EagleMan Ironman 70.3 Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This was the dreaded event for me. I’ve only been swimming since December and knew that I was not very strong. But I had swam the 1.2 miles in training on three separate occasions with no issues in the pool and felt pretty good about being able to survive and come close to the time I wanted (between 35 and 40 minutes). But Mother Nature wasn’t having any of that ………

There were borderline whitecaps and the wind was very strong. They had said there would be a slack tide, but nobody knew what sort of currents there were. The pros went off first and I found later that they were typically 10 – 15% slower than they normally would be because of the water conditions. So what about me?? Well, we started in the water a few minutes later than scheduled and I positioned myself near the middle of the other 300 people in my age group (35 – 39 men). At the “go” from the race director I tucked into the water and started my swim. Within five strokes I was being kicked in the goggles and swam over from behind. A large field starting like this is always chaotic, but this was ridiculous! Having not done any open water swimming (competitively) in 14 years, this was quite a wake up call.

I said screw this and started to breast stroke as it is my strongest stroke normally and I could “sight” the buoys better and avoid smacking into other swimmers until it cleared out a bit and things settled down. After a few hundred yards of that I tried to freestyle swim again and took a few strokes, bumped into someone else and realized that in just those few strokes I had veered hard to the right. Once again, in the pool I was always very good at swimming in a “straight” line, but this was totally different. I tried to compensate and ended up going too far left. So back to breast stroking ……

At the halfway point we went around a boat and I checked my watch. 24 minutes which was not so disastrous, it could have been a lot worse all things considered. But my wetsuit is not designed to breast stroke so I was starting to get some chafing in the back of my knees where it would bind up on each kick. And I was starting to get some mild cramping in my calves and quads. Great …… I still have another 69.1 miles to go after the swim and I’m already cramping.

The return leg was brutal, the waves would slap you in the face and the current was pushing you out which made each buoy take forever to get to. I finally gave up on trying to freestyle and swam the rest of the way breast stroke. After what seemed like ages I see the boat ramp we come out of the water from and noticed about 100 yards out that a guy was standing in the water. So when I get to that point I also stand and walk/swim the rest of the way (just as fast as everyone else was swimming). Come out of the water at 48:44 on my watch.


Ummmm, let's see ...... maybe do an OWS before my race in all differnt conditions? Swim the damn thing freestyle instead of breast stroke?? Those things come to mind.

I jog up the ramp, cross the timing mat and start taking my wetsuit off. I here a “Rick!” and looked over and saw my wife and little one sitting near the chute and smiled and waved saying “thank God that’s over.” Get to my spot, wetsuit off completely, helmet on, shoes on, grabbed my nutrition stuff and running to the bike mount area

Overall not a bad transition considering I didn't practice them at all from the water.

Okay, here is supposed to be my strong suit. I had very high expectations for this leg and wanted to put the smack down. I settled in as we rode out of the town and tried to keep my cadence high and speed decent without going out too fast. I got into a groove and started picking off people, probably averaging about 23 mph or so. A little bit below my projected pace, but not bad. When we got out of town that is when the wind hit us. Not just a little bit of wind, a LOT. I’m guessing continuous 20 – 25 mph with gusts much higher. It frickin’ sucked!

I plug along as well as I could and catch some more people but was being passed by others (in the swim waves that started after me of course). Hardly anyone from my AG passed me early. But then again, I was one of the later one’s out of the water from my wave – duh! I had planned on drinking one bottle an hour of my energy drink and electrolyte pills, take a gel on the 20 minutes past the hour and a Clif Bar on the 50 minutes of the hour. I had done this in training to great success and was not so worried.

BUT ….. at the 20 minute mark I whip out one of my gels motoring along and take it. Only to start gagging as it had coated my throat and I couldn’t breathe. After about 30 seconds of sounding like a cat with a hair ball I finally got the phlegm out while almost throwing up. Yummy. Well, needless to say that was the end of my nutrition plan! I did not take any more gels or any of my Clif Bars the rest of the way, just drank three bottles.

