Ironman Chattanooga 2015

Ironman Chattanooga 2015

 

This race was no where on the radar since starting last December - my attention had been on Ironman Lake Placid.  The training, the races, the workouts - all for Placid. Placid is a distant memory (write up to come later)

 

When I pulled the trigger to race IMCHOO, it was sold out. So I decided to raise funds for the Crohn's and Collitis Foundation of America. Here is a little bit about the CCFA from their website: Since our founding over four decades ago, CCFA has remained at the forefront of research in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Today, we fund cutting-edge studies at major medical institutions, nurture investigators at the early stages of their careers, and finance underdeveloped areas of research. In addition, our educational workshops and programs, along with our scientific journal, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, enable medical professionals to keep pace with this rapidly growing field. We are very proud that the National Institutes of Health has commended us for "uniting the research community and strengthening IBD research." 

 

I had 9 weeks to train between Placid and CHOO. I've never done two in a year let alone two in essentially 2 months. After a light week of recovery, I was full into training again. I knew I could get in about 6 quality weeks of work - but, it's not always that easy. I spent 10 months training for Placid. That means 10 months of little to no weekends of "fun" for my wife and son. The race from Placid still affecting me mentally and trying to figure out nutrition. So I decided to approach this race much different than usual.

 

The goal for 2015 was to qualify for Kona - it was my last year in the 25-29 age group. I obsessed over the 2014 results from Placid. The "what do I need to bike to make up for my swim?", "how can I buy some minutes in transition", "how much do I need to bury myself on the run". For Chattanooga, I never looked. I knew from Placid I'd need to go around 10 hours to have a sniff at a chance, but I was going to do what I knew I could do. The goal was: swim 100% bi-laterally, pay attention to 10 second average power and NP on the bike and then just look at the HR on the run.

 

The 6 quality weeks leading up to the race, I focused on maintaining with little gains. I knew I had done enough long rides for IMLP that I focused on really doing 2 prior to CHOO. What was weird was I would be super motivated for CHOO one week, then have absolutely zero motivation to train the next - those were tough weeks! I did swims at lunch - nothing too long since there was the down river swim. Run workouts were tempo based and some long runs including a 16 miler.

My typical week between IMLP and IMCHOO was as follows:

Monday: Swim (2k with some 100s and mainly drills)
Tuesday: Ride (Either 20 minute efforts or climbing work. Typically 90 min) then a run for 30 min (brick)
Wednesday: Swim (3k of hard work. Either 200s, 300, 400, or 500s). Then would Run in the evening (about 60 min)
Thursday: Ride (This would focus on speed work/Intervals. About 90 min to 2 hours)
Friday: Swim and Run. Typically the longest swim of the week and would run at night for about 40 minutes
Saturday: The long ride. 100% of my riding was trainer. So this would be approximately 4-6 hours on the trainer. This would include 60 min warm up, either 20 minute efforts for 2 or 3 hours, or ladder or speed work. I'd then hop off the bike and run for about 30 minutes. Often including pickups or gradually get faster.
Sunday: Long run. Typically 90 min to 2.5 hours. 

Race Weekend

Friday

What I was excited about was seeing some old friends from back home including a college roommate! Being my 4th Ironman, I wasn't too concerned about getting there on Thursday or right away on Friday. Prior to leaving a member of the Facebook Page - Ironman Chattanooga 140.6 had asked if anyone could bring a bike for a Shirpa so I volunteered. A road bike, Tri bike and an a bike shop was packed into a Ford Focus. I left Charlotte, NC around 6 a.m. on Friday with a planned arrival of 12 noon. I was also meeting with a teammate on the Triple Threat Triathlon national team I'm on - David Fernandez (he'd go 9:51). As I was driving, I stopped for gas and I decided to check Facebook. Found out a person needed a ride from the Atlanta Airport to IMCHOO as I would be passing Atlanta the exact same time. So I volunteered again to pick up this stranger. Little did I know, I'd be picking up Ben Collins from the airport for his debut Ironman race (he'd go 8:29!)! This weekend was turning out to be something. After picking him up and stuffing the Focus, we had to get to the Pro meeting in about 90 minutes. We were 2 hours from race site. I'll just leave it at we pretty much made it in time!

I get to check in, and the village is a SWAMP. Rain had been coming for the past 36-48 hours. Not sure why Ironman didn't move it to the Convention Center where the awards were. But nonetheless, I go to check in and luckily get VIP access as all CCFA and foundation/charity athletes do. A quick in and out and I'm all checked in. But wait a minute, I remember that I didn't see my helmet at all between loading up and getting Ben's items in the car. A quick look and nope, no Rudy helmet. So I go over to the Rudy tent and buy a Wing 57. Then I run into Ben Collins who also happens to be a Rudy sponsored athletes and says his wife would bring one down! Karma?! Not knowing if the tent would take returns, I walk back over and luckily they do. Crisis diverted and still married!

After that I head over to Cheeburger Cheeburger to meet up with my buddies. That place is great - greesed slippery floors, old style kind of place. Food is amazing!

