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 Swim
Comments: The gun fires and we are off. This was a beach/wade start and I think I was a bit too far back. I was held up quite a bit by the folks in front of me but it does not take long for me to get enough sea room to actually swim full strokes. I am reticent about kicking too much though because I can feel several people behind me and I am sure to knock them silly if I actually kick. So, I flutter along for a bit and then am able to hit my stride. Sighting on the way out was great and I was counting the bouys to the turn. At the turn, we head directly into the sun and I know from the practice swims that this is gonna suck. I won't be able to see the turn bouy until I am almost on top of it. Then I hear someone yelling at me and I realize that I have actually passed the darn thing by about 10 yards. I make the turn and start stroking for the beach and can see the line of bouys clearly. About this time, I find someone to draft off of and we make it all the way back to shore. Then I am out of the water and stumbling across the chip mats and back into the water. I glance at my watch and the ET for the first lap is 34:37 and I am totally stoked. Not as fast as my first lap at LP, but still very close. I plan on turning and burning on the back side of the second lap. As I head back out, we have to swim diagonally to the first bouy on the outbound side of the course and then it's a straight shot from there. As I continue around I am able to find plenty of sea room but not too many folks to draft off of. I am sort of in between groups and the folks ahead of me are not getting any slower. As I hit the turn, I realize that this time, the sun is behind the clouds and I can see the next turn bouy up ahead. Then I am headed back toward shore. I am feeling good at this point and not laboring at all. Just a bit of chop out here and nothing worse then what I experienced on the first loop and so all is good. I focus on smooth form and try to speed things up without flailing. Then I catch up to a group of swimmers and manage to draft most of the way back off of them before swimming around them and moving on. As I get close to shore, I start freshening my kick to get some extra bit of blood flowing to the feet as I am going to have to run soon. I continue to swim until I touch bottom with my hands and then I am standing up and running. I briefly look back and see a bunch of folks trying to wade through some pretty deep water. My 2nd Loop was quite a bit slower and I am a bit dissapointed. 37:50. It was not until about 20 miles into the bike that it occurred to me that the 2nd loop was longer then the 1st loop since I started right in front of the first bouy for the first lap, but had to swim diagonally from the chip mats to the first bouy in the second lap. (Easily an extra 100 yards or more) Swim Split: 1:12:27 What would you do differently?: I need to continue to regain my swim fitness lost during the recovery from my shoulder surgery in December. I am still slower by a good measure then Pre-injury. I am lucky to even be here as my Ortho was not hopeful about even being able to show up for this race.  Transition 1
Comments: Into transition quickly, I hit the strippers and my suit is off before I know it and I am again up and running. I grab my "Swim to Bike" transition bag and into the changing tent I go. Dump all of my stuff out on the ground and pile my wet stuff on top of it for a volunteer to take away later. Socks, bike shoes, helmet, jersey, arm warmers and number belt and I am off. I grab my bike on the way out and head off on the bike course. What would you do differently?: Nothing. This was a good IM Transition  Bike
Comments: This bike course is a bit wacky. it is basically 3 out-and-backs for each of 2 loops and we end up passing the transition area a bunch of times during the ride. It's great for spectators though as they get to see you go by the "Hot Corner" a bunch of times through the day. The first out-and-back is fairly flat and follows the back side of the run course. It's fairly flat and is great for settling down into a rhythm and getting down some nutrition before heading out again. This part of the course goes along the lake and the views are fabulous. I am really looking forward to running along here later today and getting more time to enjoy the scenery. Then I am back and heading way from the lake and toward Hayden. This part is a gentle uphill and I have a nice tailwind to keep the pace going through this stretch. I know there is gonna be hell to pay later in the day as I have to come back along this same route. Then we are riding along Hayden Lake and we start to hit the bulk of the hills this course has to offer. I focus on taking it easy on the hills and stay in the saddle as much as possible. I find that I am geared perfectly for this course and the hills are no problem for me. (Much different then LP) My bailout gear is a 42/21 and this ratio is perfect for the steepest pitches. As we wind our way around Hayden Lake, I spot a 1970 VW Bus with the same paint scheme as mine. I hollar out, "Nice Bus" as I pass by and I get a cool VW Sign in return. My nutrition is working well and I am eating right on schedule. Am taking plenty of water on board with clif bars and