Well, I finished my first 1/2 Ironman yesterday. Man, was it ever hot on the course and the wind on the first part of the bike was brutal. Overall, I’m a little disappointed. I was about 25 minutes slower then my goal time but on a positive note I was fourth in the “first HIM” category. My swim strategy of waiting 15 seconds to avoid the “piranha in the washing machine” did not pan out. All it did was but me into the chaos 15 seconds later. I will now always start from the edge when the gun goes off. Lastly, I learned that ice down on your head is great but ice down your shorts can cause muscle tightness, I will never shovel a cup of ice down my shorts during the run ever again.
Quick poll, what was your first HIM time and what is your best HIM time? I would like to see how much I can realistically improve.
My lessons learned from Eagleman yesterday were 1. Throw out goal times when it’s that hot and windy. Not to mention the swim current kicking us around worse than usual and 2. Make sure to report the sniper at mile 4 who shot me in both of my hamstrings. Ok, maybe it was bad cramps, but damn was it hot out there or what!
My first HIM was 6:05. My 2nd (and best) was 4:30. Yesterday (my 3rd) was 4:41, and i’ll take it. I pretty much passed out at the finish line and said ‘i doubt I even broke 5:30,’ and the guy there was like ‘uh, you went 4:40.’
Thanks Viggo for mentioning TeamMooseNuggets, and offering to make a donation! Good race everyone…
I guess my lesson would be that you can have a bad component of the race, but you shouldn’t throw the whole race away.
I had a god-awful swim yesterday at Eagleman - one of my worst swims ever, in a history of bad swims. I was so disgusted with myself when I got on the bike that I was just like, f* it, I don’t care, and I put no effort into the bike. I knew my attitude would improve as the race went on, but I let myself wallow in it for far too long rather than trying to talk myself out of a bad attitude. Around mile 20 I started to feel better, and by mile 25 I started to pick up the pace, but by that time it was too late to do what I knew I could do on the bike as far as my overall bike time.
What I didn’t realize until after the race was over was that, even though my swim time was worse than most, swim times for most people were off at Eagleman yesterday. The Choptank earned it’s name, in my opinion
So, although there were other factors, like heat, wind and river current, that helped me miss my goal time, I’ve learned that pouting and generally acting like a baby certainly isn’t going to help.
Oh… and my best time was 5:25 last summer, and my first and worst was 6:06.
I actually don’t think, from an analytical perspective, that you can look at improvement through that lense. The improvement curve at from 6:00 to 5:00 is much less steep than from 5:00 to 4:30. I’m living proof that almost anyone in decent shapes, with reasonable genes and a willingness to train can push towards that 5:00 hour mark within a few years. To get to 4:30 you have to have something else going on for you by way of background – swam as a child, long time cyclist, or better yet ran cross country somewhere at sometime. I know guys in really great shape that can go 4:45 no problem, but they can’t find that extra 15 minutes. You can get to 4:30 all right without those background factors, but you best be booking yourself into some epic camps if you want to get there quickly.
Sounds like valuable lessons learned yesterday. I was a little relieved to hear that others were slower in the water than expected…I thought it was just me. Yep, the wind on the bike was very frustrating - I had heard that the course was exceptionally flat and was expecting to be able to hammer the bike - had to re-evaluate that plan and go based on percieved exertion instead of MPH or watts. Fortunately, I heeded voice of my wife/coach in my head…“go out conservatively and build”; “DRINK on the bike”; “it’s not a bike race”; “DRINK on the run”. Overall, a pretty decent day - and I was able to negative split the run for a change, instead of dying in the last 3 miles. I’d definitely put it down as one of my better efforts.
First 1/2 IM: Muncie '01 4:40
Worst 1/2 IM: Muncie '02 4:53
Smartest 1/2 IM: Eagleman '05 4:37
Congratulations on finishing your first 1/2 - and under tough conditions!
Thanks! Guess I should have been listening to my wife’s advice all along - who knew! I was tempted to use a Power Tap and/or HR monitor but decided to just go by ‘feel’ instead of getting all obsessed with HR zones and watts. It was my first race of the year, and I guess I really didn’t have any expectations coming in - that took alot of the pressure off. It would have been nice to stop by the Cambridge Multisport tent afterward to meet up with other 'Twitchers, but unfortunately we had to repack the bike and head back to BWI to beat the traffic across the bridge.
I did 6:14 at Eagleman yesterday and took off 25 minutes from '04! I “won” the over 40 athena and came home with a really nice trophy. Cups of ice down my bra through the run kept me from overheating. Just got back from getting an x-ray of my nose though - I got kicked so hard in the swim they think it might be broken. My top teeth are a little loose too…
My first HIM was Eagleman in 1999, only my fourth triathlon ever. I went 5:07 and this included a 50:00 minute swim (I was one of the few people without a wetsuit). Road a Bianchi road bike with stock wheels and clip ons. I also basically walked the last three miles of the run and still did a 1:40 half marathon. I had broken my Ankle New Years Eve in 1998 and had only been running for 12 weeks going into the race.
Actually went back to Eagleman two years later with a wetsuit and a new P2K and ended up going 5:20 with a 1:55 melt down run.
Finally three years later I went 5:05 at Timberman (much tougher course) on a 90+ degree day. Last year I went 4:46 at Timberman, so five years to take off 21 minutes (although a 4:46 at Timberman is probalby more like a 4:30 - 4:35 at Eagleman).
Bottom line, there is on guarantee that your next race will be faster. Eagleman is also about the fastest course anywhere, although based on times from this year it must have been tougher than usual, probably at least 10 minutes slower than on a good year. stick with it and be patient and you will get results.