Welcome to Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2014 - Pre Race Activities

I'm kicking off my blog with some stories about the days leading up to my biggest triathlon adventure: Ironman Coeur d'Alene.  I'll post more about the race in the next few days!  Enjoy! 

Ironman Coeur d'Alene (IMCDA) took place throughout June 29, 2014.  I say "throughout" because, for many of us, covering 140.6 miles takes pretty much all day.  An iron-distance triathlon consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run.  I realize this sounds ridiculous and more like a dare than something people would willingly sign up for (and pay money to do)... but it was one of the coolest things I've ever done, and I learned a ton along the way.
 

IMCDA was my second attempt at an iron-distance triathlon as I earned my first (ever) DNF at the previous one, Ironman Lake Tahoe 2013.  I'm happy to report that I proudly crossed that finish line at IMCDA and smiled like a crazy person throughout the entire race. 

I will try to capture various parts of the weekend here as well as provide some insight into what it was like to race this beautiful course.  I'll break up the report into various parts so you can skip around and not have to spend as much time reading as I did racing that day!

Welcome to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho!

We could sense how incredibly positive this race experience was going to be the minute we entered Coeur d’Alene.  The first place we went was Michael D’s Eatery (which has excellent brunch by the way!).  Outside the small restaurant was a large banner reading “Welcome Ironman.”   Next stop: the hotel, where they went out of their way to get us ready and excited for our race!  They were playing coverage from last year's race on the lobby monitor to get us pumped for our race.  In each room there was a goodie bag donated by Albertsons with a dozen Clif bars and other treats.  On race day they opened breakfast at 4am and also left each participant a goodie bag (from the hotel staff) in every athlete's room with snacks, water, Gatorade, cold packs, etc.  I couldn’t believe how genuinely welcoming everyone was.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the people of this small town who opened their arms to thousands of visitors who were going to shut down roads and take over the town for a few days.  Seriously, I did not meet one person that was annoyed at us crazy iron-people!?!  

I remembered being overwhelmed with the Ironman Village at IMLT (so many vendors, anxious participants, DBs at race check in, shops, etc.), so this time I skipped as much of the hooplah as possible.  I checked in at the race Friday afternoon by moving as quickly as possible through the registration tent and straight out of the Ironman Village.  Then I headed to the beach for a short swim in the beautiful lake so I would know what to expect and feel more confident on race morning.  The water temps were in the low 60s, so it was chilly, but not cold (by Tahoe comparison). 


Later that evening we headed back into the Ironman Village for the welcome reception.  This was a nice way to introduce the event and all those racing as well as supporting - even the Governor and Mayor were both there.  This ended with a pretty spectacular thunderstorm, so we took off quickly in search of snacks and other supplies tomorrow's final race prep day.

Final Race Prep

Saturday was a fun day of running around in total crazy pants fashion, setting up race bags and getting my bike racked.  The day before an ironman race you have to drop off your bike gear bag (with your helmet, shoes, extra clothing) and your run gear bag (with run shoes, hat, etc.) as well as rack your bike in transition.  I was better at getting all this together this time, but after sending my bike via Tri Bike Transport (great service!) my front derailleur needed adjustment, so I left it with the great on-site mechanics of Velo Stop who were happy to take care of it for me.  2 hrs later, I picked up Honu, racked it in my numbered space, and was on my way!  (bike’s name Honu = Hawaiian sea turtle… because a turtle relative taught us that slow and steady wins the race, plus Hawaii is the birthplace of ironman as well a very special place to me) 

True!  Banner from the IM Village

 
Luckily, I had my husband, Larry, there to help with gear and to help calm my nerves as I navigated the hectic transition area.  I also had my parents coming into town for additional support, which was awesome!  We had lunch back at our new favorite spot and then relaxed in the afternoon a bit before grabbing some dinner (salad for me at a restaurant, plus the pasta I packed back in the hotel) and making last minute additions to my other 2 bags I had to prep for the race (special needs bike and special needs run – for me these contain candy and extra race nutrition stuff).  Got to bed relatively early in hopes of having many happy iron-dreams!