Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

The swim is by far my worst event. Most of the time I have a lot of anxiety in the swim and it takes a while for me to get under control enough to swim. This time however I was able to get right in and swim. I had no issue. The water seemed ok to me at first and I was in a pocket of swimmers who were in my same level of expertise. There were a couple times I had to keep my head up and out to be sure I was not going to get kicked in the chops. At about the first turn the wave pool turned on and the swim became a bit of an adventure. I rode the waves in for the first loop and noticed I had swam a decent first loop for me at 45 min and that was with waiting for the mass start to move forward a bit. I was pleased with myself.
The second loop was a bit hard. The waves were tough but that’s the fun of the swim. I fought through it and just chugged along. I took on some water here and there but kept going. My second loop I began to swim off course a bit here and there. Once I was way on the inside of the course like I was trying to cut a bit out but I corrected it and back on track I went. I kept my pace and turned the final turn to ride the waves in.
When I finished I noticed I had shaved a bit of time off my swim from last year and was a bit pleased with that. Not as much time as I wanted but still some time. I was in at 1:42 this year and that was 6 minutes faster than last year. I ran up the shoot and my wife and son were there to cheer me on. I stopped for a quick high 5 and kiss and off to the pullers I went.


Not to much. i just need to work on my swim more. It is a semi phobia so swimming alone to practice in a lake freaks me out a bit. I swim good in a pool but most of the time I am the only one there. I just need to work at it a bit more over this next year and try and take a little more time off.

T1 is what it is for me. last year I rushed in my transitions and bonked a bit. i learned this year to have a bit of food after my swim, get my sun lotion on and just move a bit. I was not very quick in T1 and it was by design. However I had my bonk breaker bar, got ready for the bike and felt great.

The bike is where I knew I could make up my lost ground. I am by no means a good cyclist, but I do ok. I learned a lot from the last year and tried to bring that knowledge into this race.
My nutrition plan went great. I knew to take on fluids and to eat and that would help my run. I knew this year to also drink water and not all sports drink and that would help my stomach. I kept to a decent plan and rode hard.
I do like to old bike course better. I was not a fan of ridding next to the oncoming traffic going up the hills. That was not my idea of fun. With the wind and all that comes with ridding it just did not seem like a great plan to me on a highway.
I kept to my plan and continued on. I knew I was in the back of the field after my slow swim. I do not worry much about that because I am here to race for my own piece of mind and have a fun time. The bike was a blast me and a couple other guys were ridding hard and making ground on the field. I felt great on the bike and knew my bike rides were paying off.
The down hills on this course are crazy. I am under the theory that I still have to go to work after the race so I am not going to kill myself plan. I did not ride my breaks but I did not let my bike fly out of control. Might have been a cautious play on my part but once I hit over 35mph I was ok to not go faster. I did the courteous thing and made sure I had a gap between me and the person behind me before we started the down hill knowing that there was the no pass zone. I did not want to hold anyone up.
I do like the old bike course better. Only because of the traffic and more controlled down hills. I might feel different next year but for now that’s how I feel.
All and all my bike ride went well. No sun burn this year, nutrition went very well, I picked up close to 1200 spots on the bike and felt good for the run. My bike split this year was also a bit faster than last year but I did not stop to pee this year sooooooo might have been the same if I had stopped. I will still take the new PR for the bike. So far after the bike and swim 2 new PB. I was very happy.


Not much here either. The one thing that held me back was the down hills due to my not wanting to loose control. Maybe practice high speed down hills. other than that just a focus a bit more in the second half and keep to speed.

Well T2 was good. I had a drink in my bag and a bonk breaker waiting for me. I started to eat and drink while I changed my shoes. I also relaxed for a moment knowing that i still had a bit of work ahead of me. I did not hang out to long but enough to get the blood going and be able to use the restroom. I had my food and off I went to do the run.

maybe care more about time in T2 and T1 for that matter. I do not hang out to much but am not to worried if it takes me 10 minutes to get going. Maybe next year I will worry about it a bit.

The run!!!! Ok not that exciting but its where there is light at the end of the tunnel. I came out of T2 to see my wife and son. I stopped for a second to say hi and get some good vibes. Then off I went to concur this thing. Last year I bonked hard in the run. My nutrition plan was not great on the bike and by the time I got to the run I had to walk most of it trying to keep focused enough to keep going. This year was a new year. I had learned a lot and knew what demon I had to crush.
I started strong and felt great. The sun was out but I was not bothered by it. Mentally and physically I felt good. I knew not to look at my watch and play the numbers game in my head but rather to just keep going and look at my pace here and there.
This year was a good marathon year for me. I had a new PR but about 10 minutes and also had the first marathon where I did not walk at all for the full run. I knew going into this run I would be able to do ok it just depended on if I hit the wall or not.
My goal was to run the full marathon and see just keep going. I was able to accomplish that goal for the most part. I walked a couple aid stations and the big hill on the second loop. Other than that I was able to run the full deal, slowly but I ran it. I saw my family a couple times and that was a huge boost. I stayed with my plan this year and had no issues on the run. My body felt great, other than the norm tired, but not the I want to die feeling. Mentally I felt good and the legs kept going.
Once I turned onto Sherman I knew I had taken some time off from last year and was on my way to a new Ironman PB. I saw my wife and son and stopped to get a kiss and high 5. I was excited and so were they. I got back into the road and of I went to finish. I was so excited that I was done that I ran right on by a girl with about 2 blocks to go. I felt bad to do that at the end but adrenaline took over with the crowd and the shoot and I finished strong and wanted to finish under a time that was quickly approaching. I crossed the line at 13:09:33 a new PR taking 50 minutes off my time from last year. It was a great run for me this year. At the end I felt great and was happy to see my family.


Run faster. I think I had more in my tank than what I put out. I ran on the conservative side to stick to plan and think I could have went harder and tested myself a bit more. its a fine line though and I played it safe.

I love this race and will be back for year 3. I am not happy with the new bike course but not much i can do about it. The support is awesome and the city is great. Just a fun place to race. Plenty of things for kids and adults to do. Lots of things to do in the days before the race and the days after. See ya next year!!!