It has been one full week since Ironman Chattanooga and I finally made the time to sit down and reflect on the ups and downs of the day. Although my coach gave me the entire week off of training, I opted to catch up on some TV after work instead of writing my race report or re-building my bike (yes, that would be tonight's activity).
But before I start getting into the report of my own, personal race experience, I wanted to give a quick list of my overall opinions of this inaugural race (to help those who may be seeking reviews of the race to consider for the future.
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Overall opinions of the race...
1) Chattanooga is a perfect venue for an Ironman race:
Transition, the expo, and the finish line were right next to each other which makes hobbling to transition to retrieve your gear post-race much better).
There are also a million hotels within walking distance of the race site. And, if you choose to save some money, there are many hotels within a ten minute drive (like the clean and friendly Best Western where I stayed) and a plentiful amount of public parking close to transition for race day.
There are plenty of restaurants and museums to keep your support staff occupied while your're out on the race course. Although I didn't have any kids with me, there is an aquarium and discovery museum within walking distance of transition and I heard that a lot of families enjoyed that. Also, if you happen to have a significant other who wants to watch football all day (like me) there are a large amount of sports bars to whole up in (like the BWW where my boyfriend went).
2) The city of Chattanooga is in full support of this race which makes for a much greater race experience for the athletes:
I've never seen so many volunteers at a race. And, I've never seen so many smiling volunteers at a race. The entire city of Chattanooga was happy and excited to have this race in the city and it showed (besides the idiots who put tacks on the bike course which could happen at any event). At the finish line, there was about 1 volunteer for every athlete who finished and none of them minded getting sweat and stank all over them.
Also, much of the course was lines with people cheering (and just normal local people) which made for extra motivation. Parts of the run course had frat boys and locals out screaming for athletes all day long....it was pretty awesome.
3) Although the swim was a bit easier, the remainder of the race was quite challenging, in my opinion:
I have seen a lot of posts in online forums (especially Slow Twitch) that call the swim a 'joke' and say that the race is not worth doing. Clearly, none of those people actually participated in the event. Yes, the swim was quick (although not as quick as IM NYC) due to the current and the fact that it was a straight shot downriver (which meant a limited amount of buoy spotting was needed). But, all those forum people seem to forget that we still had to bike an extra four mountainous miles before having to run some seemingly insurmountable hills. God forbid the sun is out next year...because the tail-end of the run loop will probably be race-ending for some people.
Now, on to MY race....
Saturday (the day before the race):
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| Me and Craig at the Expo |
The bike techs had some issues getting my rental wheels on
because the rear brake on my bike is so super tight that it would not fit the width of the new firecrest zipps. The original wheel
tech told me that I was pretty much out of luck and was going to have to use my
tubulars in the race (I wanted clinchers because I’m more comfortable changing
them). However, one really nice bike
tech worked on my bike for about 45min and was able to basically, rebuild the
rear break so that they could squeeze the wheel in. Many thanks to that guy!!!!
Putting my wheels on my bike took a bit longer than
expected. But, I was still able to get
on my bike to a quick spin/test ride by about 1pm. I was only on the bike for about 15-20min as
I really just wanted to make sure that everything was in working order without
straining myself (since I was still feeling pretty cruddy).
We went to whole foods and was back to the hotel by 3:30pm
where I spent the remainder of the night in bed with tissues and snacks.
RACE DAY:
Race Morning:
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| Let's get this race started!!! |
It was very easy to find parking on race day since there
were so many parking lots within 2 blocks of transition. We stayed in the car until about 5am so that
I could try to eat my yogurt, fruit, and granola parfait. I was only able to get about half of it down
but it was a nice chance to just take deep breadth and wrap my head around what
was coming. While in the car, I told Craig that I didn’t plan on doing a full
Ironman next year since I want to try and get better at the HIM distance. I already kind-of regret making that promise
to him. L
After breakfast, we walked to transition and was on the bus to Swim Start by about 6am since there were busses lined up as far as I could see. At swim start, I waited in line for the my "last chance" porta-potty before getting into the swim start line-up which was already over a mile long.
The Swim:
Swim Split: 49:52
Based on where I was lined up, I was one of the last people
to get into the water before the wetsuit swimmers (the race was non-wetsuit
legal so they held back the wetsuit swimmers until after all the others had
gotten into the water). There were A LOT
of wetsuit swimmers so it still only took about 9 minutes for me to filter through the line to the start.
I chose to not get into the water during the practice swim the day
before since I did not want to make myself wet and cold when I got out (figured
that wasn’t good for me being as sick as I was). However, I still sat on the hill overlooking
the practice swim and had a good opportunity to see how fast the current was
moving people.
Although the race directors had stated that the current
would be slowed on race day, I still figured that there would be a decent
amount of help and that I could hold way, way back on the swim while still
moving quite quickly.
