PRE-RACE
Well, where to start? I’ll try to be brief and occasionally humorous.
I signed up for Eagleman way back in September knowing how quickly it sells out, and wanting to do it mainly because it takes place near my hometown (Ocean City, Maryland) and I could combine it with a visit to my mom’s and sister’s as well. Even signing up that early, I was unable to get accomodation anywhere near the race site, and was getting nervous when this spring rolled around, but in the end, decided I’d pack a small tent in my bike box and just camp (the RD’s offered that option at a nearby high school). I just prayed it wouldn’t rain. Fortunately, it didn’t. More on the camping later.
The flight over from Orange County was a bit tough with delays galore and a lost stroller, and Enterprise ran out of minivans…blah, blah, blah. In the end, my bike and family made it intact. We spent a day in Baltimore at my sister’s and then I left for Cambridge and left my wife and daughter at my sister’s. Arrived around 11am Saturday, 9th and got lost a couple of times driving around Cambridge. If you can picture it, it’s this little country town with roads that were probably originally designed for horses and buggies. Narrow, with no rhyme or reason to how they go, at least in the downtown area, and very old school plantation-style houses. So, I finally find my way to check-in and breeze right through the packet pickup. There’s no one there to check me in for the camping, and as it turns out, it didn’t really matter as no one ever checked. I did pay for it months back, but wondered how many people bootlegged it. I did see some people camping near transition despite notices saying not to and half wanted to risk it, but decided if the cops were to roust me from my tent at 1am, it wouldn’t be such a great idea to avoid a 3-mile drive in the morning.
So, after registration and bike check, I hit up the Endless Pool swim so I could get my free video and see what I need to work on. Thanks again Endless Pool guys!
Went and got food, then dropped my bike off at transition, and then went and set up my tent. After a quick nap, I went for a shower in the locker room. It was one of those prison-style deals with a group shower area and cold water showers. Luckily, I had the place to myself so when the frank and beans shrunk up as a result of the cold, no one saw anything. Just to be safe, I made sure not to drop the soap.
I drove back over to the expo hall and bought two CO2’s and then drove over to transition AGAIN and put them on my bike and then drove back to the expo for the carbo dinner and it was a nice buffet, but not really worth $20 in my opinion. There wasn’t any presentation or anything, but just before the dinner, Jon Blais’ sister gave a very moving speech.
Drove back to the school and got in the tent and read for a while, saved a drink cup to pee in so I wouldn’t have to get out to pee and get stung by mosquitoes, and it was off to sleep around 9pm. Problem was, it was only 6pm back at home in Calif., so I finally dozed off around 11pm. There were several other campers, and later that night, we found out that a few of the local corn pones thought it would be fun to drive by the school blasting their horns and yelling to wake us triathletes up in the middle of the night. They must have felt pretty cool! Guaranteed they had no relation to the awesome volunteers who were out in force doing an excellent job!
RACE DAY
Alarm went off at 4:15am and I made methodical work of packing up my tent and heading off around 4:30am. I wanted to get a park near transition and there were limited spaces there. Fortunately, I got one and took my time getting everything together. I even got to the porta-potty before there was a line and didn’t have to go back. That was a new one for me. Transition was in a nice grass field which is always nice. Wind was blowing a little from the N with a light chop on the water, but apparently the tide was in our favor heading back after the turnaround, so fast times were expected. We had a bit of overcast and less humidity than, say, two days ago when the area was under sauna conditions.
THE SWIM
I started out, as always, on the outside away from people, but ended up bumping people much of the way. I was calm from the start, not getting my heart rate up early as I used to. Had a pretty clean swim and came in somewhere in the top 25% of my AG (which incidentally had 300-some odd people in it). I looked at my watch and saw 31 minutes and change and was thinking “wow, that’s a good one for me!”. Of course I later found out the 'ol outgoing tide in the Choptank gave me a little push! Damnit!
Swim time: 31:49
THE BIKE
After an uneventful T1, I was off and riding. With very little wind, and a nice overcast, things were ripe for a PR, and after my swim time, I was going to push for that. Right off the bat, the road conditions were very good. Smooth pavement and a flat course. I saw marshalls at least 3 times in the first 20 miles, and then didn’t see them again until near the end of the bike. In the spot I was in, I saw a few small packs ride by me, but nothing major in the way of drafting.
