A little over a week ago, I traveled to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho with some fellow members of my triathlon club to compete in Ironman Coeur d’Alene. Several years ago, injuries forced me to take time off from running. I ended up buying a bike and swimming, and eventually found my way to triathlons. Here is what I have to say about the race:
The city of Coeur d’Alene is located in the northern panhandle of Idaho, about 30 minutes from Spokane, WA. The city sits on the shores of a lake that shares it’s name and is well known for tourism. In the summer, many people travel to the city to spend time at the lake, and surrounding areas. While Coeur d’Alene defines itself as a city, it has a small town feel. Children still play outside in the leafy shaded neighborhoods, and the downtown is lined with shops and restaurants. In the days leading up to and then after the race, it was not uncommon for someone to stop you as you walked down the street to ask about the event.
Ironman first started holding races in Coeur d’Alene in 2007, and has become a favorite amongst those who have raced it. In my conversations with past participants, I learned that the race is a citywide event. Locals welcome racers into their homes and businesses, as well as volunteer at the event. Unfortunately, Ironman had decided to cancel the race with this year being the final year. While I was sad to hear that this was the last time that the race would be held at this location, I was happy that I had the opportunity to take part.
The Swim: The case of the leaky goggle
At 6am sharp, the starting gun went off, and the first athletes ran into the lake with water splashing around them, jockeying for position. These were the professional athletes, and I waited patiently on the beach with my fellow mere mortal age groupers. In the past, IM Coeur d’Alene had been a mass start swim where everyone runs into the water and jockeys for position. Having never been a water polo player, or a swimmer in high school, this type of start had caused me a lot of anxiety. This year the race was done as a rolling start where the athletes could seed themselves according to their expected swim times.
Once my group reached the inflatable archway at the shore of the lake, I gave Mike Rilley (the voice of ironman) a high five and headed into the water. Within my first few strokes my goggles started to fill with water. Having had this issue in past races, I took extra care to wear my hair, goggles and swim cap in the same way during my shake out swim the day before. Why was this happening? I sat up, emptied my goggles, tightened them, and continued to swim. Again, my goggles were filling with water. I also noticed that my breathing was rapid and shallow. Not good for swimming. I was hyperventilating. Luckily, this had also happened to me in past races so I knew what to do. Roll on my back, empty my goggles, do the backstroke. Once my breathing became more normal, I was able to roll into my front to attempt freestyle. However, the same thing happened again. My goggles filled with water, and my breathing became rapid and shallow. So again, I rolled on my back for a bit. After a few cycles of this my breathing normalized, and I would swim with water in my goggles until I could not take it anymore and had to empty them out. The swim was two laps of 1.25 miles each. In between laps, we had to get out of the water, run over an archway and timing mats and back into the water. To my surprise, my first lap was not as slow as I had anticipated despite all of my hiccups. This helped to boost my morale for the second lap. Sometime during the second lap, the area around my eyes started to hurt because I had repeatedly tightened my goggles. I decided to loosen my goggles, and somehow that also caused them to stop leaking. During the second lap, the sun had started to come out, which mad it very difficult to see. Luckily, I was able to make my ay around the final turn and head back into shore.
After my feet hit the sand, I became aware of the cheering crowd and blaring music as I hurried into T1 where the amazing volunteers help to strip my wetsuit, and change into my bike gear. Then I was off for a long bike ride.
The bike: Don’t get too excited
The bike course is two out and backs. The first part of the loop goes through the town of Coeur d’Alene, and the second part goes out along highway 95. The design of the course in this way allowed me to see the other athletes from my club who were also doing the race. This definitely made the race more fun and interesting. My main goal for the bike was to ride fast enough to feel good about myself, but not too fast that I did not have anything left on the run. In my previous ironman, I had gotten carried away on the bike, and was trying to keep up with some riders, and chase others down. I paid for this attitude on the run, and was determined not to let that happen again.
Throughout the bike, other racers kept passing me. I wanted to chase them down, but was afraid that doing so would take too much out of me. Since I had done a lot of training based on heart rate, I started to develop a second sense of when my heart rate would get too high. Since I do not race with a heart rate monitor, I relied on this sense during the race. Whether or not this is a good idea may be debatable.
