2023 Chattanooga 70.3
I absolutely loved my experience at Chattanooga 70.3! To give you some background – going into the 2023 racing season I knew my A goal was my Ironman in July. Everything I was doing from January – July was a preparation for my A race. That is the glory of working with Dave – we were completely aligned on my goals for this year, and he crafted a perfect way for me to run the Boston Marathon (and BQ!), race a 70.3 (and PR!) and still keep the main focus on my A race – The full Ironman!
I felt like I needed to do a 70.3 before my full to remember how to race a triathlon, remember how to do transitions, practice fueling, and practice the mental and physical aspects of racing. That being said – Dave and I decided that we really cared about my Ironman and the best route of action would be to have a small taper a few days before the race, but to not do a full taper. Also my training was primarily focused on the Ironman distance with some tempo work – but a big volume build.
Going into race weekend – I almost couldn’t believe I was racing. I didn’t have the regular pre race jitters I normally have, and I didn’t feel like I was tapered or racing at all. It almost felt like another training weekend. However, if you know me you know that even when I don’t care about something – I still care. And I still want to do well! That’s just the nature of who I am.
Chattanooga 70.3 was an awesome venue! This race was the biggest Ironman race since pre-covid – with over 3000 participants!! SUPER cool!
Race morning started with a 3:30 alarm clock. Transition opened at 4:30 am! Transition at this race was huge with so many participants! They had lights on so we didn’t need to worry about head lamps. The volunteers were the friendliest I’ve ever seen at this hour and they really brought the energy. I put air in my tires, put my nutrition on my bike, used the porta potty and was ready to go. The people racked next to me actually commented on the Revel Racing Instagram the night before – so I introduced myself to them which was fun! Also a guy on the other side of me forgot his nutrition in the car – so I gave him about 15 salt tabs and told him that would help him at least with electrolytes on what was predicted to be a hot race day.
We parted ways and headed to the bus to the start. Transition closed at 6:15. The swim was a 1.4 mile (rather than 1.2 mile) down river point to point swim. The buses took us to the boat house where the swim started. Getting a porta potty at the swim start was really tough. Be aware of this and save time for yourself! Lines were long and I waited about 20 minutes to use the bathroom one last time before putting on my wetsuit. Before the swim start – a fellow participant who had raced Chattanooga before gave me some advice to stay to the center of the river where the current would be the strongest. Noted! Thank you sir!!
The swim started off a floating dock. They sent us off 5 at a time every 5 seconds. Me being the nervous human I am – I was afraid to dive into the water since I’ve never done that before and thought my goggles would fly off. I sat on the ledge of the dock and jumped in. I seeded myself to the far right so I could swim in the center of the river. I took 10 strokes, looked up, and somehow was way over in Narnia on the left. I decided not to panic but instead just kept swimming at an angle to try to get closer to the center/buoys. The plus side of being so far out was that no one was in my way. Once I got closer to the center I did need to go around some people, but nothing horrible. I kept sighting bridges to see when I would be done with the swim, but it felt like I was in the water forever! I guess it was .2 miles longer than usual.. when I reached the end – signified by a red buoy – I turned left to get out of the water. The race puts steps in so athletes can get out. Luckily volunteers were there to help lift you up and out! I looked at my watch and it read 36 minutes. 1:27/100yd! I ran out of the water and to the wetsuit strippers. This is the first race I’ve participated in that had wetsuit strippers. I was excited! I raced with my watch outside of my wetsuit. When I went to remove my wetsuit from my arms, my wetsuit got stuck on my watch. I started to freak out for a little. I even flat out said to the poor volunteer “I am freaking out!” .. it took a minute but I was able to get the wetsuit off my arms. I was thankful for the volunteer for keeping me calm! I laid on the grass and boom they pealed off my wetsuit in 2 seconds. Noted: fix watch placement before ironman! I ran to my bike. Longgg transition!
Put on my helmet, socks, shoes, and ran out of transition. My tri suit weirdly unzipped all the way so I had to stop to re-zip it up. Another moment of fluster but I kept it together – which I was proud of! I jumped on the bike and got ready to go. The Chatty bike course is a lot of fun! The course is rollers almost the whole way. Being from MA – I did not find the hills hard, but fun. Nothing was too steep – I only went into my small ring once. You were able to stay in Aero most of the course with minimal turns, and also leverage the downhills to get you up the next hill. There were a few downsides/things that went wrong on the bike course: 1. With 3000+ participants.. it was SO crowded! I found myself using a lot of energy surging past bikers. It never once felt empty. 2. You do have some train tracks, and grooved sections on the beginning of the course. The course was well marked so I slowed down and played it safe. However, MANY lost bottles on the course due to this. There were a lot of bottles laying around all over. 3. Two gels fell out of my pocket during the race. Someone was kind enough to let me know! Again – I didn’t let myself panic – but decided luckily I could use the aid stations since my gels were Maurten. 4. There was a headwind on the way back. The course is actually more downhill on the way back, but with the headwind it did not show in people’s bike splits. Luckily I still felt comfortable riding in aero so I was happy. I was off the bike in 2:49 and was pretty happy with that! I came in a little under my targeted power, but I was proud with how I handled the bike course. It reminded me that bike skills come a long way and you don’t need to push the most power to be the best biker. This was my first race holding over 20mph the whole time J That felt good!
I racked my bike and got ready to run! It was pretty hot at this point. Probably close to 80 degrees. The Chattanooga run course is hilly as well – you exit transition straight to a big hill. 70.3 Run pace isn’t something I’ve quite figured out. My heart rate was in the low 150s the whole time and I felt controlled – but wasn’t able to ever push it any harder. This did not feel like a tempo or hard effort run. I decided to just go with it! I was enjoying the run and feeling good so I couldn’t complain. The run course is two loops, and beautiful! The heat didn’t really bother me – I utilized the aid stations to dump water on my head and intake Gatorade, water, gels, salt, and coke if needed. I finished the run in 1:46. I wasn’t ecstatic with my run, but was very happy with how I raced the whole race. I finished in 5:21:45 which was almost a 25 min PR for me!! It felt good to know I could race that well without a taper, or specific 70.3 training plan. This showed me the fitness I had gained, and showed me that the plan Dave and I put together was working! When I finished the race – the guy I lent salt tabs to found me and gave me the biggest hug and told me “I saved his race!” this made me smile. Triathlon is so cool! You end up being friends with all these strangers! These random people from all over the country became my best friends for the day and were just unbelievably friendly!
Chattanooga 70.3 was exactly what I needed and I got exactly what I wanted out of this race. I had so much fun and it made me hungry to work harder and excited to race more. This race taught me a lot about things to apply to my training and future races. Although I know I have so much work to do – I was so proud of where I have come in such a short amount of time. Dave supported me the whole time – pre race chats, messages, post race calls, always being available when I needed him, knowing what to say to make me feel accomplished/smile/laugh, but also helping me improve and reach my potential and not settling or becoming complacent. It wasn’t my best day but it was a pretty damn great day and an awesome experience!! Excited to get back to work !
