Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

I wanted to avoid the massive chaos of the swim start for my first IM, so I seeded myself in the back, to the right, waited 1:30 after the gun went off, and slowly waded in with the rest of the folks around me who seemed to have the same idea. The first 500 yards or so were really difficult, as I was having trouble getting into a rhythm where I could get a breath without inhaling water, which was causing me to panic a little. Finally, I got into a good rhythm and had a good, albeit slow, rest of the swim. The first loop I swam really wide, which was not ideal, but I swam closer to the buoys on the second loop though it was a lot choppier and harder to stay on course.

The cold never bothered me. In fact, it felt refreshing once I got over the initial shock (which I had expected to happen based on my pre-race practice swims).

First lap: 44:29
Second lap: 47:29

The next IM, I will probably seed myself a little more appropriately. I didn't get any bad contact during any part of the swim even though I caught up to the main pack, but I also didn't really get any draft benefit from them.

I did a lot of OWS in choppy waters here in TX in prep for the race, but I just don't think you can adequately simulate in practice what happens when you put 2500 athletes all moving forward in a tiny lake and the wind picks up.

Long run up the sandy beach to the wetsuit strippers, grabbed my T1 bag (no issues locating it as I had walked the bag area that morning and picked out a landmark it was near), into the changing tent where there was no room to sit down and no volunteer to help (what happens when you have a MOP swim, I guess). I wasn't cold in the water, but I was quite cold by the time I got to the changing tent. Not easy to get dressed with cold fingers, but the harder part was trying to get dressed standing on slippery grass! Made sure I had everything and ran to get my bike.

Nothing. I had budgeted a 10-15 min T1 and came in right in between.

I knew going into this race that my bike would be slow. I am not a fast cyclist and didn't do enough hill training (especially those looooooong climbs) to put up a good (or, at the very least, good-for-me) time. My goal was to take the first loop super comfortably, because the hills seem to be exponentially harder on the second loop. I had also budgeted for 3 5-6 min aid station stops throughout the course.

The first loop went fine. It took me a while to get warmed up during the out and back to Higgins Point, but once we went back though town and up to the hills, I got into my granny gear and just spun up the hills and coasted the downhills, feeling good. One of the reasons I picked this race even though I knew I wouldn't be fast was because I needed a bike course that broke up the monotony to keep myself focused, which this course did. It was absolutely beautiful and the roads were really good. The first section out to the turnaround flew by, and when I did turn around, I was amazed to notice I'd been battling a stiff headwind the entire way. The ride back into town was super fun, as it was a net downhill with a tailwind. I rolled into the second loop with a 15.3 garmin avg, not counting my 2 rest stops totaling about 10 min each.

The second loop was harder. The out and back to Higgins Point felt fine, but the first hill once we passed back through and out of town seemed to go on forever. The wind had picked up more. I rode near a guy from San Francisco for probably about 20 miles, and we chatted as much as possible, which made it go by faster. I stopped at mile 85 for a rest stop and he kept going, but I eventually caught back up to him at the turnaround. Unfortunately, the nice tailwind I was expecting at the turnaround never materialized, as the winds had decided to shift just when I needed them to, so my avg pace didn't improve much from the low it had fallen to going up hill. The last hill heading back into town was pure torture. One of the folks around me asked if we were going back the same way! That got a lot of laughs. I was pretty tired of being on my bike by the time I rolled into transition, with the wind both directions of the second loop. Makes me glad I had to ride into so much wind in training.

During the 20 or so miles I rode with the guy from San Francisco, I slowed down a bit more than I should have to match his pace. Not much, but a little. I'm not sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, as I may have had a better bike split but could have had a worse run. So, who knows. I did come off the bike feeling fine.

In the end, I feel I paced myself appropriately for my level of fitness and my strength on those monster hills. I didn't blow up and I never felt tired, just mentally ready to be done.

Pretty smooth T2. I had budgeted 5-10 min and am OK with this time. I did a full change and body glided everything, which helped.

Nothing.

This was a really good run for me. Slow, but I had expected to be much slower. I negative split the run, with the exception of the 3rd split where I took 2 long (waiting in line) bathroom breaks and special needs stop. I did have major blisters emerge on my heels, which isn't uncommon in races but never happens in training. They were incredibly painful until mile 15 or so when they just stopped hurting (adrenaline, maybe?). I kept up a steady run/walk routine the entire marathon, so I was still running at the very end, which was exactly my plan and really fun to do when everyone else around me was walking.

Like a robot, I followed my plan. Run when the garmin beeps, walk when it beeps again, repeat. Eat a GU every 3 miles no matter what. Drink Perform at every aid station for the first half, then switch to coke at every aid station, and sip water from handheld bottle in between as needed (refill water at aid stations as needed). Eat a salt tablet every hour.

I'm proud of this run. I'm not fast, but I felt really good and followed my plan. I guess this validates that I paced the bike correctly.

Splits:
6.6 mi 1:24:51 12:51/mi
13.4 mi 1:25:55 12:38/mi
19.5 mi 1:29:45 14:42/mi
26.2 mi 1:21:20 12:08/mi

Not take as long waiting for the porta potties and go quicker through SN.

Other than that, absolutely nothing.

I heard Mike Reilly say my name but didn't hear him say "You are an Ironman" which I have been desperately wanting to hear for the last 6 months of training. My husband says he said it, though, so I guess he did :)

A cute little kid caught me at the finish line and walked me to get my medal, hat and shirt, picture taken, and then to the medical tent so I could get my ankle iced and then a massage!


Training. Over time, I'm sure I can get faster, but I performed pretty much exactly as my training times predicted.


This was my first IM, so I don't have anything else to compare it to, but I really, really enjoyed it. I would do CdA again in a heartbeat. I didn't sign up for next year because I really need a later season IM with how busy I am at work in the spring, but I will definitely be back in a few years.