The course @ Eagleman is not typically a pure out and back. That is to say the ‘back’ is on a different angle back to shore than the ‘out.’ I was not there this year, so I don’t know how the course was aligned and the directions of the currents, but 2 years ago, the current was gently sweeping right to left as you headed out from shore, and then it was mostly at your back coming back to shore on the hypotenuse of the ‘right triangle’ swim course w/ the shoreline and the ‘out’ part forming the right angle. As a result, the ‘back’ section of the swim course was longer than the ‘out,’ and we had the current helping us on that long section. I think swim times were a little faster overall that day.
Last year, it was similar, but seemed be more of a hinderance heading out than in 2003 as even most of the Pro wave was swept inside of the first buoy as they headed out on the swim. This was discouraging to watch as an age grouper on shore preparing to swim into that current…
Did you race EagleMan on Sunday and do you really think the course was over a mile long?
Dave in VA
Dave
I’ll answer for JM, since he’s probably currently standing in a grow bag hoping to get out of the “Shetland” Category. He was busting my balls, look closely to read between the lines of his post. “Shetland” is a proposed category for guys 5’ 6" who have a healthy BMI, and thus can’t run like gazelles, but who, unlike the Clydesdales, don’t get a category of their own.
One day there will be a race with an award for fastest Shetland. And JM will be there.
My time was 9 hrs 13, since as he points out, I should be timed on Greenwich Mean Time.
Eagleman was my 1st HIM in what will be a full year of firsts this year (First 1/2 Marathon, in Feb, First Marathon in April, First IM in LP coming in July).
I thought that the swim was ok, choppy in the middle section, and tough to keep a straight line on the way back to the shore. Afterwards I heard that the current was pushing everyone around.
I LOVED the bike course. Billiard table flat. Some wind, but the course seemed to twist around enough so that you didn’t have a dead-on head wind for more than a couple of miles. Only once did I really feel the wind hit me in the face and force me back.
The run was a death march. It took me 32 minutes to run the first two miles, and I had to puke in someone’s front yard to continue. After that, it was just survival. Hot, Hotter, Hottest… Not a lick of shade. Face of the sun. Choose your metaphor.
5:55.18 total
34:43 swim
2:45.03 bike
2:24.02 run
Trans around 5:30 per (SLOW)…
congrats on what looks like a great year of ‘firsts’ in endurance sports. looks like you had a solid race @ Eagleman going through T2 then lost your cookies and suffered through the hot run. Good news is Lake Placid won’t be as hot and humid as Eagleman. Otherwise, do you think you figured out and have addressed whatever it was that caused you to puke and meltdown on the run; the heat may have pushed you over the edge but there may have been something else going on as a result of your nutrition and or hydration that caused you to puke. The only reason I ask is that puking at mile 2 of the marathon in an Ironman could make for a VERY long day.
Hope you get it all sorted out and have a great first IM @ Lake Placid! You’ll love it up there. Great town and great race!
This was my first Eagleman and I have to say - that is one damn tough course! i always thought Wildflower or Keanhou were tough. With the wind, humidy and currents, I think it tops WF. And was pretty much exactly Keahou conditions (except EM had a harder swim), just without being able to enjoy Kona after the race!
Lesson learned - Perpetuem ferments when left in the heat. This is my first year using it and used Eaglamn as an opportunity to test out a few new race things before IMC. Perpetuem was one of them. It was fine on the bike, but the bottles in my fuel belt fermented and were rancid by the time I got on the run. I too one big hit of it at mile 1 and had to walk for 1/2 a mile to avoid hurling until i could get to an aid station and take in about 3 cups of water.
Tupper Lake is consistently faster along with the old IMH qualifier up in Pennsylvania that no longer exists. The White Lake 1/2 in NC…all faster then Eagleman.
The Tupper lake run was always a mile short, which made the course a little faster than it should be, since it is not flat at all. They changed the course in 2004 to a full 13.1 and most peoples times were about 10 minutes slower. Although Tupper Lake used to be shorter, it still was not as fast as Eagleman. I know plenty of people who did both and were always slower at Tupper.
Improvement is relative…I’d been doing tris for several years before doing a 1/2…hence a sort of faster 1st 1/2 IM time…most of mine are in the
4:30 to 4:45 range…
Okay, I will be serious now. Sorry about that, I had to break BigBloke’s ass a bit. No, I did not race it this year. I have done the race 4 times, with a pr of 4:25 and a 4:48 as my slowest. In all of the races my run was pretty much the same split, within a minute or so. I can honestly say that each time I have previewed the run course on my bike it has been pretty close to accurate by my computer. I think that if the course is off, it is not off by enough to concern me.
