Ironman Coeur D'Alene 2013

Well, we're finally back home from our adventures, and I am now a 2 time Ironman Finisher. Although my day did not go according to plan at the end of the day I persevered and finished the darn thing. Our trip started going sideways before we even left Calgary. Unless you live under a rock, you would have heard about the flooding in Calgary. We planned on leaving for Fernie right after work on Thursday to break up the drive, but Thursday morning we woke up to flooding in Canmore, followed by all the cities and towns downstream of Canmore. The main highways were starting to flood, and I started to Panic. We had to be in Coeur D'alene by 4 pm friday or no race! Well with some major detours, 16 hours of driving, and a 6 hour stop over for sleep in Kalispell and we made it with 3 hours to spare.. PHEW!

Saturday was spent running errands, getting our gear checked in, and relaxing. We ate some pasta for dinner, dropped Rudy off with my Dad so we didn't have to worry about him the next day and went to bed around 9. Unfortunately that's also when my stomach started acting up. The alarm went off at 4, I drank some coffee, ate my peanut butter on bread and a banana, and sipped on some water, but nothing was sitting well. We got to the race around 5:30 am The organization at the race was top notch. No line ups for body marking, signs where to drop off our special needs, a quick stop at our bikes, and we were off to wrestle ourselves into our wetsuits.



I heard that the water can be really cold, so we went down to the water 15 minutes early to dunk ourselves, and boy was it ever cold. We swam around a bit, and I lost Ben. So I spent the next 10 minutes trying to find him again to wish him luck, which was nearly impossible since everyone looked the same with their swim cap and their wet suit. But alas with 2 minutes before the gun, I found him, gave him a big kiss and went back to my place in line. Only to hear someone yelling `Jen!` when I looked up I saw my Dad standing there, which was a treat before the race started. This is the first time they had a "safe swim" start. Which we LOVED. You line up like at a marathon in corrals according to how fast you think the race will take. This kept all 2700 participants from rushing in to the water at once and swimming on top of one another. It was WAY better, it took me 7 minutes to get across the timing mat, and I think I only got kicked once!.. which is a miracle in triathlon. It took me a few minutes to get my stroke going, and to warm up in the water, but I had space and I just kept swimming forwards. The first lap only took me 42 minutes, which was basically bang on to what I thought, but then I started to struggle. My leg cramped, my stomach was sick, and I came out of the water at 1:38, so happy that the swim was over.

Transition was very organized. It took a bit for the charlie horse to work itself out of my calf, and I couldn`t bring myself to take any of the nutrition down that I had planned. On my bike, it took a while to get my heart rate down, and I could feel my chest so I took my inhaler to try and prevent an asthma attack. About 20 minutes in to the ride, my chain fell off.... little did I know this would be a problem throughout the race. We had brought our bikes in to be tuned right before the race, and they adjusted my derailleur incorrectly. I had planned on a gel every hour, and chews on the half hours. But I when I went to take my first gel I nearly vomited, so I sipped on some water hoping my stomach would get better. The bike course is challenging. According to Ben`s garmin it is 6000 feet of climbing, more than Ironman Canada. There are 3 big hills, that you get to climb twice! what a treat! The first lap went well, I was passing alot of people who got out of the water faster than me. But around Mile 60 I started to feel light headed, probably from not taking in enough nutrition. My chain fell off my bike for a third time, and I stopped by the side of the road for a few minutes seriously debating whether I should keep going. I sipped on some coke, trying to get something in to me, feeling a bit better and digging deep I put my chain back on and carried on my way. 10 miles later I had gone up the first major hill on my second lap and I just was so sick. I pulled over at the aid station at the top of the hill and ran in to the bathroom vomiting the coke I had just taken in. I came out, sat by the side of the road seriously debating with myself whether I should continue or not. I sat there for a solid 15-30 minutes. Watching everyone that I had passed zoom pass me, which was very frustrating. However, it was probably the best thing, since I took in a LUNA bar and some water, and slowly the lightheadedness subsided and I hoped back on my bike. I had made a decision at this point that I was finishing this darn race. I started to think about how if I didn`t finish, and I didn`t pass my test then I would fail at everything I had worked so hard for this year, and since I don`t have control over the results of the test, i do have control over this race. The rest of the bike was fairly uneventful, and I let go of any time goals since the day had turned into survival, perseverance, and just finishing even if it took me the full 17 hours. I was off the bike after 7 hours and 21 minutes.

At the transition, I saw my Dad which cheered me up. I was happy to be off my bike, and set off on the run. It took a few minutes for my legs to start moving and I was running. I took my inhaler again as my chest still wasn`t feeling 100%. The run course was very beautiful, and 2 loops of out and back so I got to see Ben 4 times! But also very challenging. They decided to change the course last year and have you run up and down a pretty big hill 4 times. At around mile 3, I had just seen Ben on the way back on his first lap, I was so excited that I saw him since i had been searching for him on the run all through Ironman Canada and never saw him, and then I had a massive asthma attack. I dropped to my knees, and I couldn`t get my inhaler in. I was starting to panic and the medics nearly pulled me off the course. But I managed to calm myself down enough to get my inhaler in and slowly my breathing returned. However, after that, any time I got my heart rate up my chest would start tightening. So my marathon turned in to mostly walking with some light running. But there were lots of people around me who had been beaten up by this course and we chatted along the way. 15 hours and 7 minutes later I crossed that line. It was perhaps even sweeter than the last time because of all the struggles I had throughout the day. Also the finish line, it is seriously amazing. You run down Sherman Ave, which is slightly down hill. You can seee the finish line way off in the distance, and the entire road is lined with people cheering. It is seriously what makes the entire day worth it.

We have already decided to sign up for another one next year, but a late season one so that I dont have to do my heavy training and studying at the same time. I have some seroius goals for this one, and I just plan on continuing my training, since taking 2 hours off my time seems daunting. We were flipping back and forth between Arizona and Florida, however, we`re now thinking about perhaps Lake Tahoe. We dont have to sign up until the fall so we have some time to figure out our game plan. We also plan on getting some new tri bikes for next year too! That will surely take some time off right?

Much love! We went on some crazy adventures after the race, but more on that later.