One last chance to bond

NANCY TAYLOR’S CHILDREN mean more to her than anything, and Ironman Coeur d’Alene is one more opportunity for her to show it. Next week, Nancy will swim 2.4 miles in Lake Coeur d’Alene, cycle 112 miles between Higgens Point and Liberty Lake, Wash., and run 26.2 miles, mostly next to the lake because Derick Taylor, Nancy’s 18-year-old son, asked her to participate in Ironman with him.

She’s competed in Olympic distance triathlons before, but never attempted the grueling Ironman, which is four times longer.

“It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life,” Nancy says, her lean face giving away the months of training she’s worked into her schedule. “He’s my son, but he’s my friend. It’s been a fabulous six months.”

And a great way to bond permanently with Derick before he leaves for the University of Colorado in two months.

“I did this to be with him, not other triathletes,” Nancy says.

Ironman is an obvious step in the Taylor family’s sports progression – almost. The eight Taylor kids swim, play basketball and football, run and bike. No sport is out of consideration. Six weeks after her hysterectomy more than a dozen years ago, Nancy hiked 26 miles in the Grand Tetons “because they’re there,” she says. Her children inherited her work hard/play hard attitude.

The work-hard part of their lives is why Ironman participation is a stretch. Nancy works full-time as an office manager for Lakeland Physical Therapy, trains lifeguards for the city of Coeur d’Alene, teaches water safety and is in her fifth year on the Hayden City Council in addition to shuttling her remaining three kids at home to practices and games. She’s coached the Coeur d’Alene High swim team for years as a volunteer. She’s been a single mom since her divorce 10 years ago.

Derick graduated from Coeur d’Alene High this month with high honors. He’s a youth alternate on the Coeur d’Alene Parks and Recreation Commission, assistant head lifeguard for Coeur d’Alene, teaches swimming and attends all his mother’s council meetings.

“Sometimes we go to bed at 11 or 12 at night,” he says, grinning at Nancy.

Ironman became a must in his life last year. Nancy was lead lifeguard for the first Ironman Coeur d’Alene. She knows the swim community well after years on masters’ swim teams. Recruiting help for the race was no trouble. She and Derick were on the lake on Jet Skis at 5:30 a.m. to monitor swimmers in the first leg of the race.

“The gun went off and there was a huge splash and I knew I wanted to do it,” Derick says.

He followed the race from different viewpoints until the final finisher crossed the finish line around midnight. Nancy went home for a while, then watched finishers with Derick. His awe filled her heart.

“I was amazed when they finished,” Derick says. “I don’t think I saw anyone walk across the finish line.”

He had competed in the Coeur d’Alene Youth Triathlon until he was 14. Last summer, he decided it was time to try the adult race. He’d competed on teams in the race with his brothers, but hadn’t attempted it solo. He figured the Coeur d’Alene Triathlon last summer with its 1-K swim, 40-K bike ride and 10-K run would serve as an appetizer to Ironman.

If he’d trained, it might have. But Derick turned his attention to other things and suffered on race day.

“I didn’t want to finish,” he says. “My mom helped push me through.”

Nancy knew the course’s toughest spots and met Derick as he started each one. She biked with him up a mile-long hill and ran the last three miles of the race with him. Despite his fatigue after the Coeur d’Alene Triathlon, Derick still wanted to do Ironman.

“I told myself that if I actually trained, I could do it,” he says.

But he knew he probably wouldn’t train without help. So, he turned to his mother. The time and physical commitments scared her, but she didn’t hesitate.

“When do you have an opportunity like this?” Nancy says. “I’ve watched these kids grow up so fast.”

Nancy warned Derick about the long commitment. He didn’t change his mind. Nancy signed them up on the Internet.

“What a rush when you hit that button,” she says. “We were committed. Then, the work begins.”

Derick swam in the fall on the Coeur d’Alene High swim team with Nancy coaching. He talked to physical therapist and triathlete Gary Bartoo, who recommended a training plan. He and Nancy added the plan to their schedules a month at a time.

“It’s nice because we don’t have to think what to do tomorrow. It’s done for us,” Nancy says.

Serious training began Jan. 1. They ran for 90 minutes in a snowstorm. For a few weeks, mother and son stayed together running. Derick was the stronger swimmer. Nancy was the stronger cyclist. But Derick quickly caught and passed his mother in the land sports. She urged him to go ahead and meet her later. He was reluctant.

“I felt like I didn’t want to desert her,” Derick says.

They reached an understanding. They started workouts together, went their own speeds and met at the end. They fit their workouts around work and school, meetings and lessons, Derick’s prom and the other Taylor kids’ games, performances and appointments.

“There are times I crash,” Nancy admits. “There’s only so much I can push myself. It’s crazy to try to fit this in.”

They ran Bloomsday and Coeur d’Alene’s half-marathon. They biked more than 200 miles one rainy May weekend in Montana. Eighteen to 20 hours of every week were devoted to training. Derick has encouraged Nancy as much as she’s helped him.

“I trained so hard, but on half-marathon day, I really struggled,” Nancy says. “A quarter mile from the finish, I broke down. Derick ran to me and said, ‘Mom, you can do it.’ That’s the camaraderie we’ve gotten.”

When Derick crossed the Coeur d’Alene High stage to pick up his diploma earlier this month, one knee was aching and not functioning well. Nancy’s hamstrings were warning her they were overworked. But their taper began last week. To allow their bodies to recover but not lose any fitness before Ironman, they swim for only 75 minutes a day now or bike and run only up to 90 minutes at one time.

They’re nervous, but ready for the race. Derick is the youngest participant. He believes he’ll have no problem with the swim, work a bit on the bike and walk the first few miles of the run.

“I love running, but I’ve never run 26 miles,” he says.

Nancy worries she might disappoint Derick by not finishing. But that’s not possible. He wouldn’t be in the shape he is without her and he’s quietly grateful.

“I’ll do whatever I have to do to cross the finish line,” Nancy says. “We have a joke that we’ll rent a wheelchair for me and Derick will run behind it zapping me until I finish.”

Derick already is thinking he’ll do Ironman again sometime. For Nancy, the race itself was never the point.

“I did it for us,” she says. “I relish the process.”