Well this is a bit overdue, but I’m
still getting used to this whole blog idea. I’m a huge fan of reaching out to
others and sharing my experiences, but I feel blogging walks a fine line of
bragging. It is never my intent to sound as if I’m boasting, but I do hope to
show some pride in my training and race results.
The experience started with an
8-hour drive to my sister-in-law’s place in Greenville, TN. This gave us the
opportunity to catch up on some family time, as well as, split the drive up.
The next day, we drove the final 3 hours into Chattanooga. We got to
Chattanooga on Thursday, 4 days before the race. I wanted to get there early
enough for us to experience as much as Chattanooga had to offer. I know the
standard advice says stay off your feet and relax, but I felt I owed it to my
wife to do some sight seeing and let her have a bit of a vacation experience as
well. After all, she has put up with a range of energy levels and moods for the
past year…she deserves a vacation!
We toured the Ruby Falls on Friday
and then hit up the Tennessee Aquarium on Saturday. For anyone who is planning
on racing Chattanooga, Ruby Falls is pretty spectacular. It’s a pretty short
1-hour tour, so you aren’t on your feet for very long. Being that my wife is a
aquatic animal veterinarian, we could have probably spent the entire week in
the aquarium. She was kind enough to let me go off and do a practice swim after
we finished one, of the two, buildings. I also drove her around the bike and run
course, so she could get a sense of what I would be facing on Sunday.
As far as my tapering went, I
joined up with Daniel on Thursday after we arrived and we did a loop of the
bike course. Our plan was to go steady, but easy. No hard efforts on any of the
rollers. This did not go as planned. About 5 minutes into the ride I was
seriously struggling. Daniel was dropping me on every climb, which isn’t
unusual, but my power numbers were skyrocketing. First, I started to get
doubtful about my training, but then I started to get pissed. I finally stopped
after about 10-15 miles to give my bike a look over to see if anything was
rubbing. Turns out, my brakes had shifted during transport and my front wheel
was inconsistently rubbing. After I got this sorted out, I was able to level
out my emotions and finish out the loop. Needless to say, that was a bit of
wake up call. I needed to stop being so casual about my bike checks.
All right, time to stop rambling
and get to the actual race. Daniel and I decided to leave the hotel on race
morning at 5:30 (approx. 7:40 start time). Daniel has been racing for a long
time, so I’m always keen on his advice. He warned me about the number of people
who were going to be stirring at the hotel and transition VERY early in the morning.
He wasn’t kidding! Race morning I went downstairs to get some coffee about 4:45
and there were dozens of athletes looking like they were about to start the
swim. I think these type novice-Ironman encounters would make a lot of people nervous,
but for some reason it gives me more confidence. When I feel confident in my
training and the way my body feels, its hard to break me from my mission.
My nutrition strategy requires a
separate post, but the theme of my diet involves primarily low or
slowly-digesting carbohydrate and high fat intake. As I got closer to race day,
I gradually begin to ramp up my pre-training carbohydrate intake from none to a
sweet potato (with butter) and about a cup of quinoa. My wife makes these
awesome little quinoa cakes that are perfect to grab and eat on the go. On race
morning, I also included my coffee with heavy cream and coconut oil. I’ve been
drinking this on such a regular basis, that I know exactly how my body will
respond (aka. About how close I need to be to a toilet when I start sipping).
About an hour before the race start time, I start sipping on my concoction of
UCANN, maple syrup, Master Amino Pattern, Salt Tabs, and X2 performance.
We had no trouble getting to the
transition area. My wife is amazing! She got up early to walk down to
transition with us (approx. 0.8 mile). She volunteered to carry our bike pump
(another Daniel tip: bring your own bike pump, but lend it out cautiously
because everyone will want to barrow). After setting up our bikes and quadruple
checking our transition bags before dropping them off, we got in line for the
busses. The volunteers were invaluable. This was the most stress free start of
any race I’ve ever done. People were so kind and supportive as we all buzzed
around frantically.
