Eagleman Half Ironman 2004

Eagleman Half Ironman is held on the east coast of the United States in the town of Cambridge, Maryland.

Eagleman was included in my racing schedule for the 2004 Northern Hemisphere summer because of it’s timing and location. The most cost efficient means of travel, from my perspective, is to fit as many races as possible into the one air fare, generally of the "round the world" category.

My 2004 round the world fare took in Perth, Japan (IM Japan), Switzerland, Chicago, Washington (Eagleman), Denver, LA, Hawaii (until I injured myself) and Perth.

Eagleman was three weeks after IM Japan, and 6 after Busselton Half Ironman, so I was in danger of succumbing to fatigue in this one. What I did have in my favour was that I was still recovering from a running injury sustained in the lead up to Busselton. This meant I managed limited running between the races and probably helped me to recover a little better. I didn’t think it was a good thing at the time though, I can assure you.

Race morning brought almost perfect conditions, a slight breeze was blowing and it was overcast and mild. I could detect some humidity in the air, but this was never going to pose a problem in the cool conditions.

Threats in the field included Chris Legh, Andriy Yastrebov (Ukraine) and an American by the name of Todd Wiley. Apart from Chris, other Aussies on the start line included Brad White and Ben Harley.

On the gun, a lone athlete, who’s name escapes me at this point, broke away from the rest of the field and exited the water with a comfortable advantage.

For me, the swim was not without drama, as the zipper of my wetsuit partially undid itself. I experienced plenty of anguish as I waited for the cool water to crawl all the way up to my neck (reverse zipper) and the zip to fully release itself, but, much to my relief, it did not. Despite this, I led the chasing pack for the entire duration of the out and back triangular swim course and exited in second position, but with a number of athletes in very close proximity.

I was riding very well at the time, with my running fitness questionable. Taking this into account, I attacked the cycle leg with unusual vigour, in the hope of cracking some of the field early and building a buffer for the run.

The strategy worked to some degree. After blasting the first 30 or so kilometres, the train that had assembled itself behind me after the swim had vanished and only the lone figure of Chris Legh remained.

I called Chris up and we rode side by side for the next 30 kilometres. It was at around the 60 kilometre point that I found the early pace start to take its toll, and I began to fade quite badly. Chris eased off into the distance and I had to be content with getting to T2 some 2-3 minutes in arrears. I was fortunate to have a buffer of around 4 minutes to a chasing group of 4 athletes, with the biggest threats being Andriy and Todd.

While not feeling great at the start of the run, I found my rhythm and settled into a solid pace. The run was of an out and back nature and thus gave only one opportunity to assess how you were faring relative to other competitors. I passed Chris returning home a significant distance from the turn around point and knew that he was untouchable.

When I made the turn at the turn around point I noticed both Todd and Andiy were bearing down on me at a great rate. After completing about 1 kilometre of the return journey, disaster struck and I started to cramp severely in my adductors, forcing me to stop. As I was stopped, Todd ran passed.

I was lucky to have salt onboard and took some immediately. At this stage I was in despair, visions of second placing and a decent pay day were fading fast. I was lucky in that within 90 seconds of taking the salt, the cramps disappeared and I was able to begin the chase for second place.

It was now a three man battle for second, as while I was experiencing my problems, Andriy had closed to within striking distance as well.

At this point, all I could think about was the $2000 second place money and how I was not going to let anyone take it away from me. It was mine and I was going to fight tooth and nail for it.

I started to chase Todd with manic determination and had caught and passed him by the 16 kilometre point. He attempted to go with me and I immediately knocked the challenge on the head by putting in a surge. In the process I answered the challenge from Andriy as well and was able to maintain a decent buffer in the last 5 kilometres until the finish, crossing the line very happy in second place.

I was very happy with myself in this race - I showed great determination despite trying circumstances.

The other interesting thing for me about this race was the fact that I became sodium deficient in such a relatively short time. I was cramping after 3.5 hours of exercise and it made me think more about my sodium needs while racing.