I’ve competed in Eagleman for the last 3 years and it’s one of my favorite races, as I have many fond memories competing alongside friends and competing for a Kona slot, as Eagleman is one of the few 70.3s that offers slots to age-group winners. I first attended the race in 2008 to cheer on a friend, and the day was brutally hot such that even spectating was difficult. In my first year competing at Eagleman in 2009, I missed out on qualifying for a Kona slot by 90 seconds (but took a 70.3 WC slot) and last year, qualified for Kona and was 1st amateur. It’s great scenic course with little traffic, and since it’s fairly close to Washington DC, there are always a lot of friends competing makes for a fun weekend!
I travelled out to the race site on Friday got set up with a fabulous homestay in a beautiful home overlooking the water, with extremely hospitable hosts (with 2 great dogs). Saturday included the usual pre-race activities, plus a great pre-race dinner at another wonderful family’s home with friends!
Swim (35:59)- The Eagleman swim is often pretty slow with odd currents that are diffucult to swim against and make it diffucult to swim straight from buoy to buoy.
The pro women were allowed in the water about 2 minutes before the start, and with the swim out to tbe start buoys, the horn went off sooner than I expected and I wasn’t in quite the position I had wanted. BUT for the first time this year I was able to drafted off 2 other female pros for the first half of the swim, which definitely helped with sighting and swimming in a direct line. After that I veered off on my own and ended up zigzagging much more than I would have liked. The last .2 was tough swimming into a current.
Bike (2:25)- I normally love the Eagleman bike course, but just did not feel great on the bike. However, I enjoyed using a Sub 9 disc, which was the first time I had raced with a tubular, eliminating the possibility of changing a flat, so was praying for no flats during the race! Although I passed 2 pros fairly early on in the bike, most of the bike ride was alone and it seemed like there was always a slight headwind. I kept checking my heart rate to make sure I was going at an appropriate effort level, but had a really hard time keeping the pace I was planning to, and my bike split was much slower than expected.
Run (1:27:30)- As I exited transition in 9th place, I could see another female pro about a minute up the road, and made it my goal to focus on making up ground. I passed her at about mile 3, and saw a couple more women just up the road. As expected, the run was pretty hot with temps close to 90 and zero shade. I tried to keep myself as cool as possible by drinking Gatorade at every aid station, pouring ice water over my head, and taking one to two cups of ice at each aid station to dump into my race kit and hold an ice cube in each hand and rub on my face when I felt particularly hot (amazingly effective). At the run turnaround, I could see that there were 2 women within close range but also two fairly close behind, one who appeared to be making up ground. I passed the two women ahead of me at mile 7, and tried to keep a good pace, slowing to grab as much Gatorade, ice, and ice water as I could at each aid station to stay cool, as I felt completely energized and felt my pace pick up after dumping ice water on myself. I saw quite a few friends out on the course either cheering or competing! The last two miles of the run course are shaded and I was able to pick up my pace substantially to 6:28 for the last mile, wanting to make sure I had 6th place secured. I crossed the line in 4:32 which is my fastest time on the course by 3 minutes.
After finishing, I learned that FFT teammates Brian Duffy won the M 18-24 age group and Morgan Anderson had won the F 18-24 age group by 20 minutes and qualified for Kona!!! Chris also grabbed a slot for the 70.3 World Championships in September.
Overall I’m happy with my race, even though I know I need to keep improving my swim technique and fitness, and figure out why my bike split was so much slower than expected. I was very thankful to finish with no injury issues and very excited for friends and teammates who did so well, too!
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