2021 Ironman Chattanooga Race Report

September 26, 2021

How did I end up back here?

After doing this race in 2019 and nearly melting from the heat, my buddy Dave and I were in agreement about not wanting to ever experience that again. I definitely tried to avoid Chattanooga, but fate pushed me there.

I had signed up for the 2020 Ironman Louisville race but it got canceled due to some social unrest in the city and of course, a worldwide pandemic. Ironman gave me four options to transfer to, three of which were also fall 2020 races and clearly not going to happen. The only other option was to go back to Chatty in 2021 and hope that the world would settle down. Thankfully, we had a better knowledge about the virus, and the vaccine helped keep the option for racing open in 2021. Things still aren’t ideal, but it’s getting better.

So I opted for a return trip to Chattanooga and I was soon joined by my Gunner buddies Jeff, his sister Jan, and eventually Dave. A few local friends also opted to give Choo a go – Susan, John, and Charlie, as well as first-timers Angela and Daniel. At first I thought that this race was going to be a solo affair for me, but now it was a full-fledged party!

Training thirty weeks for an Ironman is an awfully long time.

Once again I broke out the old trusty Be Iron Fit training book and followed the plan. 30-weeks broken into base, build, and endurance phases that has prepared this self-coached triathlete well in four previous Ironman races.

I follow the plan pretty closely with a few changes that I have found over the previous training cycles to be beneficial to me. First, I reduced the swim from the hour-plus swim, 2-3 times per week that the book dictates, to two 30-minute swims per week. I’m not the greatest swimmer, but once I had the technique down, I found that the swim training that the book wants me to do is INSANE. Plus, I get so bored swimming that I just can’t take much more than 30-minutes. I did get in a longer open water swim in Minocqua at my lake home, and I did one 4200 yard swim in my pool in the closing weeks of training just to prove to myself that I could do the distance.

Biking was more of a group thing for me this time around, and I often joined the locals for the rides out to Elwood. My coworker Tom, who had caught the triathlon bug and signed up for Ironman Muncie 70.3 was also a training ride partner. A couple of weekends I was joined by Susan, which were much needed in order to help each other get over the mental struggle of training. She won’t take any credit for turning me around mentally, but she deserves some none-the-less. Overall, it was a pretty good year for cycling leading up to the race.

As for the running – oh boy. I foolishly signed up for a “last runner standing” format ultra which also got postponed to August. I just used my Ironman training and it got me through 8-loops and 33 miles, completing my first 50K distance ultramarathon. After that, it was back to the plan and doing the work with one exception – I also foolishly signed up for the Tunnel Hill 100, an ultra-marathon in November. I’m pretty dumb. So I decided that even though I wasn’t going to increase my mileage, I did adapt to doing some run/walk long runs. I learned that a ratio of about 4.5 minutes of running with a 1.5 minute walk break on my Sunday long runs was working pretty good for me. Since I was doing Chattanooga, I figured that I was going to be walking most of the marathon anyway, so why not get used to that style of running.

How hot is it going to be this year?

Summer was hot here in the Chicago area again this year and I could sense that race day might be ugly once again. Boy was I wrong. I generally avoid looking at the weather forecast until it gets closer to race day, but it was shaping up to be beautiful. How beautiful? How about mid to upper 70s, no rain and no wind. If you could pick the perfect day, this might have been an ideal race day forecast. And if that wasn’t good enough, it rained for several days leading up to the race which cooled the water temp down below the wetsuit legal temperature of 76.1. I think this was a first for Chattanooga – a wetsuit legal swim!

What can go wrong will go wrong.

Race week meant one final check of the bike and I decided to give the drive train one last going over. That’s when my 8-year-old rear derailleur decided to die.

That spring thing isn’t supposed to be showing.

I drove the bike up to Spokes in Wheaton, Illinois and begged a guy named Chris to fix it for me. He said I was screwed. Actually, he said that they don’t stock 10-speed parts as they aren’t being used anymore. But he searched through an old box of spare parts and found a lesser level Sram 10-speed derailleur in workable condition. He bolted it on, I took it for a test spin, happily forked over the $70 bucks, and then thanked my lucky stars. The next day the bike was in the car and I was headed to Chattanooga.

When Carla wasn’t involved in picking out our lodging, things can get weird.

Since Dave was a last minute sign up, his wife Carla wasn’t doing all of the work finding us lodging. I didn’t mind our last hotel that we stayed at in Chattanooga, but I was hoping for something closer. I settled on the Marriott Residence Inn, which I totally picked because it was a block away and it had a little kitchenette thing. When I checked in I got some attitude from the guy at the front desk about not canceling our second room soon enough, and then I made my way to the room. It was a little dirty and smelled a little, but I was glad to have plenty room for my stuff. It got a little weird when the toilet wouldn’t flush and they had to call a plumber in to remove the travel-sized deodorant that someone had flushed down it. Fun times.

Kari flew in and soon the whole Gunner gang was in town. The next couple of days were spent checking in for the race, organizing our gear bags, and then dropping the bags and the bikes off. Gunner Jeff, a four-time Ironman, for some reason could not remember the bike/bag drop-off procedure, which I found highly entertaining. Race week anxiety does some weird stuff to your brain.

My friend Angela checking out her bags for her first Ironman.

