Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon
Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon – July 29, 2014
Summary
This was my second Olympic distance race and my first “A” race of the season. My ultimate goal was to push harder than my previous race and finish with nothing left in the tank. I had a good swim, improving on my best 1,500 meter swim time by more than 2½ minutes. The bike course was very tough with lots of long climbs. All total, there was 3,900 feet of climbing. The run wasn’t so great. I think the hills of the bike course and the heat combined to slow me down in the last two miles of the course. Overall, I am really happy with my final time of 3 hours, 16 minutes, considering the conditions.
Details
I woke up at 2am and ate breakfast of a jar of apple sauce with protein powder and a banana. After sleeping until about 4:45, I had an urge to use the bathroom. Then I got dressed and headed out to the race site. It was still very early, so I took my time setting up transition and relaxing. I ran into a few of my triathlon friends and we had a nice time catching up. We loaded onto buses to get to the swim start, one mile upstream. There was a staging area where the entire field of about 1,500 participants were waiting for the start. We were seeded based on our estimated swim time and I was 736, so there were quite a few to go off before me. They sent us off one at a time, about a second apart.
Swim: 34:24
I love time trial starts. Very little contact and you can pretty much swim alone. The biggest problem during the swim was my (lack of good) sighting. I think I stretched the swim out another 100m based on my zigzagging. But, even so, I improved over my previous best 1,500m swim by 2:24. I was happy with the improvement thanks to some adjustments I made to my swim stroke between the races. I exited the water without having raised my heart rate too much, which is the main goal, after not drowning. Also, this swim was a non-wetsuit swim and my previous best was in a wetsuit (which makes you faster).
T1: 3:23
There was a long run from the water to my bike. I also opted to go with socks, which probably cost me 30 seconds – it turns out those 30 seconds did NOT prevent me from winning the race, but DID make me more comfortable on the bike and run.
Bike: 1:29
I really wanted to do better on the bike than last race, where I felt like I did not push hard enough. I accomplished that, but ultimately it may have cost me on the run. The bike course was basically 12+ miles down Hwy 27, a U turn and 12+ miles back. Several people were on the sides of the road with flats, probably because several sections of the highway were under repair. We had one lane of the highway and the general car traffic had the other. I hit a top speed of 37mph and averaged over 17mph. There was a total of 3,900 feet of climbing, which is more than triple the amount from my last triathlon of roughly the same distance…and my legs felt it.
T2: 1:48
Some dude was sitting on the ground right in front on my rack spot, putting on his socks and shoes…had to improvise and use another spot on the rack, which probably pissed off one of my rack neighbors…oh well.
Run: 1:06
The run took place along the Tennessee Riverwalk, a paved nature trail right on the Tennessee River – very nice scenery. One interesting feature was there was a set of stairs to go up and down at about the one mile mark. My goal was to beat my solo 10k PR (ha!). The run started off well. My first mile was 9:44 and it just got worse from there, adding about 30 seconds to my pace each mile. This ended up being my slowest 10k run ever, but I think the heat and the tough bike course contributed to that. Those stairs didn’t help either, nor did a very steep hill at mile 5 or so.
Overall Time: 3:16:15
This was a very fun event – very well organized and Chattanooga has transformed itself into a really nice little city since my last visit 15 years ago. Anyone doing Ironman Chattanooga this fall will be in for a treat. While I did not meet my time goal of under 3 hours, I feel like I did give it my all, which is satisfying enough for me. Also, I had a lot of fun, met up with a few friends, enjoyed spending time with my lovely wife, and eating some good food. I will take this week easy and then launch into my half Ironman training plan.
Comments
I was there also. Great event. I am doing IMChoo and it was a good intro to the city. I had not been there in a very long time. Nice town. I recommend to anyone looking for a great Olympic distance event. The bike was tough and the road was not in the best condition, but I enjoyed the challenge of the hills.
I was there in my EN hat and T-Shirt....sorry I missed you guys.
@Don and Rickie, Wish I had met you. It was great to meet Joe and Gen. Don, your report is spot on. I had almost identical times as you...we may see each other a lot during IM Choo.
Remember the bike course for IM is different. I drove about 1/4 of it on the way home. Roads are nicer, quieter, but maybe even hillier. The thing I liked about the run was the shade. I took it easy for the first few miles as this was not an A race, and I found the second half of the run was ok. Talking to other people on the run course, apparently we will run the riverwalk, but also cross over the pedestrian bridge and run on the other "hilly" side. Looking across the river, it also looked non-shady. That could be a game changer.
@Jodi Unfortunately, I will not be at IMChoo - I am doing Augusta. I hope to do my first Ironman next year. I wish you the best of luck!