Tuesday and Race Report

A little delirious with fatigue, but I am going to give this a shot...

First things first, its Tuesday and ride #58 is going off! Summer outings are getting a bit thin, we will see how tonight's rollout fares.

Mosquito at 5:45...Exit 54?

Race Report:

The day started on an upbeat for waking up at 3:00 am. The skies were clear and it was looking up. There was however a nasty breeze in the air. April and I got out to the race course and got breakfast rolling off at about 4:00, good timing. Got it to transition at 5:00 for bodymarking and the last minute check on my transition gear and bike. All looked good expect for the weather. Clouds were rolling in fast and the breeze turned to a good strong wind. At 7:00 for the start of the race, temps were in the upper 40's, wind was strong, but the rain was holding off. At 7:00 the gun went off and 2200 of us piled into lake Coeur d'Alene for a long swim. I rounded the the first lap in 33 minutes and was hopeful for a swim of just over an hour. The wind made swimming a bit difficult and I ended leg one in 1:10:00 a little long for the swim and bit more energy spent, but I happily took off for the bike. By this point the wind was strong and steady. In Ironman there is no drafting so wind be damned, we all had to deal with it. The bike leg was strong! The lap was broken into two very separate segments. The first was fast and flat, about 30 miles, and then there was a very hilly section of about 26 miles. I ended up passing over 200 people on the bike, moving into about 250th overall. About 10 miles into the second lap, I got passed by a bunch of riders, they were not in a pace line but there was clearly some serious drafting going on. It was very frustrating to be past but a group not really caring about the rules, oh well soldier on. I finished the bike leg in 5:34:00 maintaining an avg speed just above 20mph. I was very pleased with the bike and headed off for the marathon. I exited the transition area with about 3hrs and 10min to go to meet my goal of 10hrs and possibly a Kona slot. A 3:10 marathon is pretty fast and I saw my 10 hr goal going away pretty quickly. I was still feeling good and so I settled into a good pace and went for it. Mid way through the second lap the rain started and I was really looking forward to the end. I crossed the line with a 3:54 marathon and a 10:47 overall. Not too bad for a weekend warrior. There may not be a trip to Kona this year, but I am very pleased with my result!

Keeping FT3 Proud:
So I had just past mile 25 of the marathon and was heading toward home. I knew Kona was out, but I was very happy with my time and knew I would easily break the 11hr barrier. Just at this time, I came by a house party with folks having a lot more fun than I was. Well to make a long story short, there as a female party goer standing close to the curb with a beer in hand. So I motioned toward the beer and she obliged, giving me the final energy needed to get to the finish line. The rest of the folks at the party put up a cheer like I had won the race and took some quick photos and I was on my way FT3 style.

Quick Stats:
Finishing time 10:47:16
Swim 1:10:09
Bike 5:34:32
Run 3:54:43
Overall 257
Age Group 53/238

Slowest M30-34 Kona qualifier 9:34:24 (Apparently the field was fast this year, I clearly wasn't gonna make it this year)

Until we ride again,
LOtB