The swim start line was epic. The
bathroom lines were epic. But the race was even more epic. We were probably
close to 1/3 mile from the start line, so we only were able to hear the gun go
off for the race start. Then the line started rolling very quickly. So fast,
that with about 100 meters out I was almost sprinting to the dock. This was an
awesome feeling. I jumped in the water and started paddling.
The swim was very fast! Everyone
was aware of the proposed current that was involved with a downstream swim, but
this was crazy. The momentum that the current provided, allowed me to really
focus on my effort and form. I’m not a huge fan of swimming, but I had a solid
foundation of swim fitness going into the race. I took about 10 minutes to work
into an effort and then locked in. I don’t think I ever bumped into any other
swimmers, other than occasionally swimming up onto other swimmers feet. This is
a rarity for me.
SWIM: 53:06
Exiting the water, my wife was
standing immediately in front of the first turn as we ran up to our bikes.
Seeing her smile was a huge boost. The bike transition was a breeze. I try not
to overcomplicate the process and have visualized the transition so many times,
that I was in and out.
T1: 1:22
I was
really excited about this bike course. I had ridden the course 3 times and
driven twice. I felt I had a solid knowledge of when I could push and when I needed
to conserve. (Daniel tip: Don’t push to hard out of T1. Everyone else will be
going very fast, don’t try to stay with them) Well I decided to do the
opposite, sort of. Since I was one of the last athletes to enter the water,
there were a lot in front of me. When I exited T1, there were miles and miles
of packs of people. These were unintentional packs, it was just a congested
race course. I decided to ramp up to my predetermined race output and blow by
as many people that I could. I felt like I was in the fast lane of the highway.
Once I jumped in, I could not get out. I tried to remain courteous of the other
riders, if I had someone ride up on me I would try to jump right. This was
tough in the first 10-15 miles of the race. There were so many people that it
was difficult to find breaks in the congestion to make a legal pass and not
create a blocking maneuver. After I went through the first 20 miles, things
started to open up and I was able to find my groove. I was feeling really great
and then all of a sudden I saw a fellow Trisports.com athlete. Then I realized
it was Daniel! Based on the way we had been training, I should not have been
riding at Daniel’s pace. He’s a beast on the bike and really pushed me to achieve
big gains throughout the training, but I never jumped up to his level.
When I saw him, I pulled up next to
him and smiled. Then I kept moving forward. I knew this would be like dangling
a carrot out in front of him and help push him to go faster. As we went around
the first loop, I was concerned about drafting so I really tried to maintain a
legal distance. I knew that if I was seen anywhere close to another athlete in
the same trisuit, it could definitely be perceived as us working together. So I
made sure that if there was a train of legally racing guys, I was going to keep
2 or 3 riders between Daniel and myself.
At this point, I was holding my
race power and feeling good so I wasn’t fazed if someone made a pass and I had
to slow up. I knew that every second of spinning or light pedaling would only
benefit in the end. I stopped to pee once toward the end of the second loop,
heading into the town of Chicumuga. Unfortunately, I haven’t mastered the art
of peeing on the bike so it was a quick stop to evacuate and back I went. The
race volunteers were awesome; they held my bike right outside the Port-o-potty
so I could jump right back on as I came out. I didn’t bother to stop at special
needs. All my water bottles were still in tact and my nutrition was going down
as planned.
The second loop was pretty steady,
just as the first. But around mile 80, my back started to tighten up. I knew
this would eventually creep up and it, kind of, gave me a since of relief,
since it was something I had planned for. At this point I took turns riding hard
and then taking a 10s stretch out of aero. As I approached the end of the second loop, I
came up on another rider who was in my age group. We took turns metaphorically
pumping up our chest by putting in solid chunks of hard efforts. Somewhere
between the end of the second loop and T2, I lost him. I wasn’t sure if I had
let him go or if he dropped back. Either way, having that little 20-mile battle
at the end of the second loop really helped keep my mind off my back.
