Ironman Couer d'Alane

Swim: 1:30:54
T1: 0:10:11
Bike: 6:29:03
T2: 0:06:29
Run: 5:20:29
Total: 13:37:06

Always two sides to the story. The one that continues to inspire me with all the stuff that is the Ironman. The great stories like the guy the a year ago weighed 375 and now in a lean 225 and ready to race, the legends of the sport, the incredible athleticism of the winners, the sprit and drive of those that finish late. Maybe I’ve just been marketed to submission but nothing quite gets to me like this event. I tell folks that have never seen one of these events to go and just hang out for a day and experience what I think as the greatest amateur athletic event ever. This race didn’t fail to bring everything that I love about this gig.

The other side of the story of course is that one that says “worst time EVER”! Let’s not dwell on that too much except to say that you really need to train for this. All those hill repeats??? Yea… you really need to do them.

Goals achieved:
Finished, check
Finished and had fun, check
Finished, had fun, and came away in one piece, check
Rubbed elbows with Paula, Heather, and Kate, check
Saw over 800 first timers go after something they used to believe they could never do, check
On the run before the race was won, missed that one.
All those others that have to do with time and division place etc, disappointing but not so much to take away from why I keep spending money and time on this.

I have said this before and folks seem to think it just a little weird. The finish line is just a little anti-climatic. It’s pretty cool to run down the chute with the music blasting, a thousand fans cheering and Mike Reilly touting your IM history and claiming me to be an Ironman. But once you cross that line and being escorted by one of the “catchers” you realize all the stuff you love about this is over. All those long runs, the rides with your peeps, racing with all those other that paid money to suffer. All over and needing to sign up, do it again.

Race Morning:
Up at 4am ate my oatmeal and was at the race by 5:30. Everything went very well. The weather report that was calling for rain now said it would hold off until the afternoon. I was hoping to be off the bike before the rain started. Body marked, bags checked, bike checked and tires pumped. I was ready. The weather was pretty good except it was windy with meant the swim would be a little rough and the bike back into town would be into the wind.

Swim:
On the beach by 6:45. The helicopter was right overhead so we never heard the national anthem and at 6:58 the gun went off and we were off rather unexpectedly. The water was around 65 degrees and was really very nice. Not too crowned, actually was able to really swim. The second buoy turn pretty congested. Exited the water at 0:40 right on my 1:20 goal time. The second lap was a bit rougher and I was getting a bit tired on the home stretch. Something above about actually training for an event like this comes to mind. Back out of the water at 1:30. Yikes where did that extra 10 minutes come from? I really thought the second lap would be fasted as there were less other people around to get in the way.

T1:
Goal was 5 minutes but it was a little chilly and pulling on the arm warmer and a bike jersey and that and the ½ peanut butter and honey sandwich I guess ate up that other 5 min

Bike:
Really nice bike course. Hilly, but not real big hills, just a lot of them. Great pavement. Traffic managed well. A bit technical with some fast descents and tight corners. Pretty fun. I was looking to make for a 19mph average to get me in under 6 hours but could never find/maintain the speed on the hills to make that happen. Something again about that training thing. Being seriously average I found myself in with a lot of other people and needing to really be aware of those around me. A lot of people not quite getting the idea of what it means to ride to the right. I had completed my first Higgins point loop and just heading out of town hen the lead bike was coming back into town. This guy was flyin. Ate pretty good and come off the bike feeling tired but well fed. No flats, no crashes.

T2:
Just like it suppose to go. Change of socks, shoes and hats and off I go.

Run:
10 minute pace would get me in at 4:30. Going pretty well thru six miles but after the hill at the turn around I was a hurtin unit. The remaining run was as Trevor G puts it “I’ll run when I can and walk when I have to” I had to a lot. Saw Jason, Kris, and Lori all three times as we passed. On those remaining miles I must have looked as bad as I felt, Lori asked “are you OK?” She’s so nice. The rain held for a while but by 13 miles I was glad I had that polypro shirt to pull on.

The last ¼ mile all down hill, had the last stretch and the chute to myself. Hi fived as many cheering fans as I could, crossed the line.

Not too bad a day for number eight. Would love to have been able to pull that sub-12 but just wasn’t going to happen.

Clearly I wasn’t as strong as I was in the past. The biggest thing that was different in my training (if that’s what you’ll let me call it) was last time I was in the gym four times a week. Twice for hour spin classes and twice for hour intense core fitness classes. I am absolutely sure these two things, especially the core fitness made a difference. Probably not an hour and a half difference but I really felt aerobically fit but lacked in strength. So that’s would be my lesson learned. General strength and especially core strength fitness.

Again? Probably… Not sighed up yet.