We typically try to find a restaurant to eat a prerace meal at, but since we couldn’t find something at such a short notice for our big group, we opted for a family-style spaghetti dinner, courtesy of Jill and assisted by her daughter Emma and my wife Kari. It might have been the best prerace dinner ever. We had such good conversations and the meal was delicious.

Why am I nervous? Prerace anxiety sucks.

After setting a couple of alarms I was ready to hit the sack. Except there was no way I was going to fall asleep. At 10:30pm or so, I got back up and took a portion of an Ambien and tried again. According to Kari, I was soon asleep. According to me, my brain was active all night long.

Race day is finally here!

The alarms went off and I got up and showered. Dave always showers before the race but it’s a sometimes for me. I felt like the shower might wake me up more and needed a shave, so I took one. Next up was getting dressed and grabbing some food. Then off to meet the gang to walk down to the village and into transition to check the bike and bags.

I think Dave needs another shower. He never was a morning person.

We hopped onto the school bus for the shuttle ride to the swim start and then settled into to await the start. I heard that the kayak volunteers were late getting into the water for some reason, which delayed our start by about ten minutes, but we heard the pro racers start and we would be next.

I had made a Facebook friend, a guy named Marc the Shark, and had missed seeing him at Louisville in 2017 and so far for this race too, but as I was looking around there he was just a couple of people away. I said hello and we wished each other well.

Next thing I knew I was walking down the ramp and jumping into the Tennessee River with hardly any performance expectation other than to finish without getting too worn out.

59 MINUTES!?!? THAT CAN’T BE RIGHT!

The swim went swimmingly. I drifted to the right, away from the shore and more toward the middle of the river in order to take advantage of any current that was pushing us along. The kayakers will only let you get so far away from the buoys, so I found myself pretty much between them and the kayakers. It seemed like I was swimming by myself, once again enjoying the almost 100% contactless swim. I had a little hint of a foot cramp happening, but I was able to kick it out of my system.

As the buoys turned from yellow to orange at the halfway point, I found myself getting closer to them and eventually looked up to find them on my right side for the first time. I got past the island in the middle of the river and the three bridges were dead ahead. The next thing I knew I rounded the red turn buoy and swam to the ladder, and that’s when I glanced at my watch – 59 minutes. That’s insane. I know that this course could give me a quick swim, but never in my life did I think I could swim 2.4 miles in under an hour. 00:59:43 officially. A swim PR for me.

Still wondering how the heck I swam a 59 minute Ironman swim.

Thankfully a volunteer yanked my wetsuit off for me or I would still be sitting there trying to remove it.

SWIM: 00:59:43 – 52nd in Male 55-59 Age Group / 529th Male / 679th Overall

Why do I suck at the swim to bike transition?

My plan going for getting through the first transition was to not waste time like I usually do. So what did I do? I found a way to waste time.

As you can see in my swim photos I still have my swim goggles on. That’s because they are prescription and I need them to see where I am going, find my bag, and go find a place to sit down and get ready for the bike. All that went well enough but as soon as I put my eyeglasses on, they fogged up. Nice. Now I couldn’t see much at all. I couldn’t find my socks at first, but then I remembered that I had put them into one of my shoes. I found my towel and dried my feet and got some Skin Glide on them and then struggled to get my socks on. Next were the arm sleeves that went on okay thanks to me rolling them on, but then I realized that I hadn’t put on any sunscreen yet and I was sure that I would take the arm sleeves off when I warmed up. So I started looking for my spray can of sunscreen and couldn’t find it. Since I knew that they had a sun screen table at the exit of the bike corral, I stopped looking for my own and got all of my swim crap into the bag. The helmet got strapped, my nutrition, consisting of five Payday fun size candy bars, a Stroopwafel, and my gel flask, got thrown into my back pockets, and off I clopped to find my bike.

I walked the bike over to the table with the sunscreen and took off my gloves and started hitting the most vulnerable spots heavily. The gloves went back on and off I clopped again to the mount line to begin my tour of a sliver of southern Tennessee and a big chunk of northern Georgia.

T1: 12:34

They say this is a beautiful and scenic bike course. I’ll take their word for it.

Almost all of the Ironman bike courses are listed as “scenic” and I’m sure that they are. But when you are riding along at 18 mph or so, with others jockeying around you on roads that sometimes aren’t in the best shape, you tend to spend more attention to not crashing than the beautiful scenery. But this time I did actually take a few moments to gaze at the mountains and the local picturesque landscape. I did notice some low lying fog in the early stages.

Apparently most of the sunscreen I put on went on my face.

I had a long sleeve shirt that I intended to put on when I started the bike but I opted not to use it and I was fine. I rode with the arm sleeves and gloves for more than half of the race before tossing them.

First loop fun. At least the sunscreen had faded by now.

Earning my Pathetic Triathlete Badge. Had to do it.

Heading out of town was at a fast pace. It was that way in 2019, too. I didn’t feel like I was pushing hard or anything, but after about an hour of a pace faster than I normally train at, I knew that I would be pushing pace all through the bike. The first 56 miles was under three hours by a lot, a time that I would have been really proud of if it was just a 70.3 race.

Like usual, I was glad to be getting off the bike at the end. I didn’t feel as miserable as I normally do, but 116 miles and a little over 6 hours is a long time to be riding a bike. I handed my bike to a kid volunteer to put away and jokingly told her to change the oil and give it a wash and I would be back to pick it up in five hours. She looked at me like I had two heads. Tough crowd. I guess comedy isn’t my thing.

