Race Report: 2024 Ironman 70.3 Coeur d’Alene

After my disappointing result in St. George last month, I realized that the goals I had set for that race were a little too ambitious. That race is too early in the season for me to treat it as an A race, and I lost sight of my actual goal for this year, which is finishing Ironman Canada in August. That made me reassess what I wanted to get out of my next two races, in Boulder and Coeur d’Alene. Instead of treating them as races with specific results or ambitious times in mind, I decided to treat them as dress rehearsals to test my gear, pacing, nutrition and overall racing strategy before going to Penticton. Unfortunately, a week before Boulder, Kate got COVID, so I canceled that race out of an abundance of caution. She’s fine now, and I never caught it, but that left me with Coeur d’Alene as my only shakedown race before Canada. As a consolation, that same week I took delivery of my new triathlon bike, a Trek Speed Concept SLR 7, so at least I’d have a chance to practice racing with it in Coeur d’Alene. With that, my goals for the race were simple: Practice my nutrition, both before and during the race, and see if I continued to have the same stomach issues I had in St. George and at last year’s full distance race. Practice racing on the new bike, in particular climbing and descending, and spending time in aero position, and make sure that my bike fit is good. Check out some of my new gear, including my new helmet and shoes, in a race setting. Forget about targeting a specific finish time, just have fun and finish the race (if nothing else to get a little closure on my DNF last year.) As an aside, the Active.com refund insurance I purchase every time I sign up for a race really saved my bacon when I had to cancel Boulder. I was able to recover most of the entry fee, and between that and the refundable hotel room I had booked, making the decision to pull out of the race was a no-brainer. I was disappointed when I signed up for next year's Ironman 70.3 St. George and saw that the refund insurance is not offered anymore. I asked Ironman about it, and this is the response I received: Thank you for reaching out. We currently are not offering registration insurance, but we are looking to finalize a new insurance partner agreement at this time. We do not have a date that this will be offered, however, we are working through the details as quickly as we can. We appreciate your patience and we apologize for the inconvenience. I really hope they offer a replacement soon; it’s nice to have the peace of mind that I can cancel a race if something unexpected happens and not lose hundreds of dollars. With my new bike and gear, and fresh legs from an unplanned recovery week while I waited to see if I got COVID, I packed everything in my car and drove to Coeur d’Alene. Pre-race prep I arrived in Coeur d’Alene the Thursday before the race, and after checking into my hotel room, I changed into running clothes and went out for a run in the heat, since it was quite warm out and I figured every little bit of heat acclimation could only help on race day. The next day, I went on a quick bike ride to make sure my bike was working properly and do some recon on the part of the course through Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive. Later that day, I went to the Ironman Village in Coeur d’Alene City Park to check in and attend the race briefing, where they shared the usual race information plus a couple changes from previous years: first, they’d have wetsuit peelers (“we’re not allowed to call them ‘wetsuit strippers’ anymore”) after the swim; and second, body marking (i.e. getting your race number written on your arms and legs with a marker) would be available again for the first time since the pandemic, which people seemed very excited about. With that out of the way, I went back to the hotel, changed into running clothes, and went for one last run in the heat before the race, which brought my heat acclimation up to a whopping 24% according to Garmin Connect. (By the way, I strongly recommend staying somewhere with easy access to the North Idaho Centennial Trail, what a pleasant route to run on.) On Saturday, I did pretty much nothing but rest, read, carb up, and wait until the afternoon to check in my bike. This race does a single transition, at Coeur d’Alene City Park, and it’s really one of the best transition areas I’ve seen. It’s covered in grass so it’s easy to run on, and has extensive tree cover providing lots of shade, so the bikes and gear don’t sit out in the hot sun all day. After racking my bike in my spot and noting the row where it was and nearby landmarks, I walked transition back and forth a few times to memorize where I’d need to go during the race. My bike, racked in transition the day before. Finally, I picked up my timing chip before returning to the hotel to get the rest of my gear ready. As is common for 70.3 races, there were no gear or morning clothes bags, and the bikes were packed pretty tightly, so I was careful to bring only what I needed on race day. My gear list included: Trisuit (Roka Gen II Elite) Wetsuit (Roka Maverick Pro II sleeveless) Swim cap Two pairs of goggles (Roka R1) TriSlide Bike computer (Garmin Edge 1040 Solar) Bike shoes (Shimano S-Phyre SH-TR903) Bike gloves (Rapha Pro Team Mitts) Bike helmet (Giro Aerohead) Travel-size SPF 50 sunscreen spray Two bottles of Maurten Drink Mix 320 Bottle of water Sports towel Running shoes (Hoka Rocket X 2) Running hat Running belt with bib Two pairs of socks (Darn Tough No-Show Ultralightweight) Sunglasses (Roka Oslo) Pelican G40 case to store my phone, car keys, and hotel key Maurten 100 Caf 