Ironman Chattanooga 2014 Race Report

It's hard to know where to start when sitting down to write this race report. I usually recap the days before the race, but as I sit here beginning to type I think I will break this entire race experience into 2 posts. One will focus on eating and the events leading up to race day, and the other will only focus on the race itself. So without further ado... my race report for the inaugural Ironman Chattanooga Triathlon. (bear with me as I didn't want to leave anything out so it is a bit lengthy.

Race Morning Has Arrived


I woke up to my alarm blaring at 4:30am. I slept pretty well considering the challenge that I knew was lurking ahead. I popped up out of bed and grabbed a quick shower to feel fresh and awake for the start of the race. After double checking that I had everything I needed for the swim (swim cap, goggles treated with baby shampoo, heart rate monitor, and timing chip) I had my lovely wife assist me in the application of my Tri Tat racing numbers. I ate a cinnamon raisin bagel and drank about half of my bottle of Infinit before walking out the door to head to the race site. My parents were there the entire weekend so I didn't have to worry about driving and parking as I was dropped off with my mom and wife about a block from transition.

I quickly got my bottles situated on the bike, borrowed a pump from a fellow racer, and then said my quick goodbyes before getting in line for the shuttle that would take me to the swim start. I arrived at the swim start at 6:00am and quickly jumped in line for the porta-potty before I snagged my spot in the line to wait for the swim start. This was a time trial swim start so the order was first-come, first-serve. I was hoping to find some of my North GA Tri Club friends in line and wait with them, but I couldn't track anyone down and decided it was smarter to get in line and sit down rather than wander around looking for people in the dark. I walked for what felt like a half mile down the Riverwalk until I reached the back of the line. Now it was time to wait. To sit and let my mind wander about the day. I casually chatted with the people around me and we swapped stories about where we were from, if this was our first Ironman, and what we had done to prepare for the race. It was clear that everyone was nervous. Even the woman who was lined up behind me, who was racing her 3rd Ironman, was contemplating every few seconds whether to wear a wetsuit or not. (The water temp on race morning was 77° and that meant not wetsuit legal, but you could still wear one and give up the option of winning age group awards) The line slowly began to move and as we got closer to the front, we could hear Mike Riley's voice getting people excited and keeping them moving onto the dock and jumping in the water. It was still a little dark, but plenty light enough to swim. I opted for no wetsuit as I'm a strong swimmer and felt that the wetsuit might make my shoulders tired from pulling against the sleeves. I dropped my shoes, socks, and Infinit bottle that I had been slowly drinking all morning long into my Morning Clothes Bag and dropped into the pile as we walked by. I had my goggles and swim cap on and the line started moving much faster. They had pulled the people wearing wetsuits aside and had everyone else start the swim ahead of them. Before I knew it I was surrounded by people cheering, holding signs, and singing along with the music as I had to jog to stay with the line that was now a mere 50 feet from the floating dock. I started my Garmin watch, took about 15 steps, and then jumped into the water. The race had officially started for me.

The Swim

Apparently I ran too fast for the
photographers to snap a complete picture.

When I hit the water I made sure to have one hand holding my goggles to avoid them flipping up and filling the lenses with water. I had no idea what to expect of the water temperature, but it was just about perfect for me. I rose to the surface and immediately started swimming to avoid getting jumped on by competitors entering the water directly behind me. I settled into a rhythm quickly, and decided that I would hold back on the swim a little bit until I got a few more minutes in so I would make sure not to spike my heart rate (which I'm sure was already a little high due to excitement from the crowd at the swim start). I expected to be bumping into more people as I journeyed down the river, but truthfully I only got grabbed by 2-3 people and only made contact with about 10-12 others. With over 2,000 people swimming in the river at the same time I'd consider that pretty amazing. I started to feel the current about 200 yards in and decided to use it to my advantage and picked up my pace just a little. Before I knew it I came up to site and saw the island that we were passing at around the halfway point on the swim. It felt like I had only been swimming for about 15 minutes, but I knew that it was probably more like 30. I decided from the start not to look at my watch during the swim as it wouldn't really help me, and the time it would take to stop swimming, look, and start again wasn't worth it. I stayed consistent and before I knew it I was approaching the end of the swim. It got a bit crowded at the floating stairs as there were 3 sets that athletes could exit onto and about 20-25 athletes at any given time trying to reach them. I stuck my head underwater to find the step, reached up and grabbed the railing with my left hand and a volunteer's hand with my right and launched myself right out of the water. I hit my Garmin as soon as I reached the top of the stairs, seeing my swim time was 54:10! Garmin swim track: http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/601844878

