Ironman 70.3 at Coeur d’Alene Idaho – Day 3

Posted on June 30, 2024 by Robin

I’ve been distracted, but now I’m ready to finish this story. At the end of Day 2 I said that we got to the Ironman start at 5 a.m.

The race was supposed to start at 6 a.m. At the last minute the organizers changed the start time to 6:20 because they also shortened the swim course. The normal 70.3 Ironman has a swim of 1.2 miles. This was shortened to 500 yards because of the high winds. The water was very choppy and maybe they were worried about not having enough people to monitor the whole course under those conditions.

After leaving the transition bag with the bike we had to wait until athletes started to line up for the swim start.

To space them out the swimmers were allowed in the water two at a time every five seconds. It took over an hour to get all the athletes in the water. Each athlete wears an ankle band with a chip so times are recorded individually at the start and finish and at checkpoints along the course. We were able to pick Chris out of the crowd since he placed himself, based on expected time, near the front. There were a lot of black wetsuits and green caps, but his goggle straps were under the outer green cap and that was an identifying feature, at least at this point.

He is the on the left entering the water.

The original course would have taken swimmers out to that last yellow buoy, then left to the buoy at the far left and then back to shore. The shortened course had swimmers turning at the red buoy in the center of the photo, to another buoy out of the photo and back. There were at probably a couple dozen people in kayaks, rafts, boats, and even scuba divers to watch for problems.

Swim/bike transition. The wetsuit and goggles are left behind near the bike rack.

This is the only place we saw Chris on the 56 mile bike course.

Bike/run transition. Leave the helmet and switch shoes. The run is half a marathon–13.1 miles.

Chris’ support crew. We don’t provide actual support (food, etc) but can cheer him on.

This is the first loop through town.

This is right at the end.

The finish line.

These times are all different because they are measuring total time based on when the athlete entered the water. The stats on the Ironman app where we followed him throughout the course. show 34th out of 135 in his age group. That’s in the top 25% and that was also true over all.

It was a quick trip for all of us, but we’re glad that we were able to be there to support Chris and to hang out with Meryl while Chris was on the course. We didn’t linger after the race because they both had to be at work on Monday and we needed to get back here. Chris was finished before noon we all left by about 1:30. We made it home at 3:15 a.m. Monday.

Ironman 70.3 at Coeur d’Alene Idaho – Day 2

Posted on June 27, 2024 by Robin

Day 1 was the travel day. Day 2, Saturday was when the bike was to be checked in and we would drive the bike and run courses. We weren’t due to meet up with Chris and Meryl until mid-morning.

I decided to go on a walk since I’ve been doing it regularly at home and I sure needed to get some exercise after that 13-hour drive the day before. I took this photo for Dan because I thought he’d get a kick out of those cars.

The staging for the Ironman gets complicated. After the athletes get out of the water on race day they move to where the bikes are staged. The clock is already ticking so they want transition time to be as quick as possible. The bike needs to be ready to go and some people leave their gear bags there the day before or may plan to bring them back on race-day morning. Transition from swim-to-run requires a towel, whatever clothes you are going to put on over swimwear (after of course removing the wetsuit at the end of the swim–there are usually volunteers to help pull it off), and cycling shoes and helmet. The bike-to-run transition is usually just switching shoes and leaving the helmet behind with the bike.

After Chris checked in he was given all the numbered stickers for his helmet and the bike. He takes great care to make sure that sticker is on perfectly straight and even.

This is NOT the gear he will wear on race day, but after putting wheels back on the bike he needed to take it for a short test ride.

There are racks set up for all the bikes. Gear bags are left with the bikes or brought the next morning. We drove the course, checking out the long uphills on the bike course. After we had seen the course and spent some time exploring the lake shore roads we went back to the hotel for awhile. Dan was out of reading material and saw that there was a book store on the same street as the hotel. This place was called EntertainmentMart and it calls itself an entertainment superstore. It was a pretty amazing store but we didn’t explore it all–just the books, used and new. Here’s an abrupt change of photos.

There was a table set up just inside and an author was there with her first book, a fantasy adventure. I talked to her and her husband for awhile and they said asked if I wanted to put on the gloves and helmet that were for their display. I chose the gloves. And I bought the book.

The store also had music and a section of vinyl records. This was an interesting use for some of the none-collectable LPs.

Back to the main event.

On Sunday we set the alarm for 4-something so we could meet up with Chris and Meryl by 4:30 and drive to the event. You never know what traffic will be like when almost 2000 people try to get to the same spot at the same time.

