A cold and blustery Ironman Coeur d'Alene (IM CDA)

The week leading up to IM CDA was chilly and the prediction for race day was cold, windy and rainy. I got in a couple short bike rides and runs...and one swim in the lake. It was in the warmest part of the day, but the lake was in the low 60's. It ended up not being that bad, but during the first few minutes I felt like my ears were going to freeze off. I also noticed the water was a little choppy.

Not too excited about climbing back into the water, I decided to limit the remainder of my swimming to race day. I stayed in a house with some folks from St. Augustine. James, Sally, and Libby. Neal, Libby's husband, was there to help with support and did a great job.

Luckily race day the water temperature was 64-65 degrees, and was just about perfect with a wetsuit. The air temperature was another story, it was in the high 40's or low 50's. Once we dressed in our wetsuit's, we had to drop off our dry clothes bag 30 minutes before the start...it was pretty crowded with all 2200+ racers and their family and closest friends all crammed along the lakefront. Sally, Libby, and I made our way to the beach in a slow semi-orderly fashion.


If you've never witnessed a mass Ironman swim start live...then you don't know what you're missing. Mike Reilly, "The voice of Ironman", always says something like, "...you are about to witness one of the greatest spectacle's in sport..." It's pretty crazy, and this start was no different. I've been through a few rough starts, but this one took the cake. It was a full on MMA cage match. There were people everywhere...swim form was out the window, it was just survival...and for Pete's sake, protect your head!



In retrospect I went out too slow and got bogged down in the huge mass. I wanted to swim really easy and expend the least amount of energy possible. The water was pretty choppy with some swells. The second lap saw the wind pickup, and the swells were a lot bigger and it was really hard to sight the bouy's. You really had to wait until you were on top of the swells before taking a look. You combine rough water with inexperienced swimmers, and you have people swimming sideways all over the place. There was very little open water.


To shorten this story a bit, I made it out in 1:11...ouch! I was hoping for closer to 1:05...well, ok...let's get on the bike. I got into the change tent and started putting on my clothes...every piece of riding gear I brought with me! I had a tough time getting the arm warmers pulled up, then got my bike jersey pulled overy my tri top. I then tried to put on a vest I brought, but the zipper wouldn't work...so I just stuck it and the garden gloves I bought into my jersey pockets. It was in the 50's and I wanted to be as warm as possible. Anyhow, it took me 8+ minutes to get out of T1! I could have taken a freakin' nap in that time! I was in 70th place in my age group going onto the bike.

The bike course is really beautiful. There are these incredible homes all along Lake Hayden...it's really something else. The bike course had some good hills on it, and since it's two loops...the fun lasts. Oh, did I mention the wind? It was pretty windy. My strategy was to keep a low heart rate and conserve as much as possible so that I could have a good run. In all the bike was pretty uneventful. I was really ready to get off about mile 85-90...I was totally over it. I did a good job with getting my calories in and hydrating well, but my legs were pretty sore and I was still haunted by the run that lay ahead. My bike split was 5:29, so it was way behind what I had hoped...but, once again in retrospect, I didn't go hard enough. I should have been about 20 minutes faster. I knew the watts I needed to hold, but was just trying to get through the entire distance...and I didn't want to walk the marathon. I was 46th in my age group coming off the bike.




In T2 I stripped off the arm warmers and bike jersey. I also left a running shirt in the bag instead of putting it on...I would regret not putting something on, and taking off the arm warmers out on the course. The temperature was in the low 60's and the wind was really whipping off of the lake. I ran out onto the course and felt pretty good. After getting my Garmin GPS to reset about 1/2 mile down the road, I saw that I was running 7:40 miles...yikes, too fast I thought. My heart rate was low and it felt comfortable, but I figured I would pay a very high price later in the run if I kept up this effort...so I backed it down.

The first loop was a bit cold, but I felt pretty solid. The last 13 miles is where you have to really "man up" and try not to fade too bad. The temperature had dropped and the wind was really strong off the lake on the second loop. My nutrition and hydration were still good, and I didn't have any stomach issues. I was hurting pretty good, but still doing the "Ironman shuffle" pretty well. I got to the turn around point on the second lap, and walked the hill. I figured it wouldn't be much faster "running" up it, and I caught everyone who passed me going back down. There were about 4 miles to go and I ended up picking it up and progressively running faster each mile. I passed a fair amount of people, even a few in my age group.

All I could think about was getting to the finish and putting on some warm clothes and eating the pizza that is always offered at the end of an Ironman...did I already say I was freakin' freezing! Tons of people had grabbed those aluminum foil type blankets and were wearing them to stay warm. I was also craving prentzels...and they had huge boxes of them. I would run by and scoop up a handful as they flew everywhere...I had maybe 30-50 in my hand with each grab, but for some reason only 2-3 made it in my mouth each time! My body wasn't working that well anymore.

Well, I "sprinted" down the last mile and finished in 10:42. A long ways from where I wanted, but not a total blow out...I had one of those in Arizona last year! I finished running, and pretty much ran the whole way...so I'm happy for that. My marathon time was 3:49. And once again, in retrospect, I should have went faster in the beginning while I still could. And as Shawn says, everyone fades towards the end of these things, you just try to fade less. I ended up 227th overall and 42nd out of 444. Being top 10% overall and in my age group is nice, but my goal was to be in the top 1-3% in my age group...so I was pretty far off.

I raced scared, and for me to do well I had to race on the edge...just on the thin line of either going fast, or not being able to finish. I raced conservative, and that's where the chips fell. Shawn Burke was 1 place behind a guy named Tarkington when he did the race 2 years ago...funny thing, I was 1 place behind the exact same guy in my age group this year! Strange stuff.

Luckily, it only started raining on me with less than a mile to go! I was shaking so bad that I ended up dropping my pizza...but still downed 4 pieces of pepperoni and a whole row of cookies in short order. I then shivered over to the massage tent and the big heater inside.

First lap...

Second lap...can you tell the difference...

Finish...ugly pictures!


On Monday we went to the most famous burger joint in Coeur d'Alene, Hudson's...in business for 100 years! If you want fries and a milkshake with your burger...forget about it...they ONLY sell burgers and pie! Right before they hand you the burger, they dip the bun on the grill to add that extra "burger flavor". I had a double with cheese! The place is small, and we waited in line...and they were busy non-stop. I'm not sure if the burger was really good, or if I was just that hungry, either way it tasted great at the time!

Thanks to everyone for their support and well wishes...it's a very long journey, and a very emotionally and physically taxing day. I just got done reading another of my "Must Read" books, "Running With the Buffaloes" by Chris Lear. It follows a year with the Colorado University men's cross country team. A year that would see one of them win the NCAA cross country title, and another lose his life.

At the end their coach says something which can be applied to any of the tough endurance sports. It could be running, cycling, or triathlon's and it would still ring true.

"In football, you might get your bell rung, but you go in with the expectation that you might get hurt, and you hope to win and come out unscathed. As a distance runner, you know you're going to get your bell rung. Distance runners are experts at pain, discomfort, and fear. You're not coming away feeling good. It's not a strategy. It's just a callusing of the mind and body to deal with discomfort. Any serious runner bounces back. That's the nature of their game. Taking pain." -Mark Wetmore

Ironman distance races, and especially the training, helps you learn a great deal about yourself. You "major" in pain management, time optimization, injury abatement, mental toughness, and most importantly...humility.

I'll post pictures as I find more.

It's Miller time!
Sween

5 minutes to the start...

He stands on the beach squishing the wet sand between his toes. It's a brisk morning and the water feels like the temperature of iced tea on a hot day. The hope is that he'll warm up quickly, and the wetsuit will do it's job and preserve his core temperature during the next hour or so.

