Augusta 70.3 Race Report!!!

Pre-Race

I arrived in Augusta later than planned on Friday, but I was determined to not be rushed and not forget any of my gear, so I took my time getting out of town and getting there. The bad part was that it meant I didn’t make it for the athlete check-in on Friday. But again I refused to stress myself out so I check-in to the hotel, got settled, walked around downtown Augusta a little including checking out the finish chute and then got an early dinner before heading back to the hotel to chill and get some shut-eye before a busy Saturday.

Saturday

I woke up early to train, I wanted to get in a short swim/bike/run before I had to pick Mom and Sarah at the airport. I headed down to the water, struggled into my wetsuit and jumped in! The water was chilly but I was so sweaty from struggling into the wetsuit I didn’t mind. I felt pretty good in the water, and actually couldn’t feel the current until I realized how quickly I was getting to the bridge. I finished the swim and got ready to do the bike/run.

One mental challenge was that I was out there alone and there were a lot of people training in groups and/or already had family there. But then I reminded myself that no one else was going to be out on the course with me tomorrow and that this was a good time to quiet myself, focus and collect my thoughts undistracted by any other training partners or worrying about family or friends.

The rest of Saturday was a whirlwind. Did my brick, which was good b/c I rode my bike to transition and got to talk with other athletes and some of the race organizers and get a feel for the swim exit and transition. Then a quick run before heading to athlete check-in, unfortunately not doing it the day before meant I had to stand in a verrrrry long line. Standing for hours the day before race day wasn’t the best move but so were hundreds of other athletes so I just took a deep breath and enjoyed the chance to talk with other athletes in line and perhaps get some pointers about my first half. The race was very well organized and there were hundreds of volunteers and actually they moved us through check-in pretty quickly. Next it was off to bike check-in and then to the airport!

Thank goodness when I got to bike check-in I ran into Coach John and Coach Mark. I don’t think I realized how much I wanted to be around some of my people until I saw them and I was so relieved to see the guys responsible for getting me there…although it also meant that the clock was ticking quickly towards race day and the nerves really started to set in!

The rest of the day was picking up family, a quick meeting with the coaches and other MPI athletes -- it was really great to be around the other athletes!!! Then it was off to an early dinner before heading back to the hotel to chill and lay everything out for race day!

7 p.m. -- We got back to the room and I started laying everything out, filled my water bottles, put on my compression socks and hopped on the bed to get off my feet, rest and chill and read over my race plan before going to bed.

10 p.m. -- Everything packed up, race plan read, water bottles full and chilling, breakfast ready for the morning, alarm set, tucked in, lights out! I didn’t end up staring at the ceiling as long as I thought I would and actually dozed off pretty quickly.

3:30 -- Woke up in a panic thinking it was time to get up. Looked at clock, nerves were in full effect, tried to go back to sleep but had little luck, still I laid there and tried to chill and dozed on and off until about 5:15 when the alarm went off.

Sunday -- Race Day

5:15 – Woke up and my heart was pounding…the adrenaline had kicked in full force! Took my pre-race cocktail of Advil, aspirin and Imodium. Drank some water, brushed my teeth, took many, many deep breathes and started getting dressed. Sarah helped me braid my hair and then we grabbed all the water bottles, my morning clothes bag, and headed to transition.

6:00 -- I got to transition, got body marked, loaded up my bike with the water bottles and nutrition: Plain water in the aero bottle, 3 bottles of infinite, a quartered pbj and cliff bar in the bento box as well a endurolytes and Advil. This is about the time it started raining…great!

6:45 – Bike loaded up and body marked, Sarah and I headed back to the hotel for one last bathroom break since my swim wave wasn’t until 8:15. The nerves were in full effect, adrenaline was pumping big time and I read my race plan one final time and sat there thinking for the first time about bailing. I thought “What if I just don’t go down to the swim start.” Then I got a text from Coach Murray: “Thinking of you, Have a wonderful day!” Great, I thought, I gotta do this now! Can’t let Coach Murray down!

