Inspiration...

I suppose I can be difficult to inspire sometimes, though I crave and welcome it. This inspired me...

07.13.08 - Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon

1500 meter swim, 26 mile bike, 10K run

Chattanooga was my second attempt at an Olympic distance. We decided to take the family vacation to Chattanooga this year, mainly to visit my mother-in-law, Marty, that has been battling breast cancer (successfully, might I add) since the first of the year. She has not been able to travel and our two little ones would most likely have been too much for her amidst the chemo treatments. So we postponed a visit until July and it just so happened I was able to work in a triathlon at the front end of the trip.

In addition to having mom-in-law there at the race, the whole in-law gang was there. Stepdad, dad, stepmom, sister. It was very cool of them to come out so early and cheer. And if that wasn’t already enough, my best friend, Brian Petak, drove down from Nashville the night before the race. About one in a million guys on earth ever get a shot at a best friend like Petak and I’ve been blessed beyond measure to have him in my life. It was very cool of him to make the trip (and cool of Heidi to watch their crew so he could do it.)

The day before Allyson and I headed over to the Chickamauga Battlefield just a few miles from her folks house. For those not familiar with this battlefield, Google or Wikipedia search it and the details will speak for themselves. Civil War history galore. Riding and running through it is a bit eerie. State monuments everywhere. Big, sloping fields where thousands died. It really is a pretty cool place. I did a little warm up brick and Allyson ran. The weather couldn’t have been better. We cruised back to the house, popped off the shoes and into the pool with everything else on. The little ones got a kick out of that.

Later that afternoon, we headed down to the race site for packet pickup and site survey. We also met up with Petak. Before hitting downtown, we cruised out Hwy 27, a large, four lane split highway north out of town. I thought this was the race course, though after being on it about 5-6 miles or so, thought there was no way. This was a very, very, very steep, hilly major highway. I had emailed my dad and brother-in-law earlier in the week and they had given me different coordinates. Turns out there is an old Hwy 27 that runs along the major highway. We jumped over onto it and that was much more like it. The five of us had a great dinner downtown (I broke the usual fettuccine alfredo for some crusted salmon and veggies) and headed back to the house to rest up for the morning.

Petak and I headed out at 5:15 am. It was an uneventful 20 minutes to downtown until we reached about the second stoplight on the edge of town. Both of us heard this loud, air-leaking sound. He pulled forward and realized there was something very wrong with the car. We jumped out to find his left rear tire sitting on the rim. A minute later one of Chattanooga’s finest pulled up to offer some help. Unfortunately, I had to boogie to the race site, so I strapped on the helmet, pulled the bike out, threw my transition bag across my back and cruised ten blocks or so to the race site. No worries though. I had plenty of time.

This was going to be the biggest race I had done so far by nearly double the field. Back in March, the MAP Triathlon in Huntersville was around 800. This was going to be ~1500. It was also going to be my first race competing in a major field not as a novice. The rules in Tennessee state that if you have participated in any four triathlon events, you cannot register as a novice. I had done exactly four. Didn’t matter though because as it turned out, I didn’t even come close to placing in the novice category. I was nearly 9 minutes off pace from third place. Still don’t think those guys were novices…

My goals for this race were a little different anyway. My last Olympic distance I did not do a smart race at all. I learned a ton, but pretty much blew it on a number of fronts. The goal on this race was to learn and apply. Last race I had zero nutrition plan. In fact, I did nothing. Just took some water on the bike and tried to power through, which didn’t work. I struggled through the bike then pretty much died on the run. I also didn’t really pace myself on any given part. I went out fast as I could on each segment until I gave out and limped along to the end.

I had very specific pace goals and a basic nutrition plan. With the help of a couple of more experienced triathlete friends, I determined I needed to take in at least 450 calories on the bike to ‘break even,’ then another 250 or so on the run, which would most likely keep me from going into lean muscle. I also wanted to average right at 20 mph on the bike and was going to go out slower on the run and try to get to and stick to a 7:30 pace. My absolute best-case scenario would be a 2:30. A worst-case a 2:40 or higher.

We had about an hour wait on the UTC football practice facility right beside the swim start. I pulled up a hitting dummy and struck up a conversation with a guy named Mike Evers. Mike was from Birmingham and also doing his first Chattanooga race. He had brought his family and made a long weekend of it. He was a decathelete in college at Kansas University and his wife a heptathelete. He told me about his training journey, injuries, living in a one-room trailer to make ends meet. It was a great story and passed the time very quickly. He was competing in the Clydesdale category. I wished him the best and we parted ways.

The waiting area was accessible only by having a competitor wristband on or for the volunteers. As I was waiting in line for a last minute pit stop, Petak walks up. After changing his tire, he had to change his t-shirt. The new one just happened to be the exact same color as the volunteer shirts and he was able to pretty much walk right in. He had participants asking him questions, directions, thanking him for volunteering his time. Hilarious.

