Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

We were so far down the beach that I could not hear the announcer, but I did hear the cannon! Looked down and my HR was 89! I was feeling pretty confident. That soon faded when I found myself in an underwater(mostly) cage fight. I started so far to the right that I had to swim across everyone elses line to get to the first bouy. Like most people, I aimed for the sailboat that was just past the first turn bouy. Looking for the first bouy I realized that I had swum past it and was swimming for the sail boat. There were still 100s of people around me, so I knew I was alright. I then turned and headed for the short cross leg. I was now swimming directly into the sun. I could not see the bouy, so I just followed the people. Made the second turn and found some clean water. Finally!! I was determined to make up some ground so I picked it up a notch. A few minutes later, I hear someone yelling, look up, and see a kayak. I am WAY off course. I stop and look to my left and everyone is swimming away from me. It took me the entire way in to correct myself. Out of the water quickly and across the mat. Look at my watch before I get back in and see 33min. Slower than I wanted, but 1:10 still looked do-able. I thought the second loop would be faster and cleaner, but it was neither. I was still in a large group and got kicked in the face pretty hard on 2 occasions on the 2nd loop. I also cramped on the swim, twice. The first time was on the first loop. My right calf cramped and I had to stop. This was about 15 min into the swim. The same calf cramped again on the second loop. Weird.

Swim more agressively. I backed off anytime someone got near me to let them pass. Gave up a lot of ground.

Wendi and Trix were yelling at me so I flopped down and they had my suit off in record time. They picked my up, slapped my ass, and asked why I had a roll of silver dollars in my jammers. I ran and found my T1 bag and ran into the tent. It was pack full of people. Found a seat and a vol dumped my bag out for me. I changed into my bike shorts, tri top, socks and bike shoes. He sprayed me with sunblock. I grabbed my helmet and glasses and began the long run to my bike rack.

I had no idea I was in there that long. I thought I was moving pretty fast.

Felt great on the bike from the word go. I was cruising along at 20mph and my HR was in the high 140s. I decided to slow down and not exceed 19 on the short out and back. Went up the first little hill on the run course just fine and coasted down. Back through town and on to the real hills. I really enjoyed them on the first loop. Just sat and spun. My HR never left the 160s. I was very pleased. Again, I coasted the downhills and tried to save as much leg as I could. Tobin passed me just before the 2nd hill, Paul was right behind him. I didn't see either of them agian until the run. After the hills, there was a really nice tailwind section. I was doing 23+ with a HR in the 130s. Then we turned around and this is where my ironman began. I tried to keep my HR in the 150s and that put my speed in the crapper. Finally got back into town and on the 2nd loop. I felt pretty good about that! The good feeling lasted about 15 min. I stopped at the bike SN and got my other bottle of perp.
[ I had one bottle for the first loop and one for the second. I finished the first bottle just before SN. I had the 2nd bottle surrounded by 3 bottles of frozen water and all held together with saran wrap. Worked great because the 2nd bottle was ice cold! Each bottle contained 6 scoops perp, 3 scoops carbopro, 9 endurolytes.]
Out of town on the second loop and fatigue hit me like a lead pipe. I felt just like I did after a 30 hr shift at the hosp. I kept closing my eyes and would have to talk to myself out loud to keep them open and focused. This was at the 4 hr mark. I have no idea what was going on, but it lasted for the remainder of the bike. I tride caffeinated GUs, nothing worked. On the first loop, I never stopped and managed to average ~18mph. On the second loop I had to stop at almost every aid station and stretch my back. At one point on the 2nd loop. I took a gu from an aid station and instead of throwing the wrapper on the ground, I decided to put it in my back pocket. When I reached around with my left hand to do this, my arm cramped up and I had a hard time getting it back to the front. This is the weirdest thing I have ever experienced. Anywho, I tried to get a water at the last aid station, but some dude passed me on the right and took the water I was reaching for. I was just about to open up the can of whoop-ass I have been saving (and dying to use) when he apologized and offered it to me. I poured about 1/2 of it on my head and handed the rest back to him.

