Ironman Coeur d'Alene - TriathlonFull Ironman

It was windy going out to first buoy and choppy. Mass start was crazyness, couldn't find clean water on most of the first loop. Got beat up during the swim. Lap 1 my watch must have gotten hit because my time had stopped. Lap 2 my goggles leaked on one side. I wasn't happy with my time at first, I feel like I'm a better swimmer than these times, and these are the same times that I got for my other half Ironman races. But after hearing everyone talk about the swim, I realize I am a better swimmer, and the conditions are what made my times the same as always. Had I come into this with the same swim fitness as last year, my swim would have been much slower!
Splits:
Lap 1: 38:24
Lap 2: 41:48

I just got off track a little on the 2nd lap, need to get better at staying in line in rough water.

I took my left arm out of wetsuit first and my sleeve got stuck on my watch. No problem, so I took my right arm out and then would fix my left arm as I was running up to the strippers. My right arm got stuck too and then I was hand cuffed in my suit! The strippers had to first help me get my arms out, then I laid down and they had my suit off in seconds.

I was a little confused when I went to the changing tent, a bunch of people were just out on the grass changing, so I did something out on the grass, but I can't remember what I did, maybe I put my vest on outside, then I realized there was room inside the tent, so I grabbed everything and ran in the tent, and the volunteer totally helped me. I decided to wear arm warmers and a vest, and she held open my gloves, so it was really easy to get those on, I wasn't planning on wearing them cuz they take time to put on, but she made it easy.

Avg. HR - 136
Max HR - 165

It's my first real long race, so I wasn't rushing, I wanted to make sure I was prepared and had the right stuff especially considering the weather. I can have quicker transitions now that I know more about how it works. The weather made it hard because I had so much in my bag because I just wasn't sure what I'd wear until that very moment when i could see if it was about to rain or not.

First lap was good, I was keeping a good pace. Some people were complaining about the wind, and my thought was, 'this is nothing'.

I was a little bloated from all the lake water that I drank, so it was hard to drink the Infinit at the beginning of the race. I still followed my plan of every 10 minutes, but I was taking smaller sips until my stomach felt better.

I came up and passed Sarah, a person I met the day before who I don't know well, but in my head I knew she was pretty good, and she's done Ironman races before. After passing her I started thinking, 'hmmm, Sarah's done this before and I think she's pretty good, I may be going out too hard'. So from then on out, I started paying more attention to my heart rate. At that time I looked at my HR and it was high 160's and low 170's, which is much higher than I normally am at for my long rides, and we were still in the first 30 miles of the ride.

So I started making sure my HR was staying in the 150's on the flats.

It was much hillier than I thought it would be. My mentality needs to change a bit, I think, hey Great Western is 4000 ft. in 40 miles, so 5000 ft. in 112 miles must be easy. Wake up call...5000 ft. doesn't necessarily mean easy just because I've done harder, and 112 is not easy.

By the end of the first lap I was starting to hurt. I was upset with myself that I was hurting so early in the ride. My shoulders/neck were really bothering me from being in the aero bars. I had some kool n fit w/ the pain spray in my special needs bag, and couldn't get to it quick enough. Having special needs at mile 63 instead of 56 was a challenge as well. I got to special needs and refilled my Infinit and poured the kool n fit down my back because the sprayer wasn't working. I grabbed my peanut butter sandwich, wasn't sure if I was going to eat it, but I had it just in case, and put the sandwich in my pocket.

Lap 2 was lonely compared to lap 1. I had to have several discussions with myself (in my head) because the demons were starting to come out. I was thinking I must be doing terrible because no one is here, I'm out here by myself. I just kept reminding myself to not worry about anyone else but me and what I'm doing. About mile 70 I was hurting, my shoulders were really bothering me, and I was starting to get on myself for not getting more longer rides in. Then I had to change my train of thought again, and kept reminding myself that this is exactly how I felt when I did my 100+ mile rides. Just because this IS THE IRONMAN, doesn't mean it's going to be pain free because for some reason my head thinks since I've done the training, the ride should feel great. So I reminded myself I've been here before, I feel the same, once I get off the bike the shoulders will feel better, so keep going.