also suppementing with bananas from the nutritions stops. The legs are feeling great and I am really focusing on not hammering too hard at this point. If I am still feeling good later, I am going to start really pushing the pace. But I know that we still have to ride back into CdA into the teeth of the wind. I trained a lot in the wind and know that even if I do suffer a bit, others will be suffering way more then me. I am not getting passed too much but am playing tag with a few folks as we head back into town. I know I am going to make the first lap in under 3 hours and am tickled. I know the 2nd lap will be faster and I can meet my goal of a sub-6 hour bike. Then we are back in town and off on a very short out-and-back to make up the 56 miles. At this point, I see some of the BT Cool Kids out cheering and hollar out to them. (Still feeling great at this point) First Lap: 2:58:21 Now it's time to get to work. We head back out along lake CdA and the run course. No one is out on the run yet and this boosts my good feeling a bit. I continue to eat and enjoy the scenery and focus on the one and only hill I will be hitting on the run course and try to spot the turnound point. As I go past, I am happy as this hill does not look bad at all. then we are heading back into town again. This really is a peaceful part of the course and I am really enjoying it. The wind does not really seem like a factor on the course but I know it is slowing me down a bit on the outbound leg. Then we are back in town and heading out toward Hayden Lake. Now I start hammering hard as I have the wind at my back and this part of the course is very flat. I grab a fairly agressive gear and start passing a lot of folks at this point. I am really keen on turning a faster 2nd lap on the bike and figure I can push the hills hard and recover on the downside. Take full advantage of the wind and use my training to minimize the effects of the headwind late in the lap. I am making up a lot of time as I head toward Hayden Lake. Then I am heading into the hilly section for the last time. I hit the water stop and dump all of my bottles. I grab one bottle of water and a banana. I want to go light and fast and don't want a bunch of bottles holding me back. I do grab a bottle of G'Ade and drain most of it before chucking it at the end of the stop. About 2 miles past that point and about 80 miles into the ride, I am feeling great. My nutrition is working well and I feel very optimistic about the run. I know I still have a bit more than 25 miles to go and some tough hills ahead but as long as I keep my wits about me, this can continue to go well. I pass the 4:10 point on the bike and very happy with this. Then I start to notice that my bike won't stay in gear. I starts to drift between gears and I try futzing with my shifter and it seems to get better. Not long after, I hear the snap and the "Tink, Tink, Tink" sound of parts skipping down the pavement. The rider behind me comments that my bike is dropping parts. I look down just in time to see my upper idler pulley fall away and the remains of the pin is still lodged in the chain cage. I continue riding but know I have a hill coming up and will need to shift to keep things going. As I slow down to take a look, the other idler pulley falls away and the whole right side of the chain cage drops off. Crap!!!!!! As I stand there looking at this huge sag in my chain, I know that I cannot ride any further like this. Then a Referee on a motor bike stops and checks up on me. He looks at it and says tough luck. I ask him if he has seen the Tech Van around and he said they are pretty scarce. I ask where the next water stop is up ahead and he confirms what I already know. It is about 8 miles ahead on the other side of some now very ugly hills. Please Can you stay a while to share my grief It's such a lovely day to have to always feel this way And the time that I will suffer less At this point, it hits me that my race is over. I walk my bike across the street and start riding the bike back toward the water stop 2 miles back down the course. A DNF is hard enough, but having to ride the wrong way down the course is ripping my heart out and I cannot stand it. As I ride, I notice that the chain has fallen into the path of least resitance and and am actually able to pedal along like this as long as I take it easy. After about 100 yards of this, I turn around and stop. I have a "Campeona Moment" as I remember my teammate's race report from the Leon Marathon. Then I start riding the other way and I do some quick math in my head. I figure even if Have to walk all of the hills and ride the downsides and the flats, I can make it in before the 5:30 PM cutoff. I am already on the 2nd loop and only have 25 miles to go. If I can just make it to the run before the bike cutoff, I am home free and can finish before midnight. As soon as I hit the first hill, my situation gets precarious. As the chain starts to swing, the gears start to skip. I have to stop and walk the hill. This is repeated for the next couple of hills and then the Tech Van comes by. Some of the other riders told them about me and they came back for me. They quickly pull a bunch of links out of my chain and use the adjusters in my dropouts to set the chain tension. (Campy dropouts are the greatest) They