Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

Probably the roughest swim ever for me. The first 200 were great, and I got a little false sense of confidence from the sprint. But after we settled into race pace, there were just people everywhere, throwing elbows and smacking each other in the head. It was a little tough to get totally settled, and I really only felt comfortable after about the first 1000 meters.

The only other noteworthy thing about the swim was that I committed the cardinal sin of messing with my goggles on race morning. I had them fitting perfectly and not leaking, but I was worried about the melee in the swim and tightened them up before the race . . . and of course they leaked. I had to clear the right side about 6 times (that I remember) during the swim.

But all things considered, I'm very happy with that swim time and my performance.

Other than not messing with the goggles, not much. The crowd is out of control in a 2000 person mass start, so there's no avoiding the melee. You just have to stay calm and push through it, and I did a pretty good job of that.

Not a really fast transition, but I wasn't trying for one. I was trying to stay composed and remember everything, and that much went fine. It was nice to be out of the water early too, because the transition area and change tent weren't crowded, and I had a volunteer doing everything for me. I just sat there and he handed me everything and stuffed my wetsuit in the bag and I was off.

Nothing.

Good ride. Tried to just stay smooth and concentrate on good pedaling form and getting the nutrition in. I actually managed to take in about 200 extra calories (beyond the 1500 planned). Stomach felt good and everything went down smoothly.

The only time I really suffered on the bike was at about mile 60. Just felt crappy and mentally out of it. I had just made the turn around and knew that I had to go out through the rollers again. The wind was blowing a little. Generally, I was just pissed and feeling negative about the race. So I just tried to ignore speed and time for a while and pedal, not thinking about anything, just shutting down the brain and letting the legs work.

The hills here are tough at times. I've heard the course described as challenging but fair, and I would agree with that characterization. It was very beautiful, and even though a little desolate at times, I really liked this bike course.

The only last thought is that I think I rode pretty well for my fitness level. I was in better bike shape last year for the half than I was this year for the IM, but given the personal commitments I had outside of training, getting close to 20 mph on the bike was all I could really hope for, so I'm okay with my time. I know that I have a much faster bike split in me, but the training time to get there may not be possible for a while, if ever.

Nothing really. I got in a lot of calories, paced well, rode the hills smart, and took good care of myself. Having bad moments in IM is all part of the game, so that didn't surprise me either. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the effort and the result.

Fine, nothing to note. In retrospect, I should have changed my socks. I peed on the bike a LOT, and even though my socks were dry by transition, it would have been smart to put some body glide on my feet and get a fresh pair of socks on. Also, I would have gotten more sunscreen. I'm a little sunburned today, which is just dumb. I got my face covered well, but my legs and arms are burned.

Started strong and had plenty of calories in from the bike. I think I ran the first 6 at a low 8 pace. After about 4 I started walking the aid stations, and once I started walking it got harder and harder to get back on pace after the aid station.

At mile 14 I stopped in a porta pottie to pee and felt like I was going to pass out, my head got swimmy and I thought I was going down. But I held it together enough to do a slow jog to the next aid station where I ate everything they had: gatorade, water, cola, chicken broth, banana, orange and pretzels. About a mile later I started to feel better and was able to pick up the pace a little.

But generally the run just sucked. At mile 7 my legs felt as bad as they normally do 18-20 miles into a run. My HR was fine, and my breathing was okay, but no matter how hard I pushed I couldn't go much faster than a 9 pace.

At about mile 23 I figured out that I wasn't going to be able to stop anymore if I wanted to break 11 hours. So from there on in I just ran as hard as my legs would go without stopping. I had a few moments where I felt like vomitting, but managed to keep everything down with a few minor nasty belches.

Coming up the last hill into the finish some dude with a cowboy hat on passed me, and as soon as we turned the corner I ran like my life depended on it not to let that guy beat me. I'm sorry, but I'm just not ceding the race to some dumbass in a cowboy hat. So the last bit down to the finishing chute was everything I had left. I'd try to describe the feeling of coming down the final chute, but words just can't describe how good that feels.

Train better. I wasn't really ready physically to have a good run. My bike training was lacking, and I didn't get quite enough running in. I would do more strength runs (hills, tempo) and practice getting in way more nutrition on the run. I got used to taking a couple of gels/hour with water and gatorade, but in the race I think you need to be able to get in more, and more efficiently, without tanking your stomach.

After crossing the finish I just felt overwhelmed with emotion. It was so good to just hug my wife and be done with the race.

Physically, I was wrecked for a while. Both arms were numb and tingling from the shoulders to the fingertips, which freaked me out a little, but I was so tired I didn't want to walk over to the med tent, and I didn't want to get stuck in there all night anyway. So I just laid on the grass for about 15 minutes, and when we finally got up and started moving around again I felt okay and the tingling stopped.


I think the overall limiter is simply endurance. At about the 8-9 hour mark, I just had nothing left anymore. It's pretty difficult to train that kind of endurance, but I did a poor job of it this year. For me to race IM effectively, I would need to focus on this distance for a couple of years and really nail the training. I think I'm capable of going a lot faster, but the cost in time and training to get there would be extreme. So for now, I'm done with IM for a while, and excited to get back to training for the other "normal" race distances.


Oddly enough, one of the highlights of the entire trip was staying until midnight to see the last finishers coming in. The finish line was awesome, and seeing all of those people come in just under the cutoff time was amazing. You've never seen anyone in the world happier than a 16:50:00 Ironman.

As far as the race, NAS nailed it. Volunteers were spectacular and well informed, the race was ultra organized and everything was easy and smooth. They make it possible to just focus on the race and do your best. I loved the entire Ironman experience of being here and taking part in the race.