Ironman Coeur d'Alene - Triathlon

The no warm up didn't work so well. Cold water and big waves had me gasping for breath in no time at all. It's funny, this has never been a problem for me but I ended up tell myself to calm down and breathe 5 times in the first 100 yds. I've also never been hit and kicked and pushed around as much as this time. Once I relaxed, it wasn't an issue, I just kept swimming my own race and ended up doing way better than expected. I was expecting something over 2 hrs.

warm up but otherwise I was really happy with it. The waves ended up being a lot of fun.

I had to draft a volunteer who was busy eating a sandwich. I think it was his first time in the tent. I've worked the tent 7 or 8 times and I know what to do. I just told him exactly what I needed and he was a great helper. Dry tri top on, arm warmers on, socks and shoes, glasses and helmet and off I went. Thanks a lot whoever you were, you helped me get out of there in good time.

Not much, I stayed calm and was as efficient as I could be.

This was a tough ride for me. I had had some back trouble going into the race and knew it was going to be ride/stretch/ride/stretch. I wasn't counting on the big headwind and spent a lot of time in my low gears just grinding along. The hills weren't really steep, just long. I tried hard to just focus and enjoy the ride as much as I could. Have to say that I didn't really enjoy heading South the 2nd loop! Mede the turnaround cutoff by 10 mins so had to hurry back to town.Made bike cutoff by 15 mins I think. Right on time with my nutrition and it worked really well.

Gear the bike lower, I was struggling along and about 45 cadence a few times there and was really envying the people who were geared lower than me. Overall, about the best I could have hoped for.

None of the above was really applicable. I stopped and a nice volunteer too my bike and I hobbled off to the tent where a nice volunteer handed me my bag and another great volunteer helped me unpack and get ready to run. All I changed were shoes, socks, hat and go.I did add compression sleeves on my legs and took my arm warmers off.

Not much, this was as fast as i could move by this point

I was hopeful that if I made the bike cutoff, I'd be able to make it on the run. Started out WAY to fast! 9:16 for the first split and I NEVER run that fast! This was the first time running in compression sleeves and I'm a believer. Legs felt light and strong......for the first 2 miles, then reality set in and I slowed right down. Tried to run between aid stations and walk them. That worked for most of the first lap and then the runs got shorter and slower and the walks got longer. I tried hard to walk with purpose when I had to walk and not get caught up with visiting with people and I passed a lot this way. I probably lost some of the experience but not being more social but it was ok. The aid stations were lots of fun, very creative and helpful. I walked Bennet Bay hill on both sides but had planned to. It was getting more painful to walk and less so to run so finally ran the last 2.5 miles. Well, it was barely faster than a walk so I'll call it a run anyway.

Not much, I'd say train more but I felt pretty good and it took everything I had.

Hearing Mike Reilly tell me I was an Ironman was just awesome! I ran down Sherman alone, I think at that time of night, everyone was giving each other some room for their moment of glory. The great volunteer caught me at the finish line. I was really wobbly once I stopped and he helped me get my medal, shirt, hat and picture and handed me off to a medical guy. By then, I was REALLY wobbly but this happens to me at the end of races and once I sat down for a while I was fine. My sister brought me pizza, the chocolate milk girls were right there to give me chocolate milk. Sat there and hoped for a massage but the wait was too long and we were getting cold. My wife had parked close and drove us home and I even had a heated seat!


I tried hard this year to have some balance between training and real life. With that in mind, I was faster than I thought I might be. The swim was a big surprise, I know one of the corner buoys had drifted but they were towing it back into place by the time I go there. I didn't freeze like I thought I would. Bike limiters were my own conditioning and the winds. Run went better than expected. I sure wanted a massage though!


The course is beautiful, I'm a bit biased because I live in the area but it really is. As usual, everything superbly organized and the volunteers are the best I've ever been around. The whole town comes together for the race and the crowds were awesome all day long. The parties on the run course were really fun.
I had a great time, this should be a must do race for anyone doing an Ironman, awesome volunteers, really awesome volunteers!
I had thought this would be my last Ironman and maybe it will be but if I ever do another, it'll be right here in Coeur d Alene.