The temperature in Coeur d’Alene was forecast to be in the 90’s that day. Being from San Francisco where the weather rarely gets over 70, anything over 75 degrees is too hot. I am not sure what the temperature ended up being that day, but it was definitely hotter than what I am used to as a delicate San Francisco fog flower. The section of the course that went along the highway had not tree cover and was by far the hottest. Getting back to the portion of the course that went into town was a relief. There was tree cover in this area, and the proximity to the lake made the air feel a least 10 degrees cooler. My husband who was also in the race initially passed me on the bike. I ended up catching him at and aide station at the start of the second loop once we got out on to the highway. He is typically a faster cyclist, but does not do well in the heat. Continuing on the second loop, I started to see other cyclists who had pulled to the side to gag, or throw up. Some other cyclists had stopped at the med tent. Another woman had flagged down some of the race medics and asked for ice packs. After seeing these other cyclists suffering, I started to wonder how my husband was doing. However, he ended up passing me before the end of the bike course while triumphantly announcing, “I’m back!”
T2 and the run: Survival mode
I have never had a good run in an Ironman. Since I view myself as a broken runner who made her way to triathlons, I think that I should be better at the run. The reality is that I might be able to run a decent marathon on its own. Running a marathon after a 2.5 mile swim and a 112 mile bike ride is another story.
Just as I had tried to keep my speed under control during the bike, I had tried to do the same during the run. My plan was to keep my pace easy during the first 10 kilometers and let my legs warm up into the run. In past ironman races, my runs have been plagued by side stitches, and salt deficiencies. I was determined not to let these get the best of me this time. The run course was 3 out and backs. The course went through some neighborhoods, before passing by the gold course, and then following the lake until the turn around. In the neighborhoods families sat out in front of their houses and cheered. Some even had their sprinklers and garden hoses out. Others had music playing. This race seemed to give the residents of the town a reason to come out and party. As I passed by a parking lot on my first loop, a group of partying spectators invited me to grab some ice from their cooler. As I reached into the cooler, I saw that they had a bottle of champagne. I told them that if that bottle was still in the cooler on my last lap, I was going to take it. The out and back nature of the course allowed me to see and high five fellow SF Tri Club memebers. I was feeling good. Again, the weather was hot, which is something that I am not used to. I could feel my heart rate going up, so I started pouring water on my head, and putting ice cubes in my sports bra, and in the back strap of my visor to try to keep my core temperature down.
Towards the end of the first lap, bad side stitches started to plague me. These side stitches feel more like a muscular cramp than a digestive issue. Having had this issue in the past, I have tried al sorts of things to help prevent them from careful nutrition and hydration planning, to soft tissue massage (self soft tissue massage), to breathing and core exercises. While I am able to avoid them in training, and in shorter races, they so far have been inevitable. Once they started to come on, I started to focus on my breathing and running form as well as take on more salts. They did not seem to be getting better, and I really wanted to stop as I headed towards the turn around at McEuen Park. The only thing that prevented me from walking, were the spectators in the park. I did have to slow down considerably, however the side stitches miraculously went away at the start of the second loop.
Since I felt as I was back on track, I tried to pick it up again. I was able to run a few more miles before feeling nauseous. Having had this feeling before in other races, I realized that I might again be low on salts. Luckily I had salt tablets, and some Base salt on me, and was able to get myself to feel a little better. I was able to continue on the last lap. My run was more of a shuffle, but I was moving, and I was going a little faster than my walking pace. As I was headed back from the last turn around, it was starting to get dark, and I saw that the other athletes were starting to carry glow sticks. Once I got back to the neighborhoods, it was pretty dark and I hoped that my shuffling didn’t cause me to catch my foot on the pavement. Luckily I was able to stay upright.
The streetlights in McEuen Park helped to light my way. From the park, I could see the finish line arch over the buildings of downtown. “I’m going to finish this!” I said to myself…or maybe it was out loud. Anyways, it doesn’t matter. I exited the park, and turned down Sherman Ave. I could see the finish line a few blocks away. I started to pick up my pace. The course near the finish was lined with spectators. I gave strangers high fives as they leaned over the barricades and stuck their hands out. Mike Reilly announced my arrival at the finish.
Before signing up for Ironman Coeur d’Alene, I had debated whether or not I really wanted to do another ironman. The training starts months in advance, and becomes life consuming. In the end however, I am glad that I did the race. Coeur d’Alene is a beautiful and special place. I also had the privilege of training with a wonderful group from the SF Tri club who kept me inspired and motivated. While there are some things in the race that I would have done differently if I could go back in time, I am happy with my race overall. Who knows, maybe I will do another ironman in the future.