asked me which gear I wanted and I had already thought it through. I figured the 53/19 was the best in terms of a straight chain path and also because I could maintain a good top end speed on the flats yet still be able to hammer over at least some of the hills. They said they would come by and check on me in about 10 minutes and off I went and climbed the next hill and then the next. It was working and I figured if I had to walk a few hills, that was OK with me as long as I could finish. "Never F***ing Quit, No Matter What" was my new mantra. Several folks noticed my broken deraileur mostly because it was sticking out sideways. (Out of the way) I was out of the saddle on every uphill trying to maintain momentum and passing everyone. I would then spin down the other side and get passed again by everyone. This ratio is good for about 20 MPH at 90 RPM but at 50-60 RPM, is only good for a 11-13 MPH. I was trying my best to stay on top of this gear but would ultimately have to hammer through the top of most of the hills. This hurt more then a bit. Quite a few times, someone would caution me not to burn up on the bike, but I had not choice unless I wanted to walk out. Then I was over the last of the hills and only had about 10 miles to go. I had done some math early on and estimated my bike split at about 7:30 or maybe a bit more. But heading into town, it suddenly looked like a sub-7 was possible but not likely. I was torn between wanting to take it easy and wanting to haul the mail. But then I knew from experience that the high cadence pedaling would increase circulation and likely speed up the recovery process from my brutal efforts on the hills. I focused on taking the last bit of nutrition on board and drinking as much as I dared to to prepare for the run. As I headed out on the last little out-and-back, I knew I would make a Sub-7 bike split and was so incredibly stoked. I was so lucky to be here and to actually have finished the bike leg at all. The whole demeanor of my race had changed once I got back on the road. I was cheering for the volunteers, singing to myself, and chanting at the top of my lungs. Maybe I had gone mad out there on the course, or maybe I was just incredibly greatful to even be here. Final Bike Split: 6:58:37 What would you do differently?: Do a better job of inspecting the bike for weaknesses. My breakdown could have been avoided with a detailed inspection of my deraileur. (With Teardown) I have at least 50,000 miles on my bike and stuff is not gonna last forever even if DuraAce is bullet proof. Transition 2
Comments: Dump the bike and grab my "Bike to Run" gear bag and head to the changing tent. Stop for a quick bio-break and then change my shoes, dump the hemlet and slip on the running shoes and hat. As I get up, I let out a very loud grunt and several folks joke about it. "See out out on the run course guys" and I am off. What would you do differently?: Nothing. This was a good IM Transition. I was in and out and did not linger as I was very eager to get out there and run.  Run
Comments: I came upon a child of god, and he was walking along the road I asked him, where are you going and he told me I am going to try and get my soul free OK, I know that this is either going to go well, or it's gonna be a very long walk as I enjoy the 26.2 mile buffet that is the Ironman Marathon. The first 2 miles are a short out-and-Back along the Dike Road and I focus on getting my run legs working and I feel pretty darn good. As I start running, my shoulders are up around my ears and my hamstrings are very tight. I try to alter my running form to utilize my quads more then my hammies and glutes just to give them a rest for a while. This results in a slower stride with stiff hips and I press on at best speed with one engine shut down and the other picking up the slack. (I know that there is now way I can run the whole marathon this way) By the second mile, I am feeling good with a smooth stride and a pace between 8:15 and 8:30. Not what I had hoped for, but good enough for now. As I head out through the neighborhood, I bump into the BT Cool Kids and give them a quick "I had Bike Trouble" just to let them know what happened. then I am off around the lake and still feeling good. I am passing a lot of folks and not being passed at all and this is really giving me a big boost. Then I see Chris run by the other way on the return of his first loop. This gives me another boost and I know he is having a very good day. I know the one and only hill is coming up and the only question for me at this point is how far up the hill the turnaround is. I have seen the hill during my pre-race recon as well as earlier in the day on the bike so I have some idea. When the hill does come, it is not bad at all. Just shorten up the stride and increase the turnover and I am at the top before I know it and speeding down the other side. As I wind back around the lake, I start to feel drowsy. This has happened to me several times in training recently and I know it's nothing to worry about. I just feel like curling up under one of the trees on the side of the lake and taking a nice long nap just now. As we head back, I cross over a chip mat under an arch and a message board up ahead as a message for me. Don't know who left it for me but thank you