Ironman Coeur d'Alene : Official Thread (Page 35)

i agree with Scott.  I've swam 1:00 and 1:03 at CDA. If you're not a good swimmer, don't go to the front.  also, a lot of weaker swimmers might be thinking to start far right.  If I were a weaker swimmer, i would go middle left and seed myself accordingly. be fairly defensive and watch your surroundings.  watch for the frog kickers.  deadly.  the first turn is terrible for everyone.  once you make the second turn towards the beach, it really smooths out.  the second lap is pretty much uneventful.  just relax and continue to breathe.  the swim will be over before you know it and then the real fun begins. 

PS.  for whatever reason, the CDA swim always seem slower.  does anyone know why?  chop in the lake?  slightly long?  point of reference, i was 57:30 in Lake Placid. 

Depends on the year, but there can still be quite a bit of snow run-off coming through the lake at race time.  The outlet for the lake into the Spokane River is only about 1/2 mile down the beach from the start so some years there's a noticable current.  In 2008 it felt like I came almost to a dead stop after I rounded the first buoy because of the current.  I'd say that may be the reason you're feeling slower here.

Ironman site says every North America race is getting them!!!  They look sweet!!

Eek!!!

I don't know whether to feel panicked or excited!

excited.  I think I am more excited that my last real long run was this morning.  everything else is downhill. 

I try to get through transitions as quickly as possible.  My mantra for an IM race is to just keep moving forward, always.  I know some folks who try to relax a bit in transition, especially T2 but to me it seems harder to get going again than just to keep moving.  T1 is usually slowest, but for my last IM I would have been under 6 minutes except I forgot my Endurolytes in my bag and T2 was under 3 minutes.  Whatever works for you though.  If a more leisurely transition helps you feel better before moving on, by all means take some extra time. 

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Agreed... they do look sweet!  Thanks for posting the pic.

Wow, that is nice!  Thanks.

I'm feeling 75% excited, 25% nervous right now.  Nailed my longest run on Wed and had a great ride last night.  It just feels like I should have a few more huge weeks to prepare.

However, I'm EXHAUSTED!  I feel like I could crawl under my desk to take a nap right now.  Anyone else?  I'm not sleeping 8 hours every night, but overall I'm averaging about 8.

I am beat, and nursing a slight quad injury on top of it all, only been able to swim the past couple days.  I don't get 8 hours of sleep ever, and getting even less than normal right now, and it it's catching up to me.  Hoping this long weekend will help me get rejuvenated.  

On the plus side my buddy has a lake place nearby and the water is 60+, going up there right after work today for an hour swim and again on Monday for hopefully a 2+ miler.

Oh yeah, I am about 75% nervous!

"Current Lake CdA Temperature: 52.3^o F"