As we check in to the hotel, we start unpacking everything. I open my clothing bag and guess what pops out? My helmet....

Workout: None

Saturday

We get everything ready the previous night. All the stickers and transition bags (I personally do not use any special needs bags). As we begin to leave, my buddy tries to get his bike computer to work. It's not working. I pump up my tired - BANG. What are the odds? Thankfully I brought an extra Garmin and had extra latex tubes (if you have never ridden latex - they are WORTH it!).

After about an hour of this - we were finally off on our way. Checking in our bike and gear was seamless and easy as usual. My Dad and Aunt had arrived for support and was great. I know that everyone says their parents are huge supporters, but I'm not sure anyone can beat my biggest fan - Dad! Was great to see both of them!

After racking, dropping, and our routine stretch out at the tents we were off on our way to find some grub.Ironman now gives each athlete a $25 meal voucher - so much better than the pre event pasta dinners. We went to Il Primo. Fast service, great food, and the presentation was great. I'd highly recommend and definitely would go back next time I do IMCHOO.

After very little walking and hanging out, we were relaxing back at the hotel getting that mental game on.

Workout: 30 minute easy run (8-10 min miles)

Sunday

Race morning - I was so dang excited I woke up an hour earlier than expected (4 am). Ate 2 pieces of plain bread, 2 bananas and 16oz of Gatorade Perform.

With a fully charged Garmin 920xt, I double checked my configuration:

Swim: Backlight On. Distance Notification 1400yds. Data Screen: Distance and time
Bike: Backlight 8 seconds. No Notifications. Data Screens: First Screen - Distance, Time, Normalized Power and 10 second average. 2nd Screen - MPH and HR
Run: Backlight 8 seconds. No Notifications. Data Screen: HR, Lap Pace, Lap Time, Distance

My dad picked us up and we were in Transition around 6 a.m. Transition closed at 6:30 with the race starting at 7:30 and Age Groupers at 7:40 a.m. We all hopped on the bus at 6:35 a.m. Steve, who did IMCHOO last year had explained we had no worries to getting to the start line. We all were not worried about the 2:20 cut off so we were just relaxing at the end of the line.

We get to the line and it was about 3/4 of a mile long to the end - also no bathrooms. For us, seeing people go to the bathroom in the woods is normal - for others probably not.

The swim was also wetsuit optional meaning that if you did wear a wetsuit you couldn't qualify for Kona or Age Group awards. My father and I stopped at the Roka tent the previous day and bought a swim skin - talk about a sweet swim skin! Thing felt like a wetsuit, I'd totally recommend one!

As we closer got to 7:30 a.m. the line began to shorten and the anxiety in air began to thicken. Tony, Steve, my Dad and I were all hanging in the back and talking about what to expect from the current, beautiful views and if we saw each other towards the end what we'd do. Little of this panned out, but was great to talk to them pre-race.  I hung out in the back as long as I could and was the last non-wetsuit athlete in the water.

IMCHOO Swim Start

My goal for the swim: Swim as straight as possible and bi-lateral breathe the entire way. I would always swim one sided in open water - come to find out I believe I was just using way to much energy. I hoped in and the water was actually quite nice at 77 degrees with the swim skin on. I immediately began passing people and found myself more towards the center of the river than the swim markers. For me, this was fine since there is more current. So I kept swimming and would sight every 3 minutes or so while keeping an eye on the markers every time I breathed to my left. It seemed to workout great! The river is very clean and can see my entire entry into the water - something I'm not always fortunate to have. I had also set my watch to buzz every 1400 yds to keep me in check. It was pretty nice to feel the buzzes on the watch to keep track on where I was at.

As I kept swimming, I wasn't passed by more than 2 wetsuit eligible individuals. It was nice to draft off of them as long as I could without additional energy output and noticed my watch. I could potentially break an hour! There is so much room to swim that if  you swim into someone its either: you caught them or you aren't swimming straight.

I see the final red marker and just keep swimming normal. I'd usually kick it up here, but finally realized it's not worth it. I get up the stairs and hit my watch - 59 minutes! I just busted my PR by 15 minutes!

Swim: 59:38
Division Rank: 24th
Swim Satisfaction: 10/10

T1

A normal transition. IMCHOO features a very nice concrete path along the river then up a pretty steep hill but has a very nice ramp with carpet. Getting through T1 was quick and easy and as always the volunteers are awesome. They are truly the life on Ironman.

Bike

This is where I really wanted to focus on since it killed IMLP for me. I would listen to my numbers and not how I felt. The goal here was to have an NP of 200 and a Avg Power of 190-195. I was pretty confident in my nutrition plan and race plan - I just needed to prevent the excitement and execute.

I have only seen the elevation map on the course but didn't pay much attention - I was so focused on power. So I really didn't know what to expect, what scenery to expect, or anything. Since I was the last one in the water, there were still a lot of people ahead of me. Within the first 5 miles there were water bottles, co2, nutrition, tubes, tires, and tool kits splattered all over the roads - there were some pretty bumpy roads. Ironman did do a pretty good job in marking, but the bike shop laid out for the first 5 miles sure helped with seeing where the bad patches were.