to whoever did. I am thanking volunteers all along the way for being out there today and make a point to high five every kid that I see. I am truely grateful to be out here and not sitting in a van getting a ride back from the bike course with a DNF. Every step of this race on the run course is a gift and I intend to share it with everyone. As I head back past the big hotel and the sea of signs on the side of the road, I start to feel a very familiar feeling. I am heading into a bonk. I have been living off of the course for my nutrition and not much is working. My tummy is feeling quite wonky and I am just not taking in enough kCals to maintain this pace forever. As I wind back through the houses, the weakness continues to take hold and my pace slows a bit and I have to really focus on maintaining my turnover. This is definitely no way to run a railroad and I still have a very long way to run. I get back to the transition area (And the half way point) and I am happy to be running naked. (I have no Garmin and I am not using my watch to keep track of pace) I am just running by feel. As I pass the SN area, I am hatching a plan. I run down the dike road and hit the turn and I feel really dizzy and my tummy is definitely not happy with me. I hit the water stop and walk through it. I see Suzanne there and explain the whole bike saga to her. I am glad that she posted this info on BT so folks would not wonder what happened to me out there. I suck down as much water as I can and am really feeling like now is the time to pay for hammering the hills in the last 25 miles. My Hamstrings are fried and now my quads are none too happy either from the running effort. My nutrition is blown and I am totally spent. This is gonna be a very long walk through my 2nd lap to the finish. But you know life is for learning We are stardust; We are golden And weve got to get ourselves Back to the garden Then I execute my hasty plan. I hit the Special Needs and get my run bag. The first thing I think of is how lucky I am since I almost did not pack a run bag. I dig in and pull out my "Alternate Nutrition". There are some Cheeze Nips, some Peanut Butter Ritz Bits and a whole baggie of Baked Wheat Thins. I grab the first thing that sounds good and off I go. (The Wheat thins) I stuff as many as I can into my mouth and chew, chew chew. I have to hit several water fountains along the way to make sure I get enough water with them. The bag is gone as I am passing the clock tower and the hotel and I start to run again. This is easier then I expected to get things moving again but I am still running hobbled. I have to focus on using my quads and keep my hamstrings and glutes out of the game. They are totally fried and on the verge of seizing up on me. No worries though because I am running and the quads are feeling better with the short walk. I start to feel better and decide I am going to go for it. I had thought I would walk a few water stops but decide it's better to just run through and get this thing done before I bonk again. I do take in a few sips of broth as well as water at the next stop but keep the train on the tracks. I am again passing folks and quickly get past most of the folks who passed me while I had my head in my SN bag. Now I am totally energized and feeling good again. Back to High Fives and taking in everything that is the Ironman. Lesson reinforced one more time. There are going to be points in our race where we feel like crap, but it will always pass and we can recover. As I get back to the lake, it occurs to me that I am going to make it. I focus on not trying to do any math in my head as to finish times or pace and just focus on enjoying the day and holding my effort up as much as possible. Then I pass Bonnie and am so happy to see her out on the run course. I know she is gonna make it. A little further along I spot Sue and cheer her on also and I know she will make it also. As I approach the hill I know that this is no big deal and once I hit the turn, it's all downhill from here. Both of these women are way more couragous then I am and my hope is to finish as strong as they do. All this time I have been consistently passing folks and no one has been passing me but suddenly, there is someone on my shoulder. As he scoots past me, I realize he is in my AG and this gets my going a bit. As we head up the hill, he has more gas then I do and he gets quite a ways ahead. As we near the top of the hill, I pass a group of folks who are chatting about where the turn is. I point the turn out to them. (A cone about 50 yards ahead) and they are stoked that it is so close at hand. As I get close to the turn, my competition is just ahead of me and seems to have stalled at the top of the hill. I make the turn and gain a bit of ground on him. Then we are running together again and we chat for a minute. He is feeling rough but is still running which is a good thing. He confirms what I suspect that he is also on his second lap and we both now have 4.2 miles of reality to take in. (We had just passed 22 mile marker) As we hit the water stop, he walks it and I run through. Before long, he is running past me again and this cycle will repeat several times. He never gets that far in front but I think walking the stops is giving him a boost as does passing me. We are both