Ironman CDA 70.3

A couple weekends back I got the opportunity to race Ironman Coeur d'Alene 70.3. This was my first time to Coeur d'Alene (I haven't spent much time in Idaho at all...) AND my first time toeing the start line at an Ironman branded 70.3 where I wasn't injured! After a REALLY shitty first race of 2019, I'm not going to pretend I wasn't worried leading into race weekend. I have had great training most of this season, I've put in all the work (I am a super diligent athlete and I don't miss workouts), and I always put some pressure on myself to perform. I totally understand that we all have bad days (I mean, I was 1/1 on bad races so far this year), but there's a mental component and I just did NOT want to live in a negative mindset all year racing. I knew this race would be a confidence builder into my full Ironman in FIVE WEEKS, or it would do the opposite...

I got to race CDA with my #wattiefam, and was stoked for a fun weekend! I also didn't want to sabotage my race and lose focus, but I think we had the perfect balance. Two of my friends have a super intense eating schedule leading into race day which I kind of mimicked (because try new things for a race right?) but mostly it was just a lot of carb consumption, so no complaints (except now I hate pretzels).

blowing kisses heading into the water

Race morning - slept 5ish hours. We had a 3AM wake up time to eat breakfast in time for the race (which started at 6:15am). I felt weirdly calm heading to the race. I knew what my plan was, I was actually going to warm up for this race, but soak in some fun on course. I tried to tell myself "no expectations, celebrate your training" but also love the new phrase from one of my tri friends, that this was just a "fully catered exercise contest". I cannot BELIEVE how many people I knew racing from the pnw, so at least all day I'd be able to spot people on course!

Swim - went with the under 30 min group. I know I can swim around 30 min on a great day, but mostly didn't want to spend time running over people. I ended up with a 33 min swim on my garmin (seems like everyone had a slower swim than they anticipated). It wasn't super eventful, which I'm thankful for! I zoned in, swam pretty casually, had to dunk one guy a couple times because he kept zig zagging into me, but the rolling starts Ironman has adopted has made the swim start pretty low key. I did a decent job sighting and staying straight, the swim didn't FEEL long which was good. For some reason, seeing 33 min on my watch made me decide "ok, I'm racing well today, let's do this shit".

right out of the water

Bike - I went into this ride knowing I was towards the front of most people since I started in an early swim group and decided that I didn't want to spend all day getting passed. I was hitting my target watts and felt pretty strong. I was not getting passed like normal (I certainly got passed, but not nearly as much as I usually do). Probably all those carbs from the day before! After a short out and back, I passed my friend Rosanne who shouted at me "you're such a fast cyclist!" (inside joke, since no one has ever told me that), but actually I hadn't been passed by all my friends yet so I was feeling pretty speedy. As the miles ticked on, the stronger I felt. I know I've also been doing some Ironman ramp so I was totally fit for this race, but I was shocked how great I felt. The hills weren't too bad and as I hit the halfway point I realized I could hit sub 3 hours (which I haven't done) and went for it! I ended with something like 2:53. I ate well, I ran out of hydration on the bike and had to take some on course gatorade which I HATE but I survived. I was BEYOND thrilled. This day was going great! I got to ride alongside friends, shout at others as we passed each other on the out and back, seriously loved this bike course. Now, how would the run go after actually trying on the bike?


Run -  I need to note that 0.1 miles into the run I realized my chapstick had fallen out of my kit. Not thrilled but chugged along. (I have a chapstick habit...) I started out the run at 7:30/mile pace. It felt good and I thought I could legit run the half at that mile pace. I quickly learned I was delusional, cut back to 7:45 pace, then 8 min pace. It felt SO hot. I stuck to the shade as much as I could. The run course was relatively flat. I put ice everywhere, tried to keep my core cool and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. It's funny, because a half Ironman doesn't seem like a big deal going into it, but when you hit that half marathon you remember it's still a longish day. I have a tendency to start mentally self sabotaging when I start feeling down or tired, so I practiced some mantras I've been working on with my coach. This race, it was "live in this mile. one mile at a time" and I added in "you are lucky to get to run". So at first, I saw a mile sign for mile 7 when I was at about mile 3ish. I told myself "get to mile 7, then you got this". I speed walked through each aid station to take in water and UGH Gatorade and ice. I wasn't feeling great until about mile 5 and then all of a sudden I felt fine again. I hit mile 7 and then decided to "live in the mile". Idk if it makes sense to other people, but I kept repeating "this is mile 7", and then "leave mile 6 behind and don't worry about mile 8". It worked! Each mile, I focused on that mile, how I was feeling, and not what was ahead. 



This was a two loop run course, so the first loop always kinda sucks because you know you have to do it twice so any part you don't like is coming again, and the second loop is awesome because you're basically done. At mile 9, I started getting awful cramps in my hamstrings (which is always scary because that's where I was injured all last year). I had to stop a bit to stretch them out but was absolutely NOT going to stop running. I channeled Ironman Arizona when I ran the last 5 miles of the marathon with awful cramps and thought "this isn't SHIT compared to that, keep going". As soon as I hit mile 11 I knew I was going to get this thing done and still maybe with a PR. I wanted to increase my speed to get closer to my goal half marathon time but absolutely couldn't run faster without the cramps digging deeper. There is no better feeling in Ironman racing than seeing that finish arch, hearing your friends and teammates and strangers cheering you on. I was THRILLED. I came in my half marathon about 1:48:02 (UGH why did I stop to stretch?!). 

I finished with an overall time of 5:22:35 (although my watch put me at 5:21, that's fine Ironman)

I was really proud of this day. I'm not upset with any piece of the race, and had a day where I strung together three solid legs and didn't talk myself out of pushing to the end. I got to celebrate with teammates, friends, and the thousands of other people that toe'd the line. It was an awesome day. I felt so lucky to have such an incredible friend group to share that weekend with. I got cheers from Rosanne all over the course all morning which seriously picked me up, shouts from Marc, Doris, Isaac, and Allen all day racing. It was unlike any other race I've had, I've never gotten to race with that many close friends on course! And let's be real, knowing that Isaac COULD lap me if I didn't pick up the pace was definitely motivating to keep pushing on the run.


Triathlon is not some straight line. It's ups and downs, doubts and success, pain and fun, it's exhausting and invigorating, it makes you feel weak and then like you're invincible. The lows can be super low, but the highs make it all worth it. While I wanted to shrivel up and hibernate after my last race, I was pumped to finally perform how I expected myself to. If you keep putting in the work, keeping showing up day after day and giving it what you can, it'll pay off in the end. I'm not some incredible triathlete, I didn't win my AG, but I continued my goal of improving and racing strong, digging deep and not regretting anything.

I just started REALLY ramping for my Ironman that's in 5 weeks. This last weekend I ran 16 miles and rode for 4.5 hours, and this weekend I'm already doing a 20 mile run and 5 hours in the saddle... I forgot how exhausting Ironman training is! What's getting me through is knowing that I get at least 2 weeks of taper - so it's really just a few weeks of work to go! :)

Congrats to everyone who raced CDA - loved sharing the course that day and if you're thinking about trying this race, I highly recommend it. Awesome town, killer spectator support, and well run event. Looking forward to racing again in 5 weeks!