Eagleman 70.3 Race Report
Warning :: This a a long post! 
This was my 2nd Eagleman, 2nd 70.3, and 1st 70.3 training with EN. Last year, I had an amazing race, especially considering it was my first HIM and it was HOT (as usual at Eman). So this year, I was on track to shatter last year's time by a solid 20 minutes if everything went well.
The week before the race, I didn't feel as great as I would hope to leading up to a race. I played in an impromptu parents-vs-kids soccer game the previous Saturday at my son's soccer party, and afterwards, I knew that was a mistake. My muscles were sore for three days. big mistake. The rest of the week my legs burned every time I went up the stairs... it made me uneasy, but tried to put it out of my mind.
I live in Maryland, so the trip to Cambridge is only a couple of hours. We had my son's soccer game Saturday morning, so the plan was to head out afterwards. I started feeling extremely nauseous at the game, to the point that at one point I thought i was going to throw up. Tried to chalk it up to nerves. I'm not sure what it was. The weather on Sat was HOT. Temps leading up to the race were cool, so it was hard to acclimate to the heat prior to the race.
Weather was forecasted to hit 93F on race day. Oh well, thank goodness for ICE at the aid stations! The swim ended up being wetsuit-legal by about 0.5 degree (crazy!), so that was a nice benefit.
SWIM 38:11 - my wave went off at 7:42. I was feeling pretty good. When the horn went off, I started swimming out with the pack, trying not to go out to fast. I am usually a MOP swimmer, this year maybe a little bit better than that. I got caught up in everything external... the HR went up, I felt panicked (dont know why, because I'm not a weak swimmer!), couldn't find a rhythm. Before I got to the first buoy, I felt like I was going to have to pull out. Mental fail. The first length I did everything I could to just keep moving forward. A few freestyle strokes and I felt so claustrophobic and disoriented I thought I was going to pass out. So, breaststroked a little (tough in a wetsuit!), backstroked (too disorienting looking up at the blue sky!) and even sidestroked (ugh... but at least allowed me to BREATHE). Once I was about 500yds into the swim I started fighting mentally... and was able to start doing a few freestyle strokes at a time. I realized that it was IMPERATIVE that I relax, so I remembered a conversation I had with friends that morning about "humming out your bubbles" - something that I learned in a Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen clinic. It worked! It helped me relax and I killed the remainder of the swim after the first turn buoy. I was passing people in my wave like crazy. My avg/100 was 1:54, which is about what I swim in the pool, but I KNOW I could have crushed that if I hadn't freaked out in the start. Ugh.
T1 2:42 - I could have been faster here, but I knocked everything off my aerobars! Also, I had the arm cooling sleeves, and even though I practiced my transitions before hand, I didn't practice putting those puppies on WET. Took a little longer than rehearsed. Still, fairly seamless transition.
BIKE - I felt great and was excited at this point to be done w/ the swim. I went out easy like I had rehearsed and picked up the pace after about 15-20 minutes. I felt fast, and didn't feel like I was working too hard. My heart rate was a little higher than usual, but I still felt like I was in the right zone exertion-wise. I dunno - maybe I should have paid better attention to the HR and gone a little easier, considering what was to come in the run. I had three bottles of Infinit on board - one in the aerobottle up front, and two in my rear-mounted Gorilla cages. I hit a bump about an hour into the ride and one of my bottles flew out of the Gorilla cage. Each bottle has about 230 calories, but I panicked a little bit after reading the HIM guidance in the Wiki regarding recommended calorie intake being more like 150-200 cal/hr, so I mixed it just a little weaker for race day. I figured I would be on the bike course for about 2:30, even with the dropped bottle, two bottles plus I had some "emergency" nutrition - honey stinger chews in my Bento Box - should get me through. I also grabbed a bottle of water at one of the bottle exchanges just in case. The rest of the ride felt great. I felt I was pushing, but not a zone 4 push... definitely a high zone 3 push. Like an ABP ride. Toward the end of the course, I felt really good, started spinning a little easier, sat up to stretch things out a bit. By the time I hit the final stretch I was feeling awesome. When I got off the bike, my legs felt solid and at this point, I felt like I was going to really smash last year's time.
T2 2:47 - easy transition - could have been way faster, but had a hard time putting my nutrition and S-caps in my back pocket. Too much stuff in my hands. In retrospect, should have just put the visor on at my transition space so I didn't have so much stuff in my hands. I stopped to walk for a few steps to get it all sorted out.
RUN - 2:18:45 (10:36/mile) - Ugh. This is where things went South fast. My legs felt the usual lead, for the first couple of miles, but I wasn't feeling like it was working itself out like it usually does. By the time I reached mile 2 or so, I felt it. My stomach. Really had to use the porta-john. It was all I could do to make it to the next aid station without having to hit the bushes. At the next aid station, I got ice, Pepsi, more ice, water and then hit the porta-john. I thought... okay, now I should be good. Ugh... it didn't stop. By mile 3, I had to walk. I thought I was going to pass out. It was all I could do to run 100 steps for every 50 I walked. I just kept on counting steps... I saw my family at the turn just past mile 3 and it helped to get those words of encouragement. After that, I tried to pick up the pace and hit my MP+30"" pace. I thought okay, I can do this. Then the need to use the porta-john hit me again. Grrr. I had some Immodium on me, and I think that saved me... one more time in the porta-john and I was ok for the rest of the run. Once I hit mile 4 or so, I was able to run longer stretches at MP, but still needed to add some walking stretches in there. I realized that I just needed to take my time through the aid stations and do lots of ice, ice water, Pepsi, etc. At this point though, I think it was entirely mental. I think I really could have pushed through the pain in my legs if my head had been in the right place. I just completely lost focus. At mile 10 or so, i was able to hit HMP but still needed some walking stretches. Mile 11 and I think I ran most of the rest, interspersing some strides with MP-HMP stretches in the last mile. I hate the last mile of the Eman run... it seems like you are so close b/c you can see the finish line, but it is still a mile away! In the end, I finished strong, but was completely deflated that I had blown it on the run. I was 1 minute 3 seconds slower than last year. Trying not to be bummed out about it, but I feel like I totally let my self down mentally and focus-wise. I have never run such a slow half-marathon. Ever. My nutrition plan was just to rely on the on-course pepsi, and do one s-cap every half hour. That has worked for me before. Honestly, I am not sure I fueled enough on the bike.
I am not sure if the impromptu soccer game the week before factored into the legs or not, but I definitely won't do that again. And, I also think I need to take a hard look at the nutrition plan. I think generally, I was not focused enough to have really executed that to a "T".
So all in all, an ok race, but disappointing because I expected a better run. I am trying really hard not to be hard on myself about it, but it's difficult! I really thought I could execute well to have a huge PR. Oh well, I guess there is always next year?
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