My Garmin had me at 6:06 with the autopause turned on. That’s a huge PR for me. Garmin also has a 18.9 mph average and a top speed of 39.1 mph.

BIKE: 6:18:27 – 55th Male 55-59 Age Group / 544th Male / 662nd Overall

Time for the emotions to kick in.

As I walked from dropping the bike off with the kid, I got hit with the feels. Usually this hits me around the last mile or so of the marathon, but I was pretty proud of what I just did on the bike, as well as the swim. It didn’t last long. I was handed my Run Gear bag and off to the changing tent to waste some time.

I sat down and pulled the cycling gear off and looked for the Dude Wipe (basically a big wet wipe) and wiped my face off, as well as the bugs that I had accumulated on my sweaty shoulders. It always makes me feel a little fresher to clean up a little.

Amazingly enough, I had a sun screen can in my bag. It’s less necessary at this part of the race, but I sprayed my bald head and arms anyway. With the bib belt, shoes and visor on, I grabbed my nutrition and started out of transition.

T2 – 7:11

This marathon is no joke. I’m not going to crush this.

On Friday, I approached a first timer as he was talking with his wife about the run course and I told him that the run starts on the sidewalk about 300 yards back there and the walk starts here, pointing to the hill not even a quarter mile into the course. I was joking, but not really. I saw a photographer and gave a half-hearted effort at running for the picture but it wasn’t going so well for me.

Just starting the “run” and trying to contain my blazing speed.

I felt hot, which is not uncommon for me. Yes, it was still sunny and later into the day, but when you are riding you have that constant wind blowing on you to help cool you off. I walked about a half-mile before I even started thinking about running.

After the first couple of aid stations, I started to get more hydration and sugar into me and started to come around. By the time I got four miles into it I was feeling better.

It wasn’t long and Gunner Jeff caught me. I knew he would. We would leap frog back and forth sharing the run lead for the rest of the way, but seeing that he had made up the difference in what little lead I had with the swim and bike, I knew that he was ahead of me by chip time even if he was standing right next to me. The same thing happened last time as well, it just happened sooner this year. He’s good.

Jeff and I walking to the top of Battery Hill and seeing Kari, Jill, Emma, and Maxwell.

Feeling good here on the walking bridge finishing the first loop.

In 2019, I made it a goal at the start of the second loop to try to get through the wooded park along the river walk before it got dark but didn’t get it done. This time it was no problem.

Second loop and second time up Battery. This isn’t even the hilliest part of this marathon. ~ Mile 18 here.

I caught Jeff again and we walked up the dreaded Barton Avenue hill together and for most of the rest of that north side of the river portion of the course. I recognized my local friend Daniel just as we were turning off of Barton. He seemed to be somewhat doubtful about finishing, but I tried my best to encourage him to keep moving forward. He was in a rough place mentally, but he overcame it and finished in plenty of time.

Jeff and I also saw Dave heading up the hill as we were heading down and knew he was also going to finish not far behind us.

As we approached the walking bridge I told Jeff that I was going to walk the uphill portion of it and not to wait for me. I could have jogged with him, but I wanted him to go get his glory and cross the line first. He finished about a minute ahead of me according to the time of day, but he bested me by about 11 minutes.

As I got over the bridge I was forced to run through a gauntlet of fans that crowd the run course and one guy got an extended evil eye from me and got out of my way. I ran down the hill and turned onto the road to finish. As I approached the finish chute I kept checking in front and behind me to have a good finish for myself and things were looking good. But all at once this dope comes screaming past me and spoils my finish. And to add to that disappointment, the announcer didn’t even call me in! WTF? Oh well, it’s not my first Ironman finish, and it probably won’t be my last. But the photos still prove that I had a great race.

RUN: 5:04:47 – 50th Male in 55-59 Age Group / 476th Male / 612th Overall

FINAL TIME: 12:42:42 – 2nd fastest Ironman Finish / Swim & Bike Ironman PR’s / 5th Ironman Finish

But wait, there’s more!

Loads of thanks to go around. To my wife Kari – you’re my Iron Rock. Thanks for supporting me not only once or twice, but five times now. I promise to take next year off!

To my Gunner teammates Dave, Jeff, and Jan – thanks for being on the journey with me once again. Doing a race without you would never be as fun.

To my local friends Susan, John, Charlie, Angela, and Daniel – WELL DONE! You are all IRONMEN! And let’s not forget Casey, who magically appeared at the finish line as a volunteer and handed a much surprised me my finisher hat, medal and shirt! That was unexpected and a great way to finish.

Until next time, thanks for reading. – Chris

I’m In The Cool Kids Club

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 9 – May 2, 2021

This week I received a validation of sorts for my participation in the sport of running. It wasn’t in the form of a medal or seeing my name or picture in the paper, or a job well done from my running peers. No, it came in the form of a laughing emoji. I was Benfer-ed. Jane Benfer-ed.

I belong to a trail-running Facebook page and responded with an answer to a question about running shorts, as the poster was looking for suggestions. When I was mindlessly looking at my notifications later on I was surprised to see this:

Who the heck is Jane Benfer you ask? Well, in the long-distance running world Jane Benfer is somewhat of a troublemaker. She’s a troll. And she trolls by reacting to running posts on Facebook with a laughing emoji. She’ll occasionally rant about some running-related topic as well. She likes to claim that marathons, ultras, and other running-related events are faked. I’m not sure what set her on the path of belittling others, but she has become slightly legendary.

Jane Benfer’s real name is Risa Reid, an ultra runner (or a former one) herself albeit someone with a little notoriety. The running community is somewhat divided over her. There are Facebook pages of devotees and Twitter followers looking for a laugh, but most believe that she is either harmless or has some mental health issues.

I guess there’s no harm about someone doling out laughing emoji’s to posts, but sometimes she will take to stalking someone and follow their page and fill it with her dumb laughing emoji. Some will block her, others will report her, and even I have reservations about even using her name much like that of Harry Potter and “He Who Must Not Be Named.” I’m kind of crossing my fingers that I don’t become a target as I write and post this blog.

I messaged my runner friend Jodi and she reacted as if it was the most awesome thing that could happen to me. She’s been Benfer-ed too. I guess that I can laugh it off and count it as a sort of initiation into the cool kids club, but it kind of made me paranoid, and I will definitely be checking my posts to see who reacted with a laughing emoji from now on. It’s a weird feeling being Benfer-ed.

~~~

It’s now May and a couple of friends with pools have already opened their pools. I think that I will do that soon. If I wait too long I will be dealing with a black lagoon again. But I’m resisting opening it because that will just mean that I will start having to do swim workouts.

I’m still dealing with a little bit of a strained calf, although I got through most of my runs this week without too much issue. It flared up again on Tuesday, but it was fine for the 1.5-mile run I did on Wednesday. On Friday, I slowed my usual training pace of 8:45 min/mile to roughly 10 min/mile and I had no problems with it. The long run of 8.5 miles on Sunday also went well, albeit at a nice leisurely pace. I did replace my shoes with a new pair, so that may also help me. The Rincon’s I was running in lack the cushioning that the Clifton’s possess. I hope it heals up and is normal again soon. I want to race some sprints and 5K’s this year.

Shout out to a couple of friends I saw out on the trail Sunday: Hey Karen! I hope you enjoyed that windy Sunday ride with the group. And another big hello to Laura McGivern, who was walking in the forest preserve with a group and gave me an emphatic hello!

And if Jane Benfer wants to deny that I did my Sunday run, I’m sure both Karen and Laura will vouch for me.

images

Swims: 0

Bikes: 3 rides, 73.5 miles

Runs: 4 runs, 23 miles

One Tenth Done

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

download

WEEK 3 – March 21, 2021

Week 3 went by pretty quickly and was mostly unremarkable really. The few things I thought about maybe discussing here have long evaporated from my mind, and after a beautiful weekend, I was thinking more about having some great weather for a change, rather than some triathlon or running topic to opine about.

I swapped my Saturday ride with Sunday’s run so that I could join the local running group for an early morning group run. I’m glad that I did. Normally group outings for me usually mean that I will find myself running or riding by myself, but this time I fell in with Pat, who also did the 2018 Boston Marathon when I did it, and another guy named Bill, who is married to someone who also works for the same employer that I do. It was nice to have some conversations with others for a change, instead of me talking to myself. It was a nice 8-mile run.

Sunday’s bike was a bit of a challenge heading south due to the wind, but it was nice to have a great tailwind pushing me along back home. There was a group ride scheduled for later in the afternoon, but those guys have been doing some serious indoor riding all winter and there’s no way I would last with them. Plus, I chose to follow my planned hour and 45-minute ride. Stick with my plan, and forget what the others are doing.

My friend Susan commented about how I had started my training already, as she has not yet begun hers. Her plan is shorter in duration apparently, and I think that I could also get by with a 20 or 25-week plan, but the 30-week plan I follow has been reliable for me and has consistently proven itself to prepare me well. The thing about waiting to start the plan because you feel that you have a pretty good fitness base already doesn’t make much sense to me. It just tells me that you are training, just not following a specific workout. I have a pretty good base built up as well, but I’m following a plan instead of just winging it before starting. In the end, I guess it’s a wash. This is why I’m not a coach. There are so many ways to personalize training.

I am one-tenth done with this plan!

Swims: 0

Bikes: 3 – 48 miles

Runs: 4 – 22 miles

Gunners-2-1

I’m Not Freaking Out, You Are!

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA 2019 TRAINING

gi_143462_logo_ironman20chattanooga1

WEEK 29 – Monday 9/16/2019 – Sunday 9/22/2019

One week until race day! And it’s getting a little crazy in my world. Even after going through this three times now, I still get anxious and nervous and slightly bonkers knowing what is coming up. I basically go to sleep thinking about Ironman, and it’s the first thing on my mind when I wake up. It does consume my thoughts, that is for sure. But the majority of the things that can worry me are the things that are in my control. It’s the out of control stuff that people really freak out about. Here are some examples of things I freak out about, both in my control and out of it.

Last week I noticed that my bike was no longer shifting from the big ring to the small ring on the crank. This could be a big problem for me as I spend a lot of my time spinning in the small ring, especially up hills. I decided to give my bike a good cleaning and see if I could find what was causing it not to shift. I figured it was probably junked up with sweat/Gatorade/road debris, etc., but the cable is not allowing it to move the chain. This will probably require a new cable, which also means a trip to the bike shop. I took the bike into the shop and was told I would get it back in a couple of days. Just as I thought, the cable was frayed inside the housing and they replaced it, and also performed a tune-up on the rest of the components. That freak out was definitely one I could deal with, although having to deal with it so close to race day was not comforting.