now passing tons of folks out on the run course and this is urging me on. As we head back into the houses, I pass him one last time as he walks the water stop and I don't see him again. Now we have just 1.2 miles to go and I focus on trying to mount a kick. As we come around the corner, I reach the point that in my dreams, seems like such a powerful metaphore for many things. The split where the loopers go right and the finishers go left. The volunteers cheer on the finishers as we go by and now I am charged up and running well. There are only a few runners finishing and I focus on trying to pick them off. I pass one guy and there is a couple up ahead who seem to be going too fast to pass in time. I don't want to screw up their finish and actually was thinking of just hanging back with enough room so we both have clean finishes when something amazing happens. The guy turns around and waves me on. We are now heading down a long gradual hill toward the finish and the crowds are really cheering. I get swept up in the moment and find that last gear and my stride evens out and my hamstrings no longer hurt and my legs feel great. I am flying down the hill and I even put my arms out and do an airplane as I approach the finish line. I feel like I am on top of the world and nothing can touch me. A finish that is just as sweet and then some as my first IM Finish last year in Lake Placid. I am so lucky to be here and so grateful that I was actually able to get to the point where I could actually finish this darn thing and finish strong. Across the chip mats and into the open arms of my catcher. He asks how I am feeling and I assure him I am great. I get my hat, medal and T-Shirt and get my chip pulled. I am so happy to be giving up my chip now instead of out on the bike course. We snap a quick photo and I am off for the food tent. No need for medical today. I finished the last 13.1 miles on a bag of Wheat Thins and a some sips of water on the course but now I am so hungry. I wade into a pile of pizza, a can of soda and 3 bottles of water. I feel great standing there but oh what a relief it is to actually sit down. By the time we got to woodstock We were half a million strong And everywhere there was song and celebration What would you do differently?: Spend more time in training working on a bigger variety of nutrition. I trained almost exclusively within the bounds of my nutrition plan for this race and had very little experience with alternatives. I got really lucky to actually find something that did work well in my SN bag. (And Always remember to pack the Run SN Bag with alternate nutrition) Post race
Warm down: Walked around a bit and cleared my stuff out of Transtion and dropped my bike off at Tri Bike Transport. I had a very interesting experience here. As I was dropping my bike off, the Tri Bike Guy saw my broken deraileur and asked me about it. I gave him the 30 seconds version of what happened and then some guy behind me says "Well, it's not like he's riding a new bike or something". The Tri Bike Guy responds with "Hey, he has done 4 Ironmans on the bike". (He saw the IM Stickers on the Steattube from the 4 races I have done) I give the Tri Bike Guy and extra $10 Tip for that :) :) I also stopped in at the InsideOut Sports Tent and tracked down the Tech Van folks. I thanked him again for his efforts to make my bike work. He was suprised I made it up any of the hills with the gear he gave me and was shocked that I was able to finish the bike in under 7 hours. I made sure he understood that his help made all the difference in the world for my finish today. What limited your ability to perform faster: Bike issues and not enough emergency nutrition. I will always be packing a Chain Tool in the future for all races. (It would have saved me about 45 minutes if I would have had one) Event comments: Hey, this is an Ironman Branded Event. It does not get much better then this :) :) :) Profile Album Last updated: 2007-06-25 12:00 AM
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United States
Ironman North America
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 895/2061
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 190/332
The mountains one gazes at, reads about, dreams of and desires are not the mountains one climbs.
Training
My training cycle for this race has been great. I feel like I made some huge fitness gains especially in the area of my running and now believe that it is no longer my weakest disipline. Ironman Coeur d'Alene was an "A" race for me, but my intent from the beginning was to use this race as part of a larger base building effort. The idea being to realize the fitness gains and to confirm my full recovery from my shoulder surgery. Next year's Ironman is where I plan on getting very agressive with my goals. No matter what happened on race day, I felt like this whole endeavour has been a big success.
for training, I wrote my own training plan and based it on the last 12 weeks of the Pfitz 18/70 Marathon training plan. I used the formula (1 Mile Run = 2 miles Bike = 100 Yards Swim) as a starting point and then periodized the plan and included my key workouts. I modified the basics of the plan to include speedwork early and speedwork late with as much General Aerobic miles in the build cycles as I could handle.
