IM Coeur d'Alene RR

Tom Evans(he's won this race before)

I think going out for the second lap

See the spectator on the right side informing me that I need to ride further LOL

Beautiful day for a run eh?

Nap time!

Elmo!!!

Curtis! (my buddy and training partner)

Cruisin along the lake running strong at this point(my fav. pic)

Curtis's family workin the aid station(thanks so much guys)

Finish!!

My #1 fan(very nice medal)

That'll do Pig!!

My mom and I in Seattle

In Seattle near Pike Place Market(two days after the race)

Hey there,

Well it's been almost 2 weeks since IM. I'm recovered and running already, actually went for a bike ride yesterday too!! I've had plenty of time to reflect. It's nice to not have to get the workouts done, but it also feels very empty. See this is the first time I haven't had another IM on the horizon in nearly 4 years. So it feels different for sure. That doesn't mean I'm not enjoying it either. I'm getting to do things I don't normally do, or at least more of it, and I want to do other things as well. I'm keepin up with the running. Anyways here's another RR and some pictures.

Swim:

I don't know if I've ever been this nervous before a start. I felt a lot of pressure, mostly from myself, but I think I also felt some from all the friends/family(which is kinda self induced as well. lol) I met Julie near the start and hung out with her a bit. I didn't get to see Curtis at all before the start. This year I made sure to get onto the beach a little earlier. I remember in 07 they didn't allow people into the water. I wanted to make sure to get used to the chilly water so I got there early. The water wasn't too bad though, it was actually comfy after a few minutes swimming. I lined up on the bouy line, this may have been a mistake. The last years I've done this at IMC because I could actually swim on the inside of the bouys(most people don't know this) but this year I didn't get far enough on the inside so there were too many people for me to get out by myself. Sorry hard to explain. So I waited for the cannon. It finally went after the national anthem. FINALLY, I was sooo nervous, almost in tears, now I can finally swim. "swim" as there were sooo many people, it was also a bit choppy out there. As we swam out the waves got bigger, finally maybe 200-300m out I could finally swim with out getting clobbered. As we got to the first corner there was a major traffic jam. Literally NO ONE could move, it was rediculous. People were getting angry/aggravated. We basically doggy paddled slowly around the corner as people from behind kept running into us as we tried to start swimming. I heard someone say "Calm down people we're all in this together", it was good advice and I think it actually helped lighten the mood. Somewhere around the second corner I suddenly got some water in my lungs and I had to stop and violently cough it out. I wasn't having fun at all!! I swallowed more and more water and I was becoming fatigued which made everything worse. Came out of the water in 33.5 minutes. Not too bad, but I had a bad feeling about the second lap. Mentally I was out of it and just wanted to quit. Half way out I suddenly decided I was done. So I swam out to a kayak and hung on. After a few minutes I tried to swim on and eventually came back to the same kayak. I think I mentioned at that point that I was done. I guess I really didn't look that bad(no risk of drowning) and still quite far up the field. I didn't see anyone else hanging onto boats at all. I felt like a fool, but I just couldn't go on, I just couldn't!! I was soo afraid of taking in more water, I was also afraid of the corners. Also soooo disappointed that I was already out of "the race". So the kayaker didn't really take me seriously. He was very supportive though, said I could hang on as long as I wanted and would even paddle with me if I wanted. Well eventually I swam further to the next kayak and held on longer. Eventually past the corners and made it back to shore in 1:15. I think I was a bit surprised, I thought it was worse. And to kinda explain, it wasn't the time so much that disappointed me. It was the fact that I didn't swim to my best ability, I gave up the race. That's what made me mad, I could have swam twice a week and swam 1:15, this was NOT my best, NOT even close. My goal was to be close to an hour, and if I'd done my best and still not done it, that would have been fine with me.

T1:

So I got out onto the beach, I was soo thankful. At times in the swim I actually wondered if I'd drown, yes I drank that much water. Also angry that WTC allows so many people into a narrow start like that. Part of me still wanted to drop out, but I didn't. The volunteers don't really let you, lol they rush you through everything starting with the strippers that take the suit off you and urge you through the transition. The tent is absolutely crazy, I just stood and changed into my cycling gear. Not too speedy, but not slow either. I got to say hi to Lisa and my mom as I ran out to the bikes. They were having a blast at the transition aid station. My mom actually got onto the video they showed at the Monday brunch.

