Competing in the 2008 Coeur d’Alene Ironman: Brain Dump of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Day Before

• Met Eric at Mountain View Cyclery in Post Falls.  He was getting new tires and tubes.  Remarkably, every time a new tire was put on it popped at about 120 PSI.  What gives?  Went through replacement tape, tire, still no luck.  Eventually, left the wheel there and went to go check in the bikes (minus one wheel).  Turns out, after putting the tube onto a replacement wheel it still popped.  7 tubes later, it was determined the tubes were faulty.  Interestingly, it would have been okay to check the bike in race morning if it came down to it.  Plus, that would have avoided the rain.
• Took my bike in to get new tires and the bike guru (Jefferson) pointed out that I had significant scraping in the hub.  Arghh!!  How is this possible?  I took it to Wheel Sport East the Monday before and they had checked it out saying that it was all set to go. :) I scrambled to rebuild the hub but Jefferson, at Mountain View Cyclery in Post Falls was absolutely awesome.  He rebuilt my hub, replacing the bearings in no time.  Unfortunately, he didn’t have an replacement spindle so there was still some roughness in the rotation but it was certainly better.  Jefferson is awesome!
• Only purchased a rear tire, $70, and pumped it to 140 psi – a lot higher than anything I had in training.  Front tire was 120 psi.
• Don’t worry about not turning in your bags the day before if it is a problem.  You can easily bring them the day of as long as you come early enough.  I had some gear (my family was decorating my shirt) that wasn’t quite ready and it was frustrating having only most but not all because it meant incomplete lists.  I prefer just having all the swim to bike gear, etc, in one place.
• Have a check list.  This was great.  I made it a week or more before and it was a huge help.
• Had only one Endurance Gatorade bottle but this turned out not to be a problem.  My aero bottle was plenty big enough for enough liquid between approximately 10 mile food stations.
• Wow, lots of folks have the really junky aero bottles that I originally purchased but returned.  These things are terrible.  The yellow splash guards fly out (3 times on my very first ride) and, since there is no lid, you and your bike get covered with Gatorade by the end of the ride.  Absolute junk… how come so many people have them?
• Wow… lots of money in that bike coral.  Perception is a majority of folks have ZIPP wheels.  It appears that most bikes are worth well over $2,000.  My bike was borrowed so I can’t say, but $2,000*2200 people = $4,600,000.  Wow…. that makes for a lot of money guarded by only a makeshift fence.  :)
• Looked into renting the ZIPP (or equivalent) wheels at one of the booths.  These wheels run $1,000+ per wheel if purchased.  You can rent them for $175 for the top of the line wheel set and their claim was that on a 112 mile ride it would cut 20 minutes off your time.  Tempting but certainly not this time.  1.)  Seems little point in buying such wheels as you wouldn’t want to train in them – else an accident could cost you $2,000 for the wheels alone.  2.) So, if you are going to have high end wheels, you may as well rent them.
• The night before I didn’t get to bed until 11 PM and then I woke up at 3 AM.  Not good, but I confess, I wasn’t sleepy the entire day.

Pre-Race

• Have friend drive you to the race and then be available for errands – like dropping off your special needs bags. 
• Use helium balloon or other such marker to have your bags stand out.  Consider painting your bag with a distinguishable color.
• Bryan dropped off special needs bags. (Thanks Bryan!)
• Found a bike pump but was lucky.  Supply your own pump even though they say they have them for racers.
• If you don’t use official race bags, be very sure the number is marked clearly and won’t come off.  Race bags break.
• Bathrooms are a line up affair.  Have time to wait.
• Consider using a balloon to mark your bike if you are out of the water fast or your bike is hard to distinguish.
• Go down to water a little earlier than the last 5 minutes.  The line to the timing mat was very slow moving.  Be on the line before the national anthem – I wasn’t.  
• Over the PA system they announced that the water temperature was 59.5 degrees.  The weather for the day was perfect throughout the day.  I really can’t ask for anything better.

