Give 'em hell out there @Alex Coe !!!!

Hey Locos! I wanted to share my race recap of IMCA! For those of you who haven't been following I DNFd my first attempt at the Ironman distance last month at IMWI. I undertrained on the bike (missed some critical workouts during the build due to illness and wasn't prepared for the almost 6000ft of elevation gain) and missed the time cutoff. The next day I signed up for IMCA as my redemption race as I knew I had what it takes to get across that finish line. Adding 6 more weeks of training after dedicating an entire year to IMWI was more challenging than I expected. All of the work commitments and family needs that I had been pushing off until "after my Ironman" seemed to crash down on me after Madison. I did my best to keep in training mode but will admit I did not adhere well to the training plan. My first impression of Sacramento was a little underwelming compared to the show Madison seemed to put on with Ironman Village and the convention center but Sac Town definitely grew on me as I was there and I appreciated the Cali vibes before I left! The swim was so fast and so fun! The American River did not feel as cold as the shock I had gotten in the practice swim (62-63°F) so I was dialed in from the moment I put my face in. The water was very clear so I easily navigated other swimmers and plants in the water. The temperature dropped more than 4 degrees when we hit the Sacramento River and you could immediately feel the current pick up. I swam really hard to hit the red turn buoy until I noticed it was being pulled away from me by a jet ski. I stopped to try and understand what was happening and eventually a volunteer waived us on. Apparently the buoy had come loose and was floating down river. Many swimmers didn't even attempt the turn buoy so I can at least say I tried to follow the rules! The Sacremento River was fast and I was making the turn into the ramps to get out before I knew it. No sea lion sightings while I was swimming but I am sure they enjoyed watching us swim. My time was 45 minutes faster than what I had done at IMWI so the current was definitely flowing! Great swim for slower swimmers like me and for first timers with anxiety about open water swimming. I really liked that I could see in the first river and after the shock of the transition to the second river you are basically done before you feel like you have put in much work!

Now that I’m on this platform, I figured I’d share a race recap from the IronMan World Championship in Nice on Sept. 14, which I qualified for earlier this summer at IM Lake Placid. WARNING: Super long post based on another one I already wrote during a 10-hour flight. -------------------------------------- I woke up the morning after IronMan Lake Placid in July feeling pretty good about things. I managed a sub-12-hours time on one of the most legendary courses there are, and that was despite steady rain on a bike that climbed over 7,000 feet followed by a battle with my gut on the run. I placed 42nd out of 195 – not the stuff of legends, but it was hard-earned and I was damned proud of it. And I was hungry. That’s what happens when you burn something like 11,000 calories in a day. I was sticking around an extra day to recover, so I headed over to the awards breakfast to take advantage of the all-you-can eat offerings. I stuffed myself full with a bowl of oatmeal, some blueberries, yogurt, a bagel, a banana, a muffin, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, another bagel, and an egg sandwich—all while giving my unsolicited insights and advice to a very friendly fellow athlete who later turned out to be previous year winner Trevor Foley—then waddled over to the seats near the awards podium. They started reading off all the slots for the women’s World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. It’s Kona, so they got snatched immediately. For the men, it was a Nice, France year, so that’s a different situation. The director preempted things by saying “If you want to go, you’ll probably get to go.” It's nothing against Nice, but it's not Kona with its legacy, so people don't want to go. I was soloing this race because my wife’s a teacher and the school year was just about to start, so I started feverishly texting her. ME: I think I have a legit shot at going to Worlds. HER: Is that the one in Hawaii? ME: No. This one’s in France. HER: I like France. ME: It’ll mean you have to take off several days from work to go.