IronmanCDA - TriathlonFull Ironman


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Coeur d' Alene, Idaho
United States
93F / 34C
Sunny
Total Time = 15h 06m 58s
Overall Rank = 1554/2227
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 150/203
Pre-race routine:

Shower, glass full of Oatmeal (used a hotel glass), coffee, Baker Breakfast Cookie (Oatmeal Raison). Think I had some sips of ZipFizz on the beach waiting for the cannon.

While driving in to CDA from the CDA Casino/hotel, saw a Momma Moose cross the highway at 4:45 in the morning. Took it as a good omen that I was not in a hurry and didn't freak out the moose or myself. Found Parking at the Courthouse, new that my wife would want to leave during the day. And that would be an easy way to egress out of the race course.
I did a lot of pre race scoping out parking areas and figuring out what would be accesible and what wouldn't. Keep the wife happy. Nothing worse than standing around in the sun for 15 hours with a fussy dog.

Event warmup:

Got to Race area at 5:00. Dropped off my bike bottles of Perpetuam (more on those later) Put special needs bags in the proper areas, and put a few more small bottles in T1 & T2 bags, (didn't think they would have enough supplies- HA!)
Got Body Marked. Still had an hour to go, so threw the stick for the dog to let him burn some energy. CDA is so finicky about dogs in the park & Beach (one of my few irks). But wife said dog should wait in truck till after the start. so i walked him back to truck and left him there (windows were cracked and he has water-pampered dog)
Got wetsuit on at 6:30 and walk over to the beach. Went into the water for a 20 yard swim to make sure everything was ok.
I was in the Far Third of the beach, but still had about 50 yards of people 5-6 deep to my right. Couldn't hear the announcer.
Swim
  • 1h 21m 41s
  • 4224 yards
  • 01m 56s / 100 yards
Comments:

Not sure what the water temp was, cold, but refreashing for a long swim. No problem. From my few OWS the week before at home. I knew after the initial freeze, would get use to the cold and actually relish it-helps from overheating.

Mass starts! I would guess 200 yards of beach covered by black rubberized athletes and about 15-16 deep most of the length. An incredible sight.
Waded out fairly fast, forgetting to hold back. EXCITEMENT!. It was like movies of Salmon Runs. Bodies all around. Thrashing and Splashing. Only got smacked in the lip once, not bad. Tried to get a rhythm going, 3 strokes and breath. For the first lap, had to constantly adjust to people crossing in front of your line or feeling somebody crawling up your ankles. I don't use much foot kick , but others were doing it and it sounded like Depth Charges going off, ker CHUNK! Saw one guy go by me wearing black Speedos. Quickly looked the other way.

The first turn was ok, kinda knew that the outer third would be angleing in to the turn. Very congested area. Can't remember what my first split was. ? around 40 minutes. I was happy with that. Second lap, was a little more open area for swimming. But still had people with different lines of direction cutting me off or bumping into me.

After making the last turn and heading for the finish. It really starts to sink in that "Hey, this is ok, I'm going to make it with alot of time saved". And it was Fun! Sorta....
What would you do differently?:

Haven't had many OWS in Training. More of that would help. Very happy with the way things went. Right on track with pace that I figured would happen from swim training. FIRST TIME GOING 4224 FREAKING YARDS....

Overall Swim: EXCELLENT, not just Good.
Transition 1
  • 09m 8s
Comments:

After the run up the beach exit, looked for strippers, got top off and laid/flopped down like a European Soccer player. Bottoms came off ok.
Got bag, Tent was crowded and steamy. Slowy tried to organize thoughts on what I had to do. (needs work and better bag organization).

Left my De Soto 4 Pocket Tri Shorts on. don't think I would have got my bike shorts on my wet butt. Had a hard time getting bike jersey on. Since I already had stuffed the pockets with cookies and other stuff. Thinks fell out. Forgot a dry washcloth Towel for feet. So socks were a little slow going on. Helmet on, Sunglasses were foggy from the humidity of the Swedish Sauna Tent.
What would you do differently?:

Place stuff in the bag differently on order of what is going on in order. Like roll up the shirt so it just rolls down my back. Wasn't to concerned. But now that I reflect. 5 minutes here, and another couple minutes at T2, I would have been under 15 hours.

So I guess it does matter some.
Bike
  • 7h 21m 26s
  • 112 miles
  • 15.22 mile/hr
Comments:

Started off ok, tried to keep excitement level down an enjoy the ride. Seemed fast and since it was city streets and turns, didn't pay much attention to HRM. Focus on road course. Seemed like MPH was around 18.

