Tag: Swim exit

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Ironman Chattanooga Swim and T1 Explained

By Mike Tarrolly for Crushing Iron 

Crushing Iron has been shooting video of Ironman Chattanooga since its inception. We’ve put together a little video below that explains race morning bus shuttle, the swim course, and the flow through T1.

* Also, after you’ve watched the video, you may want to check out the podcast below (Fake News In Your Race Brain), especially the second half where Coach Robbie has a great segment on tackling the Ironman Run. We got a ton of great feedback from those racing Ironman Wisconsin.

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA RACE MORNING

On race morning, athletes will head downtown, double check their gear bags, then board a bus that takes them to the swim start, which is approximately a 15 minute ride. If it’s warm, these busses can get kind of hot, so keep that in mind.

Once there, you’ll find your place in line and wait for the cannon. The final approach looks like this and there is a long pier at the end with plenty of room to jump into very spacious start for your swim. 

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA SWIM COURSE

The course itself is all downstream, but it’s not “straight.” There is plenty of river space, and I remember this being almost a completely clean swim with regard to body contact, but my advice (even though it may be tempting to find a “better line”) would be stay as close to the buoys as possible. 

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA SWIM EXIT

When you get close to the exit there is one final red buoy you must corner, then you climb out of the water with help from volunteers (be ready to make a big step up), and run down the boardwalk.

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA T1

After about 100 yards you’ll turn left to run up a short ramp to get into transition. 

You’ll run down this row, grab your bag, then turn left into the center of transition to get your bike.

Here’s the video explanation of the Ironman Chattanooga Swim Course/Transition 1

If you want even more, here’s a link to a post with 18 Stories we’ve written about Ironman Chattanooga over the years.

Good luck to everyone racing! Please make sure you say hi if you see Coach Robbie or Me walking around.

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Crushing Iron hosts 3 triathlon camps in Nashville, TN each year. We have videos and feedback from last year’s camp here.

Thanks for supporting C26 Triathlon.

 

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VIDEO: Ironman Chattanooga Swim Exit #3

Here’s the THIRD video (many more videos are below) showing Age Groupers at Ironman Chattanooga Swim Exit.  This is the one we’ve all been waiting for because it includes the tenacious Corey Coggins.

I’ve decided these videos can actually fuel a good drinking game.  Every time you hear someone say, “Good job,” take a drink of Infinit.  And when you finally see Corey (see photo at the bottom) pound an entire Picky Bar or at the very least go to their website and look at the hot athletic-modeling picture of co-founder Lauren Fleshman.

I highly recommend you follow Crushing Iron by email because it’s a long off season and the last thing you want to do is lose motivation.  Register now at the top right corner of this page and I’ll make sure you keep your mind in the right place this winter.

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Ironman Chattanooga Run
Keep an eye out for Corey in the video.

 

 

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Video: Age Groupers at Ironman Chattanooga Swim Exit

This video shows hundreds of people (hopefully you or someone you know) running out from the Swim at Ironman Chattanooga.  I have two more like this to post and will be doing it soon.

The best way to be in the loop on new posts is to follow the Crushing Iron by email in the upper right hand corner.  I do this because I love triathlon and promise not to spam, or sell emails or whatever (although I did just quit my job).

I am also happy to have guest bloggers, so if you have an idea for a story or something inspiring to share, contact me on Twitter @miketarrolly.

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VIDEO: Ironman Chattanooga First Woman Out of Water

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Ironman Chattanooga Transition Layout

The first thing I noticed at Ironman Chattanooga is this hill the racers must scale after getting out of the water.  It is at least 100 yards from the Swim Exit (which would be in the right in this photo) and a pretty steep climb.

Ironman Chattanooga Transition

Here’s a look from the other angle.

Ironman Chattanooga

This is the Swim Exit and while I was getting my Ironman-Geek on I learned that tomorrow’s current will be far less than it has been.  I’m hearing it was 26,000 today and will be in the 8-10,000 range tomorrow.  There is also a serious question about water temperature and most I talked with were thinking it would NOT be wetsuit legal.  But I have a feeling they will figure out how to get people into their wetsuits.

Ironman Chattanooga
Here are bike bags.  Unlike Louisville, which I just did, the bike and run bags are separate.  The bikes are just off to the left of this photo and the Bike Out is waaay down at the end.  I expect relatively slow T1 times in the morning.

image_1

Here’s a shot of the run bags.  Bikes are in the background.  Run Out is to the left of this shot and goes back toward downtown.  Run transition times should be pretty quick.

Ironman Chattanooga Run Transition

These guys are getting ready, but hopefully we won’t need them.

It’s never too late to dial in your swim before Ironman Chattanooga. Check out the simple and fast C26 Swim Stroke analysis video below for more information.