Before I even get to the race report, I want to say a few things about Coeur d?Alene. I have never been in a place that epitomizes Ironman spirit like the city of Coeur d?Alene. In the year 2000, CDA?s population was about 34,000 people. 3,500 of those volunteered this year on race day, and I would guess at least 50% of the rest of the town sat in their lawn chairs, stood in their driveways or lined up along the finishing chute late into the evening on Sunday ? clapping, yelling for and encouraging the athletes that had invaded their town. CDA loves Ironman, and considering NA Sports renewed their contract with the city for another five years ? I?d say Ironman loves CDA just as much. It was a tremendous, well organized experience and for anyone who is thinking about racing there, I?d say ? DO IT. Sign up today. Registration is open and it will be one of the most incredible experiences of your life, I guarantee it.
As you may not know, I went to Coeur d?Alene with six of my friends, all of us hoping to come away Ironmen. One for the third time, two for the second, and three for the very first. It was a daunting quest, yet one which we trained for together, prepared for together and undertook as a team. We felt prepared, we were excited, yet we were nervous at the same time.
The night before, Big J (my hubby) made dinner for the kids, my friend, Carrie, and me. We had pasta with a great sauce, chicken for the them and halibut for me. I had a glass of wine and headed to bed around 9:30. I didn?t sleep. Do you ever sleep the night before a race? Luckily, I?d gotten eight hours the night before, and I was feeling pretty good when I got out of bed at 4:15 Sunday morning. One thing that unnerved me a bit was that when I did snooze, I dreamt that I was climbing some of those hills on the course and I kept dropping my chain, then both my front and rear tires flatted and I didn?t have enough tubes. I was actually glad to wake up and realize it had just been a dream.
I ate a banana, got dressed to go and then had an eggo waffle. That?s probably not enough calories going into a full day of working out, but it was about all I could stomach. It wasn?t that I was nervous really, I think I was just anxious to get started. I kissed Big J and Carrie and I left the house right about 5. Big J was going to wake the kids and head down right at the start of the swim. We parked at the rental where the rest of my friends were staying which was located right at the edge of the race site and together we all took our special needs bags over to transition, then went back to the house to wait for the start.
Since one of the team had already been down to body marking, we knew where to place our numbers, and we proceeded to marked eachother up. You could cut the tension in that house with a knife. One person getting ready to race Ironman in the morning is tense. A whole house of Ironmen? Unbelievably nuts.
Pretty soon, it was time to go. We put our wetsuits on and headed down to the start. My group went down to the beach and I waited up top for a little while longer hoping to see Big J, but he was caught behind a huge group of athletes and spectators. We used Carrie?s phone to call him and he told me he loved me and to have a GREAT race. Something in the way he said it made me calm and all of a sudden I knew it was going to be a good day. I gave Carrie a big hug and I was headed down to the water.
Have I mentioned the weather yet? When we arrived in CDA on Wednesday, the water in the lake was pristine. Calm, swimmable, absolutely awesome. Slowly, day by day leading up to Sunday, the wind had begun to pick up. I obsessively checked the weather forecast on both weather.com and accuweather.com. We truly believed that since I was plagued by such terrible wind at IMFL and my friend, Shane, who was also racing had freezing cold rain at IMMoo, that we were destined to have a calm, mild day.
Well, no such luck.
As we stood there on the beach, watching the kayakers try to stay afloat, and the buoys get bounced around by the current, we knew we were in for a tough swim. Suddenly, Mike Reilly announced that the water was ?so bad? that they were giving us the option of skipping the swim and competing in a duathlon instead. Or, if we got through with the first lap of the swim and decided to quit and go on with the bike, we could do that too.
I have to be honest, looking at the water, I thought about it for about half a second. Then I looked at my friend, Krista and said, hey wanna skip the swim? And she started laughing and said, are you kidding? We?d come there to complete to be able to call ourselves IRONMEN. That entails a 2.4 mile swim. We had no choice, we were swimming.
Before we knew it, the pro men were in the water and the horn went off and we were underway. I?ve said before that there is no other experience like the start of an Ironman swim. In most triathlons, the swim is a staggered start which allows people to get out and get some room around them to swim. Ironman? It?s meant to be hard, and all 2300+ of us started together. One huge fishbowl of swinging arms and kicking legs. Add the wind and the water chop to that, and it was one helluva rough ride. The only saving grace was that the wind was blowing toward shore, so once we headed back, if we were lucky, we?d have a little push. But, remember, it?s a two loop course, once you?re back ? you have to head out again!
I got through the first loop in 41 minutes. I got caught behind a bunch of people and just could not get into a rhythm to save my life. As I headed out for the second loop, I knew this one was going to be harder as people were starting to spread out a little and I wasn?t going to be able to use them to fight the chop. It was a tough swim and as I rounded the final buoy to head back, I was never so happy to see land. I sighted on the huge Gatorade float on shore and just swam. I couldn?t think about anything but getting my butt out of that water ? and soon! My second loop was about 43 minutes, giving me just over 1:24 for the swim.
Which was also sixth out of my group. I think I need to work on my swim.
Into transition, off with the wet clothes and on with the bike clothes. I stopped at the port-a-potty (which are affectionately called Honey Buckets in Idaho), grabbed Malibu Barbie (my pink Guru) and we were off.
The bike course is basically a figure eight, with a 10 mile in town loop, then a 46 mile out of town loop. The in town part is pretty flat and allowed me to get my bike legs under me before heading out for all those hills I?d heard about. We?d planned that Big J and the kids would be on the corner of 8th and Lakeside where the bike course passes four times during the ride. It was so great to see them right away. I can?t tell you what a boost it was each time I passed there to know they?d be yelling and screaming and cheering. I was on top of the world!
We headed out of town and onto the hills. Geez, there were some hills! And just when you thought you?d seen the last of them, well ? there was another one and another and another. You go up and down and up and down - for just about 30 miles before you get a slow descent into town to start the second loop. Unfortunately for us, though, the wind was blowing against us on the downhill into town. We had to pedal hard to keep up speed going downhill. Doesn?t that just suck?
My coach had told me to go conservatively on the first loop. She said people tend to go out too hard and fade by the second loop. I thought about her words the whole first loop. Not that I rode slowly, but I tried my best to spin and not push too hard up the hills. By the second loop, I was feeling good. I caught up to one of the girls in my group and we rode close for a little while. Then I went on ahead and met up with another of my group, Ric. We rode most of the hills on the second loop together before I got a huge burst of energy and left him with about five miles to go.
I remember thinking at one point during the bike course. Oh, I should think of something motivational to keep myself going. But then I realized I didn?t need to. I felt great, my heart was full with all the good wishes I had received from all of my friends before the race, and I could feel the vibes of everyone checking on me on Ironmanlive.com as if you were telegraphing strength straight to me ? keeping me going mile after mile. That was my motivation and inspiration on Sunday. There is no feeling in the world like knowing you are loved and cared about, and that is exactly how I felt.
For nutrition - for those of you that are interested, I ate on gu every half hour. I drank a whole bunch of water and some carbo-pro mixed with Gatorade endurance, and that was about it. I'm not real big on solids during a race.
As I headed down Northwest Boulevard toward transition and I suddenly realized that, go figure, living in Arizona, I?d done the right type of training. I?d really wondered. Had our hill work been enough? Did we climb the right type of hills? Would we be prepared? We?d mapped the course on gmap and analyzed the profile six ways from Sunday, but were they comparable to our weekly rides? As I exited the course, I knew, resoundingly, yes. There was nothing on that course harder than that Hummingbird hill I?ve learned to love. And even better than reaching the top of one of those hills after climbing? The down on the other side! Oh.my.God is that a blast!! My total bike time for the 112 was 6:28 and some change.
As I entered transition, I saw my friend, Krista heading out. I?d been trying to catch her on the bike all day ? she?d had about a 10 minute lead on me out of the water and at this point, she was about four or five minutes ahead. She said ? you?ll catch me on the run. I waved her on and headed into T2.
Now those of you that have read my IMFL race report remember that during T2, I brushed and rebraided my hair. This time, when I entered transition, my very helpful volunteered grabbed my bag, opened it for me and dumped it out. I told her I was completely changing (you betcha, I ran in a skirt) and she started helping me get ready. She picks up my brush, throws it back into the bag and says ? oh, you won?t be needing this ? then proceeds to jam my visor onto my head and over my hair that is starting to resemble Medusa at this point. And you know? I didn?t protest. I just did what she told me, got myself dressed, grabbed my fuel belt and headed out.
