Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2008

My taper for this race was a welcomed break. I may not have trained myself as well or as consistently as my competitors throughout the year, but it was too late at this point to worry about that. So I eased up my mileage and intensity to a mere two mile run Friday and Saturday and just enjoyed the extra time in my schedule to visit family, clean my house, and do things that people normally do on a regular basis. Michael and I decided that we were going to pig out pretty much all Saturday to store up calories. I have to admit that I was worried I would have bathroom problems for race day with this plan because that seems to be the case with overeating.

We stayed at the Super 8 in Coeur d'Alene the night before the race but didn't get to sleep until almost 10 p.m. Surprisingly I slept pretty well that night besides a few random wake-ups to check the time. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. like I usually do for a 7 a.m. race start. I drank something similar to a 5 hour Energy (I don't remember what it was called) and made some tea. A hot drink always gets the "juices flowing" and after a night of binge eating I needed it. I ate breakfast, got myself ready and got Michael up and ready and we were out the door and on the road by 4:55.

We were able to get a relatively close parking spot and we made our way to body marking and the transition area with plenty of time to spare. We pretty much followed each other around the whole time making sure we had all the things we needed and had used the restroom as much as we needed. After we got our wetsuits on we headed to meet the McCoy's, our cheering squad and watcher of the pump and Michael's wallet. They were awesome to have there, the whole family is always rooting us on and dolling out energy in buckets!

We finally got to the swim start and got in the water and found that it was very comfortable... YES!! This is the temp of Medical Lake pretty much and warmer than what Michael was used to. Oddly, knowing that Michael was happy with the water temperature made me feel like it was perfect. I always know that if Michael can tolerate the temp, I will easily be able to by virtue of my protective layer. We were talking with a few other swimmers and heard the announcer say that we would start soon. I was waiting for a countdown because I will typically start my watch at the "5" or "10" during the countdown just so I don't have to worry about getting my watch started. I never heard a countdown, just a big "BANG" and we were off before I was sure I had pushed my start button hard enough. My pause time caused me definite detriment because as I made sure my watch was started, I discovered that I was not starting out fast enough to stay our of the masses... here comes trouble...

Almost immediately I was pushed under the water while having my foot pulled. We have all experienced the "Oh, my gosh! I'm DYING" feeling in the water at some point, but up until that point I never thought that I would actually drown. There were so many aggressive people around me that crossing to the outside would have given me more trouble than staying where I was. I decided to launch myself out of the water with each breath and try to stay on the toes of the most aggressive swimmer I could find. I figured that s/he would rather kill people in front of him than worry about the person behind him. Rounding the turns was like driving in Houston traffic. Abrupt stops made for angry swimmers, but I did hear one competitor shout "Relax everyone, this will be a long day, lets just make it through the swim". That was a comfort and at that point I knew I would make it, somehow. The second lap was worlds better than the first. Cloud cover and fewer people made the rest of the swim pretty comfortable. Other than a gnarly wetsuit burn (which I usually don't get, and I eve layered the glide on) I came out unscathed. 1:12:33 (10th in age group) down and many more hours to go.

I ran to the wetsuit strippers but didn't have my right hand out yet so the stripper had to help with that and then she threw me on the ground and stripped the rest of me booties and all. I got my bag and had a pretty quick time through T1 (by my standards) and even saw one of my past dental hygiene instructors and current colleague as I am an instructor myself, Lisa, who gave me a pat on the back as I was going through (she volunteers each year). I got to and on my bike and made it onto the course without falling off or clipping the wheel of another rider (I have bad dreams about doing that). 4:45 T1

The energy of the crowds was amazing. I was so pumped to be cheered like that! I will have to say that my whole ride was pretty uneventful. The miles clicked by and I really didn't spend time looking at the clock. I wanted to enjoy the course and the volunteers and the spectators as much as I could. It was really important to me to keep a positive attitude because I remember my other Ironman races being torture on my butt and legs, and I was out there for over 7 1/2 hours then! I did keep an eye on my speed though because all I wanted to do was average 17mph so that I could secure a marathon run rather than a half walk preceded by a half run. I played tag a lot on the course, I was lighter than some people going up the hills and my bike has the highest roll out distance compared to most bikes so I passed a lot of people going down hills coasting. All in all I really enjoy the bike course, the hills let you get out of the saddle enough so your whole underside doesn't go numb and there is enough downhill to make you feel like you get to go fast. Throughout the ride I managed to stay hydrated on just water and I had some perpetuem gel mixed as well as a few bananas and my secret weapon... two pop-tarts, chili cheese Frito's, salsa chips, and salt and vinegar chips. The secret weapon fit in a Ziploc bag that I carried with me so I didn't have to stop at special needs to get it. 6:34:24 ride 17.04mph (12 in age group)

Getting off my bike was fun too, because I didn't recognize the feeling that I had. I remembered almost not being able to move my legs at my last two tries, but this time was different. I flung my leg off the back of my bike and ran through transition to my wonderful volunteer. I kept the same socks on that I did during the ride, which was not in my plan, but I figured that if my feel weren't hurting I wouldn't take the time to change socks. I did take the time to go to the port-o-potty though. After 6 1/2 hours of hydrating I needed to drop a pound or two... so I did. 4:22 T2.

