Nemo's Eagleman 2010 Race Report
Yes, I did the Eagleman Half Ironman again this year. I know, I know, I said last year would be the last year! But I needed a June race, within driving distance, and many of my Maryland/VA friends were going to be there, sooooooooo, as Brittney used to say, whoops, I did it again!
For those of you who want just the facts, here is the quick summary. The new swim course was slow (for everyone) this year, the winds were somewhat typical for Eagleman (in your face nearly the whole way), and to say the run was hot would be an extreme understatement (92 degrees and “feels like” temps raging from 102 to 107 depending on which weatherman you listen to). However, I achieved my “Do No Harm” goal for the day and ran a consistent pace on the run. 6:32:06 isn’t my best Half Ironman time by a long shot, but it isn’t my worst either, and I’m very happy with the way I executed the race under the conditions of the day!
OK- Now for those of you who like a little more detail, here it is!
Friday: Took the day off of work to drive up to Cambridge MD with fellow GS OBX Tri buddy, Jim Ebert. It was great having someone to share the 5 hour drive with and even nicer to have the opportunity to spend some time getting to know Jim a little better. Great guy with awesome stories! We rolled into Cambridge around 4:00 and went strait to registration to beat the crowds- that worked out great! Next stop was at Ma and Pa Potters house (where I would be crashing for the weekend) to hook up with Chuck and Michele before dinner at Ocean Odyssey with the Cambridge Multisport Triathlon club. The food was good and the company was great. The CMS club has really grown strong over the past few years and it was nice to hook up with old friends and meet new ones too.
Saturday: Chuck, Michele, Damon, Erica, Al, and Emily were all in town for the race to train, spectate, and volunteer, but NOT race. So while they rode the course Saturday morning, I relaxed and took care of a few errands, including a quick return trip to registration because my athlete wrist band had fallen off the night before and was lost. With that detail taken care of I did a short ride of the run course and decided I would not wear the aero helmet for the race- it was simply too hot.
When the gang returned from their ride they reported the winds on the course were very gusty and several folks raised concerns about me riding with the wheel covers on my rear wheel. I’m pretty comfortable with riding in the wind, but rather than worry about it all night, I took the warning to heart and opted to remove the covers before checking my bike into transition. They also reported the wind was blowing in the opposite direction from the normal pattern for Eagleman. They faced a head wind on the front side of the course, but then got a tail wind around mile 40. That sounded like music to my ears! Unfortunately, this turned out not to be the case on race day!
We then all headed out to the river for a short swim. This was a “test out the temps” swim for me and a “cooldown” swim for them! It was wonderful swimming side by side with Michele again- it’s been such a long time! Anyway, the water felt good, no jellifish, and just cool enough for a wetsuit but not too cold. I figured it would be a great swim- again, this unfortunately turned out not to be the case on race day!!
Dinner Saturday night was at a place formerly known as Bella Luna (I can’t remember the new name!) with the Endurance Nation team. It was great meeting everyone face to face for the first time! Dinner was good and we had a nice relaxing time sharing stories. Also ran into Christina Kichula at dinner who was in town from California for the race as well. See, this is why I was doing Eagleman again, it’s like being a local!
The Potter house was pretty full pre-race night with both Bill Riggs and Bill Wheeler joining in the sleepover party, so I headed over to Chuck’s brothers house for the night to get my own comfy bed and amazingly got a decent night sleep.
Sunday: Woke up with a slight headache- ugh. Took a few advil and hoped it would clear before the race. I headed back to the Potters house to eat breakfast and get ready for the race and then we all drove down to the race site together. As we got close to transition Jim Ebert found us and reported he had heard it would be a no wetsuit swim. Huh???? Temps seemed perfectly cool enough for wetties to me!!! As I un-wrapped my bike from its overnight rain gear (i.e. plastic bags and shower caps) the rumor was confirmed by the announcer- no wetsuits. Hmmmm, now I knew from the locals that the newly designed swim course was going to have a bit of a current which would get stronger as the day went on. So I wasn’t really thrilled with also having to loose the wetsuit, but unlike a few years ago when this change really would have freaked me out, I just accepted it for what it was and figured we were all in it together.
I ran into Kate and Cary from Endurance Nation while setting up my transition area and wished them good luck. With transition set, I headed over to the porto-pottie line where the next new surprise would be announced. For reasons I still don’t know, the start would be delayed by 15 min. Ugh. For those of us in the originally scheduled 8:00 wave (one full hour after the Pros start), this meant we would be getting to the run even later in the day when the heat would be at its worst (did I mention it turned out to be 92 degrees?) and the current would be stronger still. Oh well- we’re all in this together, right? With a looooong time to wait for my start, I headed over to a shady spot under a tree, found another fellow ENer, Wei, there, and sat down next to him to relax until my start.
