Grabbing still shots from video can be a tricky proposition sometimes because of camera shake and interlacing, etc. but we love the view during the swim, so we thought we’d put a few of these out and see if it’s worth doing more? Let us know! [follow_me]
Crushing Iron wants your input! We’re looking for guest writers and there could be a FREE Crushing Iron T-shirt in it for you!
The program is simple. Contact us about a story idea you have that is relevant to Ironman racing, training, or psychology. Once we agree on the direction for your piece, you write it, the we post it here. When your story reaches 1,000 views, you get a free and awesome t-shirt like this! (See below for more details).
Once approved, we’ll happily link your blog or product, or whatever. Take advantage of the growing audience of CrushingIron.com and get a sweet t-shirt in the process! Email Mike at [email protected] and put Guest Blogger in the subject line.
Please share with your Ironman writer friends. Thanks for reading Crushing Iron!
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Who would have guessed that when I saw a bunch of crazy people on TV doing Kona back in the 80’s, someday, I would want to be one of them. If I were completely honest, I would even tell you, I’ve had Kona in the back of my mind every time I’ve raced, including my first time at IM Wisconsin.
Yeah, it was a complete long shot, but I felt like, on some level, I was in the ballpark, and during Ironman, anything can happen. Even last year when I went to Louisville, I was secretly anticipating pulling a miraculous rabbit out of my hat, though I was way undertrained in the run. This year, I actually put it out there, and once again, it wasn’t really that close.
Anyway, watching KONA really gets me jacked, and here were 8 Things that caught my attention.
1. THE MASS SWIM START IS AMAZING – The online video coverage of KONA is so incredibly cool. They helicopter and underwater cameras were great, but for me the coolest thing ever was the tight shots from a boat that rolled along with the pro swimmers. I could literally watch that scene for hours. They are just hammering through that water with the smoothest form and power. The fact that I find that so exciting is kind of weird, because watching swimming seems boring, but not when you have “been in that situation” and understand how it feels. At one point in the broadcast, the announcers mentioned something like, “It looks like Matt Chrabot is escorting Lionel Sanders through this swim,” and that little line set off a firestorm of debate on the internet.
2. THE RACE INSIDE THE RACE – About a week or so before KONA, I interviewed Ironman Chattanooga runner-up, Matt Chrabot about what was one of the closest finishes in Ironman history. That race was two weeks before KONA and Chrabot had qualified and planned on racing. To mortals, that seems impossible, so I was very interested how he would handle KONA. Most assumed he would use it as a chance to do recon on the course. I actually asked him a swim question in my interview:
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.
Not much there, but during KONA some accused him of being a Domestique (servant) for Sanders in the swim because they had the same swim time and Chrabot is typically a much faster swimmer. Drafting in the swim is technically legal, but the debate is over whether or not Matt purposely compromised his race to help Lionel. I’m not sure what to make of it, but there’s tons of fodder here if you want to dig in.
3. I GOT TO TRACK FOUR PEOPLE I KNEW – The first couple times I tracked KONA, I knew “of” a few people racing, but this year I actually knew four people. Dave Richter, Arlo Hartley, Vicki Updike, and Emily Rollins. Dave is from Wisconsin, and we met through a mutual friend (my race body guard, Pete) while I was watching Chattanooga last year. Ironically, he wound up scooping the last KONA slot from another guy I know, Brad Rollins (Emily’s husband). Arlo Hartley was a year ahead of me in high school back in Beloit, Wisconsin. I actually beat him by a couple places at Ironman Wisconsin, but he came back the next year and kicked ass on his way to landing a KONA slot. Vicki and Emily are both from Nashville and I see them all over the place. By all of their accounts, KONA was a completely different beast.
4. THE POWER OF THE BIKE – I didn’t get to watch much of the bike stuff, but the power these pros drop on the course is mind boggling. 10-15 guys in the front pack going back and forth in devastating heat and wind, holding a 25 mph pace for 112 miles. The race seemed wide open as they neared the end of the bike, but Jan Frodeno had other ideas.
5. BIKE FOR SHOW, RUN FOR DOE – Jan was second out of the water and first off the bike. He then decided to lead the run from start to finish with an average pace of 6:34/mile. I can barely stand the pressure of holding off friends in training, but here he was squashing dreams of some of the best triathlete runners in the world. Just an impressive day for Frodeno.
