Ironman Chattanooga - Triathlon

Holy current Batman! Not much to say here, the current was certainly the pay back for the long bike course. Sub 60 for the IM distance... Me??? Yea the current was a big factor. My best HIM swim is about 41 minutes so for me to go 59 for the full is nothing short of amazing.

The river was wide open and I think I had maybe 3 or 4 bumps along the way... it was like I was swimming by myself, I've had more washing machine effect on pool swim sprints, so this was a very nice way to start the day. I just went into it thinking about swimming nice and easy... stoke, stoke, stroke,breath. That was my plan and I executed well. Overall I was very happy with the swim, I was just below the middle of the pack which is par for the course for me, and I came out of the water feeling absolutely fine, not winded, tight, or with an elevated HR at all, a total win!

Even with the current aided outstanding swim, I'm still concerned about my biggest weakness. Time aside I still finished in the bottom half of the AG and the OA. I still need to get some lessons one-on-one and improve this weak point of my game.

Painfully slow, but totally what I expected. I decided going in that it would be a 2 change of clothes day for me. Being my first full IM I wasn't taking any chances. I swam in jammers and had bibs and a cycling jersey for the ride. I knew that it would take awhile to change and to lube up, but I didn't care. All in all, this time is about what I expected. I was planning 15 for T1.

Not much really,I didn't have a full zip jersey and I knew that would cost me some time and it did, plus I went with the bibs as opposed to shorts since I didn't want the tight waistband for 6+ hours so given that I could have shaved some time but likely it would have been at the expense of comfort so I'm OK with it. As I do a few more fulls I'm sure this will come down.

This was a fairly good ride and I think executed well. My plan going in was to ride at 140 BPM or below. I wanted to keep it easy to the point that it would seem too easy. I set my Garmin to alert on my HR window and I ended up developing a love-hate relationship with it, by the end I talking back and begging it to let me go above 140 just for a little while. But since this was my first full, I didn't want to compromise my run so I didn't go above 140 unless absolutely necessary (passing, climbs, etc.). My pacing plan had me doing about 17 MPH at 140 BPM and I was usually able to stay above this for my 5 mile splits even keeping below 140 so I was good with it.

Not too much. In hindsight I think that my 140 BPM limit was a little low, but I was being overly cautious for my first full. In looking back I think I could have gone a bit harder and not compromised my run.

Another slow transition, again fully intentional. Although I did have this pegged at 10 minutes in my race plan so I was a bit slower than expected. Part of that is due to my decision to wait to pee until I got off the bike. Again as I do more fulls, I fully expect these times to come down some.

As I said, I did 2 full changes. Wearing bibs and a jersey for the bike wasn't going to work for the run so I changed into compression shorts and a singlet. I think if I put more time in on the bike using tri shorts I can get away without the changing. This would save a boat-load of time.

This is and always will be my bread and butter event. I'm a runner who has come to triathlon so I really never worry about the run. I'm not the fastest guy out there by any means but my run is far better than my swim or bike, so by the time I start running I make substantial progress in "picking up places". This race was no different. Once I started the run I immediately started passing folks, and pretty much continued doing so until the end. I ran the whole course, only walking though aid stations to drink. I wasn't a huge fan of the concrete path, that was a lot of hard miles and the hills hurt, but I did run them.

Nothing. I executed my race plan very well. I had planned to run 9:00/miles and the first half had me running a bit faster although my HR was right were I needed it to be. I did intentionally slow some in the middle and towards the end to mitigate the potential of me hitting the wall.

All in all a good race. I think I could have stayed steady with a target 8:45/mile and been able to hang on, but again for my first full I was happy. My biggest "goal" was run sub-4 for that was all I was really thinking about... I know I could have gone faster but I was happy that by mile 18-20 I was on target and still feeling strong. Had this been a stand alone marathon, I would have kicked it up a notch at that point. But since I was on goal and I was soaking in the glory of feeling so strong at this point of my first IM, I didn't care at all and just decided to keep pace.

Walked a bit, had some pizza and chocolate mike (great combo, I know!) and then went back to the hotel.


Lack of training limited my performance, but I still managed to meet each of the revised goals I set for myself so I'm happy. Hopefully, I'll be able to stick to a plan for the next one and be able to perform better.


Fully satisfied with my first full IM. I was very concerned with how this would turn out... since registering I moved into a new position at work and my training plan was decimated. I had every intention of following the Fink Competitive Plan, but that idea fell apart and I sort of cobbled together my own "plan" which saw me do a total of 6 rides of 75 or more miles with none in the 100's. My longest run since my spring marathon was about 15 miles, and since January I only swam about 38K meters. Not ideal IM training at all. Although I think that may have helped in that my mindset was to finish and have fun, so I really wasn't stressed at all leading up to the race. Additionally the weather conditions were perfect for the race, that certainly helped.

The race itself was awesome, as was the 'Noog. The city and its residents were gracious hosts and I know that this race will be a favorite to many.