Eagleman 70.3,
Cambridge, MD 6/10/2012
So I came up with this idea to start writing a blog about
races that I have done, and maybe some of the training that goes along with the
race. I thought of this after reading
some witty and humorous blogs by a few friends and other fellow athletes. I admit that I am
apprehensive, in that I’m not sure if I will have the talent to keep the blog
interesting and funny. Worst comes to
worst, at least I will have a way to look back and remember my experience, and
for those of you that know me know that my memory is not always great, so this
will be a big help!
That being said, here is my first recount of the Eagleman
70.3 race. First off, I am coming into
this race with an injury, plantar fasciitis……and for those of you familiar with
it probably know the pain, it SUCKS! The
week leading up to the race I thought it might be helpful to take some daily
doses of Ibuprofen and some during the race, but I'll get to that a little later.
Pre-race: With every
official Ironman event, triathletes are expected to pick up their packet and
race number the day before the race, as well as rack your bike in
Transition. I was flying solo for this
race so I bribed my husband into joining me as SAG (support and gear). It still amazes me at how much I pack and take
with me to a race, here is the list of items:
- bike
- race suit
- wetsuit
- goggles
- bike shoes
- running shoes
- hat
- Garmin
- water (lots of water)
- race nutrition
- snack food (somewhat healthy)
- breakfast
- recovery drink
- extra clothes to change into after the race.
We pull into Cambridge around 2pm and check into the event
expo, just in time for the pro forum.
Basically that means that around this time is when the expo is most crowded;
triathletes have the opportunity to meet the pro lineup. This year it included: Craig ‘Crowie’
Alexander, Mirinda Carfree, Meredith Kessler, and TJ Tollakson.
As much as I’m not a fan of crowds, I must admit that being in the
presence of such incredible athletes is inspiring!!!
After picking up my race number and “schwag bag,” which I must say
was a pretty decent shirt and nice gym bag, we set out to rack my bike in
transition.
There is limited
parking at the race site, so Ron found a parking spot and I rode my bike to the
race site/transition. I made sure to top
off my tires, however once I got my bike to transition another athlete warned
me that I should let some air out of my tires. The theory behind this is
because our bikes will be baking in the sun all day which could potentially
lead to tire blow outs. Of course I
turned to my SAG and he agreed. So I let
some air out of tires reminding myself I can top them off again tomorrow. Better to have an intact tire than having the
crisis of a busted tube race morning. I
spent some extra time checking out transition, specifically swim exit, bike
out/in, run out, and finish. I was
fortunate to be directly in the middle of the entire transition, row K. Bike is racked and now off to find our
hotel……30+ miles from the race site.
We got checked in
and settled into our hotel, which was in between Delmar and Salisbury, MD. The next challenge was finding a place to get
a sufficient pre-race meal, and one that will be relatively safe on the
stomach. I had e-mailed a friend from
high school who lives in the area about dinner ideas, the response I
got…..McDonalds??!! He felt obligated
because his wife owns the restaurant.
Fortunately I have the foresight to realize that McDonalds may not be
the best pre-race meal and instead opted to eat at Outback. A few friends and fellow triathletes provided
me sage advice about pre-race drinking and here it is:
- A Race: one adult beverage
- B Race: two adult beverages
- C Race: three adult beverages
- D Race: just drink all you want and hope to finish!
I ended up going
in between the A and B race by having a ‘large’ glass of beer. There are carbs in beer, right??? The rest of
the night was pretty uneventful, relaxing at the hotel (in other words check,
recheck and recheck my race day bag).
After going over
my race day gear several times (ok, maybe 4 or 5 times) I finally made it to
bed a little after 10pm. Sleeping the night before a race is never restful for
myself, but that is par for the course.
The alarm was set of 3:50am, that’s right, the butt crack of dawn.
Race Day: I was
up several times before the alarm actually went off, but 3:50 came around and I
was up to start the day. Race day starts
with breakfast and coffee. As a
triathlete I’ve come to realize that all discussions are free game, to include
bathroom planning/issues. I give myself
at least an hour before having to leave for the race site in order to allow my
system to “process.” One thing that is consistent with early race day mornings
is that “Three’s Company” always seems to be on TV, specifically my TV. In addition to my typical morning routine, I
also obsessively checked the link for the water temperature. The question was whether the race would be
wetsuit legal. According to the website,
the water was 76.3…..wetsuit legal temp is 76.1, would the temperature fall .2
degrees to make the cutoff???