6. THE CELEBRITY OF KONA – Every year there are a couple celebrity types that pay big bucks to race KONA. This is always a sticky topic with Ironman traditionalists because most people have to earn their way to Hawaii through other races. That was not the case for celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and everyone’s favorite football underdog actor, Sean Astin, otherwise known as “Rudy.” I definitely have mixed emotions about letting guys like this in, but there is usually a big time charity donation component that’s hard to argue with. Somewhere in all of this may be the answer to one of my biggest questions about KONA: How does this race have all the best triathletes from around the world, yet often people don’t finish (see Gordon Ramsey’s result) or even make the swim cut off. Rudy finished with a 15:30.
7. THE FINISH LINE CELEBRATIONS ARE A BIT MUCH – I was in Louisville watching random KONA finishers cross the line on my laptop, and had to turn it off after about 20 minutes. The over-the-top posturing is really kind of embarrassing. I mean, I get it, you finished KONA, but allegedly most of you have had pretty good success in Ironman races. Do we really need the “rolling across the ground finish,” or the “fake bow and arrow shooting” pose? Stand tall, be proud, and act like you’ve been there. That said, I’ll probably juggle flaming torches or something if I ever get to that point.
8. I BLEW MY KONA PREDICTIONS – A few days before the race I went on record with my KONA predictions for the pro men. They were at best random guesses, but non-the-less, I could have done much worse.
Prediction Actual Finish Net Comments
Sebastian Kienle 1st 8th (-7) Had a great swim, maybe it took a little too much?
Jan Frodeno 2nd 1st (+1) Just a solid year and a great race.
Brent McMahon 3rd 9th (-6) Solid race, really rising in the ranks.
Frederick Van Lierde 4th 31st (-27) Was right there, but obviously had major issues on the run.
Ivan Rana 5th 12th (-7) Great run and race, just a little too far back off the bike.
Matt Hanson 6th DNF He may have been ready to run, but a bike accident ended his day.
Andy Potts 7th 4th (+3) May have heard my advice to hold back a tinge on the swim.
Andraes Raelert 8th 2nd (+6) He’s always there and put together a beauty.
Ben Hoffman 9th 36th (-29) Had a big target on him this year. Too much on the bike.
Tim Don 10th 15th (-5) Right there all the way through.
BONUS: Here’s a picture my friend Dave Richter sent the day after the race. Only in KONA. [follow_me]
1. I absolutely LOVE Ironman Swim Starts. While I was shooting video at Ironman Louisville, the scene brought a tear to my eye. The music, the crowd, the energy . . . all electrifying. Some athletes were loose, some were tense, but all were minutes from a wild ride. I loved it the first time I went to Louisville four years ago, and loved this one just as much.
2. The water looked pretty good (or normal) to me. Hopefully there weren’t any cases of algae fungus or whatever that stuff causes. I could be wrong, but it also looked like a slower current than usual and it sort of played out in the times of people I was tracking. But, who knows with open water swimming. Lines are so important, and as you can see in this picture, straight, isn’t always the first choice.
3. I didn’t go out and watch the bike. It’s kind of a weird thing with me because I love watching the Tour de France and Crit racing, but the Ironman bike segment is always a tough view. I stayed in town and got back to transition just in time to see the overall winner, James Burke, dismount. So, that was cool.
4. The temperatures were perfect for racing, but the sun was out the whole day and there is absolutely no shade on the run course. I thought it was bound to have an impact on some people. I also wondered if some underestimated how hard an Ironman actually is because of the perfect weather.
5. Standing on those downtown Louisville streets brought back a lot of memories, and not necessarily good ones! Something seemed different to me, then I realized that everyone was actually running out of T2. In years past I was always shocked by the amount of walking on mile one. Not only was no one walking, they were smiling . . . and . . . seemingly in good form. Conditions were definitely more favorable than years past, but if I know anything about Ironman, it’s that it’s hard as fuck, and struggles were very apparent on the second loop.
6. It’s been interesting to watch Louisville develop over the last four years. The once sleepy downtown is starting to buzz. There’s a lot of construction and the scene at the Finish Line is dramatically different. Fourth Street Live was once anchored by a few independent restaurants but now there is a TGI Friday’s kind of vibe, and I’m not sure it’s a good thing. Even the overhead bridge that I use for finish line video shots has a full scale bar. Between the perfect weather and the new sports-bar-atmosphere, I think the Louisville finish line was as crowded as I’ve ever seen it.