Walking to the start at about 5 a.m.

To be continued.

2016 Vineman – Ironman

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Robin

A lot has been going on here during the last month, from our 8-day road trip to the fair and sheep adventures. The most recent event was yesterday. Chris had competed in his first Ironman three years ago in Texas and I shared photos and the story here. This was his second Ironman although we were all at the Tahoe Ironman two years ago when it was cancelled at the last minute due to the smoke from the huge arson-caused King Fire.

The Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon (26.2 miles) all one after the other. The training is intense (understatement) and the event infrastructure is mind boggling. Athletes pick up packets and leave off gear, including bikes, the day before. This event was local (Sonoma County, CA) although it was not local enough to sleep in our own beds and still be there for a 5 a.m. check-in on Saturday. We left our motel at 3:30 a.m. to make sure that we would avoid the anticipated traffic jam of all 2000 athletes descending on the small town of Guerneville at the same time.

As the athletes arrive volunteers write numbers on their arms.

Chris’ support crew at the river included my husband (who took this photo) and me, daughter Katie, daughter-in-law Meryl, brother-in-law & sister-in-law Rob & Renee. Rob was also competing this time. Can you tell it was cold at 5 a.m.? Sonoma County is known for morning fog, especially this near the coast. I haven’t been that cold in a long time.

Morning preparation includes checking air in the bike tires,

…securing the chip that marks times throughout the course,

…and donning wetsuits….and lots of standing around for the support crew. Once the event begins the support crew can only support by finding places along the course to cheer on their athlete. No physical support is allowed.

The pros started at 6:30 and the rest of the 2000 +/- athletes started at 6:45.

Athletes are pensive. Many have put a year’s worth of training into preparing for this day.

My brother-in-law came from Colorado to compete with Chris.

They both anticipated about a one-hour swim time and lined up near the front of the pack.

It is daylight now but still cold. The rest of us just wait. The national anthem is sung and the athletes are off.

There was a fairly small beach area where the athletes entered the water so they were funneled through a narrow gate to avoid crowding at the beginning of the swim. (It was impossible to get photos of that or to pick out our swimmers.) I am so glad that our guys were at the front, because it took a half hour before all of the competitors were actually in the water and swimming. By that time the pros were almost finished with the swim portion. Our guys weren’t far behind.

The athletes pack transition bags prior to the event and they are all put in place the day before. Everyone has a bag for the swim/bike and bike/run transitions. As the athletes come out of the water they strip wetsuits with the help of volunteers. Most are already wearing their cycling/running clothes under the wetsuit. Wetsuits and goggles go into the bag and they take out cycling shoes, helmet, socks, and anything else they need while on the bike.

For competitive athletes (or those who are aiming for the best PR) the transitions become an important part of the whole event where time can be made up or lost.This is Chris (in white and navy) leaving the transition tent to get his bike…

…and running with his bike to the beginning of the bike route. I must say here that we were all worried (OK, it was us, Mom and Dad, who were mostly worried) about Chris’ ankle that he sprained badly about six weeks ago and then sprained again just three weeks ago while out in the bumpy pasture with my sheep. We saw him twist that ankle again while running here in cycling shoes and continue running with a limp to the bike course.

Rob left the river not long after Chris…

and got his bike. Rob has done these events for many years and was smiling at this point.

After the guys got on the bikes (well in front of most of the other competitors, giving us an edge on getting out of town) we got to our car and drove to Windsor where the bike/run transition and the finish would be.

Depending on the configuration of the course the Ironman can be a difficult spectator sport. At this point we had picked up another two support crew members (my cousin, Carol, and another family member, Barb, who both live in the area). We found a spot where we would see the cyclists come by in the first of their two loops of the bike course. We saw Chris who looked strong at this point.

As Rob saw us he slowed down and stopped. His bike had a broken spoke on the back wheel at about Mile 25. That meant he was out of the event because his wheel was getting more and more wobbly and there was nothing to do about it without a replacement spoke or wheel. It would be frustrating to train for this event and spend all the time and money on it and then have a mechanical issue end your day. But Rob has competed in many of these and he put his bike in the car, got something to eat, and spent the rest of the day enthusiastically cheering on everyone else.

We saw Chris get off the bike, pick up his bike/run bag and run through the transition area. He emerged with cap and running shoes. The run portion is a marathon and this one was three times over the same 8+ mile course. We found a place where we could watch runners coming and going as they made a loop around our grassy, shady area to enter the turn around and then see them come out again. This gave us four views for each lap.

