Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

CDA starts off with a mass start. Great to watch....tough to swim through. Not to mention we got stuck trying to get into the porta potties and never made it to the beach...my own fault. But litteraly everyone was in the water before I stepped on the beach. I proceeded to swim right into the middle of the mass of bodies. It was violent. Kicks to the head and whacks on the back. I worked my way over to the right and started passing people like crazy.

First lap was good, made my way up the beach and then back into the water for the second lap. Noticed some guys on the beach with some bad leg cramps because of the cold waters and thought "ew sucks to be them". Dove in for my second loop, took four strokes and got kicked, when I sat up to fix my goggles I pulled my legs in and got a massive cramp....not good. Quickly straightened my leg out and got back to swimming. The cramp subsided but I could tell if I tried that again I'd be in trouble. I lowered my kick rate and had a decent second loop once the crowd thinned out.

Get to the beach earlier and start towards the front. I lost 4 minutes easy because of that move alone.

Pretty uneventful. My fingers were cold so I had trouble getting into my clothes but I wasn't really stressing out about transition times...it's a long day.

One cool thing was I found my wife standing right next to the fence so instead of going into the tent I sat on the grass next to her and talked as I got dressed. The tent was dark and waaaaaaaay to crowded.

Nothing really

Started out good. It took about 40 minutes to shake the cold off from the water.

I haven't been able to figure out why but for some reason I got really sick to my stomach at about mile 40 of the bike. Never have been sick before and didn't change one thing on my nutrition. Kept things together and kept trying to eat as best I could.

Second loop of the bike there is a short climb, I was passing on the left while being passed on the left and the guy passing me clipped my front tire when cutting over and flipped me off my bike. Went down hard but my elbow and hip took most of the blow. Luckily nothing other than some scrapes and a couple and bruises (that I can still feel today).

At mile 82 I puked at the top of a big hill. From there out I had to stop eating and just tried to keep liquids down. I stopped at the mile 85 aid station for more water and use the port o john and noticed my stomach settled a bit, so I tried to ride "hard" to the next aide station at mile 95 and then stand for 3 or so minutes to settle my stomach again. It worked good but I it was killing my time. After mile 95 The plan was just keep taking in liquids and get back home.

More aggressive hill training. The hill steepness didn't kill me but the sheer number was a problem. I didn't plan to do that much climbing.

Again...took my time getting ready to run. The volunteers were great.

Nothing really

Starting out was tough, still sick to my stomach and it felt like I had been punch, seemingly from the throwing up. My legs felt pretty good, but the gut was holding me back. I started running and made it about two miles before I needed to let my stomach settle. This went on for most of the first lap (13 miles).

At the turn around I was hurting pretty bad, hadnt had any solids or gels since about 11am. Saw my wife at the turn around but couldn't talk for fear I would be able to get going again. About 10 minutes later a woman who noticed I was struggling told me to start drinking the coke and chicken broth they were offering at the aide stations. I started in on the coke at the next station and within 15 minutes started feeling a bit better. From that point on(14 mile) it was coke, water, gatorade at one station and then coke/chicken broth at the next. I was able to get back to running between the aide station and my pace started to quicken. I met some really cool people on the course and walked the last hill with a 60 year old guy who was having calf issues. I usually don't like to talk but the sugar brought my spirits around and it was helping keep my mind busy and off of how tired I was.

At about the 22 mile mark I started doing the math and figured that if I ran the entire last four miles I could make it in under 14 hours and at least have a 13 in my number. So a gal who help me with the math ( I'm not good at math 12 and a half hours into and ironman) decided to give it a try...watch battery had died around mile 17 of the run, but near as I can tell we held around 9 minute mile pace for the final four miles and made it in just under 14. Those miles were not fun but I'm happy we decided to try it....it felt like a tiny victory of an otherwise screwed up day.

If you are looking for a ironman with great volunteers, tons of spectators, and probably the best finish line of all time.....do cda......it was awesome.

drink the coke and chicken broth earlier. It's funny, I knew this from my race prep and research but for what ever reason I thought I needed to wait until later in the race.....nope take it when you need it even if it is at mile one.

In training I would do more long runs after long rides. I felt ok, but I think more time on the legs after log rides would help. 70mile ride/ 1hr run for instance. I only did that a couple times.

Speed trainig. I did none, but even though the day is not about speed I think it would help you feel less like lead at the end of the day.

Less walking obviously.....next time the plan will be run in-between the water stops and walk the water stops

Hug the wife and kids.....try to choke down some food.


Being sick....the frustrating thing is I have no idea what made me sick. The cold water? Hills? Something in the water? No idea. The bike is not a typical place to get sick.

I did have an ear infection that was diagnosed three days befor the race and I was taking amoxicilin to help, but my friend who did the race and multiple others I talked to had the same issue so I don't know that was the issue.


Great event. Cda does a great job.