I know this is all out of order, but the wind died down for the second loop.....the tailwind that is... :(

I had a water at each aid station on the first and second loops and as much gatoraide as I could stand at each aid station on the second loop. Peed at the SN and 1/2 way through the 2nd loop.
HR was much lower on the 2nd loop. Just couldn't get it up. (ha ha) Where i was in the 168 range on the first loop hills, I was in the 148 range the second time.

Handed my bike to the vols, grabbed my T2 bag and ran into the tent. As an aside, there were lots of bikes in trans when i got out of the water and LOTS there when I got back from the bike!
Changed my bike shorts and put on tri shorts. Changed socks, put on shoes and hat. Hit the sunblock gals and took off.

Again, I had no idea i was in there so long.

Saw my daughters, mike, wendi, trix, and chippy on the way out of transition.

First off, I walked every aid station! I managed to keep a nice pace (9:30) for the first ~6 miles, but my HR kept creeping up into the 160s, So I started to run/walk a little bit at this point. Saw tobin again comming back on his first loop as I was going out. First loop took me about 2 hrs. The second loop was much longer. Caught paul on the first loop. Still had not seen stan, tom, stake, or ivan. Think I saw tom and stan on the way in from the first loop, but the second loop is a little fuzzy. From what I remember, the entire run felt good. I could have gone a little faster, but just wanted to enjoy my time out there.

I took water and/or gatoraide at every aid station. Gu at most. Tried the chicken soup and coke. Both made me want to vomit. I remember at the 24 mile mark thinking that if I could muster 2 10 min miles I could finish under 13hr, but my logic was obviously flawed because I don't think it took me 40 min to go the last 2 miles. I ran most of it. I was not thinking clearly for most of the way back on the 2nd loop.

The best part was the turn onto the finish road. It was still light and 100s of people were lining the road. They were all calling out my name and saying words of encouragement. My eyes teared up as I must have said "thank you" 1 million times. I said thanks to every single person that I heard say my name. With what seemed like 1/2 mile still to go I see my family. I grab my 2 girls and we start running. Anna (1.5) on my left and Mattie(3.5) on my right. Well we had too far to go because anna was loosing gound fast and mattie was running as hard as she could. If I did not pick them up and carry them, we would cross the finish line sideways with Mattie in the lead. So I picked them up and we ran across the finish. The girls were so happy, and so was I. Two lovely volunteers took the girls from me and we waited over to the side for the rest of my family to arrive. I felt great!

Not too bad for my first marathon.

As soon as I got my meday, tshirt and finishers photo with my girls, I told my family to go rest and send one member back to get me. This was a mistake! I wanted to watch all my other friends finish, so I went back into transition and took my bike to Tribike transport. While standing in line I started feeling bad. I got a terrible headache, started feeling nauseated, and felt like I was going to pass out. I struggled through this line, and made my way to the medical area. Once there, I layed down on the ground, propped my feet up on a box,and fell asleep. A medical vol woke me up and asked if I was ok. I told her I was nauseated and tired. She took my pulse (80s) and gave me a space blanket and I fell back asleep. About 15 min later she woke me up again and helped me stand. I was not feeling any better, so I thought some pizza might help. One bite and I started vomiting in one of th Gu sponsered garbage cans. How appropriate. I vomited about 3 times, not much came up. I changed clothes and signed up for a massage. Fell asleep in a chair waiting for my massage. 30min later they wake me up and i get a wonderful massage. Still don't feel any better, but atleast my ride is here now. It is now midnight and I missed everyone :( I struggled to the car and passed out. Woke up at the lake house. Took a shower and passed out again (~2am). Got up 2 times in the night to pee.
The race was great, but the feeling I had afterward was horrible. It made me not ever want to do something like this again. Luckily, my memory is fading fast.

Thanks to everyone on BT. Wether you realize it or not. I was thinking about you guys all day Sunday. You people made this possible for me. 1.5 years ago, I could not swim, did not own a bike, and could barely run a 10K. Now I am an Ironman!


Not enough training.
For this race alone, over the past 6 months I have.....

Biked:115 hr, 1700 miles
Run:75 hr, 500 miles
Swim:27 hr, 15K


This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Hope IMNA can keep the race here.