Monday, June 14, 2010

Eagleman 70.3

True-motion's Paul Bashforth was in Cambridge, Maryland yesterday for the eagleman 70.3. Here is his race report...

One word to describe this yesterday's race - Rough!

Swim was no-wetsuit at last minute but also seemed extremely long (or strong current) as I was 12 mins slower than normal! The choptank river didnt live up to its name fully but it was no mill pond and managed to swallow a decent amount of its murky offering! I Felt great coming out of water though and after spending an eternity in t1 wresting with getting a dry shirt on a wet body i head out onto the bike feeling good. There was also a significant amount of bikes left in transition so i felt my swim had not been a complete disaster.

The bike had its usual windy spots an the heat was beating doen but i managed my effort evenly, got in all my nutrition and rode the bike according to plan and felt fresh coming into t2...

Given the heat a decided to take more time in t2 than normal in order to avoid jacking up my heart rate. My legs felt a little stiff from the flat course but I figured they'd quickly loosen up once I got going.

However, a few strides into the run the worst stitches of my life kicked in and I could barely breathe when I tried to even shuffle the slowest jog. My legs now felt great and everything except my stomach was ready to roll but the pain when not walking was excruciating. I probably ended up walking most of the first 3 1/2 miles seriously considering a dnf but remembering how my las ironman run started in a similar fashion and I ended up running a personal best I opted to work through it! I finally risked a coke to see if that would help and it worked wonders. From then on I was able to run the whole thing and actually felt great for the last couple of miles. It was hot out (95F) but I seemed to manage that aspect pretty well compared to many out there. All in all a pretty tough day! I ended up with a new personal worst time for that course which was about 50 mins slower than my best but a certain amount of satisfaction from battling though the rough stages and finishing strong.

No comments: