I’m reading Julie Moss’s book, “Crawl of Fame,” as I fly to Kona. It’s eight days prior to the big day. Julie talks about having a defining moment in ones life. While I’ll ponder various defining moments in my life another day, the one that came to mind from an Ironman perspective happens to be the race I’m writing about today. The inaugural Ironman Chattanooga in 2014 was not a race that I’d signed up for. In fact, my toes were in the water for my third Ironman of 2014 in Lake Tahoe when they cancelled the race due to smoke and nearby fires. I made an incredibly quick ‘transition’, getting on the first bus back to the Ironman village, driving back to transition to get my bike, and then driving 8 hours home. The whole time, I was thinking, I want to do my third Ironman this year, I wonder which one I can get into? My immediate thought was, based on the fact that I was tapered and ready, what Ironman is coming up next weekend. Sure enough, it was Ironman Chattanooga. When WTC announced that they had opened up slots for the race, I was online first thing the next morning, and I got in!
There are so many ironies regarding this race. I’ll start with the first one. The whole week in Lake Tahoe, as I rested and tapered, I never felt good. In fact, on race morning, I had to tell myself to feel good. I would have, and could have, raced that day, but I have a feeling it would have been tough, especially with the conditions. The extra week of rest prior to Chattanooga was a godsend, and it’s something I’ve been channelling this past week. Yesterday, I really was feeling lousy, which is not uncommon while tapering. I had a flashback to two days before Lake Tahoe, and am certain that I felt the same way. I did very little training the week before Chattanooga, a long VASA swim trainer session 5 days before race day, along with a five mile run, and a couple of very short runs and bikes.
I flew to Atlanta, rented a car, and drove to Chattanooga, lugging my bike with me. Three days before the race, while putting on my bike shoes for a short ride, I got a severe muscle spasm in my low back. Shit! I spent the next two days doing everything I could to work out the spasm. Foam rolling, ointments, electrical stimulation. On race morning, the soreness was mostly gone. However, I was definitely well rested, which is an important take home lesson for the upcoming week.
Why was the 2014 Ironman Chattanooga a “defining moment” for me? Because I truly hit my stride as an Ironman athlete. Starting with the swim, which was in a river with a current. I’d been advised to swim towards the middle of the river to catch the fastest part of the current, which I did, and was then blessed when another athlete swam past me about 400 yards into the race. Over the years, I’ve struggle to draft consistently during the swim. I’ve also struggled to find the right sustainable continuous effort. I know that I can swim super easy forever, albeit, somewhat slowly. I also know that I can swim solidly for 2.4 miles. I’d done this in New Zealand, but even then, wondered if I had another gear that was possible? As the athlete in front of me pushed forward, I worked hard to stay on his feet. Somehow, I forgot about going easily, and every time he created any gap, I revved it up a notch and got back on his feet. I kept this up for the rest of the swim! I even have a shot of the video showing me coming into the swim finish and up the steps. You can see me patting the other athlete, Mike Pierson (#1782), on the shoulder, thanking him for pulling me through!
As I came up the steps, in a remarkable time of 52:50, (the top male pros swam 40-42 minutes), I experienced something else, I felt great! I didn’t feel the need to walk to transition, I jogged. I had a solid transition, 6 minutes (always a strength of mine), and I was off on the bike.
While the swim in Chattanooga is “downhill,” they make up for that with a 116 mile bike, making this Ironman course officially a 144.6. Immediately into the bike, I looked at my power meter and the battery was dead. I needed to go by “feel,” which is fine. The visor on my aero helmet kept fogging up from the humidity, and I took it off and stuck it in my jersey. I discarded it at the first aid station (expensive discard)f. My bike was uneventful, the hardest portion being getting a gel “unstuck” from under my seat during the only climb on the course. The climb was fine, my arms hurt from getting the gel out! I hit the 100 mile mark in under 5 hours! When I came into transition, my legs felt good, and I was heartened by my first sub 6 hour bike split, 5:51:06. After another quick transition, 6 minutes despite a stop in the port-a-potty, I was off on the run.
This was where I had the first inkling that something special was happening. As I ran out of transition, I noticed the spectators along the course. For the first time in my Ironman journey, I found myself raising my arms encouraging them to cheer for this old guy with wild wavy white hair! That’s how good I felt. I actually continued to do that throughout the entire run, whenever there were a good number of spectators around. What an adrenaline rush as well!
I felt good for the first half of the run. My coach, Lucho, always talks about racing an Ironman “easy, until it gets hard.” The run course at IM Chattanooga is pretty challenging, with a significant amount of climbing. At the special needs station, I took out my Lake Tahoe “Finisher’s shirt” and put it on. I was proud of the fact that I was doing this race just six days removed from having Lake Tahoe cancelled. I wanted that in my Finishing photo! I wasn’t quite done, however. I still had the last miles to complete, and things definitely got harder! I continued to increased my effort, and managed to maintain a solid pace. I went into met “Jimmy Connors” grunting mode, where I grunt loudly with every breath. It can sound kind of scary, and occasionally I’ll ask the person I’m passing if they know CPR. But, it helps keep away side stitches! I was super focused during the last mile, giving it everything I had, and managing a sub-10 minute pace. When I hit the finish line, I was done! My run was 4:36:36, my third fastest run time, on a very challenging course.
I'd had the best ironman of my life, with a PR of 11:31:59, forty five minutes faster than my previous best at New Zealand. I was only 37 seconds out of 10th place, and 9 minutes out of 6th. 45 minutes faster and I’d have been going to Kona. I was "only" 64 minutes out of 1st in my age group.
The 2014 Ironman Chattanooga was definitely my “defining moment” in triathlon. Everything came together, and I “learned” how to be my best as an Ironman athlete. I think one of the things that I’m proudest of is my placement in the All World Athlete rankings in my age group in 2014. Because of solid efforts and consistency, I was 11th in the entire world, and third in the United States! I will always treasure that achievement.
Here I am, five years later, living my dream. Twenty seven years after running my first mile and completing my first triathlon, and ten years after finishing my first Ironman. I’ve come a long way from being an asthmatic kid who got picked last in gym class for any team sport. I’ve had many different experiences along the way, met a bunch of amazing people, and often use Ironman as a metaphor for life. I’m going to soak up everything over the next 8 days, and promise myself to enjoy every moment of this ultimate Ironman experience!
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