Every race, every race season, has its own story. Sometimes the story has a happy ending with goals being met and new PRs being set. Other times you struggle or, worse, you crash and burn. Hard. From these extremes, however, come new knowledge about yourself. You learn what you have inside you and you learn your limits - for better or worse.
Eagleman 70.3 is a race that I have done many times in the past. On paper it looks so simple. You start with a swim in the Choptank River, hop on your bike for a almost completely flat loop around the eagle reserve, then finish it up with a half marathon on a completely flat track. Simple. Easy. Right?
Well .........
Here's the thing about Eagleman 70.3. On paper it looks like a dream. In reality, the conditions are often a huge factor. I've swam here in almost flat water and I've swam in water so choppy you couldn't see the person swimming in front of you, let alone the shoreline. The bike is flat, but there is usually a nice headwind from about mile 40 on in that will take some energy out of your legs and mess with your head. And then there's the run. One year I was here and it was mid-70s and overcast. The run course was spectacular. The other years? Hot and humid with the sun beating down on you. Did I forget to mention there is almost no shade on the run?
Clearly, race day in Cambridge, MD can be a challenge. Making it even more interesting and fun is the fact that every year a lot of great athletes (both armature and professional) show up to race. Every year I have competed here I would catch the end of the professional race during the first few miles of my run. Not only is it a cool experience to have a world champion like Marinda Carfrae or a Craig Alexander come flying past you on their way in, but it helps take your mind off the task for a few minutes.
For me, the 2014 edition of Eagleman 70.3 was going to be a different experience - a different story - than in years past. When I signed up for this race this past December the plan was to make this a good, hard workout three weeks before racing Ironman Couer d'Alene. Injury changed those plans. Seven weeks after surgery I was happy to be in Cambridge with the ability to swim and bike. With 6 total miles of running in the last 3 months, the smart thing to do was to plan on a DNF. For once in my life, I thought I'd play it smart.
Playing it smart, however, does not mean blow it off. On the contrary, just as every race has its story, every race has its lessons. So while my friends who were racing beside me were racing one of their "A" races for the season, I decided to use Eagleman as an opportunity to test out some things for my big race of the year - Ironman Florida.
So here's how things went:
Pre-race - Over many years of racing I have figured out some things that just work through trial and error. As I normally do when racing this distance, on Friday morning I swam some 1100 yards of short intervals, using the rest of the day to take in calories and take in adequate amounts of fluids. Saturday consisted of a 40 minute bike with some short pickups, just enough work to awaken the leg muscles. Normally I would have also run two miles, but not this year. I ate a big breakfast, adequate sized lunch, and a normal sized dinner. One lesson I've learned is to eat my big meal of the day 24 hours before the gun goes off, not 12 hours. By shifting your big meal ahead 12 hours you allow the body to fully digest your food before you jump in the water.
As with any good experiment I only changed one variable. For me it was an experiment with adding sea salt to my pre-race diet. I'm a heavy, salty sweater, which can cause issues while racing in warmer climates. This started about a week out. Much to my surprise I didn't feel bloated at all. In fact, I credit the added sea salt with helping my legs feel fresher, earlier in the week. By Wednesday my legs were feeling good and by Sunday morning they felt great.
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| Me and my "problems." |
Around 4 am the alarm went off on Sunday morning. Jeff, Ant, Barb and Nick were taking the hotel shuttle over to the race site, while I drove to the middle school to take the race shuttle bus, where I met up with Emily, Allison and Cassie. The weather was about as good as it gets with no wind, highs predicted to be in the low-80s, and low humidity levels. My wave start was at 8 am, which gave me more than enough time to get prepared.
Swim - I am not a swimmer. I have developed an OK swim, but I have not been swimming since I was 4 years old. What this means is I can put up a respectable swim split, I will never be hanging at the front end of any swim I do. Over my 10 years of racing triathlons I like to believe I have developed the ability to maximize my speed and minimize my energy expenditure by racing smart. Racing smart in my world means catching a pair of feet to sit on that are fast enough, and straight enough - to get me through the swim with a respectable split (for the day and distance) feeling fresh and warmed up. For the day, this was the main objective.
Overall it worked well. I started at the front of my swim wave (Male AG45-49 M through Z) and within 250 meters I was sitting on feet. After a few minutes it felt a bit slow, but after a minute of trying to break away, I jumped back on these feet and let my guide lead the way. From that point to the final turn it worked out great. I was able to move through the back end of the previous waves with little effort as the feet I was sitting on was doing the work of finding a line. All I had to do was follow and sit in his draft.