7:15 – Headed to the swim start, the national anthem was playing as we walked over, wetsuit in hand, the rain was coming down pretty consistently now, nerves uncontrollable, which produced some nausea – but no time to worry about that it was time to put the wetsuit on and get ready to actually do this!

We kinda meandered over to the swim start and got to see the pros start…then wave 1 went in and I started slowly squeezing myself into my wetsuit – I swearing wiggling my roly poly body into that thing is the most stressful part of the race for me, the only thing that makes me feel a little less like a beached whale is that even the skinny people seem to break into a full-blown sweat wiggling into theirs as well!

I had sausaged myself about halfway into the wetsuit when the announcer declared that they were pushing everyone’s swim start time up, I guess b/c people were moving pretty quickly in the Savannah River with the help of the current! I hustled to get my timing chip and drop morning clothes bag off. That’s when I saw Jules and she told me I better really hurry up b/c the swim starts weren’t just moved up one minute it was one minute for every wave which really translated to being bumped up by about 5 or more minutes!

That’s when my heart started going about 200 mph and I just started hauling ass! I threw my morning clothes bag at some poor volunteer only to get halfway to the start before some girl pointed out I was still wearing my visor. I ran back to the bag drop-off and then back toward the swim start, all the while attempting to wiggly into the rest of my wetsuit, which was still only around my waist.

That’s when I ran into another MPI athlete Monica and we both just started shoving each other into the top of our wetsuits and zipped up! I have never been so relieved to see a friend in that moment as I was then! We got there just in time and had about 30 seconds in the corral before they announced “Women 30-34 head down to the water!!” We started walking under the starting chute and down to the water. That’s when I got really pumped! I high-fived Monica and started clapping my hands and hooting and was like “We’re doing this! Woooohooo!”

Heading down the ramp it was like the nerves fell away and it was just this moment of feeling like I had come a very long way and there was no turning back now! It was going to be what it was going to be and I was determined to run my own race, nobody else’s.

The swim

We jumped in the water, which was a bit chilly, but with the adrenaline, the wetsuit and the rain it didn’t feel too bad. Instantly upon hitting the water I had to pee and we had to treed water for about a minute before we could start and most triathletes just pee in the water but we were literally treading water on top of each other and with the temperature of the water as cold as it was, I was sure someone would feel the warmer water and I would then be dubbed the girl who peed on them so I got total stage fright and just held it thinking maybe I could go once we started swimming!

We got the 10 second warming and I got ready to go reminding myself that my race plan called for me to be on cruise control during the swim, it’s my strongest leg but with the current and the long day ahead my coaches had advised me they really didn’t want my race to start until I got on the bike….A couple deep breathes and the horn went off! Here we go! I am doing a ½ Ironman!!!!

I settled into my stroke pretty quickly and with how wide the course was and no waves beating us around like in an ocean swim everyone spread out pretty quickly. I thought about peeing for a second, but it just wasn’t happening. I decided I would deal with it during T1 or it would just get so bad that at some point during the swim it would just happen!

I maneuvered around a few girls and settled in pretty quickly. When an open water swim is less chaotic like this one was turning out to be I really use it to think about the rest of the race. The current was helping me move along pretty nicely and I was passing girls but making sure to stay in a pretty moderate heartrate zone. A few times I would get behind someone and draft for a bit, which was nice.

I kept remembering that it was a mile swim and wondering when the burning in my arms was going to start but it never did! I had walked between the swim start and the transition enough in the days leading up to the race that I could use the shoreline to spot when I was getting close to the swim finish, that said, I got there sooner than expected and as I ran up the boat ramp I thought I wasn’t sure if I was mentally prepared to get out of the water and on the bike!

Heading into the boat ramp was kind of a cluster and I tried to avoid getting mauled by anyone, especially some of the guys who had caught up to us. I ran up the ramp and saw Coach John and Coach Mark and realized I hadn’t started my watch. I shouted something to them saying as much as I started pulling down my wetsuit and Coach John just shrugged and said “Don’t worry about it!”

