swbkrun Mentor Group- CLOSED FOR BUSINESS!!! (Page 201)

That makes this a top page post!

Thanks for that tip Trevor, I will try it out on Sunday when I go for an OWS swim...

BTW:  Happy Canada Day to you and all our BT friends from the Great White North!

If you don't it won't be my fault...

Monday, we flew into Spokane, drove to the resort, and picked up the camping gear that we had previously shipped.  Walked around downtown Coeur d’Alene a bit – no signs of Ironman stuff yet.  Had a great early dinner at Scratch – highly recommend it.  They had us sign their Ironman poster – and we were the first ones to do so!  The thrill begins…..Loaded up the gear, and headed to…..Canada?  Turns out the directions we’d downloaded sent us to a Forestry office in Sandpoint, not our campground.   Cost us a few hours, but we saw some beautiful scenery.  Nary a potato….who knew how pretty it was up there?  Got into our campsite at about 9:30 pm, drank our anniversary champagne, set up the tent.  Realized that not only had we packed the wrong air mattress (a twin!), but we had a not-so-slow leak……slept on the ground that night!

Woke up to a 4:30 am sunrise….wooeee.  Campsite was even nicer in the daylight, and we were right on the river – almost nobody around.  Went into town (Walmart, if you can believe it) to buy a new aerobed, then went looking for a place to run.  Picked a nice empty dirt road by the Coeur d’Alene river, and took off.  Did about 6 miles – stopped for pictures, several deer, a moose, and a picnic lunch.  Husband made me a sandwich! We grilled steak, had some nice pasta, salad, garlic bread and a bit of wine.  Not too early to bed….stayed light until almost 10!

Wednesday we went looking for a pool – not an easy task!  Didn’t want to drive into Coeur d’Alene for the lake. But ended up going almost that far anyway…..and swam in the oldest, funkiest pool I’ve ever swam in.  Weird distance – 40 or 45 yards?  Cost us a buck each for lap swimming, and it was just us….with 2 lifeguards.  We felt very safe.   Made another Walmart stop for wine and beer, and kept Jeff away from the free puppies.  That was a tough one!  I spent more time in the Kellogg Walmart than all my other Walmart excursions combined.  Who’d thunk it.  Back to the campsite for grilled salmon – we’re pretty good with a fire and a campstove – especially with the addition of wine and beer.

Thursday we switched to Ironmode.  Packed up all the gear, separated out what we needed to race with, and headed into town!  Shipped the camp boxes home and checked into the hotel – we stayed at the host resort, and it was right in the middle of everything, and nice.  Our room had a great view of the lake we were racing in, and of the whole Ironman Village.  Worth the splurge!  Bigger than a standard room, so we had a bit of space to spread out in, which we did. Bikes, gear bags, wetsuits, laptops.  Ironmen take up lots of space!

Met up with a buddy from BT, a local guy who’s raced this race many times, and was running the medical tent this year, and he took us out onto the bike course.  Wow.  We were caught a bit off guard.  More hills than we had anticipated, and more technical aspects to the course (TURNS!  On uphills and downhills!  EEEK!).  It was great to get a preview, and I know that it helped me mentally prepare.  Stan had some great advice, and awesome stories.  Jeff got last minute advice on how to pee on the bike – and when not to!  Glad we didn’t see Stan during the race in the med tent, but bummed we didn’t make it in after for recovery help!

We picked up our bikes from Tribike Transport – and they looked great!  Still loving my pink handlebars, but having some serious bike envy.  Some of the bikes we saw are worth more than my car!  Ran into most of the rest of the TRIbe team – everyone is getting excited!   We headed out for dinner at the ‘floating restaurant’.  Thought it was onsite – so we were a bit late.  Kinda touristy, attached to an RV park, but fun….and the food was good.  The huckleberry ice cream may be a new favorite!

Friday morning we headed out to the lake to meet up with the BT group for a warm-up swim.  Met Kyla – finally – and felt like I’d known her forever!  It was fun putting faces with names – people I’d been chatting with regarding this race for months!  The lake?  Cold.  Choppy.  CLEAN!  I got tossed around a bit, but left this swim feeling good – temperature was cold, but not too bad, chop was big, but I dealt with it.  Race on!   Hopped on our bikes to ride the run course – wow, hills there, too!  We got in about 20 miles, and we were feeling good.  Jeff went golfing, so I hung out, read, ate, napped…..relaxed and planned my race day!  Talked to a gentleman in the elevator who told me that it was ‘refreshing to see someone race on a lower-end bike’.  I did control myself – heck, he’s right.  Besides, he didn’t have an athlete band on, and I’m an Ironman!

