Ironman Coeur d’Alene Race Report

4:45am – Rise and Shine

After going to bed at 8:15pm the prior night I’m wide awake at 4:30am and don’t need my alarm to tell me that it’s time to get up and get moving. I toss back a bowl of organic Washington-grown granola (when in Rome) and a banana and am ready to head to the race start with my top-notch support crew Janice and Lyndsey in tow.

5:30am – The Calm Before the Storm

The start area is buzzing with activity, yet I manage to get body-marked, check my transition bags, pump up my tires and make a last minute trip to the rest room in short order.

Much like in Penticton, I scouted a secret rest room location (hint – it’s in the conference centre at the Coeur d’Alene Resort) the day before and was very happy to have a clean, empty rest room waiting for me rather than a smelly port-a potty. It really is the little things that make me happy on race morning...




7:00am – Lets get it Started

The starter’s cannon goes off and 2,200 people hit the water. Unlike Ironman Canada, where you swim nearly 1,800 meters before turning, the first turn on the Ironman Coeur d’Alene swim is only ~800 meters away. This turns out to be a very short distance given the fact that 2,000+ hopped up, type “A” triathletes are all heading for the exact same location at the exact same time. To say that things get a little rough is an understatement.

The swim is the toughest that I’ve ever experienced and I struggle to find my rhythm amongst the teeming mass of flailing arms and legs. Not only am I faced with the normal elbows to the ribs, punches to the lower body and kicks to the face (one lands right on the bridge of my nose, knocking my goggles askew), but I am also struggling against the strong winds blowing across the lake and whipping up some serious stroke-killing waves.

All in all, the swim is a massive battle, but I manage to survive and get through it without burning too much precious energy.

Swim time: 1:10:10
Overall position after swim: 426
Age group position after swim: 74

T1: 3:46

8:14am – Lets Roll

The blowing wind and rolling, two-loop course make for an interesting ride. Due to my slow swim time I spend the first hour of my ride passing what feels like hundreds of riders. By the hills in Hayden (about 25 miles in) things have thinned and I find myself finally riding with a relatively small group of athletes all going more or less the same pace. The pass/be-passed game keeps my mind occupied for a while and allows me to focus on executing my race strategy of soft-peddling up the hills, powering down the hills and staying as aero as possible on the flats. During the pass/re-pass phase I am impressed with the fact that pretty much all of the riders are making efforts to ride clean and that there is very little drafting going on. This makes me very happy and keeps me from getting too worked up and wasting precious energy yelling at my fellow competitors – always a good thing!

By the start of the second loop I am more or less riding alone, ticking away the miles as I try very hard to “focus on the now” and now worry about the run, or work or anything else that threatens to break my concentration. I also think a lot about my grandma, and the powerful reminder of how lucky I am to have the health, time and resources to compete in a sport that I love. These things are all too easy to forget in the middle of a 10 hour day...

Bike time: 5:19:20
People passed on the bike: 308
Overall position after bike: 118
Age group position after bike: 23

T2: 1:23

1:34pm – The Real Race Begins

Glancing at the clock as I leave transition I realize that I’ve made up all the time I lost on the swim and that I still have a reasonable shot at a sub-10. The first half of the run flies by as the flat terrain and overcast sky counteract the fierce wind coming off the lake and make for some quick conditions. Similar to the beginning of the bike, I am passing a number of people, improving my position as I plug along.

At around the 18 mile mark things start to change. My quads, beat up from the rolling bike course, are screaming at me to stop and I can barely get moving again after walking the aide stations. To make matters worse I start to experience tunnel vision and light headedness. Not only is my body protesting, but now my mind seems to have joined in. I dump water on my head at every water station and try to snap out of it, but it doesn’t work. I can tell that I am entering the danger-zone and am not happy about it. The people that I passed in the first half of the run now start to re-pass me and I begin dropping back through the pack. I’m running without a watch or GPS so I have no idea how much my pace has slowed, but I suspect that it’s material.

With two miles to go things get slightly better as I know it will all be over soon. I dig deep and push myself to not walk, unsure if I’m still on pace for a sub-10 or not. I round the final corner and see the finish line – the happiest place on earth. I’m a couple of minutes over my 10 hour goal, but I don’t care, I’m just happy to finally be done.

Run time: 3:28:25
Overall time: 10:03:06
People passed on the run: 33
Overall position after run: 85
Age group position after run: 16

6:00pm – The Aftermath

After the finish I get a massage, throw back a few pieces of dominos pepperoni pizza and meet up with Jared, who had a hell of a race and finished right behind me. I also come to the realization that both my body and my mind have decided to abandon me, as I limp around, unable to figure out such simple tasks as finding the transition area, retrieving my swim gear or picking up my bike. Luckily Janice and Lyndsey are thinking a lot clearer than I, and help me round up everything that I need.

Back at the hotel the girls make a “nutrition run” to McDonalds and the liquor store and I lay in bed trying to pull myself together. Luckily a beer, quarter pounder, large fries and warm shower do the trick and bring me back to life.
Janice, Lyndsey, Jared and I end the night by heading back to the finish line to cheer on the final finishers of the day. Seeing the joy on the faces of the +16 hour finishers is incredibly motivating and provides a great finish to a great day.