Ironman Chattanooga - Triathlon

Cancelled swim.

Loved this ride. The course was quite fast, and with my position in the time trial start, I had a ton of opportunities for legal drafting as I passed people, especially on the first loop. I stuck to my power numbers: Average: 152 Normalized: 159 VI: 1.05 TSS: 260.9. These were actually a tad lower than I was aiming for, so that's even better - undershooting vs. overshooting always lead to better runs. I also stuck to my nutrition plan perfectly, and drank plenty. I peed four times on the bike and once more in T2, which is a sign of good hydration. The overall time and average pace blew away my expectations, and I was really excited to see what I could do on a tough run course.

I thought this was a perfectly executed bike, setting me up for a solid run. But......

Literally the only thing that probably doesn't look great is the high cadence average of 93.

Didn't waste time, but also didn't rush. Took a seat, wiped off my feet with a towel, made sure my socks and shoes were comfortable, and peed before heading out. Love the sunscreen volunteers!

Nothing. I guess if one day I'm going to a Kona spot I should speed up here a little, but I was very happy with this.

Horrible. Worst blow up of my life. You start out with a hill before hitting the flat section of the course. First mile was OK, but I could tell something was not right. Mile two I was getting cooked in the sun but still running. That's as far as I made it. The next 24 miles were a complete death march. My calves were cramping the whole time. My right knee was really a problem. I felt like I was baking in the heat. Eventually my stomach shut down on me. I would walk every aid station, and also have to walk once or twice in between them. In an effort to limit the damage, I would only allow up to 60 seconds of walking. My moving pace was actually not that bad, but I couldn't maintain it for more than 1/4 to 1/2 mile at a time. As the race went on I had to keep readjusting my goal, and with 4-5 miles left I wanted to try to stay under 5 hours. It was not easy, but I was able to cut down on the walking just enough to do it. What a harrowing experience this run was.

(side note: the overall rank is wrong. Ironman does the results in such a dumb way, showing where you stood after each leg, not your actual rank for each. I was able to figure out my AG spot here, but with so many racers it was too much to comb through the overall)

One of the worst things about this disaster is even with lots of time to reflect on it, I can't figure out exactly why this happened. I paced the bike perfectly, stayed under my power numbers, ate and drank everything I was supposed to, and other than the right knee, felt pretty good to start the run. Just not my day I guess...

Died in the grass.


Honestly don't know. I usually do so well in the heat, but maybe it got to me today. I've probably never been so disappointed over a race before. I thought my training was really good this year, hitting several 200+ mile weeks on the bike and running really well in races this summer. Back to the drawing board this winter I suppose. Maybe it's time for a coach if I want to level up.


Despite not having the day I wanted, I really enjoyed this race. The venue was great, a very cool city. Bike course was pretty and super fast without being flat to the point of boring. Run course was challenging, but one I was looking forward to take on. I will have to come back one year and hopefully get to enjoy the down stream swim.