IronMan Coeur d'Alene 2021

The Short Story

 

The very short story is that this was the hardest race I have done.  It was my 28th Iron Man and I have finished over 200 triathlons, running races and swim competitions.   

I have now raced in what I hope will be the coldest wettest race, Iron Man Ireland, AKA Iron Man cork. That day it was 55 degrees and pouring rain with a big Gale blowing in the Atlantic which scratched the swim. Coeur d’Alene was the opposite extreme with temps reaching 100 in the shade, and road surface temperatures near 130. The hottest most brutal race I have ever done and a slow record for me. Even Kona when it's hot is not as intense as it was on June 27th. That high temperature did however produce a perfect temperature for a wet search swim of 70F, no one could have complained about that, and the water was almost flat.

 

I am going to Kona for # 16. 

 

The Run Up and Some Observations.  

 

The forecast for the weekend certainly prepared us for the high temperatures and going into the race I was dialing back my expectations for a finish time. I think in more reasonable temps say low 80s I would have finished that course in about 13 1/2 hours, two hours less. I may be dreaming about that a bit in the I am almost two years older, now 75, than the last time I raced an Iron Man.

 

Training for this race was hard, mentally hard especially.  Again it might be age or simply I have being doing this too long. I don’t feel that way today now doubt buoyed by overcoming a lot of adversity and an ego trip.  As the oldest finisher I was interview at the awards by Mike Riley, and have it on video here.  

 

The training started back in earnest last October on a wing and a prayer.  The prayer was that by June 2021 we would be racing again, I signed up for the race the day I got notification that registration was open.  3,400 people were on the start list in April this year, a combination of transfers from 2020 and new registrants.  By April I was logging long days in the saddle and simulating race day with a 4000m swim, 100 mile ride and 10k run.  The idea behind this is that if you can run well after the ride and pick up the pace on the run after about 15 min you have your pacing, nutrition and hydration dialed in.  No need to run much more than an hour.  I had not forgotten what worked.  However as race day approached and started to look more and more like it would be hot a hell I had to modify the fueling plan.  The goal was to get down as much as I could on the bike before it got much about 80 then drink to thirst and fuel only on easy to digest stuff (I make my own rice cakes, they are great in cooler weather but I did not chance trouble towards the end of the ride. Watching so many people puking over guard rails and bridge abutments helped keep me to my new plan.  

 

The big heroes of the day we're certainly the volunteers especially those who are out on the bike course in the middle of nowhere with no cooling air coming off the lake. For all of them it must have been a wicked hard day and they worked hard as well doing their best to keep us cool.   I heard more people thanking them than ever before, they were greatly appreciated.

 

I had a few firsts this race. Never before have I actually stopped at an age station with both feet. I did that at least four or five times and the routine was the same grab a bottle of water and pour it all over me grab another bottle of water drink close to half of it and put the rest again on me. Then depending on the station, I might get a bottle of Gatorade for my empty bottle cage and then press on. 

 

The run starts at the lake, winds it way its way thru a residential area for the first two miles and then back along the lake for another 2.  Going into the race I thought, if necessary, I would hop in and cool off. I had thought about that idea in Kona years ago going for a dip along the energy lab Rd, the only place you could do that. In this race it was probably four different places we could go into the water, I went in four times. I was both lucky and clever with that idea, lucky in that someone on the beach for the day offered to take my photograph in the water and she sent me the picture, and clever after the first dip I realized I could combine a pee and dip at the same time, marginal gains.

 

The Details

Swim

 

The swim start iwas like all Ironman's in the last year where we had a very long rolling start with two people being released every 5 seconds. It took 90 minutes to get all of us off. I was all over the place on when to start.  We were supposed to seed ourselves by swim speed and I guess I did not break the rule too badly and set off with the back end of the one hour to 1:10 wave. At best I would have finished the swim and about 1:18.

