel free to comment below.
Also, find me on twitter: Twitter.com/Old454
Race Report: Augusta 70.3 Half Ironman 2011, Part 1.
Augusta 70.3 Half Ironman 2011
More than a year in the planning, this past weekend, 25 September 2011, I finished the Augusta 70.3 Half Ironman 2011 triathlon. My longest distance to date, with the longest pre-race training period, the most complex nutrition and carbo-loading plan, longest post-race recovery (though not my most miserable). This was an intimidating prospect, and it is great to have it under my belt.
I will definitely need to divide my race report into two or three parts. My typical race report centers primarily on the central facts, and then some brief description of my experience. That won’t suffice today. I’ll let this first part be just the fundamental race facts: start time, weather, etc. The other parts will deal with my experience, timeline, preparation, recovery, etc.
Down and Dirty
I had a great time (if that’s what it’s called), and would totally do this one again next year. In fact, I had such a great time running this, my first Half Ironman, that I’m seriously considering running this distance a couple of times in 2012, building to a full Ironman.
Distances: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. With relay team option, also
Course: 1.2 mile point-to-point down Savannah River;
56 mile loop, out and back from Augusta into South Carolina, and back;
2 loop run throughout downtown Augusta.
Registration: $250.
Host: Ironman
Race Results — Augusta Ironman 70.3 2011
Weather: Nice swim start, wetsuit legal. The water was a bit cool. It took me some time to relax exhaling underwater. Got hot & sunny on the bike and for the (my) first loop of the run, the second loop was overcast with some (welcome) sprinkles. We had a good rain going for transition break down. But, alas, we just finished racing 70 odd miles–no big deal.
The Athlete’s Guide recommends acclimating to the Georgia heat and humidity–this is no joke. There were several heat injuries on the course.
Terrain:
- Swim–Downstream, the advantage of which there is some debate. I’d rate it a Slight (not Great) advantage. Like the wetsuit, it’s of greater advantage, the longer your in the water (i.e., to us weaker swimmers).
- Bike–Truly rolling hills, with three to five good hills/climbs/inclines, depending on how you count. Not nearly as brutal as the bike in the Assault on Cherokee Olympic Triathlon in South Carolina, for example.
- Run–Pancake flat. For real. Dead flat run winding through down town Augusta. Some races claim to be flat, but this run really is (aside from one 50 yd climb out of the Marina area).
Competition: Need I say anything here? It’s a Half Ironman–the competition level is very high. There are plenty of “just finishers”, but the majority of people were serious athletes. Every one was extremely nice and supportive. Definitely one of the friendliest crowds I’ve race with.
General Impression: This is a great course, with a good mix of more and less challenging features. Great aid stations, plenty of port-a-potties, great cheering sections. The race was very well run and supported. With 3500 or so racers, the race was very well organized and run. The volunteers were great. The host city, Augusta was extremely gracious and inviting. The staff at my hotel (Quality Inn Medical Center) were extremely nice and helpful, and the headquarters hotel (Marriott Convention Center) was very pleasant.
Room for improvement: Uhh,. . . More swag in the swag bags. More selection in the athlete recovery tent–though the cup of beer was a nice touch!
More to follow. Stay tuned . . .
Read Part 2 . . . Read Part 3.
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–Old 454
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Also, find me on twitter: Twitter.com/Old454
Back from Augusta. . .
I survived the 2011 Augusta 70.3 Half Ironman. Race report to follow. After the triathlon, I (wisely) stayed over one additional night from Sunday to Monday. Took my time getting ready Monday morning, and was on the road about 9:30am. Got back in town around noon, unloaded my bags, and was checking on a job before 1 pm. Got some work done, ran two practices that evening, ate dinner, and crashed
Monday was a complete day off from training. I occupied my mind on the bike, wondering what I should, shouldn’t, if I should train, this week. At some point Sunday evening, I decided to take Monday off (sort of). Light swim Tuesday. That’s as far as it went, before I passed out Sunday evening.
Today is Thursday. I had a light swim today. My thighs still feel sluggish. That certain, clear overtrained, drained feeling.
Overall, I’m recovering fine. Yesterday, my body temperature was doing weird things.
Would like to hit the climbing gym tomorrow, and hit the weights this weekend. We’ll see.
–Old 454
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I train because I must
I train for one very simple reason: I must.
I do have the choice to not train, but that is the choice of no option.
The single hardest thing I do each day is get out of bed. That presents a horrible proposition. I must sleep, and I must wake up (unless it’s my last slumber). And therefore I must face that dread every single day. No avoiding.
Training changes the entire equation. It makes those things that my biochemistry makes so horrible, bearable. But it does more. Training allows me to feel good and even great in ways that under normal day-to-day drudgery my biochemistry just won’t. There are those moments and periods when the mini-pharmacy between my ears is firing on all cylinders without the boost from physical and mental exertion. However, those moments are entirely unpredictable, and crumble for completely undiscernible reasons.