It was still raining and as we headed into transition I could hear volunteers telling athletes to be careful it was slick….despite the warning I hit just the right spot on the timing mat and slipped right into a nice split – thank God I’m flexible and years of gymnastics and plenty of adrenaline meant I was able to jump right back up. I ran up to the wetsuit strippers and sat down in front of two very nice young volunteers who peeled the wetsuit off me like a banana in about 2 seconds flat.

Let’s just say my T1 transition was significantly delayed by that much needed pit stop but I knew it was now or never! Finally after about 5 minutes I had all my soggy gear and was off on the bike.

The bike

It was raining pretty hard now and heading out of transition I got a big surge of energy from all the volunteers and supporters. I went passed the coaches and then further down the road Mom who I only noticed after I passed and heard her scream Go Allison!!! I looked back and waved which Sarah later told me made Mom freak out that I was going to crash!

The first 5 miles of the bike felt great! A little chilly because of the rain and no sun, but I was really feeling good and going at a nice clip. Then we started to get into some very moderate rollers and my bike started to feel like the back wheel was dragging. I kept going but something just didn’t feel right about the bike.

Jules came flying up on me shortly after the 5-mile mark: “Gooooooooooooooooo AJ” she screamed. I’ve never heard that girl scream that loud and considering she was going at least 20 mph wasn’t sure how she mustered the lung capacity.

The rain was getting pretty bad and after mile 16 I knew the hills were only going to get worse so I tried to really get my head into the bike. More and more people were passing me and shouting encouragement – that’s one really nice thing about our names being on our race numbers!

Even though people were passing me I kept reminding myself what my friend and experienced triathlete Brecht said about pacing the first 30 miles or so and the it’s a long ride and that I would see the people passing me again and that I didn’t want to bonk by hammering it in the beginning and then having nothing left at the end of the ride.

By the first water stop around mile 20 the rain was getting worse and I had to make the decision to tuck my glasses away. It sucked because the rain was beating the shit out of my face but my glasses were dark and it was getting too hard to see. I was still good with water so I just sped through the water stop but you had to dodge people stopping and the bottles people weren’t even attempting to throw off to the side of the road.

Around mile 25 the bike was really dragging and I stopped to see if I had a flat, thankfully I didn’t. I got back on but the bike still didn’t feel right. This is about the time that I really started struggling on the bike. I actually thought about getting off and just throwing in the towel rather than fighting the bike the whole way or that I didn’t do enough training on the bike, I wasn’t ready etc.…but I would spend several miles having such thoughts and would get to another mile marker or some flats and think I only have 20 more miles to go or that the bike was feeling smoother.

I just kept reminding myself that I had put in the training, that I had done hillier rides than this, keep riding, keep going, you’re getting closer. I would make deals with myself by mileage….just get to 25, then you’re halfway there, get to the 40 mile mark and you only have to do 16 more – you do that every year at Red Hills with way less training, piece of cake!

Finally we crossed back into Georgia and I knew we were close. It helped we got to go down this highway ramp which was pretty fun! I think I passed some volunteers and they shouted out 5 miles and I was able to turn on my legs again somehow. I had told myself I really needed to start spinning around mile 5 to flush out the lactic acid before the run.

That’s about when I started getting pumped on the bike, thinking I just gotta do the run and I’ve done this thing! You’re doing this!!! That’s about the time a semi came by blowing his horn and that got me really pumped! I started passing people ready to get to transition and off the bike and on the run!

I headed into transition with Mom and Sarah screaming behind me…it was still raining.

The Run

T2 was a bit smoother, no slipping and no pit stop but then I got confused as to where to exit for the run and headed the wrong direction at first. Sarah was just outside transition right in front of my spot and could see I was confused and asked a volunteer where the run exit was and shouted at me which way to go. Yet another moment where Sarah stepped up like no other and I thanked God for her for about the millionth time!

Knowing I hadn’t drank as much Infinite as I needed to on the bike and my nutritional intake was pretty low and I needed all the energy I could get for the run, I came out of transition with a bottle, I was able to drink about half of it before handing it off to Sarah who ran along with me for a bit. Heading out I got to talk to her and I told her I wasn’t happy about my bike. She told me I had a great swim – I didn’t believe her but then she told me my time which was 31 minutes -- about 10 minutes faster than my dream day time -- and that overall I was having a great race.