 

So, the swim was not like the good old days where 18 to20 thousand people took off all at the same time.  We were strung out like a link of sausages all the way around the course, little groups forming after a couple of 100 meters and working their way around.  It was two loops, and I did quite well on the 1st loop with a 39-minute split.  Then my old problem of cramping cropped up and that slowed me down to a 45-minute 2^nd loop split. I am getting better at dealing with these cramps and in some ways basically ignoring them and keeping my arms moving. Back in the day I would stop to try and work the cramp out. I have learned that even a severe cramp does not destroy my muscles and once out of the water I rarely have problems with cramps after that.

T1

 

So, after a nice comfortable swim the air temperature had risen enough to be noticeable but still not seriously hot. The time was now about 7:30 as I got through transition probably quicker then had there been changing tents, but it was still slow. But really no worries at this point. I had one competitor in my age group who I knew 
well, and I knew he was probably ahead of me, he's a good swimmer. But after swimming Richard’s speed goes downhill fast.  We have raced together more times than I can remember and I have finished hours ahead of him. And to further ease the pressure he already had a Kona slot.  I knew all I had to do was finish. But I still had an ego and didn't want to let Richard beat me so I took off on the bike probably a little bit too hot but still well below what I would have targeted for a mild temperature day.

 

Bike

The first part of the bike was an out and back thru town, along the lake and back through the town. I tucked into Brunch, my Allan Lym inspires Denver Rice Cake as I got to the lake and started drinking.  There is one sharp short hill going and coming and coming back past T1. I averaged about 19 miles an hour with a power output of about 155 watts. As I said a bit too much power but not crushing. On the far side of T1 and the finish area the road stayed flat for maybe another three or four miles and then the hard work started. The first hill had an average 7% grade with a Max of about 8.1 and stretched from 1.4 miles, my gearing which had me a bit worried would not be easy enough was just OK, see sidebar.  Again, I was pushing a bit more power for a reason. I rationalized that I should push more power on the 1st loop while it was still cool and then back off so that I didn't overheat trying to get up these hills later in the day. After a short little bit of rolling road the second hill approached which is much longer but not as steep averaging 1.8 percent with a Max of about 4.1 total distance 7.5 miles. Some more rollers followed, and then we turned around. The dissents were fast and almost too fast and for sure quite a few of the people on the course we're not taking full advantage of that hill, sitting up, hands on brakes. Since at the turn around we were at the top of the second hill outbound there was only one to climb coming home.  I was surprised to see two athletes walking near the top of that first climb, I am sure wrong gearing.

 

I was feeling good at this point.  The temperatures were beginning to inch up, but they had not becoming oppressive yet. So going down the last hill into town I was feeling happy. The second loop was exactly a repeat of the first one.  I was surprised to see the leading male pro’s (later learned it was Sam Long from down the road in Boulder) running along the lake but then I remembered they started at 5, swim and bike a lot faster than I do.   As I came back through town I started to think about the rest of the day. The temperatures were clearly approaching an uncomfortable level and I decided to dial back the intensity to a Zone 1. Heading out of town for the second time up the big hills the temperatures really were ramping up quickly and on that first hill I felt like I was in a pizza oven. Going down the other side didn't feel an awful lot better.  The next longer hill really started to feel uncomfortable. That was when I decided it was time to start stopping at every aid station and take an ice water shower. That slowed my pace but it was essential. On the return to T2 I would describe even going down the hills as feeling like I was in a blast furnace there was nothing cooling about the breeze that was in my face even at 40 miles an hour. It was going to be an ugly rest of the day.

 

I certainly did not need any external images to make me realize how brutal this race was becoming but they were in plain sight, bodies were literally all over the place some hanging over guardrails or over the edge of a bridge puking, others staggering up the hills on their feet and a few being looked after by volunteers or good Samaritans until the ambulance arrived, it was looking ugly. I might note I have never seen anything like that before in any race, even wet hyperthermic Ireland or steamy Kona. In Ireland I think the smart tactic for someone who was seriously cold was to try and keep going until they saw an ambulance and then shout for help. Otherwise, if they stopped, they would freeze.

 

T2 

Transition was slow when I looked at my results.   I don't remember it being so and that probably said something about the state of my mind already. I felt I had been a good boy and had being hydrating and fueling appropriately. My Denver rice cakes had slid down nicely while I was eating them. I had also downed a few of the newfangled gels they were serving on the course.  I had tried them on two long rides in training but this time they did not taste as good, perhaps the heat.  

