Ironman Coeur d’Alene Race Report – Pre Race

Sure the training plan was 30 weeks, but the preperation was a lifetime. Granted, I was 33 years old the morning of race day. Therefor about 28 years of my lifetime were part of the experience leading up to the day but most likely had a negative effect on my fitness.

Anyway, this is about that one morning. The one day that I dreamed about for years and trained specifically for 30 weeks to achieve. That morning was my first Ironman. Ironman Coeur D’Alene 2009.

Read the rest of Ironman Coeur d’Alene Race Report – Pre Race here. (estimated 56 secs reading time)
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Ironman Coeur D’Alene – Swim

The start was not as crowded as I had imagined. Sure, it was crowded with 2,500+ people all jumping in the water at once. But I thought it was a suprisingly calm “chaotic” swim. The winds were pretty strong so the current was choppy, but it was a consistant chop. Easy to get in the groove or flow with. I consider the swim quite nice for anyone who has done atleast a couple open water swims.

Read the rest of Ironman Coeur D’Alene – Swim here. (estimated 58 secs reading time)
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Ironman Coeur D’Alene – Transition 1 and Bike

Out of the water, I didn’t know about the awesome volunteers that help with wetsuits and finding bags. It rocked! Transition at Ironman is like a full service, 5 star, accommodation. In a bit of a hurried voice I heard “714 (that was my name that day), lay down here, we’ll take care of your wetsuit” So I did, and they did. My wetsuit was off my legs and being handed to me. At the same time I hear volunteers hollaring “714″, they were getting my transition bag for me. The new yorker in me wanted to give them a tip, but the Ironman in me grabbed the bag, said a very appreciative thank you, and was on my way to change.

Read the rest of Ironman Coeur D’Alene – Transition 1 and Bike here. (estimated 3:36 mins reading time)
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Ironman Coeur D’Alene – Transition 2 and Marathon

In transition 2, the service was excellent again. I dismounted my bike, crossed the dismount line and somebody took my bike so I didn’t have to worry about it. I was again ushered to the changing tent and handed my transition bag.

In the changing tent, volunteers were there to help change shoes, massage out cramps, organize gear. It was pretty cool. I didn’t want to spend too much time in there as the bike already took me a full hour longer than I expected. That’s right, an HOUR LONGER than my target. Winds, cold, and strange pains led to the slow time. But again, I am not going to Kona this year, so really, I didn’t care. I was still out there to have fun.

Read the rest of Ironman Coeur D’Alene – Transition 2 and Marathon here. (estimated 3:02 mins reading time)
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Yoga for Runners pre Race

Given the race this weekend I decided to take today off from any crazy running or biking activity. Being the spose of an Ironman I almost feel as if a taper isn’t even legitimate for a sprint race, but heck, I took it anyway.

What I did do is take the opportunity to sneak away from our Friday Play Doh Happy Hour with our daughter and go sneak in a yoga class at Qi on Colfax. Dawnelle, owner of Seasons Fit/Qi, was guiding the class and boy was it awesome. Many of the folks present wre racing this weekend in one form or another of the Rattlesnake Tri so we focused on a Yoga for Runners type flow.

Read the rest of Yoga for Runners pre Race here. (estimated 58 secs reading time)
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Ironman CDA Transition 1

This is me finding my bike at Transition 1 during Ironman CDA. My support crew was waiting for me by my bike so I of course stopped to say a quick hello.

Apparently, I was having too much fun at this point in the race. Notice the volunteer who helped me find my bike. He told me I was having entirely too much fun for being in a race. To me, that is what it is all about. Fun, fitness, and healthy challenges.

Read the rest of Ironman CDA Transition 1 here. (estimated 34 secs reading time)
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For the love of the sport triathlon

I just finished a 600m open water practice swim at the Aurora Res. Aurora is great because they actually keep open water swim buoys set up just outside the swim area for racers to come train all summer.

This morning my friend Ali and I headed for the water only to be joined by close to 8 other women. We asked what they were training for and the answer was their own private tri.

Read the rest of For the love of the sport triathlon here. (estimated 46 secs reading time)
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Run, Spin, Run

This morning’s workout was bright and early at Qi on Walnut. It’s always amazing to head over to the gym at an early hour and see it busy.

Anyway, one of our dogs was up every hour last night with stomach issues but despite my strong desire to turn off my alarm at 5:50 this morning and skip the training session I didn’t. I got up and made it to the gym. Once I was there I was happy to have made the decision.

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Hot and Hilly at Bluff Lake

This is my taper week before doing a sprint triathlon(my first) on Sunday. I will be doing the Rattlesnake tri in Aurora with a group that I’ve been triathlon training with from Qi fitness in downtown Denver. So after my swim this morning Steve and I headed out for a short run.

Given the lack of trees in our neighborhood and the August sun we decided to drive to Bluff Lake Nature Center nearby and run mile loops around the lake. Our thought was it would be cooler and provide a fair amount of cloud cover.

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Swim Progress. Finally….

This morning as I swam back and forth and back and forth staring straight down at the black lane line below me I found myself wishing I was instead swimming in open water.

For me, this was a major break through as the swim portion of a triathlon has always been the dreaded start, necessary to suffer through so I can get on to the fun part. The idea of swimming indoors was never exciting, but it beat the alternative. The thought of having to submerge myself in murky water I can’t see in, then get hit or kicked by those around me all while trying to swim was more than I could handle. Add to that the claustorphobic of a wetsuit and I was a mess.

Read the rest of Swim Progress. Finally…. here. (estimated 57 secs reading time)
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