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....