When I speak of training, I speak of all the activities I engage in that connect me to the Warrior. Running, weight lifting, swimming, camping, rock climbing, cycling, hiking, fencing, swordsmanship, archery. There are other forms of training, as well. On a mystical level, modern comfortable society does not fulfill me, the Warrior. When I am in the woods, or on the trail, the fog of post-modern living begins to lift and I can sense my part of the immortal universal spirit of existence.
There are many practical benefits of training that I enjoy: good health, never actually get sick, clear thinking, more sociable and nicer to be around, good model for my family, inspire my friends and associates, higher energy levels, increased sense of self-worth, practice goal-setting/achieving, break procrastination.
However, they all pale in comparison to the biochemical boost and I believe, retraining of my brain function; and this mystical doorway, fog-lifting access to Spirit. Both of which are two sides of the same coin. Training connects me inwardly to the Warrior, and outwardly to Spirit.
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Training for recovery
I remember when I first discovered that I could recover from being winded on a run, while still running that run. In South Carolina, our instructors would hearten us to breath on the down hills. I thought that was nuts–after a lung-bursting run up some long-ass hill, I thought, “What I need to damn do is STOP!” Amazingly, I discovered that I could recover on the down hill–at least enough to finish the run.
That lesson was well learned. It marinated in my subconscious. I used it in an instinctive, unverbalized way countlessly over the years since. Recover in those moments when things suck less. Recently, however, I have been training specifically for recovery, more so than any other specific criteria.
This was first verbalized for me when I read how Paula Newby-Fraser, the multiple Ironman Champion, explained how she can recover on the run at a higher heart rate than her competitors. She obliterated her competitors, when things really sucked, by being able to recover faster when they didn’t suck as much. I now train straight at this ability.
When doing pull ups, I focus on reducing the rest periods between sets, as much as I do the reps in each set.
When swimming laps, I’m intent on my ability to slow my pace or switch up my stroke, so I can recover enough to pick up my pace again.
My brick and transition runs are about what pace can I maintain, no matter how bad I’m hurting–No matter how bad it sucks. Not so much how fast can I run today off the bike.
Running this new distance for me, the olympic triathlon, and the prospect of my looming half Ironman, have brought this into perspective. I have had to let go of ego, and ensure first that I can finish a race. To that end, recovery while racing has become critical.
I have had cramps where I’ve never cramped in a race before, ever. I’ve had side stitches, once on both sides, but those aren’t the deblitating, you-might-not-be-able-to-use-your-leg-if-this-gets-worse cramps. When those start to come on, ego has to go. Recovery and continuous forward motion must take its place. Ego can come back once you get over the finish line. Recovery must come so that you can get to the finish line.
Train for recovery.
First Triathlon–Done!: An after-action on the Georgia Veterans Triathlon
I competed in my first triathlon Saturday, the Georgia Veterans Triathlon, in Cordele, Georgia. Let me begin by saying, my goal in this race: not finish last.
Race distances: 400 yard swim, 13.6 mile bike, 5k run.
You can check out my first and second impressions on training for this triathlon.
Pre-Race
The race was Saturday morning. I had booked a hotel for Friday night. I planned to work Friday, link up with my son after school, pack up, and the two of us head out in front of the Friday afternoon rush, arrive in time for the 6pm packet pickup, check out the course, check in to the hotel, grab something to eat, pack for the race, and get some rack–in that sequence.
Well, things started to go wrong early that day. Work (that thing we do so we can eat, and sleep out of the rain) started to interfere with my last minute preparations. My son got home, but we ended up needing to wait for my wife, and didn’t get on the road until 4pm–already into the Friday afternoon rush. Long story short, we got caught in traffic out of town, arrived too late for the early packet pickup.
However, we did drive the bike course, and survey the swim and running course, which turned out to be extremely helpful.
The other items in my sequence went more or less according to plan.
Race Day
I had planned to wake up at 5am, get dressed & loaded up and be at the triathlon site for packet pickup, etc by 6am. Needless to say, my alarm went off at 5am, but my body didn’t get out of bed until 5:38am. We ended up getting to the race site around 6:50am, by which time a long line at packet pick up had formed.
I got my numbers etc, got my body marked, put my numbers on my helmet, bike and race belt, got transition set up, and the stress began to subside with about 20 minutes to start time.
Swim
As a kid, I was a strong swimmer. I could swim a mile in a lake. That was many years ago. The swim training was the most difficult logistically and physically, because I was almost starting from scratch, at least conditioning-wise. I had not trained in open water at all.
The swim start was chaotic. Arms and legs everywhere, water splashing up my nose, and down my throat. My breathing became erratic, I quickly got winded, then my arms began to fade. I reflected on all the training, effort and planning that had gone into getting here, and what a shame it would be to not finish. My son was on shore waiting for me–probably the biggest motivation to gut it out–not to disappoint my son.
