Ironman CDA is one for the books

After 20 weeks of training, it came down to one 17-hour day (or in my case, a 14h 19m day). This race was great. Coeur d'Alene is such a great venue. The people were great, the town was great, the event was great. It was very spectator friendly, as Jen already stated. We are looking forward to returning to it in 2010 (since 2009 will have us out of the country on vacation).

After all the speculation of the cold water, it ended up being about 59 degrees at race start...completely bearable. In fact, on the second lap, I was actually getting warm during the swim. the water was a bit rough but I did not have combat issues that always surrounds an Ironman swim start. 2400 triathletes in what I call "a flabby arm spanking machine." 75 min. split was equal to what I had in IMAZ, but given the cold and rough water, I did not mind at all.

After the swim, the next 112 miles took place on the bike. Definitely broken up into 3 parts: an out-n-back along the lake border, then a flat part through town and a series of tough rolling hills on the back portion of the course before heading back into town to do it all over again. I was very pleased with the bike. This was the first time I rode a long race on my new bike. Plenty of hours training on it, but not long racing hours. Much more comfortable than my bike in Arizona in 2007. I ended up with a riding time of 6h 30m. Sweet time for a hilly, windy course (yes 20 mph winds for a while). Overall, the bike split was 6h 50m. This included 3 stops for the call of nature and stretching.

Then came the dreaded marathon afterwards. Always a favorite of mine. I had some minor GI issues early on and I could not figure out why until recently. The swim and bike did not suffer any problems but with the mix and blends of fluids, it ended causing a little havoc on the system. Strictly speaking, all I need is water, calories, and sodium. Mixing drinks in training is one thing but racing is a whole other story. For the most part, I walked it off for the first few miles and then got things going. Ran the last half better than the first half, which was good. In the end, I posted a 74-minute improvement over my IM Arizona time. I was ecstatic.

I am excited for my time off and looking forward to some minor training maintenance over the next 5-6 weeks while my body fully recovers. I am not sore in the slightest and any soreness I had only lasted a day or two. Heck, I drove another 20 hours and 1100 miles afterwards. And less than 24 hours after I got home, I drove to LA to catch a flight to Nashville, TN for a 4-day conference. Now that is an Ironman!!! We will keep you posted as to the progress towards Ironman Arizona on November 23.