Ironman Chattanooga : Official Thread

Open for business!

Sounds good, I'll start us off: When does everyone plan on starting training for this race? I just did my first IM, which I started training for about 9 months out; I don't think I'm going to need to start so far out this time around. I'm think 4-6 months, as long as winter maintenance goes well. It's always easy to "forget" to go to the pool when it's cold out!

Winter maintenance & strength training. I will start a 9 month plan in Jan.

Wow this sucker started early!

My wife and I are in. I DNF'd IMTX in May due to a bunch of different things so I'm looking for redemption and she's looking to survive. I've got RnR savannah Marathon in November and then a trail marathon in February. Then I'll flip to Tri mode and I'm thinking the Chattahoochee Challenge Half, Raleigh 70.3 and then a long summer of training for the full.

I've never done any of the above mentioned races so should be fun.


more importantly, when are we all going up to ride the course?!?!?

Thanks for setting the site up so quickly. Really surprised I got in based on all the reg stories I was hearing. I did IMFL as my first in 2012 and really looking to improve this time. Well wishes for all you guys once the training kicks in,,

I might do Chattahoochie, too. I debated it this year, but did IM NOLA 70.3 instead. I have several HMs to keep me busy during winter months. I'm debating if I want to run a marathon in March. Otherwise, IM Chatt will be my first.

I'm in for my 3rd (barely)!  My plan is to work on strength and maintenance over the winter then start officially training in May.  What training plans are you using.  I've used the plan here on BT both previous times and I'd like to use something a little more in depth/detailed.  Any suggestions?

I have a HIM end of October to finish up my season (B2B) - will probably take a month or so off (after I try not to die on my military PT test that is the weekend after the HIM...I mean really...shouldn't I get like a free-pass or something!). then do one of the maintenance plans through end of Feb, and start March for training...i'm going to go the coaching route i think...I could find online plans, but I know that I tend to be more responsive with someone helping me, giving me guidance (all that good military training)

My plan has 3 overlapping phases, weight loss, base building, training. Each phase is about 4 to 5 months.

This is gonna be an awesome race!

So do we call it IMChatt or IMChoo or IMTN or ???

I guess the official training will be the day I get back from the Boston Marathon in April (assuming I get in on registration).
That doesn't leave a lot of time for specific triathlon training, but I plan to do my best to mix in some biking and swimming during the marathon training.

I'm very excited about this race. Should be a nice scenic area with lots of nice stuff for the family to do.

I'm curious, does everyone else tend to bring a big entourage? I'll have my parents, in-laws, wife and daughter there with me.

I'm ready to start the journey to becoming an Ironman. 1 more race for me this year ( U of IL sprint) and then on to building the run and bike base up over the winter and then start a training program in early March. What 70.3 race is everyone planning on doing in their buildup? I'm thinking Steelhead, 7 weeks pre-Nooga.

I'm going to be doing one or two Olympics, a HM, and maybe a HIM (can't make up my mind) locally before this season ends. My race this season at IMLou did NOT go as planned, so I'm looking at trying to put a good race plan together for IMChoo, which btw is the abbreviation I'm going with. As far as training plans go, I use Be Iron Fit, which worked well and is dirt cheap if you buy the Kindle version on Amazon. Also, on the IMChoo FB group someone mentioned Triathlongeek.com, which has plans on it. I looked at it, and really like what I saw. They have a Winter Maintenance/Iron Distance plan that is a lot like the Be Iron Fit plan, but is 37 weeks. It's not expensive, either.

As far as riding the course, I'm definitely up for a Fall ride. For the race, I've already booked a room at The Crash pad, which looks like an awesome place. More importantly, it costs next to nothing, so it'll be very cheap to stay there for the weekend in order to do a ride/run weekend workout.