 

Swim Lap 1  (00:36)

• Started as far to over (to the middle/return lane) as possible and swam straight down the middle (allowing natural drifting to the buoys).
• Finding someone to draft behind is sporadic.  Bare feet easier to see than booties.
• Stopped kicking when I felt someone at my feet, didn’t want to kick them.
• Didn’t bother steering, just followed those around me.
• Watched the yellow buoys go by and this was encouraging.
• Some folks I drafted seemed to be zig-zagging wildly.
• 07:15 - That wasn’t so bad.  Made it to the second buoy without getting kicked much.
• 07:21 – Wow, passed the second red buoy.  Seemed most crowded between first and second red buoy, more so than start even.
• After last buoy, straight on course.  Timing mat directly ahead.  Great!
• Bright signs from spectators were easily distinguishable.  I picked out my family just by a quick glance at the crowd and waved so they knew I saw them.  This was a huge boost.  They were cheering madly.  Awesome as I didn’t see them at the start.
• Put something distinguishable on the wetsuit (luminous tape or such) so that family and friends can pick you out.

Swim Lap 2 (00:42)

• 07:37 - Didn’t feel like doing another lap but wasn’t tired or anything.
• Don’t touch your stop watch.  I knew mine and had used it a billion times but instead of clicking lap, I clicked stop.
• Ouch, it appears as if I have a “wet suit kiss” on my neck from looking up at the “racers” in front of me.  (Two days later people wondered what that sore was on my neck.)  I remember reading about using body glide/Vaseline but since I didn’t experience it in training, I didn’t worry about it.  Guess this is only something you get with experience.  I suspect that folding up the zipper “rip cord” didn’t help since perhaps my Velcro stuck out more.  Pulled the “rip cord” free.
• Swim drafting is a toss up.  Perhaps it helps so much that you think you have chosen a slow leader and can go faster.  :)  Second lap drafting is more sporadic since competitors are spread out more.
• As I passed the second red buoy the second time, I was distracted (calculating my time) and swam out way too far until a kayak pointed me in the right direction.  It took a long time before I could look for someone to draft behind again.
• Kicked in the face last 100 meters.  Ouch!  Well, just keep on going and watch more carefully.

Rank 957.  Total swim time was 01:18:33

Swim to Bike Transition (00:07)

• Toweled and changed my shorts but my tri-shorts (which I only used for biking) ended up wet anyway so next time, use tri shorts for swim and bike perhaps.  (I decided not to since the race was so long, may as well take 30 seconds to change them.  Tri shorts presumably make a lot more sense for shorter races.)
• Temperature is warm enough that drying probably wasn’t necessary (even after the relatively cold swim).
• There are folks there to help.  Use them to pack your gear at a minimum so you can get going.
• Don’t forget to get sun screen.
• Have your watch set to go.  If using GPS that takes time to find satellites (Garmin 305), start it when you come in to the tent from the swim.
• Practice running through a transition the day before.  Actually do it.  I pointed where I was going, knew where I was going, and still walked off in the wrong direction after my wet suit was off.
• Transition tent was full!  There were too many people, chairs were hard to find.
• I am glad I had set my bike in the correct gear the night before.

Bike Lap 1 (02:47)

• I had another glimpse of my family and friends and this was another boost.  Yeah!  They were so great!
• Hmmm… something is scraping.  Seems like the brake on the front wheel.  Bummer!  Why didn’t I spin the wheels yesterday?  Oh well, disconnecting front break.
• Average speed through town only 10.2 mph, just like in practice.  Interesting?  Perhaps due to the fact that my Garmin 305 hadn’t finished finding satellites even when I turned on to Sherman but I had started soon after getting on the bike.
• Passing folks…
• Some are passing me…
• Turn around at Higgen’s Point.  Noticed how the special needs bags were laid out.  Low numbers first – good to remember when I come back.
• Mile 6 (08:45:20) – Average 27.4 mph
• Pass by food station and check how it works.  They have a net (like a catchers net) for garbage.  Gatorade is first, then water.  Don’t see power bars.  :(  Bananas and then drinks again.  Don’t pick anything up since I haven’t opened my Gatorade yet. 
• Note, don’t bother carrying drinks except aero bottle.  Only grab drink when aero bottle is empty and then fill immediately and save empty bottle until next station (where you toss it at the start of the station).
• The Endurance Gatorade provided for the bike section comes in 24 fl oz bottles thin enough to carry in a water bottle cage.  Water’s are 16 fl oz.
• Wow, a few people flying past me… need more speed.  Okay, decide to set my pace with a couple others, stay with them without drafting.  Zig-zagging to right and then race to catch the next rider,  move left to overtake.  If someone else passing already, move further left to avoid drafting.  Difficult… temptation is great.
• Frequently get caught in group and can’t help but draft.  Stay left and wait for clearing.  Sometimes there are three to four riders side by side and two to three deep as we race along.  Those of us that are faster pull away, jockeying for position.  First one leads, and then the next, dropping back after being over taken but not back four bike lengths as rules require.  Too many bikers right behind for that.  Interesting… not sure how to handle this besides moving left or right to avoid drafting but moving to draft right before overtaking.
• By this time I am catching those that passed me earlier, presumably they were going out too fast and then they slowed to pace themselves – or perhaps I am going too fast?
• Reaching and maintaining speeds of 30 mph on the flats following the downhill.  Wow… what is wonderfully wrong?  Try to eat… yuck.  Only get down a few bites of protein bar.
• Mile 9 (08:53:41) – max speed of 39.3
• Begin remembering names and numbers of those I have been jockeying with for the past 7 miles.
• Speed up on the down hill of Sherman Ave, approaching Northwest Blvd.  Overtake one of my fellow pacers at the turn and dash out to Government Way.
• Whoops, not good, Government Way is a lot sharper turn than I expected.  Skid (I only have a rear break …. ughhh.)  Stay upright and finally pull out of the skid.  Wow!  Let’s not repeat that again.  (Interestingly, Eric and I never did this turn since we avoided this part of downtown during practice simply because of the traffic.  15th was a way better road to go north on in practice rides.)
• Yippee!!  There are my friends and family.  The key again is the bright green poster (which I spotted during the swim) and now am going to look out for whenever I come by City Park.  McLelland’s are there with my family too.  Tom Heavey was 20 yards before them (not sure if he yelled or what but I picked him out regardless).
• Heading up Government Way; still passing folks.  Race seems to have spread out some and I don’t see many of the numbers I was jockeying with earlier.  No longer in groups of seven or so, more like 2-3 – which I pass relatively quickly.
• Average speed 20+ mph.  Above target but feeling great.
• Ughh, headwind heading east to 4th.
• Anticlockwise around the circle (as traffic would) and keeping pace under control so as not to skid.
• Mile 20 (09:21:39) - Ughh!  Up hill appears to be a weakness.  I get overtaken by three or four on the first hill although I catch many of them once it flattens out.
• Mile 22 (09:27:14) – Total ascent is 116 ft while descent is 157 ft.  From now until the return from Hayden, it will be either up or down but not flat.
• Mile 25 (09:36:37) – Passed by a bunch of folks.  Nice bikes just seem to coast by without much work.  This is the worst hill on the course in my opinion.  Pass one woman whose bike is squeaking up a storm.  Another rider suggests to her to stop and fix it.  A few minutes later I see a Tech. vehicle – nice timing.
• Look out for Larry Carroll but don’t see him (then or anywhere on the entire course).
• Mile 26 (09:41:30) – See my brother (Andy), Neely, and my dad for the second time on the course.  Excellent!  They are going to track with my biking.  Coolness!  My brother yells for me to eat something.
• Mile 27 (09:45:41) – Reach Max speed for entire ride of 40.2 mph.  Interestingly, my average speed for that lap was only 15.8 mph.  Hills do that to you.
• Mile 28 (09:49:28) – Andy, Neely, and Dad drive by on the left hand side – taking a few pictures as they go.  They yell something but I don’t catch it.
• Mile 29 (09:53:02) – I begin to see riders going the opposite way.  Wow!  By my calculation after the fact, I am about 13 miles behind them.
• Lap 38 (10:19:40) – Average speed of 27.6 mph and max speed of 38.2 mph.
• Lap 40 (10:26:33) – Food station.  Tried my first banana and was able to peel it before reaching the end of the station and, therefore, toss the peel. 
• Mile 42 (10:33:40) – Alone in a strong headwind.  Could be people right behind me but I don’t bother checking.  By the time I reach the corner, I have caught some and some have caught me such that there is a small cluster making the corner.

