I put a lot into training and preparing for this race, so I guess that's going to lead me to put a lot (i.e. long-winded) into this race report. Hopefully, though, some people reading this get some pointers for their first Ironman that I learned the hard way. My goal for this race was to get to Kona and this was my first shot at trying to qualify. When I signed up for this race last summer, I thought I would be living in Missoula, MT, but that didn't work out for a few reasons. I found it very difficult to peak for an early season Ironman training through a Wisconsin spring, but I did as much as I could and followed my training plan as closely as possible. I felt confident that my training was sufficient to finish the race in my goal time of 9:45, which would have been a qualifying time in my age for the past three years. After three excruciating weeks of tapering, I was ready to strap up and race.
I got to Coeur d'Alene on Thursday morning and the first thing I did was head to the morning swim. It was about 8:30 when I got in the lake and the water was rough; so rough the swim wasn't any fun. The lake is huge and gets extremely rough whenever there's a south wind over 10 mph. A great preview of race day... I got registered on Thursday and got a short bike and run in to get loosened up from the trip. I went to the morning swim again on Friday and Saturday and the water was much nicer both days, and the temperature was just about perfect at 62 degrees.
Sunday finally came, although it felt like it never would, and I felt rested and ready to go. I woke up a few hours before the race start and had my usual pre-race breakfast, oatmeal and apple sauce with some coffee. A got to the race site about two hours before the start, had a Powerbar and a banana and got my transition area ready.
I got my wetsuit on and headed down to the swim start at about 6:40 hoping to get a couple minute warm-up in, but it was so congested on the sidewalk it took almost 15 minutes to get to the beach. I elbowed my way to the front and just barely got wet before the gun went off. I didn't really have time to notice the 3-4 foot waves on the lake because of the 15 mph south wind. Swimming out was awful. I got about 400 meters into the swim and didn't think I could go any further. I wanted to quit. I actually stopped in the water and started swimming towards a kayak with about 2,400 people trying to swim over the top of me. Finally, I just stopped in the water for about a minute and composed myself. I put my head down, got into a good rhythm and pounded out a decent swim from then on. Not getting a warm-up in and getting mentally prepared was my first rookie mistake. My lap times were about 35 and 31 minutes. My 1:06:50 swim put me a little more than 6 minutes off my goal time, but I have never been so happy to get out of the water. That was the most difficult swim I have ever done.
Both of my transitions were a mess, especially T1. I probably lost about four or five minutes just because of poor transitions, which was another rookie mistake. I didn't really know how the wetsuit stripping worked, what to do with my gear bag once I got it or where I needed to change. I didn't spend enough time in transitions before the race. My wetsuit got stuck because I let one of the strippers start tugging on it instead of just taking it off myself. I opened my gear bag right away and then got yelled (rightfully so) to take everything in the tent to change so I had to pick everything up and stuff it back in my bag, which was ripped. Good times! The transitions were a great learning experience, but I was already at 1:11:00 into the race and even further behind my goal. No worries, though. I always tell myself that I'm going to have the best race I can from this point forward.
I got onto the bike and got into a good rhythm right away. I had heard many times that this course isn't as difficult as IM Wisconsin, so I thought I was in pretty good shape having ridden the entire IMWI course on a training ride. This course is every bit as difficult as IMWI. There are over 6,000 feet of climbing and several tricky, technical descents. My goal for the bike was to average 215 Watts, which I figured would give me a 5:15 bike split. I was hitting my nutrition and goal power for the first lap and most of the second, but the wheels started to come off at about mile 90. I had nothing left going up hills, which were relentless. I saw my average power drop from 216 to 208 when I checked it at mile 100. I decided not to look at that again. I just rode as steady as I could into T2, which was tough because the entire way back was into the wind. My bike split was a disappointing 5:24:00, and after another comical transition, got out on the run on dead legs with a total time of 6:38:00, about 13 minutes off my goal pace. I checked my power meter after the race and my average power dropped from 216 Watts to 196 Watts in the last 22 miles. Another lesson learned; 100 - 110 mile easy rides with a couple harder efforts don't get it done if you're trying to qualify for Kona. The long rides need to be 120 - 140 miles at mostly goal race pace with some extended half Ironman-pace intensity. I fell apart with a lot of biking to do and I'm not letting that happen again.
It was cool and cloudy all day, so the weather was nice for the run. My goal for the run was a 3:20 marathon, but I had my doubts after how my legs felt at the end of the bike. I just told myself to go out and hold my goal pace for as long as possible and see what would happen. Goal pace would put me just under 10 hours and I thought that might be good enough for a roll-down slot. I got my legs moving and actually felt good. I was rattling off one 7:20 mile after another and easily cruised up the big climb at mile 7. I hit the halfway point at about 1:39:00 and was feeling pretty good until right around mile 14 when I felt like I was about to bonk. I started to get dizzy and the next aid station was almost a mile away. I kept my pace to it, but I figured I would be doing a lot of walking during the second half of the run. I finally got to the aid station and downed 3 Gatorades, 3 Cokes, 2 orange slices, and a Powerbar. I walked for a few minutes to let my stomach settle and starting running again, but very slowly.
I started running normally again by mile 15, but thought I was going to be in for a long day. I could only hold about an 8 min/mile pace and my legs hurt like they never have before. I made a deal with myself then, and you have to be pretty crazy to do these in the first place, so that shouldn't be surprising. I told myself that I could walk, but only until I physically was unable to run any longer. Fortunately, or unfortunately, that never happened. I held about an 8 min/mile for the rest of the race and passing all the people that were either walking or stopped was a huge lift. At that point, I knew my spot at Kona would have to wait another year and I hurt badly. I kept going as hard as I could, though, because I asked myself, "What's going to replace your pain after this race?" That was enough motivation. My 8-minute miles felt like track intervals, but coming down that finish chute was an unbelievable feeling. I could see and hear my family yell for me as I finished and I got to ham it up on the jumbo-tron with some Hulkamania poses (yeah, I'm a dork) since there was no one else finishing around me. My run ended up being 3:32, which I was pretty happy with considering I had to stop for 3-4 minutes and felt like I was on the verge of passing out. My overall time was 10:10:32 and I missed the last Hawaii spot for my age group by a little less than 27 minutes. After a lot of lessons learned the hard way, I know I can come up with 27 minutes by next year.
Now that I'm not heading to Kona, my plan for the rest of the season has changed. I'm going to focus on the 70.3 distance and work to build bike endurance when I'm not racing. Here's my revised schedule, which includes four races in four weeks starting next weekend:
Spring Meadow Olympic (Helena, MT)
Spirit of Racine or Door County Half IM
Castle Rock Sprint (Friendship, WI)
Steelhead 70.3
Garden City Olympic (Missoula, MT)
Grand Columbian Half IM (Coulee, WA)
Silverman Half IM or 70.3 World Championship
I really appreciate everyone that has helped me over the last few years in my pursuit of becoming an elite triathlete. The support I've gotten from my family, Redline Triathlon Club, the Sheboygan Masters Swim Group, friends, and co-workers has been amazing. I've gone from no endurance background and not even knowing how to swim, even one lap, to barely missing qualifying for the Ironman World Championship in just a few years. Thank you all.
Keep crankin!
James Fields
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