Ron and I decided
that he would try to just drop me off at the race site instead of having to
deal with the race day shuttle. This
seemed to be a convenient option and I made it to transition by 6am. After getting “body marked” I head to my
transition spot and begin setting up the rest of my gear. Another great thing about triathlon is that
you end up seeing the same people at different races. Turns out my bike was racked next to the same
girl I was racked next to at Pocono 70.3.
We had a brief conversation about how the Pocono 70.3 race course is
changing for 2012 and looked to be much easier than the course we
completed. Interpretation: we finished a
very difficult course….we are stronger and tougher than those to come in the following
years J
While obsessively
checking and rechecking my transition gear I hear the race announcer on the
loud speaker say the wonderful words, “water temperature is wet suit
legal.” I had almost made the decision
not to bring the wetsuit, fortunately I did.
Last minute checks were done, tires topped off, and I was ready to leave
transition by 6:45am, when transition closes and the pros are ready to
start. I now had to wait until 7:42am
when my swim wave started. This allowed
me some time for one more potty break before starting. During the wait I also had the opportunity to
meet some other fellow triathletes and the warning from one about the jellyfish
in the water. Great.
Swim: So my race wave
was about to get into the water, one last gel before start and in the water I
go. We had to tread water for a few
minutes before the official start. I
find this to be helpful in getting acclimated to the water and to test out the
goggles. 7:42am….and we are off. The goal for my swim was to finish in less
than 47 minutes, my time from Florida 70.3 last year. I felt really good in the water and felt I
was able to get into a nice rhythm. A
few times I ran into other swimmers and vice versa, but I tried not to allow
this to slow me down or stop. I’ve
struggled with getting a side stitch in the past during the swim and really
tried to focus on steady breathing to prevent this from happening. Throughout part of the swim I kept thinking
about how long the full distance will be, but also kept reminding myself that I
will be able to complete it. Before I knew it the swim was nearing the
finish. I was really happy with how I
felt during the swim and my finish time: 38:05
Transition
1: T1 went smoothly. The wetsuit was easy to pull off and I
quickly slipped on my socks and biking shoes, helmet, sunglasses, and race
belt. Biking is my favorite part so I couldn’t wait to get started. I did have a quick chance to chat with
another racer racked beside me. She
mentioned how she pretty much drafted off of me during the swim and thanked
me….wow, someone drafted off me and I’m slow!!!
Run: As I said
earlier, this race is known to be a hot one.
It did not disappoint….temperature was about 94 degrees with higher
humidity. The flat out and back run
course has little to no shade at all….one long hot run. I went out into the run with a few other
people in my age group and then I slowly watched them go off into the distance
until I could no longer see them. I knew
I would not be able to keep that pace and reminded myself that I need to run a
pace that will allow me to finish. I
noticed on my watch that if I could run the half marathon on 2 hours I could
finish in just under 5:30! My goal was
to beat my overall time from Florida of 6:18 and my fast bike split gave me a
lot of extra leeway. By mile 3 in the
run was beginning to realize the impact of the heat. I was starting to slow down. I made sure to hit each water station, about
each mile, and would drink 2-3 cups of water in addition to throwing water and
ice on myself and down my race suit.
Just before the half way point I realized I needed to pee….to pee or not
to pee that is the question. I opted to
use a port-o-john….hot, stinky, and gross, but glad I went. As I made the turn around I began to notice
my pace was slowing up substantially and would not finish within 5:30. My legs started to feel like lead with some
cramping in the quads. I also began to
notice an overall desire to just lay down in some grass and take a nap. I believe that I became slightly hyponatremic
and could have used some extra sodium to help keep me going. I will plan to experiment with this during
some training runs/rides over the summer.
During this long difficult run I noticed that I began to question
whether I will be able to complete the ironman in November…..I really needed to
refocus on completing this race instead of catastrophizing future races. Toward the end of the run I noticed my feet
also felt heavy, although I believe this was truly the case from the gallons of
water I dumped on myself and all the sprinklers I ran through. I was pretty sure I would have a blister but
fortunately did not. About 1.5 miles
from the finish I begin to hear the festivities of the finish line…motivation
to keep pushing. I managed to shuffle my
feet along for the remainder until I reounded the corner of the finish line
chute. For those of you that have
competed in races, you know the excitement of the finish line. Well, ironman
events do not skimp out on the finish line festivities, what an experience. I struggled to finish off the run and managed
to finish with an overall time of 5:43:55.
Although the run was my slowest half marathon yet, I did manage to shave
over 30 minutes off my last 70.3 race!!!!
