Ironman Coeur d'Alene! =) - TriathlonFull Ironman

Swim was great. I started way out on the outside of the beach in order to avoid the masses and it worked pretty well. I felt fairly smooth right away and didn’t get the “oh my God this is freaking cold water” breathlessness that I had the previous two days. There were a few people around me, but generally, I didn’t bump in to anyone. I approached the first turnaround buoy surprisingly quickly. I started to cut in to turn it and realized that if I wanted to keep my happy swim going I would have to take it way wide and avoid the insanity. That was fine by me, so that’s what I did. Worked great, still smooth :) As I was getting close to the end of the first lap, it got crowded and I couldn’t avoid it at that point, so I just tried to relax and get through the crowd without too much fight. I was so happy to see that I wasn’t really too dizzy when I got out of the water to go through the timing mats. Horray for earplugs!!

Second lap was pretty uneventful except my lower back started to hurt. It worried me because my back is not supposed to start hurting on the SWIM. But I forced myself to stay in the present and deal with obstacles as they came. That became the theme of the day. I later realized that the lower back pain was probably due to all the sighting that you have to do in open water swimming. I was not really used to that since I did ALL my training in a pool. Luckily the pain didn’t last. I peed twice in my wetsuit which was very warm, but towards the end of the second loop, I realized that my fingers and toes were numb and my wrists were very tight. I was sure I would be able to somehow warm up on the bike, so I didn’t worry too much about it. Finished the swim feeling great. I took out the earplugs about 50 meters from the end because I wanted to hear the music and the crowds…that was a great call, all the noise was awesome! I swear everyone in the crowd was chanting my name in unison :) Simply fantastic!


Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Got into T1 and I started shivering uncontrollably. I couldn’t believe how cold I was in this giant sauna! It took me a while to warm up and get changed since my fingertips were numb…I definitely took my time, put on my own sunscreen and got myself ready. I considered putting on my arm warmers since I was so cold. The volunteer told me it was already pretty warm, and so I didn’t. Good call again! They would have ended up on the road after the first 100m. I am sure

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Felt really good getting on the bike. My first thought was “this is going to be fun!” and it was. I decided to wait a while before getting into aero position as I knew there would be plenty of time for aero. The first 56 miles were great. I felt strong the entire time, I felt relaxed, my HR was down, I was a happy camper and thought that there was no way the whole day could feel this good. On the two big hills, I was riding strong and so thankful that I had spent so much time on hills in Guatemala. The hills on the course were not at all intimidating, which was awesome. I got to my special needs bag and took a good 5-10 minutes to get my stuff out, put on my sunscreen, decide what I wouldn’t need, etc… That was fine by me, but I lost all the people that I had been riding with. No big deal, see you on the run! Special needs bag included a ham and cheese sandwich, which I ate along with a V8 juice (can you tell I was worried about electrolyte loss?).

I remember hearing someone say that the race begins at mile 80 on the bike, and that is exactly when I started feeling it. After the hills, which I completely crushed, my mood suddenly dropped and I could barely muster a smile out there. This lasted till about mile 90, when I snapped out of it, but I was getting pretty worried that the rest of the race would be this kind of depression. Glad it didn’t last too long. From mile 90 onwards, I could smell T2 and I knew I would be fine on the bike. I tried to celebrate the small victories including my first century ride :). As I pulled into town, I was so excited and I finally allowed myself to start thinking about the marathon. I had been fighting off the “how-the-hell-am-I-going-to-finish-a-marathon-if-I-already-feel-like-this” demons for most of the bike, and I could finally start thinking about the run.



Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

“Would you like a cold towel?” were the first words I heard in T2. “Sure, why not?”. That was the loveliest towel I have ever felt. I wanted to take it with me for the whole run! I got changed, drank some water, put on some bodyglide, grabbed the gels, and put on some sunscreen. Then off I went. Took my time, thanked everyone in the tent and I was outside again!

