Eagleman Race Report 2009

Before I dive into my Eagleman race recap all I have to say is, what I did the previous six days before the race is no way to wind down before a big race. A week out from the race I flew to Boulder for MAO camp followed by three days in Seattle for work where I also got to see my sister who lives on the west coast. It was really great seeing her by the way. On Wednesday night I flew home on the red-eye and arrived in Pittsburgh at 10:30 in the morning Thursday. After a couple workouts, I packed the Xterra with all of our triathlon gear for the weekend. On Friday morning it was off to Detroit Michigan for game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals of which my head didn't hit the pillow until 1:30 AM Saturday morning. After a wonderful two hours of sleep I was back in the car driving back home to Pittsburgh. I arrived home around 8:30 AM Saturday morning and Jen and I were back on the road by 9:30 in route to Cambridge Maryland (another 5 hour drive). We arrived in Cambridge Saturday afternoon around 3:00 PM, did packet pickup and then I did a little out and back 45 minute ride on the Eagleman bike course followed by a really quick run. I could tell that I was exhausted on the bike and all I wanted to do was sleep...but my nerves and anxiety didn't let me. Next, Jen and I checked our bikes into Transition and headed back to the hotel in Easton Maryland, another 20 minute drive from the race. Once back at the hotel in Easton where we were staying with our good friends Jeremy and Jocelyn all I wanted to do was first off eat and secondly go to sleep. By now it was approaching 6:00 PM so the four of us and a friend of Jeremy's headed into Easton to find some Italian food. There were two restaurants that were strictly Italian, but you needed reservations and guess who didn't have reservations??? You guessed it. So our last option was to settle for bar food. Well actually it wasn't that bad. I asked them to make us pasta with grilled chicken which wasn't on the menu and the thankfully agreed. Fast forward two hours we finally got back to our hotel room and like I said, I was exhausted! My eyes were really heavy and all I did before I went to bed was mix two bottles for the morning and layed my race clothes out. I was fast asleep by 10PM but the morning came way toooo fast! My alarm went off at 4:00 AM and I think I snoozed at least two times (which I never do). After my typical 750 calorie breakfast, Jen and I drove to the race site.

Fast forward to 7:55 AM my heat finally got the go ahead from the race cannon. We had a really big wave and if I were to guess there had to be at least 150 or 200 guys.

I made sure to put myself in a good starting position which was right up in the front. With my recent shoulder injury and the fact that I haven't swum much I had no idea how I was going to swim. Thankfully my shoulder did not act up on me and actually I didn't even think once that I had to take it easy because of my shoulder. I hit the first buoy and knew that I was flying. The entire swim I didn't see many other green caps around me which meant I was near the front of my wave, right where I needed to be. When I exited the water and crossed the timing mat the clock read 28:26 and I was in 7th place according to Ironman.com. This was also another swim PR for me at the 1.2 mile distance! I seriously think I owe a lot of that to my new Xterra wetsuit! (thanks Team MAO)!

I was in and out of transition in less than 2 minutes and set into a nice comfortable pace. The first guy to pass me in my age group happened around mile 5 or 6.

I tried to hang, but the pace was too much for me. I again settled into my own pace which was right around 24 mph. My heart rate was averaging around 170 and I felt that this was a pace I could keep.

I wouldn't see another age grouper till around mile 45. This time I did hang on and used the two of them as my pace setters.

When I pulled into transition there was a huge traffic jam at the dismount line and nobody was doing a "fast" dismount.

As I flew past the two bikers standing still (they must have been in an older age group) one of them threw their leg up over their bike and kicked me right in the hand. Yet another reason why the fast age groups shouldn't go LAST!!! When it was all said and done I averaged 23.93 miles per hour for 56 miles with a bike time of 2:20:26.

As I made my way through transition and began running I knew something was wrong right away. The two guys ahead of me in my age group took off at what must have been a sub six minute mile pace. I decided to turn it up a gear and stay with these guys, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

Apparently all of the liquids that I took in on the bike weren't absorbing so it felt as if I had a gallon of water sloshing around inside of me. Every time I would pick up the pace, slosh - slosh - slosh. It actually got to the point where I threw up twice and considered dropping out of the race. Then I thought, it's only 13 miles and maybe, just maybe I'll feel better in a mile or two. Well five miles was more like it. It took me five miles before my stomach settled down but by then I was already at least five minutes off of my desired pace. I crossed the finish line in 4:27:13 which was actually 12 minutes faster than I raced here last year.

It was still a 1:34 half Ironman but I knew I could have done better. I finished sixth in my age group which means I did not win a Kona slot (Only the top finisher got the slot). After things set in I figured that my effort was decent considering what all I went through the week leading up to the race. One thing is for sure, there will be NO travel the week leading up to IM Lake Placid. I will be ready to race come July 26th.

(All photo's with exception to the logo in this post are property of Action Sports International)