Someguy goes by me and says something about color of bike. Name on bib is Stan....HEY! is that FlyBoy? On the first hill out on CDA Lake Drive, seemed like an easy climb and the quick downhill to the turnaround went ok. Flyboy came back around a little later and left me in his dust.
Got out to Riverview Drive and got through the two climbs ok. Second one is the one that sucked worse. Knew I would hate it on second lap.

I was nipping at the Perpetuam and water, took some gatorade also. Felt alittle bloaty. Wasn't super hot yet on first lap, but Knew the second lap was going to be in mid-day SUNSHINE! The nice down hill section was so curvy and irked me that I constantly had to scrub speed so as not to crash.
Got out to state line turnaround ok. Went through Greyhound Park ok. That was a cool area to ride through. Centennial Trail was a little windy. Was doing aero position quite abit. Only at around 30 mile mark did my hamstring do it's "hey I'm here thing!" But dissappeared and never bothered me again.
When I got across railroad bridge (no pass area) and two blocks later where there was a right turn, than a left turn back to back. I was gaining on a Texas Bike jersey guy and was starting to pass him and as we came out of the last turn, he started move to the left and moved rapidly left so as not to collide with him...(I can't remember if I was in Aero or not) but my speed was fast and I got a wobble in the steering, and was heading for the curb and not able to recover!!!!!

Lots of rocks, gravel and curb filled my vision. WAM! left side of front tire hit the curb, I did a half barrel roll and landed on my left shoulder blade and my head hit the ground hard, bike came over the top of me, one shoe came off my foot and detached from the pedal. (Whole time my mind is saying Sh**, Sh**, goddamit). Couple of the Course road guards come running over asking if I was ok. Took a look at my bike expecting bent rims, chain off, total Kaos. Got up and picked up bike, "HEY!, everything looks ok, spin wheels, ok. Guys are asking if I'm ok. Had some scratches on knees, and knew that my shoulder blade had scrapes. Shirt was all dirty. Broke a couple of ZippFizz Capsules in my pockets. ( lost 5 minutes there).

Got on bike started off slowly, went up and down the gears. Had to stop. Gear bag was flopping off of tiedown. (another minute).

Off I went down to Poleline Road. Adrenaline was pumping, where was the Texas Jersey guy. I wasn't really irked at him. I probably should have yelled out on "your Left". Calmed down and got back into sync. My mind was spinning around KARMA. Earlier on Riverview I had seen a guy with a nice RED TREK that had a broken Deraiulller talking to an official. He was done. So Last week's good deed of helping change a newbies tire during training paid off.

Got back into town and out to Special Needs. By this time. Perpetuam is hot and gross. Gatorade is blah. Pouring water over head constantly. Learned that I can ride with two bottles stuffed in jersey.

Back through town and when I turned on to NW Blvd, almost lost it in the turn with too much speed, had to go wide, almost hitting a cone.

Got back out to Riverview. First hill was longer this time, (how did that happen?) Saw a dead deer on the side of the road. Second hill SUCKED. Averaged 4mph, lowest gear. Had nothing. Many thoughts of F**k it! Walk the bike. But kept my head realizing walking up hill in bike shoes is worse.

Even the downhills were any fun any more, feet started getting hotspots and were sore on the pedals. Butt/crotch was getting raw from being wet on the saddle. Bloaty feeling. But just kept pedaling and focusing on the little successes.

People would go by and say "Spencer, did you crash?" Would shock me back to good feeling of comradeship (hate that word though-sounds communist)or friendship. Kept thanking road guards and fans, trying for all the good KARMA Good VIBES. Got into town and to T2. (Never Peed once during ride)???Some concerns.


What would you do differently?:

On first lap, on Riverview Drive, I tried to fill a water bottle with Zippfizz, forgot to take some water out and the thing volcanoed on me with sticky fizzy crap. Never had the sense to stop and refill. Plus two of the vials broke on the crash.

Should experiment more with E-caps or salts of sometype. Probably need to put a bottle rack behind seat.

Need more long rides in training. My last month and a half of training was a whimper with the dumb hamstring. Work on Aero Cornering. RIDE LOTS and LONG. But my ave MPH was what I do during training, so I was ok with it.

Transition 2
  • 06m 43s
Comments:

Came in got off bike no problem, I remember to spin a little coming in to town. Got bag and had some problems getting fresh De Soto Tri Jersey on. Helper helped me. Changed into Run shorts. Fresh socks/first time socks. Went running out still carrying a water bottle...
What would you do differently?:

Have shirt rolled so that head arms go in holes and than just roll jersey down.

I kinda sat around a little to much, tired/confused/not concerned feeling.
But still had that glorius feeling of Two Down, one to go.

Run
  • 6h 08m 2s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 14m 03s  min/mile
Comments:

I knew it was going to be a survival mode run. I had the time to make it to midnight barring anything that was catastrophic. Had hot spots or what I thought was rocks in my shoes, Checked. Nothing. Blisters?

Didn't keep mile splits. To discouraging to think about. Got back through park and into town and the city streets. Got mile 3 and realized I needed to go #2. Bananas/pretzels BBCookies finally got through the system.
Sitting in the porta john all hot sweaty and worrying about seizing up in the legs is not fun. But felt so much better and lighter. Just glad I didn't have the Runs. (didn't Soil myself- what a relief).

Out and back could not sustain a long run. Lots of walking and it wasn't fast. Lot of self though motivation, keep going, run to that tree, run to that sign. Than walk. Sip, get ice, sip chicken broth (pretty good). I had given up on gatorade, GU. Ate pretzels.

On second lap, my walking stride improved and so I was able to pass other walkers. Kept the run walk method going. Realized I would do around 6 hours. Saw MadCow and OldAG92 on the course.

Lot of thoughts of this is my one and only Ironman Race. So nice to count down the miles and finally

The last mile or less. Started to gauge the other in front. Didn't want to finish with somebody else in my picture. And worried that somebody would out sprint me at the line. (happens in marathons alot-bastards!)

Seemed like everybody faded some, I caught some guy with 5 blocks to go, high fived people in the street and found that last reserve of an Olympic 800m runner coming into the finish. NO MORE PAIN, hooting and WOO HOOing down to the line. Heard Mike Riley call out my name and WAM. Finished.

Two helpers did the lock me up by the shoulder so I wouldn't collapes. Knew they meant well, but I was ok, got let go wandered over to wife and dog by fence, was a little hyperventilating from the final SPRINT!!!! :)




What would you do differently?:

Nothing. More training. I havent' trained in anything over 72 degrees. And here it was 94+.
Post race
Warm down:

Tried to figure out how to get my stuff and meet wife. Found the pizza, had a slice. So many people look like hell. I'm sore and hurting but not like some. So I did something right or didn't push harder?????

Got my bags and bike and wobbled gingerly over to the courthouse parking lot. Wife had to crawl into bed of truck to secure bike.

I had some yawns and my neck/jaw line started to cramp....Weird.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Training in heat. Still think I could be a little better with less body weight.

Event comments:

First one. Lots of thoughts of being the last one....But now two days later? Hmmmm, need to start thinking about how to sign up for IMCanada.

Had great accomadation down at the Casino (although its 25 miles away). Recommend it if you are into casino and don't mind the drive.

I was worried somewhat about my lack of training coming down the homestretch. But Barring anything drastic like injuries or broken equipment. I wanted this pretty bad. Go slow, run my race/pace, don't worry about the stud 59 year old women smoking you. And Have FUN.

Would I do IMCDA again. Absolutely! But first IMCanda, since that gives me more summer training.




Profile Album


Last updated: 2006-04-05 12:00 AM
Swimming
01:21:41 | 4224 yards | 01m 56s / 100yards
Age Group: 134/203
Overall: 1504/2227
Performance: Good
No HRM. Felt Calm and Ready.
Suit: De Soto T1 Bib and Pull Over
Course: 2 Laps. Out around Orange and Yellow buoys. I had a hard time seeing the buoys during the race. Tried to sight in on the Sailboat.
Start type: Wade Plus: Shot
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Average Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 09:08
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
07:21:26 | 112 miles | 15.22 mile/hr
Age Group: 161/203
Overall: 1738/2227
Performance: Below average
I had My HRM on, but never kept track of anything. Sunglasses got so sweat soaked with salt and water, hard to read dial. I think max was 174 I remember seeing that on the second lap up the Riverview road second hill. Most of the time in the 150s+ First Lap was 3:25:04, 16.36 MPH Second Lap 3:56:21, 14.22 MPH
Wind: Some with gusts
Course: Two laps, country roads and some city streets. Mostly comfortable, except for the Seltice road by the lumber yard. Concrete with the gaps in the sections.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 06:43
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
06:08:02 | 26.2 miles | 14m 03s  min/mile
Age Group: 129/203
Overall: 1448/2227
Performance: Average
HRM on, but couldn't see it very well with contacts, sunglasses and sweat. High 140s, for the first half, later would get it down to 130 with walks and run till I got back up to 145 +.
Course: Two Loops. One climb per loop.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5