When I got the bike back I brought it home and decided to adjust the seat a little, and that is when I noticed the clamp that holds the saddle to the seat post was cracked! Yikes! Can you imagine having that break during the race and having to ride standing up for 116 miles? OMG. I took off the part and headed back to the bike shop and thankfully they had another one, and it only cost me $6.40.

The piece that keeps my saddle attached to the bike. Yeah, kinda important.

The other thing that is freaking us all out is the weather, and this is something none of us can control. Most weather apps are predicting the weather in Chattanooga on race day to be 96 degrees with 53% humidity, meaning a possible real feel temperature of about 105 degrees. 100% sunshine and very little wind the last time I checked it. I can’t control that, but I can prepare for it. I plan on taking extra electrolytes with me on the bike and run, and to hydrate like crazy leading up to Sunday and during the race. I added some extra sunscreen to my bike special needs bag just in case and will make sure to not leave transition without having a volunteer lather me up with the stuff. I also plan on really keeping a close eye on how I feel and making sure that I don’t overdo the bike. Being smart on the bike sets you up for a good run, and that’s my plan.

With the heat being what it is, I am sure that the swim will not be wetsuit legal. I can easily get through a quick sprint triathlon without the wetsuit, but an Ironman swim is a heck of a lot longer. Fortunately, at Chattanooga, the swim is current aided, and I am pretty confident that I can swim the course easily without it. I practiced using a swim skin, a type of swimsuit you wear over your tri suit that reduces water friction I guess, but it was very tight and was rubbing my neck quite a bit. Not sure I want to chafe my neck and then sweat on that sore spot for 13 more hours in the race.

I always let Carla handle the hotels for us and she has never let us down. Thankfully that is one thing I am not freaking out about. Carla is the best!

Saturday was the worst for me and got to thinking too much about what is going on, not just with the race but with family and everything else. Fortunately, Sunday came and I got in a good run and realized that this sport is just about doing three things in one day. All of which is heavily supported with volunteers and people stand around cheering you on. I’m going to have a blast in Chattanooga.

Then Dave hit us with this:

IMG_38806B0383A6-1

Now I’m freaking out again!

WEEK 29 TRAINING TOTALS:

Swims: 2 total, 4200 total yards

Rides: 3 total, 65 total miles

Runs: 5 total, 22 total miles

Note: I will wrap up Week 30 when I write my race report.

Gunners-2-1 — THANK YOU TAPER! ON TO RACE WEEK!

Not Fun Anymore

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA 2019 TRAINING

gi_143462_logo_ironman20chattanooga1

WEEK 28 – Monday 9/9/2019 – Sunday 9/15/2019

I was having a great week, I really was. Then Sunday came along and I’m not sure that I am wanting to do this anymore.

I’m going to cut to the point. I pissed off an asshole driver for the simple reason of riding my bike. Not once, but twice – by the same fucking driver 3.5-hours apart. It seems that this driver doesn’t want to share the road with a cyclist, which was me. Pulled up behind me both times, blasted her fucking horn and then passed by so close that I could touch her damn Nissan Juke. The second time she pulled in front of me and slammed on her brakes. Nice. Whatever the fuck she needed to do – what could it be? Go to the grocery store? Go get gas? whatever – it was more important to her than my fucking life. I have some video of her doing this, but not of the slam on the brakes part because my camera battery on the front of my bike had died. Oh well.

You can see in the video that I’m blocking a little because there are a curb and a median right after crossing the tracks and if I even hint that there might be enough room to pass me, my experience is that they will try to do it. She must have been really pissed to have to deal with my old ass not once, but twice.

I could quit riding roads and stick to the trails, but guess what? That’s even worse. The people on the trail are ten times riskier than car drivers and no one polices the trail.

Most of the time I feel pretty safe, but it only takes one time, one instance to make me question doing this at all.

I will take the video to the local police tomorrow and show them, but it probably won’t do any good. I’m guessing they probably hate old dumb ass guys on bikes too.

WEEK 28 TRAINING TOTALS:

Swims: 1 total, 2800 total yards

Rides: 3 total, 100 total miles

Runs: 5 total, 32 total miles

The Dreaded Week 27 – Part 4

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA 2019 TRAINING

gi_143462_logo_ironman20chattanooga1

WEEK 27 – Monday 9/2/2019 – Sunday 9/8/2019

The Dreaded Week 27 is over! And two days ahead of schedule. I have followed this training plan four times, and I should know by now that yes it is hard, but I always get it done, and it’s usually no big deal. It’s just that after the previous 26 weeks of training, I get to the point that I have had enough. But it’s done, and it’s time now to start pulling back and coasting into the race on September 29th.

I’m not sure how I keep track of anything going on in my non-triathlon training life right now, but I’m writing this wrap-up on Sunday evening as usual and I don’t even remember much about this week. Life here in our household is insanely crazy, and it’s not going to get any easier until late October!

The Dreaded Week 27 is dreaded because it is the longest and most difficult of the 30 weeks of training in my Ironman training plan. The weekend workout calls for a six-hour ride with an hour-long run right afterward on Saturday, and then it’s followed by a three-hour-long run on Sunday. But guess what? I had to move them to Thursday and Friday because I needed to go to my lake home and get my boat out of the water and do some winterizing of the boat and house. There are literally no free weekends to take care of that responsibility until after Halloween, so it had to be done. It was kind of a blessing actually because I didn’t have two extra days to fret about doing that long ride and long run.

