Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Nothing remarkable about the swim. Really didn’t feel like I was fighting the current to the turn buoy, but could tell after the turn that I was being pushed by it. Need more time in the wetsuit but no real options for doing that. But should be able to do as many OWS as we want in a wetsuit within a couple of weeks. This was a HIM swim PR for me which was all current.

Swim more. Even thought it was a PR, I am sure it wouldn't have been without the current.

Thought this would be faster but had to stop at the porto potty.

Go in the water.

Left transition and set the target at mid 170 watts. That’s about 75 - 80% which I thought I was capable of. Need to look at the settings on the 920 as I was hitting that number on the flat sections, spiking it up some on the climbs but the average dropped on the down hills so I am guessing it was counting the zeros coasting on the down hills. Felt comfortable in aero and was passing more than I was being passed. I had a bottle of Gatorade endurance on the bike and a gel flask in the top bar case. First aid station I grabbed a bottle of water to wash down the gel. The climbs were not a big deal, although I probably could have used some more outside time in the hills, but that will come now that our weather has improved. Down hills were used to give the legs a break. I have the lap alert set to go off every 5 miles and the goal was to keep these spits under 15 minutes and preferably closer to 14 minutes. Somewhat successful in accomplishing this over the first 40 miles.

Somewhere about mile 41 or 42 while downshifting on the climb the chain went off the front and wedged itself between the small sprocket and the frame. Fought with it for about 5 or 6 minutes, seemed like a lot longer before getting it out and back on. After I couldn’t seem to move very fast at all. Felt like there was a drag when pedaling and it was making a noise. Assumed incorrectly it was coming from the front, but it turns out it was the chain being off on the rear sprocket as the wheel must have shifted when the chain locked up. I thought the brakes may have been dragging, but the downhill speed wasn’t bad so maybe not. Really frustrated from here on into transition as I couldn’t get the speed up above 18 mph and had no idea what the power was since the power meter quit working. Other than the mental frustration of being passed more than passing, I don’t think it hurt the run at all.

I was hoping for a 2:40:00 split, so not happy, but could have been worse I guess.

Ride more, but also pay some attention to front gear changes when tuning the bike,

Again a porto potty stop slowed me down. Also had to throw on socks and try and loosen up the legs.

Ran out of transition and for some reason the IT band in the right leg and some tightness in the lower back. More of a nuisance than a performance issue. Stopped at a couple of trees to stretch it and dumped ice down my back to numb the back, by mile 3 it wasn’t much of an issue at all.

Really looked forward to passing the team tent on the way out as a kick in the ass, thanks for that! If I made any mistake it was probably going through the aid stations too slow. I wanted to get the ice and some hydration but I could have probably moved quicker.

After the turn around the heat started to get to me, started running with a guy that was moving at what I thought felt like a good pace, but as the splits came up it was too slow. But really struggled to get the legs moving faster. Finished ok, but would have liked to broke 2 hours which I think is certainly in my wheelhouse on a different day.

Figure out why the IT band kicked up again, it hadn't bothered me in weeks, maybe months.

Grabbed some food and walked some to the team tent.


Still have some weight to lose.


IM does a great job with most parts of the race. Only complaint has always been the post race food. Cold pizza and pretzels.

This was my first race racing with my new team, TriCoachGeorgia. Many team mates doing the race which was a lot of fun having them around all weekend. Good getting to know them in person as we had only interacted on line for me since I am not local to the team. It was a great pick up to see team mates on the course and the non racing members on the side cheering!

I did miss having Connie with me and look forward to having her along with my good friends Dud and Y along when we go back to do the full. Dud will like the course I think (as much as you can like any course 140 miles lone).