Easgleman 70.3

Eagleman 70.3 was a tough race.  The weather was not particularly warm (only 82 degrees) but the day was very humid, with the humidity level about 90%.  I did not finish the race but did learn quite a bit and was generally happy with my performance.  I made some mistakes but I also made some improvements and I stayed positive through the whole race.  I also learned what part of my nutrition game plan I need to revise.  

Swim 27:10

I have been swimming excellently in the pool and was looking forward to a great swim today.  The pro field separate into two groups quickly, a group to the far right and a group to the far left.  I found myself at the far right.  I was swimming with some strong swimmers, but the guys to left had taken a better line to the turn buoy and were quickly ahead of us.  I've been working on staying positive and my mental preparation paid off.  I focused on my swim form and came out of the water in 8th place, right behind Richie Cunningham and James Cotter. 

My feet on top of my shoes.  The cyclist
next to me missed the group.

Bike 2:11:03

I had an excellent start to the bike.  James Cotter and Richie Cunningham created a small gap at the end of the swim by dolphining the last 50 yards.  Out of transition, the guys were about 200 meters ahead of me.  Knowing how important it is to ride with strong riders, I jumped on my bike and started pedalling as fast as I could.  This was very much like a ITU race, I didn't put my feet into the shoes for the first mile of the ride.  Once I made it up to them I put my feet into the cycling shoes and we were off.   James Cotter and I begin to rotate taking pulls and we kept the early pace about 27 mph.  However, Richie opted not to pull and decided his best bet would be to let James and I do all the work on the bike.  Looking back at this James and I should have forced Richie to do his fair share of work, but we did not, so Richie got a free ride for 56 miles (it paid off for Richie, he ran his way from 9th off the bike into 2nd place).  James and I worked well together and I led the group into transition 2 in 7th place.     

Run DNF

I jumped off the bike and once my feet landed on the ground both calves cramped up.  I limped to the bike rack, hung up the bike and slipped on my shoes.  I was hoping the run would loosen up my legs and I could hold a decent pace.  I thought a 1:20-1:24 would be great and likely place me in the top 6 or 7.  I started off at a 6:15/mile pace and knocked out the first 2 miles.  They were not easy but at least I was making progress.  I was passed by James and Richie, so I found myself in 9th place, but holding strong.  I had a big lead over 10th, so I was looking forward to my first top 10 finish.  I kept running, putting together miles between 6:40 and 7:00 pace.  I hit the turn around and was still in 9th place, only 6.5 miles to go.  After the turn around I felt great and put together a mile and half of 6:05 pace.  I thought wow, I'm finally running, now just to keep it together and maybe move up a place.  However, at mile 9, things unraveled.  I started cramping badly.  My pace quickly dropped down to 8:00 pace.  In between miles 9 and 10 I was passed by Andrew Hodges and now I was in 10th place.  It was at mile 10 my body just gave way.  Both calves and quads were done, they completely seized up in a total cramp.  I could not even walk.  At that point, I decided to call it a day.  I didn't want to damage my muscles any further and wanted to make sure I was good to go for the next few weeks of training.