An Iron report...Coeur D'Alene 2013

It's done.  Here lies the race report and musings.  Read on if you want my in-depth thougts :)

Training began in October with a warm up month to see what I could handle.  I literally worked out 1 hour a  week to test my running and swimming.  I made the decision to register and never looked back. Once I registered I started to train in earnest in November.  I kept a detailed spreadsheet of my workouts, and my average hours in workouts per week from November through June 15th was 8 hours and 11 minutes.  This is a big and a small number.  The guys who are winning the age group may train over 25 hours in a week.  My biggest week was 14.5 hours. 8 hours a week is probably low for someone wanting to finish the race without walking or injuring themselves on race weekend.

Iron distance racing is about the journey.  The journey requires avoidance of injuries by race day and then gaining the fitness to perform.   I experienced overuse injury after overuse injury.  From hip pain, to knee pain, to foot pain, to achilles pain it all came and went and came and went.  I felt my age and my mortality as I resurrected my running joints from a long hiatus.

The journey requires time and money.  After making that statement I jotted down the costs for each discipline of the race (swim, bike run).  I also tallied cost of gear, registration, reconnaissance trips, race weekend etc. I am embarrassed to say this but I spent the equivalent of a used Honda Civic on new gear, travel, maintenance etc etc.  I will say we created several fun couple, friend and family vacations out of the training trips and it doesn't feel like the money was wasted or poorly spent :)

The heart of ironman racing comes in the form of training.  You make a conscious, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly decision to commit.  This commitment for me began with documentation.  Early on, I purchased a Garmin 910XT and created a google doc to track the number of miles, minutes, elevation gain, speed, vertical feet per mile and percentage in each discipline both a motivation and and a check to be sure I wasn't shorting myself in required miles and hours.  There is a certain satisfaction and confidence that comes from logging that data after each workout.

My source and bible for all things training was a book I purchased first thing, Going Long was the end all be all of my training.  Some people hire personal trainers and coaches.  This, I think, is ideal and will lead to better overall results and times, but for me I wasn't sure I was ready to spend money in that way and I also wanted to understand for myself the science and requirements of my training.  I am happy with how things turned out, but always in the back of my mind was the question of whether I'd made a mistake in not hiring a coach...The book was phenomenal and was spot on.  Down to calculating my target heart rates, pace planning, meal preparation etc etc this book nailed it...

The cycling was the easiest to commit to.  To be on the bike is a joy.  The distance of these training rides required another level of commitment, but from the time spent in the basement watching episode after episode of Justfied for 5 hours or on a ride from my house to the top of immigration and back--the cycling was good times.  My true breakthrough in cycling training was embracing the trainer.  My usual life plan is to vegetate during the winter, gain 15 pounds and then start to chip away at the weight and regain the form starting in March or April.  This year was different.  2-5 hour trainer rides became the norm--and I caught up on several shows and movies I wouldn't have otherwise seen :)  In total, as a lead up to the event I logged 2500 miles on my new Cervelo P2.  This eclipsed my previous high in yearly cycling miles by about 700 miles.  I also came to begrudgingly appreciate the discipline of riding a TT bike in rolling to flat terrain for speed.

Running has never been a love of mine.  Running has always been a means to an end.  Run to get in shape for soccer and football.  Run as punishment for misbehavior at soccer and football practice.  Do not run more than is absolutely required.  But training for the ironman began to instill in me the benefits and positives of running.  The time required for a good hard satisfying workout is shorter than a bike ride.  You are putting in a harder effort from the get go and can only slow your effort so much without moving to an outright walk.  Have no illusion, the running monotony was tempered by listening the Brandon Mull's 'Beyonders', George Martin's, 'A Dance with Dragons' and various playlists...We did not own a treadmill at the time so all runs were done in the outdoors.  Rain, Sun or Snow the runs continued.  There is a certain satisfaction to bundling up, cinching down your hood and strapping on cleats to your shoes and running in the snow.  Those runs especially gave the feel of determination and dedication to the task that lay months in advance. Over that 8 month period I ran 600 miles--having gone from 0 running miles per year for a decade...