When we hit the final turn he started to drift so I made the decision to go it alone for the final stretch. While it did keep me from doing some extra swimming, it did cost me some energy. The Choptank River current had come alive, slowing us all. As I came toward the finish things got a bit weird. Approximately 300 meters from the shore this gut stood up and started to walk in. Obviously the water was low, but more and more people started to walk and I found myself swimming through walkers. Like everyone else around me, I could no longer swim about 1 minute from shore.
Total swim time: 33:59
T1 - Nothing really to note here. Without a wetsuit I was able to efficiently move through the transition area and get out onto the bike. Might have been a bit quicker if I could run and not easily jog but, whatever.
Total T1 time - 1:36
Bike - Getting out onto the bike I felt good and relaxed. The course here is flat and not very technical. For IMFL, I will be racing a course that is very similar. Thus, my game plan was to work on things that will help me in November - some nutrition things, pacing, keeping the body from getting too tight from staying aero. Because I live where I do (Bethlehem, PA), even my "short and flat" rides tend to have at least 800 feet of vertical over 20-25 miles. According to my Garmin there was 92 feet of vertical in 56 miles of riding.
On the nutrition I won't bore you with the deets, but I have personally found that
First Endurance EFS works very well. It gives my the calories I need along with the electrolytes my body craves. I'm a salty sweater who needs to stay on top of my intake. When I hit T2 my stomach felt great and my energy levels were high. If I could physically run, it would not have been an issue due to nutrition.
As for pacing my plan was simple. Over the first few miles I got settled in and let my heart rate settle down. From there I wanted to hold an average hart rate of between 135 and 140 for the ride. For me, this would firmly put me at an aerobic zone. At mile 47 I wanted to step it up a notch and finish the ride strong, knowing I physically could not run and would be handing in my chip.
And this is exactly what happened. After settling in I found a nice groove. Just as important, I found some new friends who were pushing a similar pace to me. So here's how it went down. Around mile 5 a guy from my wave caught up to me and, when he passed me, I followed right along. LEGALLY!!! There are rules for drafting in triathlon and it is very important to follow them. Which I did. But .. and this is a big but ... you can use the rules to your advantage.
Between mile 5 and mile 50 I ended up riding through a lot of people from the start waves before mine with between one and four other age group men. We all rode legally and respectful of each other. This helps in a number of ways. First, when you are riding through you can catch a bit of the draft zone as you are passing the slower riders from the earlier waves. Having other riders around at a similar pace allows you to not have to waste energy on pacing or line. You simply can follow along. It may not seem like it would help, but it does. There were long stretches of time when I simply rode along, following the guy in front of me. If we had to pass some one he moved then I moved.
Here is the official rule from USAT:
"Drafting--keep at least three bike lengths of clear space between you and the cyclist in front. If you move into the zone, you must pass within 15 seconds. Position--keep to the right hand side of the lane of travel unless passing. Blocking--riding on the left side of the lane without passing anyone and interfering with other cyclists attempting to pass. Overtaken--once passed, you must immediately exit the draft zone from the rear, before attempting to pass again."
Source: USA Triathlon
Around mile 47 I consciously picked up the effort, pushing a bit harder from that point on. While I wasn't too concerned about what my time would be, I kinda really was. Doing the math I knew I would have a great time for me, even with my fitness not being where I would want it to be. In all honesty, a few minutes of that had to do with the push over the final nine miles. Most of it, however, I attribute to just having a solid aerobic base from years of racing and training. You can see from my Garmin files below that I was able to stay within my plan, keeping myself in the right zone to be successful.
Total Bike time: 2:22:14
Final Thoughts - Eagleman is one of my favorite races. The swim is a challenge, the bike is fast, and the run, if you have made some mistakes, can be unforgiving. For me, the 2014 edition was a change to work on some things for later on in the year while travelling and racing with my friends. I call it a success. Physically I was able to do what I expected of myself coming off injury and less than idea training. Base fitness can do wonders!!! My pacing plan worked. I learned what I need to do to stay loose on the bike while still pacing where I feel I can. Finally, race day nutrition was spot on, giving me energy and happy legs throughout the day.
Turns out, this story turned out to be pretty good.
Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon
