Ironman Coeur d'Alene Race Report

A bit over a year ago, a friend asked if I wanted to join him in Idaho for Ironman Coeur d'Alene (CDA).  He was having second thoughts and by the time I had signed up the day registration opened, he had decided not to make the trip so I was on my own.  This would be my fourth full iron distance triathlon but the first time I would be going alone without any friends nor family.

I originally had hotel reservations at a La Quinta about a mile from transition in a suite that included a full kitchen.  I had also planned on going a few days early and visiting Glacier National Park.  However, the weather at Glacier in the weeks leading up to the race had been cold and snow-filled.  That meant many of the trails would be closed as well as putting the Going to the Sun road in jeopardy so I decided to save that visit for another time.

In the meantime, I had hooked up with a fellow on the CDA Facebook group to share my room.  We were then able to hook up with some other people in a killer house about 5 miles from the race start/finish for about half the price.  So with lodging sorted, we made our way out to CDA for the big weekend.

I arrived on Thursday evening and after checking out our house and grabbing a bite with my housemate Craig, we settled into our house but then my trouble began.  I wasn't feeling great in the couple days before Thursday but it hit my hard after dinner. A serious migraine-type headache and a bit of vomiting so on Friday I started sipping on some Pedialyte to restore my fluids.  I hoped it was just a bug but wouldn't know until Sunday what race day would bring.

Friday morning, we headed to get checked in and pick up our bikes from Tri Bike Transport.  I can't say enough about how great TBT was in handing my bike and gear bag.  I dropped the bike and bag off at a local bike shop instead of taking the bike apart and having to reassemble it in Idaho.

Once we got our swag, wristbands and all that, we did a little shopping at the Ironman store where I picked up a water bottle, and t-shirt with all the athletes names on the back.  A funny moment happened while shopping as they had the actual finisher's medal displayed.  Craig touched it so as a hockey fan, we made fun of him all weekend for essentially touching the Stanley Cup and jinxing himself.

We then went for a practice swim in what was forecast to be a very cold Lake Coeur d'Alene.  It was cold, not unbearable but a little choppy.  After changing into bike gear, we tested our bikes on the first seven miles of the bike course.  The bike course goes seven miles one way away from town, back to town, then out twenty the other way, back to town, and is repeated twice.  Took it nice and easy and felt good if that was the kind of terrain we would be facing on Sunday.  Ironman CDA tried something a little different for your welcome meal in that they gave you $25 to spend at one of several local restaurants.  We ended up at an asian place and enjoyed some egg rolls, sushi, and other asian fare.  I really liked this idea as it gave you a lot more choices.

After getting cleaned up we headed back to the expo for the athlete welcome celebration.   We saw the standard inspirational videos and such, and heard form several local politicians. 

As part of this ceremony, Mike Reilly, the "voice of Ironman" typically goes through a biggest loser celebration.  Things like, if you've lost 40 pounds training for Ironman, stand up, keep standing if you've lost 50, etc.  I ended up on stage with four other guys, but the biggest loser was at 100 pounds lost.  That kind of stuff is really inspiring but I never thought I'd end up on stage as one of the top five!

Saturday was a pretty relaxing day.  We attended an athlete briefing, Craig went for another swim, and we checked our bikes and gear bags in as required.  One neat thing that happened Saturday and throughout the weekend was Craig's appreciation of having me around and keeping him calm during his first Ironman weekend.  That really surprised me as I'm usually wound pretty tight but unless you're trying to qualify for Kona, it really is just a really long training day so why get too worked up?

Race morning was a lot different than the Louisville Ironman.  Since you're not lining up for a swim spot, you are in no rush to get to and through transition.  We woke up about 4, had a couple eggs, bananas, and such and made our way down there.  I pumped up my bike tires, loaded up nutrition and hydration and heading into the transition tent to get my wetsuit, booties, etc. ready for the swim.   While doing that, I ran into what looked like a really familiar face. I couldn't place it but thought he was famous for something.  More on this guy later.