Swimming!  I've always loved goofing around in a pool and I grew up doing just that--a lot.  Never, however, did I swim competitively or take lessons in swimming form. This was the most difficult discipline to consistently stick to.  Every trip to the pool, every entry into the water required an extra push.  From the cold water temperatures, to the extra time of driving and changing clothes there was little to like about swimming until the swim began.  Amy purchased a pair of MP3 headphones that work under water and once the swim began I could settle in and appreciate the beauty of the discipline.  The whole body workout, the muscle groups strengthened that normally weren't, the cardiovascular fitness achieved, and the constant work to hone and improve your position in the water.  These times in the pool--more than any other--were solitary.  At times discouraging and at times very satisfying to achieve new goals at a discipline I'd never experienced...

The lead up to the race began with my experience at the 70.3 Ironman St. George.  I haven't previously written about this event, but I loved it.  It felt like the perfect distance for my training.  The swim was intimidating as my first open water swim event.  The bike was gorgeous but challenging with a lot of climbing.  The run was exhilarating with crowds lining the streets and the red rocks all around. The St. George Ironman was emotional, fulfilling and fun.  That was not the case in Coeur D'Alene.  Where St. George was exhilerating Coeur D'Alene was taxing, where St. George was emotionally positive, Coeur D'Alene was emotionally demanding.  Now it may be that I could have gone harder at St. George and seen the stress and fatigue manifest to a greater degree, however, I'm not sure that's true as I fininshed in the same spot at both events with a similar size field.  50th in my age group and 250th overall.

My write up about committing to an ironman event 12 months ago incorporated heavily my journey to this point with Joseph Lee.  We began this journey together and we had an amazing experience in St. George, but for personal and important reasons he wasn't able to continue the journey to Coeur D'Alene.  We will continue to push ourselves in life together and I'm sure have many adventures in our future...

 After St George, I took a week of downtime and began my final build phase of training in preparation for the big event.  This final phase was a mixed bag of physical achievements and physical setbacks.  Not until just prior to heading to Coeur D'Alene did I experience any IT band pain.  And not until a run this week (4 months later) have I run without a knee band and without IT band pain.  My experiences with running overuse injuries is another story unto itself for another blog post that I probably won't write, but the IT band was the thing I battled going into race week and became a source for doubts as to whether I would actually be able to enter the and finish the race.

Some of my favorite memories of the training periods came from course surveillance with long time friends and new acquaintances.  From swimming with long time friends in 52 degree weather at Sand Hollow to Riding the 110 mile course at Couer D'Alene with new friends, the heart of the experience was in these moments with friends of working towards a common goal and doing so in difficult but exhilarating and new ways...

Race week began with Suzuki institute here at home.  Institute is hard to explain to those who haven't participated.  It is high stress with master classes for the kids lead by college professors and with requirements to practice in between sessions. Gratefully I was tapering for the race and I spent a lot of time at work and at institute with the kids.  Ideally race week is spent with little stress and in acclimatization at the race site. Life however happens and times with the kids at institute can be precious and frustrating all rolled into one.

On Thursday Jonny (my brother newly returned from South Carolina) and I loaded up in my Civic and we headed to Coeur D'Alene.  The drive becomes increasing gorgeous the closer you get the Couer D'Alene lake and city.  It was pouring rain as we entered the lake catchment area and visions of a very cold start on the bike were flashing before my eyes.  It was such a great time with Jonny there at my side.  He wasn't sure he would be able to come with me to the race, but it was a very meaningful gesture on his part come and he literally pushed me to complete at my very best in the final stages of the marathon.  I will forever remember his willingness to support me during those taxing and exhilerating days and hours before and during the race.

In the days leading up the race we met up with Kevin Abbott--my neighbor--with whom I trained during the last 8 months.  Our training partnership was a unique one as we rarely physically worked out together but we had weekly and sometimes daily contact about every aspect of our experience and preparation.  He and I were also at every surveillance trip together.  He is a great guy and will remain a life long friend.