Bike Lap 2 (03:02)

• Heading out to Higgen’s Point again I can tell I am going slower.
• Mile 70.5 (11:59:05) There are my family and friends again just after I turn onto Government Way.  Again, bright green poster is key.
• Mile 71    (12:01:38) - Bikers are a lot more spread out now.  Easily 30 yards or more apart.
• Mile 74.5 (12:09:57) - As I head into food/water station 3 (second hill on E. Dodd Rd.), I lose control and swerve wildly left and then right.  Volunteers jump and start to try to move out of the way.  I regain control without falling completely as I swerve back left.  As a fellow biker pulls up later on, he mentions how I did a good job gaining control.  That was close!
• Mile 111  (14:14:27) – I am surprised that my family and friends are not in the same spot as before.  In fact, I don’t see them at all.  Not much passing or being passed at this point.
• There’s the penalty tent.  Guess there is no penalty for drafting after this point.  There are a few in front but I can’t catch them.  Averaging only 18.4 given the tiredness and head wind.  I don’t think of it at the time, but in hindsight, I should have geared down and increased my cadence considerably in order to prepare for the run.
• Family and friends are waiting as I enter the final 50 ft. of the bike. 

Rank 480.  Total Bike time of 5:51:09

Bike to Run Transition (00:05)

• I dismount the bike and I am surprised to discover that my legs are exhausted.  I simply can’t run.  My legs are way too tight.  I pick up my pack and jog to the tent.
• I change fairly quickly.  I change all my clothes including my socks.  This time I have help and it is great because they take care of handing me stuff and then packing back up what I take off.  I am tired.  Sitting feels good.
• I get up and run out of the tent towards the transition area exit.  My family is waiting and call for me to do sunscreen.  I had missed the sun screeners entirely. I turn and get sun screened. 

Run Lap 1 (02:12)

• I exit the transition area and begin running but my legs are exhausted and my stomach seems like there is a brick in it.  Not sure what it is.  Ugghhh!
• I see Todd and his children on the way out and also notice the special needs bag area. 
• I force myself to keep running but my pace is more like 9 min/mile rather than the 8 min/mile I had envisioned. 
• I reach the turnaround with Andy, Neely, and Dad cheering me on.  Andy asks me about eating.  My stomach doesn’t want anything. 
• I cheer on a man who has stopped to stretch or for cramps.  (I see him later on as the two of us pass each other a few times.)
• I look for the food/drink station so that I can stop and walk. 
• As I enter back into City Park I see Todd and his family again.  Not sure where my family is at.
• Run (slowly) past my family and friends. 
• Going up 1st Ave. has lots of cheering.  Wish I could “perform” for them but it is still slow going.
• Heading down to the lake, where’s the food station?
• At the food station I walk.  Pheww.  Try the Cola. 
• Mile 4 (14:52:28) – By now my average pace has dropped to 10:30 miles/min
• Next food station is along the fence on 17th St.
• Mile 6 () – Stop in the bathroom before the food/water station.  I don’t really go but the minute or two of sitting feels oh so great.  In fact, once I do hit the road again, I do feel noticeably better as I start running again.
• When I reach the hill (between miles 8 and 9) I walk up and then run down.
• Right before I turn off of E. Coeur d’Alene Lake Dr., I see Eric heading out for his first lap.  I tell him how exhausted I am.  He seems in good spirits.
• Around mile 12 I notice my toes are “wet” and strongly suspect they are bleeding.  (When I finish my suspicion is confirmed.) Cut toenails before race!
• Use your first name on your run number and your last name on your bike number.

Run Lap 2 (02:40)

• Andy, Neely, and Dad are at the turn around again.  They are surprised it has taken me so long. Everyone is surprised I am so far off my time.  I have 1.5 hours to finish within 12 hours (total).  I could come close if I was just doing a half marathon, but… I have done a lot more than that today.
• Andy, Neely, and Dad join me soon after I leave the lake.  For the rest of the run, they meet up with me regularly – they are on mountain bikes.  I appreciate their support.
• At the top of the hill (between 20 and 21) Dad is at the top but misses me.  :)  Andy finds this very funny and typical of Dad.
• Mile 22 (18:21:05) – Andy asks me to stand up in his wedding.  He mentions that they haven’t decided about tuxes.  I mention that I have a cool tri-shirt.  I thank him and let him know that I would love to stand up in his wedding.
• I don’t see Eric on the way back.  Hmmm…?
• Katie Hemenway (our daughters were in the same gymnastic class at Northwest Gymnastics) catches me shortly after my turn off E. Coeur d’Alene Lake Dr. We chat and then I pull ahead of her but she stays behind, cheering me on.  I am pretty sure she will catch me on the final stretch but regardless, it motivates me to speed up.
• I see John and Greta Underhill sitting on the curb just before the food/water station on 17th St.
• I pick up speed a lot as I run down the Sherman Ave. hill. 
• As I head into the finish, there is lots of cheering. 
• Family and Friends are in the first row of the stands yelling at the top of their voices but I don’t see them (I am in another world).    Next time, stop and take notice and thank them.
• I slow down so that they have the ribbon but somehow, they still fail to get it ready.

 

• Just as I decide to cross, Katie runs alongside me so the photo finish wouldn’t have mattered.  :)
• A medal is placed around my neck as a volunteer begins escorting me.  I did the Coeur d’Alene Ironman and all I got was this lousy medal.
• The volunteer takes me out of the photo area, hands me T-shirt and hat along with a blanket.
• In the future, get two space blankets so that you can lie on one and put the other over.  Changing clothes is difficult but it would be good to get out of the wet gear.  However, it is no problem walking back into the finish area and getting another space blanket.
• I have another photo taken as I let the volunteer know that I am okay and I can make it on my own.
• Mom meets me as I exit the finish area.  According to Mom, the first thing I said was, “I need to sit down.”  Following that, I said, “Where’s Elisabeth?”  Mom wanted me to sit down and I said no, not until I find Elisabeth. 

Rank 697.  Total Run time 4:53:51

Post Race

• I asked at the finish line if I could re-cross so as to get a photo finish.  They check I don’t have my chip and say go ahead, starting at the family pen.  I wish Benjamin was around so I could finish with him.    Unfortunately, the photos from this second crossing never show up on the official photo site – at least I can’t find them if they do.
• There is a finishers area replete with pizza, military cots, massage, and exhausted athletes.  I help myself to plenty of pizza but it seems to just run through my system and I have to go to the bathroom immediately and urgently.
• Forgot to cut toe nails.  ARghhh!! Don’t do this!  Include cutting toe nails on your check list.
• Waiting in the Coeur d’Alene resort by the conference rooms is great – bathrooms, couches, and warmth. I waited for Eric to come in.

• Eric made it in just after 10 PM.  Nice job Eric!!!  It is truly amazing when you consider that you just finished an Ironman and a year ago you couldn’t run 50 ft.  Wowzers!!!
• Back home I weigh myself in at 176.8.  That is seven pounds less than the day before.  Hmm… water weight?  calories?  Not sure. 
• Back Home (11 PM?) - After taking a shower I don’t feel thirsty but I am exhausted, to the point of being too tired to stand up and feeling faint.  Time for Bed!!!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 5:06:00 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  Headlines | Personal | My Sports