Eagleman Race Report

Here is the recap of my weekend. It is long but hopefully entertaining.

Adam and I drove to Cambridge, MD Saturday morning in preparation for the triathlon on Sunday. Traffic was great but the weather was not. It was so hazy visibility was limited on the bay bridge. By the time we arrived in Cambridge (around 10 am) it was sizzling outside. Our game plan was to drink as much water on Saturday as possible.

We went to the race expo, got our race numbers, had our bikes checked out and then met up with some friends. We went to the Hyatt where some of our friends were staying and used their beach to swim in the Choptank River. I swam without a wetsuit and the water was perfect. After the 10 min swim, we got on our bikes for a leisurely ride. We rode about 20 minutes and at one point we rode past a bank thermometer that said the temperature was 98 degrees.

After the bike we did a quick 10 minute run. The air/temperature combination was suffocating. Even though I had been drinking water and electrolyte fluids all day I immediately felt dehydrated. Not a good sign.

We then made our way to the race sight where we dropped off our bikes. The bikes would stay there overnight until the race.

We were staying in Easton, about 15 minutes away, so we headed back to the hotel to take showers, go to dinner, and call it a day. Once we were back at the hotel I shaved Adam’s head. The last time his hair was cut was before the wedding and it was looking like a mop. He thought this would be his secret cooling agent for the race. I am not sure if it even made a difference but at least he won’t have to get his hair cut for the next couple of months.

The next morning I woke to a text message from my sister wishing me good luck. I still never asked why she was up at 2 am Montana time. She did mention that she had a blind date in which they got into a fight over global warming. Only my sister - but I digress.

We got ready and when we stepped out of our hotel room it was hot and sticky. It was still dark so I couldn’t tell if it was hazy. Once we arrived at the race site it was very apparent this was going to be a hot one. The sun was shining and there was barely a cloud in the sky.

I set up all my stuff in the transition area and headed to our club tent. With every triathlon we have volunteers from our triathlon club that hosts a tent. There is always plenty of food and support for us nervous triathletes. It is so great because it gives us a place to hang out and leave all the stuff that we brought that doesn’t belong in the transition area.

We arrived at the race site at 5:30 am and my wave didn’t start until 7:45 am so I had a lot of time to kill. I was getting very nervous especially after Adam left (his swim wave was 7:08). I knew once I got into the water and started swimming I would be fine but I was struggling to remain calm. The race director was on the loud speaker trying to be motivating but I found it more annoying than anything. He was playing this awful music that made my heart race like I had just ingested speed plus he was talking about all the triathletes who had died training for this event. “Let us remember so and so who was hit by a car while riding his bike and was killed. Let’s not forget so and so who suffered a heart attack and died.” I know it is sad and I should keep them in mind but when my main priority is not to die in this heat I don’t want to remember all the people who were not successful.

Finally it was time to make my way to the swim start. I was in my wetsuit and sporting a pretty sexy sweat mustache. I made my way to the water and we were off. The water was the perfect temperature with little to no current. The only complaint I had is every once in a while I would swim through a patch that smelled like gasoline from the support boats.

I felt okay during the swim. I knew I wasn’t going to have a stellar swim time but it would be okay. 1.2 miles is the farthest I have ever swum in open water. I had guessed it would take me 45 minutes. I got out of the water and checked my watch 48:xx. I’ll take it.

I ran to my bike and started getting ready for the bike portion (56 miles). I kept checking and rechecking to make sure I had everything I needed in the back of my bike jersey: Fig Newtons, sport jelly beans, salt tablets, and a Power Bar. On my bike I was carrying water, and two types of nutritional drinks.

Once I was on my bike I found it difficult to gage how fast I should be biking. At times I felt like I could bike faster but I knew the run was going to be difficult. As I rode I watched my heart rate which stayed in the low 150’s. This is just on the edge of Zone 3/Zone 4 for me (out of 5 zones). I knew if I stayed at this pace I would be okay for the run (under normal conditions). How naïve of me!

Within the first 5 miles of the bike ride I saw a giant ice chest (the kind found in grocery stores with the big silver doors) on the side of the road! They were plugged with in with extension cords. They were not messing around!

For the most part the bike ride was uneventful. I tried to drink my nutritional drink every 15-20 minutes but towards the end this was difficult. It was hot and my body didn’t want it. I also took salt tablets every hour. My plan was to eat something halfway through the bike ride but I could only stomach half of the Power Bar. At every water stop I grabbed a bottle of water and poured in into the air vents in my helmet. This helped immensely.

