Well, I guess it’s time to write about the big day.  I’m not exactly sure why I put it off.  I think partly life was just busy afterwards, spending time with family, driving 16 hours, coming home and celebrating with friends, and of course working.  I also think I just didn’t really want to face it.

Looking back I feel that overall it was a positive experience and I’m happy with how I handled my day.  When I start thinking about the messy details like times, or when I question if I really truly gave it my all, or if I really truly pushed as hard as I could have, or if I ever really believed I could break 12 hours I get really sad and frustrated.  The worst part is I don’t have the answers to these questions and not knowing the answers makes me replay the down parts over and over searching for them.

My race week went very well, I did all the things I usually do. Our little cabin was very cozy, quiet, and relaxing.  I was hanging out with some of my favorite people. I was so excited to be racing in Coeur d’Alene again, as this was where I fell in LOVE with Ironman distance racing. The day before the race, I dropped all my transition bags and my bike off at the expo, and went to meet up with my family.

They were wine tasting. I was jealous.  I mean I maybe had  little sip. You know, to calm the nerves.

I just propped my feet up and enjoyed the beautiful day while everyone else sipped away.

Many of my favorite pros were racing, Hillary Biscay, Bree Wee, and Desiree Ficker to name a few. I really looked forward to seeing them around the expo, and cheering for them on the race course.  Sadly all of my favorite pros had bad days too, some of them DNFing.  I did get a picture with Desiree (a pre-race highlight), and I did get to cheer on Hillary during the run (see pic).

Reading  in their post-Ironman blogs about the struggles they dealt with that day made me feel little bit better about my race, but then I got really frustrated because they all get to race at least one more ironman this season. They get to go home and refocus for another race, and I have to wait OVER a year to do it again. 🙁 Suck.

Race morning I felt good, not too nervous, just excited and rearing to go.  I got to my bike and got everything ready to go, got body marked, got my wetsuit on, and before I knew it I was heading down to the water.

Coeur d’Alene 2007 I hated every minute of my swim, and I really thought it was because I didn’t place myself well on the beach while lining up.  So this year I thought I was such a smarty, lined up right near the front on the FAR right of the buoys  (the swim is rectangular, counter-clockwise course; see map below).  The gun went off and we went for it, within 5 minutes I was practically drowning, and thinking, “this is NOT better! this is NOT better!. This is the closest to actually drowning I have ever been, and the most I have ever panicked in a race.  It was AWFUL, but it’s not like you can stop and catch your breath, there are at least 1,000 swimmers coming up fast behind you. You just have to cough underwater, gasp for air when you breathe, and flail those arms like a shark is chasing you.  Out to the first turn is about 800 or 900 yds.  I was still swimming way out to the right searching for clear water and avoiding the massive collision that is always at the first turn.  The way back in to shore felt fast and I found some pretty good open water, things were looking up. I was trying to enjoy swimming thinking about my form trying to swim long and stretched out like coach says to.  Before I new it I was in another mass pile-up of people heading up the shore, (we had to exit the water, run up the shore through  a narrow tunnel over timing mats, and back down into the water) people were walking and waving at family grrrr…..I was running behind them, get going people!

I checked my watch before jumping back in the water it said 36 minutes. I was hoping to swim faster than that, but I thought for sure round two would be faster as I probably wouldn’t have any near drowning experiences.

I was still thinking I’d be sub 1:10 or right around it, especially if I got focused and just went for it for the last 1.2 miles! Yay.  The water still seemed really crowded and I was instantly annoyed by people swimming in zig zags ahead of and directly into me! Grrr, I can’t stand it, lift your head up and watch where you’re going people. I did do a little back stroke to stretch my shoulders out, and said thanks to kayak volunteers when I could, and I did float for a few seconds to pee (imagining that was faster than doing it in transition). The rest of the swim though was all business.  Back to the first turn buoy I was feeling good, and I was absolutely sure I was getting faster. Nearing the turn the water got SO ROUGH. It was like a speed boat just went by, or like I was in the ocean. It was CRAZY.  I kept my head down and just went for it trying to get that section over with quickly.  When I lifted my head to spot, I was still next to the turn buoy. What the what?!  I wasn’t moving! This went on for a while and getting through that back 150 yards was a nightmare.  Once I was to the next turn buoy, I was feeling tired. I knew I only had about 1,000 yds. to go and I could get on the bike yay!  I don’t remember much about the rest only that I was trying to stay focused on being in the moment and enjoying the cool water, but even that is pretty hard when there are flailing swim-body’s everywhere that you are dodging. Please Coeur d’Alene, switch to a 1 loop swim course. You’ve got PLENTY of lake for it!  Maybe it’s a safety thing? I don’t know, but if you can’t safely swim 2.4 miles don’t do the Ironman is what I always say.

Again, when I exited the water there were people stumbling and walking all over the place, I wanted to shout, “Get out of my way, I just swam a 1:17 and need to make up for it in transition!”. Ha ha…no, actually I was just pissed at myself and confused. I ran up the shoot to the wet suit strippers (I love them!), I flopped on grass and with one yank, my suit was off, I was back on my feet, and heading to T1. (The picture isn’t me, btw). Sadly, I have to say the dressing room ladies were not that helpful inT1  and there definitely weren’t enough helpers. I basically got dressed alone, and this had me again questioning if I should attempt to put on compression socks in T2. I mean  if I wasn’t going to have my very own personal dresser. :/

I was dressed and out the door in a flash, it already felt hot to me…dang it. I looked down to check my watch out of transition, and it was TOTALLY  FOGGED over.  Good job TIMEX IRONMAN watch, way to live up to your name.  BTW: the watch never recovered, it’s completely dead now. Couldn’t even survive the swim. Lame.

To be continued….

Tags: Ironman Coeur d'Alene Race Report

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 7:12 pm and is filed under Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Swim. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.