Heading to CDA | Sage Rountree

I haven’t written much about my training for Ironman Coeur d’Alene here, in part because it went pretty much without incident. The whole experience was just . . . well, it was what it was. I did it, I thought it was a silly amount of training, I felt crummy for being too tired to do housework or think of a menu beyond pizza, I had a few really satisfying long rides and a number of fun races along the way—Valle Crucis, White Lake, and others—but in general it just was. I think the daily meditation practice I undertook throughout was much more powerful than I realized. Or, on the other hand, I may be in complete denial about what I’ve committed to (maybe that’s why I haven’t packed a stitch, even though the taxi is coming in 14 hours). I’ll have all day Sunday to ponder the enormity or triviality of the undertaking.

In every race, there is something that goes very right, and something that could be improved next time. I expect to encounter some, perhaps many, of each type of lesson in Coeur d’Alene, and to find some unexpected joys and obstacles, as well.

As a parting reflection, here are some pictures Wes caught of my bike dismount at the Over the Mountain Olympic-distance tri, a training day I thoroughly enjoyed at half-Ironman pace. I got this dismount just right, and it balanced out my inglorious tip-over at White Lake. There are good parts and bad parts to almost everything. It’s always changing. And we keep rolling on.