We went to the athlete dinner late……who would’ve planned on golf lasting longer than anticipated?!?  No worries.  Dinner stunk.  Not much new at the meeting, but major emphasis on no peeing or pooping on the course. Huh.  Lots of talk about drafting penalties, too.  Met up after with the TRIbe folks, and ate some real food.  Everyone looked excited – and maybe a bit nervous!

Saturday morning found us ready to do our mini-tri.   Stared at the white water in the lake for a while, tried to think of excuses to not swim.  Finally hopped into the lake and swam a whopping 500 yards.  Off with the wetsuits, grabbed bikes (from the room, 20 minute T1) and did a 20 minute ride.  Dropped the bikes in the room (20 minute T2) and ran a mile and half.  Woot Woot.   Done!   Packed up all of our bags, one last check on our bikes, and headed down to gear check.  I’ll never get used to dropping off my bike and transition bags the day before – and just leaving them there!

We needed some brain-dead time to not focus on the race, so we headed off to the movies!  Toy Story 3 was great – we laughed hard, teared up a bit, and didn’t think about the race.  Until it was time to leave the theater, and I told Jeff ‘on your left’, and cracked myself up.  Like I say that to him on the course – much more likely to be DDMA!   Ran into Kyla and her family at the theater, great minds think alike!  We all eyed Coldstone, then made the race-smart decision of ‘not yet’.  Off to sushi!!  We ate at Bonsai Bistro, right at the finish line, and watched the set-up.  And the wind whipping the equipment – and water – and flags - around. Yuk.  Dinner, however, was great.  Sushi, lettuce wraps, and a small bit of nicely chilled sake.  Life is good.  Got a call from home – power is out – life’s not so good there.  Aunt Amy & Uncle Dan to the rescue!  Back to the good life.  Albeit a bit windy.

Back to the room – music’s playing outside, we danced a bit while we prepared our race day nutrition.  I had the Ironclock countdown on the computer – it’s getting surreal.  Last minute bag re-checking.  Good thing we brought arm warmers, long gloves, neoprene caps, sleeves…not!  REALLY good thing we brought sunscreen!   Time to get to bed…..so hard to dial everything down and relax.  Trained a long time to get to this point!

I’m awake at 3:30.  Wake-up call at 4:30.  Jeff’s alarm at 4:40.  Room service at 4:45. (the best steel-cut oatmeal with lots of fresh berries and brown sugar!  And, of course, pepsi.)  Grab the wetsuits and the SN bags…and we’re off.  The crowds are HUGE.  Gridlock everywhere.  Got ourselves bodymarked……stinks having to wear an age on your leg that you haven’t hit yet!!  We make our way into the transition area and add our nutrition to our bags, and head for the bike lot.  2500 athletes all messing with their bikes.  Pumping tires, setting Garmins, adding nutrition.  One lady near me was giving her bike a pep talk.  Wonder if that worked?  Finished up with my bike….thanks to the techs who helped me with air – and wandered over to Jeff.  Waited for him – and went to drop our SN bags.  Wow – the crowds.  Back into the transition area to sunscreen, porta potty and put on the wetsuits.  That sunscreen may have been the single smartest decision I made all day.  100+ cream  everywhere, and then a quick 85+ spray over the top of all.  Long porta-lines…..I’m starting to stress!  We hear the pros go – bam!!

We head on down to the beach.  We know that there are 2500 athletes, but it’s looking more like 10,000…..and they all brought their parents, kids and coaches.  It’s a zoo.  Down to the sand in time to hear the standard ‘this is the best day of your life’, watch the helicopters, listen to U2.  Quick kiss, and the last thing Jeff said was ‘Love you – SWIM!’  We were off!