Bike:

I felt awesome on the bike, not tired at all from the swim. I guess all that stopping helped as well as the crazy amount of swimming Chuckie made me do. Finally some benefit to that as my swim time certainly didn't show it. So what can I do, try to forget the swim, try to forget kona, I need to try and refocus. How do you have a good bike/run when you are wayyyyy too far behind to have a great finish??? Well right or wrong I kinda convinced myself I wasn't out of it yet. I made a conscence decision to go for it on the bike. I got nothing to loose, I've always run well off the bike(I've never run over 4 hours) and now I knew I needed a monster bike to get back into it. So I pushed almost from the start. Maybe a little hard?? But not too hard, my bike fitness was great!! There were lots of people to pass, a few passed me as well, but not many. I had a disc/404 combo and it was super fast. At times on the flats/downhills I could feel the disc slice through the wind and create the sail effect. I could also hear the wup wup wup echo in my helmet. lol Sooo cool, finally I'm comfortable cruising up and down the hills. I went through 3 bottles of infinit before the special needs. So I had to dip into the race aid station gaterade. A few gels as well since the gaterade was just the regular stuff and would not give me enough electrolytes/calories. I take on more calories then most people, here's the tally 6 bottles(260 cal) of infinit, maybe 3-4(100-150cal?) gaterade, 5-6(50-100cal?) gels, crazy eh??? That's just the bike. Finally got to meet Sonja, it was maybe 60k into the ride? Sonja if you're reading this, I got to see the message on the one hill grrrrrr grrrrr grrrr Go Sonja! Or somthing like that, ha ha I got a chuckle out of that!! Then later on just after special needs I passed Trevor, he looked good and we exchanged encouragement. It was warm, but not too hot, perfect really 27-28 degrees. I felt great through out the ride, didn't really have a weak spot like other IM rides. I think I'm finally getting the endurance and able to push my limits for the entire ride. Later on the passes were less frequent and it helped to know I was up with the top age group women. Made me feel better. I rode really well overall for that course(slower course than IMC) but still not fast enough to make up for the bad swim time. I came into transition, had to swing my leg over the bar twice as I misjudged the actual finish of the bike. It was further in then in 07. I saw Lisa, my mom, Greg as well. It helps so much as it gets boring out there and seeing family/friends really gives you a mental boost. Sorry I'm babbling. Onto the transition 5:23 bike time.

T2/Run:

The legs felt pretty good. I think out of my 4 IMs this is the best they've ever felt. I couldn't pee at all on the bike, so by now I had to go really bad. So after the quick change I hit up the john. Lisa and my mom were just out of transition. First few miles 7:30 pace, right where I wanted to be. It felt comfy, not too fast. I didn't take any of my own nutrition for the run. I think later I took a red bull that's it. Gaterade/water from aid stations and an occasional gel for the first 16-18 miles. Then for the last 10 or so I got into the coke. It helps settle the stomach, a change in taste, plus extra simple sugar mmmmm yummy. On the bike the bottles of infinit out of the special needs were actually warm. Yikes that was gross, I literally had to force it down. It was soo warm that it actually cooled off on my bike and in the wind. K back to the run. I ran 7:30s almost on the nose for the first 10-13 miles. I started to slow a bit after that. First walk break was at around 18 miles. I think I could have kept running if I was still in the game, but I just didn't have the desire to really hurt. I started walking through each aid station, then run to the next. It's a great way to break up the run into pieces when you're hurting. Looking at the watch I thought I could go under 10:20, but as I came into the finish I realized I couldn't quite do it. Oh well, still a 3 minute PB, not too bad, good come back and a 3:34 marathon. Clare was there at the finish as my catcher, it was great to see her. I wonder if she's signing up for next year.

Reflection:

This year I felt better finishing, I don't think I hurt myself as bad as last year. Maybe I would have run faster if I knew I was closer to 10 hours??? Who knows!! No med tent visit, and no throwing up, so that was nice. I'm still disappointed, no sub 10 no kona, but I overcame adversity, it def. ended well. Every race is so different, it never goes according to plan. Your success depends on your ability to deal with adversity. When one thing goes wrong you have to regroup, reassess. Find another reason to keep going. It's such a long day that you can easily(well not so easily as my PB goes down) make up for lost time even when somthing goes wrong.