Ironman Chattanooga - Triathlon

Water felt great, no one around me, no wetsuit, I was happy & comfortable in my tri top & shorts. Swam for a while before sighting and saw that most of the field was way over to the left side (as they should be) and I was more in the middle with very few people. I tried to swim left to get back over where everyone else was, but made little to no progress. Eventually I made it over before the section where we had to swim between land and a little island (good thing!). After the island we had 3 bridges to swim under. I caught myself slacking off & quickly refocused - I was in a race after all. The second half my calves & ankles started to cramp up but I was able to hold them off. Towards the end bodies started converging and people swam over me several times. I'm just not aggressive, I let them go, and finished. Nice volunteer helped me up the steps.

Not lollygag, avoid getting off course, I felt like I was caught in a current out in the middle and struggled to get back on course. But overall this was a good swim (fast thanks to a current) for me.

Saw tri club peeps & Tom cheering, made me so happy. I jogged a little bit but mostly walked (Ben said walk, keep HR down). Grabbed T1 bag which was in prime spot! Socks, shoes, helmet, sunglasses on, and walked to bike (which was also in prime spot!), walked out to start line, and away I went.

Nothing really, maybe try to be a bit faster but by taking my time I did keep HR down & didn't forget anything.

Followed the plan for the most part, actually was probably a little low on the watts. On the "out" part of the first loop I started to feel my quads a little (that section is more rolling/annoying hills than the "in" part which is fast. I decided rather than do my typical "keep pushing to hit the watts" it might be smarter to not overdo it and save my legs for the run. I went back and forth several times though trying to decided if I should push it or back off - if I got to the run and couldn't run because of pain I would kick myself for not pushing the bike more, if I dialed it back a little, I would still finish the bike in a respectable time, and cross my fingers that the run would be ok.

There seemed to be a lot of wind out there in a few sections of the loop, which I hit twice. I didn't expect that and I was confused on how that would impact watts. My brain was saying a watt is a watt, no matter the conditions, but it felt like I was working harder on those sections without it being reflected by watts. What would Ben say - a watt is a watt? Feel that quad burn? I decided to ride more on the conservative side and not wear out my legs.

Bike was really good. I hated the one training ride I did there and was not looking forward to the bike, but I actually had a lot of fun. I felt like I was flying on the back half of the loop. The roads were better than I remembered. I saw all sorts of cute farm animals (little baby goats, baby pigs for sale) and several sections of people cheering including my tri group and Tom & Greg with the boys. I had a blast out there.

Nutrition - I alternated between Gu's & half a Lara or Kind bar. Had the brilliant idea of making an extra almond butter & honey sandwich at breakfast to pack on my bike. I busted into that shortly after I started on the 2nd loop (I made myself wait until the 2nd loop so I had something to look forward to) and it was sooooo good. And I tried to grab a half banana most of the ride. I also put Base salt in my Skratch, did NOT drink any of the Gatorade they had because that always makes me sick, and even mixed my own bottles of Skratch out on the course. It worked well I think other than I'm not coordinated grabbing water bottles from the aid stations while moving, or dropping powder and water into bottle while moving. I took extra Base salt 2 or 3 times on the bike. Probably too much, it wasn't that hot but I was sweating a lot.

Very happy with the ride.

Probably ride just a tab bit harder. Not much, this was near perfect, but I probably could have worked a little harder. Also maybe stop at aid stating to mix drink vs. riding slow for a while trying to do it on the move.

Handed bike off (love that they take your bike), grabbed bag (again in prime spot) and walked to changing tent. Ben said walk, take my time, keep HR down, so that's what I did.

Probably nothing

With my disc/sciatic issue my run training was limited and involved deep water pool runs, shallow water runs, some short run/walks, and walks, so I was unsure how this would go. The last couple of weeks leading up to the race I finally had accepted the fact that I may have to quit, or walk the marathon. So I set out not knowing how the day would play out.

Plan was either 5' run/1' walk or 4' run/1' walk, plus walk the hills and aid stations. I decided to start with 5' run/1' walk, and then drop to 4' run later if I needed to.

The first 3 - 4 miles I felt the usual glute/calf pain. On a scale of 1-10 it was about a 4-5, and even though tolerable (I can put up with a lot!) I worried it was only going to get worse. I kept going with the 5'/1' plan, ignoring it the best I could. Somewhere between mile 5 & 6 it just went away. Seriously, just vanished.

I kept with the 5'/1', except I power walked the hills. And depending on where the aid station fell I adjusted to fit it in by either running a little longer or shorter, sometimes skipping the station if I didn't need anything.