We headed down to the water and immediately noticed the wind and chop in the lake.  We found out later we were dealing with three foot swells/waves.  CDA is one of the events that utilizes Ironman's "SwimSmart" initiative where you line up based on your expected swim times and they let you in the water in smaller groups instead of the giant mass start that's usually very rough and filled with flailing arms and such.

As I found my place, I had my Garmin's heart rate functionality turned on and if I needed any evidence of my new found calm over Ironman, I looked down to see my HR at 44.  Yes, you read that correctly.

Swim was a little rough, quite choppy, and I'm not sure if it was some level of sea sickness or the bug I had been fighting, but ended up vomiting three times in the water during my 1:34 minute swim.  The most disheartening part was on the second lap, approaching the first turn, and seeing the buoy floating away in the wind and waves.  At the same time, the swells were large enough that it was almost impossible to see.  Given those conditions, the vomiting, and matching my Ironman Louisville 2013 swim was pretty awesome.  I was also one of the few who's second lap was faster than the first, even though conditions were worsening as we passed eight AM local time.

Had a pretty crap transition to the bike, but with taking off so much gear and trying to change tri kits while being wet, I wasn't really too upset.  The temperature was a bit warmer than we expected so decided to head out in my normal Landsharks tri kit.

First seven miles out was uneventful but as we turned back toward town, the wind really kicked up.  Found out later than the wind was a sustained 17-20 mph with up to 30 mph gusts.  Coupled with that, the twenty miles away from town were effectively uphill.  It was pretty much torture.  The only saving grace was I knew exactly how far I had to go on lap two before I got to head back with a nice tail wind.  The four trips through town, however, were awesome.  The local support was great! Tons of people, tons of clapping and cheering.  My 2013 Ironman Louisville bike was 6:24 and I was hoping for maybe a 6:40 in CDA.  But the wind turned that into a 7:08.  That included a 4-5 minute special needs stop/bathroom break as I knew this wasn't going to be a PR kind of day.  But I wasn't alone.  Pretty much everyone I came across was moaning about the terrible bike times and the locals had said they don't remember, in twelve years, this race having such a rough swim and high winds.

T2 was uneventful, as I changed into my running shorts, bright orange Landsharks shirt, and Blazeman Foundation for ALS visor.  Stuck to a pretty regular walk/run pattern, while trying to keep all miles in the 12:xx range.  I think 22 of the 26 miles were in the twelves and the four that weren't were the hills that you went up on each lap.  We crossed a hill, went down a bit and went back up after we turned for a total of four decent hills.  One new feature of Ironman was the availability of Red Bull on the run course.  I wasn't sure how much I should use it so decided to get a 4-5 oz serving every 5 miles on the run.  When I hit the turnaround for the last time, I came across the gentleman above.  I wasn't sure how to ask so I went with, "You look familiar, are you famous?"  Turns out he's an actor named Kevin Linehan and does a lot of supporting/commercial work so you've probably seen him on TV.  We ran together for a couple miles and he's a regular Ironman racer.  He said he hopes to score an NBC show in the future so they can feature him at Kona.  Quite a nice guy.

The part of the run through town was great.  Lots of partying and very supportive and friendly spectators.  One house even had shots of Fireball available but there was no way I was doing that even though I saw several athletes take shots!

The finish straight is about .6 miles of barricaded street that is slightly down hill.  Just perfect.  Every bit of that .6 miles has people and as I much as I love the Ironman Louisville finish, this was pretty spectacular too.  Heard Mike Reilly call me an Ironman and dropped for a Blazeman Roll as I finished.  Total for the run was 5:30 and grand total for the day was 14:38.  My 4 iron distance races so far have been 16:07, 14:23, 14:12, and 14:38 but I might be most satisfied with CDA.  Very very tough conditions but those that finished definitely persevered.

Craig and I caught up with each other after the finish and stayed until midnight to enjoy the excitement.  We saw Craig's tri-club pal finish along with one of our housemates.  Great atmosphere.

Craig insisted on being at the Ironman Store the next morning for finisher gear when it opened so we were back up at 6:00 for some shopping and the celebratory breakfast.  We both stuffed our faces after buying some finisher gear. I bought a jacket and visor along with a hoody for Sarah.  We then headed to the airport and parted ways.  I keep saying I'm going "Iron Free" in 2015 but my pal Ken keeps planting seeds....

