Coeur d'Alene Race Strategy Lesson

What a busy day.  First, the hot water was knocked out in our condo so that killed any chance of a morning workout.  (Sorry, I may do 12 hours of physical pain and mental anguish, but cold showers and I don't get along.)  Then, from there I've been non-stop in meetings, impromptu meetings and more meetings until around 7 tonight.  I've just finished dinner at home and am waiting around 20 minutes to get on the bike to spin for an hour, moving my strength session to Wednesday because I just can't fit it all in today. Fortunately, one of my meetings was an interview for my next Lava Magazine column.  I connected with Andy Potts, Ironman winner and 2004 Olympian. Andy has been tough to pin down for the past week so I jumped at the chance to talk. While I won't disclose what I'm writing about for April's Lava piece, we did get to the subject of race strategy at Ironman Coeur d'Alene during the final few minutes of our call.  That, I can share here.

Andy won Ironman Coeur d'Alene last year in a time of 8:24:40.  So I asked him what tips he might have for me and others who read my blog.  Andy advised me to use the course to my advantage, explaining that it's two laps on the swim, bike and run. He broke the race up into two parts for each leg, racing each lap like a half Ironman.  "Any tricks you can play with your mind to help overcome the obstacle (of an Ironman) really goes a long way," Andy said.  He added that the course is nice but challenging, a little hilly. Fortunately the crowd gets behind everyone, especially as racers enter the heart of town.

I may not have been able to train much today, but I feel like I got a great lesson in race strategy nonetheless.  I'll keep that in mind as I prepare for IM CDA, though don't worry, Coach Gerardo, I'll stick to our plan (for the most part!).

Now, time to cram in an hour of spinning.  Wish me luck.

92 days and counting.