Day 1
This is Paul reporting in from my Ironman Couer d' Alene Training Camp that my Peak Performance coach put together for me.  This is an absolutely beautiful place and the course is fantastic.  I am staying at the host hotel with a friend of mine who is here for a seminar with his work.  He is also coming back in June to do the Ironman here as well.  He is limited on his training time here due to that terrible thing we call a JOB.  Yesterday we rode the bike course to get familiar with it and its surroundings.  We found a really cool Bike shop in the town of Couer D'alene called Vertical Earth Bike Shop.  They had a big map of the bike course on the wall.  They even had spots to look out for dogs on the loose.  As we started out on the course, we soon realized that it was already marked with blue arrows, so we didn't need a map.  Being from Florida, we were in awe of the scenery and of course what we call mountains and what many others call hills.  We also saw Llamas throughout the ride.  I have never seen one before, so this was really cool to see.  We asked some dude from Seattle what they were raised for and he told us that they were pets and that alot of hippies enjoy them as pets.  So I had Rich (my friend) take a picture with me pointing at them.  We finished up the ride and realized that these hills really trashed our legs more than our normal training route which is pretty flat.  After a meal in town, I came back to the hotel and took a power nap.  I went for my 90 minute run about an hour later and was in a trance the whole time just staring at the lake and the surrounding mountains.  What a peaceful place.  I finished up my run and had to do a 30 minute regeneration swim.  The lake was a little too cold for the swim.  It is currently 54* Fahrenheit and I think that equates to 12* Celsius,  so I just swam in the hotel pool.  It worked out fine. 
 
Day 2
It is cooler this morning and raining.  I am a little nervous to ride on the wet roads with the quick descents that I am not real comfortable with.  After being on the road for about 90 minutes, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  The sun dried up the roads quickly.  I started seeing the Llamas again and they were just checking me out so I stopped to see them and I started to feel great.  I guess they are going to be my good luck charms during the bike leg of the race.   I felt more energized toward the back half of the ride today and finished just over 5 hours.  I came home and had a recovery drink and just passed out for about an hour.  I did my swim this evening and my legs actually felt much better than yesterday.  We are headed out to grab a bite to eat this evening and then to bed to get ready for a big day tomorrow.

Day 3
Had my best nights sleep of the trip and felt great this morning.  Went out on the run course for a 90 minute run.  The weather was much cooler than my home in Florida, so it was nice to wear a long sleeve dri fit top and running gloves.  I am used to sweating after the first 5 minutes into my run.  There were quite a few cyclists out on the course which is also part of the bike course for the race.  I was told that there are approximately 150 locals signed up for the race which is in its 5th year here.  The people in this town really embrace the event here.  They even advertise for volunteers on the front page of their local paper the Coeur D'alene Press.  I was told that they are on a waiting list to volunteer here.  After the run, I went to breakfast and had Huckleberry Pancakes.  They were great!  They seem to be famous for Huckleberries here.  They have huckleberry coffee, huckleberry wine, huckleberry syup, huckleberry jelly, huckleberry lotion, ok. I guess you get it, kinda like the shrimp deal with Forest Gump. 
     This afternoon I did my 3 hour ride and rode the bike course.  The weather took a turn for the worse while out on the course.  The temperature dropped and it began to rain slightly.  I saw my Llama friend just hanging out on top of a large mound of dirt.  The descents were sketchy due to the wet roads, but thankfully no road rash today.  I ran into a local triathlete training for the race and it was good to hook up with another person out here to help me through the misery.  I couldn't feel my feet or hands.  They were freezing.  When I made it back to the resort, I went into the hot tub to thaw out.  Ready for dinner and a big final day tomorrow.

Some other quick notes:

BIKE COURSE

 

•     The bike course wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I am not leaving here in panic mode or worried about struggling on the bike or being under trained.

•    However, it is challenging and could be a bear on the second loop if you go too hard too early.

•    It could also make for a tough run as well

•    It reminded me a lot of Clermont – the climbs are not as steep, but they are longer.  No climb seemed to be as steep as Sugarloaf.

•    For Paul C., the terrain was a lot like SoCal and the ride we did that day.  Although, the are no hills like Bombardier or Mt. Soledad.

•     As far as gearing is concerned, you will need at least a 25 on the back and maybe a 27.  I had a 12-23 and Paul had a 12-27.  There were hills where I had to mash to get up and definitely could have used a larger cog as I ran out of gears.  Paul on the other hand, could spin and accelerate right up the hill while I was stomping on the cranks (that dude is super fit by the way)

•    Check out the attached pdf file with comments.  Basically, the course is flat for about 4.5 miles, there is a short but steep climb and then a down hill to the turnaround.  This is where the special needs bags will be during the second loop of the bike course.  The climb back up is very gradual and not too challenging.

•    The course is relatively flat from mile 10 to 20.

•    From 20 – 25 is starts to roll, but nothing terribly difficult.  This part of the course runs along Hayden Lake – great scenery.

•    From 25 – 40 is the toughest part of the course.  With 25 – 35 being the most difficult.  There are a few downhills that allow you to hold your speed into the next up hill – definitely something to take advantage of.

•    From 40 – 45, you get back into some of the smaller rollers.  Again, not terribly difficult, but could be a real pain in the arse on the second loop.

•    The last 10 miles are relatively flat again.  But, there will probably be head winds coming off the lake coming back into town.

•    Decending on the course is not very technical with only a couple of places that you will have to come out of the aerobars.

•     The loop took us about 3 hours.  This includes getting off course, going the wrong way, turning around, stopping at traffic lights, taking pictures, chatting like schoolgirls, etc..  We rode hard enough to get some good work in, but didn’t kill it by any means.

•     In my opinion, a sub 5:30 bike split will be VERY solid and an excellent time on this course.  For those you who have done IM Florida, this course is probably about 30 minutes slower.  This is just a guess because we didn’t “race” it, but I think it is in that ballpark.

 

OTHER STUFF

•    Be very careful from a hydration standpoint.  It’s dry here and I didn’t feel as though I sweat very much and probably didn’t think I was losing as much fluid as I did.  On my T-Run, my mouth was a little dry.  I probably should have consumed another bottle. 

•    The town is nice and there seems to be some pretty good places to eat and have a beer.

•    Haven’t run the course yet, I’ll do that tomorrow and give you an update.