The swim has been a bit spotty, I think my swim (and everyone else’s) in 1998 was 15 minutes slow? That was the 4:48 year. My memory of that race was blowing up 15 minutes from the line. I think my overall placing was better the 4:48 year than the 4:25 year too.
The 4:25 is my PR. I have gone in the 4:30’s at Tupper and for 2 other times at EM, but generally I have been in the 4:40’s-5hr range. EM is a fast course, much in the same way IMFL is a fast course. On a good day, sure you can do well, but conditions can get pretty tough and make for a miserable day too. The toughest half I ever did was the Buckeye half in Ohio, I also thought the old kingston NY half was pretty hard, and Disney last month was no picnic. All were difficult because of a combination of challenging courses coupled with hot and humid conditions, on a collision course with my lack of fitness. I am sure tougher races are out there, I just have not done them…yet.
E-Man was my first HIM. I am training for IMLP and trained right through this race. With that said my time was much slower than I expected… 5:20. Definitely ran a conservative race, but I was pretty wasted at the end of the day. Hearing from so many people that this was a very fast race I was a little bummed with the 5:20.
I am also training for IMLP and trained through EM. This was my third year in a row for this race. This year was the toughest for me as I’ve been injured (PF in both feet). I did two outdoor runs and 9 treadmill runs in the last 4 months leading up to this race - the longest run was 45 minutes. I was still hoping for a PR because I’ve spent so much time on swimming and biking. Ended up finishing in 4:58, which was 17 minutes slower than last year. Talked to a lot of people who were 30 minutes + slower than last year…so, I wouldn’t read anything into your time and just look at it as a really solid training day. The conditions were TOUGH.
I once had this problem with perpetuem but thought that I mixed the drink the day before using it. It tasted really rancid as you say. But, someone said in a previous post to freeze perpetuem. Have you every tried this method? I was thinking for an Ironman I would freeze a couple of bottles. By the time I got to my special needs bag (3hours) 1/2 way through the bike - it would be unfrozen. What do you think?
Good to hear that others had a tough day too. This was my first tri at all. The swim about wiped me out (no open water swims at all till race day), the bike leg I enjoyed, and the run was just survival.
Finsihed up in 6:15:07. Had hoped to break 6 hours but I’m ok with the time. Just trying to get my legs back now so I can get back on the roads. Thanks for all the great info you guys post here.
You sure it was the fermentation and not the protein?
I have problems (both ends ;-( using the protein & carbs drinks and if you check on some threads here, plenty of other do too…none of those “studies” (mostly done by the vendors of protein and carb drinks, like Pacific Labs, who make Accelerade) done “hold any water”, scientifically. It is all marketing. Try just carbs next time…you won’t go wrong.
No, it wasn’t the protein. I’ve been using perpetuem all season for all of my long rides and runs. I used it for 5 days of riding in Maui (you guys gotta try gocyclingmaui.com) in some heat with no problems as well. I think the comment about mixing it the nite before may be part of it. I do that regularily, but normally have a fridge to keep them in over night. I’m sure that didn’t help. I’m going to try freezing. I’ve done that for an IM beofre and it worked well, just haven’t tried ot with Perpetuem. We’ll try it out this weekend!
At Eagleman, I brought a small cooler with me and set it up in my transition area. I bought a bag of ice the night before and then kept my fuel belt and fuel belt bottles in there until T2. The bottles did warm up during the course of the run, but they started ice-cold and it sure was refreshing for the first few minutes of the run to have access to ice-cold drinks.
Thanks for all your imput. I’ll definitely freeze my extra bottles for special needs bag on the bike ride in an Ironman and long bike rides. But, I use Extran for the run. Perpetuem works great on the bike but doesn’t work on the run. It seems to make me feel bloated and upsets my stomach. I use Endurolytes which seem to work well for me on the bike and run. But, Extran works great for the run. It’s light and doesn’t upset my stomach. So far I haven’t had any problems using perpetuem and extran.
Thanks. I think what caused me to puke was taking too much liquid in right before I got off the bike. So I’ll need to time my consumption better.
I’m really looking forward to IMLP. I’ve been up there twice for training clinics. I was planning on going up this weekend, but real life got in the way.
As others have said, don’t worry about your goal time in a race like Sunday. I was 40-45 minutes off my goal and 35 off last year’s time. We had a tough swim, windy bike and brutally hot run. A day for survival, not PRs.
And for the record: First 1/2 IM was 5:48. Best so far is 5:12. My hope is to be the slowest swimmer to break 5 hours.