The first couple of miles were hard! My legs felt good, but it takes me awhile to warm up to the run. You?d think after spending over six hours on my bike, my legs would be warm, but NOPE, not mine. They needed to get ?run warmed up?. I slogged through the first couple of miles before my legs started to feel human again. My plan is always to walk the water stations and at Ironman, and since they have one every mile (hallelujah!), it?s good motivation to run between. Right about mile 5, I met up with Krista. She was running great, but her lungs were giving her some problems. She had her inhaler with her and was in no danger, so we continued on together. At about mile 8, we split up.
As I left her, I felt sad. We?d had a conversation months earlier about the race and at one point after deciding that she?d smoke me on the bike and I?d probably catch her on the run, I?d said ? if I catch you on the run, I?m running in with you ? we?ll finish together.
I thought about that as I left her. I thought about the hours and hours we?ve trained together. I thought about the fact that since she had her IT band surgery three years ago, we ran her longest runs - 14 and 16 and 18 and 20 miles together. I thought about what Ironman means to me. I thought about the fact that I want it to be an experience and that I want it to be FUN and that I do it because I hope it brings out the best in me. I thought about how amazing it has been to train with someone that I really like and how much fun it?s been the past six months.
I thought about this stuff for 10 miles until I reached the last turn around before heading it home and I saw that Krista was not too far back. So I yelled at her, ok, pick it up ? I?m waiting for you. I want to run with you. I slowed it down, she picked it up and we met up just before mile 19.
And we ran it in together. We?d walked a bit, we?d run a bit, then we?d walk the uphills and run the downhills. At around mile 23, another friend, Benny, caught up with us so we chatted and ran/walked with him a bit. We drank chicken broth, we tried the cola, we laughed just a bit and we were silent now and then.
Before I knew it, we could hear Mike Reilly at the finish line. We rounded the corner onto Sherman and our pace picked up as we headed downhill toward the finish. I told Krista ? my kids are running in with me ? go ahead on in!
As we neared the finish, Frankie and Little J came running out to me and we ran into the finish together. It was PERFECT. I ran with my friend and finished with my kids, my husband was there, as was my friend Carrie. I could not have asked for a better ending to such an amazing day. All in all, my marathon time was 5:08.
In the end, this race provded to me that I absolutely love Ironman. In my blog (for those that are interested) I?ve written that it takes sacrifice and hard work and sometimes I wonder if it is all worth it, worth the sacrifices, worth the hard work, worth the months and months that go into preparing for this one day. Sunday proved to me that it was, that it is, indeed worth every sacrifice. Without them, without that effort, without giving it your all - how would you ever know what you are made of?
Me and my friends? We are made of Iron.
As you may not know, I went to Coeur d?Alene with six of my friends, all of us hoping to come away Ironmen. One for the third time, two for the second, and three for the very first. It was a daunting quest, yet one which we trained for together, prepared for together and undertook as a team. We felt prepared, we were excited, yet we were nervous at the same time.
The night before, Big J (my hubby) made dinner for the kids, my friend, Carrie, and me. We had pasta with a great sauce, chicken for the them and halibut for me. I had a glass of wine and headed to bed around 9:30. I didn?t sleep. Do you ever sleep the night before a race? Luckily, I?d gotten eight hours the night before, and I was feeling pretty good when I got out of bed at 4:15 Sunday morning. One thing that unnerved me a bit was that when I did snooze, I dreamt that I was climbing some of those hills on the course and I kept dropping my chain, then both my front and rear tires flatted and I didn?t have enough tubes. I was actually glad to wake up and realize it had just been a dream.
I ate a banana, got dressed to go and then had an eggo waffle. That?s probably not enough calories going into a full day of working out, but it was about all I could stomach. It wasn?t that I was nervous really, I think I was just anxious to get started. I kissed Big J and Carrie and I left the house right about 5. Big J was going to wake the kids and head down right at the start of the swim. We parked at the rental where the rest of my friends were staying which was located right at the edge of the race site and together we all took our special needs bags over to transition, then went back to the house to wait for the start.
Since one of the team had already been down to body marking, we knew where to place our numbers, and we proceeded to marked eachother up. You could cut the tension in that house with a knife. One person getting ready to race Ironman in the morning is tense. A whole house of Ironmen? Unbelievably nuts.
