Ironman Coeur d'Alene - The Report (LONG)

[sfa]

Wow. I'm always impressed by people who finish Ironmans (Ironmen?), but to maintain that kind of fitness and improve on it every year while also having a real life just impresses the hell out of me. Congratulations on your strong finish! I hope your sunburn doesn't peel.

Sarah

[jobob]

Wow. That's incredible. My helmet's off to you!

[roadie gal]

What a great race report. Congrats on the race! I can completely relate to the heat beating you down. But you did it! Yay!

[Susan Otcenas]

Great race report Colby!!! You are so inspiring. I especially admire the mental toughness it must take to stick with it mile and after mile, even when hot, tired and sunburned. You are one tough woman!

Congratulations!!!

[kacie tri-ing]

That was really awesome! Seriously, I was crying into my oatmeal :-)

I am probably going to read it a few more times. Heat is tough, and I am so impressed that you were STILL able to take down your time through the heat!

I love the part about "this is what we do." Sometimes I wonder why I do these things, and sometimes your answer is the best one. Because it's what we do.

Thanks for taking the time to share.

[zoom-zoom]

If it's possible to be 100% awesome and 100% crazy, you IM folks are just that! Such an amazing accomplishment...and to have done 3...wow!

Take care of that sunburn...owie. Enjoy your well-deserved rest. You are such an inspiration!

[GLC1968]

Colby - thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful report. I'm sitting here fighting back tears at my desk! Really, really amazing.

You are truly an inspiration. Congratulations on a job VERY well done!

[colby]

Sorry for the tearjerker there, ladies, I didn't mean to do that but as you recount the day it really is a part of the journey. I wanted so badly to finish in the daylight, but honestly I have found sunburns and hot weather hurt me in sprint distance triathlons let alone the Ironman. What I learned about myself and my training was invaluable.

In my day job, I work with a group of software engineers as their product manager, looking at the high level issues like "what do customers need (and how do we build it)" and answering day to day questions on behalf of the customer (like "should I put a big ugly button in front of their face?" "no" "is it acceptable that they have to jump through 8 hoops to get this working?" "no"). I have to stay big picture and focus on the moment at the same time. Some people seem to be wired for this, some aren't - I think a lot of us in our respective day jobs are this way (maybe not as directly). When we train or race, as when we build software, we go out with a plan. Then you adapt your plan, because inevitably you did not account for everything - and when we race we actually cannot account for everything. You can't predict the wind or the weather (accurately anyway). You can't predict flat tires. You can't predict what other people do. It is in our ability to adapt and accept the changing conditions that we dig deep and find ourselves athletes (even "athletes" as some of us have a hard time describing ourselves without air quotes), not just in the literal things like "getting faster". Every single triathlete has that ability - Ironman and super-sprint alike - to find inside themselves.

Prepare for changing conditions, expect them, even welcome them. You will see plenty of people who can't - they quit, hurt themselves (there is a guy in the hospital that stopped breathing a few times yesterday), or suffer a miserable recovery. Maybe I'm just rationalising not being fast, but honestly, I feel so much more of a victory this year NOT being fast because of all of the factors I had to consider. Yeah, I'll run the numbers, and I'll wallow a bit, it's natural.

Next year: I will try to fit more swim workouts in and adjust my schedule around earlier mornings. I will try to bike more hills/the course a couple of times before the race again. I will continue to run distance in my Five Fingers so my feet continue to adapt, and try to continue my running improvement through the marathon (4:00? 4:15?). I will try to train in varying conditions, but I can't really control that.

Thank you all for your kind words and support during training and even now that I raced. As I have more pictures from other people that took them I will be sure to share!!