Ironman Augusta 70.3 - 28 days to go

What a great day! I got up late (6:30 am), had a cup of coffee, and prepped the bike for a ride. I've been loving my Garmin 305 GPS and I wondered if I could attach it to the bike. It fits perfectly over the cateye8 that I had been using for distance and speed. It was a blessing to have that right there and easy to read.

I had some oatmeal with a banana in it and headed out the door. I'd put some Emergen-C in the water bottles and PowerBars in my fanny pack.... Ready to go. Headed out and did some mental math. 56 miles will be the distance of the Ironman Augusta 70.3. 28 miles is half of that and 14 miles is one quarter. I decided to break it down into 4 14 mile quarters and hit my lap button each time. The first lap was fun and smooth. The second lap was also. By the third lap, I'd talked myself into an extra 3 miles each way so I'd get in a metric century (100 KM - 62 miles). Those first 3 miles of the third lap were the most horrendous hills I'd seen all ride. By the time I'd knocked them down both ways, my speed had dropped. The first 2 14 mile segments, I averaged 15 miles per hour and 15.5 miles per hour. In the third quarter, I averaged 13.8. It was rough and slow but I did it. The last 14 mile lap was back at the 15 mph pace. THEN it was another 6 miles home. Those were the hardest of the whole morning.

My water bottles were gone after 2 1/2 quarters of the ride, so I stopped in a store and got another liter of water. That was gone during the next quarter and I went without for the last few miles. I had a Powerbar at the 18 mile mark and the 30 mile mark. My body still has a bit of issue with sugar shock when I eat them and I think I need to have a few each week just to get used to them. I do think they help but my stomach has a hard time handling the sugar jolt and I can get a little nauseous.

The best part was after I got home... I've been fine. I felt good enough to run, which I'll be doing in 4 weeks at the event. I think I paced myself well and I would have finished the bike segment in about 3hrs 45 minutes. Not bad for a mountain bike and certainly inline with accomplishing a finish in well under 8 hrs. I think if all goes well in Augusta, I could be near the 7 hr time frame.

Went swimming with the boys this afternoon and really have had a great day.