So here I am, supposed to be this bike stud. I’m getting minor cramps in my legs, my back and neck hurts from the brutal swim and I’m already tired as s—t only 10 miles into the ride into these brutal winds. I was NOT having fun at all! I knew then that I had no chance of coming close to my goal times. So I just plugged on. I tried to keep a solid pace, but every time I’d get it up over 20 I was getting pounded by the wind and having a hell of a time staying in any kind of rhythm. Yeah, I could have put the hammer down and just sucked it up, but I knew I would quit at the end of the bike if I did that because I would have been totally wiped. My old demons were just chomping at the bit to take me over and I did not want to give in to them yet.

At the halfway mark I checked my average and it was at 21 mph. Not bad, certainly not great nor what I am capable of. I figured on the way back we would get more tailwinds and I’d be able to pick up speed. Nada, ain’t happening. The way the route went it felt it was actually MORE into the wind on the way back, and the wind speed seemed to have increased. Ugh!

I just keep motoring, having to come out of the aero bars because my back and hip were really sore. At about mile 45 or so we finally get some relief and actually have the wind help us. Its at this time that I hear a continuous “vroot vroot” coming from somewhere on the back of the bike that I hadn’t noticed because of the wind and the sound my deep section wheel make. I say to myself, “you’ve go to be f’ing kidding me” and look back at the rear brake. Yes folks, just like Lance Armstrong in the Tour a few years ago my brake was constantly rubbing on the rim. So I reach back and flick the release to open it up more and it stops rubbing. For 45 miles I’d been fighting the wind AND my own stupidity of not checking the bike over in the morning because of being rushed. With the constant loading and unloading of the bike from home to the check-in to the transition area I must dislodged the brake and not noticed it when I put it back together.

I finally get back into town and see people trudging along on the run course (an out and back along the same route) and know I still have a half marathon to go. Ugh. At this point I’m all about just finishing the damn event and doing it in a reasonable manner. See the transition area, cross the mat and stop my watch/cyclometer at 2:48:08. The course measured 56.6 on my cyclometer and the race director said it was 56.4 on GPS, which means I averaged exactly 20 mph. Not bad …….. IF THIS WAS A CASUAL TRAIING RIDE!!! :-P

Hmmm, swim better/smarter so I wasn't wiped before even getting on the bike?? Maybe check the bike out BEFORE riding off into the distance to avoid brake rubbing?? Pay off God so he doesn't change the weather forecast at the last minute and add the wind in like he did?? Work more on eating during really high intensity efforts (thought I did that enough - guess not).

Said screw it (for about the 15th time) and took my time getting ready for the run. Helmet off, cycling shoes off, put on some socks, slipped on my racing flats, grabbed my visor, and went off to the run

Have the tranisiton set up better. I ended up running off with all the Clif Bars and gels I took for the ride in my pocket still. Forgot to take them out.

This was just a plod the feet one in front of the other. My first mile split was actually an 8:00, and the second was an 8:25. And it just went up from there. By mile 5 I was taking fluids at the aid stations and would walk briefly to drink. From about 5 – 8 I actually felt okay even though my pace was barely in the 9:30 range. I started to really cramp up around 8-1/2 miles and said I would walk some of mile 9 to stretch things out and regain strength for the final push. Big mistake …. I should have just kept running. By walking I allowed the muscle depletion/strain to kick in as walking uses different muscles. So when I tried to start running again at about 9-1/2 miles just about all of the muscles in my legs started to severely cramp up. I basically had the same situation as I had in the Baltimore Marathon last year where I freaky speed walked the majority of the last 4 miles with intermittent running until my legs locked up again. Walk until they feel relaxed, run until they cramp, repeat accordingly.

At 1 mile to go I knew I could break six hours if I moved as quickly as I could. I tried to run more than walk, but that wasn’t happening. When we made the last turn towards the finish I vowed to cross the line running and I did. Got my finishers medal, gave them my timing chip and went to find Miriam and Aiden. Got some watermelon and a Pepsi, grabbed my bike and gear and headed out.


Not be so wiped, get enough food on the bike. Not stop running to avoid the massive cramps.

None. Walk to the car, load it up, sit around while Mir nursed Aiden, tehn drive to dinner and home.


Everything ...... waves, current, wind, nutrition, etc. etc.


Race itself was fine, I was just terrible.