Eagleman 70.3 Race Report

On June 10^th I competed in the Eagleman Ironman 70.3 for the 4^th year in a row and can definitely say it’s always one of my favorite weekends of the year, not just because of the race but all of the events surrounding the race and sharing it all with the many friends who come out to compete in this race and/or support. Racing with friends is something I always got to do as an amateur, but I don’t so often get to do as a pro so I'm always grateful for the opportunity.

My last race (Columbia Tri) was really sub-par and I really wanted to have a good race at Eagleman to prove to myself that those results were not indicative of my fitness or what I was capable of.  Eagleman exceeded even my optimistic hopes and I couldn’t be happier. I finished 3^rd in the pro field and came close to setting a PR for the 70.3 distance in 4:26 (with my only faster race being Clearwater which always turns out unbelievably fast times from all… so in a sense I feel like this was a PR since this is a legit course).

     Chris and I headed out to Cambridge Friday morning (about 2 hours from DC) and spent a relaxed day getting lunch with friends, swimming the course (which was especially enjoyable since the day was beautiful and being out on the water felt great- Cambridge is a really wonderful place to spend time when the weather is nice!), getting settled at my homestay, and getting dinner at an amazing restaurant (Bistro Poplar) with Chris. 

     Saturday was filled with the usual pre-race activities including getting gear together, analyzing my race nutrition and choice of gear many times over, and taking care of small details- which always seems to consume an inordinate amount of time, but it’s so important to pay attention to the little things since these can make or break your race… for example, forgotten salt tabs or misjudging what how much nutrition you’ll need. I finally decided on going with a very concentrated bottle of First Endurance EFS drink mix on the bike, 2 First Endurance Pre-Race caps before the race and 2 more at mile 40 of the bike, a First Endurance EFS gel flask on the run along with Salt Stick tabs and on-course sports drink and coke. I also emptied some additional Salt Stick pills into the EFS drink mix since the forecast called for it to be especially hot and humid. After everything was just right we went out for a great dinner with a fun group of friends and I was asleep by 9:30 or so.

I could have had a bad situation when my phone didn’t charge the night prior to the race, whose alarm I relied on to wake me up in the wee hours of the morning… but thankfully my phone waited to die until 45 minutes after my alarm went off! Much better than 45 minutes before. Yes, God is good. So race morning I got up on time and had my usual coffee, and the most calorie-dense thing I could stomach- half an Odwalla Strawberry protein smoothie and a few cups of mango juice. I can never eat anything before a race so I try to go for the most liquid calories I can stomach.

Race morning the race officials made the call the water temp- just ever so barely wetsuit legal! Since I love swimming in my wetsuit and need all the help I can get in the swim, I was super excited about this, but it did come as somewhat of a surprise as the water temps had already heated up beyond the wetsuit threshold by Memorial Day weekend… since things usually only get hotter as the summer progresses, the chances of this wetsuit swim being legal were very slim to none… in fact, the pre-race email to pros stated that the swim would not be wetsuit legal.

My usual pre-race routine includes warming up on the trainer for 20 minutes with some 30-second pickups immediately upon arriving at the race site, then setting up my transition area. I got those two things done and got ready for the swim start. For some reason I was feeling really nervous - much more-so than usual. I really of wanted to get the race started so I could have something to focus on other than being nervous. Finally they called the pros into the water and it was time to swim!

After the gun went off, I found myself on some feet early on and stuck with them the whole way. Eventually we joined up with a few more pros and I therefore ended up coming out of the water at about the same time or close behind 4 others.  Swim PR for me! (29:30-ish). This time was so “fast” that my dad missed me coming out of the water until Chris informed him that I’d already gone by. Into T2 there were several women ahead of me, so I tried to transition quickly so I could be within close range on the bike.

I decided not to swim with my Garmin this time because I feel like it’s so big and creates additional drag so therefore had the added challenge of grabbing it in T2 and putting it on while riding. This was a bit more difficult than I’d imagined and pre-race practice would have been good! I eventually managed to get it on without crashing, slowing down, or dropping the watch which I consider a big success.