I started my training yesterday with two beers. In all seriousness I am starting over as a newbie after 2 knee surgery's and losing my base. But hey, it's all good. Damn, Im excited

Took this year off from Tri. Ran a mary in March and have just been hiking, biking and running since. I am so pumped for this race, mainly because it is just over an hour from my house. Did IMLou in 2012 with OK results and will be very interested to do an IM in something other that 90+ degrees. I guess those temps are possible but would be very out of season for the end of Sept.

If anyone here ever wants to meet up for training rides I will be down. I am twenty minute from 75 North (Hwy 20 and I-75) and hey a four bike rack.

I cannot wait.

After reading all of the horror stories I am not sure how I got registered so easily!

IMChoo will be my second as I just finished LOU a couple of weeks ago. I haven't done a workout since LOU and I plan to start back with some easy stuff this coming week. I will be working on run speed and doing a few local events (5k, HM, Oly relay) to finish off the year. Next year my wife and I are planning to run the Pittsburgh Marathon so I will start running for that. My actual IM training will probably start around March or April with a good winter maintenance plan leading up to it.

Swam a solid hour this morning....kinda of kick-off to the long 55 weeks or 387 days of planning, ploting, training, calculating, replanning, recalculating, training till we jump off the barge into the Tennessee River! I look at 28 Sept 2014 as the day of celebration! That is the day we can be proud we made it to the starting line in one piece with a modicum of sanity still left and our prize is we get to enjoy a fun day of swimming, biking and running with 3,000 kindred spirits!

Good luck to all. Be careful out there!

I'm in. I'll start training probably in Feb/Mar for this race. Have good base. Will try to keep that and improve run over winter.

I'm in. This will be my second IM. I'm kind of amazed that I got in now that I've read about all the hubaloo with registration.

What are people thinking with lodging? Is it too early to worry about that? With such a large group flooding the area I want to get booked early.

Most major hotel chains will not take reservations more than 1 years out. I called about Hilton band hotel (Hilton, Hampton, Doubletree) and they said I have to wait....and I'm Hilton Honors Diamond.

So I have a note to call on the 29th to make a reservation. You might be able to book now thru the IMChatt website but they didn't list the hotels I want.

The absolute coolest hotel in Chattanooga is the Hilton Choo-choo. They have the famous choo-choo there and you can actually stay in an old sleeper car. They also have regular rooms. The lobby of the hotel is actually the old historic Chattanooga train depot.....way cool! Visit there even if you don't sleep there. The problem with staying there is it is a couple of miles from the race start downtown.

IDK how many hotel rooms are available downtown but with ~3,000 people needs rooms, my guess is they are gonna fill up fast.

I've booked a room at The Crash Pad, which looks awesome. It's about 1.5 miles from downtown, dirt cheap (basically a hostel) and it's very athlete and environmentally-friendly. I had a problem with breakfast at the Galt House in Louisville; I didn't realize I wouldn't have a way to make my normal breakfast of a toasted bagel and Gnutella. The Crash Pad has a full communal kitchen, which will be nice for the whole weekend to be able to make whatever meals you want. I'm going to stay there during the Fall when I go for a practice ride. They had booking open for next year; it was only $60 for a three-day deposit.

That's what we did too - called around and couldn't make a reservation yet. The IMChatt website thing doesn't seem to have the same hotels that seem most convenient to the finish. It's very confusing to me. I emailed them to see if there was a "host" hotel but I haven't heard yet.

This is by the way one of the coolest hotel referral I may have ever seen - thank you!

I thought I read somewhere about no host hotel, but maybe i'm going nuts...

I like the hostel idea..i'm cheap and its likely just going to be me (family lives all overseas) - so why pay mucho dinero for hotel to crash

Here's a fun fact. The flow of the Tennessee River is generally about 1 mph. The swim cut-off is 2:20. So you can almost just float in the river and make the swim cut-off. :-)

Ok, now all we need to worry about is biking 112 miles and running 26.2 miles.

Too early for stupid posts?!

never too early...lol!