A friend and I are considering going down the Ironman trail in 2010/2011 depending on which race we select. I have done IM LP and my wife has done IM FLA, but I dont know anyone who has done CDA.
I realize that Fl has the beach, cheap condos in November, ride is flat, and that the ST community thinks the ride is a draft fest, etc. What is IM CDA like? Specfically I am interested in the following:
Is lodging expensive and do you get the 5 night min. stay nonsence like you do in Lake Placid?
Besides IM what can you do in the area?
Where did you fly into?
Is the bike hilly?
Is the run hilly?
Is the lake clear ? ( I live in NC so I am used to lakes where you cant see beyond your arm)
Did you enjoy the race and would your reccomend the venue?
If you had to pick between FLA and CDA which would it be? (neither myself or my friend have any Kona hopes; until we reach the 70+ age group and we are the only contestant or the top 1400 DNF - we are just MOP-BOP people that enjoy triathlons.
A friend and I are considering going down the Ironman trail in 2010/2011 depending on which race we select. I have done IM LP and my wife has done IM FLA, but I dont know anyone who has done CDA.
I realize that Fl has the beach, cheap condos in November, ride is flat, and that the ST community thinks the ride is a draft fest, etc. What is IM CDA like? Specfically I am interested in the following:
Is lodging expensive and do you get the 5 night min. stay nonsence like you do in Lake Placid?
More expensive than Florida, the 5 night min is not standard for all hotels, and the host hotel is ridiculous.
Besides IM what can you do in the area?
Taper for IM, or recover?
Where did you fly into?
Spokane
Is the bike hilly?
1/3 flat, 1/3 rolling, 1/3 hilly.
Is the run hilly?
No, but it has more hills than Florida.
Is the lake clear ? ( I live in NC so I am used to lakes where you cant see beyond your arm)
Pretty clear. It’s usually very cold and can be choppy.
Did you enjoy the race and would your reccomend the venue?
Yes. And I’ve done both Florida and Coeur d’Alene (the biggest challenge of all was learning how to spell the city)
If you had to pick between FLA and CDA which would it be? (neither myself or my friend have any Kona hopes; until we reach the 70+ age group and we are the only contestant or the top 1400 DNF - we are just MOP-BOP people that enjoy triathlons.
Toss up imo, but most people will go for CdA.
Many hotels have a 5 night minimum. But if you call around to the smaller local hotels, you can find no mins and decent rates.
Outdoorsy stuff. Golf, hike, watersports. (CdA golf course has the famous island green).
Spokane WA is the closest airport (half hour at most from airport to CdA). Seattle is about a 5 hour drive.
1/3 flat, 1/3 rollers, 1/3 flat. Hillier than Florida. Never done LP, but I hear LP is hillier. None of the hills will kill you, but they will get the heartrate up for a minute or two.
Run is almost all flat and lakeside. There are a few small rollers near town, and one very short but steep hill at the turnaround.
Lake is very clear. You will see the bottom for about half of the swim.
Absolutely love the race. The course, the town, the scenery, the fans… all top notch.
I have done CdA in 05, 07, and will be back in 10. Florida sounds nice, but just doesn’t work logistically for me.
I went with a group and we rented a house about a mile or two from the transition area. It was great. I don’t remember if there was a minimum or not, but it wasn’t overly priced.
The week of the ironman, we just chilled. Afterwards we went to Mt Ranier and layed low for a few days. That was nice.
Spokane
Yes. I was living in Houston and did not have the appropriate gearing or fitness for that course. I had to ride “hard” just to get around the course.
I think so…see #4.
The lake was nice and clean. It was choppy as all get out. They gave us the option of a duathlon if we wanted.
7,8. I want to do different races, but if I had to choose between CDA or FLA, I’d choose CDA. The town seemed to embrace the event. When I did FLA (twice), I wasn’t quite sure the residents appreciated us being there when they had traffic shut down.
Use the search feature and type in IMCDA or Coeur d’Alene and you’ll find MOUNTAINS of info about it. I’ve done both Florida and CDA and CDA is a much more interesting course, but Florida was definitely a cheaper trip as the condos are plentiful! Ultimately, you can decide either by your budget or by what time of year you want to be training for a full IM.
Never done Florida, but seen it and talked to many friends that have done it.
Is lodging expensive and do you get the 5 night min. stay nonsence like you do in Lake Placid?
Can’t compare to LP, but it was fairly expensive to stay at the host hotel, but worth every penny IMPO, especially with family! I loved our location and would do it in a second unless I could find a house with others to rent. I just waited to long.
Besides IM what can you do in the area?
Wineries everywhere, just a beautiful area to enjoy the outdoors…want to go back!!!
Where did you fly into?
spokane and drive into CDA
Is the bike hilly?
from texas hill country. There are a few short steep climbs, but mostly it is a bunch of rollers with some headwinds coming into town. I’d say unless you live somewhere with flat lands like houston, florida, etc. you’ll probably be fine. I had a guy i compete against regularly from Florida and he smoked me on the bike and I tend to average around 21-22 at long course stuff.
Is the run hilly?
not really…one good hill on each loop but other than that mostly flat.
Is the lake clear ? ( I live in NC so I am used to lakes where you cant see beyond your arm)
it’s no the carribbean, but it is good clean water…just cold and could be choppy.
Did you enjoy the race and would your reccomend the venue?
i absolutely loved it and will likely do it again in the future. i would choose this over Florida anyday and twice on Sunday. Friends that have done both said even though they are from Houston and the hills were tough for them that they would go back and do CDA again before doing FL again. It is just beautiful up there and you don’t have to worry about drafting like you do in Florida.
If you had to pick between FLA and CDA which would it be? (neither myself or my friend have any Kona hopes; until we reach the 70+ age group and we are the only contestant or the top 1400 DNF - we are just MOP-BOP people that enjoy triathlons.
CDA…hands down…don’t waste your time on FLA.
I can’t add much more than what’s been said, but I will say this.
IMFL has a lot of drafting. This doesn’t mean you will have no choice but to draft. I raced it in '08 and had no issues not drafting. Granted I didn’t race with a PM so I am sure if you were to race with one it would be a bit maddening at time b/c you would have to ease up to not draft moreso than another venue.
One key difference is time of year…more specifically, when do you want to train? Think in terms of available daylight and the weather where you live.
- we are just MOP-BOP people that enjoy triathlons.