Prep for Ironman Coeur d'Alene

I am going to try to condense the past few months into this one post. This is my first since Ironman Wisconsin in 2005 so bear with me.

Les, Estuardo and I signed up for Coeur d'Alene (CDA) last year with the hopes of improving upon the disaster in Wisconsin as all of us were disappointed with the results. We chose this race because of the time of year and location. Nobody wanted to do Florida or Wisconsin again.

The race is on Sunday, June 22nd and the weather is known to be cool and the course to be hilly. Because of past experience we chose to extend our training out to approximately 20 weeks to be better prepared. In the past, we did not go much further out than 13 weeks. What a difference that made - I feel much more prepared. The new plan was much more aggressive and it required inordinate amounts of time on the bike. In summary, my bike feels great and my swim has improved considerably. However, I am feeling insecure about my run. I wouldn't be me if I didn't feel unhappy about some aspect of my training. Due to the focus of bike time I did not feel like I was running enough. We'll see.

There is another local Tampa group heading up there that I only know marginally. It is a friend of ours, his wife and several of their friends. It is mostly women and they are terrific athletes. I do not anticipate keeping up with them.

Swim - The temperature in CDA is is averaging 65 degrees which is fantastic. What is not so great is the lake temp. Apparently the snow has not completely melted and is still sluicing into the lake and the temp has been hovering around 52 degrees. First off, I have a hard time even comprehending snow considering I've only seen the stuff five times at the most. Fifty degree water is unfathomable to me. I had to rent a full body wetsuit, neoprene hat and booties with the hope of covering every square inch of my body. Because I spent a lot more time in the water with a Masters program I am excited to see how I do.

Bike - Hilly course and I am looking forward to it. We have done several 90 - 100 mile rides in the hills and I feel comfortable. I am still the runt of the litter in our bike group. Estuardo is out of his mind on the bike and Les has raised his game considerably. Nonetheless, I am pleased.

Run - fairly flat with one big hill. I'm skeptical about my results. I don't know about Estuardo. Les is running faster than me right now.

As far as the competition between the three of us - it's the same old story. I will probably come out of the water first (assuming I don't go into cold-water-shock) and do my best to stave them off on the bike. It will probably all come down to the run.

Wish me luck.