T1

The run from the swim exit into T1 wasn't as long as most of my other triathlons which was nice. It did however take you up a very steep carpeted "bridge" that was set up on a hill leading up from the river front docks to the street where transition was located. I didn't sprint, but I also was feeling great and energized by the spectators that lined the path leading into transition so I did run towards transition and quasi-ran up the hill to reach the rows of Bike Gear Bags. I shouted out my bag number and the volunteers kept motioning me to keep going down the correct row until I got near my bag. I volunteer made eye-contact with me and as I shouted, "1-5-9-7" they smiled and handed me my bag then pointed to the Men's Changing Tent. I entered the tent and remembered the advice I had received from others and ran all the way to the end of the tent where there were lots of empty seats. I quickly wiped off my feet, put on my sunglasses, helmet, socks and bike shoes, rubbed some chamois butter in the right places, then put everything back into the bag and trotted out of the tent towards my bike. I had an easy path to trace to my bike as it was on the first row in the first section. I grabbed my bike off the rack and jogged with it to the mount line which was very crowded with about 60 other athletes trying to mount in the same place. I ran past the crowd and moved over to the right, glanced over my should to make sure I was clear and then pushed off to start the 116mi bike ride that I would traverse before arriving back at transition. I felt like I took my time in T1, but didn't take too much time. T1 time: 7:54.

The Bike

My plan for the bike was always to hold back and let a ton of people pass me. I knew this was my weakest of the three disciplines and I would be smart and save my legs so that my run was enjoyable and not a sufferfest from start to finish. I kept a close eye on my heart rate from the start and saw that it was nearing the top of Zone 3 so I immediately geared down and let my legs spin a little more. My heart rate recovered quickly, and soon I settled into a rhythm. The journey out of downtown Chattanooga wasn't very eventful with the exception of seeing on guy clip a traffic cone while trying to pass someone and he went down. It wasn't bad and he hopped back on began pedaling quickly, but it was a good reminder to watch out for what others were doing on the course. The volunteers had laid out carpets across the railroad tracks we rode over getting out of town, and it was a good thing because we crossed 5 or 6 just to get to the highway that would take us to the start of the loop. The first 2 tracks were hard enough to cross without the 30-40 bottles that littered the streets from people who didn't heed the volunteers' shouts to slow down when crossing. Thankfully I had ridden this course before so I knew to take my time crossing the tracks and kept all of my bottles. I reached Hwy 193 and felt the wind at my back. I was inspired by the amount of people that were cheering along every single stretch of the bike course. It seemed like there were cars parked with music playing a small crowds of people at every intersection all the way through the entire course. The only stretch without spectators was after the sharp turn onto Hog Jowl Rd. which was fine because that was a fast section anyway and I was focused on keeping momentum through the rolling hills rather than looking for fun signs to read or looking at spectators in costumes. I passed by the first couple of aid stations and didn't grab anything. There was part of the road blocked off after topping one of the hills and we were forced over into the left hand lane while oncoming traffic was stopped. I figured there was a tree or brush that had fallen into the road and they diverted us as a cautionary measure. Only later would I

Oil patch/attempted sabotage

learn that some idiot had poured buckets of motor oil onto the road as a deliberate sabotage attempt. It was cleaned up and the roads were open as normal on my second loop. After making the first climb and then turning onto Hog Jowl Rd. I noticed that there were lots of cyclists on the side of the road over the next 5 miles. all of them were changing tubes or waiting for the support vans to arrive with mechanical assistance. I didn't focus on them too much and didn't put thought into why it happened, but once again after the race I learned that someone had spread a bunch of tacks out on the bike course that caused lots of mechanical issues for many racers. I'll never understand what would lead someone to think this was either a) a funny prank or b) an acceptable way to protest a race course going through their area. Luckily I was spared from any mechanical issues during the entire race.

I rolled into downtown Chickamauga and had a huge smile on my face as I spotted my family (wife, sister, mom, dad, aunt and uncle) at the front of the crowd cheering me on. My sister had made a great banner that she and my aunt here holding. (see picture). After getting a huge shot of energy from the crowd of around 500 spectators the ride to the start of the second loop flew by. My plan was to carry enough Infinit to sustain me for 5 hours of riding, and I would only stop twice: once to pee and once at the bike special needs station to refill my bottles with nutrition. My plan worked great and I picked my pee stop based on the length of the waiting line (which was at least 6 deep at every station). I ended up stopping at mile 58 just before the start of the second lap.