High fives from Petak and I was off to the swim start, which was at the end of the pier where the UTC rowing team headquarters. We slipped in two by two and walked (very shallow water off the end of the pier) to the end where the official typed the race number into the timing machine and said go. The swim was a 1500 meter downstream in the Tennessee River, ending at Ross Landing at the base of the Tennessee Aquarium. The water was very murky and the river current pretty much non-existent. The race website touted the swim as fast due to the current. I didn’t have to worry about that. The water was barely moving, almost stagnant.

The swim went along the shoreline, under a couple of huge bridges and along some pretty steep rock faces. Traffic during the swim was minimal. I passed maybe a dozen or so folks. Got passed a couple of times. I felt like my swim time was strong, however it ended up being 55th fastest in the age group, which was not all that great. I felt good and expended very little energy. About half way through, I started feeling the driving rain pounding down on my back. Of course, I’m all ready wet, so no big deal. All I could think about was my entire family and Petak standing there at the TA getting soaked.

Out of the water onto some custom made stairs just for the race. We had a short run up some more stairs, through the vendor area and into the TA. It was still raining pretty good. The transition was a little longer than normal, mainly because the sock/shoe situation was all wet. Onto the bike and off for the ride. Winding through downtown was a little hairy. There were a couple of fairly sharp turns that I almost came to a stop to get around. One in particular, I felt the tires skidding out from under me a little. And I couldn’t see a thing ‘cause my glasses were all wet.

Back to the earlier part of the story – I was waiting for us to go over the Market Street Bridge and onto old Hwy 27, but instead after about a mile and a half, I found myself circling an on ramp onto the new Hwy 27. The bike ride was going to be on that very hilly four-lane highway. Lovely. The left lanes on each side were for the bikes and the outside lanes for car traffic. The first major climb came at about mile three. It was well over a mile climb and very steep. And still raining. This was pretty much going to be par for the course - a steady climb about every three to four miles then a good long downhill for a couple. I was getting passed way more than I would have liked, but I blocked it out and stayed on plan. It wasn’t going to do me any good to try and keep up and die on the run.

Coming back into town I got to descend that same big hill I climbed at the start. I peaked at 42 mph. The rain had stopped and it was just a little wet at this point. It was still way too fast to be going with the surface that was still damp, but what the hey. The road surface was smooth and I was very close to the pace I wanted to be on, so I went with it. Back in downtown, it got real slick again on the asphalt, so I moved somewhat slowly the last mile or so around the turns and back to the TA.

I got a tad disoriented in the TA and ended up one too many aisles over, so I ducked under the bike rack, dragged my bike under and over to my area. Probably lost 10-15 seconds there, nothing major. I threw on my soggy running shoes, hat, race belt and took the extra 5-10 seconds to throw on the Garmin, which I’m glad I did. This was my first triathlon using it on the run. Swig of water and out onto the run course. I could hear the whole family yelling and screaming on the exit, which was nice.

The major majority of the run course was on the Tennessee Riverfront Greenway, which is a paved and boarded path along the river. The only tricky part was getting to it. From the race site, we proceeded uphill on Riverfront Parkway, then had to climb a fairly narrow and quite steep winding set of stairs that eventually put us on the Greenway. It was awkward, slow and kicked the heart rate way up, but not the end of the world. There was a fast downhill section after the stairs, then it was flat, smooth sailing on the run. That was until about the two mile marker, when it started raining as hard as I’ve ever seen it rain in my whole life. I was coming up on runners that I couldn’t see until they were about ten feet in front of me.

It let up slightly, but continued to rain hard until a little before the five mile marker. We ran by the football practice facility and the 25 yard section near the entrance was literally a pond about three to four inches deep and no way around it, so straight through it I went. Just after the mile five marker the rain had stopped and I had to climb that quick downhill from the start of the run. That slowed me down, however once I was back down the stairs and on Riverfront Parkway, it was very downhill and very fast to the finish.

Everyone had braved the rain and was there at the end. Apparently they had found a tent to stand under during the worst of the rain. I crossed the line at 2:32:54 according to the Ironman watch. The official time ended up being 2:32:57. I was ecstatic and had pretty much hit all the goals I had set ahead of time. Exited the swim consistent and not tired. Right under 20 mph avg. on the bike (probably could have hit 20 in the dry.) A consistent, steady, sub-7:30’s pace on the run (mile splits were all between 7:14 and 7:30.) I took in all my calories on the bike. I ended up losing about a minute on the bike, 30 seconds on the run and a few seconds in transitions here and there, which is what put me at the 2:32, but I wasn’t worried about it in the slightest. The goal and focus is the half IM and I took major steps in the right direction toward getting to where I need to be for that, which is all that matter.

Even with the crazy hilly bike and the torrential rains, I loved this race and look forward to doing it again next year, hopefully with some of my triathlon friends from Charlotte. It was absolutely perfect having Petak and my extended family there.

My four favorite peoples.

Now a six week break until the Lake Norman Sprint Triathlon right in my back yard of Cornelius, then onto the half IM on 9/28.

Official results - time, place
Race photos