Given the current, I just tried to stay calm and relaxed
through the swim. Since the swim start
was not grouped by age or ability, I was not able to draft off anybody. However, given the lack of turns on the swim
and the strong current, I just kept my stroke steady and made it through the
swim quickly and without expending too much energy.
T1:
T1 Split: 8:14
I jogged up the hill to T1 (it was a pretty steep hill) and then took my time in the
changing tent making sure that I was covered in sunscreen and had everything I
needed. I didn't really feel like frying again on an IM.
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| Thowing Craig a peace sign as I head up the ramp to T1 |
Bike Split: 6:32.39
I tried to get my heart-rate to settle as quickly as possible. However, the up-and-down nature of the course
made it very difficult for me to really have control over my HR and speed. I typically bike in aero on flats so I’m very
comfortable keeping a more consistent cadence and relaxing in aero. However, this course had absolutely ZERO flat
sections which took me way way out of my comfort zone.
I tried to spin out my legs and sit up in the climbs which
allowed a lot of people to pass me.
However, I would pass everyone else on the downhill portions and I am
able to control my bike very well while in aero. The challenge of the course for me, however,
was that I was either spinning my legs on the climbs or was coasting in aero on
the downhill. So, I felt like a lot of
my bike training (getting comfortable riding in aero at a steady effort) did not really help me much since I never got the chance to just ride steady. Given my inability to maintain more control
over my effort on the bike (since my effort was determined more by demands of
the terrain), I just kept an eye on my HR and tried not to let it climb too
high.
I had two main issues on the bike course. The first issue was that my cold had been
making me go to the bathroom CONSTANTLY over the past few days. And, race day was no different. So, I wound up having to stop about six times
on the bike course to go to the bathroom which is way, way more than I would
normally have to go. This brought down my bike time by a decent amount. However, I really had no choice in the matter
since biking (while holding it) was pretty painful.
My second issue on the bike course was that my stomach
started to act up after my second bottle of Ironman perform (I think my stomach
can tolerate Gatorade far more than IM Perform). I felt very nauseous. So, I dumped my bottle of perform at the next
aid station and filled it with water instead.
Although this made my stomach feel better, the lack of being able to
take in any sports drink made my calorie consummation go down by a decent
amount (I wasn't able to eat much more than what I had been practicing to supplement the lack of calories).
I still had a bottle of Gatorade behind my seat which I
would use. But, I decided to save the
bottle for the last hour of the bike in hopes that it would give me a bit of a
boost leading into the run.
In all, I felt that I did the best I could with the bike
given my lack of hill training and given my cold. I just tried to stay as relaxed as possible
and not to get too worked up over my issues since I knew that I still had the run
to help me to improve my time (and since I was more confident in my run for
this IM than any other).
T2:
T2 Split: 5:57
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| Feeling good off the bike |
Many thanks to my boyfriend for making me go out and purchase a pair of socks to bring with me...
The Run:
Run Split: 4:55.33
I tried to settle into a slower-than-normal rhythm right out
of the gate since I have a tendency to run faster than I should off the bike. I
kept any eye on my watch and made sure not to keep my ‘running’ speed between a
10-10:30 pace and to walk the aid stations quicker than usual. The aid stations were set about 1-1.5 miles apart
which really helped me to keep to my plan of walking the aid stations (since
all I had to do was run about 10 minutes to get to the next station).
My first run loop was much more comfortable than
expected. I tried to drink coke at the stations
and to fill my hand-help bottle with water for sipping between stations. However, my stomach was craving some solid
food after the second aid station and I decided to switch from coke to a water
and banana/orange diet. The volunteers
were very helpful and helped me to keep my bottle to at least ½- ¾ filled so
that I had absolutely no problem sipping from the bottle regularly between
stations. I really think that having the
bottle helped me to keep myself focused and alert (since I would take a sip
every-time I felt my mind start to wander).
The last five miles of each loop was pretty rough as it
contained some extended, steep hills. I didn’t even really bother to try and run up
them since I knew it would waste too much energy. Instead, I worked on power-walking uphill as
I had planned. I was very good at
keeping up my plan of running between hills and also of being able to start
back up once I neared the crest of each hill (hooray for mental motivational toughness).
Once I hit the second loop, I was pretty much on auto-pilot. I kept an eye on my watch and tried to keep my stated “average pace” under 11:30 and really enjoyed everyone telling me “great pace” as I passed them. Knowing I would have to walk portions of the balk half of the second run loop really helped me to keep up my running on the first half. I Figured that I would work the flat portion knowing I would be slowed down quite a bit once I hit the hills.
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| Is this the Chattanooga CHOO-CHOO? |
In all, I was very, very happy with my run. I knew that I could easily get a PR by
keeping my run comfortable and steady and keeping to my plan. I wound up taking off 1:45 minutes per mile on the
run alone. I think that, given my issues
batting a cold leading into the race, I really stepped up on the mental
toughness and left everything I had (that day) on the course.
Overall Time: 12:32.15
Place: 16 in AG
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