Race + 1 day:
Stiff legs, up and down stairs very difficult. Lots of nutritional recovery aids, protein powder, Glutamine, BCAAs, Emergen-C. Stretching, TP Massage rollering, foam rollering, lacrosse ball massage. Wore compression leggings. Heart/lungs feel less affected than in previous races.
Race + 2 days:
Legs much better today. Wore compression calf sleeves. Lots of nutritional recovery aids, protein powder, Glutamine, BCAAs, Emergen-C. Stretching, TP Massage rollering, foam rollering, lacrosse ball massage.
Got home and did MVP 1 hour session.
Race + 3 days:
Legs much looser after MVP session last night. Did another 1 hour MVP session this morning. Wore compression calf sleeves, took protein powder, Glutamine, BCAAs, Emergen-C.
Race + 4 days:
Lungs still feel stretched. Nutritional recovery with protein powder, Glutamine, BCAAs, Emergen-C.
Hoping for a 1.5 week recovery – we’ll see over the next few days.
The swim start:
Cycling away:
Running, looking OK and then not looking so OK with the rain evident on the ground:
Finally hitting the finish line in 12:42:01!:
Here we are, driving back to Spokane International Airport 2 days after Ironman:
It was sunny and in the 70s, a beautiful day. Such a contrast to the week before – if only the race had been just a week after!
Some thoughts on the race itself, CDA, and my preparation:
Race comments:
1. Overall I thought CDA was a well run race. Logistics were very good and everything moved pretty smoothly.
2. They told us they required reflectors to be stuck on our clothing. I never saw anyone check and it stays light pretty late, maybe to 900p.
3. The swim was very choppy and the waves come directly at you, which hit me in the face as I went to sight and I swallowed a lot of water. I have also heard in years past that mountain streams which flow into the lake can drop the water temps to mid-50s, almost like swimming in the SF Bay! Lucky for us that it was in the mid-60s this year, and also that I raced Alcatraz the weekend before which made me get a bit used to cold water.
4. Because of the rain throughout the week, the ground was soggy and a bit muddy. As I walked with my bike shoes, I was scared that the mud would cake up my clips. Later, I did dig dirt out of my clips on the bottom of my shoes, but thankfully they did not cause any problems in clipping into my pedals. Also, sitting down on the grass to change during T2 wasn’t so fun although I didn’t really think of this until later in the race when I saw a lot of people with dirt on their backs and butt from sitting or laying down in the grass to change.
5. The wind was very tough. It seems to blow right up the straightaway up Government Way and 4th Street, so it helps you on the way out on the bike course as there is a slight upgrade but blasts you on the way back, even when it’s a downhill. Out in the hilly areas, there were a few nervous moments when I was coming fast down hills, only to be hit sideways by a strong wind. Once my bike front wheel started to oscillate due to a wind burst and I almost lost control!
6. The steep, short hills up near/around Hayden Lake were tough for me. There seemed to be a good downhill after each uphill, so you make up for slowing down on a climb. Many ups and downs through that whole area until you get back to 4th Street. Still, my strength is not where it needs to be to get through those hills in a bike time I would like.
7. I felt the run was pretty good. The hills there were very gradual and I would say that the only stickler was the big hill at the turnaround on the Centennial Trail/Coeur d’Alene Lake Dr. It was pretty steep (you also bike up and over this hill) so it hits you in an unfriendly way since all the other hills were pretty gradual. Lots of turns happen when you get back into Coeur d’Alene itself, through the residential areas.
8. The run aid stations were pretty good. They were spaced about 2 miles apart, although I think some were closer to each other than others. Nobody ran out of anything by the time I got there so that was really good. Thank god for the presence of cola on an Ironman race!
9. For some weird reason, the miles in CDA felt sooooo much longer than normal. I remember coming back on the last loop of the bike with only about 6 miles left, and those were the longest 6 miles I’ve ever felt. Likewise on the run, every time I passed a mile marker it felt like forever to get to the next one.
10. Speaking of mile markers, there weren’t many at all on the bike so I had to rely on my computer to figure out where I was in the course. On the run, the first loop is marked every 2 miles approximately. On the second run loop, they are marked about every mile from about 17 onwards, maybe earlier. Personally I’d prefer a mile marker at every mile as it’s motivating for me to count down the distance on the run.
11. As you turn on Sherman Ave, it’s a gentle downhill straightaway to the finish, which you can see off into the distance. This is motivationally great as you can use the downhill to speed up and hear the crowds grow louder as you approach.
12. I thought the food in the finishers’ tent was kind of lame. There was pizza, bananas, oranges, bagels, cola, water, and chicken broth: basically the same stuff as in aid stations. I don’t know about you but I’d really rather not eat more of what I had out on the course; after 4+ hours of eating/drinking that stuff, I’d rather have something else!
13. Weather-wise, this race was really tough moving to miserable. The temps never rose much above 60, and then as we approached night they dropped into the low 50s. With the wind chill factor, it was probably even less. Then, couple that with rain, it just made your wet body give up more heat. Thankfully for the late finishers, the rain stopped just before I hit the finish line, maybe around 630p-700p. I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like if it kept raining into the night.
This place has very variable weather – I have heard that in years past, it has gotten up to 97 degrees on the run. So low 50s/wind/rain to 97 degrees – talk about really rolling the dice on this course!
14. The two loop nature of both the bike and run meant that you could see potentially each racer 4 times on the bike and 4 times on the run. So plenty of opportunity to see people, and then have time to get to the finish line to see them come in.
About CDA:
1. It’s a pretty nice place. There are some huge mansions along the lake with private beaches. Lots of forest and greenery, and lots of things for families to do.
2. We rented a house almost right on the run course and about a block away from the bike course, which made for easy spectating and a good place to retreat to between watching for food and bathroom stops. Plus, in the wind and cold, it was nice to go back to somewhere and warm up instead of sitting outside the whole time. It seemed like there were many places to rent in/around the course, so I would highly recommend this.
3. Downtown was small and quaint. Many art galleries with some pretty nice stuff. Also, many different restaurants there as well, with nice small cafes to hang out in. The local wine isn’t all that great though – too sour for me! Be sure to visit the Pita Pit on Sherman Ave at 4th Street.
4. Watch the weather carefully. I knew it would be chilly so I brought wool technical wear plus a fleece lined shell. Check out this weather report for the rest of this week:
After a rainy cold week of 40s-60s, today it leaps to 74 and tomorrow it’s going to be 86! The rest of the week remains in the mid-70s. Geez imagine if only the race had been a week later…
About my preparation:
1. I had thought my swimming was pretty good. I think the rough water made for a slow swim, even in the draft of 2000+ swimmers. But somehow I’m still not as fast as I want to be. I did survive the swim without feeling too taxed, so fitness wise I’m good, but just not as fast as I want to be.
2. This year I focused on hill climbing by doing intervals up Kings Mtn and Old La Honda. I think this is the right thing to continue, as I am weakest in cycling strength up hills. In three years since Austria, I have improved a lot on hill climbing and still have a ways to go. But at least this year, the bike hill climbing did not wipe my legs and I was still good on the run.
3. My run training was pretty good this year and I was able to maintain a decent pace, assuming that my knee was bugging me. Add the weather to that and my motivation to run was dropping so I think fitness wise I was pretty good but other factors made for a tough run. The gradual hills didn’t bother me at all, so my weeks of treadmill hill training has done wonders for that. But I still don’t have the ability to power up steeper hills, as evidenced by the steep hill at the turnaround on Coeur d’Alene Lake Dr.
More work to be done as always. I’ll be continuing strength building and hill climbing ability for the rest of the year on both the bike and run.
Some of my comrades in arms, racing yesterday also:
Dan with the regional head of Pita Pit:
Dan on the bike in stop action glory:
Dan leading the pack:
Dan running nicely and then having a tough moment on the course:
Lawrence running, smiling and feeling good at his first Ironman:
Keish running along at a fast clip, also with perpetual smile on his face which according to him was definitely not what he was feeling inside:
The day after is usually one that is filled with stiff muscles and a wasted body. I felt more stressed than usual, crediting that to the extra cold temps and battling the hills. So I spent the day drinking protein powder laden drinks, taking BCAAs and Glutamine pills, and lots of Emergen-C to try to get my system back in action ASAP.
We went back to the Pita Pit to have lunch. I had a chicken souvlaki pita which was real good.
Afterwards, we strolled a bit to check out Coeur d’Alene and to keep the blood flowing in my legs. There seems to be an obsession with mooses here in CDA. Not sure why.
I met a moose once. It was huge. I hear they are big and mean animals. I hope I never meet one in the forest. I cannot imagine one charging down on me with those huge antlers of theirs. Very scary.
Back home, Dan’s energy finally runs out and he’s sacked out on the couch:
At night, I go to the Brix Chop House for some steak dinner. On the menu, there was mashed potatoes but no baked potatoes. How strange. I just wanted a regular baked Idaho potato with my steak. Nope. Nada. Only mashed potatoes, either parmesan garlic or some mix of bacon, cheese, and other stuff. Do they only keep the ugly potatoes (after shipping the beautiful looking potatoes elsewhere) such that they can’t even serve them like that in restaurants, and they have to resort to mushing them up to sell them?
After my usual preparation of equipment and also eating, we gathered up our stuff and went out to the transition area. It was already pretty crowded by 530a when we got there. Guess lots of people were antsy about preparation! The skies were partly cloudy but it was very windy and a bit chilly.
I put my nutrition in my bags and then realized I had some stuff in the wrong bags so I went back and reshifted some of my equipment into the right bags. I then went to my bike and thankfully it was relatively dry, having seen the first night in CDA where it didn’t rain overnight. I jammed my nutrition into the bento boxes and setup my water bottles: one in the back and one on the seat tube holders. I learned this from Ken Glah who said that you will always have one bottle in case the other flies out of its holder during a rough patch on the bike. It never flies out of the holder on the seat tube.
I found Keish putting a balloon on his bike. Nice way of finding his bike fast!
After preparing my bike and bags, I go to the bathroom and attempt to “unload” as much as possible. Unfortunately, nothing still was coming out and my brain filled with anxiety on what this could mean later. I then went into the changing tent and put on my wetsuit, and handed my last bag to the helpers in the tent.
I was supposed to meet my wife and others at 830a but all that made me a bit late so I headed directly to the beach entry and glad that I did because there was only this tiny entranceway where every swimmer had to enter because everyone had to cross the timing mat in order to get into the swim start area. I went down close to the line of buoys as I like to swim along the buoys. But I stood there alone for a while until my buddy Lawrence found me, and then later Dan came over.
They played the national anthem and then I went down to the water amongst the other competitors there. The gun goes off and we leap into the water, arms churning.
The water was very choppy and the waves were headed directly into us. This made for tough swimming for me, as I was getting a mouthful almost everytime I sighted. I finally figured out how to sight and not take a mouthful of water. It was also a very violent swim, my most violent yet. In all my other Ironmans, I have never gotten kicked or shoved; here it was happening all the time! I got kicked three times in the face and if not for my goggles I am sure I would have gotten a black eye. Also there were a few people swimming breaststroke; man I wish they wouldn’t do that. The frog kick of a breaststroke only means that your chances of getting kicked hard increase. Also, their sweeping arms just keep bashing into everyone alongside.
I finally find some quiet swimming to the inside of the buoys and I tried to still be in the current formed by 2000+ swimmers. I reached the first turnaround buoy in no time flat and then came around. The way back was much easier as the waves were now pushing us from behind. I got out at the beach, ran around the marker, and then jumped back in for the second loop. Again, it was violent and the waves kept threatening to make me swallow more water as they battered me head on. The wind had picked up even more now and the waves were a bit higher. On the way back, I felt like I was swimming pretty well; but when I got out of the water, I noticed I swam the whole thing in 1:18, which is about 3 minutes slower than I thought I would swim! Oh well.
I got my top and arms out of the wetsuit and ran to transition where there were people who helped me remove my wetsuit. I ran with that to get my T1 bag and then changed outside. For some reason it was a slow and long transition – 9:40 by the timing on the website. But I just got everything ready, putting on my arm warmers, helmet, sunglasses, bike shoes, etc. Then I did a quick visit to the bathroom and got out to where they would hand you your bike and then I was out on the course.
It was a fast exit out, and we turned towards the left part of the bike course. It was kind of windy by the lake and I found myself at times holding on while strong gusts would push me around. I was glad that it seemed to push my front tire, but not my back disc. Along the way I see Keish racing back on the other side. He looked pretty fast. I go up the big hill, make the turnaround and start back going up the hill and down. Racing back to town, we turn onto the first major straightaway.
By now, my stomach is kind of bothering me. All that water I swallowed on the rough swim was making my stomach a little upset. Very bad! I had to slow down my eating for a while to see if it would calm down.
With the wind behind us and pushing us along the first straightaway towards the upper part of the bike course, we take this slightly uphill portion pretty fast. But then on the upper portion, it grows hilly and it’s a set of continuous rollers, with steep uphill climbs and big downhills. I test my fitness a bit here but not too aggressively, and make it OK through the hills.
We’re then back on the main straightaway back into town and now it’s a slight downhill BUT the tailwind from the way up is now a headwind and we’re pushing to make 20+ MPH on the way back. With the big packs of cyclists, there are groups of us riding back now and we’re all trying to go as fast as we can. The first half sees me in around 3 hours or so.
I go out again on the second loop and after I pick up my special needs bag (switching out for two water bottles), I make a pit stop and “unload”. That was an important step because it made my stomach feel so much better, and I lose about 3 minutes doing that. Better now than on the run or some other time!
Heading back out on the straightaway, the wind is again at my back but I am slower this time. I feel a bit depleted combating the hills through the first loop. I hit the set of rollers again and I really feel it now. My legs just aren’t good enough to stay strong through this many rollers. But I do think I am better than 3 years ago when I raced Austria and it was similar terrain. My legs were totally wiped after two loops of those hills! I conserve energy now as I go through the second loop of rollers but I am out of my seat a lot to climb, just so I save my quads from constant, grinding revolutions.
I should say that it’s been cloudy this whole time, the wind has been blowing, and temps have been in the low 60s. But now the sun actually peeks out and I’m hoping that the sun will stay. This was short-lived as later on, the sun gets obscured once again by clouds moving in.
It was a tough thing, but I make it back to the straightaway and now I’m battling stronger headwinds. I pedal conservatively at first, but then I realize I have a Powertap disc and that maybe I should look at the watts display some more.
The first thing I realize is that I’m only pedaling at 80-100 watts maybe and I realize that I could pedal harder. Duh! I quickly raise my watts to 120-150w and I’m going at least 2 MPH faster because I know I can maintain more watts over a long period of time. And the watt meter is right; I don’t feel an extra tightening of my legs due to the extra watts.
I also start playing with drafting behind people and watching the watt meter. I pedal up to their back wheel, drift in and out of their draft, and also back off to about 5 bike lengths behind. I find that my watt meter is saying that I am saving at least 20-30 watts by being in somebody’s draft and maintaining speed, and also even as far back as 5 bike lengths I still am saving almost 20 watts! I think I read somewhere that drafting benefit doesn’t disappear for quite a distance behind another rider in front of you. Interesting to see real proof before my very eyes.
As I reach T2, I try to push harder and it’s tough in my depleted state. First, it’s because my legs aren’t good in the hills, and secondly it’s because it’s so cold and my body is using up energy just to keep warm.
I make it into T2, where they take my bike and I go and grab my T2 bag and go into the changing tent. I put on my running gear and move out onto the course.
Thankfully my attempt at conserving energy on the bike worked OK as I quickly moved up into a decent cadence. Once again I pass Keish out on the first part of the run, and then also pass Lawrence who came in about 13 minutes after me. I am feeling OK, but don’t chance it and start guzzling cola at aid stations. I run through each one as I don’t want to have them slow me down by walking through them. There aren’t many hills on the CDA run which have bothered me so I am glad that my run hill training as made the smaller ones not so tough. But there is a big steep hill out on one side of the run course. Right before this big hill, Keish passes me and is running strong. I was wondering when he was going to catch me!
On the big hill, I see him power up there, whereas I run a part of it and then start walking a bit midway. Keish makes his turnaround and then sees me walking and says, “Dave! What are you doing?!?!” I tell him that I am tired of all these dang Idaho hills. He laughs and speeds away.
By now the temps are dropping a bit and the wind has not let up. I have not needed to walk much yet so thankful for that. My energy feels good but man it’s getting chilly out here. I have been doing my schedule of electrolyte tablets, Sportlegs, and Powergels and everything seems to be going fine.
But the cold temps are starting to wear on me. I just want to get to that finish line! About 1:30 into the run, it starts to drizzle…and then it starts raining! Crap. Now a cold day just turned into a potentially dangerous chilly day. Now my motivation both starts to sag and to grow, as I know that the sooner I get to the finish line the better I will be.
I joke with someone on the course that CDA miles seem a lot longer than anywhere else. He agreed. For some reason running here just seems like it takes a lot longer. Maybe it was the miserable weather…
I make it to about mile 19 when my right knee starts hurting. Ugh! I’ve been plagued with this problem where somewhere past mile 12 (sometimes sooner, sometimes later) the fascia around either or both knees starts clamping down on my knee, which makes for a stiff and painful run. Now it’s clamping down on my right knee and this really sucks because now I’m forced to walk to make it stop hurting, and then run a bit until it starts hurting again.
I passed Lawrence a few times, the first few times we were both running; the last 1-2 times we’re both walking now!
But I try to maintain my cadence when I do run and when I got to mile 23, I just could not summon enough strength to sprint to the finish line. Somehow it stops raining which makes things slightly better, but also the temps have dropped even further now. I do this painful run/walk thing until I reach mile 25.5 or so and then I find out I can run without pain when I turn my right foot outward slightly. How weird is that?!? So I start running now without pain, although I am partially glad that I found out so late because you never know when you change your running gait that you may inadvertantly cause some other problem to pop up.
I make the turn onto Sherman Ave, which is pretty cool because it’s a downhill and a straight shot to the finish line, which you can see off in the distance. I pass my buddy Dan and his family, and Keish as I run strong for the finish. As I hit the finish line, I raise my arms up and give a lion’s roar!!!!
I was so glad to hit the finish line. This was definitely the most miserable race I’ve ever done. I think the temps were below 55 degrees when I got there, and the wind did not let up at all. My body was tired and sore, and extra depleted because of the low temps. Still, I was glad it was not also my most painful as it easily could have been due to my inability to handle hills well; Austria remains my most painful race, with legs wiped out from the bike climbing and fighting cramping on the run the whole way. So I have improved since Austria but still have a ways to go.
I am disappointed at the food they offered at the finish line, which was basically the same pizza, chicken broth, bananas, oranges, and cola they had out at the aid stations. I scarfed down a pizza and then all of a sudden my body cools down and I start to shiver uncontrollably. I race for my bags and change into something dry and warm. I head home, only to jump back into a cold ice bath and I sat there shivering for the longest 10 minutes of my life, but then get up and take a hot shower and go for something to eat in my kitchen that did not mimic aid station food.
A tired ending to a long and miserable day. I managed to get my finisher’s medal through what has been the toughest race I’ve had so far.
I’m up and prepared all my bottles and stuff to bring to the race in the morning. As the sun rose (skies were light at 430a, sunrise at 445a), they showed clear blue skies with a bit of breeze. Weather report looks for possibility of rain around 3pm now. Should be a nice cool race day!
Off soon to the starting area. Will publish after the race with my race report!
At the Museum of North Idaho I bought a post card which had a humongous potato in it.
At that moment, I remembered that Idaho was famous for Idaho potatoes! But also, I realized that I hadn’t eaten a single potato. In fact, at Safeway, I didn’t really see any potatoes even being sold.
I thought this was strange, so I asked the lady at the museum shop about potatoes. I remarked that there didn’t seem to be a single potato in sight, in the potato capital of the world! She said that generally, there are no potatoes in Idaho because they basically ship all of them everywhere else and don’t keep any of them around!
We thought this was strange. Wouldn’t it be an Idaho tourist mecca to have theme restaurants serving luxury potato dishes? Potato pancakes, potato steaks, potato quiche, potato cola, potato milk shakes, potato ice cream, potato candy..why the possibilities are endless! I would think tourists would love it. Some budding entrepreneur should do this.
As long as it’s not me.