7. After the swim I walked downtown to get some spectator nutrition for the long day. As I walked up on the corner of 4th and Liberty I saw a group of four cops and asked them if they had any good suggestions for places to eat. The words were barely out of my mouth when one of them took out his gun and pointed it across the street, “Yeah, there’s a Dunkin Donuts right there.” He didn’t really pull out his gun, but the donuts part is true. I ate at Einstein Bagels. Later in the day I stopped back there, but they were closed. As was Starbucks in the Marriott. The one in Seelbach was open, but only until 5. I had a pretty good burger at Gordon Biersch before heading out for my final viewing around 6:00.
8. Earlier in the day I ran into Jason, who I met with his wife (Lisette) while doing Challenge Knoxville. They are the coolest people and drive around to races and spend their weekends in a tricked-out van down by the river with their dogs. Lisette was racing and Jason and I waited in special needs for her to come through. She was having a good race and right on the fringe of a potential Kona birth. Eventually we saw her and she looked good. So, after our burger, we went out to catch her finish. I followed her with my camera through the finish line and was pumped to see her, but she was a little out of it and didn’t recognize me. Ahh, the perils of supporting your friends all day and seeing them sink into a state of delirium. (Sounds like a twisted blog post topic for the future). Lisette finished 5th in her AG and they only had 3 slots.
9. As much as I loved spectating Louisville, Ironman isn’t quite the same without pros in the race. Pro triathletes add a different kind of energy to the game, and it’s just cool to see them blow by you on the course. I would even go as far to say it’s inspiring for the racers to have pros on the same course the same time. I know it is for me. I always do that little fantasy push for about 5 seconds, like I’m going to run or bike with them, when they pass me on their second loop. And it just occurred to me that the last two races I’ve done have had remarkable pro finishes. Last year at Louisville ended in a shaky-leg-death-sprint, and of course this year’s photo finish at Chattanooga.
10. There’s nothing like watching an Ironman to pump you up to do an Ironman. It’s how I got started in this business and it’s how I will continue next year at Wisconsin (which is still open if you want to join me). I’ve come to the conclusion that Ironman is a little like golf in the sense that every time you “play” you always do just enough good stuff that you want to come back and try again. Sure, you slice the ball into the woods and miss a few easy putts, but it always seems like you make a great shot on the last hole. And in triathlon, you make similar mistakes, but there’s nothing that will bring you back to the starting line like running through that arch and hearing a booming voice call you an Ironman. [follow_me]
Here’s a glimpse of the scenery surrounding the Ironman Louisville swim start. Spectating an Ironman is almost as enjoyable (and painful) as doing one.
I have tons of stuff still on the way and hope you follow this blog by email or Crushing Iron on Facebook so you don’t miss them. And please feel free to share this stuff! Hope it brings back good memories.
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Here is the Crushing Iron Top 10 Men prediction for the Ironman World Championship in Kona. I’d also like to give a shout out to some people I know racing: Dave Richter, Arlo Hartley, Emily Rollins and Vicki Updike. Also, best of luck to Daniel Bretscher, who has been great help to this blog and I would have picked as a deep sleeper at number 11 on this list.
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
After Ironman Louisville last year I was defeated. The last thing I wanted to do was another race. But a week later I drove to Wisconsin to spectate and it put a little jump in my step. Then I went to watch Ironman Chattanooga and the bug was back. This year I left my race in Chattanooga feeling pretty good, not only about the race, but in body, mind, and spirit. One of the first things I did was look to see if Ironman Wisconsin registration was still open. It was. And I signed up.
Yes, I’ll be going back to where it started. The race is on September 11, 2016 and it will be my fourth full Ironman.
It goes without saying that I am excited to get back. It is home. I’ll be surrounded by friends, family, and familiar settings. It is also just a great race.
I love the energy of crowd support and I have seen nothing like Wisconsin in any of my other races. From the grandstand-like atmosphere of the Swim Start to the seemingly endless parties on the bike course, to the cafe settings packed with people along State Street, Wisconsin brings it pretty hard.