The concept is that although early speedwork is too far away from the race to have any direct influence, it will put some great mojo into the rest of the training in the form of higher intensity and slightly faster paces. The idea with the high volume is that once the body has adapted to the higher volume, subsequent training at a lower volume usually results in much higher quality and very sustainable efforts. (See Pete's Progression) I used many of these training concepts in my Fall/Winter marathon training to achieve my Boston Qualifier and plan on doing something similar this Fall as I chase the Sub-3 marathon.
Pre-Race
I arrived in the Coeur d'Alene area late Wednesday night and planned on taking full advantage of the extra time to cover parts of the course with my last bits of training. I was particularly keen on getting acclimated to the water. It was reported to be about 56 degrees on Thursday and was quite brisk but totally doable. (Just a bit of an Ice cream headache) Thursday was much warmer and they were predicting it to continue to warm up quite a bit by Sunday. (I think it was above 60 on race day)
I also ran a good portion of the run course which sounds like a long way until you consider that the run course is a 2 loop Out-And-Back affair and a 6 mile run gave me a great view of what was about to come. The run felt great and the course was as flat as advertised but way more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.
I was able to hook up with a few of the BT cool kids at the morning swims and it was great to meet everyone. I went into this race not really knowing anyone but know the true value of seeing a few friendly faces on race day. I bumped into a few more at the pre-race dinner and athlete meeting and it was cool to get a chance to sit down and chat with a few of them.
For those not familiar with the Race format of an Ironman, you are given a bunch of plastic bags for your gear. On Saturday, I moved my bike from Tri-Bike Transport and checked it along with my gear bags into the transition area:
"Swim To Bike" Bag (Jersey, Helmet, Bike Shoes, Socks, Number Belt, Sunglasses)
"Bike To Run" Bag (Socks, Running Shoes, Running Hat)
On race day, I bring 3 other bags with me. My "Dry Bag" for extra clothes and my "Run Special Needs" and "Bike Special Needs". As I was packing my SN bags, I threw in extra bike supplies and some alternate nutrition into the bag. (Tubes, C02 Cylinders) For the run, my plan was to use on course nutrition and contemplated skipping it this year. Last year, I did not use my SN bags and thought for sure they would go unused. In the end, I decided to throw in some alternate nutrition and some inspirational stuff into the bag just in case. (Even if I was not going to use it)
One more time I am reminded of two things. that the human brain's blessed/cursed ability to forget intolorable pain. Also that dreams like viruses, have an unpleasant habit of attacking, and not too infrequently destroying, their hosts.
I woke up at 3:30 AM as I had about a 30 mile drive to the race site. I had a bowl of Oatmeal, a bagel with peanut butter and a big steaming mug of coffee. I also had a clif bar on the way in with another cup of coffee and a gel as I was heading down to the water.
I gathered up my bags and had my wetsuit, hood, swim cap and goggles along with my bike nutrition in my dry bag plus both of my Special Needs bags. When I arrived at the race site, I stopped off at my bike and dried it off a bit and pumped up the tires. (It rained the night before just a bit) I stashed my nutrition in my Bento Box and swore to myself I would eat it all before getting off the bike. Then I wandered over to drop off my Special Needs bags. the Bike Bag went into a truck to be transported to the back of the bike course and the run SN area was right next to the transition.
Then I got into my suit and headed down to the water. I bumped into a few of the BT Cool Kids and it was great to see everyone again. Several of them were cheering others on so I knew I sould see them for sure before the day was done.
I hit the water for a quick warmup and it was pleasant. The conditions were a bit windy and lake CdA is a big lake and an onshore wind means plenty of fetch to stir up some reasonable wind chop. No worries for me since I usually do my open water swim training during afternoon time in the ocean when the onshores are at their peak. (I was more than ready)
Dreams, like Christmas Presents yet unopened, make you happy. Memories, like all things lost forever, make you sad. So it is with excitement tinged with a bit of regret we begin the race.