Training Week In Review: Week 22 (Feeling Flat & Holy Elevation Gain, Batman!)

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming

I had the opportunity for another open water swim at Red Top Mountain this week and wanted to go for a full hour and see where my speed/endurance were and how close I could get to the 2.4 miles I will be required to swim in September. The result: 2.4mi in 1:00:44! I was blown away at how good I felt after the swim and when I combine this with a river current and potentially a wetsuit I should be very happy with my swim time. Garmin swim track: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/563722843

The Long Bike - A Little Flat, A Lot Of Confidence

I will admit that I feel very fortunate to live close enough to my Ironman race site so I can practice on the actual race course. I can't imagine not being able to train on the course for a race of this distance, and I know these training sessions on course will pay off on race day. I made the short drive up on Saturday to meet up with a group that was riding one loop of the course from transition. Most of them had done the Chattanooga Open Water Swimmers Club 2.4mi swim before hand, but I passed on this as I can't spend $60 just to practice swim. I was also pumped to wear my new North GA Tri Club kit and see how comfortable it was on distance events. It was amazingly comfortable! The shorts felt so good (almost as good as my regular bib shorts) and I had no rubs or chaffing so this is definitely the kit I'll wear on race day. We headed out at 10:15am and this was my first chance to ride the course all the way from transition. The stretch from Ross' Landing to the part of the course I've ridden before doesn't have much to report on. It's not hilly. It has more railroad tracks. It has potholes. That's about it. We were moving at a decent pace in our group of 12 and quickly split into 2 groups when we turned onto Hwy 193. The group I was in was doing one loop and the other group that was taking a slower pace was doing the full 2 loop course. I got stuck behind a couple of slower riders, but had started to make my way back to the main pack I was riding with that included my friends Reiko and Michael.

I was about a tenth of a mile back when I started having to pedal much harder and a very slight incline. I looked down and confirmed my suspicions. At mile 16 my front tire was flat. I pulled over at the next side street and began to change it. I always carry stuff to fix a flat, but I am not very fast at the process as I've only had to change one tube this year (back in March). I was very fortunate as there were so many triathletes out training with on course support from several clubs that an SUV pulled over and the driver, John from Multisport Ministries, offered to let me use his pump so I didn't have to use my CO2 cartridges to inflate the new tube. After a slow, lengthy process of changing my tire I was back on the road determined to make up some time and with some luck catch up to my riding buddies at one of the SAG stops. It was hard getting back into a rhythm after begin stopped for 5-7 minutes, but after a few miles I was back to pushing at normal pace. I passed a few groups and before I knew it I was at the first climb before Hog Jowl Road. I noticed a big difference after making this turn since I was down in aero position for these rolling hills this time. I was able to gain enough speed on the downhills that I didn't have to do hardly any shifting to make it up the hills on the other side. This made this section of the course much more enjoyable. My speed through this section increased but my effort felt the same as my other rides so I know that I'm in much better riding shape compared to my last ride on the course in July.

I approached the SAG stop just past the intersection of Hog Jowl Rd and Hwy 136 and was happy to hear cheers from my group as they had stopped to wait for me to catch up. Luckily they hadn't been waiting too long and were kind enough to let me refill my bottles and grab a quick snack before we hopped back on our bikes for the final 28mi of our ride. We all stuck together pretty well through the end of the ride, but we all noticed the increased wind and heat towards the end of the ride. We got back to our cars and then prepped to go out and run part of the course to complete our training brick for the day. My legs felt great and I no longer have any doubts about the bike portion of the race. We averaged 17.1 mph and I know if I take it a little easier on race day my legs should be in a great place to perform steadily on the run. Garmin bike track: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/567008261

The North Side Run Loop - I Thought I Had Run Hills Before...

We started from transition area and made our way to Veterans Memorial Bridge. We had decided to run the north side loop first and then, depending how we felt, run a little on the river walk. I'm glad we took this route as I haven't run any of the north side before and had heard stories about the hills. I tend to not to rely too much on others' impressions/definitions of hills because it is so subjective person by person. We crossed the bridge and curved to the right slightly to face Barton Ave for the first time. I'm not going to lie, it was intimidating just looking at it. You could see the top of the hill, but the incline you had to climb for the .5 mi to get there looked daunting. We took our pace easy and made our way up the first climb. Once we reached the top I was surprised at how good I felt especially considering that it was now 92° and there was limited shade on the route. That feeling didn't last. We continued down Barton, forked off onto Hixson Pike which was mostly flat (or at least not nearly as much of an uphill) and turned left onto Riverview Rd. Here we found some shade... and more hills. There is a short, steep climb up the backside of this loop that brings you parallel to the country club and golf course. This stretch is beautiful. It overlooks the river on the left and is very flat or downhill for about .8 mile. We then turned left back onto Barton for what I think is the worst climb on the course. It climbs up very steep, levels out, and then climbs up steeply again over a total of .5 mi. The only relief when you reach the top of this hill is that you now can enjoy almost 3/4 mi of downhill before you reach the Walnut Street Bridge. This is a long climb, but it's not very steep and should be packed with people cheering on race day to get you through your first lap and motivate you to push on your 2nd lap all the way through to the finish line. I now know that I need to run hills. More hills. Steeper hills. I used to worry about the bike portion, but that is in the rearview mirror now. My worry has shifted onto the run course and the roughly 9mi total section of hills that we will encounter on race day. I know I will be ready come race day, and am very glad that I got the chance to run this section ahead of time.
Garmin run track: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/567008290


Weekly totals: Swim - 7500m • Bike - 91.8mi • Run - 17.8mi