Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

SUCKED!! I hated the time trial start, even more this way. You jumped in the water from the dock, then breastroked in a line to the guy holding his hand out. When he moved his hand, you were supposed to start, which took me a second as I started my watch. We were told to move toward the center of the river and hug the buoys to catch the current, so I made my way in that direction - as my left goggle started leaked. Stopped for a second to empty it out, but I didn't do a good job as it started leaking again. I decided since it wasn't salt water or chlorine not to worry about it, which was okay.

For about the first 2/3 of the swim, things were okay. I didn't really feel any current, but I thought I'd see the difference when I got out of the water. Then, we passed under the second bridge and it felt like I hit a wall. It was REALLY hard to move forward, definately AGAINST the current now. It also got very choppy here and I started to get very frustrated at the combination of against the current AND chop - I thought this was supposed to be a fast, easy swim! I seriously thought about grabbing a kayak and getting out at one point when I felt like I had been in the water FOREVER (which I wasn't - all mental).

When I finally saw the dock with the people yanking you out of the water I was so relieved. After I was yanked out (no problems with that, the benefit of being short!), I looked at my watch and hit the split button, shocked that it wasn't a lot later. My watch split for the swim was 30:04 - a 1:50 pace. The total time for this leg includes a run to transition, including stairs (which wasn't as bad as I had anticipated).

Be more mentally prepared for the swim. Everyone had stressed how nice the swim was, best time ever, with the current - so I think it really messed with my head when we hit the chop and current working AGAINST us.

AG Ranking: 8/55

This was good, my best case goal was 1:20 for T1 and I beat that. I had horrible rack position too (as usual), so yeah me!! I think the NAMC transition clinic on Thursday definately paid off here.

I can still get faster here, work on unracking and running with the bike.

To start the bike, I totally busted at the mount line. Slid in my shoes, feet slide out from under me, land on my left hip/butt. Ow - get up, get on the bike and start pedalling. I have got to learn to mount the bike with shoes on the pedals, then I wouldn't slip.

S-U-C-K-E-D. I couldn't have hated this bike course any more than I did - who plans a bike course on a highway?? I thought it was mind-numbingly boring and the hills were horrible. I like rolling courses okay, but this was ridiculous.

My head was not in the race, especially not at this point. I was already frustrated from the swim and again thought maybe I should just stop. My legs were pretty tired at the start, as I didn't taper for this race, and the pace reflects this. I couldn't find the motivation to make myself push harder on this course and I knew my average was going to be bad. At the halfway point turnaround, we were slammed by a stiff headwind - great. I just kept trying to pass people and encourage them as I went by. I passed a fair number of people and was passed by fair number of people. I just wanted to get off the freakin bike.

Have a better mental attitude on the bike. Make myself push harder.

27/55

Darn - I thought this was going to be faster! I did an awesome flying dismount (thanks again to the transition clinic) and ran to my rack. I had a little trouble finding my spot, but only slowed for a second or so. Had a little trouble racking my bike (need to practice that) and then proceeded to put on my socks. They were rolled half down (thanks to Amy at the clinic), but my hands were shaking and it still took me a second. Had a hard time getting my shoes on (maybe I was trying to rush too much), grabbed my fuel belt, visor, and race belt and ran out of transition.

My best case goal was 1:00 for T1, which didn't happen, but it was still better than normal compared to previous races I have done. I definately have room to improve here, but the flying dismount certainly helped.

Not sure - I think I just need to practice.

YEAH!!! Okay, so this is still above a 10 min pace, but this was a breakthrough for me! I really struggle with my runs in tris, but I finally nailed this one. I started out running too fast out of T2, but Elena came up beside me to run for a minute and slowed me down to a more realistic pace (need to practice starting slower). I focused on getting my breathing under control and keeping good form. I made sure to drink my water and perpetuem about once per mile - taking the water at aid station to pour on my head.

At the halfway point I got really excited that I was still running and still feeling good, but I didn't mess with my pace. I was running between 9:30-10:00, which was perfect. Right before mile 5 I started to feel my pace slow a bit and decided I would grab some water/gaterade at the next aid station and walk for a second to drink it. I walked one more time up this steep hill at around 5.5, since I could feel my HR rising a lot and I wanted to finish strong.

Coming down the last stretch was really cool. I was really proud of my run performance (this was the first time I thought "maybe I will be able to do the HIM in Sep") and the whole club was yelling my name and ringing cow bells as loud as they could - it was so cool!! :) I picked up my pace a little and ran through the finish line.

I think I could have picked up the pace for miles 2-6, I know I can run faster than this - but this was a smart pace for this race.

Grabbed a water, walked back to the club tent. After I finished the water, I drank the "Heather Ale" that the girls brought me - how cool is that?! :) Ate half an orange and stretched.

This isn't really part of the warm-down, but after most people had left, we found this fountain/"Redneck Bath" under one of the bridges. It was a 3 foot(ish) deep pool of cool water that drained off these steps/fountain and then out of the pool into the river. Kirk, Courtney, Kraig, Neal, Leslie (and 2 kiddos) went there after the race. It was the perfect way to cool off and rinse off (since the hotels wouldn't give decent late checkout times). Very redneck, but perfect! :)


Mentally, I don't think I was ready to race today. No taper (not a high priority race) meant I was tired.


I really hated the bike course, disliked the swim course, and loved the run course. I will not do this race again if they continue to keep the bike course on the highway, this was boring and mentally draining. How can there not be a more scenic course in all of Chattanooga?

Took close to 48 hours to post results, which was also very disappointing.