Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

I am not a strong swimmer. I started out with the 1:30 wave to try to buy some extra time for the bike course. I hung with the big boys for the first lap but the chop became very strong on my second lap. Lots of contact in this race, I've never seen so much wrestling... some woman actually had me in a headlock for a few seconds- first time I have ever gotten mad during any race. The chop came from the strong SW winds... ate the waves on the way out and rode them on the way back to shore. Many of the waves were 2-3 feet tall, I often found myself sucking water. I later heard that officials had knocked some 200m off the turn arounds... I didn't get the memo or I was a tad too fast. The water itself felt great, 61 degrees. I wore booties for the first time and I liked them. Sighting was almost impossible with all of the chop. In all, still a personal PR for this distance... race or training.

Not much I could have done differently... perhaps learn to draft better.

I made sure to pee in the lake as I was getting close to finishing... probably saved me a good 2-3 mins in T1. PR for T1.

I had a good day on the bike despite the strong 15-20mph SW winds. Basically 18 straight miles of headwind and two challenging hills, twice. The way back to town was pretty awesome with all the descents and tail wind. I trained significantly for the climbs... they were never steep enough to get out of the saddle but were fairly long. The last climb at 103 was tough; as I passed the last aid station, I heard 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' and couldn't help but to laugh... that hill was definitely CdA's thorn! The course had SIX no passing zones... very frustrating. My brakes were glowing red every time, stuck behind some slow poke. I went hard on the first lap and tried to hang in there on the second... I kept feeling my right calf twitch like an early sign of cramps so I kept the intensity low for it.

Drink more fluids. It was deceptively warm and I strayed from my nutrition plan, I missed a good 15oz of fluid that I had planned on drinking.

Volunteers took my bike and had my bag waiting for me. T2 went fast.

The run course was so-so. Some parts were lots of fun with loud music but lots of empty areas. After dark, I think all spectators either went to bed or went to the finish line. For this reason, I think Saturday races are better and more fun (IMTX.) It rained for about 10 minutes on the run, I welcomed it. My plan was pretty simple: walk the whole thing and run the descents. It worked out well, I had an IM run PR and felt good the entire time.

Perhaps run a little more after dark.

I sat down, ate two slices of pizza and two bottles of choc milk.


I should have ran more in training. The wind on the bike probably cost me a good 10 mins.


I only have IMTX 2014 to compare to... the volunteers at CdA were amazing and much better than IMTX, although the spectators at IMTX were louder and more supportive. I really enjoyed this race, I was very nervous about making the bike cut-off but it was never really in jeopardy after a surprisingly strong swim. The wind sucked hard and ruined many people's day. I would recommend this race to anyone that enjoys a healthy challenge.