Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

A few strokes into the lake and i got overwhelmed by the coldness of the water. My muscles pretty much shut down and i had to dread water. I got rolled over by the sheer mass of the crowd and I felt like i was drowning. At this moment, i seriously considered quitting. I tried a few times to get started but i could not get in the rhythm. I had to swim breaststroke just to move. Finally, i think my muscles warmed up and also the crown opened up a bit I could get in a few crawl strokes. It was alright from that moment on.
As in any IM race, the swim was really crowded which prevented me from swimming my best. I constantly kept bumping into people and people were bumping into me. On the way back from the 2nd lap, my body started getting cold again. the water crept into the wetsuit and i started freezing again. I finished though without a hick-up though.

Without any excuse, try the water a day before the race.
Stay on the outside to avoid the biggest crowd. I can swim alright if i can actually swim.

I was so cold i could not get dressed. My hands were solid frozen and it took me perhaps 3 minutes just to put my gloves on. Socks were an issue too.

Nothing. How could I unless there is a technology that could unfrost me in the transition.

I had seriously bad technical problems in the first 25 miles. I had to stop 3 times to put the chain back on (once more at around mile 70), twice to center the front wheel that was dragging the break, and once to take a leak. This was a start i did not expect. I am not sure whether it was the new tune-up of my bike that i did not really get a chance to test much except for one 40 mile bike ride or my incompetence in changing gears. Given i dropped the chain once in IMWI, i think it's the latter. I spend the rest of the ride changing gear very slowly fearing the chain will fall off again.

I felt pretty strong otherwise. I was riding 23-25 on the flats. Once i got into the hills i did what i could given the lack of outside training and pretty much no hills training.

I really struggled with the descents though. i kept up with the good bikers on the climbs but come descent, they went flying by me. I am too scared letting go, i have to break in the turns... I saw a guy who did not make a turn and ended in a ditch which did not really add to my confidence. I tried to gain some momentum and time on the flats but I could never really regain.

3 things:
1. I have to train changing gears. It's ridiculous i have to stop to put the chain back on 4 times.
2. test the bike better before the race. I did not really ride it after i assembled it in my hotel (it was shipped to my hotel with Fedex). how stupid was that?

between 1 and 2 i lost, i believe, 6-7 minutes.

3. train to be more technical rider.

Very good transition. I am happy with it.

Nothing really.

It was a solid run, something i hoped for. I started off a bit faster than expected but it felt OK so i let go. i ran up the hill in the first loop without more problems but it probably took away a lot of strength. i still tried to run it in the 2nd lap but i would not classify that as a run.

the whole time i was waiting for a bonk but it never arrived. i was really surprised. i was walking the aid stations and the walks became longer and longer but i was sort of expecting that. i kept on going at my pace and i felt OK. the tiredness really hit me only perhaps in the last 2-3 miles when i was really hurt but i finished fairly strong.

Nothing really. The run was the highlight of my race. I did what i could.

I pretty much collapsed in the finish line. I think it was due to the change in speed rather that exhaustion. i was taken to the med tent where i took an aspirin against headache and off i went for food. The food was nothing special so i soon left to join my wife and and about 2 hours later, i was already fixing my taste buds with the spiciest thai curry i could buy.


1. cold water. i am not sure what to do about that though
2. biking skills and training. This year, i pretty much had no chance to bike outdoors due to horrible weather here in MN (12 out of 14 weekends leading to the race it was raining and cold). I only did 2 80-mile rides and one 70-mile ride.


I am reasonably happy. I wanted to finish below 11 hours but i lost 5 minutes in the water (I don't think i can do anything about that) and another 7 minutes due to my incompetence on the bike (which is something i must seriously address) which explains the difference. Also, pretty much did zero outside training leading to the race and all my training was on a treadmill and turbo-trainer.

I improved my PR from IMWI by 36 minutes so I guess that is good. Next time, i will go below 10:30 :O)