Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2010 Race Report: Race Day!!

I woke up at 4:00 A.M. My mom was already up brewing the coffee...bless her. I was not ready to get up, I actually slept great, contrary to popular opinion.

I drank a mug of coffee, had some hot cereal and milk...I calculated my breakfast at around 600 calories. I really wanted to make sure I got it in. Sipped Infinit through the morning.

Our minivan was full with my firstborn, parents, brothers, Eric and myself. Eric's parents kept the other kids in their RV for the night which was closer to the race. When we all get together, it's hilarious, so I listened to the banter and laughed a lot on the way to the race.

Eric dropped all of us off while he went to find a parking spot. I got body marked, piled my bike with nutrition, dropped off Special Needs bags, stood in the potty line, watched the pro start, donned the wetsuit. I wanted to get in the water for a bit of a warm up. I had done a short swim in Hayden Lake earlier, but had not yet stepped foot in Cd'A Lake. It was a beautiful clear morning, water was pretty calm compared to what I had heard about previous years...learned later that the temperature was only 51 degrees...10 degrees colder than my home reservoir. I got in, did a little out and back and kind of freaked out...just a little one. I came back to my family and told them I was going to hang back and take the swim slow.

The Swim

I realized that if I went to the outside, I would be swimming a lot farther than necessary, so I found a spot smack dab in the middle. Everyone else around me looked just as freaked as me, so I figured I was in a good place. We nervously chatted and laughed. I suggested we all make a pact to be gentle and not swim over one another. The girl behind me was totally good with that, she said, as long as she could draft off me...totally fine!

The cannon went off and immediately the calm came. I walked to the water, saw an opening and started swimming. I took it easy...couldn't really go crazy...we were all touching. I swam much of the first length with my head up. There was a lot of contact but nothing scary or damaging. My breathing was under control, I tried to sight, but it didn't really matter...I was just being carried along. We all converged on the red turn buoy and everything came to screaming halt. Basically everyone showed up at the same location, at the same time, and all many of us could do was tread water and be carried along. It was interesting, but I kept my wits about me.

The return to the shore was rather uneventful...still lots of contact, but it started to become fun. I exited the water, heard 36 minutes...better than I expected. We were corralled on the sand, to the next lap. I commented to a guy next to me that I didn't want to do that again (as far as the craziness), so I took it wide and swam on the outside the next lap. I think I went too far out, because it took some time to make it back to the turn buoy. Anyways, I took it tighter on the turn and last stretch in for the finish.

T1:

Exited the water, felt a little woozy from the water. Went to the wetsuit strippers, had it peeled off in no time, grabbed swim to bike bag, went to change tent. I took everything intentionally, didn't really race through. I knew I had a long day ahead of me and the last thing I wanted was to forget something essential. I nibbled a Power Bar while my volunteer helped me get everything on. I wore my bike shorts and a tri top and sports bra under my wetsuit. I meant to take off the tri top, but learned later, that I forgot. I donned my Blue Sky bike jersey, put on my socks and shoes, found my Garmin but forgot my chest strap. So much for knowing my heart rate. Oh well. I kind of expected something like that to happen. Got sunscreen on, drank a cup of water, grabbed my bike and got going.

I saw my family right away and made sure to smile lots through town. I felt good, kept my HR under control, went out for the first dog leg. My nutrition goals were to drink Infinit every 15 minutes, consuming one bottle per hour; eat a banana when I could get it in; PBJ at mile 60 or so; Powergel at 20, 40, 60, 80, 100; and lots of water. I felt great, just took it easy on the hills. My coach said I could ride in zone 3 and power up the hills into zone 4. I KNOW I wasn't in zone 3 very much. I think I mostly rode in zones 1 and 2. For my first IM...I really wanted to finish up strong. I didn't want to leave it all on the bike and "make it" through the run. So, I held back on the bike...probably too much...but it's my least confident sport...so, you know.

The course was very hilly and it started to get hot. I just spun up the hills and tried to aero as much as possible on the downhill sections. It was rather tricky because of the bends and hairpin turns, where, for me, it's not safe to ride aero. I did the best I could while being careful. Everyone around me was cautious, too, so that made it easier.

I tried to be diligent about my nutrition, knowing this could make or break a day. I had to stop and go potty about 4 times, took off my tri top, stopped at special needs to reload my bottles, chain fell off around mile 40, made sure to be courteous and kind to the volunteers, and did my best to set myself up for a good run...that being my main goal.

Another main goal of mine was to not allow any self-defeating talk, the bike being the main place for this in my training. Whenever I started to "go there", I started thinking of my verse ("I can do all things through him who gives me strength"), or I ate something, or said an encouraging word to a passerby. I did my best to keep a smile plastered on my face at ALL times!

I got passed A LOT on the bike...had no idea about time because my GPS was turned off and I just didn't really want to know. I knew it was going to be longer than 7 hours, which I was really hoping for sub 7, but whatever. At this point, those ideas don't stick.

T2:

Finished the bike with a smile and a joke with my bike catcher. Grabbed what I needed from my bike (my trusty salt tabs and Advil), and headed to T2. The first few steps were interesting, but I had been warned about that. I knew my legs would come back. Changed my shorts, put on a skirt and cute pink top, added a hat, found my chest strap (in the wrong bag), put on my socks and shoes, reloaded the sunscreen, ate a gel, had water, went potty, and I was off.


The Run:

I saw my family again right away (wonderful!), gave my eldest a hug, lots of smiles. My legs felt great! My coach was adamant about staying in low-mid zone 2, so I just got my legs moving and kept it low. I don't think I could have done much more than that anyway, to be honest. My feet were present, which was a surprise. My nutrition goal here was to eat a Powergel every 4 miles, drink coke/gatorade at every other mile. I knew that all I had to do now was take it one mile at a time. I just ran from one food station to the next. I walked each aid station, haven't mastered the running and eating thing. I started with coke and it made me have stomach cramps, so I stuck to Gatorade and took in some chicken broth later.

The first 13 miles was pretty uneventful. There's a nice hill at the turnaround that I walked part of, then realized I had enough juice to run. I kept my pace even, tried to spot people I knew, encouraged where I could, smiled lots, said "thank you". I just ticked the miles off. I had no idea of time, so I went on HR and feel.

I saw my family around mile 14 and Eric ran with me for a bit. He said I had a strong swim, lost about 400 places on the bike and had already made them up on the run. He said to keep running because I could pick off a ton of people, who were just walking. I guess I really did pick it up, because apparently miles 14-21 I ran a little over a 9 minute mile. Amazing! At this point I started counting the people I was passing. I counted 150 between 14 and 24 or so. That was a good feeling. I stuck to my nutrition, did the hill, walked the stations and knew it was in the bag, while being respectful and knowing anything could change.

I started to get teary eyed around mile 24, chatted with a guy from Canada for mile 25, at mile 26 I made the turn, saw the downhill, the lights, the crowds, heard the voices and the cheering and knew I had it! I was an IRONMAN! I saw my family...smiled, cheered, raised my hands and finished strong!

Received a medal, tee shirt and hat! What an incredible day!


Total Time: 13:36
Overall Place: 1236/2090 (?)
Swim: 1:23
T1: 11:57
Bike: 7:11, 15.6 mph
T2: 9:19
Run: 4:34, 10:28/mile