Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Okay, the this wasn't the cleanest water but my best swim time ever! Although I really didn't feel the current, it must have definitely helped. I had a hard time with sighting at first and I think one of the buoys was off course, but the swim course was pretty straight forward. Just pass two bridges and there's the finish. As I neared the swim exit, I could see big guys waiting to yank us out of the water. It was cool to be "yanked out" of the water. I felt like a flying fish.

Continue to practice on sighting.

I decided to wear both my socks and gloves for this race. I just didn't feel comfortable leaving them off. Everything else went smoothly. Popped two more Endurolytes and ate a gel.

Try to get faster.

I've never ridden on a highway before so it felt unique, but I didn't so much enjoy all the hills. It went on and on... I thought I would never see the end of it. I felt pretty good despite having had only 2 hours of sleep. I think I stayed in the big ring the whole time except for once when I had to climb over the giant hill for the first loop. Once, I saw a guy pull over and throw up. I think it was definitely due to his nutrition. It was only at around 5 mile mark. Again, i wanted to avoid dehydration so I chugged 2 bottles of Gu and ate a gel.

I want a new bike! A tri bike with "whoosh whoosh wheels" would be nice. My aluminum bike with the aeros weigh a ton esp. with two full bottles and climbing hills. I was passed by a bunch of fast male riders on the course. It was cool to see them fly past me with their hot bikes. I didn't really see any problems with drafting in this race. I saw fairly a decent number of USAT officials riding on their motorcycles, surveying the course for penalties.

Racked my bike, changed shoes, took off my helmet and I was off. I knew that I had a little over an hour to make the under 3 hour mark on the run.

Although I didn't run this 10K under an hour, I felt pretty good about it. It was a challenging run for everyone, I think. By the time I started on the run, it was pretty hot and humid. The beginning of the run was the hardest since we had to go up the steps and climb up a humongous hill before we could get to the flat running path by the river. I felt like a tiny ant trying to climb over a giant ant hill. So helpless... I walked that first hill but I was determined to run the rest of it and did. Once I made it to the half way point and turned around to run back the other half, I kept looking at my watch to ensure that I would finish under three hours. It got pretty tough after five miles, but I kept up with the pace and didn't walk, even on the big hill. Didn't pull off the usual sprint at the end, but several of my teammates commented later that I looked strong on the run. I stopped to get Powerade at every station and poured cold water on my upper body to cool myself down. I really needed every once of that Powerade and water.

Need to run more and work on my pace.

The cold blue towel felt so good around my neck and shoulders. I skipped out on the beer and solid food but had plenty of water and Gatorade. Just couldn't eat anything b/c it was so hot. Oh yea, they didn't give us a medal but we got a cool t-shirt.


Hot and humid weather.


I was pretty impressed with the race organizers. I thought that it was a great triathlon. They could have shortened the wait time before the swim, but everything else was well run. I am also very pleased with my overall time b/c I wasn't expecting to stay under 3. I will be back next year.