The Swim (59:34)
No, that’s not a typo, that’s 20 minutes slower than my swim time last year at Eagleman. Yeah, I suck at swimming, but I don’t suck that bad!!! And no- there’s no way wearing a wetsuit makes me 20 minutes faster. Something else (current, or mismarked course, or a combo of the two) had to be a factor here.
I walked into the water and by the time I made my way to the start buoy the gun went off- so I didn’t have to tread water for very long at all- perfect! I relaxed and got into a groove, just swimming along, enjoying the jellyfish free water, and being in an open water swim again. I know that sounds strange coming from me, but I kinda like the mass start open water swims now! Somehow I feel more comfy with all those arms and legs thrashing about around me! Anyway, I’m swimming along and I just don’t seem to be making much progress to that first turn buoy, which, by the way, seems REALLY far away! I finally get to the turn in about 30 minutes and I’m feeling pretty beat up and tired just at about the time that the blue caps of the Men 45-49 started pummeling their way through. I tried to catch whatever draft I could to follow along after their feet but then began to realize that not only was I tired, but I really had to pee! There was a surfboard volunteer at the next turn buoy and I decided to swim to the board and float next to him to try to relax and pee (sorry Coach Rich- I can’t swim and pee at the same time- I really did try!). After what seemed like an eternity I was able to empty my bladder and then continue on the final leg into the swim finish, knowing that my time was really going to suck. When I reached shore I was really bummed to see the time. One Hour??? I nearly packed in it right there.
T1 (3:14)
With a crappy swim behind me, I had no sense of urgency getting through transition. I stopped in the port-o-potty to pee again (obviously I’m well hydrated anyway) and casually walked out of transition figuring I needed to get my heart rate down before I hopped on the bike because I was feeling unusually toasted from the swim.
Bike (3:06)
My plan for the bike was pretty simple: Nutrition and Hydration every 15 min, extra salt tablet at the top of each hour, and a GU at 1:30 and 2:30 into the ride. I opted to dial back my watt goals to a max of .7 IF given the heat and figured that would still have me rolling in from the bike in roughly 3:15-3:30 timeframe which I was OK with. My run has been very weak this year due to the calf injury and I wanted to save energy and leg power for the run. As I made the turn onto Church Creek road I could feel the headwind pushing in and thought “oh good- just like yesterday, we’ll get a tail wind after mile 40ish”.
I stopped at the second aid station to hit a porta-potty again (see- really, I was well hydrated!) and continued on course simply doing my thing, keeping my distance, and politely calling “on your left” to all the fishies who got out of the water ahead of me. The ride was pretty uneventful except for the various potholes on route which served to create a minor obstacle course of gear that had fallen off the bikes of riders ahead of me. Seriously, one of these days I’m gonna drive the course after the race and pick up all that loot!
I made the turn onto Egypt road looking forward to the anticipated tail wind only to find that familiar mile 40 headwind still in my face! HUH???? OK, I don’t know what happened, but honestly, I think the wind shifted while we were out there and as a result we had the wind in our face all day. Grrrrr. Around mile 45 my neck and shoulders started to bother me- I obviously need to spend more time on Fiona! About mile 50 I began to feel the heat and anticipated just how dreadful the run was going to be. I considered bailing on the run- after all, I’ve been injured, right? And I’ve done this race a million times already, I have nothing to prove, right?. And everyone knows I don’t want to get hurt on the run and had considered bailing after the bike anyway, right? Hmmmmmmm.
T2 (2:40)
The great thing about an out & back run course is that you get to see some if not all of your teammates out there. Knowing I had Endurance Nation teammates on the run course and even more great friends on the sidelines cheering for me was all the encouragement I needed to get off the bike, move through transition, and get my butt out on the run! Thanks to all of you for being there, I’m not sure what decision I would have made in T2 without you all!
Run (2:19)
As most of you know, I’ve been coming back from a calf injury this winter and progress has been slow but steady. My max distance run prior to Eagleman was 9 miles and I had done absolutely no speed or interval work. My goal for the race was “Do No Harm” and the run is where this mantra meant the most to me. I wanted to finish Eagleman in good health (no calf problems) and ready to recover and start training for Ironman Wisconsin. My original plan for the run was to do 10:30’s for the first 3 miles and then up that to 10’s for the remainder of the race. With the hot temps I adjusted that plan to simply keep it at 10:30’s and run from aid station to aid station.
Heading out of T2 I looked at my Garmin to find myself going 9:30s and had to seriously back it down. I walked a few steps to get myself under control, put sunscreen on my shoulders as I walked, and then handed off the tube of sunscreen to another competitor before starting to run again- this time under much better control. I had a simple repetitive routine at every aid station: Sip from my Gu Flask (which was watered down to make it easy to sip), grab a cup of ice water (drink half, dump the other half on my head), grab a cup of ice and stuff the ice down my bra, then fish out a cube for each hand and start running again. When an ice cube in my hands melted small enough I would pop it into my mouth and then fish another cube out of my bra. I’m sure it was a sight to see! But it worked. The goal of the day was to keep moving and get to the next aid station before the ice all melted. Because if the ice melted, you were dooooooomed!
