EagleMan 70.3 - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

holy s! the swim was insane. eagleman waves seem very small, so it wasn't crowded and all started off well. just like last year i couldn't find anyone going my speed to draft off, but i felt good and settled into a pace towards the sailboat.

the turn around was where it all changed. i started to realize that the pain in my arms and face was from running into jellyfish. even worse than that, it became a sea of rolling foot high waves smashing into you as you tried to lurch forward. i would just put my head down and try to plow forward, but i didn't seem to go anywhere. luckily i was able to get full breaths so except for jellyfish encounters that had me screaming underwater (more from frustration than from pain) i could stay calm, but it was taking a lot of energy. i would head toward the yellow buoys, but you could only see them every 3rd sight becuase they are small and below the chop. eventually you would get close enough to see, but half the time it would be a volunteer in a yellow shirt! thanks for being there, but how about a different color shirt that doesn't match the buouys? i'm trying to find the shortest way back!

after swimming what seemed like forever, i finally hit the ramp. when i checked my watch, i was actually able to shave some time off last years swim, but it took a year in the pool and a decent amount of energy to do it. at least i was able to hold off strauby and taco who are much better swimmers and started off 8:00 behind me in the next wave.

i got to see my sister screaming for me as i exited the water. i knew she was coming, but didn't know if she would make it in time. that was cool.

do a relay?

transitions don't seem to be my specialty, but t1 was pretty efficient and uneventful. i wore a tanktop under my wetsuit, so not having to put a shirt on makes t1 much easier.

i didn't put any more bodyglide or suntan lotion on and probably should have .

i decided before the race that i was going to test my bike fitness. strauby was now hunting me down from behind and had to be well within 8:00 after the swim. he has become a hell of a rider and as an incentive, i tried to hold him off as long as i could. i also had a hope of holding 20mph so with all of that in the back of my mind all i had to do was ignore my burning legs and second guess this strategy for the next 3 hours...

the entire course is flat. chris legh joked that you "get a 1 meter rise at a bridge once, so get out of the saddle and stretch your legs". the wind was strong, but started fair. we had alternating headwinds and tailwinds for the first ~20 miles. i started ~19mph, but by the 1/2way point i was able to creep all the way to 20.7mph. i was working hard, but getting good enough results to keep me going.

it was then that someone smacked my ass. strauby had caught me somewhere in the 30's and all i could get out in response was a surprised "you f'er!" before he was gone. it was all for the best though. i was already pushing it and if he gave me a chance to chase him on the horizon i may have taken it and turned a solid z3 ride into a high z3 disaster. i backed off and settled back into my 20mph tt.
a few miles later, it seemed mostly like crosswinds and with 20.6 still on the speedometer, my mind and legs started arguing about how much sexier 21mph is than 20mph. ~mile42 the decision was made for me. the wind became a terrible headwind and i just hung on as i watched 20.6->20.5->20.4->20.3->20.2... i was kicking my ass for 17mph now and started to feel pretty down. i ate gu every :25 the entire race so i convinced myself to make it one more feeding and where it would hopefully get better. it seemed to work and i made it to ~mile52 where better winds and some spectators made it a nice cruise back into town.


my bike computer always runs a little long and according to official results, i missed 20mph by 25 seconds. bummer, but i still feel good about my ride.
also, due to the cooler weather and a lot of bathroom stops last year, i cut my fluids to ~1.5 bottles of water and 1.5 bottles of gu2o. it worked out ok, but it was dangerous and i would never do that at an ironman.

again, i am no t2 rockstar, so i was happy with this time. i also got to see my sis again who was camped outside the fence next to my transition area waiting for me to finish the bike.

ditto on the sun tan lotion. i am red today.

i was barely out of the transition area and for the second year in a row i saw natascha coming in for the win. she was going crazy and showing that huge smile. i shaved :18 off my time from last year and still saw her a the same place. she is a machine.

i started out on the run and except for finally needing a bathroom/tree i felt surprisingly good. i was able to take care of that ~mile1 and started up the road. i decided to carry a water bottle so i could eat/drink on my schedule, and now that i stopped for the bathroom, i decided i had cut it close with hydration long enough and started drinking liberally.

i used to hate out and backs, but i am starting to come around. it makes for plenty of people watching and keeping an eye out for friends can really keep your mind off the running. i knew that strauby was the only one ahead of me because of the wave starts, so i watched the bikers coming in, but assumed i would have to wait until the turn before i would see any of my friends.
i saw a few bt jerseys and gave a "yeah bt!" and then came up to strauby ~mile3. i am notoriously competitve and we joke when we race each other, but as long as we both put in a good effort, i don't really care who finishes first. funny enough, we were both convinced the other person would win at this point and started spewing off math and splits to prove it. he was convinced i caught him too early and there was too much time left. i was convinced that the 1:00/mile i needed because of the 8:00 earlier wave i was in was impossible to make up at the pace we were holding. i continued on, looking forward to the turnaround.

the way back was gettin hard. i was still drinking and eating gu and concentrating on keeping my form together. my legs were hurting at this point and i was averaging 7 beats above my AeT. luckily i was heading toward the finish and got to see everyone. every few minutes i would get a scream or high five to keep me going and everyone in the group looked like they were doing great. i finished fast, but almost cramped up right in the shoot when they took my timing chip off. walking a little and seeing my sis, amy, and laura at the finish helped though and i was ok.



i need to decide how much i care about :18 minutes. i had to train pretty hard and race really hard for this 5:08. there is something inside that makes me want to go as fast as i can and makes me think that if you aren't trying, why are you out there. on the other hand, why not take it easy and enjoy it out there. the difference between 60th place and 40th place is a lot of work and in the end of the day, we all get a medal. i swam 121,400yards so far this year. natedogg swam 18,300 and was only 10:00 slower than me in the swim. that's amazing. that's 10,000+ yards/minute.
i guess as long as i can still improve and see results i'll keep at it, but i'm looking forward to just getting out there for the fun of it and finishing. i'm a little young to be frank farrar yet, but someday i want to be him.

ate a bunch of food, got on the list for a massage and cheered everyone in.


nothing. that's as fast as i can go right now.


i have mixed emotions about this race. on one hand it is a big time event with top pros and a cool venue. on the other hand, it is not a very exciting course and although it's fast, it's also hard. the volunteers are great, but there is very little fan support. post race food is good though.