100 gel Two Maurten 160 gels Some of my race gear, organized and ready to be packed the night before. I placed most of these things, except the trisuit, wetsuit and helmet, in a Roka mesh bag, which has the advantage of being thin and flat when empty, so I can simply set all my gear on top of it, next to my bike, without taking up a lot of space. With my gear organized and packed, I had dinner and turned in for the night. On race morning, I woke up at 3:00 AM after getting a full night of sleep for once, took a quick COVID test, had my usual breakfast of a plain bagel with jam and a cup of coffee while I waited for the results, and then checked all my gear one last time. Transition opened at 4:30 AM, but parking around Coeur d’Alene City Park is plentiful and it was only a ten-minute drive from my hotel, so I wasn’t in much of a rush, and left at around 4:45 AM. The moment I set foot outside the hotel my first thought was “huh, it’s really windy.” I wondered what the conditions would be like during the bike leg once we got out on the highway, but didn’t think too much about it and headed out. I arrived at transition shortly after 5:00 AM and as soon as I finished setting up my gear, an announcement came through the speakers that the race start would be delayed by twenty minutes, to 6:20 AM, and the swim would be shortened to 500 m. According to my weather app, the wind was coming from the south at 16 km/h with gusts of up to 40 km/h. In other words, a direct headwind on the outbound leg of the swim, so it wasn’t terribly surprising that the swim was shortened; from my spot in transition I could see whitecaps out on the lake. I didn’t hear any official announcements about the swim cutoff, but some people said the cutoff didn’t change and others that it had been reduced to twenty-five minutes---I don’t know who was right, but I wasn’t too concerned either way. At my usual open water pace, I expected to finish the swim in less than fifteen minutes. It was only 500 m, how bad could it be? Transition in Coeur d’Alene City Park at 6:00 AM. Shortly before transition closed, I had a Maurten 100 Caf 100 gel and walked over to the swim staging area, where I placed myself in my usual 43–46 minute wave and chatted with the folks around me while we waited to start, not quite knowing what to expect. The race organizers led one wave at a time to the beach to line up for the chutes, so we couldn’t see the lake until we got there. Once my group made it to the beach, what I saw was... messy. The swim course was set up so that the outbound leg had a single yellow buoy, followed by the first turn buoy, then the second, and finally a single orange buoy for the inbound leg. To space people out, the organizers started only two swimmers at a time. Despite that, what I could see from the beach was a large group of swimmers bunched up around the first buoy, which had people holding on to it, and volunteers doing their best to help others who were holding on to the kayaks and paddleboards. The person next to me asked “why are they all stopping there?” but some of the swimmers hadn’t actually stopped---they were simply swimming breaststroke in place, not making any progress against the waves. For a moment I wished they had canceled the swim altogether, but I pushed that thought aside---I was already in the chutes, the only way out was through. Boop, boop, boop, boop, BEEP! | Image: FinisherPix The swim I ran into the 18ºC water at 7:24 AM. By that point, I had been shivering in the brisk, windy morning for over an hour, so I expected it would take me a minute or two to get over the cold, but the race adrenaline took care of that pretty quickly---I had never swum in that kind of chop before, and as soon as I got in the water I struggled to breathe and sight while repeatedly getting hit in the face by the waves. I just couldn’t get the timing right; I was flailing wildly and kicking like a madman, trying to keep my head above the waves, with not even a semblance of proper form. It was all I could do to muscle my way through the waves and the mass of people in front of me. Once I got to the first turn buoy, things got better; the crowd had thinned out and it was far easier to swim parallel to the waves instead of against them, so I was able to regain some composure. I had some trouble sighting the next buoy with the sun now in front of me, but I had to stop to let a volunteer in a WaveRunner go by to help another swimmer, which gave me a few seconds to get my bearings before continuing. After turning at the second buoy I pointed myself towards the swim exit and just let it rip, sprinting to the end as fast as I could. I finished the swim in 10:28, with an official pace of 2:05 min/100 m, which surprised me, considering how much of a struggle it was---this is faster than my pace in the pool. However, looking at my watch data after the race, I didn’t actually swim the full 500 m; per my GPS, I swam 396 m, for a much more realistic pace of 2:39 min/100 m. I’m not sure why the distance came up short---I definitely did not cut any corners and passed all buoys, including both turn buoys, on my left side. Looking at the wonky GPS track, though, I suspect the wind and the waves simply pushed the buoys closer to shore. I would have expected the middle segment to be parallel to shore. For some reason it wasn't, which might account for the missing distance. Short as it was, this swim was a very strange experience. The whole thing was a blur and I only remember bits and pieces of it; I think I just powered through entirely on adrenaline. That said, I’m glad the race organizers shortened it. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to swim the full 1.2 miles in those conditions. T1 After leaving the water, I ran through transition, stopping to get my wetsuit ripped off by the wetsuit peelers before heading to my bike. I sprayed on some sunscreen, and donned my helmet, shoes and gloves before unracking my bike and heading out. Fun fact: my run from the swim exit to the bike mount line was longer than the swim itself, at 430 m. I spent 9:16 in T1. The bike Given that this was my first race on my new bike, my main goal for the bike leg was to practice riding in aero position, so I planned to pace conservatively. The windy conditions reinforced that decision; with the 40 km/h gusts, I expected the segment of the bike leg out on US-95 to be challenging, so my priority was to make it back to transition safely and not take any unnecessary risks. I had set up a Power Guide on my Garmin, but I intended to only use it to pace myself on the climbs, stick to zone 2 on the flats, and take the descents with caution. In addition to using my Trek Speed Concept SLR 7 instead of my Specialized Aethos road bike, I swapped my S-Works Evade 3 road helmet for a Giro Aerohead, so this was my first race in full triathlon gear. After experiencing a lot of discomfort with my shoes at St. George last month, I also got a new pair of Shimano S-Phyre SH-TR903 triathlon shoes, which I’m pleased to say are far more comfortable than my previous ones (and look way better too). For nutrition, I carried two 24-ounce bottles of Maurten Drink Mix 320, one between the aerobars and one behind my saddle, with two Maurten 160 gels in my bike’s bento box as a backup in case I dropped one of the bottles. I timed my nutrition to consume roughly 80–85 grams of carbs per hour, and supplemented with water from the aid stations for some extra hydration. I didn’t bring any electrolytes; I didn’t think I’d need them, and I had loaded up on sodium in the days leading up to the race. View this course in Garmin Connect or Strava. The bike course is the same as the one for the full-distance race, except just one lap, starting with an about 30 km out-and-back through Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive before turning around at Higgens Point and heading out on a roughly 60 km out-and-back section on US-95, with a short section through downtown Coeur d’Alene in between. It’s a hilly course, with ten climbs long and steep enough to trigger the ClimbPro feature on my Garmin, and a total elevation gain of 939 m. It’s a good bike course, with great energy from the spectators downtown, smooth pavement most of the way, lots of room to pass, excellent separation from traffic, and gorgeous views of Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Idaho countryside. A piece of advice, though: the short segment on 23rd street, before turning on Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive, has pretty ragged pavement. I strongly suggest double-checking that bottles are firmly in place before and after this segment to ensure they don't go flying off. Riding on Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive. | Image: FinisherPix The first section through Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive went pretty smoothly, with the first climb serving as a good warmup and the trees along the road providing some shelter from the wind. As I expected, though, things got rough once we got out of town and on US-95; as soon as I got on the bridge over the Spokane River I started getting buffeted by the crosswinds. The climbs and the flats were enjoyable, but the descents were sketchy, to say the least---I found them far more stressful than during that hailstorm at last year’s race. On the very first descent, a gust of wind made someone veer directly into my line; if I hadn’t been riding on the base bars I probably would have crashed into her. The other descents were similarly nerve-wracking and I had trouble maintaining control at times with the gusts jerking me around; I have no idea how people with deeper rims and disc wheels managed. By the time I was riding back to Coeur d’Alene and after several close calls, I was pretty rattled; all I wanted was to make it back in one piece. I consider cycling my favorite discipline and the one I’m strongest at, but by that point I just couldn’t wait to get it over with. Somewhere on US-95. | Image: FinisherPix The last descent was designated as a “no passing” and “no aerobars” zone, since it involved riding on a narrow shoulder with cones separating cyclists from the car traffic to one side and a rumble strip on the other, with not a lot of room to maneuver if the wind pushed me to one side or the other. I was very tense riding through it and the fact that some people ignored the posted signs and were still passing didn’t help at all. If I have one complaint about this race is that I wish this no-passing zone had been enforced; there’s just no need to make a risky section even more dangerous because someone wants to contest 40th place in their age group or whatever. If Kat Matthews can get a DSQ for overtaking in a no-passing zone, so should we age groupers. In any case, after that last descent, I finally relaxed and it was smooth sailing back to T2, finishing in 2:51:59. On a positive note, the bike is awesome---Shadowfax really lives up to its name. I knew there’d be a big aero advantage compared to my road bike, but didn’t expect it to be so dramatic. Even though I was sticking to zone 2 or at most low zone 3 during the flats, I was surprised by the ease with which I was accelerating and passing folks; I felt like I was flying, and got PRs on almost every Strava segment from last year. I liked the synchro shift feature of the