Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga - Triathlon

This was a pretty easy swim considering that most of it was downstream. Wearing a wetsuit made it all the more easy, thus, my strong swim time. The pace is more indicative of the current than my overall swim speed. Typically I am close to the 2:00/100 pace. Although, I have been working this off season on developing faster swim times, so we will have to see how these numbers translate to an open water 'non-current' swim.

Did a good job getting the wetsuit off (thanks to the strippers) and getting to my bike; although, I did overshoot it on the rack and have to back up for a couple of seconds. However, taking my drinkable u-can nutrition cost me a bit of time. Should have drank it while running with the bike out of transition. It was a long journey from the water to the bikes; that was part of the problem with a long T1 time. But also taking the nutrition and getting my shoes on could have been handled more timely. The position of the bikes was also a little awkward. Not much room to work.

Under the circumstances, I think the only things I could have reasonably done to shave off some time would be to drink my T1 nutrition while exiting transition.

Basically, my bike speed still sucks. Don't know how to put it any nicer than that. I try to get time in the saddle, but with winter, I spend a good deal of bike training on the trainer. Wonder if that is somehow not translating to the bike. I need to get a speedometer for outdoor training, and really focus on developing a feel for more speed. No doubt, the bike segment is what is really limiting me from being competitive at this point. The bike will be my focus this coming off season, but for now, I need to try and find some more speed...somehow.

At this point, I'm not sure what else I can do. Felt I biked as hard as I could, but still only managed 18mph average.

The transition distance was not nearly as long in T2 so the time was a bit better. Again, I stood there and drank my T2 nutrition like an idiot when I should have been drinking and running. I also stopped on the way out of transition to pee. Shouldn't have wasted the time. Could have just let it go on the run. I was shooting for a total time of 5:30, and missed it by 22 seconds. That was the 22 seconds I spent in the portapotty.

Don't stop to pee!!

The run was pretty solid and I don't think I left anything out there. Hit it about as hard as I could. I chose to take the first lap (of 2) at a comfortably hard pace and let the legs settle in. My typical strategy. However, I really didn't need to take the whole first lap at this pace, only turning it up to full throttle for the second lap.

Probably only needed half of that first lap to get the legs ready to go. Could have shaved off a little time had I uped the pace a little early, perhaps after two miles instead of 6.

Not much. Grabbed a bite to eat (pizza at the food tent) and a nice walk back to the car to get my gear bag before retrieving the bike.


It really comes down to the bike. I just don't feel any speed. Work this off season on the swim really helped and I feel good. The run has always been my strong event. But that damn bike. I have to focus both mentally and physically on performing better on the bike.


I love this race. Ironman knows what they are doing and everything was very well organized. The course is beautiful as is downtown Chattanooga. I plan to make this my full Ironman race for next year.