At the half way point I bent down to kiss the magic turn-a-round cone and was so happy to be making my way back towards transition again! At mile 7 they had cherry flavored ice cones and I admit, I took a little extra walk break during that aid station to enjoy my snow cone! Yummmmm! I made one other longish mile around mile 9 when I stopped for another port-o-potty break, but otherwise my pace throughout the run was pretty consistent. When the Garmin buzzed to tell me I had hit mile 10, I allowed myself to start counting the roadkill. Anyone I passed after that point, regardless of the age group number on your calf, was roadkill! I love this game, it really keeps you moving forward at a time when your body wants to shut down, and it becomes very motivating and positive as you start to think, hmmmm can I hit 50 before the finish? What about 60? I’m happy to say I got to 78 before crossing the finish line in 6:32:06, with not a single little niggle or complaint from the calf. No Harm Done!
Well, not exactly. I crossed the finish line, grabbed some water, and sat in a chair to cool down before leaving the finish area. As I sat in the chair I started to shiver, badly. I felt a little nausea and then got hot again. This went back and forth from hot to cold a few times until a volunteer walked me to the medical tent for evaluation. My blood pressure had dropped to low levels and my resting HR was elevated, so with all those symptoms together they decided to give me an IV drip. While a laid in the tent with my IV, another woman brought her friend into the tent for evaluation and saw me lying there with my Endurance Nation Visor- turns out she was a new EN member, Lesley, who I had recently helped out on the forum! Pretty cool! She kept me company until my drip was done and I felt much better! Thanks Leslie!
Back in transition to pack up my things, I ran into Christina again who had come in 10th in her AG. Simply amazing! Competition at Eagleman is tough, and she did fantastic! I found Chuck who became my Sherpa and helped me get back to the Potters for a much needed shower and some food! Bill Riggs met us at the Potters with his own AG award (Congrats Bill!) and we all headed over to the CMS Post Race Party for a little well deserved celebration.
In the end, this may not have been a PR time for me, but I couldn’t be happier with the way I executed the race. About 30 min slower than my best Eagleman time, 20 min of which was that crazy swim, and the other 10 min were mainly from the run. Heck, if that’s as bad as it got in all that heat, and coming back from an injury, well I’ll take it!
Next up is Ironman Wisconsin! I’m racing for the Outer Banks SPCA so I need to buckle down and get to work on my training! If you haven’t already done so, please consider helping me with this campaign and making a donation to the Outer Banks SPCA in honor of your favorite pet! Just click on the link below 
Comments
Enjoyed reading your race report Nemo, great job on the bike execution! In this haus that is the mantra, is it not
Now onward to IMWI!
that's definitely some ninja-level execution. nice job, Nemo! conditions sound brutal but the road kill tally speaks for itself. super pumped the calf is better!
Dom
And if you want company to go pick up loot on the bike course, I'm there with you!
So so happy to read that your calf held up too! A big congratulatory hug to you!!
Just Plain Awesome little one!!! Considering the conditions and so forth, I'd say you had your head together and excecuted very very well. Good to see you have a tough race but get through it like we know EN Chica's can
That's what I like to hear!!!! It's all good, and a gift to be doing this. Right on, GF, way to race smart and, in the end, race tough. I've been there with the IV, so that's not a good thing, but it does make you feel so much better. Congrats, my friend. Always inspiring, and I mean that.
Yeahhhhh Nemo! Congrats on hanging tough, especially when thinking of bailing! Even better your calf held up and some good road kill. very inspiring, great comeback.
Awesome execution under brutal conditions, Nemo. Textbook EN-style smart racing. I can't believe I missed meeting you for the 2nd year in a row! I know we at least must have shouted to each other out on the run course at some point. Maybe next year (if we dare to think that far ahead!). Enjoy your recovery time and good luck on your IM!
-Chris
Love what you did out there Nemo, great work and great prep for IM Wisconsin!
Does this appear anyplace on EN? It should.
Congrats on enduring the heat and keeping the plan in motion!!
Agreed! I'll be taking that as my Mantra to IMoo this year. Thanks Coach P! Oh- and I promise Cary, I didn't start counting until after I passed you!
Wei on the other hand.............
but sure hard to count a guy who went from one extreme (IMSG) to the other in just a few weeks! Dang, Wei, I don't know how you did it!
Thanks everyone- it was truely a day of redefining what success meant.
Oh- and Trent, I got a giggle out of you calling me "little one". Who ya calling little!