 

I had not peed since coming out of the water and that did worry me There didn't seem to be any sign of a need as I walked out of T2 and walked most of the first mile. In addition to knowing that all I had to do was finish, I also had in the back of my mind that I would be racing again in five weeks at the USAT national championships. So,I didn't want to beat up my legs running too much. At least that was the plan going in.  I probably still would have walked the first mile and done the same amount of walking even if I was desperately trying to hold off competition, the legs didn't feel particularly good, it was now way to bloody hot.

 

Run

The run for the most part is flat there are a few short uphill sections none of which are steep and one longer very gradual climb on the way back into the town. It's a three loop or perhaps I should say three out and back legs. There was lots of opportunity to spot competition see friends and given that most everyone by the time I left T2 were walking, lots of opportunity to chat. I got good at that on Sunday. I left my first friendly chatty athlete a little past the first mile mark and started my run walk routine. In better conditions and more competition, I would have been trying to run for 40 seconds and walk twenty. I started out with 30/30. And that worked well through the town where there was lots of shade. Once out along the lake there were some small trees but not a lot of shade and the 30/30 became more like 20/40. Sometimes when I got into a good conversation the walk would stretch out for several minutes. As you can tell I was in no rush, but I was also extremely hot and at the first beach went in for a dip. I got some strange looks from residents of the neighborhood when I walked into the water with my shoes on in my skin tight try suit.

 

I muddled along the outbound walking path and alternated between two-to-three-minute chats while walking and then maybe 5 to 10 minutes of my run/walk routine.  This was not a normal Ironman routine for me but in hindsight it was helping time pass quickly taking my mind off bad things with all that conversation. I was also doing what my good friend Will Murray suggested to me a few years back. Before the race I mentally placed friends and family, some who are no longer in this world (parents), and some still alive around the course and imagined what they might say to encourage me, or not.   Then recalling what they would be saying to me as I walked past them.  It's a great trick to keep the mind calm. And I was also following a longstanding piece of advice and only looking one mile ahead of me at a time.  Bobby McGee (USAT High performance coach) kept flashing in front of me every time I started running with the key advice he gave me when I first came to Boulder.

 

One thing that was interesting was I was averaging about a nine minute per kilometer pace when I went into the water spending upwards of two minutes getting to it from it and in it.  This obviously slowed my pace down, but I made up for that with a much better walking and running pace for about 10 minutes after each dip. This tactic was certainly a great survival one, I was telling everyone I talked to about it, I don't know if anyone actually followed my advice but one guy said he really would, so I think he was in there.

 

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We were certainly roasting by the 2nd loop it was probably about four in the afternoon maybe closer to 5 and the temperature is hitting its peak.  I have certainly never seen so many people walking and some staggering. Not that I was at this point feeling all that brilliant myself but the two or three more dips into the lake kept reviving me and the people in the residential area we passed through were wonderful with hoses running water out on us all afternoon. I don't know what's going to happen with these races if global warming continues its present course and in places like CdA and Colorado start running out of water. We may not have any races, not that that will be important under those circumstances.

 

Approaching the 13 mile mark a little spring came back in my step and for the first time I began to feel confident that I would make it to the finish line. I did know for sure that**** could still happen so I was continuing to play it safe hop in lake soak under the garden hoses as much as I could and take my mind off by talking to as many people as I could.  As I as I got back into town I fell in with a gentleman who was clearly having a much harder day than I was and he was kind of bending the rules a little bit, he had a friend walking with him who is not racing. I don't know exactly how long they stayed together but I know it was probably longer than they should.  I bent the rules as well this non athlete asking if he could tell me how I was doing against my competition. And, to my surprise he couldn't find him in the athlete tracker, I learned later he'd been disqualified so I was on my own the oldest athlete in the race.