The bike course views were simply stunning

The second loop was very different from the first for me. The adrenaline had worn off, the winds had picked up, and it lightly rained for a short time. It wasn't that I was tired or that my nutrition was lacking. It was just a little mind-numbing from miles 70-90. Passing through downtown Chickamauga the second time, there was less fanfare. Or fans at all. It seems most every had jumped on the shuttles to head back to transition to catch their athletes on the run. My little cheering section was still there and after flashing a big smile and thumbs up, I pulled into the Bike Special Needs station. I grabbed a couple of bottles and refilled my aero bottle while the nice volunteer held the bag open for me to sort through. It was a quick stop and then I was back to pedaling. There was much more space between athletes on the course by this time so on the final big descent after the last major climb out of Chickamauga I was able to fly. I hit a pretty nice top speed of 41.5 mph and that rush got me ready to tackle the final section of the course on Hwy 193 and back into town for transition. My biggest fear at the beginning of this journey was the bike portion. To know that I was almost through it and had hit my target pace made me very happy. I smiled and chatted with cyclists I passed and that passed me before reaching the dismount line. I will honestly say I've never been so happy to get off my bike. I had completed the 116 mile ride (4 miles longer than typical Ironman races) in 7:05:09. Garmin bike track: http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/601844881

T2

I ran my bike towards the crowd of volunteers and one of them simply said, "I've got it, go finish strong with your run". I gladly handed my bike over (we're on an indefinite break from spending time with each other) and made my way down the rows of Run Gear Bags until a volunteer heard me yell out my number and then handed my bag to me, again pointing to the Men's Changing Tent. The tent was much less crowded this time and I grabbed a seat right away. I dumped the contents of my bag onto the ground and put my helmet, bike shoes, etc into the bag. I threw on fresh socks, my running shoes, visor, and grabbed my running flask and race belt before walking to the exit and handing my gear bag off. I decided to stop at the porta-potties and get my second bathroom break out of the way before starting the run. This proved to be a good idea as it kept me moving the entire run and not standing still letting my legs get tight during the marathon. I was in and out in a flash and made it though T2 much faster than I thought considering my time included a bathroom stop. T2 time: 6:53.

The Run

Exiting transition felt great and the crowds were packed and screaming so loud it was hard not to tear out on the run at top speed. But I knew that I wanted to hold back until mile 18 of the run so I kept a close eye on my pace for the first mile specifically. I held between a 10:45 to 11:30 pace until my heart rate settled down to it's proper place. I approached the first aid station and saw some familiar face. A couple of buddies of mine were volunteering and they definitely got my psyched up for this run. After making my way onto the Riverwalk around mile 1.5 the crowds faded and it was just me and the other runners. I had run this section of the course several times before as it was the same run course as the Chattanooga Waterfront Tri run course. I kept an eye on my pace and heart rate and slowly progressed along the river. At each aid station I took 2 sips from my super concentrated Infinit mix in my run flask (which I kept in my back pocket of my tri top) and drank about half a cup of water to help dilute the mixture in my mouth before swallowing. I followed this process for the entire first lap and as planned I ran out of Infinite as I began the second lap. The run was fairly boring for the first 7 miles, but I wasn't focused on people cheering or even other athletes. I was in a zone and focused only on how good my legs actually felt at this pace. Around mile 4 it began to sprinkle steadily and by the time I made the turn onto Amnicola Hwy. it had progressed to full out rain. This stretch was boring since the only scenery was industrial buildings and the passing cars. I kept pacing myself, passing aid station after aid station. It was uneventful, but the monotony was occasionally broken up by passing cars filled with cheerers honking horns, shaking cowbells, and yelling encouragement.