She dropped off and I continued to shuffle along, getting ready for 13.1 long miles, as I came up the road past the transition area a bunch of other runners merged in with me and I could tell they were fast which must have meant they were on the back side of the run…I asked a girl next to me and she confirmed that yes, she was on her second loop. Until then I had kinda forgotten it was a double loop run. Ugh!

Turning into the first mile and down Broad Street cars were next to us and Mom and Sarah pulled up next to me and drove along for a minute, which was fun! I focused on my breathing and setting a pace. Finally I got to the first water stop, which meant mile 1 down, which was a huge relief!!! 1 down 12 to go!

Once on Broad Street and getting into the downtown area the run got pretty fun. The crowds were amazing and people were reading your name off of your race number and shouting for you or running out onto the race course and high fiving you or giving you thumbs up and telling you to just keep going! I got a lot of “Get it girl! Keep going girl you got this!” It’s funny how you can hear that people are impressed by the tone of their voice or the way they say your name.

My favorite fans were the residents of Augusta who were exceedingly grateful for us bringing 3,200 carb-loading athletes into their restaurants and booking their hotels and giving them a nice economic boast for the weekend. One of them told my Mom that this was better business for the city than the Augusta National Golf Tournament and noted that triathletes and their fans are much nicer than the golfing crowd.

During the run throughout the downtown neighborhoods residents stood on their porches and front yards, held hoses out for us to run through when the sun finally peaked out from behind the clouds and the rain ceased, sat in lawn chairs and asked where we were from and thanked us for coming to their town! My favorite local spectator was an African American women with a cowbell who would intermittently shake the cow bell while shouting encouragement, as I ran past her porch she shouted, “You go girl, ain’t nothin’ but a thang, ain’t nothing but a thang!!!”

I kept going and also got encouragement from the faster athletes passing me who were also super encouraging although I kinda hated them for being on their second loop when I wasn’t!

Finally I got to seem Mom and Sarah again and could see the MPI tent. Of course Jules and Evan and others had finished and Evan was standing there with no shirt on and I had to make a crack about the guys of MPI not keeping their clothes on. Coach Mark and John both came out and ran with me for a minute. Coach John stayed with me longer and asked me how I was feeling, I told him fine, better than expected but that my pace was really slow. He reassured me that I was doing great and to just keep doing what I was doing.

I ran on and headed toward the first turnaround about 2 miles down the road. On my way back Coach John was waiting for me again and ran with me some more which was really nice. He asked more questions about how I was feeling, thinking etc. and for the first time in my life I felt like a real athlete with tons of support! It made me reflect on how much time, training and strategy I had put into this and also that I was very grateful and glad I had made the investment in MPI but also in myself!

I headed into mile 6 and ran past the finish line and there was a point where we had to go left to do our second loop or go right to finish and I thought for a second how I could just do a 6.5 mile run and call it a day and no one would really be the wiser but then I thought -- I would and I really wanted that 70.3!

So I headed into my second loop and reflected on how much further I had to go but also how far I had come. I thought to myself if I could just shuffle through the next few miles and get to mile 10 I would pretty much know I was going to complete this monster!

In past ½ marathons miles 7-9 have been pretty tough for me and I was worried about it but I kinda went on auto pilot for those miles and just kept pushing through mile by mile – grateful for the water stops at each mile and those wonderful ice cold sponges – just trying to get back to the downtown area and the crowds and mostly my coaches’ tent.

One girl shuffled up next to me and said “Come on girl we can do this…It’s harder for us slower big girls. People who can do this in 4 or 5 hours got it easy, the real challenge is for those of us out here for 6, 7 hours!” I gave a brief laugh and mumbled something like “right on” but I was so focused on keeping my pace and running, so I wasn’t feeling very chatty.

So many people – including that girl – were stopping, grabbing their legs, stretching or walking – and I was determined to hold a pace that I knew wasn’t going to result in me hurt myself and that maybe would leave something extra for the last three miles.

