Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

OMG!! While walking down to the water there was an official announcement by Mike Riley that officials were giving participants the choice of skipping the swim and just doing bike/run because of the wind and waves. There was a flotilla of jet skis and kayaks out there. Race director quote "these folks are adults, they know what they can handle!" Swim was brutal, but not because of wind waves. I started three rows back right in the middle and it was a rugby scrum all the way to the first turn bouy. This was the most physical swim I have ever been in, coupled with swimming out into 1 - 2 foot swells and boat wakes. First turn bouy was a full blow mosh pit. About 300 yds in a guy in front of me pulled up, started screaming F--- THIS! and turned right and swam across people to get out of the way. Not sure what happened to him. 57 people opted not to do the swim or were pulled out. 2nd lap was better except when I swam right into a kayak that had ventured in to help someone. Got a nice cut on my thumb from the rudder on the kayak. Coming back in on each lap was fun with the waves with us. I was totally hydrated after the swim as I consumed a great deal of lake water!!

In 2006 I started way right and counted to 10 before going. This year I went at the gun right in the middle. Time was 4 minutes slower than last year, but not becuase of where I started. I did not concentrate on swimming much this year, but all in all it was pretty easy. Wouldn't change much.

Wetsuit is no problem. The wetsuit strippers just yank it off. I took the decision making out of my transition bags this year and my times went down. Only thing was bike shoes, helmet, glasses and a long sleeve jersey in case it was too cold. It was not too cold, so I left the jersey. Took one gu packet coming out of transition, grabbed bike and ran to the mount area.

Maybe put helmet, glasses on bike morning of race. Not allowed to leave them on bike overnight.

Awesome day on bike. Training really showed and it felt good. Drank mostly water and ate my special bars I make. Better than my almost all liquid plan from last year. Kept cadence high and just spun up the hills. First time up English Point hill I just got up and hammered up and felt great. At mile 66 I was just over three hours, with a pee stop so I decided to ease up a bit. Still had marathon to run. OPEN apology to those that I promised would be a good cruise back to town on both laps...HEADWINDS suck and I could not believe how hard I had to pedal, down hill into the wind to get back to town. Grabbed 2nd helping of bars at special needs and kept going. 2nd time past my house I thought....I could break 6 hours on the bike. Bike ride I COULD ride or bike ride I SHOULD ride??? That is the question. Anyway, just kept doing what I was doing, held my pee and made it under 6 hours. Find out if good choice on the run!!

Pack more bars and not stop at special needs.

Volunteers take bikes and rack them for you, so no worries there. Grabbed bag and ran to change tent. Need to get feet out of bike shoes while on bike, because running in bike shoes is no fun.
Urinal in change tent is a wonderous thing!!
Felt like I took my time and was still way faster than last year. Took choice out of that transition bage as well. Really works. Put socks on for the run...did not wear any on the bike.

Get bike shoes off before getting off the bike.

Really my nemisis last year, so I did a lot of bricks this year. What do you know...it works. Felt pretty good coming off the bike save for my left calf which cramped horrible on the swim and I was hoping it would stay okay. Just real sore starting out. Plan was to run to each aid station, then walk while taking in nutrition. Decided to skip first station because I wanted to settle into a rythym and that was good choice. Started taking water/banana at one aid station, then gatorade/pretzels at the next. Switched back/forth until mile 18 then stopped bananas and started cola. Stomach felt good. Well on my way to under 12 hours. Just need 10 minute miles to get under twelve. Up until mile 20 day had been great. Mile 20 my left hip started to feel like someone drove a spike through it. Could not figure it out. Not cramping, but weird tight pain. Anyway, had to walk almost 2.5 miles to work it out and it cost me substantial time. Took almost an hour off run time from last year.


Need to run a couple marathons just to get the run training in. Did several 20 mile plus runs in training and it helped.

Hung out with family friends for a bit. Put on silver blanket immediately after finishing because it was chilly. Went to the food tent and tried a piece of pizza with some cola. Wanted to come up, but managed to keep it down and felt much better. Did not eat last year after finishing and it really sucked. Ate another piece of pizza after putting dry clothes on. Really funny doing the Ironman Shuffle with the rest of the folks going to get their bags, etc. Even on Monday you could see folks all over town doing the Ironman Shuffle.


Run and weather.


All in all I can not complain. I took one hour and 15 minutes off my time from last year on a tougher course and tough conditions. All in all a great day. Doing the race in my hometown made for huge cheering sections all over the course. Totally cool. I tie-dyed my jersey yellow and my family friends did the same with t-shirts. Nineteen in all. Had one guy on the run tell me that he knew I was coming up behind him becuase of the cheering.

Most important part of the day was doing the last two blocks with my dad. 3 year cancer survivor and he came down the finish chute with me. There as not a dry eye in the house, including me. Unbelievably cool.

For the freak in all of us.....I went to bed late after the race because I stayed down there to see others finish. I fell asleep figuring out how I could get another hour out of my time!! Is that freaky??