The hills were a bit harder the second time around. The first lap I sat and climbed all the hills. The 2nd lap I stood and climbed some of them. Not because I had to stand, but more because I just needed to switch up positions a little and it actually felt better to stand and climb.

Somewhere between mile 85-95 I was thinking, 'oh my god, I'm not going to be able to run after this, I'm not going to finish this race'. So the self talk started again, and my train of thought was to forget about everything but the bike, all I had to do was finish the bike, don't think ahead, just work on this bike ride.

At mile 95 I was afraid I wasn't going to have enough calories in me for the run, so I decided to try to eat 1/2 a peanut butter sandwich. I didn't want to, but I was really nervous that I didn't get enough calories in to run a marathon. So I ate my 1/2 pb sandwich, which was really hard to do. After that, I felt like I made a mistake because my stomach instantly wasn't feeling great. I continued the Infinit/water on a regular 10 minute basis, made sure I had enough water to help digest 1/2 sandwich and just got through the rest of the bike.

I went to the bathroom twice (I got off the bike and went into the porto potty). I made sure when I was stopping that I didn't have to wait in line, but I did take my time, it felt good to just get out of the bike position for a minute or so. So I was even laying toilet paper on the seat so I didn't have to squat and hover. I know this took time, but I just wanted to give my muscles a little break



Figure out how to get more calories in without relying solely on Infinit, I need something more than just liquid, although I did eat a gel and a couple of Powerbar blasts.

Also, I can not take so much time on the bathroom breaks.

Ha! I jumped off the bike and someone took my bike for me, then I tried to run to get my bag. I couldn't run, I could barely walk. Then I tried to run again, and it wasn't happening, so I think I kind of limped my way over to the bag. My family said I looked delerious coming off the bike.

I started running to the tent and a volunteer grabbed me and pointed me to the women's tent. ha, I was running into the guys tent - oops!

I took my sweet time in T2! I was really worried that I wasn't going to be able to run. I was planning on telling my family this was going to be a LONG marathon when I left T2, but I didn't see them, so they didn't hear that.

I took so long in T2 that my volunteer left me and told me to just leave my stuff on the chair when I finally left and she'll get it.

I wasn't cold at first, but started to get cold in the tent, so I decided to wear the same thing I rode in, she (volunteer) said it was probably going to rain out there, so I kept my vest and arm warmers on, changed socks, put running shoes on and put a hat on. I also had excederin tension headache medicine and kool n fit spray in my bag. I took a long time spraying my hamstrings and my knees to make sure they were totally covered. I'm not sure if this stuff works great, but on one ride it really helped my shoulders, so I had just decided to put it in my bags in case I wanted touse it.

I brought the excederin with me because after my 30 minute ride on Friday, I got the worst headache and I think it was from being in my aero bars. I think that little time off of the bike really made a difference, because I felt like I hadn't ridden in so long, and my shoulders/neck just tensed up on my Friday ride. Friday night I had the worst headache that turned into a migrain, so that's why I decided to put that in my bike to run bag.

I took the excederin and finally left the tent, then decided to use the restroom. I had to wait for 1 person to come out.

I past the mat and started to run, and it didn't hurt as much as I thought it was going to hurt


I can do this faster.

We had to run the opposite way of the fans, and I didn't realize how far past the special needs bags we were going to run. I looked at my watch after the first mile and I had run just under a 9:00 mile, and I was shocked! This is when I started to have fun, because I was amazed at how good I felt. 2nd mile was a little slower but under 9:30. I was feeling great now, having the time of my life.

I kept reminding myself, remember what happened on the bike, you may not feel like this lap 2, so don't go too fast, just stay comfortable! I did, didn't run too hard, but I was flying past people (not that I was going fast, but I was actually running, while others were not really running).