KDF Marathon Report

My donations have essentially ceased, what's the deal? I'm not asking for millions here! Please give.  ANY amount will do, and I mean ANY!

I’m competing in 2014 as a “Blazeman Warrior.” In 2005, Jon "The Blazeman" Blais raced the big Ironman, in Hawaii, and completed it even while suffering from ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His family started the Blazeman Foundation for ALS. I’m raising money for them and in honor of Jon, I plan on rolling across the finish line in Coeur d’Alene just as Jon did when he finished. A famous quote from Jon is, "Even if I have to be rolled across the finish line, I'm finishing," so you often see Blazeman Warriors rolling across Ironman finish lines.

I also lost an Aunt to ALS so this charity is very personal to me. Any help would be appreciated.

An Ironman is 140.6 miles so even if you donated just 10 cents per mile, that would be $14.06. You can donate at the following link:

http://www.active.com/donate/teamblazeman/blazemanJJohnso

The KDF marathon was on Saturday and it had been a challenging training schedule to say the least.  The weather was horrid, like most of the country, over the winter, so that meant a lot of treadmill runs, icy runs, and so on.  But a few weeks ago, I had done a very hilly Run the Bluegrass in 1:56 so I was feeling pretty good.  I followed that up with an 18 mile long run the following weekend and then went into taper mode.

I had tossed around the idea of trying to go for a sub 4 hour marathon.  I had previously done 2 stand alone marathons, both at this same race.  The first was 5:15 and the second was 4:47.  I was very confident I could beat that 4:47 but wasn't sure I could go under 4.  But I figured it was worth a try and I would never know my limit if I didn't go beyond it, right?

I decided to join a pace group along with my friends Scott and Susan.  A 4 hour marathon pace is 9:09/mile.  I set my watch to show me how I was doing in relation to that pace and off we went.  The first couple miles were a bit slow as we dealt with a big crowds but then we got into a groove.  It was a fast pace, but I felt ok as we got closer to Churchill Downs and ran through the track and made the split as the marathon course splits off from the half-marathon course.  I looked at my watch and we were about 50-60 seconds ahead of the 9:09 pace.

The first real challenge is the lower hilly loop of Iroquois Park.  I looked at my watch as we entered the park and I was 58 seconds ahead of the 4 hours pace.  My goal for the loop was to break even at about the same lead exciting the park.  But even though I was personally right on target throughout the park, the pace group left me and got farther and farther ahead.  My pal Scott told me that he stayed with the group and he averaged 8:45/mile in the park, which explains why I couldn't keep up.  I'll admit that it demoralized me.  I don't expect pacers to be perfect but over 3-4 miles that's a loss of a minute or more that I couldn't make up.

I did my best to stay on pace but about mile 19, I just didn't have it in me.   Not that I slowed to say 15 minute miles but was in the 11 minute range for most of the last 8 miles.  I also ran into some psychological games. Once I lost the 4 hour group, with my PR being 4:47, I knew that was in the bag, even if I had to walk a lot, so I lost the will to really push it toward the end.

Final time:  4:17.  A 30 minute PR, but not what I wanted.  I guess that means there's next year?

Oh a good note, I did get a nice treat at the end.  Because I had done both the Run the Bluegrass and KDF races, I completed something called the "Kentucky Classic" and got an extra medal.  It's the one in the middle.

The next event is a half-Ironman in mid-May.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned...

Run the Bluegrass Half Ironman Report

Saturday was the Run the Bluegrass half marathon at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington.  I first did this race last year and was surprised by the amount of climbing we had to do and ended up with a 2:09.  Not my best effort but I thought it was reasonable for the course.  So my only goal this year was to beat that time with no other real expectations.

Friday night was the elite 8 of the NCAA basketball tournament and both my alma maters played late so the games ended a little past midnight.  I figured that would only add to the torture of the race as I would be going on about five and a half hours sleep.  Got up early and several tri club friends headed to Lexington with our new concern being the weather.  We started the drive at about 50 degrees, but by race start, the temperature had dropped a bit and we were dealing with some drizzle.  The radar indicated that we'd be in for certain rain by the end; it was just a matter of time.

