Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

Took 1 gel, 8 oz of light sports drink, and 1 salt before swim. Was happy that the lake didn't seem as choppy as it did the days before.

Lined up on the far right/mid pack and chatted with a few other BT'ers / Tri club folks waiting for the gun to go off.

The start wasn’t as bad as expected. It got worse when everyone began to converg at the turn bouy.

Congestion on the swim legs seemed to be sporatic. Sometimes there was clean water, sometimes I got sandwiched, punched or kicked. I just tried to relax and keep an easy tempo.

Things were going well until both calves cramped on 2nd loop. I came to a dead stop in the middle of the lane, yelling in pain. I was helpless, trying to do what I could to avoid the mass of swimmers behind me. It was impossible to avoid everyone. One guy yeld some explitives at me, as if I was blocking him on purpose.

Eventually, a kayaker saw me and paddled nearby and I slowly moved towards her. I hung onto the front watching the field swim by. For a moment, I had visions of my race being over. What a disheartening moment.

Finally, the cramps subsided enough to swim and I didn't feel it again until the last 100-200m of the swim. At that point I just endured the pain, swimming with my feet at 90 degrees to my legs, just trying to get myself out of the water.

I think that whole incident added about 13 or 15 mins to my swim time. I exited the water a very dissappointing 1583 out of 2262.

More stretching, take up yoga? Eat more bananas the days before the race. Didn’t eat one with bfast. Take 5 or 8 salt pills prior to race.

Maybe be more aggressive in start position for a more consistent swim rythm? Continue to work towards low 1hr swim time. Felt I should have been able to do 1:15 on this race easy.

Might also try phosphate loading a couple days before the race.

Maybe a little slower than anticipated. Frustrated from swim.

Two wetsuit stripper helped with my top and bottoms, which went fast enough. Could have tried to get top half down myself on the run out of the water but didn’t want to exert the energy for some reason.

Got T1 bag without issue and the tent wasn’t crowded. Got seat by exit, socks on, bike shoes on, HR monitor on, extra calorie bomb in pocket (which was a waste, couldn’t eat two, more on that later). Had another bomb already on bike. Glasses on, helmet on.





I think I passed my bike rack row initially but quickly found it. Almost lost my handle on the bike with the weight of the rear bottles while running to the exit. Might only load one bottle in back and one on downtube next time.

Felt comfortable throughout the bike. Was glad to be in my element.

HR monitor was unreliable (to many others around, too wet?), but seems I was at mid 150’s through much of race (upper zone 2). I spun easy up the hills and passed many people with little effort.

By the time the bike was over, I passed 1142 people and moved up to 441 overall.

Time was faster than target by 15 mins (5:28). Felt I could have pushed much harder but in actuality, probably should have even held back more. I think I was trying to make up a little time for the swim.



Consider carrying only two bottles next race? Aid stations were fine for water, Gatorade. Maybe find alternate nutrition plan that is more liquid.

Calorie bomb (pb, nutella, honey, banana mixed up in a ziplock bag) only good for one bag. Didn't want to stomach another one when I had alternate nutrition available.

Shot blocks were good (took one sleeve). Drank most of my 3 sport drink bottles and ¾’s a Gatorade. Est. 600 (cytomax)+ 1000 (cal bomb) +100 (Gatorade) +200 (shot blocks) + 400 (gel flask) = 2300 cal.

Also, should toss rear bottles before dismounting bike to avoid overextension of leg and potential cramping.

Pretty uneventful. Good volunteer who helped pack away helmet. Just switched socks, put on shoes, hat, salt and was out.

Took some extra time to ensure I had enough sunblock on from volunteers. Grabed some water before going into tent which could have skipped if had Ensure in bag too. Plenty of water on course.




Maybe next time keep extra salt from bike in back pocket, so I have more. Might also keep an Ensure in the transition bag and drink while getting sunblock.

First 2 miles felt fine. Held 8:30 pace for first out and back but didn’t feel like I was speeding away. Got into a groove probably around mile 3 after getting up Lakeside blvd.

I hit every aid station for water and Gatorade. Was pleasantly surprised when found that we didn’t have to run all the way up the hill to Higgins point, nice.

The CDA Lake Drive portion of the run was very scenic and flat, which allowed me to get into a good rythm.

Also would stretched the hamstrings occassionaly at the aid stations as preventive maintenance. Only felt like potentially cramping in calves once or twice. Although the quads felt fatigued by 2nd loop.

I was hitting my salt pills quite heavily and figured the supply I was carrying might run out. It was hot ~80F and I found I needed a lot of salt, so I decided to hit my run special needs bag. I packed some emergency salt / ibuprofen, and an Ensure.

The Ensure was great and I think I would do that again. The volunteers were so quick in getting your bag, it didn't really add any material time.

Miles 13-14 coming back up Lakeside for the second time was probably worst section of run. Kept telling myself to hold back until mile 18 or 20. Ended up holding back till twenty (last turn around)and felt much better the last 6 miles of the run.

I grabbed potatoe chips and cookies at several of the later aid stations. The coke was really good too towards the end of the run.

The last 2 miles was like being pulled in by a tractor beam. I had been looking foward to running down the finish chute on Sherman Street for a long time.

Was able to move up another 67 spots on the run to finish 374 overall.




Maybe can shorten walks through the aid stations. I walked and then tried to take another 30 steps afterwards. Maybe added too much time to split.

I continue to find myself feeling too good by the end of the run. Looking at the pics of faster finishers, they look they are about to collapse. I’m smiling and feeling relatively great. Problem is I think I’m limited by muscular endurance on the run. Feel like I’ll cramp if I push harder, which would be counterproductive.

Not that I’ve proven myself with regards to basic durability on the run (not having to walk any portion of the run), I will begin working on run muscular endurance during the off season.

Will be doing a lot of hills and trail running for my first ultra.

Ate a couple slices of pizza and fruit. Sat down and got a few ice bags for my legs.

Looked at all the people in various states of recovery around me.

Got a quick massage and then met back up with the family.


Pacing was okay, but not perfect. Feel that 15 mins slower on the bike may have yielded 25-30 mins on the run.

In addition to incident on the swim, I hope to be able to take a big chuck of time out of my next IM experience.

Overall, I'm satified with my overall performance. It's very rewarding and challenging to execute on the months of training leading up to this day.



Good times. Looking foward to doing another IM in the future.