craigmwilson.net

I had two goals for my performance at Ironman Coeur d'Alene going into the day. The first was a very simple line I told myself over and over again and to anyone else that asked: "no highs, no lows, no walking". The second which I kept a bit closer was a time goal: 10 hours 30 minutes. After biking some and driving all of the course in the days prior to the race I wasn't sure this would be possible as the bike course was hillier and overall slower than I expected. I am happy to write that I did accomplish both those goals.

Swim

The energy on the beach was intense. 2,400 people like me eager with anticipation to get underway the event they had planned at least a year for, helicopters circling the sky, the speakers cranking out Eminem's Lose Yourself (on the playlist to the right) and the familiar voice of Mike Reilly stirring up the crowd up. I lined up five feet back from the front on the middle-right of the beach. I am not a good enough swimmer to justify this position but I figured what the heck, I'm probably going to get clobbered either way, I might as well put myself in position to try and hold some fast feet.

The start actually wasn't as rough as I expected it to be. There was a lot of contact but nothing that hurt. I consciously swam with one arm always out in front in defense of my face but still had my goggles jolted enough to fill with water twice, necessitating a quick stop to fix them. The water being so clear helped a lot with the traffic. I could see well enough in front of me that when I saw I little gap open I would sprint through and get some breathing room.

The two turn buoys, in contrast, was a full on cage match. Approaching the buoys I bet the width of the pack was about 100 feet, somehow all those swimmers compressed into about 15 feet and made there way around. Considering I didn't see anyone slow down or stop, I think it happened in vertical layers; I simultaneously had people over me, under me and arms groping all over. The gap I had in front for my 6'2", 190lb body to go through was about 6". I just made sure I had an extra breath or two and went for it each time. 1:13, a little slower than I had hoped.

The water temperature that was the talk of the town in the weeks prior turned out to not be an issue for me at all. Swimming at the lake for the first time Friday was hell for the first three minutes until your face, hands and feet numbed out, then was fine. I decided I was Ok without swim socks but definitely appreciated the neoprene cap. On Sunday the announced temperature was 59.5F degrees. Given the choice, I would say 70 would be ideal for a wetsuit swim, but at no point did I ever feel cold and my feet were fine out of the water running to transition, which was my biggest concern ahead of time.

The only drama on the day came from the wet-suit strippers. Seems I picked an overly aggressive one as he shredded the bottom of my two-piece DeSoto yanking it. Well, he did get it off quick, anyway, so thank you. But I am still afraid to open the bag and look at it.

Bike

I was quite surprised by just how hilly the course was: about 2,500' elevation gain per lap. It seemed as if there was always another hill waiting around the bend - which there also were many of. The opportunities to just rip on a flat section were very limited. The only long and flat section was the main road heading back into town. Unfortunately, a fairly substantial headwind slowed that considerably. It was nothing more than what we in Boulder experienced every Saturday all Spring but it still was a headwind for many miles. I got stung by some large insect in the stomach early on and it ached for many miles, three days later I still have a big welt.

After passing a lot of people over the first 15 miles the road was substantially less crowded. I got in a groove where I would pass someone every minute or so and then jockeyed back and forth with the same three guys for many miles. Riding through downtown after both laps was great as the crowd was fantastic. At one point I was wondering how everyone knew my name to yell out, until I remembered it is written on the numbers.

I believe a big key to riding well is climbing smart. It was amazing to watch others not even 20 miles into the ride sprinting out of the saddle up the first set of hills. They surely would feel that muscle-draining effort later in the day. When approaching a hill I would tuck and let the momentum carry me as far up as possible, then stay seated at a high cadence and comfortably churn up until punching it hard cresting the top. Every time I would be with a group at the bottom of one of the long climbs I would always be far ahead of them by the next climb. Not once did I lift my butt off my seat to ascend a hill. I switched my rear gearing from the 11-23 to a 12-25 after seeing the course but in retrospect I wish I had left on the 11, since I never used the 25.