I took the first 10 miles rather easy since there were several pros up ahead bunched together and the course marshals were right on us… I didn’t want to try to pass and get a penalty for being too slow in passing several people at once, or burn too many matches by sprinting to pass within the short allotted passing time. I think this actually worked out well for me since the slower start allowed me a more even effort throughout the bike, something I’ve always struggled with. Since the Eagleman course is flat and the scenery rather unchanging (though beautiful!) I decided to take splits every 10 miles to break the race into smaller pieces and keep myself focused, and just paid attention to my power for each 10 mile segment (and taking in nutrition at the right intervals). Around mile 40 I took the two First-EndurancePre-Race pills and my power really picked back up for the last 10 miles, which ended up being strongest (highest wattage) one.

Since this was a pretty competitive field, my goal was to finish in the money (top 6) and coming into T2 I had no idea what place I was in. I thought maybe 6^th or 7^th. So when I saw the 3^rd place female lead biker up ahead waiting for the next runner to emerge from T2, I got pretty excited! I was in 4^th place at that point but right behind 3^rd, and within 2 miles passed into 3^rd place. However, with the infamous heat out on the run course (it ended up being a humid high of 93 that day, with 10 miles of the course completely unshaded) anything can happen so I tried not to get too excited and keep a good but not too hard effort. Though I usually do really well in hot race conditions (comparatively), I have had a race or two where I’ve gotten depleted and really struggled badly in this type of weather.  Around mile 2 we passed a house that had a great party going on out front, and they were cooking bacon- really NOT what you want to smell when you’re running in 90 degree weather. I focused on taking in as much as I could at each aid station- which meant stopping to make sure I got everything- cups of ice to pour into my sports bra, ice water to pour on my head, and liquids to drink at every aid station, and a coke and salt tab at every other aid station. At the run turnaround, I saw that I had a pretty good gap which made me feel better about stopping at every aid station to get everything I needed rather than running through. It seemed like a hot eternity between aid stations, but pretty soon we were at the final partially shaded final mile leading to the finish line!

The best part of my finish was that I got to share it with so many friends, many of whom also had great results. Chris was 2^nd place in the male Aquavelo division, qualifying him for Aquavelo nationals. My good friend Doria PR’d in her first race back after having a stress fracture this past fall.  Friends and family including my Dad were out on the course cheering. Our homestay hosts- who hosted me as well as friends Doria and Esther for the 2^nd year in a row- showed us incredible hospitality, and it was as if they were our own family with how excited they were for us after the race. They even made us a congratulatory poster on the door when we arrived home. I also saw so many friends at the awards or finish who were as excited about my race as I was- as well as others tracking me online- truly made it a great day.

Now that Eagleman is over I’ve started my Ironman-specific training for Ironman NYC in August, and I’ll be racing next at Racine Ironman 70.3 on July 15^th. Many thanks to the great support of FFT, especially coach Eric for the smart, well thought out training plan that is challenging yet manageable with my full-time work schedule, to Computrainer for enabling me to do those killer bike sessions that would be impossible otherwise, and to Cervelo for my super fast P4, both of which helped me to the 3^rd fastest bike split at Eagleman. I’m also extremely grateful to Inside Out Sports for sponsoring our team and all of the great support that they provide, First Endurance for the excellent products (best on the market) for keeping us properly fueled and performing at our best in training and races, and recovering properly after, CEP for the great compression/recovery gear, and Nicole Allen Massage Therapy for the excellent massages that keep me injury free and training strong. And last but not least, many thanks to SkinSake for keeping us chafe free (an often-overlooked but vital product especially for longer-distance races!), Rudy Project for the excellent helmets (most comfortable and functional I’ve ever owned) and eyewear, TrainingPeaks for making tracking training a piece of cake, SPaRC of Santa Barbara for keeping our mental game strong, Prevail Conditioning, and FS series. Looking forward to racing again in three weeks!