Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Well this is where it was frustrating to put down a reasonable swim time yet have everyone else overestimate. TT is nice but boy, all I did was pass people, and not slowly. There were no real drafting opportunities for me starting too far back, obviously mis-seeded. Plus given that most were hanging the bouy line, I just swam farther left than I would have liked missing out on most of the current help. No biggy though, the swim feels fast and the bridges are fun to swim under.
About halfway, there's this weird smell, kinda like gas from a boat but no boats around, the sewage treatment plant is upriver of here, we don't swim by it

Submit a faster, more realistic swim time to start not mid-pack and then stay on the bouy line as planned instead of closer into shore.

Holy Moly Fella's, this is a race.
So exit the water via 3 staircases with volunteers pulling you up onto the step, Bound up the steps to the riverwalk, cross the street, run up to the top of transition, 180 back down into it, across the grass to you rack.
All was going well but there I just can't believe how people are walking, I mean really? How bout a slight jog, how bout a swift walk?
So get to my rack, which is all the way back up the row, which is great for the run exit. Find it easy enough but there are still a ton of bikes there from the 550-680's range.
Cap/goggles on ground, suit off, watch on, glasses on, helmet on, grab bike and go.
So running back down with my bike and have to yell, on your left, what a cluster, did I mention this was a race?

Hmmm, can't control your spot but be aware of which which side of the rack to stage the bike. Racks are pre-numbered for a 6 bike range but you choose which side. Would have been better off to be on the side with the later #'s ailse, at least that way I would have had less traffic to "run" through that I already passed on the swim. Would have been fine if the swim seeds were accurate.

Get up to speed fairly quickly easily getting my feet into the shoes then strapped in. This is a course that is pays to be agressive on the uphills if you can find a pace without settling to grind it out in the granny gear. Must have passed 150+ bikers, most in the 500 series, then 400's, then started seeing 300's then a few in the <100's (fast swimmers). Never got passed, weird, guess I started way too far back.
Get to around mile 10 knowing the turnaround is in 3 miles and start to scan the others going the other way looking for BryanB. Few guys wearing Red so hard to tell but I know I haven't caught him as he must of had a 10-12 min earlier start. Hit the turnaround and everytime I see red, I push, nope, not Bryan, he must be flying. No biggy.
So come cruising into the last 3/4 mile flat into transition, shoes unstrapped, feet out, leg over, slowing down, hit the dismount line about perfectly, just next to another guy that was unclipping at the line, I'm already into a jog/run and quickly by him onto the grass!

This time, my shoes stayed on the bike and I actually had good pacing/timing. Unstrapped about 3/4 miles to go, loosened up feet, then slipped them out in the last 30 seconds and got on the tops without any fumbles.
So you enter the top of transition and since I had a really long run with the bike in T-1, I am rewarded with a really short one this time.
Only 1 bike on my rack and the rest in my row is empty. Find my spot easily as I'm 2 racks in from the end, socks on, shoes on (thanks yankz), helmet off, grab hat/number and go. Fairly efficient.
This time, very few people in transition.

So out of transition, focusing on form and breathing and moving up the hill decently enough but when I get near the top, I am beginning to struggle with the HR and starting to feel gassed. Climb the stairs and there was no real bottleneck so that's cool and then onto the flats focusing on trying to recover. Look down at the 1 mile mark and I'm at 7:10. Well that's good speed for the hill but maybe a little too hard. Too late now. Get the Iced towel just after the stairs - cool!. THen around mile 2, the mental gremlins start attacking, at this point, I am feeling gassed, hot, overheated, etc. Temp was around 81 and 90%+ humidity. Just hold on, get to the turnaround.... Hit the aid station at 2.8 and decide to walk through it with water. That was a good move, cooled me off a bit for about 20 seconds. Still haven't seen BryanB at this point. Hit the turnaround and I feel the chill from toe to head which I recognize from previous races as my bodies way of saying it's one last effort to cool you down, you're overheating. So without wanting to repeat WestPoint major dehydration, now it's time to manage smartly to get back to the line.
About 1/4 mile later, there's BryanB coming the other way, we high-5 as we pass.
So the rest of the way, walk about 30 seconds every 4-5 minutes plus the aid stations. Hit the dang hill coming back, I know I've got just under 1 mile to go but no way I feel like running this.
Down the stairs and the last 1/2 is downhill with tons of people on the street cheering on, awesome. Hit the line gassed but not completely torched needing medical, definately overheated though.

Move back to Oregon for July races!

Sit under the shade for about 10 minutes trying to cool off putting down 2 bottles of water, then walk back to the finish line to cheer on BryanB. But I was too late, he already crossed.
I see him holding a beer already half gone with his fiance, who's gotta be pretty cool cause she shook my hand even though I was a sweaty, stinky mess. We chat for a couple of minutes and figure out that I probably passed him in T-1 or T-2 cause he got his foot good coming out of the water and his sock was bloody. I egg him on to do the SummerSizzler with Coldfire in August. We commisserate about the heat beat down on the run then part ways.
Grab some food, grab my gear, head home.
Results not posted yet but no worries, I'll catch those on line later.


Good effort? yes and no. OK race, humidity/heat got me good late in the run, not sure how to change that other than back off early on the run (not gonna happen). Learning my body signals and how to limit the damage instead of pushing through waiting for catastrophic failure.


Race lived up to expectations. Plenty of course support, tons of volunteers (I heard around 400), beer at the end, expo, big crowd, great location downtown where the family can be entertained. Started on-time. Definately a must do if you are from the area.