EagleMan Ironman 70.3 Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I felt good, could have swam much faster but I couldn't catch a break with the other swimmers. I kept running into other swimmers and got stuck repeatedly behind them I would change course to go around and guess what...another one. Wasn't till I rounded the final buoy that I got to swim without interruption.
I really tried to draft however I never seemed to pick the right person to draft and I got wrapped up in clumps of other swimmers constantly.

Overall not a bad swim but not a good swim either. Can't blame this on the heat...

Stay farther right and away from the main group. The little extra distance at the buoys would have been easily made up. Perhaps out there I would have found a straight swimmer to draft... Oh well!

T-1 was sllooww! Couldn't get the wet suit off my ankles. Need to lube up more. I took some extra time because I didn't want to chance forgetting something because I knew the weather made every piece of the puzzle very important. I rarely wear gloves when riding my tri bike but for some reason I brought them and wore them for about 10 miles until I realized I had them on. This was an additional piece of time wasted. Oh Well.

Skip the gloves, lube up my anlkes and wrists more.

I really can't explain why I was slower than last year other than I knew I have an IM in 6 weeks and this is really only a long training day. That and I knew the run was going to be brutal so I didn't want to over do it. Looking back I could have ridden a little harder and made at least the same time as last year. Last year was .9 mph faster.

Go a little harder.

The T-2 entrance is narrow and with all the others coming in it was hard to have room for a moving dismount. All in all not too bad. Legs felt good for just getting off. About 1 minute slower than last year. Again I took some extra time to make sure I didn't forget anything.

I want / need to practice my dismounts and removal of shoes.

As mentioned, the course would be perfect if it were overcast and cool. Not the case though. It was in the mid 90's by the time I was running and the humidity was in the same area as well. Just plain brutal.

I learned one really important thing from one of the pro's who spoke at the pre-race talk. He said about wearing a full hat and putting ice under it to keep cool. What an amazing cooling system. I believe this was very important to allow me to do what I did. I had been planning on wearing a visor. Boy am I glad I heard that advice.

Not much to say here, I have been training to improve speed and I think under beter circumstances I would have beaten last year by some time anyway.

Heat and humidity.


A great PR course if the weather works out for you. Weather this time of year is not usually this friggin' hot but it happens. 3 years ago it was also like this so you never know.

This race is well organized and I like the area a lot. Strongly recommend this race.

The pix are of Me and Joanna Zeiger, Joanna Zeiger's pink Guru Crono and the last is the thermometer in Ed's car at around 3pm.