I happily woke up on Saturday without incident with the lurking turkeys.  Good thing as today is check-in day for 70.3 Ironman Coeur d’Alene.  It was time to get my head in the game for the race on Sunday.

First on the agenda was a light run to get my hips loosened up from the long drive from Bend to Coeur d’Alene.  Before the run, I visited the master bathroom where I found enough floor space where I could foam roll.  It had been days since I foam rolled to loosen things up.  There was no room in the trailer and with the house demo, this was the only space I could find.

After the foam roll, I found some wide shoulder on the side of a road nearby and pieces of a paved trail.  I ran four miles through this simple route and saw lots of deer along the way grazing in the early morning hours.

After a quick shower I tossed my gear in Subaru and mounted my bike on top.  Ironman Village was only 23 miles away from my temporary home and it was mostly one road straight to my destination.  A soothing fact as on race morning the easier it is to get where you are going the less anxiety will play into your day.

I arrived at a parking lot full of athletes and gear galore.  With all the expensive bikes and gear I am always curious as to what the retail value of gear is at the average race?  How many hundreds of thousands of dollars are packed into those transition areas and parking lots?  Bike racks, bikes, clothing, gear bags, bike shoes, running shoes, helmets, wetsuits, sunglasses, gps watches, bike computers, bike gloves, water bottles, bike repair kit, nutrition, sunscreen, body lubricant and the list goes on.  Just look at all the gear bags in my car alone!

I am feeling much more comfortable entering Ironman Village now.  This was my sixth race and am getting knowing the drill.

Upon check-in, one of my assumptions was confirmed.  This was a single transition race.  In all my other Ironman sanctioned races, there were two separate transition areas.  One where you come out of the water from the swim and get on your bike that is usually about 20 miles away from where you actually finish.  You are often bused out to this transition in the morning and need to take all of your bike gear and bike out to that area the day before.  The second transition is where you get off the bike and start running.  This transition area is always near the finish of the race.

Usually you are given multiple bags to fill with your gear and place at each transition area.  Filling and dropping off all those bags takes time and is usually filled with anxiety thinking and over thinking if you have remembered to put everything in each bag.  This was the scene in my Airbnb at my first 70.3 Ironman race in Austin with all the gear that needed to be sorted and packed into three separate bags.

At this race, there were no bags to deal with.  You simply brought all your gear in your own duffle bag on race morning and set it up next to your bike since this is where you will go after you finish the swim and the bike portion of the race.  Nice and simple and I have the perfect bag.

As I approached my place on the bike rack with my race number 2292 I was ecstatic to find I was at the end of the rack!  That meant that I could simply put my bag on the outside of the rack and not worry about bothering anyone with my bag next to their bike.  The end of the rack is a true luxury for a triathlete!

I racked my bike and then did my usual habit of walking the paths from the swim to my bike and from my bike to the exit so I knew what direction I would be heading the next day.  I also walked down to the lake to check out where the swim would start and end.  It was a beautiful day and I was happy to hear that the lake temperature had warmed up to 68 degrees which explained why so many locals were showing up to enjoy stake out their place on the beach and enjoy it that morning.  Lake Coeur d’Alene is a certainly a spectacular setting with the pine trees and hills surrounding it.

After the relatively simple check-in process, I then drove the bike route to understand what I was up against the next day.  The first section around the lake was relatively simple and straightforward with only one real hill.  I concluded that I could gain some ground here early in the first 10 miles of the 56.2 mile course.  The second section was a different story.  It was mostly uphill for 20ish miles before you turned around and came back.  It wasn’t particularly steep, but it was long at between 3% and 5% grades most of the way.  Further out, the wind would likely be a factor as well since it was in farmland.  Overall, I was confident I could clock a good time, pace myself up the long climbs, and take advantage of downhill sections as they presented themselves.

With my check-in and bike route scouting complete, I headed to my traditional pre-race restaurant choice Panda Express to purchase substantial quantities of rice carbs, protein, and vegetables laden with sodium.  I then chilled out in my trailer wielding chopsticks throughout the evening, said goodnight to the turkeys who were visiting once again, and got some early sleep before my 3:30 a.m. alarm went off.  I have convinced myself that getting up at 3:30 a.m. for a race is no big deal.  It is what you do.  It is not hard for me to do it with that in mind.  I am good lying to myself.  I just go.  It’s not emotional as they say.  It reminds me of an episode of Seinfeld where George told Jerry, “It’s not a lie if you truly believe it.”