Ironman 70.3 EagleMan Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 8)

I'm here and all checked in. I'm amazed at how many Felt B12 bikes there are. I'm used to being one of maybe two or three. There were six of us with B12s just as I was going towards bike check in.

Lordy it's humid. I'm not even going to bother putting the wetsuit in the car in the morning. No reason to.

I do believe it's a ride for the Atmos and not the aero helmet.

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Good luck folks! My wife & I did this race the last 2 years. This year we went to visit her parents in Montana. It's 70 here. :-)

Good morning everyone. Time to get up and get going.

Good luck to all!

Holy cow the forecast changed. Clear to partly cloudy and 10% precip until 3:00 PM Max of 92 degrees. Bring on the race!

I'm vibrating

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As a first 70.3 for me this was a great test.  Tough conditions on that run.  What an excellently run race - can't say enough good things about the organization of this race, the volunteers and the town of Cambridge.  A first class event!!

First let me caveat what I'm about to write by saying my tone here isn't bragging. It's probably more elation and satisfaction, so just conveying my feelings. See this was my third time doing this course and as payback for the other two...though to be fair I just wanted to finish the first year (first HIM distance event) and didn't care about time quite so much. See in 2008, it was like last year - HOT (which thank goodness I didn't do). 95 at the start of the run at 11 AM! So, I just did then what a lot of folks did yesterday..walk through the aid stations and run to the next one. Then after a decent swim, bike, and transitions, I had a disastrous run in 2009 - quads completely and painfully froze up just at the start of the run. I couldn't even keep walking at first. Turned out to be the most painful 13.1 miles I've ever done. So, I came to Eagleman 2011 with lessons learned from the past and had trained accordingly. And unlike what many of you experienced and what I saw on the run, I had a great run for me! And due to that, this was a HIM distance PR for me, doing 18 minutes better than a different Half race in 2008. And I shattered my time on the Eagleman course by roughly 36 min! This despite the conditions. Now to be a bit fair, it was a little "cooler" having started earlier. Still, when I was coming back on the run with the full sun, it definitely felt pretty darn warm to me.

Eagleman is definitely a class act event and perhaps I'll be back another year. But I've laid the disastrous run ghost of 2009 to rest for the Eagleman course and will set my sights on something else for 2012. Hope you all get revenge and satisfaction on the course as I did some season!

Edited by sbrdave 2011-06-13 7:55 PM

I agree with a lot of what you are saying here.  I did the race in 2007... Was offered a Kona slot, passed.  Took the Clearwater slot.  Then came back in 2008 to destroy the course.  Massive injuries leading up to the race then the HEAT.  A horrific painful run on undertrained legs.  Took a few years off the race and decided that this year was going to be different.  Proper training and a solid base with no injuries... A solid lead in for a good race.  The heat on the run got me some, but more so because I am big guy.  I'm 180 right now.  Could stand to drop another 15-20 lbs.  That'll come in time.  

Congrats on some payback.  It feels good.  

Check the Tri Columbia website in July. Hopefully they have the date registration opens posted. Their website changed and it's not nearly as easy to tell what's going on with event registration (told them I didn't like the new one). It's usually been August when registration opens for next year, but it has been slowly getting earlier. In year's past, it's sold out pretty quick. Last year it took longer we believe partly due to the economy and partly due to folks' memories of the heat.

Good luck!

Edited by sbrdave 2011-06-14 3:52 AM

What ever happened to Macca? Wasn't he supposed to race on Sunday?

Supposed to be Craig Alexander and he was sick.

Also when do they post official results?

I think it's usually a few days after the event. Not sure how many days past. The unofficial ones are still on the Ironman site via Athlete Tracker. You have to search for Eagleman though since the event is past.

I've been reading through just about all of the Eagleman race reports and they're great information for someone like me who is going to do his first HIM at Eagleman next year.  I'm living through everyone's successes, mistakes, outright failures, and almost getting hit by a wild turkey on the bike.  Great stuff...these race reports are one of the many reasons this site is so great for beginners, you feel like you've been there already.

Thanks! A few things:

- Weekly bricks really starting in April (though I did one in mid-March too, what a shock!) and increasing in distances to the end of May, then tapered the brick distances after that. So, longest were 52 mile bike followed by a 9 mile run. Did that twice. I actually did a short brick of 11.5 followed by a 3.6 mile run the Thursday before the race when it was in the mid-90s. I know some folks say not to do long bricks, but I thought I needed to get myself used to doing them in prep for the race demands. Didn't do that in the past.

- We were fortunate to have warm to hot and humid conditions start in April and really get going in May. So, while many folks do their workouts in the mornings, I was doing them usually in the afternoon during the heat of the day. This REALLY helped acclimate me to possible conditions. I heard from folks up north a bit more that it's just been too cool there. Gosh, though, first long brick of 52 and 9 threw me for a big loop as it was in the 80s with sun, I went out too fast on the run, cramped at the 4.5 mile turn around, and was forced to walk partially on the way back or take things real slow. Also, I realized at one point that I was leaning while shuffling like you see triathletes do during races sometimes. Last long brick of these distances and same conditions, I did better and also used a few heat management items.

- Heat: The big thing I do is to have a wetted small towel wrapped on the back of my neck and stuffed into the front of my tri top on the run. This does 3 things: helps to cool the blood to my head and some in my chest, allows me to wipe sweat from face and arms so I sweat better, and keeps the sun off of my neck. The other thing I have for training and possibly races if it really gets hot is a cooling top by DeSoto. The way this top is made enables a bit better evaporation of sweat and therefore helps cool a bit better. It's also white. One other item is a full cap vs visor. I learned in 2008 to put ice in there at the aid stations. I also pour water on it as well. I have a cap by Zoot that helped then, but it's falling apart now and I used the one they gave me at the race instead. Still, a full cap keeps the sun off your head and you can keep ice in it.

- Spin more when riding into the wind. While we didn't really have headwinds the other day, we had 25 miles of them during 2009. And I really mashed the gears as I just didn't want my bike time to suffer. So forgot that I still had the run, though not getting cramps on the bike lulled me into a false sense of security when I got to T2 and then started the run. The spinning seems to help keep my legs fresher and less tired before starting the run.

While I was following my nutrition/hydration/electrolyte plan during the bike and run, I was also grabbing water to gulp and pour over me as well as ice for my hat (when available) at nearly every aid station on the run. I was using my own Powerade which I think is better than Gatorade, but I ran out of my stuff near the halfway point on the run. So Gatorade after that when I thought I needed it. I just didn't want to cramp up and was pretty much covering as many bases as possible here between hyrdation and electrolyte/nutrition needs.

BTW, I was one of the early waves. So it might not have been quite as hot for me. It was still very warm to perhaps hot out there in the full sun later, especially on the return trip.

I've posted my race report if you're interested, but it is a novel to read as I write to share my experience vs just giving some numbers.

Hope you get satisfaction/revenge in another year!