I felt amazing starting the run. My legs felt oddly fresh, like I hadn't even rode my bike! The energy of the crowd once again pulled my along and I was all smiles soaking it all in. I had friends from High school there as well as some of my students at the hygiene school and a my mentor from school as well. I saw the McCoy's near the dyke road and they were a wonderful encouragement as well. It was from Mike McCoy that I discovered Michael was about an hour ahead of me. I had been wondering if he was behind me because I didn't ever see him and I knew he was planning on taking the first two events crazy easy. I didn't see Michael until almost 3 miles into my race. I shouted "Good job, Michael, I love you!" at him and I thought that I startled him because he almost didn't see me and all he gave back to me was a grunt. I knew he wasn't doing well.

I cruised through aid station after aid station taking water and a tiny sip of gel at each one. The miles just fell off my legs and I was still feeling good. It wasn't until I came out of own the second time that I started to add time to my splits. I ran by gauging my effort through feel rather than using a heart rate monitor or a GPS to run at a certain pace. I really didn't feel like I was running differently, but I knew it was taking longer to complete each mile. At mile 22 I decided that I didn't want to take any more gel or food of any kind. I switched to coke and water only for the last few miles and it at least settled my stomach a bit. Another thing I did differently this time was not having to walk. I never stopped at a potty or even walked to take in more fluids. I ran the entire marathon and I was proud of myself for it. 4:16:49 marathon (8th in age group).

In my dreams I wanted to qualify for Hawaii, but that's every one's dream... more realistically, I wanted to come in top five... actually I came in 8th, an hour and 2 minutes after the winner of my age group. I am still very happy with my performance, I learned a lot from it and will do better next time as a result. Right now I feel excellent. Michael always says I recover very fast but I always wonder if it is just that I don't push myself hard enough. If I am able to run up and down stairs the morning after the race, I should have gone harder... maybe next time I will race myself into a coma to make up for all the years of hurting I have missed.

What a great event, day, experience, and adventure. It all went by too fast and now I'm looking for my next one... perhaps Arizona... Florida... Lanzorate maybe ;-) Here's to this race and the many more to come!

The time has come again...

For months of training to boil down to one day. Sunday will be my third Ironman and this time is much different from my previous two attempts. There are many improvements that I have made in my fitness and my hope is that there were enough for me to realize my goals. I have become more accustomed to open water swimming and swimming with a large group of people. Living on a lake helped that a lot, I suspect. I have also determined that I can push much harder swimming than I believed I could. Somehow I can push hard enough to feel as though I will vomit and then get out of the water and only need a moment or two before I feel fine again. I have also seen a great improvement in technique thanks to the help of our FAFB master's swim team coach, Cherese McCoy. Her constant support and encouragement were always great motivators.

I can't say too much about the bike except that I have been on it longer and more frequently this year. I spent more time in the basement on the Computrainer this winter than I ever want to remember. I have also done more consistent long bricks and single long rides to build endurance... unfortunately I still struggle with speed and power. Riding on the Computrainer was my only way of knowing my power and most of the time I struggled to keep it over 160... I'm not kidding either. When I was able to get outside I did some hill work for the first time ever. Once a week I would do hill repeats on a course Michael picked and I did see improvement on my ability to maintain a speed that was difficult for me before. I have no illusions about the bike ride in Coeur d’Alene; I know it won't be as fast as I want, but no doubt a lot faster than my 7.5 hour rides in '04 and '05.

My biggest time save I predict will be the run. During my last attempts at Ironman I hadn't ever done a marathon and my times in general were something I can now laugh at. I have learned that it's easier to keep running than walk and then try to run again. I have learned that you don't want to try to eat an entire power gel at each mile of the run. I have learned that sponges under the hat and ice down the bra can really cool you off fast and Vaseline around the seams on a tank top really helps decrease overall pain. And, no matter what happens on the run, I should be able to PR :-)

This year is also important for me because Michael and I get to share the experience together. We have both worked very hard and made many sacrifices to get to do this. I love how accomplishing something with my husband brings us closer together and I'm sure Ironman will be no different. I am lucky to be a part of team Bergquist. As the days go on and the big one gets closer I will be visualizing the race over and over as well as going though "what if" situations in my head so I'm prepared for the unexpected.

So, as I wrap up my almost year synopsis, I reflect again on my past Ironman races and realize that all in all this truly is a fun day and enjoying it will also be on my list of goals. Here's to a wonderful race this weekend and in the future.