Race week is the tug of managing nerves, getting to required events, assuring perfect event planning and honing your physical form. Triathlon is a logistical nightmare.  For the OCD type like me it is the perfect event to check and check and recheck and check a final time.  So many moving parts and needs for each discipline and then it all needs to packed into tight spaces and ready to go...

The race was on a Sunday and Saturday was filled with a warmup swim, bike, run then check-in of the bike and running gear that would be waiting at the transitions the next day.  Amy and Michael flew in on Saturday and it was really wonderful to have them arrive, take them on a quick tour and let Michael play at the indoor waterpark at our Hotel.  Jonny was Michael's best friend as he took him up the 3 flights of stairs over and over as I was trying to 'save' my legs for the next day's events...

Friday was spent watching movies and attending the official banquet.  I had a slight panic during World War Z thinking about possibly drowning during the swim.  Those killer fast zombies didn't help my emotional state.

Anyways, the evening before as I sat with Amy, Kevin, Kevin's wife Sarah at the waterpark we reiterated that we were just ready to get this thing over, but that it was crazy to think that the singular focus of the last 8 months were coming to an end and life would be vastly different in about 24 hours...

At 4 am Sunday morning it was fairly light in Couer D'Alene.  We could see well to take pictures and survery our surroundings.  The crush of people in the morning, the nervous energy of the athletes and the feelings of that morning are not often experienced.  In my mind, the most difficult part of the ironman is just deciding that you are willing to toe the start line.  It seems crazy to train and try for it, but such a cool experience once you settle in.

The water temp was 64 degrees and when we arrived there was fog covering the water and we couldn't actually see all the bouys.  It was slightly daunting and eerie.  At this stage I used the facilities, kissed Amy and Michael, took some pictures, hugged Jonny and settled in with  friends to await the start of the race.

The start of an ironman is a strange time in our skin tight wetsuits with goofy looking caps, goggles and ear plugs inhibiting normal interactions.  People range from swimming in the water, stretching, grinning stupidly to staring dazedly out at the water.  The gun went off and the rolling start went well.  Within minutes we had streamed through the start gates and were swimming.  Surprisingly, I enjoyed the swim.  The distance is one that is daunting on paper and in your mind, but I'd done this distance in training over and over in the pool.  (I can't say that for the run as I'd never in my life run longer than 14.5 miles at one sitting until the day of the race--more on that later.)  Swimming is unique in that way as you CAN replicate the total swim distance over and over.  This is not true of the run at all and not really of the bike as the 112 mile bike and 26 mile runs are total injury pitfalls and are usually not attempted in the lead up to the race.

Once you get over the washing machine effect of the swim start you can settle in and do your thing.  I was not a fast swimmer in the pool, but the combination of the wetsuit, the adrenaline and the draft benefits lead to a PR in both the St. George swim and then the Coeur D'Alene swim...At the St. George 70.3 swim (1.2 miles) I clocked in at 35:30.  At Couer D'Alene I clocked my first lap at 33:10 (1:43/100m) and it felt great.  I found myself passing the time by naming all the reasons I love Amy and all the sacrifices she'd made for me to get to this point.  The rest of the time was spent rolling over other competitors, sighting to maintain proximity to buoys and ideally maintaining a draft (whenever I could actually tell if people were next to me:)  My second lap was a bit slower at 36:01 but I was ecstatic at my time of 1:09:11 as I stumbled off the beach and into transition.

I quickly changed into my yellow jersey (presumptuous I know, but great for visibility and for my family as they spectated...), arm warmers, vest and hopped onto P2 loaded down with EFS goo, rockstar super sours, salt tabs, water and ibuprofen/tylenol.  I didn't see Jonny, Amy and Michael as I headed out but they were cheering with video as I came out of the chute to the road.  I settled in with the plan to have an absolute max heart rate of 165 during the race and and average of 150 for the course of the 112 miles.  This happened exactly as my garmin data showed an average HR of 150 and a max of 166--this with 5400 vertical feet of climbing over the two loop course.  I clocked in at 5 hours 41 minutes and an average of 19.67 mph.  My first loop was a 2:45 which put me on track for a 5:30 bike, but I scaled back the second loop to assure an ability to maintain my exertional and HR goals--with ultimate hope of finishing the marathon strong.