I kept up with that 5'/1' plan, never dropped to the 4'/1' because I felt really good. Run pace felt very easy, breathing was easy. The miles just kept rolling by and before I knew it I was done with the first loop.

I power walked the hills, even the very first one which is near the start. A guy on the side told me I shouldn't be walking, I was just starting. My response was my coach told me I could walk the hills so I was walking (damn it!). His wife told him to leave me alone because I was passing people that were running. Ha! Several people commented on my walk pace. I do not lollygag walking.

Shortly after the half way point I "noticed" my legs. The most I ran walked in training was maybe 7 miles, they were getting tired! Ben & I had talked about what to do if the sciatic pain got too bad, but we never talked about what to do if my legs just got tired. I heard my friend Steph telling me I just needed to eat something. So I ate more Gu Chomps and that seemed to help because I kept going and didn't give it another thought.

Other things I remember:

My left ankle hurting early on, and continued the entire run. Felt like a stress fracture on the outside of my ankle, I've had my fair share of stress fractures and it felt just like that. But how could I have a stress fracture on such little run training? My thought was oh hell no! If I was able to get through the sciatic crap, there was no way I was letting something unrelated and completely random end my day. (As soon as I removed the timing chip at the finish the pain went away. Guess it was on too tight.)

Seeing Tom at several spots on the course cheering, telling me I was doing so great, asking me how I felt. I never answered him until somewhere around mile 20. I was afraid to tell him for fear I'd jinx myself. But finally at 20 miles I hesitantly told him I felt really good.

Dallon riding his bike along side me for a while on that open stretch of highway that felt like the surface of the sun. He was so encouraging, a definite highlight of the run.

Seeing Jason on the other side of the river heading back and yelling "get it Karen you got this!".

Seeing Frank, Jonathan and Kevin (I think) at the top of the hill at mile 20 yelling Go Karen! I hadn't thought about them being there to cheer for Jason & John, and how they managed to see me I will never know. But what a nice and complete surprise. Gave me a big boost of energy.

I saw Jennifer twice, as I was heading out on the back side, she was coming in. She looked strong and it was so cool to see her.

Saw lots of tri club peeps -
Darrell several times, he was looking strong!
Martin a couple of times, he was looking ill. So sorry Martin, been there several times, not fun.
John with his arm in a sling, he's one tough dude!
Probably others, just can't remember.

Seeing Ann Marie exiting T2 to start the run, yelling Go Karen! Such a sweet person.

Cheering on other racers, it was fun & lifted my spirits as well.

Taking a wrong turn at the end and heading back out for a 3rd loop - doh! Took me a little while to realize it, Dallon passed me on the bike and looked confused, I just smiled and waved. Eventually realized my error and hauled butt back to the finish.

Nutrition was Gu Chomps, Skratch, water and Base salt - that's it! I did not have any Gatorade, coke, broth, pretzels, clif bars, nothing else. Stomach felt good most of the run, a few times when it started to feel sloshy I took Base salt and it went away. Love Base salt!

The finish was kind of emotional. Partly because I really did not think I would finish. But also the crowd cheering was like no other IM I have done. They were so loud it was awesome. And of course hearing the tri club cheering & Tom, that was priceless.

Nothing, it could not have gone any better.

Medal, t-shirt and hat, found Tom, back to tri club tent. Mistake was drinking a strong IPA that Rob brewed special for the race, instead of water first. I was fine, until I wasn't fine. In the middle of fixing a plate of food I started to feel dizzy, told Tom I needed to sit STAT! He got me in a chair, but I felt like I was dying, everything turned black, I couldn't hear anything. Next thing I remember was being slumped over in the same chair, and hearing someone say medics were on the way. Long story short - they wheeled me to the medical tent, gave me 2 IV's and sent me on my way. (So bummed I didn't get even one bite of those chicken nachos I made. But lesson learned, water before beer.)


No complaints. When I started working with Ben at the beginning of the year training for IM Melbourne I had one goal, to break 13 hours. I then sprung on him in March, one week before Melbourne, my 2nd goal and that was to run the marathon in under 5 hours. Sub 13 was accomplished, but not the sub 5 run due to nutrition issues. Chattanooga I had no set expectations, no time goals, I just wanted to finish. So to finish in 12 hours AND have a sub 5 hour run I have no complaints. None at all, just a BIG smile on my face!!!


Chattanooga is a great city, lots to do, people are friendly, accommodations are abundant, parking is easy, overall a great venue for an IM!