Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

I managed to stay in front crawl the majority of the time. I swam for about 8-10 minutes with decent form...trying to site when I could. I was off the line of swimmers and thus missed the draft. I still struggle with regaining form. I would have definitely benefitted from a brief break. I switched to breathing on every stroke. Swim went by relatively quickly.

Train more. Practice OWS. I know time is padded due to current (despite never really feeling it).

Prior to T1 you exited the water on the pier...had to go up 4 large stairs then ascend about a dozen 24-30" stadium style steps (venue used to watch rowing). This sucked. Time is added to the swim portion.

I was a bit disoriented coming into T1. Breathing seemed under control. I need to chat less (again). T1 was pretty fast all things considered.

Less talk and pick up the pace

Hmmm....this is where I think it went wrong. I got on the bike and up the first hill fine. My legs were sore from not tapering. However, when I got into aero...I had a stomach cramp...and it HURT. The only thing I can assume is that I took in a lot of water on the swim and it wasn't settling. I popped a gel and endurolyte.

I chugged along on the ride. Because of the staggered starts I didn't encounter much traffic. I feel like I attacked the hills very well. I took down a few shot blocks...half a bottle of cytomax and half a water. I hit one more endurolyte at the end of the course.

I never found my cadence until about mile 14. Then I was good. Breathing was really short until then too. I was only passed twice on the last 10 miles.

Apparently the course was really rough on others. 34 penalties. 2 wrecks, 3 blown tires, 2 people hurling, 2 walking their bikes. And that is just want I saw.

I don't know what I would do differently. Definitely taper. I probably should have drunk more water...but that is tough when your stomach hurts. Plus I have never drunk that much pre-race or during.

I did try to come out of my shoes before the dismount like. I had both undone and out of one...couldn't get out of the other. Might want to practice that.

Ha...chatting it up big time. The guy I was talking to pre-race finished right behind me on the bike. I racked and nearly took off on the run without shoes or socks. That shows my mental status. I took my time putting on the shoes. He asked if I wanted to run together at about 8:30/m. I said perfect. Jogged out of T2 striking a pose for mom.

Stop talking and remember that I need to wear shoes on the run.

I came out of T2 at 1:45. I was thrilled. I seriously thought if I could put together a great run, I could break 2:30. But...

I bonked...and bonked bad. Took off with Laurence running and he left me 200m in. Hit the stairs and decided to go up them slowly. Then the hill. Fuck that. I walked. NEVER in my life have I walked in a race and I can't count the number of times I did in this race.

I walked all the uphills. Several times I tried to run the legs over and I had nothing. To make matters worse...I didn't know what to do about it. I had a gel on me...but my stomach hurt too much. I walked at every aid station and drowned myself in powerade. Maybe it was a dehydration issue because the amount I was drinking didn't seem to bother me.

I was really at a lost of what to do. My legs were NOT turning over. I hit mile 1 at about 10 minutes. I thought maybe at the turnaround I could open it up....nope. Even the last mile I was pathetic. I couldn't even open the stride on a downhill.

I just chatted with everyone including David Prince...a physically challenged triathlete (talk about inspiration).

Where is the absolutely horrendous option below? Well...I think I really need to log more running. Maybe I could have stopped and stretched out more on the run? Drink more on the bike? I really don't know.

Collapse? I cruised into the finish line....downed several bottles of water and a smoothie. Hit half a bottle of endurox and powerade along with some fruit.


I don't really know right now. Dehydration? Lack of taper? Sporadic training? Not enough training? I just suck?

Right now I am really questioning a half-ironman in two months. I think I just might die. And I am not very happy about it.


I would recommend this race (minus the stairs). Chattanooga has really grown up the last few years and become a neat town. Nothing anyone can do about the heat.