The first 100 yards were hard. The second 100 yards were absolutely horrible. I tried back stroke, but the choppy water made that impossible to relax. I was able to get my breathing, if not under control, to a steady gasp. I could see people ahead of me walking out of the water. I tried to reach bottom at one point, but there was just water. Swam some more, tried to reach bottom again, my toes felt sand! Relief!
I made it out of the water, trotted up to transition. My wind began to come back.
The Bike
Transition went fairly quickly. I was worried about sand on my feet, but there wasn’t much and I quickly brushed it off and put my shoes (using the same ultralights for the bike & run), helmet, shades, race belt, and Camel back on. No bike shirt, I’d decided to bike and run shirtless, mainly for budget reasons. And I was off.
The bike wasn’t as eventful, I continued to pass people who had passed me in the water. I was only passed by people on expensive bikes and with at least $200 of triathlon clothes, etc on. I hydrated and refueled as much as I could without turning my stomach. Driving the course the day before proved extremely helpful!
The Run
Back in transition, all I had to do was rack my bike, take off my helmet and Camelback. And I was off.
The run was just a gut check. The transition runs, the brutal runs, the canyon runs on vacation, paid off. I continued to pass even more people who’d passed me in the water, and some who’d passed me on the bike. I used the water stations mainly to cool off my head, and rinse the sweat from my face. I found in training, that running shirtless left little options for wiping sweat from my face. Running with hats, visors, head bands etc. give me headaches.
It took about 3/4 mile or so to shake the effects of coming off of the bike. I began to notice some dehydration in the second half of the run, but was actually getting stronger in relation to the other runners. There were some slight hills, which gave me some opportunities to power past some folks. Some people, not many, passed me. And then there was the finish line. I didn’t see or even notice the clock. Many times people will finish the last sprint of the run extremely strong, which means to me, they saved too much. I think I left it all on the course.
Conclusions
A nice race overall. Well organized and pleasant volunteers (you always have that one sour puss). Nice venue and courses. Easy reach from Atlanta. Would definitely do it again.
Certainly my hardest most taxing effort to date. According to SportsTrack, I expended almost 1500 calories on the course.
- Specifically for Cordele: Bring Skin So Soft. The gnats were OUT OF CONTROL. Mostly not biting gnats, but swarming and absolutely incessant.
- Improving my swim will greatly improve my overall performance. It’ll cut my time a lot. But it’ll also leave me more energy for the bike and run.
- All the hill work I’ve been doing definitely paid off, even though this was a relatively even course. My recovery rate and power in the tough spots was good.
- The transition runs definitely paid off. Especially the confidence that that horrible feeling of getting of the bike and then running, would pass.
- Absolutely test and train in all the clothing, equipment, nutritionals, you plan to use for the race. DO NOT use or introduce any new stuff for race day, no matter how trivial. Train in your back-up equipment.
- Arrive early.
- Have everything packed the day before.
- Get swim training time in open water. There was almost no correlation between the open water swim, and my pool workouts.
Already thinking of which triathlon I’d like to do next. Planning to do a half marathon in the Fall.
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Triathlon Training: Second Impressions
Transition area Georgia Veterans Triathlon 2010
I completed my first triathlon yesterday. “Triathlon” was an intimidating prospect as a whole, from the idea of stringing together three separate race-effort events, to the planning of the training leading up to it, to the actual training process, to the equipment preparation. Now that the triathlon is behind me, I feel extremely confident and excited to plan, train, and race another!
Training
The training leading up to the race was a challenge from both a planning perspective and an execution perspective. One can’t practice race distances and conditions like one might for a running or biking race. Logistically and time-wise it’s not practical, but also its not an efficient use of your training time, post-recovery alone would suck up many potential training days.
On top of that, throw in family obligations, a summer vacation, work crises, and training was a challenge.
Equipment preparation
I guess it would be easy to prep equipment-wise by just throwing money at the problem. Get a list and buy everything on the list. There are a lot of vendors who would be glad to sell you all there triathlon specific trinkets and gadgets. Triathlon is an equipment/gadget intensive sport. But, that is not a viable solution for us beginner-budget-minded competitors.
Then there’s the question of what is the minimum set of equipment and supplies I’ll need just to finish. My goal was to not finish last.
More thoughts on training in my after action report: First Triathlon–Done!
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First Impressions: Triathlon Training
The prospect of preparing for my first triathlon is daunting. More daunting than the prospect of actually competing. Fitting in training for three separate events, with my work schedule, family commitments, AND my general fitness goals is far more daunting than taking a day to compete in a single grueling event.
This is further complicated by the fact that I am not in fit cycling and swimming shape. All that being said, the cycling and swimming pieces are coming together better than the running and general fitness pieces. This may be simply a function of more room for improvement in cycling & swimming.
The hardest piece has been my general fitness. I think there has been one power lifting session. That’s it for general fitness. No upper body work. No core or abs.
The big wildcard disruptor has been the fact that this is the crazy season for family commitments and my busy season at work. Where I may have been able to squeeze in a late evening workout, or sneak in a lunch time session–These have simply not been available.
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