I finally got back into the heart of downtown again around mile 9 or so. The crowds had thinned as a lot of people were finished. I looked at my watch, which I had finally started during T1 and realized I was heading into hour 7. My goal was to keep it under 8 hours and I hoped I could knock the last few miles out in under an hour.

Around the 10-mile mark this incredible sense of euphoria hit me. I thought: 3 miles to go…holy shit, you’re actually going to do this! You’re actually going to finish this thing. You’re 3 miles away from 70.3!!! Look how far you’ve come! You’ve set your mind to something and while you’re not as skinny as you want to be doing this you’re doing it and you’re not dying!!! I thought, damn! If I set my mind to something and I really want to do it -- I’m gonna do it! That’s it, you’re done beating yourself up, you’re done being your own worst enemy, biggest critic and biggest roadblock frankly! You’re going to be proud and your own biggest champion, you can do anything you set your mind to. You’re going to finish a ½ Ironman! This lengthy “positive self talk” as my coach likes to call it, got me through the next mile or so and up to the MPI tent.

Everyone came running out going bananas, knowing I was in the homestretch. Coach John took his shirt off, Jules pretended to flash me, Mom just kinda stood there yelling with this awe struck look on her face, Sarah (who again was probably the biggest Godsend of the weekend) was reassuring and asked if I wanted her to wet my sponge with cold water, and the boys yelled for me to keep going, so I did.

I got up the road to the turn around and knew it was only a few more miles now. I came back around and Coach Mark and Coach John shuffled with me for another minute or so. I said something about my time again and they told me to shut up and that I was having a great race. It’s a good thing I believe and trust them but also that I don’t think either them would make very good liars, because looking at them I think I could tell if they were really disappointed with how long the race was taking me, then again I also think their main goal was for me to finish still standing and according to Coach Mark I was looking a little stronger toward the end of the run, so I think they were pleased and just ready for me to finish!

I headed into the last mile or so thinking this was it, I had to use it up because after this I didn’t have to use it anymore. It was a long last mile, but once I turned the corner, past the backside of the finish and started rounding the corner to the finishing chute I kinda went numb.

The Finish

I remember turning the corner and hearing the crazy drill sergeant cop who was telling us we couldn’t walk and that we had to suck it up, I knew I was close! By the time I was finishing he had done so much screaming he was now hoarse and would go to yell at us and then have a coughing fit. Ever since the turn-off to do the second loop my goal had been to make it back to him and I had!

I finally passed him and turned the corner toward the finish. That’s when my friend Doug Bell appeared and ran down the road toward me screaming my name and telling me to go. He got the crowd pumped and people I didn’t even know where clapping and screaming my name and it all kicked in and I just started sprinting toward the finishing chute. As soon as I turned into that chute and started running down it, it was like fireworks went off inside my body! I thought I would cry but instead it was like someone had pumped me full of steroids and I just started screaming “Yeahhhhh! Yeahhhhhh!” and pumping my fist.

I crossed the finish line in 7 hours and 43 minutes. Mom, Sarah, Coach John and Coach Mark were all right there. I hugged Mom, then Coach John and Coach Mark and finally Sarah. I felt so amazing and accomplished!!! The rain was back and it started pouring again so the celebration was short lived but I was on a complete high and instantly started talking to the coaches about what I needed to work on.

Mom looked shocked and inquired, “Shouldn’t se be falling down or something?” The coaches explained that this was a very normal endorphin high and that I would come down in a bit.

The Aftermath

That said, I think the high lasted for about a week. Jules is convinced that the Savannah River had something to do with my high, which we later found out had enough E-coli in it that they shut the damn to prevent any more from entering the water out of concern for the athletes’ health. She then proceeded to explain to me that the number one contaminant they find in E-coli laden river water is antidepressants and she’s convinced I got a nice dose during the swim and it’s contributed to my happier disposition.

She might be right and if that’s the case then, I will be seeking out a prescription shortly!

But really I attribute it to truly finding myself somewhere along the way of those 70.3 miles, or really more likely over the course of 6 months of training that culminated in those 70.3 miles.