Madison, in general, is just a beautiful city. The massive Capitol looms over the finish line with genuine political nostalgia. The Saturday before the race houses a huge farmers market on the Square. Of course, the football Badgers will play that day as well, and not many atmosphere’s get in my blood like that one. The lakes, the architecture, the progressive attitude. It all makes for a great weekend, Ironman or not.
The thought of treading water with 2,500 others as we wait for the mass start gives me chills. 
The thought of re-tracing my favorite bike ride (including the beastly climbs surrounded by encouragement) to date gets me pumped.
And the memory of running in and around my favorite college campus gives me content.
It’s a year away, but I’m already thinking about how great it will feel to run around the Capitol and cross that finish line.
Hopefully there will be a zero after that one this time.
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This is my list of 20 Things at Ironman Chattanooga 2015, which will serve as a race report.
1. It was no easy task, but I met my buddy Corey in the hotel lobby at 5:45 am. No wonder I have given up on this corporate lifestyle. Getting to sleep can be tough enough for me, but before an Ironman, forget it. My total rack time was about 3 hours and I was fresh off a questionable oatmeal, banana, rice cake with peanut butter breakfast. I was also battling a minor head cold but–armed with B12 tongue drops–I soldiered through pain with way too many water bottles on the mile-walk to transition. Corey’s friends were supposed to be waiting in the darkness on random street corners, but they were nowhere to be seen. We were there in plenty of time to meet Jim around 6:15.
2. I took my time filling bike tires and stocking transition bags, but Corey was getting anxious. At one point he yelled at me, “Just put your stuff in the bag and let’s go!” He didn’t really yell, but there is a crazy energy the morning of your race. It feels like time is draining from your life. Then, we got in our first line of the day while waiting for the bus, and it was still an hour and a half before we’d be in the water. And speaking of water, I needed more! Seems like a simple thing, but no one knew where to find water. Finally, I saw a tent selling some, but didn’t have any money. Thankfully Jim’s girlfriend, Rebecca loaned me 3 dollars. Pro tip: bring a few bucks cash to transition.
3. Next, I’m sitting next to Jim on the bus to the Swim Start and realized I forgot something fairly important: my timing chip. That was a weird feeling. By some stroke of Divine Intervention the girl next to me on the bus forgot hers too and assured me we could get one at the start line. I did indeed, and the kind folks synced it up to my bib number. Good to know. If this happens to you, you still have to turn in your original chip to someone at Ironman or send it in a bubble pack per the email you get the next day.
5. Around 7:30, volunteers started shouting, “Wetsuits to the right, family please leave the line,” and we started moving. I was shocked by the number of people in wetsuits. It was a “wetsuit optional” race, meaning the temperature was over 76.1 but under 78 degrees (or something like that) and anyone who opted to wear a wetsuit wasn’t eligible for prizes or Kona qualification. The air began to get heavy. The race had begun and it humbles you on the spot. In mere minutes we would begin a brutal challenge by jumping off a pier into the Tennessee River. I swang my arms to wake up my body, but in the back of my mind I knew we had the assistance of a nice current and it should be the nicest part of the day. Around 7:45 we were close enough to hear the announcer sending people off the pier. We exchanged our “good lucks” before filing into our own desolate worlds.
6. I dropped into the water around 7:50 uncertain if my timing chip would work. I decided to trust people better at this stuff than me and swam toward the first buoy. This course is “straight” downstream. No turns, no trickery, just swim. The only thing I had to do was stay near the buoy line and keep my arms moving. About a thousand yards in I decided the current wasn’t whisking me away like I hoped, but felt pretty good. Next thing I know, I looked to my left and realized I was 50 yards from the buoy line. Sometimes this happens. I get a little discombobulated and lose myself. I dug a little harder to get back into the line and realized I was losing some steam in my arms. I kept looking for the first of three bridges, but it never seemed to come. Suddenly, what I thought was an “easy” swim was feeling difficult. Wetsuit swimmers all started after non-wetsuits got into the water and around 2500 yards into the swim, I was smothered. It was almost laughable watching this neoprene army glide by. And those that didn’t glide by me simply swam over me. It was the first time I TRULY realized the power of a wetsuit.
7. I completely underestimated this swim and it bit me hard. Five hundred yards from the finish I was struggling to keep form and holding on for life. The final RED turn buoy was a dream come true, but those last 50 yards might have been the toughest part of the swim. It was suddenly a free for all. Wetsuits coming from every angle beating the crap out of me on their way to the stairs. That is when I officially called “wetsuit optional” bull shit. Either it’s wetsuit legal, or it’s not. At the very least anyone who wore one should have an asterisk next to their results.