Pretty soon, it was time to go. We put our wetsuits on and headed down to the start. My group went down to the beach and I waited up top for a little while longer hoping to see Big J, but he was caught behind a huge group of athletes and spectators. We used Carrie?s phone to call him and he told me he loved me and to have a GREAT race. Something in the way he said it made me calm and all of a sudden I knew it was going to be a good day. I gave Carrie a big hug and I was headed down to the water.
Have I mentioned the weather yet? When we arrived in CDA on Wednesday, the water in the lake was pristine. Calm, swimmable, absolutely awesome. Slowly, day by day leading up to Sunday, the wind had begun to pick up. I obsessively checked the weather forecast on both weather.com and accuweather.com. We truly believed that since I was plagued by such terrible wind at IMFL and my friend, Shane, who was also racing had freezing cold rain at IMMoo, that we were destined to have a calm, mild day.
Well, no such luck.
As we stood there on the beach, watching the kayakers try to stay afloat, and the buoys get bounced around by the current, we knew we were in for a tough swim. Suddenly, Mike Reilly announced that the water was ?so bad? that they were giving us the option of skipping the swim and competing in a duathlon instead. Or, if we got through with the first lap of the swim and decided to quit and go on with the bike, we could do that too.
I have to be honest, looking at the water, I thought about it for about half a second. Then I looked at my friend, Krista and said, hey wanna skip the swim? And she started laughing and said, are you kidding? We?d come there to complete to be able to call ourselves IRONMEN. That entails a 2.4 mile swim. We had no choice, we were swimming.
Before we knew it, the pro men were in the water and the horn went off and we were underway. I?ve said before that there is no other experience like the start of an Ironman swim. In most triathlons, the swim is a staggered start which allows people to get out and get some room around them to swim. Ironman? It?s meant to be hard, and all 2300+ of us started together. One huge fishbowl of swinging arms and kicking legs. Add the wind and the water chop to that, and it was one helluva rough ride. The only saving grace was that the wind was blowing toward shore, so once we headed back, if we were lucky, we?d have a little push. But, remember, it?s a two loop course, once you?re back ? you have to head out again!
I got through the first loop in 41 minutes. I got caught behind a bunch of people and just could not get into a rhythm to save my life. As I headed out for the second loop, I knew this one was going to be harder as people were starting to spread out a little and I wasn?t going to be able to use them to fight the chop. It was a tough swim and as I rounded the final buoy to head back, I was never so happy to see land. I sighted on the huge Gatorade float on shore and just swam. I couldn?t think about anything but getting my butt out of that water ? and soon! My second loop was about 43 minutes, giving me just over 1:24 for the swim.
Which was also sixth out of my group. I think I need to work on my swim.
Into transition, off with the wet clothes and on with the bike clothes. I stopped at the port-a-potty (which are affectionately called Honey Buckets in Idaho), grabbed Malibu Barbie (my pink Guru) and we were off.
The bike course is basically a figure eight, with a 10 mile in town loop, then a 46 mile out of town loop. The in town part is pretty flat and allowed me to get my bike legs under me before heading out for all those hills I?d heard about. We?d planned that Big J and the kids would be on the corner of 8th and Lakeside where the bike course passes four times during the ride. It was so great to see them right away. I can?t tell you what a boost it was each time I passed there to know they?d be yelling and screaming and cheering. I was on top of the world!
We headed out of town and onto the hills. Geez, there were some hills! And just when you thought you?d seen the last of them, well ? there was another one and another and another. You go up and down and up and down - for just about 30 miles before you get a slow descent into town to start the second loop. Unfortunately for us, though, the wind was blowing against us on the downhill into town. We had to pedal hard to keep up speed going downhill. Doesn?t that just suck?
My coach had told me to go conservatively on the first loop. She said people tend to go out too hard and fade by the second loop. I thought about her words the whole first loop. Not that I rode slowly, but I tried my best to spin and not push too hard up the hills. By the second loop, I was feeling good. I caught up to one of the girls in my group and we rode close for a little while. Then I went on ahead and met up with another of my group, Ric. We rode most of the hills on the second loop together before I got a huge burst of energy and left him with about five miles to go.
I remember thinking at one point during the bike course. Oh, I should think of something motivational to keep myself going. But then I realized I didn?t need to. I felt great, my heart was full with all the good wishes I had received from all of my friends before the race, and I could feel the vibes of everyone checking on me on Ironmanlive.com as if you were telegraphing strength straight to me ? keeping me going mile after mile. That was my motivation and inspiration on Sunday. There is no feeling in the world like knowing you are loved and cared about, and that is exactly how I felt.
