Eagleman 2009 Race Report - Willie

Here's my Eagleman Race Report - Had a nice taper leading up to the race, where I was able to just focus on food and drink - my favorties! It's funny though, when you lay off for just a few days how your body reacts, you feel like you haven't trained enough - go figure.

Drove down to Cambridge early Saturday - met up with Chris and drove over to the registration. I look up my name and see I have a great number, 255 - wow, I liked it. I then go to registration with my number and she keeps looking at my license and address in comparison to the name on the registration, and finally I burst out - is there a problem?

She says do you live in Orlando, FL? I say no - she says, you're not registered!

Thus it all began the fun I was to have over the next few hours getting all this straigthened out - my mantra for the day was to simply relax, take it easy...oh well!

Once this mess was cleared up - we went and racked our bikes, all the while totally worried about the borrowed race wheels and what to do about getting them pumped up, etc. I had borrowed an 808 tubular on the front and a 999 disc on the back - both way over my head!

Anyway, it would take a while to make sure I knew what I was doing, since I had already spent the entire morning trying to change the disc tire out to get a smaller stem in to make it easier to inflate the tire - only to find out it already had the small stem in!

Oh well - so much for Saturday and taking it easy!

Got to bed early after attending the Team In Training Inspiration Dinner. As usual I'm blabbing my mouth about why I do these things and the people at the table were quite impressed, so when Julie from TNT asked "does anyone have an inspirational story to tell?" The fine people at my table, of course volunteered big mouth me to tell my story.

It was very moving for me to tell the reason why as is mentioned in an earlier article here - to remember Ron, Alan and Matthew and others, I struggled to maintain myself.

Race Day Morning - Slept very little, always anxious to make sure I wake up on time -got up at 4 AM right away - ate my breakfast cookie, peanut butter and bagel, and was out the door ay 4:45 where Chris was ready to go with me.

We get to the park and we are not allowed to park there - so had to park several blocks away and carry my 100 lbs of tranistion gear - whew! Not an easy or fun task at all.

I was completly nervous the whole morning - I was to start with the 'seniors' at 6:45 - on one hand happy to start so early to get in before its too dark, I mean too hot :) - but on the other, I had to get it together in time and with the doggone new wheels it was a challenge. Had trouble with both stems and wound up getting help from TriSpeed to pump up the wheels.

On with the wetsuit and into the water. This time I was focused on starting very slow and build in the swim, so as not to overdue it in the swim and keep my heart rate down. This went great, swam great, swam strong - I just swam 1.5 miles instead of the 1.2 which is what everyone else did. I'm sure of it cause I can swim a mile in the pool in less than 26 minutes - I just happen to wiggle alot when I swim and in open water I'm all over the place and in the pool I can see where I'm going because of that big black line on the bottom of the pool...if they could only give me a line or something in the open water...

Got out of the water feeling great, thought I had a good time, only to be reminded that I swim a lot more by zig-zagging - something to practice.

T1 went well for me and got on the bike feeling great - completly focused and noticing the other triatheles freaking out!

Started off on the new bike, a Cervelo P2 and wheels definety felt fantastic and fast right from the start. I noticed without really trying I was going 18 MPH, and thought to myself, oh boy is this going to be great!

There were many, many people cheering TNT, and this made it all worth it. At one point after hearing a loud cheer, I went on to pass at leat 10 people in a row averaging over 25 MPH - of course a little adrenaline along with a great new fast bike and wheels really helped!

First 20 miles or so, I noticed I was averaging 20.2 MPH and was getting totally pumped...and then at some point about that time, I felt the left knee starting to feel sore and tried to focus on positive things...I was able to keep the 20 MPH or so for the next 20 miles, and then when good 'ol Egpyt Rd came the wind was there and I tried to press on that left leg and there it was - I'm pretty sure I had another Medial Pop in the left knee - evey hard stroke hurt and it wasn't going away...I think I dropped to 15-16 MPH for most of the way in...I was at first thinking I would finish the bike in less than 2:45 and wound up at 3:05...pretty bummed about that, because I had it in me...oh yea, I'm reminded that I am on 55 yr old knees, but I will fix this and be back faster! Especially now that I'm not riding that Fred Flintstone Bike! NOBODY TOLD ME!

Felt great otherwise when I finished and carried the bike into T2! Picture to follow...

Started the run, and saw Coach Kevin and he asked me how I felt - I said great except for the knee and by now I had looked at my surgery leg and saw how swelled up it. It didn't feel good either because when it swells up like that the entire area moves and its quite uncomfortable. I was concerned at first if I was overdoing it again and thought it would be a very long 13.1 miles walking.

I walked most of the first mile after running past everyone, and when I slowed down I just thought is this really worth it and is my running finally over? It's just not normal to be this uncomfrtable running where I felt so good swimmimg and biking. At this point I was feeling quite distressed looking at my knee and leg and feeling bummed and then I fnally looked up and saw an ICE MACHINE at the first station! I decided I would stop and ice both the knee and the leg and then see how I felt.

I had decided to run with my compression socks, not caring what they looked like, since these really help keep my compartment syndrome in tact. It was a great decision because I was able to put ice in the sock and it would hold it in place for miles. I was then able to apply the ice to my knee...

It worked beautifully, took away most of the pain and keep me from freaking out entirely, and I was able to run a majority of the time as opposed to just walking.

It was hot out there and in addition to staying hydrated, I had to keep putting ice in my hat, leg and knee, all the while moving along and focusing on beating my goal of 7 Hours.

Again, many cheers along the way for TNT - some of the people very vocal and thanking me and others for what we are doing. One said thank you, and I said thank you back - and then she said again - THANK YOU - REALLY!

At my age and condition, and since I ain't winning any of these - I can't think of doing these events without a purpose and higher calling - it just wouldn't make sense.

At one point one of the photograpers said WAY TO GO TNT - Thank You TNT! When I saw him again on the way back - he thanked me again, and then he asked me, "Hey TNT, who are you doing this for?"

I answered, "Ron R".

It was another emotional moment for me as I remembered Ron again and why I do these things.

I'm doing it because I will always rememember Ron, and its through Triathlon, Love and Service that I remember him best.

For Fun, For Health and For Love!

-- Willie B

On to Ironman Arizona!