8. I looked at my watch and saw 1:11 in the swim and was not surprised, but disappointed. The year before I watched almost everyone I knew come out of the water in less than an hour and I thought I botched any shot I had at my dream of Kona. Little did I know, most of the top racers in my age group were also over an hour in the swim. But I was still 158th in my age group out of the water. Clearly a huge chunk of guys wore wetsuits, and not only does that get on my nerves, it had significant implications on Kona slots because they based the allocation on the number of people who didn’t wear wetsuits.
9. So, I get out of the water and saw my buddy Whitney, but missed my mom, brother, and Rebekah. That kinda blows when you are wandering off into the sunrise of a 6 hour bike ride. After a disappointing swim it would have been easier to sort of give in to the day and focus on finishing, but I have a tendency to want to redeem myself. And that’s what I set out to do.
10. About 5 miles into the bike I’m zoning in on hydration and food when a bike slows down next to me and the guy says, “What’s up dude?” It was Corey. He quickly apologized for yelling at me in transition and we chatted about the swim for 15 seconds before he passed me and I dropped back into legal formation. My plan was to chill, but Corey pulled away with some early energy. About 10 miles later I pulled up beside him and took the lead. That’s when it dawned on me how nice it was to have someone in the same power range that I actually knew. For the next 70 miles or so we worked together like pros, typically staying within 50-100 yards of each other, flopping back and forth to keep each other focused.
11. This seems like a great place to bring up the topic of drafting at Ironman Chattanooga. First of all, let me just say it was nearly impossible not to draft. And what will I blame this on? Yes, wetsuits. The congestion is just undeniable. Everyone gets out of the water around the same time because of the nature of the swim. Then you add a bike course that is relatively flat and all hell breaks loose. I’m not saying there were people riding on each other’s wheels, but there was just nowhere else to go at times. I mean, I genuinely saw two people drafting right past a penalty tent. I am pretty sure Ironman just looks the other way on this race because I honestly don’t remember seeing one motorcycle official on the course.
12. The ride itself was no picnic, but felt pretty good. There are some really fast sections and at some point I decided to shoot for a 20 mph ride. I was right on pace when I hit the split back to town at about mile 104 but I genuinely thought I went the wrong way. That really threw a wrench in my day for a minute. I was a bit fuzzy and it took 3 miles before I looked back and saw the Mile 10 sign going the other way. That’s when I settled in and cruised toward town. I don’t know about you, but this is the time I start freaking out about getting a flat. I was uber cautious going over several railroad crossings and any other disruption. There’s sort of a weird echo as you get closer to dismount and it’s arguably the sweetest sound in triathlon. You know you’re about to get your ass off that hard seat and for me, it’s nearly as nice as crossing the finish line.
13. I was a little confused coming out of the run because we didn’t go down the swim-run-up-hill like they did in 2014. Instead, we ran to the bike out area, then down the River Walk from there, which was a little longer, but gave us a short downhill before the climb on mile one. That first hill is actually kind of a good thing because it reminds you to slow down a little, but everyone I talked to had a super fast Mile One (.9) splits. My plan was to start at a pace that felt super easy, then pick it up a hair around mile 6, and I think I did pretty well averaging between 9:01 and 9:36 for the first loop. Then, on the second time through, I was hoping to move that pace down on the flat sections, but I just couldn’t get my legs to move any faster. My pace fell back into the 10 min range for most of the 2nd loop.
14. Speaking of the back half, it was a grinder. I ran it a month before the race and deluded myself into thinking it wasn’t too bad, but after a 116 mile bike the hills were tough. The most surprising hill was the first short, but steep one out of the River Walk. For some reason I missed that part when I test-ran the course and it was humbling. That’s where my support crew spectated and they witnessed a lot of carnage. Once I started the second lap I threw away my pace targets and focused on one thing: Not walking. If I’ve learned anything from three Ironman races, it is this: You are almost guaranteed to hit your race goal if you just run the entire marathon. It’s not easy, but it’s the most obvious solution.
