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 Swim
Comments: Throughout all of my training I never worried about the swim portion of the race. I knew it would be chaotic in the beginning but I was sure I would finish with time to spare. I hung back when the cannon went off and entered a bit slowly to acclimate to the freezing water. A couple of dunks in the water and I was off. I felt relaxed, but that soon changed. My respiratory problems reared their ugly head. I couldn't get a breath no matter how hard I tried to relax. Within the first 400 yards I was struggling getting any air into my lungs. I began to panic and my heart rate skyrocketed. Rolling onto my back wasn't working and I felt the wetsuit constricting my breathing. I thought for sure I was tapping out of the race. I thought of all of my family who stuck with me through the training and knew I couldn't quit. I found a paddle board and grabbed on. It looked a bit like the scene in titanic with people clinging to wood doors. Caught my breath and started again. Still couldn't breath, but than a miracle. I had to pee and relaxed enough to go in the wetsuit. That action allowed me to relax, slow down my stroke and I caught my breath. Somehow I finished the first lap in 47:57 only 3 minutes off of my expected pace. On the 2nd lap the wind picked up and the chop and waves increased the further out I got. It was tough to site and swim straight through the waves. The ride back in was nice though. Finished the 2nd lap in 52:36. The line of volunteers guiding me into shore at the end was a nice treat. Considering all of the issues I had, I was happy just to be back on shore and only 10 minutes off my expected pace. What would you do differently?: Get my cough checked out prior to the race and not race with pneumonia.  Transition 1
Comments: Transition was good. A bit cold coming out of the water and couldn't move my fingers to get my watch off. Wetsuit strippers were great. Volunteers were great guiding me where I needed to go. The change tent was packed. Found a spot on the end, a volunteer talked me out putting a jacket on (good call). What would you do differently?: I wouldn't wear my watch in the swim. Never really looked at it until the end and became a problem in transition getting it off and keeping it with me.  Bike
Comments: Came to Coeur D'Alene expecting a 7:00 hour bike time. After seeing the hills adjusted my expectations to 7:30 hours. Hit the bike feeling strong, still coughing, but doing good. The first lap was as expected, slow going up the long hills but kept a decent pace. Flew down the hills. Struggled to get oxygen on the climbs. Saw my brother on the first out and back to Higgens Point. I was glad he made it out of the water as he was worried about the swim. As the day progressed I kept up on my nutrition and all things considered felt pretty good. My brother finally caught up to me on the last leg. The Mica grade hill coming back into town was brutal and felt never ending. Was very happy to ditch the bike at transition as I spent more time on it then I expected. What would you do differently?: Train on bigger, longer hills. I live in Washington and rode a lot of hills but they were much shorter than what was on the course. Transition 2
Comments: Went into transition with my brother. Spent way too much time changing into my running gear and talking to my bro. Went pee in the trough, got sunscreened again. Found out the wetsuit left a nasty bite on my neck (ooohhh does that sting with sunscreen). What would you do differently?: Speed up and remember it is a race and not a family reunion.  Run
Comments: If the wheels hadn't fallen off of the bus yet, this is when things got bad. Started the run feeling somewhat strong. Made a pact with my brother leaving transition that we were "leaving no man behind". When we exited transition and starting making our way out of town I began wheezing and coughing. For the first leg of the run, I couldn't run any inclines without going into a coughing fit, so I wound up walking a lot. Starting feeling better and catching my breath at the turnaround. Now it was my brother's turn. He started vomiting at mile 10 and continued to throw up for the next 10 miles. He blew his nutrition plan on the bike and took in way too many calories. It was horrible and I felt bad for him and the spectators who got to witness his distress. I considered many times dropping him off at an aid station and leaving him to be checked by medics but we made a pact and we were going to finish together. As the miles progressed he was able to sip the cola and nothing else. We struggled along for hour after hour. Our initial goal of a 14.5 hour time was out the door and now we worried about finishing before midnight. With 8 miles to go, I knew we would finish but it would be close, we set up a walk/run pace that would get us there and avoid missing the cutoff. It got really dark on the last leg of the run. We got our glow sticks of shame and walked/jogged/limped our way back to town. Just before Sherman we saw some of our cheering squad and they screamed. They were worried we weren't making it. As we made it to the huge crowd on Sherman, we ran it together. I worked on high fiving everyone on the left and my brother worked the right side. We finished with 10 minutes to spare. The crowd was incredible. I've never experienced a finish line like that before. We were some of the last people across the line and the volunteers, spectators and return athletes were cheering like crazy. I felt like a rock star even though my performance was sub par. The crowd was so loud that I could barely hear "You are an Ironman". What would you do differently?: Not have pneumonia and have my bro stick to his nutrition plan. Post race
Warm down: Crossing the line I was caught by a lovely volunteer who guided me to my hat, shirt and picture. Saw my family cheering and went over kissed my wife and thanked everyone for being on the course the whole day. My 8 year old son was crying because he was worried that I wasn't going to be an Ironman. He was tired. Little Caesar's Pizza and chocolate milk never tasted so good at the finish line. Got the free massage and headed home. Slept poorly all night as I couldn't stop coughing. Went to the doctor the next day and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Got meds and a week later I am feeling great. Event comments: This is a great race. The town and the volunteers really make this race special. Beautiful place, cold water, big hills! Even though I didn't do as well as expected I loved it. Last updated: 2011-10-06 12:00 AM
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United States
World Triathlon Corporation
75F / 24C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 2116/
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 341/
Being my first Ironman this was all new to me. I was doing the event with my brother and had the entire family with me for the event. I was nervous for more than a week and had been nursing a nasty cough for more than a week (that cough wound up being pneumonia, which made my race more of a survival activity than a race). Arrived in Coeur D'Alene on Wednesday evening. Stayed 15 miles out of town on the lake at a private home. Golfed on Thursday morning and swam a bit in the afternoon to acclimate to the cold lake and road part of the course to get over the initial fear of the large hills. Took the kids to the Ironkids run on Thursday night. They had a great time. My youngest slept with his medal for days. Friday, swam in the morning for a short stint and followed that with a short 2 mile run. Now it was supposed to be time to rest. However I discovered an issue with my rear tire and my brothers brakes. Ran them to the bike tech in the ironman village and took advantage of the free physical therapy folks on site as well. Bike would be ready Saturday morning so I was a bit stressed. Went to the welcome dinner which was full of inspiration and bad food. Got good sleep Friday night, interrupted with coughing (my own). Woke up on Saturday morning with a swollen shut left eye and my cough was worse. I told myself that was fear working it's way out of my body. My health improved throughout the day and we picked up our bikes and dropped our gear off in the afternoon. Went back to the house to relax the rest of Saturday. Sleep was fairly decent the night before, only interrupted again by my own coughing.
Woke at 4:00 am, with my eye swollen shut again and cough a little worse. Had pancakes, fruit and powerade for breakfast. Arrived in transition at 5:30, got body marked, pumped up my tires, loaded the bike with nutrition, porta potty stop, wetsuit on, loaned out my pump about 8 times trying to exit transition. Realized after transition closed that I left my swim plugs in my transition bag. Snuck back into transition, grabbed plugs and then got stuck in a logjam of athletes trying to get to the beach. Finally met up with my brother on the beach, 2 minutes before the cannon. Lined up middle all the way in the back. Never made it to the water to warm up.