Tag: wetsuit legal

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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.

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One Week From Muncie

I woke up and immediately looked at my phone like everyone else in the world.  What did I miss?  Was it still raining?  Where are all the cool people checking in this morning?

The first thing I saw was a text from my coach that included next Saturday’s forecast for Muncie, Indiana:muncieforecast

If this holds it’s about as close to perfect as it gets for a race in July.  Last year they shortened the course due to heat, now it’s bordering on a wetsuit race.

In sort of a twisted way, I have mixed emotions about the cool temperatures and the potential of a wetsuit legal race.  We’ve been doing some intense workouts in blistering heat to prepare, and while I realize that will only make for better races, part of me was looking forward to the struggle.  Don’t get me wrong, if this happens at Wisconsin, I’ll be jacked, but frankly my Rev 3 race was cold and rainy, and I was ready for the challenge of a pressure cooker.

Aside from the potential of wetsuits, this cool spell will produce a major benefit starting today.  We will build a better hydration base without even trying.  Not that our scheduled workouts are overly intense this week, but July in Nashville normally produces buckets of sweat.

But, I guess it’s all relative.  If the cool temps hold, we’ll likely push a little harder and see faster times across the board.  And, in the big scheme of things, this is probably better for long term confidence as we continue to focus on the gorilla at the end of the road.