Well, ‘off’ may be a very accurate description of my swim.  In retrospect, I seeded myself too far in front…we were in the second or third row, and I was surrounded my large men.  Hit the water at a full run, and dove right in…….into the washing machine.  I spent the first 15 minutes – most of the first leg – fighting a full blown panic attack.  Heart rate spiked, couldn’t get air.  Kicked, grabbed, smacked swam over…and that was the other swimmers!  I took a hard right turn, and swam for clear space.  Cost me major distance and time, but helped calm me down.   Chop was much worse than during my practice swims, and I took several waves to face once I hit clearer water.  Seriously contemplated hitting a kayak, and DNF was swimming in my head….in the water, me?  Really?  Hit the first swim buoy with 900 of my new friends, and truly understood the term washing machine.  Hit the second turn bouy – marveled at the audacity of the people cutting the corner – and inhaled wonderful gas fumes.  Rescue boats at the ready!  Rode the wave in, hit the beach and ran back for a second try.  Someone yelled ‘42 minutes’  at me, and really bummed me out.  Still, I figured I’d be better this time – less people left, if nothing else – and off I went!!  Felt stronger, but so did the waves.  Where did all of this chop come from?!?  Finished, picking people off right and left in the last 500 yards…..and saw the clock with a 1:32.  WHAT?!?!?!  That was a blow.   Off to T1 to try to reclaim a bit of a race. 

Shout out to my volunteer in T1.  I was shaking so hard she had to put my gloves on my hands for me.  My toes were full on white – and numb.  Completely forgot the suncreen – good thing I did that before the race!  Sent me off to the bikes, shouting at me to buckle my helmet.  Can’t begin to imagine how I looked with numb feet, loose helmet, trying to run!!  However, I did a best time in T1, and beat Jeff’s T1 time.  Little victories.  6:19

The bike. The bike.  The bike.  Wow.  Really glad I’d driven the course with Stan – that helped.  I was really hoping to beat my IMWI time.  I didn’t borrow race wheels this time, and I hadn’t trained as well (Boston was my ‘A’ race) so I’m not sure how I got that idea, but I did.  Went out strong, made a conscious effort to not blow it out too early, and held a pretty decent pace.  Did well on my nutrition, killed my first 9 scoop bottle of Sustained Energy at the 50 mile point.  Hydration had been handled very well in the lake.  Had to urgently pull over and hit the porta-potty at the 20 and 40 mile marks.  Geez.  Maybe I should learn how to pee on the bike.  Discovered that men, at least men in Idaho, don’t lock porta-potty doors.  Way TMI on each stop! 

Saw Julia several times – we traded porta-stops!  She looked great, and she was gone!!  Saw a few other TRIbe peeps on the bike – going the other way.  The loops did make it fun to cheer for friends!

Heading out of town – mile 3 or 4 – thanks to guy who told me I had the best legs on the course – made me smile for miles!

At around mile 40 saw the police escorts, tv crews, etc go through with the leaders – going the other way.  Yup.   50 miles ahead of me.  Gotta love the 2 loop course.  Immediately started worrying about blocking and obstruction calls when the all started to pass me.  Took a while, but sure enough……flashing lights, motorcycles and cars behind me.  WOOSH!  Fast dude on the left.  Yelled ‘looking strong’ at me.  Made my day!   Couldn’t see the name…but saw the number.  Checked out the roster 8 hours later - Andy Potts!  Several miles later…several more pros passed.  Hit the downtown where finishers turn right and 2 lappers turn left…..and had to pull out in front of a few FOPers to make the left.  Jeez.  I would have paid good money to go right at that corner!!

Second loop was obviously a repeat. Felt harder. Held my pace,  pretty much.  How did the hills get harder?  Picked up second bottle at special needs….after they hunted to find it.  Downside to being a MOP rider – it was crowded.  Decided that with heat, I better start drinking water.  Starting tossing bottles at every aid station, and getting new ones.  Mostly concentrated on finishing my second SE bottle.  Mile 90 took the thermotabs and endurolytes Jeff gave me.  I decided to stop to do that….saw way too many pills in the road to risk doing it on the fly.   Got nailed in the face by a bee or other big bug…drew blood! 

Saw Jeff as I was heading back into town – and he was heading out.  Probably 20 miles ahead of me.  He looked strong!  I spent the next 10 miles trying to calculate, using algebraic formulas, how far ahead he was in minutes and miles……finally gave up and decided that he must have had a kick-butt swim and great first loop!