The weather turned cool and the 20-mile run went pretty well. The plan just wants you to get in three hours of running, but I decided that I would shoot for 20 miles regardless of the time it takes me. Fortunately, I felt pretty good and got out and back on my route in 2:53.

I took the day off from work on Friday and hit the road by 7 am. It was another cloudy day but not as cool as Thursday was. I was a little worried that my legs would be a little tired trying to ride 100 miles after running 20 miles the day before, but they felt fine. It was my butt that didn’t like it.

Taking a break at 2.5 hours into the six-hour ride to refill my water bottles and give my butt a rest. Does it look like I’m dreading the rest of the ride?

My butt hates me. I’m not sure if I am capable of making it happy. I have been training as much as I can in the tri suit that I bought for this event, and even though it is comfortable enough, I’m not sure the chamois pad is working for me. I’ve tried creams, lotions, band-aids, silicon type spray, etc. and nothing seems to make the miles less strenuous on my sit bones. That’s the real issue. You can’t really distribute the weight around on a tiny tri bike seat. Most of the contact is made in a small spot and the constant pressure and movement of my legs end up causing the discomfort. It’s not that I can’t ride 100 miles or the 116 miles of Ironman Chattanooga this way, it’s just not going to be enjoyable.

Anyway, the bike ended just at 100 miles and just a couple minutes below 6 hours. I had to really give myself a strong pep talk to change shoes and go for an hour-long run, but once I started out the door it was over after 6 miles. Nice and easy run at a pace I described as “I don’t want to do this run” pace.

I tried to relax after that and wait until Kari came home. She’s been swamped at work and our planned trip north to Minocqua didn’t get started until 7 pm. We decided to drive up to Madison and stay the night. That was a good move. We got there Saturday morning and got so busy that training and my butt didn’t even come into my mind. I think being up there also improved Kari’s mood too. That’s what lake life can do for you.

6bHUNO4sTJmyVFXHWBPPAQ — One last boat ride before pulling it out of the water for the season.

The Dreaded Week 27 is over. The boat is out of the water and winterized. Nothing more to dread until race day.

WEEK 27 TRAINING TOTALS:

Swims: 1 total, 2800 total yards

Rides: 2 total, 119 total miles

Runs: 4 total, 37 total miles

The totals are a little less than last week but I lost two days of training when I moved Saturday/Sunday to Thursday/Friday.

Do You Want A Nutty Bar?

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA 2019 TRAINING

gi_143462_logo_ironman20chattanooga1

WEEK 26 – Monday 8/26/2019 – Sunday 9/1/2019

Dave came to join me for the Saturday long ride, a planned 5.5-hour ride with an hour-long brick run right after. As he was getting ready I saw that he was doing a little pre-ride carb-loading with what looked like a Little Debbie Nutty Bar.

“Is that a Nutty Bar?” I asked. “Yeah, do you want one?”

Do I want one? That’s like offering a junkie a fix. That’s like asking a dog if he wants a bone. That’s like asking a fisherman if he wants to go fishing. That’s like asking… well, you get the point. At one time I was addicted to the dang things. I would buy a box weekly and have one for my mid-afternoon snack. When I go on car trips and stop for gas, the snack I look for is a Nutty Bar or a Payday if the gas station is dumb enough to not stock Nutty Bars.

So back to the question – did I want one? You bet I did. But seeing that I had just eaten breakfast and also was dealing with a pre-ride nervous stomach, I didn’t want to chance eating one and regret my decision. So I very reluctantly took a pass.

Screen Shot 2019-09-01 at 5.03.00 PM.png — Little Debbie and her Nutty Bars sponsor Ironman Chattanooga.

So onward we rode heading south and west on the route I take because it’s the safest and best riding from where I live, but that can be an issue if the wind is not in your favor. We could tell that the wind was going to be in our faces coming back as we rode out with ease. But as we turned around, it didn’t seem to be too much of a struggle.

6j69UhPxS9SsrtaA+Oo74Q — Dave complying with my mandatory selfie.

At the turn around we filled up our water bottles and Dave texted his brother John that we would swing by his house to pick him up. John had done Wisconsin and Lake Placid with us, but his growing little family has now taken priority in his life. So we were looking forward to riding with him.

We finally got to his place and I could see he was having some issues with his bike. He showed us his chain and it looked like he had tied the chain in two knots. Quite a head-scratcher for sure, but we got it sorted out and hit the trail for home. When we got to downtown Frankfort, this younger guy on a mountain bike asked as we passed if he could join us. I don’t think any of us said yes to him, but he grabbed on to us as we were trying to meander our way back through Frankfort that was extremely busy with the annual Labor Day Fall Fest. Dave and John both rode up and told me that this guy was behind us, so I pushed the pace and tried some different routes to see if we could drop him or get him to get bored with us, but he hung on. We finally got close to my house and stopped and told the guy the ride was over. I guess that was all it took and he said he’d ride around Mokena for awhile. I got to hand it to him, he kept up with us at times doing 25 mph or so on a mountain bike.

John opted out of the run, so we snapped another mandatory selfie before Dave and I started the run.

The run went well and we both came back ready to be done with the day. I offered Dave the opportunity to jump in the pool for a cool down, but he declined. He loaded up his gear in the car and we said our goodbyes. As I walked away, he said: “Hey, do you want a Nutty Bar?” I reluctantly declined again, this time with a chuckle. I didn’t think a Nutty Bar sitting in a warm car would be very tasty, and I kind of wanted some real food so once again I reluctantly passed.

