After one of the best nights sleep I’ve had before a race, be it a marathon or an Ironman, I woke with my iPhone’s alarm at 4:30 and rolled out of bed just as my “backup alarm” wake up call on the room phone rang. I tried best I could to keep the room dark and quiet to let the girls sleep a bit longer. But once the phone rang, Andrea was up and making coffee. First cup of coffee for me in over a week and it hit the spot!
The cool thing about Coeur d’Alene, aside from the sheer beauty of the place, is that it’s light at 4:30 in the morning so it made the walk to transition much easier. I headed for the lobby to meet Hugh by 5:00 and we walked the short distance to the start to get body marked, air up the tires and load up the bikes with nutrition stuff. The huge and fading full moon hovered over the far hills beyond the lake and it was a really cool sight. And according to Hugh, good luck!
Got the body markings done first thing then headed to the bikes to find Jared and pump up tires. Jared being a CDA veteran reminded us not to fully inflate the tires as they had a tendency to start cool then heat up later and blow out. Great tip! Transition was a complete zoo. More so than either Wisconsin or Louisville and seemed very crowded with all the athletes milling about their bikes. At least during the race there shouldn’t be this many people in there at once. We finished getting the bikes ready and then escaped to the quiet of a picnic table in the park to relax. Andrea and Kelsey met Hugh and I there and we sat and chatted for a few minutes then it was time to get into the wetsuit and head for the beach.
The pros had already started and the crowds around the beach were enormous. Andrea and Kelsey were lucky enough to find a spot on the sea wall about half way between the start and the exit of the swim. The CDA swim is two loops including a short jog out of the water through the exit arch and back into the water for the second loop. Hugh, Jared and I all found what we thought would be a good spot about 20 swimmers in from the left and right next to the announcer platform. Jared being a super strong swimmer got right in the front while Hugh and I were about row 3. Seemed like a great spot to start from. The plan was to swim left of the first buoy and then swim inside the buoy line to the first turn. The clock on the platform counted us down to the start and BOOM the cannon fired and we were off.
Boom! We're off
The first 5 minutes of the swim had to be the roughest and most physical five minutes of swimming I’ve ever done. Being in the third row I was swimming on top of the people in front of me while the swimmers behind were swimming over me. Luckily I was able to avoid getting pulled under or smashed in the face. Hugh wasn’t so lucky and got a bloody nose and fat lip out of his swim. After what seemed like forever, the pack separated a bit and I found myself in some clear water and actually felt great. Several times a swimmer behind me would hit my feet and push me forward. Felt like I was making good time and the water wasn’t too choppy or even that cold.
Rough swim start.
The only other tough part of the swim was between the left turns around the far buoys. Everyone wanted to be first to the turn and getting smacked upside the head was the common theme it seemed. Made it back to the beach and jogged around the exit and back into the water. Looking at my watch to check my split and my watch had stopped on eighteen and change. Must have gotten bumped and stopped at some point. I heard someone yell out thirty three minutes. If that was accurate then I was close to my goal pace. I was planning for a 1:05 or so swim. Things on the second loop were a little better and again the only real congestion was around the far end turning for the return to the swim finish. Reached the beach and exited the water and saw the clock said 1:08. I was a little disappointed but still faster than Louisville so that positive thought kicked me in gear as I grabbed my bike gear bag and headed into the change tent.
Swim Time: 1:07:56
T1 Time: 5:19
34 of 250 in M45-49
341 overall
Had about the standard swim to bike transition time of around five minutes and jogged out to the bike and then out the exit to begin the 112 mile ride. I saw Andrea and Kelsey along the barriers as I was riding out of the chute leading away from transition. They were screaming and yelling and Kelsey was snapping pictures. That is always a huge boost!
The bike begins.
