Eagleman 2011: fun in the Maryland sun
Race Summary
Swim:
Plan: swim smooth and easy, keep good form. Goal time: none. The Choptank can be erratic, and with the high water temps (82) there would be no wetsuit. The water seemed reasonably calm, with no surface chop and a moderate current from the NE it seemed. I kept my stroke smooth and controlled, and exited the water with plenty of energy and ready to hit the bike. Considering I swim a 43-45 with a wetsuit, I have to assume my swim time was 50-54, which I know sucks. Unfortunately, my work on the bike and run has left scant time to get better on the swim, and it will just have to wait. Still, good news: no stress on the swim, get out, clean off, get going.
Bike:
Plan: Z2 for first 10 minutes, ride Z3 the whole way. Goal time: 2:50. The winds are pretty calm for the first 10 miles at EM, so I had to reign it in for a bit. I picked up the effort and kept it within Z3 for most of the rest of the way. My approach is to divide the course into four quarters, and my first two splits were within three seconds of each other (43:47 and 43:44). I only had a couple of spikes in HR on the bike, and they did not last long. It got harder for me in the last quarter as the wind was picking up (although still mild by historic standards) on the bike and I seemed to suffer from "get-there-itis" and my HR went up into Z4 more than I would have wanted. I definitely slow-pedaled the last couple of miles to get my HR steady, and came back with a time on my Garmin of 2:51:48.
Run:
Plan: Z2 for first three miles, Z3 for as long as possible after that. Target time: 2:10. Coming off the bike feeling good and turning the Garmin on in T2, it was a bit puzzling to me in that my HR now seemed to be shooting the moon. It was high Z5 (96%) as I hit the course, and it was everything I could do to slow-jog/slog/walk in the first two miles to get it back down to something reasonable. By now the temps were already in the mid-80s, with the usual high humidity, so the suffer-fest was on. I am a bigger guy (6 feet tall, 200 lbs and a heavy-sweater), so I work to keep my temps cool and electrolyte levels steady (see nutrition, below). I got into a pattern of easy running, walking the aid stations, and trying to keep from slowing down too much. I went from a 9:45 pace near the beginning and maybe lost a minute per mile towards the end. I managed a nice brisk finish jog to keep dignity levels up at the end. Final time on Garmin of 2:16:03.
As I type this, the official results are not up, but I have to guess my final time was 6:11 to 6:15. On course (I think) to hopefully have a shot at breaking 13 hours at Lake Placid if all goes well.
Other Stuff:
Nutrition: pre-race breakfast (0500) of one bottle Ensure, one Clif Bar, 24 oz water, two cups coffee. Sip water through morning, then one Clif gel 15 minutes before swim wave. On bike: two bottles Infinit custom brew (600 cal total), supplemented with one Clif gel. Three bottles water, taking one Endurolyte capsule every half hour. On run: water and cola at each aid station (one cup each), dump ice in hat and down tri top. Heat was building through run, but no salt crusties on body so electrolyte levels were probably reasonable. NOTE TO COACH PATRICK: that was 700 calories total on the bike, so ~240 cal/hour ridden. NOT 600 cal per bottle!
Moments of Stoopid: I rode over the rumble strips they had just outside the white lane marker on the road, and the vibration ejected my tire levers and spare tube. I pressed on without them and said a prayer to the gods of flat tires. I also did a piss-poor job setting up my cages on my new bike and one of my bottle cages came loose. Fortunately I have another cage on the seat tube so I had extra room. Glad everything shook loose long before Lake Placid!
Swim:
Plan: swim smooth and easy, keep good form. Goal time: none. The Choptank can be erratic, and with the high water temps (82) there would be no wetsuit. The water seemed reasonably calm, with no surface chop and a moderate current from the NE it seemed. I kept my stroke smooth and controlled, and exited the water with plenty of energy and ready to hit the bike. Considering I swim a 43-45 with a wetsuit, I have to assume my swim time was 50-54, which I know sucks. Unfortunately, my work on the bike and run has left scant time to get better on the swim, and it will just have to wait. Still, good news: no stress on the swim, get out, clean off, get going.
Bike:
Plan: Z2 for first 10 minutes, ride Z3 the whole way. Goal time: 2:50. The winds are pretty calm for the first 10 miles at EM, so I had to reign it in for a bit. I picked up the effort and kept it within Z3 for most of the rest of the way. My approach is to divide the course into four quarters, and my first two splits were within three seconds of each other (43:47 and 43:44). I only had a couple of spikes in HR on the bike, and they did not last long. It got harder for me in the last quarter as the wind was picking up (although still mild by historic standards) on the bike and I seemed to suffer from "get-there-itis" and my HR went up into Z4 more than I would have wanted. I definitely slow-pedaled the last couple of miles to get my HR steady, and came back with a time on my Garmin of 2:51:48.
Run:
Plan: Z2 for first three miles, Z3 for as long as possible after that. Target time: 2:10. Coming off the bike feeling good and turning the Garmin on in T2, it was a bit puzzling to me in that my HR now seemed to be shooting the moon. It was high Z5 (96%) as I hit the course, and it was everything I could do to slow-jog/slog/walk in the first two miles to get it back down to something reasonable. By now the temps were already in the mid-80s, with the usual high humidity, so the suffer-fest was on. I am a bigger guy (6 feet tall, 200 lbs and a heavy-sweater), so I work to keep my temps cool and electrolyte levels steady (see nutrition, below). I got into a pattern of easy running, walking the aid stations, and trying to keep from slowing down too much. I went from a 9:45 pace near the beginning and maybe lost a minute per mile towards the end. I managed a nice brisk finish jog to keep dignity levels up at the end. Final time on Garmin of 2:16:03.
As I type this, the official results are not up, but I have to guess my final time was 6:11 to 6:15. On course (I think) to hopefully have a shot at breaking 13 hours at Lake Placid if all goes well.
Other Stuff:
Nutrition: pre-race breakfast (0500) of one bottle Ensure, one Clif Bar, 24 oz water, two cups coffee. Sip water through morning, then one Clif gel 15 minutes before swim wave. On bike: two bottles Infinit custom brew (600 cal total), supplemented with one Clif gel. Three bottles water, taking one Endurolyte capsule every half hour. On run: water and cola at each aid station (one cup each), dump ice in hat and down tri top. Heat was building through run, but no salt crusties on body so electrolyte levels were probably reasonable. NOTE TO COACH PATRICK: that was 700 calories total on the bike, so ~240 cal/hour ridden. NOT 600 cal per bottle!
Moments of Stoopid: I rode over the rumble strips they had just outside the white lane marker on the road, and the vibration ejected my tire levers and spare tube. I pressed on without them and said a prayer to the gods of flat tires. I also did a piss-poor job setting up my cages on my new bike and one of my bottle cages came loose. Fortunately I have another cage on the seat tube so I had extra room. Glad everything shook loose long before Lake Placid!
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Comments
You were close to all time targets on a HOT day! You executed your pacing and nutrition as planned. HR is a difficult metric to keep steady on a day like that. Good job staying in your box!!! I will be watching you online finish sub 13 at Lake Placid!!!!
Great to meet you and see you on the course. Nice work paying attention to your numbers (I raced EM with HR last year and know what you mean about seeing spiking HR - a lot of that is heat).
Very glad you had a few teachable moments out there so you can avoid those pitfalls at IMLP!
Congrats!!