Huckleberries and Mooses - IMCDA 70.3 Race Report

As I rode my bike in the oven of South San Jose yesterday (#hotasballs, #windyAF), I had lots of time in my head.  All I thought about was IMCDA coming up in 5 – yes 5!!! – weeks!  And as hard and hot and miserable my ride was, I knew that the training was $$ in the bank and whatever mother nature throws at us on August 27, I will be ready for it…but please please please don’t give us a 106* day!!!  And since I was thinking reminiscing on the awesome course, I figured I should probably post my race report from the half!! Enjoy…

*****

I had such a blast riding and running through Coeur D’Alene for the 70.3 race and I CANNOT WAIT to head back up there in August (7 weeks away!!!) for the full Ironman.  Even though I haven’t done the full yet, I am already bummed that the full is leaving CDA next year.  This was, hands down, my favorite race course to date!!  After racing the half, I would have been very sad if I wasn’t signed up to race the full this year.  Ironman is certainly missing out by canceling this race…the town was delightful, the course was beautiful, and it was run seamlessly.  Boo :(

Hi Mudgy - Mudgy the Moose!  photo credit: Mitymous

Race day was Sunday, 6/25, so my mom and I headed up on Friday in order to get situated in town.  This was my first time flying with my bike and using my Scicon bag.  I was a bit nervous, but this bag was a dream!  So freaking easy to pack my bike, no stress of rebuilding it, and Penny arrived safe and sound.  Our only hang up upon arriving at Spokane airport was that the bag didn’t fit into the trunk of the full sized car my mom had rented because of the funky design when the seats folded down…so we were super cool and upgraded to the minivan life (which ended up being super convenient…shhhh don’t tell!).  The drive into CDA was easy and we went straight to Stanley Park to check in. 

Kept Penny the P3 safe and sound

I had been watching the weather apps like a hawk leading into race weekend, and I knew it was going to be a scorcher.  It was supposed to be hottest on race day, but Friday was already cranking up the heat, especially while standing in line to check in! Registration took a bit longer than expected, so I pushed my shake out swim to Saturday, and we grabbed lunch at Unchained Taphouse – the bike themed restaurant was the perfect way to set the mood for the weekend!  Then we were off to Safeway and our Air B&B…

Definitely not a problem come Sunday afternoon!

Saturday was a shake out swim/bike/run.  The lake was gorgeous…just cold enough to be PERFECT for a wetsuit swim.  I even saw some fishies!  The awesome thing about triathlon is the camaraderie…I needed to pump my tires after deflating them for the airplane, and got to meet some other lovely triathletes who offered their pump.  Since I was testing out the new Coeur one piece aero suit on race day in preparation for August, I was decked out in my team kit for my ride on Saturday…you know it’s an awesome kit when you are asked if you’re a pro ;)  Thanks again, Kebby!  The spin along the first part of the bike course was so fun and my legs felt fast and zippy.  I then ran along the lake, checked Penny into transition, and hightailed it out of there to give myself time to relax.

Looking like a pro for my pre-race shakeout ride!

The rest of the day was spent driving the course, prepping my bottles, carbo loading, and finally finishing the library book that I had lugged up to Idaho.  Dinner was my ever faithful Thai food outside of Spokane, Basil chicken and all the rice.  Not quite up to Tee Nee Thai standards, but definitely tasty and served it’s purpose.  Back to the condo and in bed by 9.

All ready to go!

Race morning – my mom is an AWESOME Sherpa and an expert body marker, so we headed to transition super early so she could be ready to volunteer when transition opened.  We snagged a great parking spot, which was key post race, and I did my race day hair (braids), ate my banana, and rocked out to Hamilton.

Bananas for Eileen with my personal body marker!

Swim: 35:07, not quite a PR, but came out feeling better than ever and right on pace for IMCDA
Gear: Roka Maverick elite wetsuit, Roka R1 goggles, Tri Slide

The rolling start took way longer than expected.  Muddy told me to get in as early as possible to save myself from being out on the course in the hottest hours – being the rule follower that I am, I seeded myself where I thought I should be…but that meant that I wasn’t in the water until 10+ minutes after the AG start.  Other than that, the swim was uneventful until the 2^nd to last buoy where my right calf cramped up.  I did some breast stroke kicks to stretch it out, swam a bit further, and then my left calf cramped!  So frustrating…I think I lost at least a minute working those out, but eventually I made it onto dry land.  Apparently I got too excited that I was almost done and kicked too hard – duly noted!  We lucked out with wetsuit strippers and I was off and jogging through transition in a matter of seconds.