I decided to go out with the 2 hour pace group and see how it goes.  Here is a visual of the elevation:

You can see that there is hardly a flat spot on the course.

The pacers went out a bit fast, and our first few miles were:  8:46, 8:57, and 8:52 but I felt good so I was ok with building up a bit of cushion on the two hour mark.  The next few miles were:  9:08, 8:39, 8:50, and 9:02.  Miles eight and nine were both 8:55 and then the rain really started coming down.  At one point, I think we had a bit of sleet to go with the sideways rain and wind.

Mile ten is the hardest mile in the race as you climb something called the "corkscrew," which is just as it sounds.   It was 9:15, but I knew I had 2:09 beat and was in great shape for a sub-2.  I also started wondering what my overall half marathon PR was.  I thought it was somewhere near 1:58, but I wasn't sure.

The last few miles were 8:59, 8:40, and 8:44.  With the wicked rain, wind and cold, I was ready to be done and thank goodness the finish was in sight.  I ended up with a total of 1:56:39, and as it turns out, it was nearly a two minute PR.

My next big race is the KDF Marathon in a few weeks and if I can pull off a 1:56 in those hills, can a four hour marathon be possible?  At this point, I know I can finish it, so I might well go for it, right?

Papa John's 10 Miler

Yesterday was the Papa John's 10 Miler, the 3rd leg in our local Triple Crown of Running.  After a successful Rodes City 10K, in 51:19, my running partner Scott and I decided to give it a good go at coming in under 90 minutes.  Last year, I tried for sub-90 but just missed it, in still a PR, at 1:30:19.  So just like the Rodes, we set our watches for a good pace and went for it.

The race starts out nearly flat, with perhaps a very very slight uphill grade until you reach Iroquois Park where the hills begin.  Then you go back to flat or very slightly downhill until you reach mile nine where there is a bridge then into the football stadium for a finish on the field turf.  So essentially it's about 1/3, flat, 1/3 rolling, 1/4 flat, and then that last hilly mile over the bridge. 

We were going to try to pace ourselves better with our watches set to 8:25 pace, or coming in at 1:25 for the whole thing.  The first 3 miles were: 8:11; 8:11; and 8:30.  Then we headed into the park for the rollers. As we entered the park, we decided to try to "break even," neither gaining or losing any time.  Then we could see how we felt as we headed for the final four miles. 

The in the park miles were: 8:20; 8:20; and 8:27--just perfect for our pacing goal and successfully breaking even.  That left us with four miles and a nice cushion. 

Miles seven through nine were: 8:06; 8:23; and 8:22.  With our goal pace being 8:25, we knew we had it, even with the mile over the bridge still in our way.  The final mile was 8:34, for a grand total of 1:24:33, or a PR by nearly six minutes. 

One thing I've noticed as I've gotten faster over the last couple years, is that my HR data shows that my aerobic health has finally started to sync with my legs. In the past, I've found that my legs are moving about as fast as I can go but my HR was very low.  I guess that's good in a way, as it shows my aerobic fitness.  But now that I'm able to push my legs a lot harder, my HR isn't staying so low.

Saturday is a half-marathon I did last year.  It's very hilly so not expecting a PR, but I am expecting to best my time from last year. 

Rodes City Run 10K Report

Saturday was the Rodes City Run 10K, the second leg in Louisville's annual triple crown of running.  I had wrestled with the idea of chasing a PR, but with a marathon looming and of course Ironman CDA in June, I wasn't sure if I should go for it.  After consulting my PR spreadsheet, I was going to need about an 8:40/mile pace to have a secure shot at a PR.  Since this wasn't much faster than I've been running over shorter distances anyway and a pretty flat course, I decided to go for it.  I figured the worst that would happen is I wasn't feeling it, and I could take it easy if need be.

The weather was nearly perfect, about 40F or so with hardly any wind.  I paired up with my pal Scott, I set my Garmin to my goal pace, and off we went. 

