IM 70.3 Chattanooga Race Report By Janyne Kizer
IM 70.3 Chattanooga Race Report By Janyne Kizer
Race Name: IM 70.3 Chattanooga
Race Date: 2019-05-19
Finish Time & Placing: 6:02:41, 40 AG/1442 Overall
How Did the Race Unfold?
My goals were to race well and have fun. I wanted to execute the race in the EN way by calculating my bike power and run heart rate and following the plan.
What Would You Do Differently?
I would think about seeding myself differently for the swim. This is tough because I felt like I seeded myself honestly.
I also need to speed up my transitions.
I need to work on riding into a headwind too. I don't know what it is but I can put out power on a hill but do not do as well into a headwind.
What Should We Know About This Race?
This event is popular with new triathletes.
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All The Things
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Traveled on Friday. Left home at about 7:30. Arrived in Chattanooga at about 4:15. Made it to the briefing at 5 and then checked in to the race. Expected water temp 73-74. The current was high (46,000 cfs at the dam) and they were hedging about if the upstream section would be swimable.
Saturday: Short ride to confirm that all the gears still worked on the bike. Smart lunch at Tzakis. Dropped off bike at 2 on Saturday. Kevin picked up pizza from Mellow Mushroom and brought it back to the hotel. Early dinner, early bed, early wake up time...
Sunday pre-race: Pre-race food. In transition at 5 to check bike and set up transition. Place nutrition on bike. Grabbed wetsuit and goggles and swim cap (and water and a Gu) and head to bus to swim start. On bus to swim start at about 5:30. At swim start by 5:45.
Long long wait for swim start. Finally go into the water at 8:28.
The pros took off right on time at 6:50 and 6:55. The age groupers were supposed to start at 7:05. But wait, was is that we see, buoys on a boat! They reset the swim course and the age groupers started 10 minutes late at 7:15.
Once I finally got into the water, it was an uneventful wetsuit swim. I question the whole seeding thing but to a large extent, that is not something that I can control. Longish run to transition with a quick stop at the wetsuit peelers.
The bike for the 144.6 and the half iron distance events are very similar the main difference is the half turns on Andrews at about the halfway point so basically, when you see your left turn, be on your gears because it's a hard left and uphill at the same time. I only saw one bike marshal on this crowed course but when I passed the penalty tent, it was full.
There seemed to be a lot of inexperienced riders on the course. At each of the three aid stations on the bike course, people stopped (full stop, unclipping, etc.) without pulling off the road resulting in those around them having to make full use of their bike handling skills.
At one point just before Chickamauga, a rider went down behind me. He must have hit some debris on the road. There was no one close to him and it sounded like his rear wheel went out from under him. We had just passed two volunteers at a minor intersection so I did not stop, thinking that the volunteers were literally right there to check on him. Ouch!
Another exciting thing that happen was riding around a rattle snake who was in the middle of the road! There was a man in the street calling out that there was a snake in the road- which was really nice as i think he was just a good samaritan and not volunteer. As I rode around the snake I realized appeared to be a coiled rattle snake. Yikes!
I also had a problem with vehicular traffic on the course. Once it was not too bad, The driver was just a jerk. He pulled around a stopped car and a volunteer asking him not to go and then clogged up the course for a few miles but fortunately pulled off before I got all the way up to him. The second two cars were on the twisty climby part after Chickamauga -- draft the car or cross the double yellow and pass? That's not a good situation to be in. After the car problems were done, I completed the long grinder out of Chickamauga followed by long, super fun downhill. In the last 10 miles or so for the ride, I started to develop a hot spot on the outside of my right foot. I was glad that the transitions was relatively close! I passed so many people at the end of the ride. Many of the riders seemed to be doing a lot of coasting.
On bike nutrition - 2x Infinit plus Clif shot blocks (about three servings?) on bike. 3x bottles of water. Peed twice on the bike and again in T2.
Shout out to the Epic Ride Weather app. I found it to be useful for this event. If you are not a Best Bike Split subscriber, check it out.
The run
It was 88 and sunny on the run. I managed heat by managing heart rate. I had Gatorade at each of the aid stations, Gu at 4, 7, and 10, and Coke on the second half of the course. I had a good guess at what my average bike heart rate would be and I confirmed that on my watch in the last few miles of the bike. I tried to run that heart rate for the first three miles. It seemed really really slow. Then I tried to keep my heart rate in the correct zone for the next 10 miles, slowing down when it got too high. I was pleased to pass a lot of people on the run (yes, this may well be commentary on my swimming but I'll take it!)
I finished with a smile on my face which is always my number one goal.
THANK YOU!!!!!!
Congratulations on a great race! Passing people on the run is a good feeling and means you nailed race execution. You achieved your goals and most importantly finished with a smile! Well done!
Great race @Janyne Kizer. You looked strong all day!!
Nice report & great race, seems like you had a good race & plan & always in control. Anyways, Huge Kudos
Eugene
Well done! I could relate to your description of traffic conditions on the bike course, having done this race twice (except for the snake - yikes!). Posts on Slowtwitch described difficult swim conditions with people pulled out on the upstream part before the first bouy. Sounds like this got sorted out with the course change you described. You did great on a warm run, and ran smart.
Congratulations @Janyne Kizer Great race, you nailed the execution.
Thanks, all!
Regarding @Tony Puckett 's comments about the swim -- the RD also posted about the swim in Slowtwitch and seemed to indicate that he is in search of a new start area. Perhaps @Mariah Bridges has some intel on that?