Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

I think the swim went fine. Like most people, I found the mass swim start highly disconcerting and a bit upsetting. If triathletes behaved on their bikes like they behave on their swims, there would be a lot of blood shed and bikes destroyed. I appreciate people wanting good times, but at the expense of running people over it seems petulant.

All in all, I wanted to complete the swim in 1h 20m and I did. I came out of the water feeling great with little energy expense.

Start a bit further back. I was almost seeded in the right group of people, just a bit too far forward in the group.

The helpers in transition are awesome! I took my time, but ran into a hang-up. When I went into the tent one of my cycling shoes fell out. I had to go back and find it.

Not too much. I'm sure I could be faster, but it was a long day and I needed some sunscreen (pasty irish boy, ya know).

Challenging, but fun bike course. I enjoyed the flat portions of the ride and some of the climbs. However, I am a very poor descender on the bike after taking a spill a long time ago. I'm very sketchy and I get the wobbles. Also, I have a condition called essential tremor. When I get anxious or nervous I suffer from kinetic tremors. These are amplified on the bike when I am uncomfortable. It's highly embarassing, but I do the best I can. Anyway, I took it slow on the descents and played it smart on the climbs (I do like climbing). I was aiming for 18 mph and I was very close (and minus my 2 bathroom breaks I'd be even closer)!

I really need to work on my descending skills and get over my fears, but the tremors make it tough. I nailed the nutrition. I just need to work on my overall fitness, but I did take relatively easy. I may have gotten my HR above 140 one or two times.

The gentleman in transition who put the cold wet towel on my neck, rocks! Again, I took my time. I stretched my legs and got some more sunscreen.

Nothing.

Here's where things fell apart. I ran my first mile in 8:00, but started having breathing trouble. I couldn't take anything more than a shallow breath. It felt like someone punched my lower ribs repeatedly. It turns out my tri-suit shrunk some over the course of the race and compressed my abdomen and ribs (to the point of bruising and bursting some blood vessels). Since you're not allowed to run topless and you're not allowed to receive outside help, I had to gut it out. Run 1/2 mile, walk until pain stopped, repeat. Eventually, my knee problems surfaced after about 3h 30m (I was expecting this and had a knee brace on hand). At this point (~16 miles into the marathon) it was jog a bit, walk a bit. I limped in the last 10 miles, but I finished. The finishing chute is an unforgettable experience.



I have competed in my tri suit before, but never long distance events. I did long bikes and long runs in the suit, but never bricked.

Lesson to take home: Simulate race conditions during practice whenever possible.

My goal was 11:30:00, but obviously that didn't happen. I was on pace to finish close to that, but I never got the chance to run. I think I could have run a 4 hour marathon, but I just couldn't breathe. I wish things could have been different, but alas... In the end it was an excellent gut check for me and I am so pumped that I completed what I set out to do. This race in incredible and the people of CDA are awesome.