Chris on the first lap. The athletes’ first names are on their tags and spectators’ cheers help buoy the runners’ spirits.

Part of the support crew waiting for the next sighting.

On the second lap Chris was picking up cups of ice chips at the aid stations to eat and cool his back. After seeing him on the second lap we went to the finish where we could position ourselves for cheering and photos. We didn’t know what time to expect him but he seemed to be ahead of scheduled, sprained ankle and all.

This is after coming around the last turn to the finish…

…at well under 12 hours. The official clock counts the time from the start of the pro racers but Chris’ actual time was an impressive 11 hours 37 minutes.

We were all so thrilled and proud of him.

Moving on

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Robin

Major disappointment for our family last weekend. And ours was only one family’s story about the impact of the King Fire in northern California. Recent rain has helped the 7000+ people who were assigned to this fire to finally gain the upper hand. Over 7000 firefighters and other personnel, almost 100,000 acres. When there were “only” 4000 people assigned to the fire the news reported the cost of $5 million/day. Fortunately there were relatively few homes lost compared to other recent fires (but if you were one of those few its obviously a major impact), but the destruction to the forest, the wildlife, and the impact on thousands of peoples’ lives is impossible to quantify.

I realize that natural disasters happen all over the world and the impacts are far worse than what happened here, but nevertheless this is the one that is right in our faces with a direct affect. And this one was not NATURAL. There was an ARSONIST. I can’t even express my anger and frustration over that.

My son and DIL both live just south of this fire and fortunately the initial work by the fire crews prevented the fire from burning south where potentially hundreds of homes, including theirs, could have been burned. They both worked this fire (son on the fire line and DIL in dispatch) and while they were doing that my other son and the rest of the family headed to Lake Tahoe for the Tahoe Ironman.

I took lots of photos but as the outcome of the weekend was not as hoped I’ll show only three. Saturday the air was clear at Lake Tahoe and we dropped off bikes and bags at the transition areas. Our Ironmen are Chris, on the right, and Rob, his uncle, second from the left. This was only part of the support crew as the other family members came later than day. We left at 4:30 a.m. so we could park and get our competitors to the where they needed to be on Sunday morning. Here we are about 15 minutes before the start. The event was cancelled (or at least the public was told about it) at the absolute last minute as the first wave of contenders were entering the water. The bike/run portion of the race was to take place in the Squaw Valley/Truckee area. This is a view of Squaw Valley as we picked bags up later in the day. Although there had been some rain, that is not mist hiding the mountains. It is smoke.

Major disappointment for everyone at the event. Frustration. Tears. Anger. There is no arguing about the fact that conditions were not safe for an elite (or any) athletic event, but that doesn’t help with the frustration of everyone involved….This is only one event. I can only imagine all the ripple effects of this incident caused by ONE PERSON. It seems tame to call him selfish, but what else? Right now we don’t know anything about the reason behind the arson. But there is no good reason. Daylight drive back home.

So now I will MOVE ON. Next post will be all smiles!

Ironman – Part 3

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Robin

When I left Chris in the last post he had just finished the 112-mile bike portion of the Ironman Triathlon. It was the middle of the afternoon and the temperature was in the high 80’s. Perfect timing to run a marathon (26.2 miles).The run course was spectator friendly although I don’t know if the competitors liked the idea of running the same loop three times. I think this is about mile 6. Here is the ever-important support team. Dan had scoped out areas to watch for our runner.

I took photos each time we saw Chris, but he doesn’t look much different from one photo to the other (and that’s a good thing in a 26-mile run). So I’ll skip to the finish. First, a couple of photos of volunteers. There were aid stations at each mile along the marathon course. Some of the volunteers got a little creative with their outfits.There were even super-heroes helping out. While Chris was on his third lap we decided that we’d better find our place at the finish. Dan stationed himself to take a video at the end of a loop where the runners turn for the finish line. Kurtis, Katie, and Meryl stood in the bleachers right at the end. I stood just below so I could get photos in two directions (and I wasn’t directly in the path of the blaring sound system).

Chris coming into the finish area with two turns before he sees the finish line.

It’s in sight. As the runners cross the finish line the announcer gives the name and says “You are an Ironman!”

First smile we saw all day.

Not quite finished with the support role. Happy sister & brother-in-law Proud parents.