They better have Nutty Bars at the finish line of Ironman Chattanooga.

WEEK 26 TRAINING TOTALS:

Swims: 1 total, 2800 total yards

Rides: 3 total, 131 total miles

Runs: 5 total, 45 total miles

I Got the Moods

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA 2019 TRAINING

gi_143462_logo_ironman20chattanooga1

WEEK 25 – Monday 8/19/2019 – Sunday 8/25/2019

Granted, I’m a pretty moody SOB to begin with, but this week I was in a funk. After training for four Ironman events, I should know by now that come about this time during training that I can get moody. Week 25 in my thirty-week training plan is usually when I am sick of the training and just want to get it over with. I’m not alone in that, plenty of triathletes get that way judging from the posts I read on Facebook this week.

It started last week really when I had sort of a rough Saturday long ride and run workout. It wasn’t bad, but I felt like it wore me out more than it should have and that I should have my hydration and nutrition better dialed in by now.

Then on Wednesday, I realized it was the 40th anniversary of my father’s passing. I spent some time reflecting on that for some reason. Truthfully, I don’t really remember mourning his passing when I was 15 years old and usually, the day passes by without me even noticing. But I did remember this week and got reflective about it.

The following day I had a work event in the evening that I wasn’t really excited about doing. The event was just not my thing, but I went and realized that I was silly to feel the way I did. My coworkers appreciated my effort even though I was in a mood, and I realized the people there were fighting things in life that I had no idea about. I’ve written about attitude before and reminded myself about being more understanding and appreciative of others and their personal battles.

But on Friday I had a good day. The weather got cool – temps in the ’70s for late August made for a great 1.5-hour run. Saturday was also beautiful. My 5.5-hour bike ride was awesome. I dialed back the effort a little and found that I didn’t wear myself out as much as I usually do. I think if I plan to ride about 17mph in the race it will be a good tempo to leave me feeling good for the marathon. I never felt dehydrated or without energy, and the hour-long run afterward went great. Sunday was another great weather day and the 16.5 miles of my 2.5-hour run seemed to float by.

Why didn’t I just ride an extra mile or so and make it a perfect 100-mile day?!

The weather certainly made a huge difference in my attitude. I am really hoping this trend continues to race day. A great day will make for a much better mood for me. Five more weeks of training and I am now kind of looking forward to it.

I took a little time to refuel at the turnaround and realize that I am lucky to do this dumb sport.

WEEK 25 TRAINING TOTALS:

Swims: 1 total, 2800 total yards

Rides: 3 total, 140 total miles

Runs: 5 total, 43 total miles

Nips, Sores, and More!

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA 2019 TRAINING

gi_143462_logo_ironman20chattanooga1

WEEK 24 – Monday 8/12/2019 – Sunday 8/18/2019

I was expecting to get back on track this week with very little deviance from the plan after swapping the past two weeks of training around and making a concession here and there. But life sometimes throws you a curveball or two.

I’m getting really tired of having nipples.

It was a nice day, somewhat cooler than the past few and I only had an hour-long run to do, so I skipped covering my nipples. Big mistake. One got chaffed and started bleeding halfway through the run. Why do men have nipples anyway? It’s not like we use them for anything. They aren’t even that interesting in my opinion. But if you are a male runner that isn’t rail-thin, you are bound to one day experience the dreaded bleeding nipple. After thirty-plus years of running, you would think that they would have calloused over by now, or somehow adapted so they don’t get chafed. But sadly no. So I guess I will start covering them with Bandaids for every run, so buy some stock now.

fullsizeoutput_1325c — Boo hiss. People look at you funny when your nipples bleed.

Ashley’s back at Valpo for one last year!

Ashley may not have been excited about returning to Valpo for one final year, but it’s only one more year! Check-in at the apartment where she stays was on Saturday, so that meant if I wanted to help move her in I needed to somehow get my important Saturday long bike in, so I moved the Sunday two-hour and 15-minute run to Friday to free up Sunday for the bike. Doing the long run on Friday meant I would have to try to make up Friday’s normal run another day. Yeah, it didn’t happen.

68664072_2565994856753898_4365574518236774400_n — Two of my loves enjoying the move-in day.

Why can’t summer storms come in the middle of the week?

I had moved my Saturday long ride to Sunday so I could have Saturday free and what happened? It decided to storm like crazy Sunday morning. I had planned to be out on the bike before 8 am but with the heavy rain and lightning, I waited until the radar showed that it was past. I hit the road at 10 am and was amazed by how much water had poured on us. I was soaked from the waist down from just riding through the puddles and the standing water on the roadway. I explored a little on the ride to avoid the bike trail because when the leaves and junk on the trail get wet things get a little scary. Thankfully though the ride went smooth, I had no wind going out and a tailwind coming back, and I stayed on top of my hydration and nutrition today. I only felt a little low on energy getting back home, but as I switched to my running shoes for the hour-long run, I downed a Gatorade and the run went well.

Hello Saddle Sore, My Old Friend (with apologies to Simon & Garfunkel)

Hello saddle sore, my old friend

It’s not nice to see you once again

Because you are literally a big pain in the ass

And it’ll take you at least a month to pass

And the cries of my pain could be heard along the road I ride

Thanks to you, you damn saddle sore.