(From the event, a double shirt and a little breeze made me look like a total fatty haha)

The first mile was flat or even slightly downhill, and we knocked it out in 8:25.  A little fast but felt good.  Mile 2 is slightly uphill and we were still cruising:  another 8:25.  Scott said it's the fastest he'd ever run that little uphill section.  Mile 3 had the last and the biggest of the hills, but even faster, 8:09!

As Scott said, we know we had plenty of time "banked" so it was just a matter of holding a good pace until the end.  Miles 4-6 were 8:20, 8:07, and 7:50.  We were flying.  Now it was just hanging on for the last stretch, knowing we had a PR secured.  Off we went!  We ran the last .2 at a 7:19 pace. 

Final tally was a 51:19 (8:11 pace), a PR by nearly 3 minutes.  I'd always assumed that Scott was faster but it was a PR for him as well.  What a great day.  We finished up by running the course backwards in order to get our long run finished for the week.  Took that 6 miles nice and easy.

In addition to the 10K, I'm still keeping up with my Ironman training.  Long rides are about 3 hours, long swims about 2500 meters, and of course the long runs are part of marathon training.

I can't end this post without a charity plug.  My donations have essentially ceased, what's the deal? I'm not asking for millions here! Please give.  ANY amount will do, and I mean ANY!

I’m competing in 2014 as a “Blazeman Warrior.” In 2005, Jon "The Blazeman" Blais raced the big Ironman, in Hawaii, and completed it even while suffering from ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His family started the Blazeman Foundation for ALS. I’m raising money for them and in honor of Jon, I plan on rolling across the finish line in Coeur d’Alene just as Jon did when he finished. A famous quote from Jon is, "Even if I have to be rolled across the finish line, I'm finishing," so you often see Blazeman Warriors rolling across Ironman finish lines.

I also lost an Aunt to ALS so this charity is very personal to me. Any help would be appreciated.

An Ironman is 140.6 miles so even if you donated just 10 cents per mile, that would be $14.06. You can donate at the following link:

http://www.active.com/donate/teamblazeman/blazemanJJohnso

Back into the Swing of Things

A couple people have asked about a new blog post and my response has been "not much to write about" and the suggestion was to write about my training.  So here it goes...

In preparing for Ironman Coeur d'Alene, the biggest challenge has been winter training.  I don't mind riding outdoors in the cold, but we've had an unusually harsh winter this year, making for generally icy/snowy road conditions.  Not conducive to riding a tri bike with very narrow tires.

Luckily, within a couple miles of my house, a Planet Fitness opened, with a monthly fee of only $10.  I knew I was going to have to do a fair amount of my training indoors and this was the perfect solution.  I knew riding and running indoors was going to be challenging, mostly because of boredom, but it would allow me to get my training done.  So since about Christmas, I've been doing my riding indoors, and running outdoors when I can, while using the treadmill if conditions dictated.

For example, this morning, due to work tomorrow, I spent 2.5 hours on a stationary bike, followed by a 15 minute dreadmill run.  Not that I'm prepared to spend all my time riding indoors, but I can see the value of doing it, more so than before.  I could keep and eye on power, which I don't normally really pay attention to and there is essentially no coasting.  It's all pedal power all the time.  I've also tried to select hilly built-in programs in order to better mimic the CDA bike course.  I've alleviated the boredom by watching news, listening to music, etc. during the time on the bike and surprisingly the time passes pretty well.

For runs, I've also made a slight change to the training plan for the KDF marathon in April.  I had been following a Hal Higdon plan, but as recently as a couple weeks ago, 3 months out from the marathon, it had me running 16 miles.  That's just too much this early and I could feel burnout already creeping in and I'm still 5 months away from CDA.  So I changed over to a different plan, put together by a tri-club pal, who's also the training leader for a local health company.  His long run mileage seemed a lot more manageable and of course, I found last year that you don't need to run huge distances several times to have a good marathon.  With the new plan, my current weekly long run is about 12 miles, which I can handle.

Finally, for swimming, I'm currently swimming twice a week, with the longest being about 2000 meters and that will ramp up as I get closer to the big day.  I'm still not a fast swimmer by any means, but I find that I'm able to hold about a 1:20 IM pace, which would have me absolutely elated since my IM PR is 1:34.