Finally, it was me flying into town and taking the right turn into the bike finish…..woooot! 7:11.09

Bike catchers caught me, held my bike while I dug out my chews and unclipped the Garmin.  Really didn’t care what they did with the bike, but appreciated their concern!  Trotted off to T2! 

Another wonderful volunteer helped me go through my bag.  Yanked off my gloves, took my shoes, helmet….helped me stuff unnecessary items into my jersey, and shove warm Sustained Energy into the belt.  These volunteers are worth their weight in gold!  Out of the tent……add a bit of sunscreen, took a shot of Slam and I’m off!   4:29

Actually didn’t feel too bad.  Started off at a trot.  Went for a sip of SE, and it was HOT.  30 second decision – threw that bottle in the trash.  There was no way I was drinking it or carrying it.  Loved the crowds, the adrenaline, the whole feel.  I’d made it off the bike, I was going to rock the run!

Headed out of town – there was Jeff coming around the corner!  Looking great – about 9 miles ahead of me, and he appeared to have settled into a comfortable pace.  Snagged a  kiss, woulda loved to trade places with him! Seeing him definitely gave me a boost.

Had to rethink the nutrition a bit on the run, since I dumped the food.  Didn’t have a SN bag, just what I was carrying.  A melted cliff bar, a couple of gu, some honey stingers, and my meds.  I wasn’t hungry, but I knew I’d only had about 1500 calories on the bike, and I needed more.  Starting sucking on oranges at the aid stations.  None of the food looked good.  Drank water and carried ice through each one, too.  Took a few sponges.  And HALLELUJAH for spectators with hoses and squirt guns!   That was nice!!  Ate my thermotabs and endurolytes and Gold…..and then ate a blackberry jet gu to get rid of the taste.  Sticky!  Settled into a pretty good trot, right where I wanted to be, at about 10-11 minute miles.  Would have loved to be sub-10s, but knew that wasn’t happening. 

At mile 10 I lost my first toenail of the day – tears.  It was driving into my toe, but I was afraid to stop and take the shoe off – didn’t think I’d get it back on.  Mile 12, lost the second one.  Now I’m down 5 from Boston.  OMG.  My toes are hurting more than anything else, and my pace is dropping.  According to the Garmin, I hit mile 13.1 at 2:33, behind where I want to be by 10 minutes.  Starting to shape up like WI.  One last porta-stop – another unlocked dude.  Am I missing something here?  Not happy, and I’m walking more.  Downhills are my friend, though, and both of the large hills by the first turnaround were fun…..my feet were slamming and I was picking people off right and left – really helped my mental game at that point.  At mile 18, my Garmin died – dang.  I was really using it to track my not-so impressive pace, and that hurt.  At mile 20 I remember my honey stingers and scarfed two whole bags in about a mile.  They tasted amazing!

Ran past some TRIbe supporters – yea!  Saw Julia again, Eric, Ron, Tom, Dov, and a few others I thought I recognized!  Met a few BTers….that was fun.  Didn’t see Kyla till near the end of the run – and she was running!  Didn’t know about her tummy issues then, and never would have guessed!

One mile to go – I can hear the music, and the people thumping and clapping. I start to run – pick off 3 more people right before the final turn, hoping for the chute to myself!  I take the turn onto Sherman and the street is packed with cheering, screaming people.  Volunteers are yelling that I’m almost there – ‘go get it’!  I can see the bright lights at the finish, and the finish arch.  Now my feet are really pounding, and I’m smiling again!  Bruce is playing on the loudspeaker – “Times like this, baby we were ‘Born to Run’!”  Saw Jeff just  this side of the finish line yelling for me – heard my name – Linda Nollette, you are an Ironman!

Looked at the clock – 14:11:06.  Missed my first goal of 12 hours….missed my second goal of 13 hours – thought I missed my 3d goal of PR.  Quick congratulatory call from Bethany cleared that up – I beat my IMWI time by a minute and a half. Hmmmmm.  Okay.    Maybe IM Arizona for the next shot………

Great read Linda!  Love the detail!  Sounds like the swim as rough, but you stuck it out!  Great Race Iron(wo)man!

BTW, the guy was right - nice gams!