For me the race changed during the last 3 miles of the bike. This is where I could see the runners. I was shocked at the number of people walking! It looked like a death march; little robots moving forward. I finished the bike (my time was 3:20, I had guestimated 3:30) and it was all I could do to hold back the tears in transition. I think I was scared of what I had to do next. But I put on sunscreen, grabbed my water belt full of warm HEED (similar to Gatorade) and headed out for the 13 mile run. My legs felt good and I had to go to the bathroom which I took as a good sign. I stopped at the first port-a-pot. There is nothing better than to be inside a port-a-pot on a day when temps are over 100 degrees with 100% humidity. I continued running but my heart rate just kept rising. I would slow to walk and my HR would stay at 160. My average HR on the bike was 154 and it was 160 just walking. Not a good sign. I tried to run 8 minutes and walk 2 but that didn’t last long.

I finally saw Adam on the Cambridge West By-Pass or what I like to refer to as Death Valley. If you have read The Road by Cormac McCarthy, visualize the barren earth they traveled across. This was a section of the run where black asphalt was laid in the middle of a field. There was no vegetation, no shade and the black asphalt just radiated heat. I was so relieved to see him and to know he was okay that I just lost it. I tried to maintain composure but could not fight back the tears any longer. It was difficult to know that he only had 3 more miles left of this torture but I had 10. Adam told me this was the worst part and once I got to the end of the by-pass I would feel better. He was right and I just kept going from water stop to water stop. I would grab two cups of ice and a cup of ice water at each water stop. One cup of ice I put under my hat and down my shirt along with pouring ice water on my head and the other cup I would just hold, almost as if it was my lifeline to the next water stop.

At the turnaround point I started walking with another woman. She was my guardian angel. This was her 7th Eagleman race; she finished IM Florida and is training for IM Arizona. She said this was the worst conditions for this race that she had experienced. She was having stomach issues (she had already vomited once) and told me, “At this point, running is overrated.” She was walking at a great pace. She reminded me of my mom and sister who could easily qualify for the Olympic speed walking team and often point out how slowly I walk. I knew I had to stay with this woman.

One by one we completed the miles. We finally got back to Death Valley. I jogged through this part – I had to get through it as fast as possible. Once I was through Death Valley I felt like I returned to civilization. I was back in the neighborhood and knew I only had 2+ miles until I was done. Soon I heard Adam yelling, “JENNER!!!” I turned the corner and saw Adam, Kristen, and Lisa walking towards me. It was nice to see familiar faces. I wish I could say I was in a good mood but I was not. I was struggling with the impact of what I was doing. Is this good for me physically to be out in the sun this long? I felt guilty for putting the volunteers in danger just so they could give me ice and water. The whole concept of triathlons just seemed completely insane to me at that point.

With about a half a mile to the finish I decided to run to the finish. I started running and told Adam, “Come on, let’s go.” I didn’t ask him to run with me, I just told him. His response was, “Really?” As if really, you want me to run? He had just finished his own race, walked three miles to find me and then he ran with me to the finish. What a trooper.

I crossed the finish line with a scowl on my face. Adam was there and asked if I wanted to get my picture taken. The official race photographers had a podium set up for finisher’s photos. I said I didn’t because I really didn’t want to remember this insanity but he talked me into it anyway. I stepped up on the podium with Adam and stood there as the photographer took her sweet time. The last thing I wanted to do was stand in one place after 70.3 miles in 100+ degree weather. She took a picture but decided it wasn’t good. As she was about to take the second picture the back drop fell on us! The back drop was 12 feet tall, with metal supports and a giant white tarp stretched between the supports. Adam was trying to hold it up as I just hunched under it, not trying to get out, and instead complained that I couldn’t believe this thing had fallen on us. Finally, he yelled, “Get out!” I crawled out from under the back drop. Just then the photographer walked over to help us. That was the last straw for me. I went over, got sprayed down by a hose from a fire truck, and went to the club tent to regain my sanity.

Back at the club tent, I sat in the shade, drank some water and called my parents. My sister answered the phone and her first question was, “Did you poop yourself?” Okay, maybe my day wasn’t that bad. I kept control of all my bodily functions (except sweat), I didn’t end up in the medical tent with an IV poking out of my arm, and I was not at the hospital suffering from dehydration. The only thing I suffered from was sunburn and a bad mood.

Even though my time was slower than I wanted I keep reminding myself that my one true goal was to finish. I feel like I was smart about the race and kept myself out of danger. I felt good within 30 minutes of finishing and Monday felt almost perfect – I even went to work for the second half of the day.

On the way home from Cambridge I saw a bumper sticker that read, “A bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work.” Is the same true for triathlon racing? I am not sure.

Michele, me, Adam, Heidi, Lisa and Harold at dinner after the race.