I can't end this post without a charity plug.  My donations have essentially ceased, what's the deal? I'm not asking for millions here! Please give.  ANY amount will do, and I mean ANY!

I’m competing in 2014 as a “Blazeman Warrior.” In 2005, Jon "The Blazeman" Blais raced the big Ironman, in Hawaii, and completed it even while suffering from ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His family started the Blazeman Foundation for ALS. I’m raising money for them and in honor of Jon, I plan on rolling across the finish line in Coeur d’Alene just as Jon did when he finished. A famous quote from Jon is, "Even if I have to be rolled across the finish line, I'm finishing," so you often see Blazeman Warriors rolling across Ironman finish lines.

I also lost an Aunt to ALS so this charity is very personal to me. Any help would be appreciated.

An Ironman is 140.6 miles so even if you donated just 10 cents per mile, that would be $14.06. You can donate at the following link:

http://www.active.com/donate/teamblazeman/blazemanJJohnso

2014 Race Plan

I don't think I've given a list of the events I'll be doing in 2014, so here it goes...

But before I do that, it's time to plug my 2014 charity:

I wanted to bring some attention to the charity I'm supporting as I ramp up to Ironman Coeur d'Alene in June 2014.  Yes, I'm going to keep asking until I reach my goal of $2500 :)

I’m competing in 2014 as a “Blazeman Warrior.” In 2005, Jon "The Blazeman" Blais raced the big Ironman, in Hawaii, and completed it even while suffering from ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His family started the Blazeman Foundation for ALS. I’m raising money for them and in honor of Jon, I plan on rolling across the finish line in Coeur d’Alene just as Jon did when he finished. A famous quote from Jon is, "Even if I have to be rolled across the finish line, I'm finishing," so you often see Blazeman Warriors rolling across Ironman finish lines.

I also lost an Aunt to ALS so this charity is very personal to me. Any help would be appreciated.

An Ironman is 140.6 miles so even if you donated just 10 cents per mile, that would be $14.06. You can donate at the following link:

http://www.active.com/donate/teamblazeman/blazemanJJohnso

So far I've signed up and paid for four events in 2014.  The first is the Run the Bluegrass half-marathon on March 29th in Lexington, KY, at Keeneland (horse) Race Course.  I struggled on this extremely hilly course last year so I owe this one a beating!

Next is the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon on April 19th.  I've been mainly training for that, but have also started doing some decent distance swims and bikes as I also ramp up toward my fourth Ironman.  It's amazing to think about progress (I know this is a recurring theme in this blog) and no longer being afraid of things like marathons and iron-distance triathlons.  I still respect the distances but I'm no longer afraid of them.  I'm up to running about 11 miles for my long run in marathon prep and those runs have been in the 10:30/mile pace area.  So I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to shoot for a 4:30.   My current marathon PR is 4:47 so it would be a significant improvement.

A nice bonus of doing both the KDF marathon and Run the Bluegrass is a special medal for completing both.  

The third event I've entered is Rev3 Knoxville 70.3, a half-iron distance event in May.  This one will serve entirely as an Ironman prep event.  It will be about 6 weeks before my Ironman and the purpose of Knoxville will be to make sure my nutrition, etc. is in order.  It's also not a flat, PR type course so there is no point in trying to kill myself in the name of a PR when it's meant to be a practice run.  Some might say you should race every race regardless, but I'll be using it as described.

Finally, as you all know from reading this blog, I've signed up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene on June 29th.  This will be my 4th go at the iron distance and I'm looking forward to trying for a PR.  Yes, it's hilly, very similar to Ironman Louisville, but it should also be significantly cooler so that might set up well for a PR.  More on that later.

There are other events between now and CDA that I'm considering, include some of the winter triathlons locally, depending on the weather, and possibly a race or two of the triple crown of running. I also hope to participate in the Bourbon Chase again in October. 

That also begs another question.  After IM CDA in June, what else should I do in 2014? Another half-Ironman? A fall marathon?  What do you think?