Monday, October 19, 2015

Ironman Chattanooga Race Report


(Photo courtesy of Carrie Kiefer)

First post in a very long time, but first official race in a long time...

I had previously signed up for Ironman Louisville, but when Ironman Chattanooga didn't sell out in five minutes as it had for the first edition of the event, I bowed to some peer pressure and yes that means I would be attempting two Ironmans over fourteen days.

About ten days before the event, I found myself with some pain in my groin area so ended up in an urgent care center with a urinary tract infection and some antibiotics.  This may have had an impact later, but I'll get to that.

I drove down Friday morning with a fellow Louisville Landshark, right into a rainstorm.  It rained for most of Friday and Saturday, which had us concerned for Sunday.  It made for an interesting outdoor Ironman Village on the grass as we were a couple inches in mud during packet pick up and all that.

Did a little shopping, where I bought my usual event shirt with the participant names on the back.  I didn't however, buy any other pre-event gear as I already have so many tech shirts, cycling jerseys, etc. and the design didn't blow me away.  It takes something pretty spectacular to add to my collection.

The rest of Friday and Saturday was meeting up with a couple other Landsharks for some local dining, the underpants run, and a practice swim.  Saturday's pre-race dinner was Fazoli's (Italian) for some carb loading and then off to bed about 9:30-9:45 for a 4 something AM alarm.

We had been uncertain on the wetsuit status for the swim but with cool, wet weather, we figured the temp would drop even more to give us a wetsuit legal swim.  Well, we were all wrong, and the first news I got when I woke up was a wetsuit optional swim, which means going to the back of the swim line if you wear one.  I decided to pass and swim in my jammers.  The other uncertainty was the river current.  In 2014, the current was very fast, meaning super fast swim times.  The practice swim also had a heavy current so we were hoping for another fast day in the water.

Ate a Clif bar, had some Gatorade, and kept eating a little while I waited the hour or more in the swim line.  Got in the water pretty quickly, and we were greeted with almost no current.  Not entirely sure why, but we all had to deal with the same conditions.  Felt ok in the swim, but admit I was a bit demoralized by the lack of current.  Total swim time was 1:28:56.  Had a decent haul to get to the changing tent, where I changed completely into tri shorts, tri top, fresh socks, etc.  Stopped for a quick hit of sunscreen and was on my way in 13:18.  Slow, but a full change with a wet body is never fast for me.


I had done one lap of the bike course several weeks ago so I knew what to expect.  I never felt out of gas or like I was pushing it too much.  The course seemed very flat to me, even though there is a decent amount of overall elevation gain, so I figured I was having a good day.  The only downside to the Chattanooga bike course is the length.  A typical Ironman bike is 112 miles but this one is 116 miles, which at my speed, adds another 14-15 minutes to the total time.  Even though it was cool, I ate and drank regularly as well as took regular hits of Base Salt so I could keep the cramps away.  Finished the bike in 6:34:16 or 17.65 mph. I knew I had more in me, but didn't want to destroy myself and have to walk the entire run.

T2 was another full change: running shorts, fresh socks, tech tee, etc.  Not quite as slow as T1 but it included a bathroom stop.  Total was 9:40.

My goal going into the day was trying to PR (my previous best was 14:12) and to possibly break 14 hours for the first time ever at this distance.  The first bit of the run course is slightly uphill-ish then flattens out as you hit the turnaround.  My plan was to run each mile, walk through aid stations, and repeat. I was pretty successful for the first 6 miles or so then I picked up an absolutely wicked stomach ache.  I was forced to walk for most of the next 14 miles.  It wasn't bathroom related as far as I could tell, but it had me completely drained.  I think it might have been UTI related or the antibiotics but I wasn't sure.  Another racer advised me to drink a lot of cola at each aid station to hopefully settle my stomach.  Finally, after some Tums another racer gave me, along with loads of cola, chicken broth, and Gatorade, I felt well enough to try to run about mile 20.  Unfortunately, it was on the second half of the loop, which is brutally hilly.  I had previously decided to walk those hills as it was, so stuck to my plan.  My first Ironman featured a 6+ hour "run" so even with all that walking, I finished the run with a 5:44:07.

I knew my chance at a sub-14 was gone, and probably a shot at a PR as well.  But as I crossed the finish line and looked up my total time it was 14:10:17, nearly a 2 minute PR!