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I was glad to be on the run as it’s pretty much my strongest event. I tried to focus on one mile at a time from the very beginning and just let the miles slowly pile up. I did not allow my mind to wander too far away from that. First section of the run was fun as there were a ton of people calling my name, encouraging me and generally cheering. The Hula ladies on the boardwalk were absolutely priceless! Passed them four times and they were dancing every single time. Unreal! It was a little tough to pass the special needs bags and know that I still had 13 miles to go before I could be enjoying it. The run course was perfectly laid out so that I could divide it into segments and that really helped. The more divide and conquer, the better. My first 3 miles were done in 29:35 and I realized I HAD to slow down. That was hard, because I felt good running at that pace. I just knew I would rather feel strong in the last few miles than save some time now, so I did slow down. I started passing a lot of people on the first loop and that was making me feel great so I focused on that. The one hill on the run course was a piece of cake (or so I kept telling myself) and I charged up and down it with strong legs.

At mile 6 my eyes started to burn uncontrollably and I actually had to sit down for about five minutes trying to pour water in my eyeballs. Finally, when it wasn’t going away, I thought “I might have to run the rest of the marathon like this so I better get moving”. I walked the entire next mile in about 20 minutes and started to feel pretty depressed as the pain was not subsiding. I t eventually went away but it was the strangest thing. At about mile ten I saw Phil and he looked strong and sounded good. I had a little sticker he had made me that just had the IMCDA logo and it said “EARN IT” so I showed it to him and told him to stay strong. He told me he wasn’t sure if Kate had made the bike cutoff and I ran the next 3 miles with a very heavy heart and I was drowning in worry. I finally saw Kate’s brother and he said that she had made it! I think I ran the next mile in about 8:30 as I was so relieved and elated! Then I settled down again :). I knew it was going to be brutally hot on the run, but for some reason it never really hit me. I kept drinking water, Gatorade, and putting sponges on my head, but I never got uncomfortably hot. Can’t really explain that one, but I wasn’t complaining.

At special needs I changed my shoes and socks. I had been debating it, but thought that it would be a nice psychological boost and it definitely was. Plus I dried my feet with a towel, and I think I probably avoided some blisters…another good call. Second loop went well. Just kept walking through the aid stations and running in between. I felt good and knew I had a good chance of breaking 14 hours. At one point at mile 20 I realized that with a bit of work I could break 5 hours for the run. That sounded nice, but I did not want to start going too fast and blow up so I gently increased my speed and promised myself I would slow down at the slightest sign of breakdown (What the hell does THAT feel like at that point???). I saw Phil again and Kate at this point. I gave her a huge hug and told her I was so proud of her. She looked so good and strong and I knew she was going to make it. Phil was struggling at this point, but I told him he could still walk it in and not to give up. I felt bad for him but happy for Kate, it was tough to deal with those emotions at that time, so I had to shut it down and focus.

Last 2.2 miles…I had 24 minutes to break the 5hr marathon time…I decided to kick it right when this fan yelled out my name.
“IVAN”.
“Yes?”
“You are DOING it”.
“Thanks”.
That was all I needed. I finished the last 2.2 miles in 18 minutes!!! And passed about 100 people in the process. I could not believe how strong I felt. Fantastic way to finish it all off. Marathon time? 4:57.


Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Picture, hugs, pizza, heat blanket, lie down and wait for Kate and Phil. They both made it and it was a great way to finish the night. Kate – 15:49 and Phil – 16:51 (I was sweating that one for a bit)


Probably bike power and maybe experience. I was so worried to bonk that I held back most of the way. I would not have done it any differently though, I would not have taken even an hour off my time if it meant I had to finish feeling sick or nauseous or weak or cramped or generall unhappy. My goal was to finish strong and happy and I did!. It was a great finish to a great day.


Absolutely fantastic. The crowds were unbelievable and the volunteers so great. Coeur d’Alene can be very proud that they put on such a great event. Would love to come back one day. I am so proud of myself and of Phil and Kate. It was a tough day for everyone out there and we truly showed what we were made of. The journey was long and at times very difficult, but it was all worth it. We are so lucky to have so many people that came to share this event with us. I would like to also congratulate everyone, especially the BT’ers who made something special happen out there on race day