I had not driven the bike course so I had no idea what to expect other than what I’d read and been told by others… rolling hills. I had in my mind to ride super conservative the first loop and then maybe pick it up on the second loop. The larger goal for the day was to run a sub four hour marathon. I felt like the first loop I rode easy enough. My heart rate was in check and I wasn’t passing too many riders, not many were passing me either. I kept looking for Jared and Hugh figuring they would be ahead of me out of the water. I saw them both coming back from each turn around on the first loop and I was gaining on Hugh.
Coming back into town from loop one I was feeling pretty horrible actually. My thighs were tight and actually hurt. At one of the aid stations I took a banana and right away I felt better. So had another at the next aid station and then another. By the time I made the first turn around I felt great and felt ready to tackle the second loop. I caught and passed Hugh just as he was leaving special needs. We rode together for several miles back through town, but once we hit the hills again I seemed to put a gap on him and wouldn’t see him again until after the first out and back section of the run. He said he was done riding fast so I knew he was going to back off on that second loop which he did.
Funny thing is, as Hugh and I were riding back through town I was looking for my girls as I had just seen them coming through town to start the second loop. But I didn’t see them on the way back out. Little did I know is that they saw Hugh and weren’t expecting to see me with him so they totally missed me! They spent 30 minutes fearing that I had dropped out or had some problem. It wasn’t until the 56 mile split was posted that they knew I was still in the race. Funnier yet was in looking through Kelsey’s pictures the next day, riding right next to Hugh in a picture… was me!!
See, I'm still here. Me on the left, Hugh center.
It was starting to get warm now but I was feeling okay and my average speed was up near twenty miles per hour so I kept pushing on. Not hammering but not exactly taking it easy either. The last 16 miles are pretty flat although into the wind coming back to town. I followed about six guys all sort of drafting each other passing each other back and forth. I decided I am not going to race these guys back to the finish so I backed it off a bit and stayed a good twenty yards behind them. I had stayed right on target with my hydration and nutrition on the bike so I felt like I was ready to roll once I hit the run. I was just a little worried that maybe I wasn’t hydrated enough at the end when the urge to pee wasn’t what it had been the previous four hours. So I tried to up the fluid intake in the last few miles into town.
Bike Time: 5:35:18
T2 Time: 3:22
37 in M45-49
308 overall
It always feels freaking awesome to get off that bike after 5 plus hours in the saddle! I hopped off the bike coming into T2, grabbed the Garmin off the clip as a volunteer took my bike, and made my way into the maze of run gear bags. I found my bag almost immediately and into the change tent I went. Now my general plan for the change tent is to jog all the way across to the far end and sit in the last chair and dump all my stuff out then change into dry tri-shorts. This change tent had a rather large opening to run out so I’m afraid the folks standing along the fence got quite a view as I made my change into dry cloths!
Only difference with this event to Louisville or Wisconsin was the lack of volunteers in the change tents. Previous Ironman events typically had tons of people in the tents to bag up your stuff as you changed. I just piled my gear on my bag and hollered to a volunteer if he’d bag my stuff up when I left. He came right over and did that as I was finishing up. This is not a complaint by any means. The volunteers were great as usual. This is just an observation based on previous experiences. Had this been my first event the transitions would have seemed even more chaotic then they already are.
Okay now the run. This is what I’d been working so hard on all year. I had gotten so close to four hours in Louisville last year only to die in the back half of the marathon. I chalked that up to poor nutrition execution more so that poor conditioning. However right away I didn’t feel nearly as good leaving T2 as I had last year. And while my heart rate was low and my pace was sub nine minutes I could tell it was going to be a tall order to break four hours. The run course was awesome though. It starts out with a short out and back along the path next to the lake. Then through town with so many people cheering us all on it was crazy.
Feeling good a mile in.
