Just back from Oregon... my daughter Rachel graduated Magna Cum Laude with her Bachelor of Science in Art. Great stuff - proud papa. It was a great trip and good to spend time with Sena and Rachel.
I did Eagleman a couple of weeks ago. Last time I did Eagleman, it was in preparation for 2006 Florida Ironman, where I qualified for Kona. So it has been 6 years.
The good news: This year I had my fastest swim time by 4 minutes and my fastest bike time by 4 minutes.
The bad news: my run split was 10 minutes slower than my slowest run time at Eagleman.
Why? A combination of things...
- I was only running 3 times a week to train (1 speed, 1 tempo, 1 distance) and while this often was over 30 miles per week, I just didn't have the legs needed to run fast after such a hard bike effort
- I rode hard (but no harder than previous years) - the speed difference had more to do with new equipment than anything - sure I've gotten a bit faster, but probably not that much
- I didn't put the big bike miles in, so the last 10-15 miles took a lot out of me - more than it should have. In previous years at Eagleman, I've felt pretty good at the end of the bike
- It was 94 degrees Fahrenheit during the run, and pretty warm leading up to it. I did not have enough heat training under my belt to tolerate those temps and run fast
- Probably due to the heat, I was having trouble getting the calories in and keeping them down. As a result, I took very little nutrition during the run and felt it big time in the closing miles.
All of that said, I still finished 7th in my age group.
Here is how things panned out:
I was 30th out of the water in my age group out of 140 or so. I was first off the bike into T2, second out of T2 (the eventual 4 place guy passed me in T2); I got passed by the eventual 1st and 2nd place guys in the first mile before I knew what hit me. I had no idea at the time where I was in the race, but in honesty, I didn't have a lot of fight left in me to respond when the other racers passed me. I kept hoping my run legs would show up and I would fight back, but my run legs never showed and I slogged through 13.1 miles at an unimpressive 7:53 pace average, which I should be able do faster in my sleep.
The eventual 3 place guy was 6 minutes behind me coming out of T2 and just flew by me at mile 6 or so and there was no way I was going to run with him. The 5th place guy must have passed me in the last couple of miles and probably had no age marker on his calf, so I was probably just hoping he wasn't in my age group. Had I known, I might have tried to run with him and held off the eventual 6th place guy who passed me in the closing 1/4mile and out sprinted me to the finish.
I'm still learning, the biggest take away is that now that my swim isn't horrible and my bike is very solid, I need to learn how to control the race from the front and not be a target.
I did Eagleman a couple of weeks ago. Last time I did Eagleman, it was in preparation for 2006 Florida Ironman, where I qualified for Kona. So it has been 6 years.
The good news: This year I had my fastest swim time by 4 minutes and my fastest bike time by 4 minutes.
The bad news: my run split was 10 minutes slower than my slowest run time at Eagleman.
Why? A combination of things...
- I was only running 3 times a week to train (1 speed, 1 tempo, 1 distance) and while this often was over 30 miles per week, I just didn't have the legs needed to run fast after such a hard bike effort
- I rode hard (but no harder than previous years) - the speed difference had more to do with new equipment than anything - sure I've gotten a bit faster, but probably not that much
- I didn't put the big bike miles in, so the last 10-15 miles took a lot out of me - more than it should have. In previous years at Eagleman, I've felt pretty good at the end of the bike
- It was 94 degrees Fahrenheit during the run, and pretty warm leading up to it. I did not have enough heat training under my belt to tolerate those temps and run fast
- Probably due to the heat, I was having trouble getting the calories in and keeping them down. As a result, I took very little nutrition during the run and felt it big time in the closing miles.
All of that said, I still finished 7th in my age group.
Here is how things panned out:
I was 30th out of the water in my age group out of 140 or so. I was first off the bike into T2, second out of T2 (the eventual 4 place guy passed me in T2); I got passed by the eventual 1st and 2nd place guys in the first mile before I knew what hit me. I had no idea at the time where I was in the race, but in honesty, I didn't have a lot of fight left in me to respond when the other racers passed me. I kept hoping my run legs would show up and I would fight back, but my run legs never showed and I slogged through 13.1 miles at an unimpressive 7:53 pace average, which I should be able do faster in my sleep.
The eventual 3 place guy was 6 minutes behind me coming out of T2 and just flew by me at mile 6 or so and there was no way I was going to run with him. The 5th place guy must have passed me in the last couple of miles and probably had no age marker on his calf, so I was probably just hoping he wasn't in my age group. Had I known, I might have tried to run with him and held off the eventual 6th place guy who passed me in the closing 1/4mile and out sprinted me to the finish.
I'm still learning, the biggest take away is that now that my swim isn't horrible and my bike is very solid, I need to learn how to control the race from the front and not be a target.
No comments:
Post a Comment