I reached mile 7 I could see the course getting ready to turn onto the bridge and then the hills would begin. I made my way onto Veterans Memorial Bridge and just before crossing it I ran into one of my run training buddies. He was about finish up his second lap and I was so proud to get to run "near" him for a few minutes as he was trying to slow down for his brother to catch up to him so they could finish together. I reached the base of Barton Ave. and looked up to see the hill that was directly in front of me. I decided that my plan had worked so far and I would just slow down a little bit to keep running up the hill. I kept telling myself, "Your legs feel great. Your plan is working. You are running this hill that you had envisioned walking before today." All of this self-talk made a huge difference in my momentum during the hilly section. Before I knew it I was up and over the hill passing mile marker 10 with ease. I worked my way through the remaining hills on this lollipop section of the course and climbed my way out of the back side of Barton Ave. This time I enjoyed a very long downhill that lasted until the Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge. I kept moving, putting one foot in front of the other and saw the end of the bridge. In my mind that signaled the end of my first lap. I was a mere 13 miles from the finish line. I didn't know whether this would make me excited or deflated being so close to the turn towards the finish line but turning the other way for lap 2. It was exhilarating, energizing, and motivating. Why? Because I still felt great! My legs weren't as tired as I expected and my nutrition was maintaining me perfectly. I saw my family standing near the corner. They were just as surprised to see me this early as I was to be there. I handed my sunglasses off to my mom, and then slowed down to give my beautiful bride a kiss. I told her, "I'll see you at the finish line soon" and I was off to the Run Special Needs area. I ditched my run flask and grabbed a new one out of my bag. After that I was back on track and more determined than ever to make this last lap strong.

While there weren't spectators, the riverwalk
paths made for a scenic run as well.

The second lap was surprisingly much like the first. Keeping an eye on my pace. Remaining steady. Taking in nutrition at each aid station. I began counting down the miles as each marker passed. Mile 16 meant there were only 10 miles left. Mile 17, I was into single digit miles to go. I was approaching mile 18 (aka "the line") knowing that it was this mile marker that my entire day was set-up to reach and still be in a good place. It passed and my plan execution was still going strong. I reached mile 20 and got a big smile on my face. I felt better here than I did at the same mile marker on my solo marathon. The other reason for my elation, I only had a 10K left to run. I crossed the bridge the final time and stared down the monstrous hill in front of me. It was mine. I was going to dominate this hill for a second time. That's what I told myself, and that's exactly what happened. I cruised down the backside of the hill, but there was something waiting for me at the base of the next hill. It goes by many names. The Wall. The Dark Place. The Suck. It doesn't matter what you call it. It only matters that it rears it's ugly head, stares you right in the face, and says "you won't succeed". I was prepared for this to arrive at mile 18 so when I realized it was just before mile 23 I used that to get beyond my dark place. I walked up the hill on Riverview Rd., but once I reached the top, I said out-loud, "Start running now!" My mind was set on the task and so my body obeyed. I ran until the next aid station, walked up about half of the backside of the last big hill, then enjoyed the downhill on the other side. I approached the final aid station and was greeted with a hug by a lady that I met through work a few weeks ago who happened to be volunteering at the race. She called me by name, and cheered me all the way through the aid station. It was just the boost I needed as my Garmin buzzed, alerting me that I had completed mile 25. 1.25 miles was all that remained between me and hearing Mike Riley say, "You are an Ironman!" I quickened my pace a bit and reached the Walnut Street Bridge. I could hear the roar of the crowd at the finish line and that was all I needed. I sped across the bridge and when I made the final turn onto Riverfront Parkway the crowds was gathered and going crazy. Some people were walking some were sprinting. I found a balance between them to make sure that when I crossed the finish line, I would be in the chute alone. I approached the lights and carpeted runway and tears almost welled up in my eyes. I had arrived. I had done it. And it felt incredible. I gave tons of high fives to kids, parents, and other athletes lining the finish chute. It was electric. It was humbling. It was an indescribable feeling. I was a few steps from the finish line and I heard those words. "Phillip Taylor from Acworth, Georgia YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!" I crossed the finish line, stopped my watch and hugged my volunteer "catcher" with joy. He placed my medal around my neck, walked me through the photo area, got me a water and chocolate milk, and turned me over to my beaming wife.
I had completed the marathon portion in 4:52:08 (that's just 29 minutes longer than my stand alone marathon time!) Garmin run track: http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/601844896

My total time for my first (and not my only) Ironman was 13:06:14. That's almost an hour faster than I thought possible. This day will be burned into my memory for the rest of my life. It was a day of tests and triumphs. A day where I found out what lives in my dark place, and how strong I had become through training to push past that and finish strong. I will be smiling from ear to ear over the next several days and weeks just thinking about everything that this day held for me. I can now say, with pride, that I am an Ironman.

Here's some quick stats looking back over this year's training and preparation for this epic race.

Training by the numbers:

• Swim: 83 miles
• Bike: 2,423 miles
• Run: 552 miles
• Calories: 197,186
• Time in Training: 290:18:04