As I began to get into the country side, I was passing people left and right. I swear I felt like I was just saying "Left......Left....Left....Left" for the first hour. There was also a ton of drafting, but it seriously couldn't be prevented this early on. I had no idea how fast I was going, but after looking at my splits it somewhat made sense. I was averaging 25 mph!

The course was pretty spectacular. You could fly on it, but had to be patient - once you hit the hills they would eat you up. I could see those who this was their first Ironman event get caught up in the first loop and struggle the second very easily. As you bike, the views get better and better as you enter the valley. Traffic was pretty respectful and I only had to pass about 3 or 4 cars on their left in a passing zone. A triathlete passing a car in an Ironman event, something wrong there.

About halfway through the first part of the loop, you see one of the biggest hills you see all day. Don't push it, just relax - many say that the race doesn't even start until mile 80 or 90 on the bike. I relaxed, hitting around 300 watts, but still at 202 for NP. I knew I had some room with the downhills coming.

As I passed the first Special Needs bag in Chickamauga, I saw my dad and aunt. Boy was it great seeing someone familiar out there! I was on perfect pace - 200NP half way through!

Typically the further you get into the bike, the less drafting you see. This really wasn't the case. I saw draft lines about 6 to sometimes 10 people deep. In some cases - it wasn't preventable. Either someone was truly passing a competitor. I saw an official about 4 times out there - this was twice as less than IMLP.

At mile 80, I start getting stomach rot and lower back pain. I hit mile 80 at IMCHOO with absolutely no issues and felt actually fresh. Could this be? Could I actually finish the bike with no gut or back issues? Only time would tell.

Around this point I found a good group of riders where we'd use each other and sling shot constantly - no drafting. The legal way to pass in Ironman. 5 bike lengths, get in the draft zone, use them for 15 seconds and sling shot around. We kept this up for the last 20 miles on the bike course. It was perfect!

I came into T2 feeling ready to go and just crushed my bike PR by over 20 minutes, counting the extra 4 miles!

Time: 5:20
NP: 200
Avg Power: 190
Nutrition: 6 package of Gatorade Chews, 5 Powerbar Gels, 130oz of Perform and 60oz of water
Pee'd 3 times on bike
Division Rank: 5th
Bike Satisfaction: 10/10

T2

Got into T2 and found my shoes were tied! Rookie mistake. After untying the shoes, I was ready to roll. I came out of T2 in less than 6:30 total race time.

Run

I felt like I was running comfortable and slow, but I found out I was running sub 7s! Looking back, I almost wish I hadn't been wearing a watch. I was feeling great, but forced myself to slow down. In addition, I decided to use the course nutrition so I wouldn't have to carry anything on the run - mistake.

The course is deceivingly hard. You start flat and know you have a downhill finish, but there are some false flats that you'll ask yourself "why is my HR in Z4?!"Once you cross the river heading to the loop, that's when the hills and make or break happens. The crowd support over here is second to none. It's pretty similar to Wisconsin support. The aid stations over here also help as well - very excited and get  your adrenaline pumping!

I forced myself to run the entire first loop - 13.1 miles no matter how slow I would go. I ran through aid stations taking in about 2-4oz of Gatorade and 2 oz of water per aid station. At about min 45 and 1:30 I took in GU Gels - terrible decision that led to my stomach issues at mile 14. I had walked the entire mile 14 to 15 trying to recover. I thought, if I sacrifice 1 mile to recovery, it's better than 10 of trying to run and walk. At about this time I had saw my wife's aunt and uncle - was a nice boost and felt like I had to force myself to run in front of them. It was a great pick me up. Then I began walking and running while dry heaving around mile 16. . I kept doing this until mile 22 when I had heard I was 5th in my age group off the bike but now was in 6th. Only a few more hills to go and I was done, so I forced myself to just run - I shaved 5 minutes per mile off my pace. I think I had learned a valuable lesson doing this - stop running slow and just run. By opening my legs up, I felt like I "unbinded" them of a slow running march and used different muscles - something I am definitely going to remember for next time!

Crossing the pedestrian bridge for the final time and turning for the finish is something that will never get old. You can hear the crowd and announcer - it makes you forget what you had just done all day. I looked at my watch and knew I had done it. I knew I had broke 11 hours - something I didn't think would happen after mile 14. My previous best was 12:36 and finally ran a race I knew I had in me.

 



Avg HR: 153
Avg Pace: 10:13
Time: 4:23
Age Group Rank: 6th
Run Satisfaction: 6/10

All in all, I'm very happy with my race. Going from a 12:36 to sub 11 is a huge feat, especially in 9 weeks! I would recommend Ironman Chattanooga to anyone out there who is thinking about it. It would be a pretty good first outside of Ironman Wisconsin as well. The city is great, the spectators are always great and the volunteers are fantastic!

Swim is non threatening, the bike and run do pose challenges, but I think that's what makes it fun.

Lastly I'd like to thank all of the sponsors that helped make it happen!

Triple Threat Triathlon
Roka
The Sufferfest
Under Armour
Rudy Project
XX2I Optics


Until next time, stay safe out there!