BIKE: 5:13:50
I was
ecstatic with my bike time. I knew I was going to have a good bike, but I felt
great getting off the bike, so this was an even better bonus. I caught up with
Daniel in T2. He’s not shy to admit that he likes to take his time in
transitions, so this was a spot where I gained some time on him. Leaving T2, I
felt great and it was really hard to hold back. I consider myself a relatively
strong and efficient runner. Not necessarily fast, but strong enough to run
well off the bike. I did a lot of runs of the bike during training, usually 2-3
per week. So I usually don’t have to take much time settling into my form. I
grabbed my bottle full of UCANN, maple syrup, salt tabs, and Master Amino
Pattern; off I went.
(Before Barton Ave)
The first
10 miles felt great. I wasn’t targeting a specific pace, just holding an effort
under 8min/mile that felt sustainable. I
saw my wife just before I crossed the bridge to the Barton Ave hill. I told her
to take pictures of me smiling now, because when on the return I would be
hurting. I had trained a lot on hills, but regardless this was a monster.
Coming back across the pedestrian bridge, I saw my wife again. I mumbled the
word “Ouch” and kept moving forward. Miles 14-18 were a battle. I was starting
to feel sluggish and my stomach was starting to ache. My usual tactic is to
slam a Humu gel and then dilute with water. At this point, I could barely sip
on the gel. When I reached the special needs, I had a big bottle of pickle
juice. I decided to chug this bottle, which was a mistake. This was another
tactic I was using to help prevent cramping.
(After Barton Ave)
Around mile 16, I decided to ditch
the gels and start with the coke. I wasn’t sure how the coke was going to treat
me, sine I don’t drink soda. My thought was that they quick hits of sugar would
help boost my mental state. In addition, the carbonation would help with the
stomach cramps. At every other aid station, I would take 1 cup of coke and
dilute it with one cup of water, then slam it. This all worked out to be true.
After talking to a few other athletes after the race, I think I will turn to
coke much earlier in the run. Another strategy that I felt turned out to be key
was my cooling. I alternated every station between cold sponges in my jersey or
filling my hat with ice. Through training a lot in Southeastern VA, I’ve
learned that keeping my core temperature cool is a key to my success.
I started getting some hamstring cramps
going down the backside of Barton Ave on the second loop. At this point I was
around mile 22-23. At this point, I knew I was going to finish the race, so I
slowed up and shuffled the next 2-3 miles. With about a mile to go I regained
my form and tried to safely push back to my desired pace.
RUN: 3:26:50
The last half-mile of the race was
full of emotions. I don’t consider myself an emotional guy, but the culmination
of 9+months of training was about to come to a fantastic end. I wasn’t excited
about being done with the race, but I was elated that I was gong to complete an
Ironman!
FINISH TIME: 9:41:27
This was such an amazing
feeling. I felt like the day went by so fast. I actually felt pretty good after
the race. I think this was aided by the presence of my wife and family at the
finish line. I am so thankful to have such a supportive family and could not
have accomplished this goal without them in my life. Wife’s total distance
covered (by foot) for the day: 17 miles!
I have to
give a shout out to Trisports.com
for supporting me through this season. They are a top-notch resource for all
your racing and training gear. The support from the Trisports.com team is
equally invaluable. Really appreciate the love shown amongst the team as we
tracked each other through the season. Many thanks to my friend and training coach/partner, Daniel Ballin. He laid out the plan and I followed it and him for 6 months. Congrats on his Ironman PR!
Overall, I
finished 2nd in my age-group (25-29) and 59th overall.
That 25 year-old that battled with me on the bike course came flying past me
around mile 4 to go on and finished first in the age group. He rocked the
marathon, very impressive race from the guy. We were both fortunate enough to
get a Kona Qualifier spot, so next year’s goals are already in the making! Stay
tuned…
