This is a race report for the 2012 Eppie’s Great Race. I also have a logistics report. Warning, this is pretty long winded.
I managed to slow down some, but still a little faster than I wanted. I slowed down a little each mile until I was at my planned 10:00 pace. I drank water at two of the stops - generally not something I would do in a 10k, but it was already in the mid-70’s heading towards a 100+ day, and it was going to be a long race.
Running segment (346/715)
Mile
Pace
1
8:52
2
9:05
3
9:21
4
10:01
5
9:53
6
11:35 (includes transition)
Arrived at the bikes, and probably managed to do the slowest transition possible as I changed shoes, put my running shoes in my fanny pack, and took a leisurely drink. Headed out to the bike path path and started off.
Intentionally went slow the first half mile, then decided to speed up a bit. People were passing me, but I managed to pass a few as well. It was much less crowded then I expected and the bike path was great. Things were going fine until… cramp. Cramp in my right calf. I could barely pedal. I think I passed 2 or 3 people after this point, where as probably 25-50 people must have passed me. I eventually got the cramp in my right leg under control, just in time for my left calf to cramp up. Tried all sorts things, but eventually settled on a low gear and regular pedal cadence. Even a moderately high gear and I’d cramp up again. Anyway, made it to the end of my bike run, and handed off my bike to a volunteer. Changed back to my running shoes, put my bike shoes in my fanny pack and ran (ok, hobbled) over the bridge to the kayaks.
Bike segment (553/715)
Mile
Speed
Cadence
7
17.6 mph
88
8
16.6 mph
89
9
16 mph
84
10
14.7 mph
76
11
15.2 mph
56
12
14.2 mph
77
13
15.7 mph
86
14
13.7 mph
86
15
14.3 mph
82
16
14.6 mph
90
17
14.7 mph
82
18
6.7 mph (includes transition)
87
Found my kayak, took a swig of water and dragged the kayak to the water. I figured my lack of exertion on the bike (couldn’t go fast because of the cramp) would give me a boost for the kayak. Not. I think this was my biggest surprise, how dead my arms were after the run and my (relatively) slow bike segment
] Pretty uneventful the rest of the race, but at some point I looked at my watch and saw I was getting close to my three hour goal. So I stepped the paddling up a bit, managed to cramp my arm, but kept on going.
Kayak segment (488/715)
Mile
Speed
19
6 mph
20
6.9 mph
21
6.2 mph
22
6.2 mph
23
6.4 mph (10 mph top speed - San Juan Rapids)
24
6.6 mph
] So that was it. Finished in 2:49:55, which was under my three hour goal. I was at 461/715 in the iron person’s division (people who did all three segments themselves without a team), and 768/1075 including teams. What I would differently next time:
- More training in general, but especially for the run-bike combo.
- Slow down even more in the run - If I had been three minutes slower in the run, I think I could have minimized the cramps and pick up an easy 10 minutes in the bike.
- More upper body work - I was surprised how dead my arms were for the kayak after the run/bike.
- Double my hydration - I ran out of my electrolyte drink in both the bike and kayak.
- Do a better job keeping my lines in the river - I was pretty sloppn] But overall, I was happy for my first attempt. Thanks again to Lola who crew’ed for me, there’s no way I could have done this without her.
