Ironman Coeur D'Alene is a beautiful race! Smooth roads, awesome volunteers and great friends made the experience amazing. The cloudcover was wonderful and thankfully it didn't downpour like the previous day. Didn't quite have the race I was imagining, but it is all good. Just means is room for improvement. I was super excited to finish with no bike problems!
SWIM.
Here is an awesomoe link to a video of the race start on you tube. CDA ironman start
The 2.4 mile swim started at Lake Coeur d'Alene on the sandy beaches of City Park. It consisted of two counterclock wise loops. Thankfully the water was not too cold! My extra warm cap probably helped. However, I still struggled in transition putting on arm warmers and gloves with my frozen hands...A mass beach start made for an unpleasant physical swim. Waterpolo players must be great openwater swimmers, especially in mass starts. I lost my chip during the swim. There were so many people all around me, I just kind of swam with the flow without sighting. Open water swimming is definitely not one of my strengths, but I think I am slowly improving. I love the Sable goggles my friend Leslie let me borrow. They never fogged up and I never used antifog spray on the goggles. I felt a little disoriented coming out of the water after the first loop and almost fell over, a volunteer told me maybe I should sit out for a little. In my mind I thought no way are you crazy? But the volunteer probably thought I was crazy. The second loop was a little better as far as physical contact goes, but somebody grabbed my shoulder on the second loop. For some reason my hips bother me in openwater swims. On the second loop I could feel my hips starting to ache. I don't really know my swim time, because of my lost chip. A volunteer noticed I didnt have a chip and showed me where to get a new chip. I grabbed my transition bag and into the tent, I was excited for the bike. I have no idea how long I was in transition either. However, I know I looked at the clock I think when I was exiting and the clock said 1:12..(Thanks for letting me borrow this picture Chris)
BIKE
The double-looped 112-mile bike course heads out east of the city, and then returns to downtown. Then we headed onto US-95 south on the west side of Coeur d'Alene Lake. The whole course had many hills, including a 2-mile uphill climb. I was thankful for my arm warmers and gloves on the first part of the bike. I might have started out a little to fast. I saw my friend Ali on the first turnaround headed back to the city, so I knew I was probably close to her swim time. For some reason my quads were a little sore even at the start of the bike, but I decided to push hard, and if I crashed, try to be mentally tough. The first loop went by fairly quick, and I was feeling fairly good.
I continued to feel fairly strong until around mile 70. Around mile 70 there was an aide station and I tried putting an ironman perform bottle in my front aerowater bottle instead of the cage. The bottle managed to get stuck in the lid of the aerowater bottle. I tried pulling it out multiple times and finally succeded, but my lid came off of my aerowater bottle, so I had perform spraying all over. By the time I succesfully pulled the perform water bottle free, I was past the drop zone. I wasn't sure what to do. I should have tossed the bottle but there were cars on one side and cyclists coming down on the other side. So I was shifting with the bottle in my mouth and holding it in my hand as I was biking, if only my jersey had a pocket for my bottle I thought. Finally, I realized it stuck between my arrow bars..anyway that was the start of loosing my focus...
I saw my friend Chris near the top of the turn around on US-95. I knew I was having a good bike, despite my little dilemma and loosing focus, and starting to feel tired... We finally started downhill into town, and I luckily recognized Jen on her bike cheering me on. When I finally got to the next aide station it was hard to get my ironman perform, bottle out of my arrow bars, but finally completed the task before passing the aide station....I am guessing my bike time was around 5:47ish, which is my second fastest bike time. Yay for no bike problems!!!!! My watch says 5:50, but I think it was running in the transition. I wanted to take it easy in transition and prepare mentally for the marathon. However, somewhow I took 7 minutes in transition, maybe a little too much relaxing ;)
RUN.
The two loop run, was hilly, definitely not flat. I knew it was going to be a long run, because my stomach felt horrible. I stopped at the first portapotty, which would be a trend for the rest of the marathon. I stopped probably about 10 times, a few times I didnt quite make it to the portapotty. I am guessing I lost 15 min in toilets...somebody gave me some tums which helped a little..The diarrhea was frustrating! Must be something wrong with my fueling or my diet. Maybe this is a little too much information...oh well :) I had Gus and a power bar on the bike, as well as perform. For breakfast I had some oatmeal. The night before the race I was feeling constipated like I was before st George. I had rice and chicken, and actually decided to have an apple because I was feeling constipated. In the morning I had a small hard bowel movement and had one immodium, which I think helped on the ride..maybe I should have had another immodium for the run....maybe I should have done the four immodiums like I have for my other half ironmans...I think it is just part of the race for me-but that was the worse cramping/diarrhea I have had in an ironman. The 2 ironmans I participated in last year I had 4 immodiums, felt a little nausea and dehydration and still had to poop on the run a few times, but it was way better than CDA. After the race my stomach felt horrible though. I have tried no lactose before race day; less fiber 4 days before the race; bananas, rice, applesauce and toast diet; immodium/no immodium...not sure...still trying to figure this out..
Anyway, back to the run...The first 13 miles was around 2hrs, so I was hoping to keep the pace for the last 13, but slowed down.. ending up with a 4:15. The run was felt more like a miserable shuffle, but it was beautiful to run beside Lake Couer d'Alene. It was great to run with Chris briefly and to see so many freinds on the run. When I run I tend to get in this zone, and don't realize what is really going around me, but I can hear people cheering for me, which is awesome. My goal for my next ironman, is to not run like a zombie...
As a triathlete I always analyze my races, the never ending process of improving. I think that one reaon I keep doing ironmans is that I know there are ways to improve my race and push my limits to a new level...So I need to work more on running up hills. I tend to start fast on the run..Maybe I pushed too hard on the bike. I need to work on my bike so I am not fatigued after biking 112 miles so I can run. I need to do more bricks, and higher quality workouts.. I need to work on my nutrition.. the easiest thing to improve is to not get my perform bottle stuck, in the lid of my aero water bottle :) Anyway, I realize I have a lot more work on my bike and run before I think about Kona. There are so many amazing triathletes! The winner in my age group did a 10:09, second 10:11, and third 10:29...I ended up with a 11:21:25. Struggled with my breathing after the race, found out I breathe wrong, which causes asthma like symptoms. Just takes me a little to recover after my long races.. A highlight for my race was having my mom, dad and brother at the finish line!!!
Always great racing with you Chris, great job, considering you didn't train much on the run. The Hardy's are always so kind and fun to be around. Jen you are the best cheer leader ever. Wes nice swim! Ali 10:18---amazing! Molly and Barabara, you always make everything look fun. Nice job on your first ironman Tom and Grethcen. Thanks for cheering for me Mike Mamales. Cherell can't believe a motorcycle hit you during the race! Thanks for hleping me train for the race BJ
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