Miles 1-10 were great. I was running this marathon as if it were a stand alone race. I ran through the aid stations, skipped some knowing I was ok, and pretty much alternating stations. I knew I was not going to be able to eat anything, my stomach was still a little upset from the bike. So I just got my calories from gatorade, chicken broth and I ate one Powerbar gel.

The rain started for me on my 2nd half marathon. It didn't bother me.

Somewhere between 10-11 all it took was one step. One step everything was great, the next, I had a shooting pain start in my knee and go down the outside of my leg. I don't know what it is, this is nothing that hurt me before on a run, this is completely new.

My run fell apart between 11-18 miles. I started walking through all the aid stations, I'd walk from the time I picked up gatorade or soup, and start running at the last chance trash. My mile pace slowed significantly here. I took 2 bathroom breaks and took my time here too, kind of wasting time as well, I probably didn't HAVE to use the restroom, but it gave me an excuse to stop running for a minute.

I just was willing myself to get to the special needs bag, I had more kool n fit there and hopefully that would get me through the marathon.

I finally got to my special needs, which was much further away than I needed it to be. I wasn't cold, so I didn't put on any extra clothes. I grabbed the kool n fit and I planned on taking thermolytes, which I had run out of, so I was grabbing my thermolytes from my special needs bag and I realized I had put advil in my bag (someone told me to do this) and I was so excited. I grabbed the advil, but couldn't take it until the next aid station that seemed really far away. I threw the Kool n Fit in my back pocket after totally spraying my knee, so then I could keep using it if I needed it.

At the next aid station I took my advil, and i was still walking through all the aid stations from beginning to end now. My knee was hurting more and more, and starting to run and stopping to walk was hurting so bad, everything was getting worse.

Between mile 17-18, I realized there was no way I could get a 4:30 marathon and I was starting to lose it big time mentally. Then, I started thinking, I can run a 12:00 pace, that's do-able for me right now. Then I had a little brain power left to do the math and realized, at a 12:00 pace I can make a 5 hour marathon. I can do this, but I cannot stop, not because I don't have time, but starting to run after walking the aid stations was giving me severe pain in my knee.

So at mile 18 I came to the revelation and my new mantra, "It's just pain!" So from 18-26.2 I ran, and with each step, I just ignored the pain with my mantra, and my stride started coming back, and soon I was running a normal running pace (well, as normal as I could get). I was picking people off one by one again, I ran through the stations not taking anything. I picked up a new friend, his name is Peter, and he drafted me for miles. He literally was running directly behind me. He was struggling and was going to stop, but I think I got him to run probably 7 miles further than he had planned on running. We barely talked to each other, but he asked me if it was ok if he ran behind me. I was laughing at my race pictures because I didn't realize he was literally on my heels, if I stopped he would've crashed into me.

I started ticking off the miles 1 by 1, and I was getting a lot of comments from spectators, I had a good pace going (not blazing or anything, but it was not the marathon shuffle).

I did get two more aid stations, but did a run through, just grabbed a gatorade and drank it on the run. didn't have anything else, just took what little I needed to get me through without bonking.

I finally turned onto Sherman and that was the most incredible feeling in teh world, I could see the finish line, it wasn't miles away, and it was downhill. I was high fiving people down Sherman then I hit the arch and I didn't even hear them say my name, I didn't even think about that until about an hour after the race when I asked people if they said, 'you are an Ironman'.

So I felt like I had a great marathon if I take miles 11-18 out:)

.Figure out what happened with my knee, it's swollen today (Tues. 2 days after, and still really hurts). If I can figure out what went wrong with the knee, just try not to let that happen.

Overall - Avg. HR - 148, max HR - 175
Temps from my Polar - Avg. 63, Hi - 74, Min - 53.
5700' elevation gain in bike and run
I ran the entire marathon, except the aid stations I walked from 11-18. I stopped to go to bathroom 2 times.
My HR monitor said I burned 6,098 calories (which doesn't include the portion of swim that watch stopped).

Monday - my knee hurts, that's why I'm limping, but my muscle soreness is not bad at all.
Tuesday - my knee is a little better, but now swollen. Muscles are just a little sore, nothing major.