Augusta 70.3 Race Report

I left the DC area around 9 with my friends and head down to Augusta.We were flying and we arrive at 5:45 just in time for the last race briefing of the day and packet pick up. This was a smart decision do to the fact base on others reading Saturday in the afternoon was crowded. Went the Augusta Jameson suits which for the $$$ is really nice, is not to expensive. Saturday basically sleep in ate free breakfast from the hotel watched a movie (Rudo y Cursi Which is great!!!!) and head down to transition area around 2. Did a 35 minute ride and a 10 minute run. Then I set up the bike and went for a swim at the river.The problem for the swim was that i forgot the wetsuit at the hotel so I went in without wetsuit to the water. It was 70 degrees and for me that's cold as hell as i was born and raised in the warm waters of the Caribbean. Swam 10 minutes and notice that the current was really strong and that if was going to be like that on race morning we were going to fly. The strongest part of the current was toward the center so I already had my strategy set for Sunday morning. The rest of the afternoon / night I just eat pasta and rested.

Sunday morning woke up around 4:45 ate waffle bread and Peaunut butter and drive to the transition I was there around 5: 50 set up everything went to the port like 2 times and took the shuttle bus to the swim start. Got there went to the port again, put my wetsuit head to the entrance as I was in the third wave.
The Swim: I knew it was going to be fast because of the current They announce that the current was Pushing 1 /2 a knot (more on this later).My strategy was simple get in to the water as soon as possible and go to the middle of the river. It work from there the horn sounded and I went it was a nice swim not many bumps, the water was clean and clear. The only major issue was and idiot try to swim with me or towards me. he hit me twice at the third one I just stopped push him to the left and I continue my way the guy never came back. From there I was just flying. The swim was 27:28.. Super fast in fact 10 seconds faster than the swim at Nations that was 1500 meter remember this was 1.2 mile.
So for those who want to know more of the current speed I did an exercise with my time. knot is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, which is equal to exactly 1.852 km/h and approximately 1.151 mph
Knot= 1.151 MPH
1 /2 knot= .575 MPH
I was expecting to swim a 35:30 which is 1:50 per hundred meter and 2.028 MPH
So we have my expected swim time in MPH and speed of the current
Add both of them
.575 + 2.028= 2.603MPH = 27:28 which is 126 per hundred meter which was my time.
What I want to tell is that the make you go fast really fast at least 8 minutes for me and I suspect that slower you swam the more minutes you were going to get. So this in did was a fast swim.

T1 this was the worst part of the race for me because it was long walk on the street and my feet are sensitive to rocks and debris on the street.So if I try to run it's hurt. So I walked slow and got to my bike. Since I knew it was slow already I decided to put my socks on clear that out of the way.
T1 4:13

The bike, was fast my plan was to practice Iron-man pacing and stay in zone 3 as most time as possible and not to go all out. At the beginning of the bike every one was flying and passing me but I stay calm and stick to my plan. There was suppose to be some hills but really the Montgomery county hills are much difficult so really those hills were nothing. This is a fast course on the bike so you have to roll and will be good. I practice nutrition and drink water and accelerate as much as possible and eat 3 power bars the plan was executed perfectly as got almost 800 calories. The bike went great. I hold my self but again the plan was to practice IM pacing.
Time was 2:52:19 for a pace 19.5 MPH

T2 went quick as I just put my running shoes and role.
2:06

The run went great it was flat. Right after transition I went to the ports so that mean that my hydration was great. I knew that I can be around 1:45 time on a good day. for the first 7 miles I paced my self and average 8:18. Then I began to feel the race and started to feel tired but thanks to # 275 the guy has been running with me told me begin pushing and we did that for the next 5 miles we were flying probably around the 7 min mile pace.I hold my self until mile 12 that I got tired the last mile I survived and enjoy the crossing the finish line.
Final time 1:46:05 for an 8:06 minute mile pace.
Total time 5:12:06

This was a great for being a first year event. It has a fast course over all and the city of Augusta is supporting the race really nice. The down part was that I don't think the city and the restaurant were aware about the amount of people that was going to be there. On most pasta restaurant and all others the waiting time for eating was 60 - 90 minutes. Hopefully next year they get more prepare. I recommend this race to any body specially if you are a slow swimmer. I don't know how my 2010 season is going to look but if I have the chance I definitely be back

Happy weekend