Professional Triathlete Paul Eicher: September 2012

VEGAS!!!!

I prepared. I fought. I learned.

Welcome to Vegas

Leading into Vegas I was in the best shape of my life, hitting zones I never thought possible. But everyone says that leading into the A race of their season. So what was going to get me the big W instead of someone else? Well....when you figure that answer out let me know ;-) Because the answer is not that simple, there is NO single thing that will guarantee you that win you have dreamed about.

That my friends, is why we race, and that's what brought me to Vegas. To fight for the right to PARTYYYY!! No not really.... it was to fight for the Age Group 70.3 World Title. Very few people knew my true goal for the race but now everyone reading this does. That goal was well within my reach, but it did not happen. I am blessed for what I did accomplish though. A 4th place finish in the 18-24age group and a book of knowledge and experience to come back stronger with.

Swim Course

Now for a quick race write up without a whole bunch of details.

Swim: 28:49

Was probably the most rough swim I have ever done. Rough as in getting beat up and not being able to find open water. Physically I felt good with my swim and learned that I need to be more aggressive to utilize my swimming abilities.

Bike: 2:30:08

Being from the Midwest I was simply not prepared for the bike terrain at all. I have never been on climbs so long but glad I have now, was a great experience to have. (ps Loved the scenery on the ride and the road quality) With my age group leaving in the last wave "8:00am compared to 6:30am for Pro's" I simply passed people the whole ride. That lead me to believe I was doing really well, but turns out, not well enough haha. Was happy with my discipline to back it off and soft peddle the last 10miles after some big cramps after the last long climb leading out of the National Park and into town. Do not think I would have changed my nutrition/hydration around at all after analyzing it. Big thank you to PowerBar for that. I could have rode a lot faster I am sure, but conservative was the plan, and that kept me below my target watts. Really started to heat up the last part of the ride but still had high hopes for a great run.

Run: 1:35:18

The run is what it comes down to in long distance triathlons and I was ready for it. I had NO clue what place I was in which drives me CRAZY, but I knew I had to be close to overall age group win if I ran well. So I put my head up and started running. By the time my age group started running, it was really starting to reach mother natures heat maximums (Heard 105F was reached.) The course went like this... Slight down hill, turn around, run up Long Hill, turn around run downhill.... repeat 3 times. "Also 3 great views of the Las Vegas strip." Cant give an exact time when things started to fall apart. If I had to guess, it was about the time I started to poor sticky perform on myself to try and keep cool haha. Because by the time my group was on the run course they had basically NO cold liquids or ice to cool the core temperature (I hate complaining how a race is ran because I know every race does the best they can.... but REALLY, the race was in a desert) Was so blessed to see my lovely family on the run course (Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, "sister and fiance in spirit".) You always seem to bring your form together when you know you will be seeing your loved ones around a corner. Also the volunteers were GREAT like always, race would never happen without them. Ended up running a run time not even close to my abilities, but was happy to give it my all for that day.

Total: 4:39:44

For someone who has never really raced well in the Heat or Hills I am very happy with my progress as a athlete. The big man upstairs has a plan for every day and every race and I am happy to finally except that. I perform the best I can for the day and that's all I can ask for.
For me.... Dreams continue to become goals, and goals continue to become achievements. Its a long steady hill to the top and I simply want to continue to enjoy the ride.

Thanks Always

YourTrainingZone- Training me to my full potential "Blue Smurf's away!!"

PowerBar- Providing me great race day and training nutrition "300kcal of gel/hr and lots of perform"

Peak Performance Massage- Getting my body and keeping my body healthy to train and perform

Newton Running- Making amazing running shoes "Ran in MV2's at Vegas and loved them"

Endurance House- Always supporting me

USANA- Making nutritionals I can trust, Nutrimeal to keep me lean and REV3 for giving me some extra energy.

LOTS OF PICURES