Bike highlights-
*Running over a 4-foot long snake around mile 18 (it was already dead).
*Beautiful rural roads with no traffic (don’t get that where I live!).
*A minute or two of legal draft time behind a toy hauler that was basically unable to get by a group of cyclists in front of it. Me and three others eventually passed it on the left.
I was averaging 20-21 MPH the entire way which is awesome for me (I suck on the bike) and was looking at a bike PR. Along the way, as usual for me, I was getting mowed down by several people and only managed to pass probably less than 20 or 30 people the entire bike ride. How the hell does tiny Natascha Badmann ride so fast? I was thinking of stopping for a pee at the last aid station, but didn’t want to jeopardize a potential record bike split. Alas, I missed that PR (set at Clearwater last year) by 16 stinkin’ seconds! That race also had pretty ideal conditions, but also featured two “hills”, so that’s a good sign that my cycling did not improve over the winter, and that makes sense since I didn’t really make steps to improve it.
Bike time was 2:42:46
THE RUN
T2 was quick! I was going to stop at the portapotty, but it was occupied, so I deferred until a mile in. Started out at a pace I knew I could maintain for 13.1 miles. I immediately noticed how hot and muggy it was now that I was off the bike. Not sweltering hot, but pretty much windless with a light overcast still, and probably around 80 degrees. I had eaten and drunk quite a bit on the bike…about 36 ozs of G’ade and maybe 12 of water, with two Clif Bars and two gels. I purposely drank alot knowing it was going to be a sweatfest.
Anyway, I stopped at the mile 1 portapotty and while peeing had the door opened on me. Damn crappy lock! Onward, after about 3 miles, I was clocking about 8:20 miles or so. I knew if I could hold that pace, I’d have a PR by about 3 or 4 minutes. I just decided to maintain that pace and keep fueled and then as always, empty the tank in the last mile or two. I crossed paths with Richie Cunningham, and the lead women, including Natascha. I yelled for them all and of course Natascha smiled! Had a guy spit in front of me and much of it landed on my leg, so the sensation of his lugie oozing down my leg kept my mind off the pain!
I was downing G’ade every 3rd mile or so, and water on the other miles, along with two gels during the run and feeling okay. After about mile 7 or 8 things started to hurt. My legs were getting tired, but I knew I would be able to maintain my pace. For the first time ever for me, my left hammy felt like it “could” cramp, but fortunately never did. One thing conspicuously absent at the aid stations…sponges with cold water. Those would have been nice! Some of the aid stations actually had cold Gatorade and water. That was a big plus!
So, two dudes in my AG passed me around that point, but I kept them within reach. I need to have a goal toward the end, and my goal was to push back past them, so after the mile 12 marker, I put it in 5th gear and motored by them and kept that pace. I was grunting like a stuck pig as I lumbered along at about a 7:10-7:15 pace at this point and people must have thought “who the hell is this grunting sonofabitch?”. I was taking a page from the great Russ Jones’ book and it was working for me. I was getting through the agony of the last mile with this! The finish was in site and I didn’t even bother to check my watch. I sprinted the chute and did my trademark leap across the line and hit my watch at 5:08 and change, a good 10 minutes better than Clearwater for a new PR for me.
Run time was 1:48:34
Finish time: 5:08:53
POST RACE
I was pretty sapped from the run effort, but missed a run PR by about a minute-and-a-half (which I set at Oceanside back in March). Had two cups of Gatorade, but I swear to God one tasted like someone had wrung out a sweaty sock into it! Got my massage and had some food and a warm Pepsi, and the chilled out waiting for the awards. Watched the pro awards and enjoyed Natascha’s speech, and then had to get going. Figured it was unlikely that a Kona slot would roll down 120 some-odd places. Pretty sure I was right. Pretty strong field in this race, as RD Vigo pointed out several times. I was humbled once again by the levels of athleticism that I would need to go through to get into the top of my AG.
All in all, a great time and a great course if you like flat and fast, but if it’s windy, which of course it’s been in the past, it would certainly suck. Two cell-phone pics from the weekend. Sorry…my phone was on B&W mode for some reason:
The obligatory “here’s me at another triathlon” photo:
The “look at the strange pro bike” photo:
