Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga

By Mike Tarrolly – Co-host of the Crushing Iron Triathlon Podcast

GET THERE EARLY – If you can, I highly recommend getting to town early Friday afternoon, then check into the race immediately. I was through the line and back in my hotel with stickers on bike, helmet, and more or less packed for transition by 3:30 on Friday. It really helps me relax to get the mandatory stuff out of the way with no lines. The C26 Triathlon team met for dinner at 5:15 and I was blown away by the fact that we had the entire top floor of the restaurant with 30 people. It was awesome.
ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE – I once heard someone say, “Life is about experience, not things, so spend your money on experiences.” For me, the best experience at an Ironman race is close to transition. The C26 team was fortunate to have a nice rate at the Holiday Inn downtown, but even when we don’t I think it’s easily worth an extra $50 – $100 a night to park your car on Friday and never use it until you leave on Monday.
GET THERE LATE – This is contrary to my first point, but when it comes to bike check-in, always go as late as possible. It was open from 1:30-5:30 and we didn’t start walking down there until 4:30. Not only does it keep your bike (namely tires) out of the hot sun, there is zero line when you get there at 4:45. It’d be different if you were actually setting up your transition, but all you do is hang your bike and leave. Life’s too short to wait in lines and you’ll have plenty of that race morning.
COUNTING SHEEP – Hopefully one of these days I’ll figure out how to sleep before a race, but that day was not this weekend. I was very close to falling asleep at 10 pm, but a drunk wedding party decided to congregate in the hallway for a little scream and laugh session. I’ve been there and hate being the hypocrite so I just laid under my pillow hoping they’d go away. I think I’m snake bit. At Ironman Louisville a few years ago I had a bachelorette party in the room next to me. Honestly I was 50/50 on crashing that party and bagging the race. The night before Chatt 70.3 I fell asleep around 12.
PROS ARE PEOPLE TOO – After dropping our stuff at the bike race morning, we got onto our yellow school-bus-shuttle. Pro triathlete Andy Potts was sitting in the forth row. They don’t have a pro shuttle?? Anyway, as we pulled up to the swim start and stopped, the bus ahead of us was unloading and Potts got up to get off. It was still pretty early, but he’s going off first with the other PROFESSIONAL triathletes and I’m thinking, it seems like he should have a smoother situation than what felt a little like a prison ride. He walked to the front of the bus (we were stopped) and asked the young lady if he could get out. She looked at him and said, “I’m under strict orders that no one gets off yet, now get back to your seat!” Potts humbly sat down and waited with the rest of us.
THE DEAL THAT ALMOST HAPPENED – Speaking of Pro triathletes, we had a bunch of them in our hotel, including the male and female winners, Andrew Starykowicz and Heather Jackson. I personally think having pros on the same course as we race is one of the coolest things going. Potts was there, as was Matt Russell. On Saturday I was handing out C26 gear to our athletes and Starky walked over to the table. He’s been on our podcast before but we’ve never really talked in person. After a few minutes I asked what it would take to put him in a C26 hat on the podium? He thought for a minute, then said, “Well, this room is kind of expensive.” We kinda laughed, but in retrospect I should have taken him up on it. Maybe next time.
THE CRUSHING IRON WAR II – The tension the morning of the race is awesome and it was so great to have a ton of C26 athletes to talk with and let go of steam. I was with long-time friend CC and we ran into about 8 other athletes from our team. CC and I had a wager on the race. The loser would take the other guy’s bike back to the hotel. This was the second incarnation of the Crushing Iron War and neither of us felt like we’d trained enough. But one thing we did right was bring a full extra bottle of ice water to the swim start. We used it to cool down once we pulled up our wetsuits because they get hot in a hurry and it’s hard to know how long it will take before you’re in the water.
SWIM TWINS – I had two things on my mind before getting in the water. 1) Pull my wetsuit up as high as possible and be very liberal with the body glide. Anxiety is always a possibility with me and the looser the wetsuit on top, the better. 2) Once in the water, think about one thing: the catch. After you get upstream to the turn buoy, this is a pretty “easy” swim and I didn’t want to rush. I was focused on long, smooth, rhythmic strokes. For about 1300 meters, everything went perfectly, but then it happened, I ran into my Swim Twin. It really seems like there’s a universal law that says, “On every swim, you will eventually meet with someone who is of your exact speed who is hell bent on being your best friend and worst enemy for the rest of the swim.” I tried everything to lose this dude but he just kept getting up in my grill. This went on forever and I was furious. My stroke fell apart and my rage was full steam. I should have just stopped and let him go, but I was genuinely worried he’d stop with me and reach out his hand to say, “Hi, my name is John, I’m your Siamese Swim Twin.” Anyway, it probably didn’t slow me down “that” much, but it started to wear me down and I just wanted to get out of the water fresh.
A BIKE WITHOUT POWER – I’d put most of my race eggs in the bike basket for this race and was excited to see what could happen. With no watch or power I was casually peeking at my bike computer from time to time just to keep myself in the ballpark. There were two goals. I hoped to look down at my average speed just before the big hill and see something close to 20.5 mph. And before the second long climb I wanted to see 21 mph. I was about .5 off on each case and my hope of 21.5 mph for the ride wound up at 20.9. But I felt good on the last ten miles. Steady, strong, and in control. Maybe, just maybe, I could finally have a good run. On a side note, right around mile 25 I thought I was alone on the road and drifted to the middle while eating and drinking. A guy came up behind me and yelled, “Stay to the right.” My first reaction was, what a dick, but then I realized he was right. He then passed me and stayed in the left lane by himself for about 200 yards. I was so tempted to rise up, catch him, and yell, “Stay on your right,” but didn’t want to burn before the hill. Then it dawned on me that most of us just try to do the best we can, but occasionally get caught up in stupid little moments like that. It’s best to just let it go.
A RUN WITHOUT A WATCH – I ran out of transition to the first out and back feeling naked without a watch, but legs felt fine. As I turned around the cone and started toward the big hill, I saw CC. He was passing on the other side, about 3 minutes behind me. That’s when I knew I was in trouble. Not only is he a stronger runner, but he was now in the perfect position to lay back and survey my bright yellow jersey as he calculated his attack. So, for the first 3 miles I’m doing everything in my power to not look back, but I know he’s licking his chops. I was seriously thinking about jumping into a porto-john, cracking the door, and waiting until he passed me just so I could get behind him. But before I had a chance, he runs up and says, “Hey.” I’m like, “hey.” Then he tells me, “If you can run a 1:42, I think you can break 5 hours.” Before I even had a chance to respond, he left me in his dust. The Crushing Iron War II was over.
WHEN MY GOAL DIED – My goal on the run was to run the first loop in the high 8’s, then inch that pace down on the second loop. I had no clue on my pace but it “felt” about right and according to my Ironman Tracker splits later, I was pretty close, mostly around 9 minute miles, but I was losing time at aid stations because I didn’t want to over-heat. I honestly felt good at that pace until about mile 7 when I hit the pedestrian bridge. I mean, it’s just a bridge but it felt like much more. I struggled to climb and knew I would not be “inching down” my pace on the second loop. BUT, when I got off the bridge and back to the road, I found something . . . for about a minute. Then it faded and I slunk back into grind it out mode. Just finish. Truthfully, I think I screwed up my nutrition. Possibly on the bike. I don’t think I took enough calories and I certainly didn’t take enough on the run either. I was mainly concerned with ice and staying cool. The second time I hit that hill off the greenway my hamstrings were ruined. I had nothing left and walked most of that hill. It was over and I held on for a disappointing 9:30 pace. I say it might have been nutrition, but the truth is probably more like I didn’t run train enough going in. I was just too weak.
THE NAKED STERNUM – For the last two miles of that run, the only thing on my mind was pizza. I even started the party at the last aid station, by stopping for a cookie and some pretzels. I’m thinking, yeah, you only have one mile, but there’s the little issue of that bridge that just about fried your brain on the first loop. I need something to get over the hump. As I closed in on the top of that wooden nightmare I spotted what looked to be a race official yelling in my direction. He was pointing at me with a fury and I somehow cleared my clogged ear passages to hear, “Young man, let’s go, zip that jersey up, you’re way too low.” Huh? Was I really getting a “sternum warning?” Yes, I was. And turns out I wasn’t alone. As we sat around eating pizza later, at least 6 other C26 male athletes said they too got a sternum warning. I think I smell targeting! This will be a long-running joke for years, so I honestly have to thank that gentleman for being a stickler.
Ross, dangerously close to a “sternum warning”
THE C26 TEAM THROWS DOWN – C26 Triathlon had 27 athletes racing Chattanooga and you just can’t beat seeing your teammates all over the course. Our bright jersey’s were easy to spot and seemed to show up just when you needed a lift. It was great sitting around after the race sharing stories about everyone’s days. We had several first timers and at least 17 PRs from multiple 70.3 racers. We also had two people on the podium and one that just missed with 6th place. For the day we produced the second most points out of over 200 teams racing in Chattanooga.
IN THE CITY – Chattanooga is the perfect venue for triathlon. You just really get the sense that the locals love hosting the race and understand the value of having 2500 people in town spending a lot of money. There are great hotels and restaurants within walking distance to the finish line and other than the torture you can face at mile 10 of the run, it truly is a nice little vacation weekend.
WHO’S UP FOR 2019? – The Race Director at Chattanooga gets 5 stars. The course is almost perfect. It’s challenging but fair. Everything is very organized and safe. The volunteers are truly incredible as well. How they manage to keep aid stations stocked with ice in that heat is something that always puzzles me. Smiling, happy, and supportive at all turns. I’d also like to give a shout out to our host hotel, Holiday Inn & Suites downtown. They were the perfect host and I can’t imagine not going back. Who’s joining me in 2019?

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Here’s our Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga Re-cap Podcast. Please be sure to subscribe to the Crushing Iron podcast on iTunes and follow Crushing Iron on YouTube.
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