Shimano Di2 system; what it does is take control of the front derailleur so that all I need to do is shift the rear derailleur. Once I shift past a certain gear of my choice in either direction, it shifts the chainring for me. This allowed me to set up both sets of shifters (on my aerobars and base bars) to control the rear derailleur and let the Di2 handle the front one, so I could do all my shifting without having to change positions---particularly useful given the windy conditions. Pairing the Di2 to my Garmin also gives me a warning that the next time I shift, the front derailleur will shift as well, so I was never caught off guard by the synchro shift kicking in. The Giro Aerohead is noticeably hotter than my S-Works Evade road helmet, though, and I had sweat dripping down my face at times despite the weather not being particularly hot. I’ll need to consider if it’s worth trading some aero benefits for some additional ventilation for Ironman Canada, which is likely to be a much hotter race than this. On an even better note, my stomach felt great the entire time, with no sign of the cramps that plagued me in my last two races. I didn’t make any big changes to my nutrition for this race: I watched my diet the two days before the race a little closer than usual, only eating things I was certain wouldn’t upset my stomach, and reduced my caffeine intake on race day, in case that was exacerbating the problem. Otherwise, I kept my race day nutrition largely the same, still relying on Maurten Drink Mix 320 for my carbs on the bike. That said, there was one huge difference between this race and my two previous ones: the shortened swim. I’m almost certain that the root cause of my digestive issues is air and water ingestion during the swim, so addressing that will be my focus before my next race. T2 Not much to report here: I rolled into T2, racked my bike, swapped my bike gear for running gear, sprayed on more sunscreen, used the porta-potty, and ran out in 7:59. The run After leaving T2, I felt... great. Really great. So great that I had to slow myself down; I was running at a pace of 4:30 min/km, which is faster than my standalone half marathon pace, possibly due to a combination of the lower altitude, shortened swim, and conservative bike pacing. I had to remind myself that my goal was just to finish, not destroy myself, so I aimed for something closer to 5:00 min/km and tried to hold it there. The run course consisted of two laps around McEuen Park and neighborhoods in downtown Coeur d’Alene before heading out on Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive and back, with a mere 114 m of elevation gain. I think this is my favorite run course I’ve done so far; the segment on Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive is pretty exposed to the sun and at a slight grade, but it’s only about a mile each way, and the rest of the course is on shady residential streets with neighbors cheering us on, playing music, and cooling us down with their garden hoses; the whole thing had a great block party vibe I really enjoyed. View this course in Garmin Connect or Strava. While the wind was problematic during the swim and bike leg, it was a blessing during the run. The high for the day was 26ºC, but between the shade, the hoses, and the wind, it was quite pleasant. The run went by surprisingly quickly and I felt great the entire time, only slowing down at the aid stations as needed. I had no aches or discomfort anywhere, I just felt strong. My nutrition consisted of three Maurten 100 gels spaced about thirty minutes apart, water at every aid station, and a cup of Coke at the last one. I didn’t feel like I needed any sodium, but I had a cup of Mortal Hydration at the first aid station just in case. None of it bothered my stomach at all. Halfway through the second lap, my pace had slowed down a little bit, to 5:02 min/km, but on the way back to the finish line I recognized the exact spot where I DNF’d last year. It felt so satisfying to leave it behind that I immediately picked up the pace again. I finished strong, sprinting through the finish line after 1:46:22, with a final pace of 4:58 min/km and a total time of 5:06:02. ["Baba O’Riley" plays] Yup, that's me. You may be wondering how I ended up in this situation… | Image: FinisherPix After collecting my medal and finisher’s hat, I stopped at the food tent to get some grub, and then packed my gear from transition and headed back to my hotel for a much needed shower and nap. Wrap-up Coeur d’Alene is tough, man. St. George is a pretty tough race, but maybe predictably so. You more or less know what to expect there: a cold swim, a hilly bike, and a hot run. Here, though, I'm starting to get the sense that conditions are unpredictable: a heat wave a couple years ago, a hailstorm last year, and now these winds? What will it be next year? I can't wait to find out. All that said, despite the shortened swim and the stressful bike leg, I’m very happy with this result: this is my fastest run to date in a 70.3, and my third best half marathon ever. It’s also a huge relief that I didn’t experience the same stomach issues I’ve had recently. After two bad races in a row and a canceled race, this is the kind of morale boost I needed to keep pushing towards Ironman Canada. More importantly, this shakedown race served its purpose, which was testing my race strategy and giving me a list of things to work on over the next eight weeks: continue improving my swim technique, continue to build confidence in aero on the bike (particularly in windy conditions), and work on heat acclimation so it doesn’t obliterate me in August. Time to get back to work. Onwards, to Penticton.