T1 – nothing super exciting here aside from the fact that I had the best spot ever!  Right by bike out/in meant that I didn’t have to run through the whole transition with my bike like I have in the past.  Fingers crossed my AWA status will land me a similarly good spot in August.

Best transition spot EVER!  Bike in/out is just to the left of the picture - So close!

Bike: 2:45:44, 20.27 mph - PR CITY!!
Gear: Cervelo P3, Rudy helmet, Louis Garneau Women's Tri-400 shoes, Smith Pivlok sunnies, Coeur One Piece Aero Suit

So freaking fun!!!  We had driven the bike course the day before – the hills definitely looked intimidating…not super steep, but LONG!  Well…they didn’t feel long on race day!!!  There were quite a few times when I was going downhill on a section that we had already climbed and thought to myself “I didn’t realize we were climbing this long” because it felt like I was descending FOREVER!  I hydrated well and did my first bottle grab.  I was pleasantly surprised at the speed I was holding, as I thought that I would be way slower because of the hills, but there was definitely enough downhill to balance out the uphill!  I even spun out a few times so I’m excited to see how my new chain ring will affect my bike split during the full!  The course is super spectator friendly since you roll through town in the middle and got to see/hear my mom and her cowbell 3 times!

I didn't want to get off!!

T2 – I hydrated like a champ and had to pee like a racehorse when I got off the bike, so I took advantage of the grass and changed my shoes while sitting down #multitaskingforthewin! 

Fleet Feet Coeur D'Alene

Run - 1:44:03 - WHAT!!!  #headdowndowork – mantra of the year!
Gear: Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 34, Ironman visor, Garmin Fenix 5S

Quad Damn!  So darn comfy <3 Coeur Sports

Rolled out of transition WAY too fast – or so I thought.  When I looked at my pace about .5 miles out of transition and saw 7:3x on my watch, I knew I needed to dial it back.  But when I thought I dialed it back and was still running sub 8 min miles, I decided to just go with it.  I locked into a rhythm and worked to keep my core cool at each aid station as the temperature started rising.  I would call out for water to splash on my face, and ice to dump down my sports bra.  Half way through the run, I went to dump ice into my sports bra, felt that I still had some cubes in there from the last aid station, and realized that my chest had gone numb!  My core DEFINITELY stayed cool which helped me run a super consistent pace.  

Anatomy lesson for the day - muscle right above the knee on the inside

Since the run course is 2 loops, it was AWESOME to see my Coeur Sports teammates Liz and Christine kicking ass in their beautiful kits.  And I was beyond inspired as Coeur Pro Jess Smith raced past me on the hunt for her podium spot...seeing her fight definitely kept my head in the game!  I could feel my vastus medialis (thank you Google) riding the razor edge of cramping, but with the help of my Base Salt vial, I managed to fend it off for the remainder of the run.  I slowed a bit on the hill before the turnaround on the second loop, but managed to pick it up and raced down Sherman Ave for a shiny new PR and a very happy mom.

 

Overall time: 5:11:00!  10th place 35-39, 8:31 Personal Record

This was my first race in the 35-39 age group, and man, those ladies are FAST!!! I am super proud to have raced into the top 10 with all of the talent at this race, and couldn't be happier with my 8 minute PR!  Huge thanks to Coach Muddy for his genius knowledge of training, my massage therapist Dave for painfully helping my muscles recover after I trash them to pieces, RP diet coach Alex for getting me to racing weight and fueled properly through the day (no GI issues AT ALL!! Huge win!), and Coach Tom for making the swim feel easy after countless jello-arm inducing swim sets!  Lots of love to my #mulletduo training partner, my #sherpaextraordinaire mom, and the hubs for letting my chase my best week after week.

Finishers chute with Liz

Also my Goldilocks search for shoes has come to an end, thank goodness!  My Nike Pegasus 34’s were a dream – just cushy enough, but solid arch support and room for my toesies!  No blisters, and I didn’t even think about my feet at all during the run.  #Winning

New colorway to match my race kit for the full!

Celebrated with some giant slices of pizza, a giant salad, a beer, and a cookie for lunch…and capped off the day with a ginormous banana split for dinner. #willraceforfood - like, all of it!

Color changing spoons #FTW

Mom and I  wandered around the town, stopped in the awesome toy shops (and found our house puzzle for August, #icecream, duh), and walked along the dock at the marina along the lake.  CDA is a great town and I can’t wait to play on the water after race day when we come back.

Lake CDA showing off

5 more weeks…but who’s counting!