Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

Damn, this was an interesting swim. I positioned myself about 1/3 distance to the right of the buoy line. There weren't many people here, so I thought I would be OK. But when the gun went off, everyone seemed to converge on top of me. I had a few bouts of panick, but finally settled down and tried to actually swim, rather than bob and weave. I didn't get clean water until coming back to shore on the first lap. Navigation was pretty good, I was able to get behind some feet, and generally felt OK for the swim. My time ended up being slightly slower than I had hoped, but with my inexperience in a mass start such as this, I'll take it.

Learn to swim.

Things went pretty smoothly here. I had to take a pit stop before heading out on the bike, so that cost me a minute or so.

Learn to pee while swimming.

Adam, Ryan and I drove the course on Friday, and I didn't think it would be a fast track. I settled in fairly quickly and the short out and back along Lake CDA was fast without much effort at all. As we headed north toward Hayden, the wind was at our back, so it made the gentle uphill that much easier. There were a couple of hills where I needed to get out of the saddle for a bit, but my legs felt good, so I didn't worry about killing them on the first loop. The hill section didn't seem as hard as I thought it was going to be, but I wanted to reserve final judgement after lap 2. The section coming back into CDA was also fast, and I hammered it for the last several miles and through town. Then it was on to the second loop. The wind picked up a bit but it didn't bother me as Windy has been my training partner all spring. My nutrition was spot on. I took in 5 bottles of GE and had roughly 900 calories of fig newtons. I was real happy with my time as I pulled in to transition.

When I do this distance again, I may put less of a focus on the bike and more on the run.

T2 was fast other than the need to pee again. Volunteers put sunscreen on and I was off.

Nothing but maybe learn to pee on the bike.

Felt really good off of the bike. 1st mile in 7:52. I laughed and slowed the pace down a bunch. I ticked off 8:30ish miles for the next 7 or so, then the wheels fell off. I'm not sure why, if it was not enough nutrition or just a lack of fitness for that amount of time out on the course. Whatever it was, it was keeping my leg turnover to a minimum. I started walking the aid stations eating anything that looked good. One station it was pretzels, the next, cookies, oranges, flat coke, chicken broth - well not the chicken broth, that crap sucked. It got harder and harder to get the legs moving once I stopped. At mile 20, Cathy pulled up next to me, encouraged me on and kept running. She was looking really strong up the hill. I ended up walking the hill the second loop. I ran for a while as I started feeling a little better, but stopped right as Ryan passed me going the other way. He said something about me looking strong - yeah right. I caught up to Cathy at mile 24-25 and ran with her for a bit, until I headed down towards the finish. The last 3/4 mile was just incredible. I had goosebumps running that last stretch. There was one girl ahead of me by 25 yards, and I looked back to make sure no one was behind me. I let her go ahead so she could get a good finishing picture. Then I came in to the shute high fiving the crowd on either side before I crossed the tape. What an awesome experience!

I didn't feel good about my run leading up to the race and it showed in my time. If, no....when I do this distance again, I will put more emphasis on the run.

Walked around a bit, ate some pizza and rehashed the race with Ryan and Adam. I then went back to my hotel, showered and made it back for the late finishers, which was just as inspirational as anything I went through that day.


First time at the distance, so not knowing what to expect from both a physical and mental standpoint.


I didn't believe I would ever do this distance again, but now there is no doubt another IRONMAN is in my future. A++++ race all around. Absolutely nothing to complain about other than a certain CT BTer not doing the race with me.