While the rest of us were slogging along out on the Ironman Chattanooga course, pro triathletes, Matt Chrabot, Kirill Kotsegarov, and Stefan Schmid were cooking up the closest finish in Ironman History. It was a mere two second (technically closer) difference after 144.6 miles. When a friend showed me the video afterwards, I couldn’t get enough. I contacted Matt Chrabot and he was kind enough to answer 10 questions related to his historical race.
Here’s video from the Ironman Chattanooga finish. Matt makes a last minute dive at the tape.
10 QUESTIONS WITH MATT CHRABOT
1. Most age groupers will never experience a sprint to the finish against another person, but they might have to push hard at the end to hit a certain time. It’s obviously very mental, but did you do anything special or atypical regarding your fueling the last three miles?
I hit a rough spot around 20-22 in the marathon. When the euros caught me, I figured I’d run with them and see how I felt if I switched to Red Bull at the aide stations. It seemed to reignite my engine and get me out of the funk.
2. When people started doing Ironman, the distance in itself seemed impossible to most. Now, you’ll be doing Kona two weeks after a sprint-finish for second place at Ironman Chattanooga. Will this be the toughest two week stretch of your career? How tough will that be to tackle this race well?
Man, I think it’ll be a bit of a stretch. These races are 13 days apart. Normally when guys pull a double, they’re at least mild weather and flatter courses. Kona is the mother of the all! Been taking it easy and loading up on electrolytes like crazy.
3. You mentioned that you hit a rough patch around Mile 21. What does a rough patch look and feel like in your races?
I think a rough patch would feel very similar to anyone who has prepared well for their IM. You’re running along at your sustained goal pace, then all of a sudden your body feels dead and you have to slow down a bit. I always slow down during the aide stations, but this was in a stretch between.
4. How will your in-race nutrition approach differ in the heat of Kona vs. a pretty nice day at Chattanooga?
My nutrition plan will be relatively similar. The main thing will be more sodium during the event. And water!
5. At Chattanooga you went out front in the run, but afterwards said it might have been better to stick back and run with the other guys. Is going out front more that you were feeling great or that you were trying to get in the other guy’s heads?
I felt great on the first 10 miles and really had to throttle it back. I had a 2.5 minute lead before the rough patch. Had I not blown it, I would’ve been around 2:49 and the gap may have kept growing by the end. When they caught me, I laughed and thought, why didn’t I run with them at an easier pace from mile 0.0!?
6. When you finally stood up after that finish, what did you do next? I know that I mowed down a bunch of pizza, but I’m guessing you had a to be a little more strategic with your recovery, especially with Kona coming in two weeks?
My body felt fried after I got up. I had some pizza, but should’ve stuck with Coke the first couple hours afterwards. I always seem to get an upset stomach if I start wolfing food down. I’m never even that hungry.
When I Stick to Coke and water after 70.3s for the first 90min, I feel so much better at lunch and dinner
7. You said in the Slowtwitch article that when the two guys caught you at Mile 23 it seemed easier to run faster with them, then slower by yourself. This is obviously a huge part of racing and going faster. Do you have more thoughts on this concept?
I love running in a group with similar running abilities. The best part is that the front guy breaks the wind for you. I get a sense of feeding off the rhythm of their foot steps like the East African 10,000m runners. The spectators beat drums and the runners run with the rhythm of the beat.
8. You’re clearly a great swimmer, do you change your game plan at all for a downstream course?
Not really. Just get in that front pack and hope the deficit on the other contenders is sizable.
9. When you’re running a course with a hilly back half like Chattanooga, do you try to take advantage of the flats, even early, or do you break it down by sections and building effort?
Use the hills to mentally break the race apart. You don’t have a choice, so it’s easy. Lean a bit forward and keep a steady higher cadence. Let the ground come to you. On the downhill, just haul ass. Free speed!
10. What are your thoughts on the Chattanooga course in general? Would you approach anything differently now that you’ve raced it once? Will you be back next year?
My only real gripe with the course was running over those damp wooden bridges with wet leaves. Would’ve been nice if someone hit it with a leaf blower at noon on race day instead of the day before.
I doubt I be back next year. I’d like to give an honest effort in Kona. Plus I think it’s he same weekend as ITU Long Course world champs in OK City. I’m a bit bummed it’s so close to Kona, so I’ll have to decide.
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Matt’s interview on Slowtwitch
You can find Matt’s interview with TRS Radio here.
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattchrabot
Matt’s Website: http://mattchrabot.com
His Facebook page