15. I finished Chattanooga in 11:28, thirty minutes faster than I did Ironman Wisconsin. Chattanooga’s bike course is 4 miles longer, so that’s 12 minutes more, and could technically mean a 42 minute personal best. In comparison, Wisconsin has a harder swim and bike, but Chattanooga’s run is definitely king. That said, my marathon times in both were almost identical. I’m not sure what any of this means, but sometimes it’s interesting to reflect. I think the difference in my bike times happened because I rode up AND down the hills at Chattanooga. In Wisconsin I coasted most of the downhills.
16. I’m a big fan of pizza, but it never tastes as good as it does after an Ironman. Some of my best work of the day was done in the athlete food tent.
17. I’ve written about volunteers before, but they never cease to amaze me. I think I saw there were 4,500 at Chattanooga and that is just a tremendous number of people joining hands to feed the cattle. Every aid station was totally stocked and well organized. Bottle exchanges were clean, and in a world where you can run into a lot of dicks, these people were uncommonly selfless.
18. Chattanooga is the perfect city for an Ironman. The layout is simple, and aside from the fact that I personally knew 4 people who got jobbed on hotel bookings, everything ran like a top . . . even in the rain. The locals embrace the active lifestyle and expressed genuine interest in the race. I never got the feeling people were pissed that we screwed up their traffic for a day.
19. The biggest thing I learned this year was that I’m still not there on the bike. I had a good ride, and pushed the edge of my capability, but it stole just enough from my legs to hamper the run. I really hoped to run an 8:30-9:00 pace, but couldn’t get there. The analogy I thought of is that your bike should be like driving a Cadillac. The engine should be huge and let you go 70 miles an hour without feeling like it’s working very hard. I went 70 miles an hour, but I was in a Kia.
20. I am happy, but humbled. I put out Kona aspirations a while back, but have a long ways to go. I’m not ready to say I didn’t work hard this summer, but it wasn’t enough. I didn’t build Cadillac miles. I was faster and more explosive, but didn’t have the chassis to pull it off at this distance. Lesson learned, and it was a brutal, but lovely experience.
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When I got to Ironman Chattanooga I was feeling a little head cold coming on, so I didn’t much feel like doing more than resting with my free time. But, while I wasn’t posting my domain name expired because of an old credit card (which I found out last night). Talk about a pit in your stomach!
Anyway, I wanted to make a quick post to let you know that we are back in business.
Quick Ironman Chattanooga Summary
I didn’t sleep very well Friday or Saturday night, but found myself on the Swim Start shuttle at around 6:15 Sunday morning. Halfway up the road I panicked because I forgot my TIMING CHIP in my beautiful new backpack. I was freaking out for a second until the girl right next to me said she forgot hers too and they had extras waiting at the start line. I walked up to the very front to get one, then walked all the way to the back of the line which felt like 2 miles of walking.
We got into the water around 7:50 and it took me about 10 minutes to realize that I underestimated the swim. I had this stupid vision in my head that the current would sweep us away and drop me off at the exit in no time. Wrong! Two point four miles is a long ways. I was swimming hard and that first bridge just never seemed to come. Right before the bridge I started getting really tired, and thankfully this was about the time people who opted to wear wetsuits started swimming over the top of me (more on this later).
I didn’t feel great getting out of the water, and there’s nothing more refreshing than knowing you have 116 miles waiting for your bike wheels. Somehow I got it going and felt pretty good as we rode into the loop. I did NOT underestimate the bike course because I rode it a month earlier. I basically rode with average speed as my guide and hoped I could hold it around 20 mph for the race. There were some really fast sections and I came into transition a little above my goal. Running through the finish line arch is the best feeling, but getting off the bike is a close second.
I ran it about a month ago and it didn’t seem “that” bad, but this run course is tough. The hills on the backside aren’t devastating if you just run them, but after that bike, they get in your head. I ran the first half at a little under a 10 minute pace and hoped to pick it up a little, but my legs said no. It was all I could do to just keep running, but I’m pretty happy with that scenario, too. That’s always sort of been my thing, run the entire marathon.
My swim split disappointed me a little: 1:11. I felt great about my bike split: 5:45. And was content with my run: 4:23. TRT 11:28, which was 30 minutes better than my best at Wisconsin.
I have a ton of thoughts on this race and my brother shot some great video that I’ll be posting. So, please help me spread the word so I don’t lose any search engine reads after this domain debacle.
Great seeing everyone in Chattanooga!
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