Ironman – Part 2

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Robin

In the last post I described the day prior to the Ironman. Saturday morning we got to the swim site about 5:30. The first task was to have a volunteer mark numbers on arms. Next it was time to stand in the porta-potty line with 2,999 other competitors.Daylight now. Don’t forget the chip on the ankle……and the sunscreen. The pros started at 6:45. The “age-group” competitors started lining up in the water during the singing of the National Anthem. Green caps are men and pink caps are women. swim The age-group competitors began their event promptly at 7 a.m. Chris told us later that he got kicked, punched, and knocked around. I can see why. I think there must be some strategy to avoid that–maybe get out ahead and stay there?This is a view from the bridge over the lake. The swimmers start out on the right, turn around the yellow buoy on the end, and then head for a channel that goes to the left of the photo. In this photo the swimmers on the left of the buoy are the pros who have already made the turn. The large group on the right of the yellow buoys are the age-group competitors and the group in the foreground are the swimmers who chose to wear wetsuits (see the black arms) and, therefore, had to start 10 minutes behind the non-wetsuit swimmers (see previous post about that).

Speaking of strategy, it was important that the support crew developed a strategy also.Here is the support crew (minus me, the photographer). That’s Dan, Katie, Kurtis, and Meryl. Our job was to figure out how to find Chris and cheer him on in as many places as possible, all the while keeping ourselves fed and watered and in the shade as much as possible. Oh yeah, and get good photos too. Katie and Meryl were able to spot Chris in the swim and get a photo there. They cheered him on as he emerged from the water after swimming 2.4 miles in just a little over an hour. These are the bags in the swim-bike transition area that hold the gear necessary for the bike component. I stationed myself at the bike area to try and catch Chris as he started the 112 mile ride.

Once Chris was on the bike we knew it would be about six hours before we would see him again. Time to find coffee and breakfast. I mentioned the infrastructure necessary for this event in the last post. About six hours before the winners would run across the finish line the equipment and structure was still being assembled.Security was also an important consideration and included dogs as well.The bike area before any of the cyclists have returned. While the others of our crew were waiting at the bike-run transition to see Chris begin the marathon I waited at the end of the bike course to cheer him on there. Do you know how hard it is to spot a cyclist in time to make sure you get a photo of the right one? White helmet, white jersey with blue around the arms. He wasn’t the only one who could be described that way.Cyclists must dismount at a specified point and run with their bikes into the transition area and on to where their run gear is bagged. The last component is the marathon. I think that will have to be another post. Stay tuned.

Visiting Texas for the Ironman

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Robin

I just got back from Texas where I visited my daughter and we watched my son, Chris, compete in the Ironman in The Woodlands, near Houston. Some of you may not know about the Ironman. Here is what Wikipedia says: “An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break.”

Chris prides himself in being in good shape for his firefighter job (USFS Hot Shot), but the Ironman requires even more. It requires a lot of planning and dedication by the athlete to put in the hours necessary to compete at this level. And it doesn’t hurt to have dedicated family and friends for support. The infrastructure and number of staff and volunteers necessary to put on this event is amazing too.

Here are some photos I took after we got to Texas in the days before the Ironman.You can’t do a triathlon without a bike, and we shipped Chris’ bike to Katie’s and Kurtis’ house near Wimberly. Chris had to reassemble all the parts that we took off to fit it in the bike-shipper box.After assembling the bike Chris needed to ride to make sure that everything was working right. This is his introduction to the hills and humidity he was to face (although fortunately the Ironman was not in the Hill Country).

We drove to The Woodlands on Thursday so that we would be there for check-in. Dan, a dedicated teacher who rarely misses work, arrived early Friday morning (2:30 a.m). We spent Friday organizing equipment, driving the bike course, and resting up (as important for the support crew as for the athlete, it turns out).Bags ready to go. There is one each for swim, bike, and run. Making it through the transitions quickly is an important part of the competition. Once the event starts, there can be no support (other than moral) from family or friends, so everything the athlete needs for the transitions has to be in these bags.

Friday morning the athletes were allowed to go for a swim to get a feel for the lake. There are temperature limits that dictate whether or not wetsuits are mandatory, optional, or not allowed. It wouldn’t be until 5 a.m. the next morning that the athletes would know for sure. (It turns out that the water was warm enough that wetsuits were optional, but if you chose to wear a wetsuit you would start 10 minutes behind the others.)After the swim practice it was time to deliver the bike and the bags of gear to the swim-bike/bike-run transition area. bike racked 2

Bike racked and ready to go. There is room here for 3000 bikes–an amazing site when it is full. Getting tips from Dad. Chris has a lot on his mind.Here is a preview of the Support Team. Stay tuned to see photos of the Ironman.

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Life on the farm and at the loom.

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