For nutrition - for those of you that are interested, I ate on gu every half hour. I drank a whole bunch of water and some carbo-pro mixed with Gatorade endurance, and that was about it. I'm not real big on solids during a race.
As I headed down Northwest Boulevard toward transition and I suddenly realized that, go figure, living in Arizona, I?d done the right type of training. I?d really wondered. Had our hill work been enough? Did we climb the right type of hills? Would we be prepared? We?d mapped the course on gmap and analyzed the profile six ways from Sunday, but were they comparable to our weekly rides? As I exited the course, I knew, resoundingly, yes. There was nothing on that course harder than that Hummingbird hill I?ve learned to love. And even better than reaching the top of one of those hills after climbing? The down on the other side! Oh.my.God is that a blast!! My total bike time for the 112 was 6:28 and some change.
As I entered transition, I saw my friend, Krista heading out. I?d been trying to catch her on the bike all day ? she?d had about a 10 minute lead on me out of the water and at this point, she was about four or five minutes ahead. She said ? you?ll catch me on the run. I waved her on and headed into T2.
Now those of you that have read my IMFL race report remember that during T2, I brushed and rebraided my hair. This time, when I entered transition, my very helpful volunteered grabbed my bag, opened it for me and dumped it out. I told her I was completely changing (you betcha, I ran in a skirt) and she started helping me get ready. She picks up my brush, throws it back into the bag and says ? oh, you won?t be needing this ? then proceeds to jam my visor onto my head and over my hair that is starting to resemble Medusa at this point. And you know? I didn?t protest. I just did what she told me, got myself dressed, grabbed my fuel belt and headed out.
The first couple of miles were hard! My legs felt good, but it takes me awhile to warm up to the run. You?d think after spending over six hours on my bike, my legs would be warm, but NOPE, not mine. They needed to get ?run warmed up?. I slogged through the first couple of miles before my legs started to feel human again. My plan is always to walk the water stations and at Ironman, and since they have one every mile (hallelujah!), it?s good motivation to run between. Right about mile 5, I met up with Krista. She was running great, but her lungs were giving her some problems. She had her inhaler with her and was in no danger, so we continued on together. At about mile 8, we split up.
As I left her, I felt sad. We?d had a conversation months earlier about the race and at one point after deciding that she?d smoke me on the bike and I?d probably catch her on the run, I?d said ? if I catch you on the run, I?m running in with you ? we?ll finish together.
I thought about that as I left her. I thought about the hours and hours we?ve trained together. I thought about the fact that since she had her IT band surgery three years ago, we ran her longest runs - 14 and 16 and 18 and 20 miles together. I thought about what Ironman means to me. I thought about the fact that I want it to be an experience and that I want it to be FUN and that I do it because I hope it brings out the best in me. I thought about how amazing it has been to train with someone that I really like and how much fun it?s been the past six months.
I thought about this stuff for 10 miles until I reached the last turn around before heading it home and I saw that Krista was not too far back. So I yelled at her, ok, pick it up ? I?m waiting for you. I want to run with you. I slowed it down, she picked it up and we met up just before mile 19.
And we ran it in together. We?d walked a bit, we?d run a bit, then we?d walk the uphills and run the downhills. At around mile 23, another friend, Benny, caught up with us so we chatted and ran/walked with him a bit. We drank chicken broth, we tried the cola, we laughed just a bit and we were silent now and then.
Before I knew it, we could hear Mike Reilly at the finish line. We rounded the corner onto Sherman and our pace picked up as we headed downhill toward the finish. I told Krista ? my kids are running in with me ? go ahead on in!
As we neared the finish, Frankie and Little J came running out to me and we ran into the finish together. It was PERFECT. I ran with my friend and finished with my kids, my husband was there, as was my friend Carrie. I could not have asked for a better ending to such an amazing day. All in all, my marathon time was 5:08.
In the end, this race provded to me that I absolutely love Ironman. In my blog (for those that are interested) I?ve written that it takes sacrifice and hard work and sometimes I wonder if it is all worth it, worth the sacrifices, worth the hard work, worth the months and months that go into preparing for this one day. Sunday proved to me that it was, that it is, indeed worth every sacrifice. Without them, without that effort, without giving it your all - how would you ever know what you are made of?
Me and my friends? We are made of Iron.
)