 

That news probably slowed me even more as now for sure the only thing that mattered was finishing. It was tough following the arrows that directed you to another lap but was also satisfying knowing that the next time I would be following the finish arrow. Temps were beginning to drop not much but they were going down. I still went in for one more dip and lucky for me someone offered to take my photograph as I mentioned earlier. I'm rather disappointed in myself but I can't remember very many of the conversations I had other than I was probably being a bit of noxious giving out all kinds of unsolicited advice. I have over the last year taken the view that I have a right now to give advice even unsolicited, old and experienced.

 

The last lap was a bit of a blur until the adrenaline started to kick back in about a mile from the finish, I resisted the temptation to even try and run that last mile figuring I'd hold what I had left for the last 200 yards. What I didn't know as I turned the corner onto the last stretch and could see the finish line was that my landlady and her husband, Kirk and Shannon, had come into town, they had been watching me earlier, but I didn't see them, and they had their video camera going as I first walked then ran down the last three 400 yards to the finish (zipping up my top adjusting my hat and trying to fly right.

 

I plan to share that video with some of my coaching friends because I sure didn't look good running to the finish line I was in the classic *** in the bucket posture bent over at the shoulders as you can see if you click on the link. I thought I was looking better; I was certainly trying to look my best but clearly to no avail.

 

One piece of unsolicited advice I will give to anyone crazy enough to keep doing Ironman’s into their middle 50s and beyond be sure and have someone to help you once you cross the finish line to get home. I did not have Ingrid with me, but Kirk and Shannon found me quickly behind the finish line and took me under their wing.  Not only that they waited for me for 30 minutes while I got checked out in the medical tent and then one of them drove me home. Tri Bike Transport looked after my bike (see sidebar). The last few miles of the run I could feel the onset of some dizziness, it never came too almost falling but I did not feel steady until that adrenaline rush over the last quarter mile, so I am lucky I had someone to drive me home. 

 

For the first time in my life doing these events when I hit the pillow I was out like a light switch. Every prior race I would struggle to get to sleep sometimes not managing it for two to three hours. Unfortunately, I only stayed asleep for about four hours and then went through my inability to sleep getting up at about 6:00 o'clock having slept 5 hours. I guess we get emotionally excited about these things. 

 

The mission accomplished even if it was slow but then OMG I have to do another one. Yes, I know I don't have to but how can you turn down a Kona slot

 

The awards as usual started with the youngest age groups and reasonably quickly worked their way down towards me. My ego was thinking this really is backwards they should give the awards to old geezers like me first when the biggest crowd is still there. However, the crowd did not seem to thin at all as the awards were given out. When I got up the crowd was pretty much the same.  I was somewhat anticipating that Mike Riley might ask me some questions about my race a tradition for the oldest winner. And just as I thought he was not going to do that he did and a lady who I had asked to take photographs of me had the presence of mind to turn on my video on my phone so I have the whole interview about 90 seconds of it that you can find in the link here.

 

Then in my fuddled mind I thought well I'm done, and I started to walk to my car when I saw this group of people sitting behind a desk and suddenly realized I was almost walking away from my Kona slot.  I turned around and sat back down to wait. That was when I realized why there were so many people still at the awards. Iron Man had announced three weeks before the race that they were increasing the slots to 150 the day before the race they announced they were adding another 50. No race since Iron Man Canada back at least 10 or 12 years ago had 200 slots been given out in one race when we had far fewer Iron Man events. The athletes who did this race and finished had covid to thank for this. Many races had been cancelled and so Iron Man is trying to get anybody who's willing to suffer in Kona to sign up and there was this large group of people hoping to do just that. It's going to be very interesting to see the results of this race coming up in October.

 

With number 28 in the bag and number 29 on the horizon I want to get to 30 before I think of turning in the towel. With some luck and some hard training between now and October that could be Kona in 2022 should I win the race this October. It is certainly not going to be the same level of competition for me. It does not look like the chap who beat me five years ago, same age, will be coming to Kona from the Netherlands. His favorite qualifying race is Ironman Frankfurt and that is being postponed until almost October and many of the other races in Europe or following the same fate. Not that I don't have some good competition from the US athletes but none of those athletes have beaten me in the past. As one of my early friends in the sport said to me early in our career as we looked at the podium for our age group we're just going to have to outlast the bunch. Sadly, I don't think he has outlasted them, but I've been lucky, very lucky.