What’s the deal with saddle sores? I use the butt cream. I use Body Glide. I make sure that anything that can chafe will get some attention. But this past couple of weeks the damn saddle sore I always get from riding showed up again. It is actually bothering me just sitting on this cushy chair right now. And don’t mistake it for a zit, because it is definitely not a zit. Matter of fact if you try to squeeze that sucker, it’s going to let you know that he’s the Captain now. Touching it hurts!!! So I generally will just coat it with some Neosporin and a Bandaid (again, buy some stock now!) and let it be. Some day when this Ironman race is over it will go away because I can guarantee that I won’t be letting my butt sit on that bike again until next year.

Click here to see a picture of my saddle sore: Saddle Sore – NSFW!!!

WEEK 24 TRAINING TOTALS:

Swims: 2 total, 3500 total yards

Rides: 3 total, 135 total miles

Runs: 4 total, 33 total miles

It ALMOST Beat Me

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA 2019 TRAINING

gi_143462_logo_ironman20chattanooga1

WEEK 23 – Monday 8/5/2019 – Sunday 8/11/2019

Last week my training buddies and I opted to switch training Weeks 22 and 23 so that we could do Week 23’s long ride together. So this week I went back to Week 22 in the Be Iron Fit training plan and did the work. Week 22 is sort of an easier week ending in a half Iron distance race, which I always do on my own instead of opting for an actual race. I am a little afraid that racing against a thousand or more other athletes could lead to an accident or other injuries that could jeopardize all of the work I have been putting in up to this point. I just prefer to tackle it on my own.

Last time I did this workout was in 2017, leading up to Ironman Louisville. I had a pretty decent day that day and had a good swim and bike. It was the run that beat me. I ended up having to cut it short and get an unofficial DNF (did not finish) to my one-man race. That day I got beat. You can read that recap here: It Beat Me

I was determined to do this one a little smarter and not suffer like I did in 2017. I looked at the weather and saw that Sunday had some rain forecasted, so I opted to do the practice race a day earlier. Saturday started out beautiful. The temperature was in the 60’s, it was overcast, and there was no wind or breeze to speak of. I jumped into the pool and got going.

I swam pretty strong, pushing myself harder than I usually do. Since my watch won’t read correctly in my pool, I just based my distance on what I have done in actual half Iron distance swims in the past. I swam for 40 minutes and then got out and prepped myself for the bike.

After reapplying Body Glide in the usual locations and fiddling with my bike and gizmos, I hopped on and hit the road. I hadn’t ridden west to Elwood in several weeks, so I decided to go that route. I knew that I would probably have to add on some extra miles, and when I got to the cemetery out there and after I looped through it once my odometer showed about 25 miles. I needed an additional 6 miles or so. I decided to explore a little and added a quick extra three miles on a nearby road or two, then started heading back.

I was keeping track of my sweating and with a couple of nature stops, I was pretty sure that I was doing pretty good with keeping on top of my hydration and fueling. I was fortunate to not have really any wind heading out and I seemed to pick up a tailwind as I was heading back, which was really rare for me. I was moving along well.

This doggo provided some entertainment toward the last third of the ride.

At about 47 miles into riding, I saw another rider coming up on a side road and eventually passed me. I could tell he was on a mission to pass me and make it known that he was Top Dog on this road. I started studying him a little – he seemed like a typical cyclist, who liked to climb out of the saddle (which I hardly ever do) and had a nice Willier bike. He was pulling away going up a slight uphill, but when we started the downhill after cresting, I pulled him back in thanks to being more aerodynamic than he was. He kept looking over his shoulder and finally slowed down and let me catch him. We chatted a little bit and he turned off on another road and I went straight toward home.

Upon getting home, I was pretty close to hitting that 56 mile ride on the nose. I ended up with an additional .75 miles due to overestimating a second out and back of about 3 miles. I came inside, downed a Gatorade, toweled myself off, switched to a running singlet, grabbed my running stuff and hit the trail.

I felt pretty good heading out until I didn’t. My route starts and ends with hills. The middle is all flat, but it was sunny now and getting warm. I was sweating a lot and with only one water bottle, I was being a little too miserly with drinking. Fortunately, I was heading toward Frankfort where I could refill my water. But I was now running on fumes. I had been consistent with eating my gels and taking a salt capsule, but the day was certainly starting to become very much like the last time I did it in 2017. But I refused to let it beat me. I started walking more, sought out more shade when I could, and just kept moving forward. The plan was to be under 2 hours for this run, but I thought early on that that was an ambitious goal. I ended up getting back home in 2:09. That’s probably pretty close to Ironman run race pace, so not quite what I wanted for a half Iron distance race pace, but more in line with what to expect in seven weeks.

I spent some time in the pool to cool off, downed a couple Gatorades, started shivering and ended up taking a 20-minute hot shower to warm me back up. I got out of the shower and jumped into bed and napped for a little bit. I was actually feeling a little worse than I did after last week’s 5-hour group ride. This was not how I expected the day to end, especially after having a really good swim and bike. Now I know not to hammer the bike too hard and to drink more. Lots more.

I was determined to not be beaten like I was in 2017, and I wasn’t. But it wasn’t pretty either. I have seven more weeks to dial this in.

WEEK 23 TRAINING TOTALS:

Swims: 2 total, 4200 total yards

Rides: 4 total, 89 total miles

Runs: 3 total, 24 total miles