There are a couple thousand other people waiting with him on the beach. The sun has just tip-toed above the horizon and the sky is painted a pale blue with a sliver of orange poking above the tree's across the lake. Music is playing in the background, the last he remembers is U2's Beautiful Day and next up is AC/DC's Thunderstruck...this signifies the start is rapidly approaching.

Thoughts roam through his head like a movie in fast forward, not really images, but feelings that he's felt during the past year. The journey has been long and painful and the true grade on this test won't be given until over ten hours later.

He thinks about time spent and sacrifices made during the process, and what has been put on hold, cut out, or ignored just to complete the plan. The words, "To achieve great results, one must withstand great sacrifice" surely don't ring truer than put into the context of this event, or as some view it, religion. He remembers the times waking before 5 am to get in that days prescribed activity. Much of the plan had to be carried out early in the morning or during the evening, when friends and "normal" folks were winding down the day with a cold beer and TV show. This was not a pure hobby which was to be taken lightly, but a way of life or pseudo-religion that frowned upon caloric excess and late sleeping heathens. Weekends were not for sleeping in, lunches were not for eating, and holiday's were not set aside for relaxation and gnoshing densely packed caloric goodies...these were times to execute the activities prescribed in the plan. Family time was limited as the test approached. Having an understanding spouse made all the difference.

"About three minutes left..."

Casual weekend breakfast's were replaced by an energy shake and 5-7 hours of training. Lunch would have to wait until "Linner", a meal sometime after 2-3 pm when the daily activity list had been executed. The rest of the day would require rest and an attempt to recover before a similarly hard task was to be presented the following morning...early. Into bed early was the mantra, but falling asleep was not always easy. Sometimes the more tired you were from the plan, the longer it took to fall asleep.

At times he wondered why he was doing this, why put your body through this much pain? He had participated in other sports at a high level, but nothing rivaled the length and pain associated with training for this type of event. Now, he thought, you could train just to finish. Training just to make it through the distance, and not racing it, would reduce the misery by a fair amount...but not totally. What drives someone to do this, wouldn't a "normal" person just quit or take an easier route? Was this the much talked about "road less traveled"? If so, it definately wasn't paved!

At work he chose to minimize and avoid the subject of his events. Coworkers would never be able to comprehend what it took, what he had to go through, the sacrifices made. Most were more concerned about things that didn't interest him. With very small exception, all were people in which he had no interest in sharing his personal saga. Zero common ground.

He chose this event because it was what he considered the longest distance someone could still "race". For him, the definition of race was performing an event involving continual motion, no stopping to sit down and rest. There were events of greater length, but they involved multiple stages where there was downtime between sections. He wasn't really built for this distance, not that many were, so he felt it was over his "limit"...and that was a part of the draw. It sounded so cliche by now, but the words still rang true, "You find out who you are and what your really made of..." while training, and then taking the test.

"One minute, one minute to go..."

He wasn't nervious, he's taken hundreds of test's through the years...the days of butterly's have long passed. Although he was anxious to see if all the work, sacrifice, and pain would be sufficient for a "passing grade". If he passed, was it worth it? To him, there was no other way. Nothing half done...110%...all in. He could be categorized as detail oriented or obsessive compulsive...type "A" personality or obnoxious...focused or self absorbed. All these terms can be viewed in their positive, or corresponding negative connotation...it was all in the receiving parties perspective.

The temperature felt warmer now, maybe due to the tense energy surrounding the final countdown. In his mind, he quickly ran through his mental checklist test steps...and then recounted key portions of the plan to reassure himself mentally that he WAS ready for this test...but was he?

The cannon fires...

BFAST #2 report...Ironman Coeur d'Alene less than 1 week!

This past Saturday was the second Beaches Fine Arts Series Triathlon...this is a sprint triathlon event, so not really suited to the Ironman training I've been doing. My Cervelo P3 and race wheels were on their way to IM CDA without me...so the night before I put some clip on bars on the Trek Madone road bike, borrowed some really fast wheels from Double D, rode it up and down the street then called it good.

