Ironman 70.3 Eagleman Triathlon - Triathlon

Had a good swim. Started pretty far to the outside. There were 2 guys in the wave that were to my right that finished ahead of me in 28:xx. Not sure if I could have latched onto their feet, but by the time I tried to angle over I missed them. Otherwise I swam by myself and navigated through the previous waves pretty well. Current was noticeable on the outbound leg and then as a bit of a cross current on the 2nd leg. Also on the second leg there was a kayaker right in the middle of the swim course for some reason and a jet skier was messing around with the 2nd turn buoy. Swam all the way into shore, always surprised how many people walk it in from so far out.

Not much. Not sure if I could have latched onto the guys who finished ahead of me, but there was only a couple of them and it's hard to find few feet.

Got to my rack quickly and had my suit down to my waist way before I got there. Suit was off in a snap. Ran barefoot through the muddy grass to the start of the bike course. Nothing of interest to note. Had a decent rack position.

10/235 in AG.
61/2100 OA.

Nothing.

Got going pretty well out of transition and settled into the aerobars and got a bit of water in me. Navigated through the craziness of the first few turns in town before getting out to 343 and was able to find my pace. There was some congestion on the course, but nothing out of the ordinary from my vantage point. Seemed to settle in around 2 other guys and got 4 bike lengths back of them and just held it there for quite a while on 16. Every now and then they'd get close to each other and the guy in second would just coast and that would mess things up for me so I had to make the pass. Saw them a few more times here and there yo-yo'ing around. This course lends itself to an even power/effort output. I have no use for yo-yo'ing, coasting, or any of that.

Smithville was no problem. That's my favorite part of the course. Winding your way through endless marshes, trees, etc, and the road is in good shape. Golden Hill Rd was fine and I was surprised and happy to pass by my girlfriend there. The only issue here was a rider that I was coming up on. I looked back to move left and then for some reason put my head down for a split second and as I looked up she's drifted out to the left and is out of the saddle coasting and stretching. In order to avoid crashing I just barely made it around her on the right. Pretty sketchy.

Egypt Rd was what it was, but since the winds were light and in a favorable direction I wasn't nearly in the same mindset on this part of course as I normally am (slightly negative normally). Then back onto Dailsville and Town Point. That's where I found the only real draft pack of the day. What I thought was just some course congestion quickly formed into a dozen or so riders with a tailwind racing back to T2. I motored up to the front to get through it, but then they came on back by as I got something to drink and started thinking about T2 and spinning out my legs.

I had a 600 calorie bottle of Infinit that I was taking with water and 2 gels. Got most of the bottle down, but probably left 100 cals in it. Otherwise I grabbed water at 2 or 3 aid stations.

Not much. This is my fastest bike split at this distance and on this course. My offseason focus on the bike seems to have netted me some more gains.

4 year progression is:
2:41, 2:39, 2:33, 2:28.

As I approached transition there was a bunch of people stacked up at the dismount line (mostly from that draft pack) taking off their shoes and doing various other bullshit in a static fashion blocking the way. So I basically slowed to a complete stop and squeezed by. My buddy Chris was working the dismount line trying like hell to get people to get moving. The run in was a giant mud pit. 3-6" deep of mud. What a shitshow. Anyway ran through the slop as best I could without biting it and got to my rack but had a second of trouble finding my spot and then I crossed paths with another guy who was coming down the row. Got bike racked and then looked down at my feet to put on my socks and saw they were covered in mud. Thought about it for a second to think if there was anything I could do about it and decided there wasn't. So on went the socks, shoes, hat, and belt and that was that.

Pretty smooth considering the circumstances.

36/235 AG
201/2100 OA

Where to start with this one? First couple miles I linked up with another guy who was running the same pace. It was good to have someone there to kind of ensure that things were steady and that I could key off of. Otherwise I found my running legs reasonably well. They never got really snappy but they didn't feel like shit either. Started in on the aid stations with gatorade and some water over the head. The turn onto the bypass is the part of the run that mentally always is a bit of a hurdle. For one, you lose the neighborhood fun. For two, it usually seems hotter/desolate there, and for three, it's a long ways to the next aid station if you need anything. At any rate, I got through there and out onto 343 and kept moving well. Saw Mike G heading back in somewhere around there. Down Horns Pt Rd things were fine and got to the turn around in 47:37. On the way back I could feel some fatigue building in my legs. Had to make a bit more of a deliberate effort to get what I needed at the aid stations which slowed me down a bit. I think my running pace slowed a little bit, too. Had a few twinges in my groin and hamstring in miles 9-11 that I was worried about but didn't get any worse. Anyway, more or less held it together and came back in 49:46 which is about the same time I came back in last year when I was fully tapered and feeling great.

Not much, I think the slight lack in bike preparation for this distance probably 'cost' me a couple minutes on the way back on the run. But I'm real happy with that split on the day. Fastest run split for me on this course.

Progression is 1:49, 1:48, 1:38, 1:37.

Cooled down in the chute and at the firetruck. Had some water and gatorade and eventually some food. Sat in the shade.


Not much. Didn't do as many long rides as I normally would have and I think that had a slight impact on the back half of the run.


They had to contend with a ton of rainfall from TS Andrea that soaked the venue in the 2 days leading up to the race. Pretty sure the transition area was gonna get sloppy anything short of paving it over. Oh well, made things interesting for sure!