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 Swim
Comments: Good swim. I felt like it was a bit nippy but when I looked up last year, I see that it was actually a bit warmer. What would you do differently?: Continue to work on swim  Transition 1
 Bike
Comments: First off, I liked the course. I felt that it was fair and in many ways it was fun. The description says something about a fast, flat bike course. The Olympic course is fast and relatively flat. The course was not posted when I signed up for the event. Once the course was posted, I knew that it wouldn't be flat and I suspected that it would not be fast. I looked at the course profile online and decided that there was probably a section that I needed to preview. I created the route in Strava so that I could get turn-by-turn directions to use in the car. Yes, I definitely needed to see Stamey Cove Road. I was really glad that I did. It's a steady climb that gets steeper and steeper getting to 10%, then there is a brief break in the climbing and a hairpin turn and longer, steeper climb. Finally, you get to the top and what do you find? Brand new chipseal with loose pebbly gravel! Since the gravel is nominally part if the chipseal, it's the same color so it was very difficult to distinguish what was part of the road and what was loose. Solution: Stay in "tire tracks." Back to the race, when I got to this area of the course I had been riding in sight of the same people for a while, trading places from time to time. We got to the first steep sections and I passed at least half a dozen men walking their bikes up these hills. The hill on Stamey Cove made the hill going back to the lake seem pretty tiny. After the race, people were exclaiming, "and we had to climb a mountain at mile 40!" I got the route at just over 3000 feet of elevation gain. Nutrition: EFS Kona Mocha Liquid shot (1/2 shot divided between two water bottles), 1 additional bottle of water (did not finish), 1.5 Clif Shot Bloks. Transition 2
 Run
Comments: The run went well. Off the bike and across the bridge to a gradual uphill for 3.1 miles. At this time the Olympic runners were still on course, the elite Half runners were on their second lap and I was just starting my first. After the turnaround, downhill for 3.1 miles, a loop around the field to add a the .7 difference between two times the 10k course for the Olympic and the 13.1 for the Half course, then back up the hill and back down to finish! My only disappointment was that I had to stop and use the Johnny On the Spot. About 9 miles into the run, it started to rain lightly. By 9.5 miles in, it was raining pretty hard. It continued to rain hard for the next mile and a half. Apparently it never did anything other than sprinkle in the transition area! Nutrition: I had a Hammer gel at about mile 5 and changed from drinking water to drinking coke at about mile 7.5. Logically, this was a 13.1 mile course. I'm not sure why my Garmin got a different result. Post race
Warm down: Finished the run, received a finisher's medal and found Kevin. From there I got some food and water and visited with friends. What limited your ability to perform faster: Training for IM Chattanooga Event comments: The Half event is new to this venue. In the past, they have hosted an International distance event and a Sprint. This inaugural half was very well done. I do think that they need to change the advertising for the race (fast and flat is not how I'd describe the bike course) and address the parking as much as they can with only one road in/out of the area. I love this venue and look forward to returning in the future! Profile Album Last updated: 2014-03-03 12:00 AM
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68.5F / 20C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 334/528
Age Group = F 45-50
Age Group Rank = 15/25
We dropped of Emma at the pet sitter on Friday morning and headed up to Waynesville.
Kevin had the oil in his car changed and the tires rotated on Thursday in anticipation of our trip on Friday. On Friday morning as he went to drop Emma off with the pet sitter, he noticed a screw in the sidewall. We double checked the tire pressure and it was fine. Unfortunately, his tire pressure light came on as we approached Hickory. We did a visual check of the tires, stopped for lunch and then went to a gas station to fill the tires. What?! Only 10 pounds of pressure in that tire?! Not good! And sidewalls can't really be patched. Off to the tire place. Do they carry that model? Nope. Does anyone carry that model? Nope. Do any of the local Subaru dealers carry that model? Nope. The thing is, with all wheel drive (and for wheel drive) the tires have to be a pretty close match. So... Four new tires and a few hours later... (the tire place gave us a small trade in for the three good tires and worked us into their schedule)
Drove the new for the half part of the course and checked in. As I suspected, Stamey Cove will be interesting.
Dinner at Tipping Point Tavern. I had the Mexican pulled pork and Kevin had the mushroom Swiss burger with onion rings.
Set the alarm for 4:30 with the intention of leaving the hotel, the Waynesville Inn (only OK but there aren't many options convenient to the event site) by 5:00. Set out my breakfast and gear for the morning and chillaxed for the evening.
Early to bed, early to rise...
Breakfast: Bagel with peanut butter, banana, ensure.
We got up at 4:30 and left for the site at about 5:00. We knew that parking would be an issue given the mountain roads and narrow area around the lake. We got into the conga line on the one road in/out of the race site and arrived at the race site just before 5:30. We were able to park and I had time to oil my chain, etc. before heading over to transition. I got transition all set up, picked up my timing chip and got body marked, then I realized that my swim cap was still in the car. I quickly found Kevin, who had the keys, and we headed back to the car and got my cap. Then back to transition to put on my wetsuit and then a quick walk across the street to the starting area by the floating dock.
When an event that you have on your schedule starts to get discussed on Slowtwitch, you can be pretty sure that it's crossed the line into competitive/Type A events.
It was 57 in the morning, 73 as we were leaving the site.
Set up transition, go back to the car to get my swim cap, go back to transition to put on my wet suit, go to the dock, quick dip in the water, 30 minute wait for my wave...