At bike end, I took my ibuprofen and tylenol, downed more EFS goo and took in a bit more rockstar.  Over the course of the bike I attempted to take in between 200-400 cal/hour and I think I got close to 1800 calories overall--including approx 250 mg of caffeine.

It was a strange sensation starting the run.  I had on my Hokas, north face hat, shorts, shirt and race belt (equipped with two 400 calorie EFS goo.)  What I forgot was my knee strap.  Luckily 4 miles in Jonny came along with my bag of backup items and handed my a second band.  Whether just psychological, that band sure felt good to get synched up...

My run was my run.  It started strong (for me) on pace for a 3:40 marathon but I began to hit a wall that I'd never hit before.  Throughout the marathon, I alternated goo & water at one mile station and coke at the next station.  I would walk the station long enough to down the nutrition and start up again jogging.  As I stated before, my longest run ever was 14.5 miles prior to the event. In an ideal world I would have run 18 miles 3-4 weeks before, but my IT band could barely manage the 13 mile brick run after the 160 miles of cycling on that weekend.  Going into the day I figured my cardiovascular fitness was there, but my joints and run specific muscles would be at the greatest risk of giving out.  It was a beautiful thing to see Michael and Amy at the 13 mile marker and give her a kiss and him a high 5 before heading out on the final loop!

Those last 10 miles were very difficult.  I wasn't going all out, but mentally and muscularly I knew that if I pushed any bit more I would have to start walking and my mile/minute time would balloon out of control.  Jonny brought his bike and would leap frog me every 1/4 to 1/2 mile or so early on and take pictures and yell out encouragement.  From mile 20-24 he was leap frogging every several 100 yards as he could see the emotional, physical toll of the event in my every body cue.  Thanks in part to him though, I didn't stop and outright walk the final miles.

I finished with a 4 hour marathon and 11:03:02 overall--placing me 45th in my age division and 247th overall.  I would say I was ecstatic with that time and my performance, but all I could think about were the black spots that had developed in my peripheral vision, the lightheadedness, nausea and abdominal cramps that overwhelmed me at the finish.  A volunteer walked me to my medal, a space blanket and the food.  I downed chocolate milk, coke, pizza, ice cream and slowly attempted not vomit it all back out.  I made a beeline to the lake and sat in the water. My ideally exhilarating emotions at having achieved my goals for this test were severely tempered by the overwhelming nausea and abdominal discomfort.

I started this write up one week before after we left for Couer D'Alene (and finished it four months later) and different aspects of the experience continue to settle in.  Before and after the race Amy talked of how proud she was of me and how cool the experience was.  However, last night (four months ago) as she felt the weight of lessons, practices, getting kids packed for the next trip she wasn't in the same flowery mood.  I asked her some philosophical question about the race and she didn't want to talk about it.  Her answer was blunt and true and has had me thinking.  She said, 'I've never done anything that took 10 hours a week for myself.'  'There are lots of things you can do in life that are worthwhile--that help others.'  Admittedly, I caught her at a stressful moment with the kids and before and after that moment she's expressed definite excitement and pride in our accomplishment (the accomplishment was definitely ours as she sacrificed those times when I would take five or more hour training days...)

There is something meaningful in the pursuit of excellence.  Pushing your body and mind to new heights seems to tap into an emotional, physical and even spiritual reserve as you learn more about yourself and what you can accomplish.  I hope that the time and dedication I spent to achieve what I did over the last year will make me a better father, husband and person.

I added this video.  It's more meant for family and friends as it's a bit long...but here it is :)

ironman CDA 2013 1 from paul frandsen on Vimeo.