I have always been a very negative person when it comes to myself, truly my own harshest critic. But when you’re training for hours upon hours a week, many of those alone and then being out there for many hours alone on the race course, you learn about yourself, you talk to yourself a lot and you really figure out who you are -- or as it was for me what’s holding you back.

For me it’s been a mixture of things, fear, self-deprecation, loathing, doubt, laziness, gluttony, vanity, sadness, the list goes on and on. But slowly, over all that training, all that exertion, all that pain, all those things holding me back fell away. You do what you need to do and what you know you can do and really what you’ve trained to do.

It becomes “I can and I will” versus “I can’t or I don’t want to.” That was the biggest difference about this challenge. I picked it – although sometimes I think it picked me – and I was out there because I wanted to be. Yes, it was challenging, yes sometimes I doubted myself and thought for sure I would fail – even during the race out on the bike course – but that’s when I would dig in, or I would go to bed and say tomorrow is another training day.

It’s also when I would remind myself of all the “cant’s” I had encountered in my life. Words spoken by either me, or others throughout my life, telling me I couldn’t do something. Somewhere on that racecourse “can’t” fell away and is no longer a word in my vocabulary.

Something may be hard, and it may take a long time or a lot of work…but that doesn’t mean I can’t do it…it just means I might have to work harder than others, does that make me weaker? Hell no! In fact in some ways when I think things don’t come so easily and you gotta work for it, well that makes you stronger.

That’s what I love about the sport of triathlon, it’s not really easy for anyone, we’re all just at different levels, have different goals, and when we get out there on race day, no matter how fast, how fit, or how long we’ve been doing this, we start with the same goal – crossing the finish line on our own terms and in our own time.

Very many people are owed a tremendous thanks for a race day I will always remember and treasure but some played a particularly important role in getting me across that finish line and to them I am indebted forever...

MPI – Coach John and Coach Mark – My multisport coaches, my friends, my angels. As you say we still have a lot of work to do but had it not been for your expertise, constant wisdom, patience and greater endurance than exerted on any race course, I know I would have never crossed that finish line in Augusta. I look forward to many more races and successes under your tutelage always being your eager and unknowing Grasshopper to both of your all-knowing triathlon wisdom!

Jules – When I really started loving this sport and embracing it as a hobby you were the first to take me under your wing. A far superior and more experienced athlete, you never once made me feel any less than a triathlete than you and you make the sport fun, challenging and something to treasure. You are, and always will be family and I hope that everyone will come to know what a true ambassador you are for the sport of triathlon and a shining example of everything that makes this sport amazing!

Sarah – One of my best friends always but truly my angel race weekend! My sidekick in life and in Augusta, I will be indebted to you forever for how tirelessly you were by my side that weekend, no questions asked. You were my best cheerleader out there, helped me stay calm both on and off the race course and documented the race both with your camera, with my Iphone and on Facebook like no one else could have! You were and always will be one of the true treasures in my life. Next year I hope you’re by my side on the race course!!!

The Pensacola Crew – (Melissa, Nancy, Evan, Hicks, Andrew, Millie) You all have become training buddies, some of my dearest (and fastest) friends and really some of my favorite people in the world. Also ambassadors for this sport, you all represent the “can do” attitude that is so invaluable in triathlon and I proudly race and train far behind you in the hopes of someday catching up!!

Ronnie – The biggest pain in my ass, or was I the biggest pain in yours? Either way if it weren’t for you harassing me on the St. Mark’s trail one day in May, and sticking with me and telling me to suck it up during some of my lowest points during the training, I probably would have given up this summer nor would I have the expression “Make those hills your bitch” or the knowledge of being like a “ninja” on the bike. May we have many more rides together, just don’t cry like too much of a little bitch when I start dropping your ass for real.

Mom – There’s a million things I can say here…but I’ll just say thank you for being my Mom, for always being there, believing in me, and raising me to be one tough cookie. To never give up and to stop worrying so much about what other people might think or say. You are one of the strongest women I know and a constant inspiration!