I saw Andrea and Kelsey as I left T2 along with Hugh’s parents. Then saw them all again as the run wound through town and back towards the lake. The out and back to the far end made several twists and turns through town and then a long stretch along the bike path next to the lake. There were all sorts of parties going on in front of houses in town and it was just hilarious. People were out grilling and drinking beer, blasting music and cheering us on. It was truly awesome. Each aid station along the course had music playing and people on microphones raising hell and keeping us fired up. I don’t know how I ran out of gas with all that going on but I did.
Saw Jared and Hugh both several times along the run and each time we all looked a little worse. By the time I got back to the start/finish to begin my second loop I was feeling pretty rough and saw Jared as he was finishing that first out and back. He simply looked at me and said “BOOM” obviously he was blowing up. Saw Hugh about the same place as I was heading back out and he said he was hurting pretty bad. Although they both looked good I knew just how they were feeling because I was in the same shape.
As I made my way back out on to the course for the second loop I passed Andrea and Kelsey and just shook my head and actually slowed to walk up the little incline into town. They were both shouting encouragement and I heard Kelsey yell DON’T GIVE UP!! No chance of that but I needed to walk a minute to regroup. The second loop of the run was a true suffer fest. I played all the normal games of walk a minute and run for two minutes. Okay run to the next aid station. Okay run to the corner. Walk 100 steps run 100 steps. You name it I tried it. Anything to keep moving forward and I finally made it to the long hill up to the final turn around. Funny, I ran this the first time and felt good. This time walking it was painful and running back down it was even worse!
Then as I arrived at the aid station at the bottom of the hill, I blinked and one of my contact lenses popped out. I could feel it on my cheek and so I stopped to ask a volunteer if he could see it. He plucked it off my cheek and handed it to me and I somehow got it back in my eye. Wow, a couple minutes just standing there really killed my averge pace but by then four hours was long gone and just getting to the finish was the only goal left.
I finally made it back to town and back through the parties and the smell of grills and all the people cheering. The finish area for this race is better than any I’ve ever done. It’s a straight shot, slightly downhill, for about half a mile. It was just lined with people. I clapped for them and their support and they cheered louder and louder. As I entered the final finish chute I swerved from side to side exchanging high fives. Now THAT was fun. High fived Andrea and Kelsey and then crossed the finish line. It was so loud I didn’t even hear Mike Reilly call my name. But that was okay because I knew I was an Ironman again. Found my girls and got some hugs. Then we waited around about five minutes for Hugh to come in and then we both headed for the massage tents and some pizza.
Coming into the finish
Run Time: 4:32:40 OUCH!!
76th in M45-49 (ugh)
656 overall
Finish Time: 11:24:32
49 of 250 in M45-49
393 overall
So finish time and run time not what I was expecting. But it’s not my slowest Ironman ever so that’s a positive. I’ve had several days to figure out just what went wrong and I’ve come to the conclusion that I just wasn’t race ready. Although in pretty good shape I hadn’t done any other races leading up to this event so I just wasn’t in as good as shape as I was last year going into Louisville. Not that it’s a bad thing. We had a blast in Coeur d’Alene and I wasn’t the only one to blow up on the run. Plus I have the best support crew ever and that makes it even more fun to do these races.
Thanks Andrea for putting together all the logistics… Thanks Kelsey for taking all the great pictures… and thanks to both of you for making this such a great trip!
I also need to thank Hugh and Jared for making this a fun race to do. It’s always fun to have others out suffering with you and we definitely suffered.
Okay so 2011 is Ironman free and then we’ll set our sights on going back to Madison for Ironman Wisconsin in 2012. Perhaps back to Coeur d’Alene in 2013?
Thanks Andrea for putting together all the logistics… Thanks Kelsey for taking all the great pictures… and thanks to both of you for making this such a great trip!
I also need to thank Hugh and Jared for making this a fun race to do. It’s always fun to have others out suffering with you and we definitely suffered.
Okay so 2011 is Ironman free and then we’ll set our sights on going back to Madison for Ironman Wisconsin in 2012. Perhaps back to Coeur d’Alene in 2013?