I was able to keep up a decent pace on the course, the bike was mechanically flawless and, most importantly, I was very comfortable riding in my aero-bars throughout the 112 miles (minus the hills). Over the course of the ride I ate about 1300 liquid calories of Infinit, 9-10 PowerGels, 1 PowerBar, half a banana, water and Gatorade. 5:24 split.

I got through the second transition in 1:45, seems quick when I read it now, but it didn't at the time. I sat down, had to rip open the bag since I couldn't untie the knot, put on my socks, fumbled through putting on and then setting my Garmin GPS watch, guzzled half a bottle of mix 1, thanked my personal attendee and was off. Regrettably I forgot to reapply some sunscreen.

Run

The Garmin would be the only digits I would look at all day (I don’t even have a basic computer mounted on my bike) and that I had programmed to only display my current pace and my last mile split. My goal was to try and hold the first two numbers to seven and four. I was successful at that a few times, none of which came on the second lap. My left hamstring that hobbled me so much all last year was not an issue. Neither was the pain I had in my right knee for the last two weeks other than making me feel a bit sluggish from only running once (5K in the 5430 Sprint triathlon) because of it in the 12 days prior.

The run was fairly hot, at each aid station I would squeeze the sponge they provided down my shorts and then tuck it either under my visor, on my upper back or over my heart. I also emptied many cups of ice down my shorts. It helped to cool me as well as wash away... well, let's just say I was very well hydrated and I never stopped in a porta-potty.

I got to see all of my friends at least once on the course and our fantastic, large and loud cheering section several times. And several cheers for, "go Boulder!" as I was wearing Boulder Triathlon Club clothing all day. All of which definitely helped keep the brain focused and the legs moving.

On the second lap the plan was to just shut off the brain, keep moving and look down at my black HARDEN THE F*CK UP bracelet every couple of miles - that would be all I would need to know, of course it hurt, I wanted to slow down and stop but just HTFU and keep moving I told myself. There was a brutal, but thankfully short, hill to the out and back turn around. Man, did I struggle up that damn hill the second time around. From there I started chugging flat Coke at every aid station and never stopped to walk even one step. Just like what they say about smoking: best tip yet, don't start.

Coming down the last half mile and turning into the long downtown finishing stretch was awesome. I turned around to look behind me at the corner and a spectator told me "nobody within a block of you, soak it in, man!" I sure did. If only I could bottle that feeling! 3:44 marathon; a full hour improvement over my previous two iron triathlon run times: Silverman '06 and last year's hamstring clutching walk-fest Great Floridian.

A big congratulations to my friends and fellow participants B.J. and Jessica Gumkowski, Brian St. George, Mike Friesem and Bryan Reid. They all did great and smiled all the way to the finish! Thanks also to our cheer section of friends: Kristina, Petra, Brian, Dee, Suzanne, Hans, Jeanette, Jackie, Gordy and Holly. Your cheers were all heard and very much appreciated!

10:28:47 overall finishing time. I met my goal by 1 minute and 13 seconds.
[28/364 35-39 Age Group finishers (467 registered). Overall: 107/1,942 finishers. preliminary results]

A huge thank you to Christy, my wife and #1 supporter over the last year and our two girls. I definitely could not have done this without you.

post mortem : lessons learned : notes to self for next time
- learn how to swim! 85th overall bike split, 150 overall run split, 639 overall swim split. Ug.
- keep the Infinit in a rear bottle, not up front as I did after special needs. Too sticky and gets all over the place. I felt like a sticky mess the last 20 miles including behind my knees which made every pedal stroke like pulling velcro.
- keeping only water up front allows you to spit it back out over hot legs or sticky hands.
- pack a small ziplock with Assos chamois cream to reapply mid-way. Helps with the chaffing caused by peeing.
- first 3 miles on the run need to be slower: 8:20s, not 7:50s.
- consider stopping to stretch early in run.
- don't change the nutrition plan, or biking plan.
- don't be afraid to line up at front of swim. I'm big and it really doesn't matter.
- take the time to reapply the sunscreen.