Professional Triathlete Paul Eicher: Vegas Bound!!

One task for Racine 2012, qualify for Vegas.

Result, I am happy to announce that I will be racing at this years 70.3 Ironman World Championship, September 9th 2012 to represent USA!! Vegas has been the main focus all year and it is finally on the horizon.

Wanted to bring people closer to the race, so I added a few second video clips of T1, Bike, Run, Craig Alexander, and my Finish. Thanks Kayla for video taping!!

Pre Race: All week I was feeling really sluggish which made me pretty nervous but this happens often when I have rest weeks. By the end of the week things started to turn around and finally by Saturday I was off to Racine. Drove down with great company, my lovely girlfriend which is always a treat. After checking in we went off to the beach to do a quick swim. Right when I entered the water I was excited for the swim on Sunday, the water was cool and that's all I feel that I needed for a good swim. After the swim we headed to the campsite to meet up with my family, had a good dinner and relaxed for the rest of the night. I feel like the few days leading into a race are SO important and I would say I have a system down.

Race morning finally came, had my normal pre race breakfast and we headed down to the race site. Got a good run and swim warm up which was one thing I NEEDED to do leading up to the race. I have not been doing good warming up before races lately so really concentrated on getting a good one in. I even saw Craig Alexander pre race, I was star struck. Said my good byes to my Mom, Dad, Sister, Sister's Fiance and Kayla and I was off to the start.

Ready to swim haha

Swim, 24:24- The plan was to NOT go over my limit like past races this year. That meant go hard till the first turn to get out of the rough water then get into my own pace and not worry about anyone else. Other then having to weave through hundreds of people in earlier waves I felt really good in the water which made me happy. Was really neat that I got to see my cheering section during the whole swim. They had these bright yellow shirts on so they were easy to spot walking along the beech for the point to point swim.

T1 3:11- Long beech run into transition, then a interesting bike mount while going up hill.

Bike 2:15:07- Thanks to my friend Lee D, I got to race with a powertap wheel which means I could pace myself properly holding my watts in the zones I wanted. I knew my target watts and the plan was to get into that zone and simply peddle away while focusing on getting in all my Powerbar nutrition and hydration. The bike course was flat with many rough roads (Hit one bump and cracked my aero bar arm pad) and the wind for some reason seemed to cause me more trouble then it should have. Realizing how hot I was getting temperature wise I dialed my effort down, by the end of the ride I ended up dialing it down a lot more then I planned, but that was probably for the best. Was pleased to see many local triathlon friends during the ride before heading into T2.

T2 1:22- Got some loud cheers from my family which is always welcomed after the bike.

Thanks Powerbar

Run 1:27:25- Took off running in my trusty Newtons with the plan to take the first 2miles ez then dial it down to race pace. That plan did not happen. Even though I knew if put together a good run I could still have a chance at breaking that 4hr barrier I had little motivation to push myself into that painful zone. I have been haven a hard time pushing myself to my true potential during some races this year. Need to work on my mental strength to push myself when I am "Figuratively" racing myself. (Figuratively because you have no clue what place you are when you leave in wave 14.) First 3 miles were fine then everything kinda went down hill. I am so THANKFUL to have so many great friends and family out there cheering me on during the hot run. They made the challenging run a lot more enjoyable. I got to see Alexander 3 times during the run which was CRAZY cool. As for the aid station volunteers, they were AMAZING!!

Finish 4:11:29- The finish chute finally arrived and I was welcomed by "The best cheering section here today" according to the announcer about my family. Ended up in 8th place overall including the pros, 2nd in age group, 2nd overall amateur (Had no clue any age grouper was beating me until the finish which was a bummer.) Initially I was disappointed in my race, not running up to my potential but that faded quick. Then elation filled up in me when I found out I cracked the top 10 in a Ironman branded race on a tough day. Also I beat one of the best triathletes to ever come through the sport Craig Alexander, even if he had a really bad race for himself, I am still honored. He is a legend in the sport and he has been one of the many heros of mine since I started racing triathlons.

After the race I got to visit a BUNCH of friends that came to race or spectate which is always one of the highlights of the day. After awards I punched my ticket to Vegas and now my coach and I can really focus on the year goal which is 7 weeks away.