The swim was much calmer this time around...but was actually a little long. It's hard to get swim courses exactly the correct length, especially at smaller races. My swim went pretty well, besides having to clear my goggles twice on the way out...I didn't have the straps tight enough as I dolphin dived into the surf. The issue with starting in the second wave, is catching all the slower swimmers from the prior wave. I had to swim over and around guys doing the back stroke, breast stroke, and swimming sideways...jeesh! I think I was second or third out of the water in my wave.

Once on the bike I set out trying to gain back some time. At the turn around, I saw that the top 3-4 guys were all packed up...and "taking advantage of the 7 meter rule"...which is tri-speak for "I was drafting...but didn't get caught". For some reason I went faster than last month by a few seconds, even on a road bike with clip on bars that I hadn't ridden in forever. The top 3-4 guys all went over 1 min faster...hmmm, wonder why :-)

As I was rolling into the T2 I saw several guys leaving, and one of them was Justin Jacobs. He's won several of these sprint series triathlons in the past, and is a 15 min 5k runner...so I knew this would be a problem. Well, he put a bunch of time into me on the run and I ended up 2nd overall by 31 seconds...ouch. Always the "brides maid"...and never the "bride". My run at the shorter distance is pretty slow right now considering my Ironman training...so, maybe with a little more speed work...who knows? Next time.

Here are the results from BFAST #2.

I leave on Wednesday for Coeur d'Alene. It looks like race day temperature could either be high 80's or mid-low 70's and raining...we'll see as it gets closer. The low temperature has been in the low 50's, and the water is in the high 50's...kind of chilly for a Florida boy!

Sween

Back into the belly of the beast...

On June 21st I'll compete in my second full Ironman event. This one is in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho...and features a much harder course than the one in Arizona.

This swim is a beach start as apposed to the deep water start in Arizona. Deep water starts are normally less chaotic since you are already treading water when the gun goes off. Beach starts are comprised of 2100+ people running into the water all at the same time...and then battling it out on the way to the buoy line. If you've ever witnessed an Ironman mass swim start, then you know the physical contact associated with this portion of the event. The key is to attempt to protect your head from getting kicked, punched, clawed, or mauled in every way imaginable...a broken nose or fractured eye socket can really slow down the rest of your day :-) The good news is that it's a two loop swim course, so if someone gets rough with you in the water...just wait until you get out after the first loop, snatch his goggles, and through them way up into the crowd :-)

Next is the bike, and this is also a two loop affair. I chose this Ironman because the bike course is a hard one...so it will hopefully take it's toll on all the fast runners! I've viewed the course video while riding my Computrainer, and it has several beautiful sections along a couple lakes.

Once done with the bike it's onto the...yes, you guessed it...TWO loop run course. These are mentally tough, since you come back towards the finish line...and then are only halfway done! It also looks like it will have a beautiful view as you run along the banks of lake Coeur d'Alene.

This time around I have more experience with pacing an event of this length, know a bit more about nutrition, and have another year of training under my belt. I've had a few injury issues, and that has put me a bit behind where I would have liked...but, I think (and hope) I can have a much better performance than in Arizona.

I'm not sure of my internet access once I get onsite, but will post as often as I can. I'll also post updates via Twitter & Facebook, which will carry over to the right hand site of this blog...I can do this from my iPhone.

If you want to follow on race day, here is the link (my bib number is 1063).


This coming weekend I'm planning on doing the second Beaches Fine Arts Series sprint triathlon on Saturday, so I'll try to update once that is complete.

I fly out this coming Wednesday, my bike is already on it's way...and now I have a bunch more packing to do...so, I need to get to it!

Sween

A BUNCH of St. Croix pictures & video's...

Jennifer and I at a sugar mill on the Buccaneer property:

A rainbow we saw while eating breakfast:

Jennifer running on part of the course through the Buccaneer:

Pictures from our snorkeling trip:

Miscellaneous pictures from the St. Croix:

Snorkeling video's: