Ironman Coeur d' Alene Race Report
IMCDA was my first Ironman – the major goal was to finish and I was hoping for a steady run as I am a 190 pound guy who is not a particularly strong runner. I have been with EN since November 2009 and had done one HIM with a 22’ PR from the previous year (5:22 at California 70.3)
RESULTS
Swim: 1:09:56 (Goal sub 1:10)
T1: 5:11
Bike: 6:14:47 (Goal 6:00-6:15)
T2: 2:47
Run: 5:05:47 (Goal 4:35 wooops!)
Total 12:38:33 (Goal 11:59-12:44)
PRE-RACE
I arrived in Coeur d'Alene on Thursday after driving up with my family from San Diego through Vegas, Zion National Park and Idaho Falls. I showed up at the dinner venue to crash the party late as we got into town late and I wanted to preview the hilly portion out by Hayden. I wondered over to the CdA Brewery with Coach Rich, the Ogles and Dominic. I also met team members on Friday morning (Al, Mike, and Peter for a swim in the lake). After short run on Friday morning I took Saturday completely off and didn’t sleep much the night before the race. I took in about 400 calories of liquid at about 2am, had a small bowl of cereal at 4:30, and 150 calories of powerade when I got to the transition area at 5:20. I did get into the water for 5‘ of swimming at 6:30 or so to get acclimated to the temps – worked great.
SWIM
I was petrified of the 2200+ person mass start despite being a water guy – I swam competitively in high school, surf in cold Socal winter water (54F) for the last 10 years, but have had anxiety attacks in the pool thinking about the mass start at CDA. I even got freaked out the day before the race and started hyperventilating – but race day? No issues at all. At the advice of Al Truscott I lined up right in front of a piling in the water in the middle of the start area. This worked beautifully as people avoided it like the plague. At the turn buoys there was some swell and it was people soup probably cost me 1’ each loop. Saw my wife and kids as I came out of the water and was happy to be right at my goal pace (<1:10) and felt awesome.</span>
BIKE
At the mount line Rich is up on a dumpster and I hear "Tom, GET ON THE BIKE! GET ON THE BIKE!" Talk about performance anxiety. Unfortunately my Fisher Price Power Meter (iBike) didn’t work from the gitgo and I hadn’t really ever thought about racing based on heart rate or perceived exertion. But I tried to ride as easy as I could for the first 90’ and was going backwards on the hills for the entire race (the only people I passed was from maintaining a steady effort over the crest of a hill and passing them with my downhill speed at the beginning of the next hill). I rode about a 3:06 for the first loop and a 3:08 for the second. Wind seemed a little stiffer towards the afternoon or maybe it was fatigue. During the first loop I maintained my HR in the 120s and maybe into the low 130s on the hills and during the second loop I would sometime get to low 140s – but wasn’t short of breath or in any difficulty. I would then maintain power over the hill and down and into the next hill. Course was beautiful and I am glad I used Al Truscott’s recommendation for pre-riding the hills on Thursday night from the parking lot above the first big hill on English Point Rd.
RUN
As a poor runner I was aiming for a 4:35 marathon split (my last 5k vdot was a 46 but my half vdot at 85% for Cali 70.3 was a 42-43 - so I aimed for a 43 at 75% from the race execution pacing charts). This translated to a 10:32 pace (+30 = 11:02 for first 6 miles). My average pace was a 10:58 for miles 0.9 to 6.57 – which included walking up to 1 – 1½ minutes per mile. So far so good.
Then the race started to hurt. For the next to splits I did 11:36 (for six miles), then got it back to 10:51 (for the next 7.75 miles). At this point the wheels came off the bus – for the last 4.45 miles I averaged 14:36. As I walked someone from EN shouted at me to remember my one thing (little did they know it was only to finish – and with my GI upset
and chest pain I was just trying to survive).
All in all I did a 5:05:54 for only the second marathon of my life (and the first one after a bike and swim). I wish I could have salvaged even 2 minutes off of each of those miles and ended up in the 4:57:XX range.
Conclusion:
It was great to see my family on the course 8 times from swim to bike to run and I appreciated Rich’s presence (except the bike mount line
) and support and he even saluted me.
Spending time with Al Truscott before the race was reassuring as was swimming with him to the first turn buoy. Seeing Bryan on the bike, Dominic on the ride and run, Matt, Wendy, Mike Rudolph, Peter, Paul and Paul was awesome as well. I think the best part of the day was being done with two IPAs in my belly and seeing Wendy Price come across the line and her smile. All in all it was an awesome experience and I am glad I shared my first IM with Endurance Nation.
Comments
Congratulations! And thanks for alll the details in this report -- as someone signed up for her first Ironman later, I find it very useful to know what you are all thinking!
And way to make goal time with complete powermeter failure. That had to be huge!
Tom - It was great meeting you out there and having a chat during the race. It was nice to have some company out there for a while too. We seemed to be neck-and-neck for a long while. Great job, especially after losing the powermeter. Hope to see you out there again,
Dominic
Hey Tom - An even paced bike split is hard to do. And getting the pacing right in the run, especially on a warm sunny day, is an art that takes some time to learn. Not only are you an Ironman, you are a successful one, too.
Hey Tom,
Congrats and thanks for the great race report! Looking forward to our podcast in the next day or so (check yer email). Thanks!
12:38:33!!! That is fabulous! And you started your report by saying you just wanted to finish....I must say a hearty CONGRATS because you not only finished but with a lot of change to spare! Great job
Congratulations, Tom, on a great race. Looks like you executed perfectly to me. I love those even bike splits, made more impressive by your lack of power data. Nice job!
From one big guy to another...WELL DONE. Your next IM, should there be one, will be a dramatically different experience both physically and mentally. You suffered, but you did so "appropriately" -- can't wait to see where this takes you. For now, recover baby!
P
I'm a university professor and I always say that I hope my tests are themselves learning experiences...i.e., that you come out of my test having new knowledge or insights that you didn't bring in. Your race report reads exactly like educators hope... great self analysis, great letting go of stress (living in the box I guess we call it here), and knowing that you take something great to the next time. Great job!
Peter
Tom, are you in for Everest?
Congratulations, Tom! That's a well executed bike split w/ out execution. I hear ya on the run hurting, but you got it done and done well.
Dave
Rich - I am 70% sure about Everest Challenge - just need to look into cost of changing rear casette to xx/34. Was also thinking of Magic Mountain Man - but Everest sounds like a better amount of suffering.
Tom
PS sorry I haven't got back to you about podcast - we have had sketchy phone coverage last week.