Half Ironman Chattanooga 70.3

I wanted to get this all put down before I started forgetting any of it, so I’ll catch up with everything else going on later. I decided last July to sign up for the Chattanooga 70.3 Half Ironman triathlon. I thought with the twins heading off to kindergarten, it would be a good time to check it off my bucket list. I used a training plan from the Be Iron Fit book and was fortunate that Danielle had already put the plan into an Excel sheet that I just had to rearrange to fit my schedule. Although I continued to train after the NEMO last September, my actual plan didn’t start until mid January. It was based off of heart rate zones which was new for me. I was hesitant about it, but it ended up being okay since I ended up with the flu a couple times and I felt like I pretty much lost any fitness I had previously and was starting over. By the end of the 16 weeks, I was ready to be done. The training took up a lot of time and energy and I was getting nervous about the little things with racing. I was even more nervous than I had been in previous years about riding on the road. It seems like the attitude towards cyclists just gets more negative and more dangerous. So, I would ride out to 1000 Hills and then spend a lot of time out there for my 3-4 hour bike rides since it felt safer out there.

The weeks close to the race were super busy with field trips, field days and other end-of-the-school-year stuff that all other parents endure. And while I had planned all along to be super prepared for everything, I wasn’t. I was up pretty late several nights before we left trying to get stuff done and I had hoped to get some good rest before we left. And there were last-minute preparations since the forecast called for rain during the weekend. I wanted to make sure I was ready for rain during the race and Andrew and the kids were prepared to watch in the rain if they wanted to. It made me pretty anxious because I didn’t like the thought of riding in the rain and I didn’t want any part of the race to be canceled. Andrew took care of my bike and made sure it was good to go. I had a lot of encouragement from friends and family. Ellie’s class made me an awesome banner and the twins class made me a good luck card along with a flower they gave me as a thank you for helping in their class. Then Sharon (who I had decided would be the ultimate race Sherpa) brought me energy bites, apple slices and some healthy snacks and drinks the day before we left. So sweet!

We were up early the next morning and got the car packed up. I got in the car and Andrew asked me if we were going to bring my bike 😊. He got it on and we left around 5:30. It was a long trip there with bad traffic and rain, so what I thought would take 9 ½ hours took closer to 11.  When we first went over the Tennessee River, my stomach flipped thinking about how I was going to be swimming in it in just a couple days. We were trying to get Chattanooga in time for the last athlete briefing of the day which started at 5 (but they are Eastern time zone) and we got there around 5:15. Andrew dropped me off at a corner just up from where they had set up the Ironman Village and they were talking about the swim when I got there, so I figured I didn’t miss too much. I listened to the briefing, then made my way over to athlete check-in and got all my stuff there before going through the merchandise tent where I purchased a shirt and water bottle. Andrew actually got them all checked in at our hotel down the street while I was gone, so I just walked to the hotel afterwards and met them there. The area was great in that everything was in such easy walking distance. We decided to get some pizza for dinner, but the first pizza place we went to was actually closed for renovations. We ended up at the Mellow Mushroom and had a yummy dinner.

Ellie had stayed the night in St. Louis Thursday night since she was there at the zoo for her RAP field trip and Lissy joined them. My parents picked up Ellie on their way through St. Louis since they wanted to come watch me race too. I wasn’t expecting anyone else to come since it was so far away, but my parents were adamant they wanted to. Amanda, Lissy and Molly were all going to come to but their schedules ended up not allowing it. My parents and Ellie got there just as we were finishing up dinner, so we boxed up our extra pizza and met them at the hotel. The kids swam while they ate by the pool and it was a really nice night. That is until the storms rolled in. We got the kids out of the pool, but Andrew and Jackson had decided to go find a convenience store to buy some dish soap to wash my bike and came back wet and without soap. He decided to just use some body wash from the hotel. The hotel  had a “bike washing station” which consisted of a hose, some buckets and towels, so he used that and he and Ellie got my bike all spiffy for me while I organized all of our stuff. We had three rooms, so Andrew, Lincoln and Jackson were in one, my parents and the twins in another and Ellie and I in the third (I knew I needed to sleep and get up super early on Sunday, so while the twins really wanted to sleep in my room, it wasn’t the best plan).

The rain we had the night was the only rain we saw the rest of the weekend. The new forecast was just hot! Saturday morning, we all tried to sleep in a bit. I did turn on the royal wedding when I got up. I worked on organizing and labeling my gear for the next day. I put all my stickers on and felt I had that all ready to go. We ate breakfast at the hotel  and I tried to be aware of making sure I was drinking and eating enough throughout the day to fuel myself up for the next day. After breakfast, we headed to High Point Indoor Climbing Gym. The kids were so excited about it and it ended up being an awesome place. We were one of the first ones there when it opened at 10 and the kids got signed in, got their shoes and harnesses, listened to their instructions and were off. They had a fun kids area with all different types of things to climb and they also ventured out to all the other various walls, even on outside on the side of the building. Ellie declared it the best day ever. Jackson loved the challenge that the bouldering wall offered. You had to be 14 to do it, so I think he felt special that he was the only one of the kids that could even go to that area. With each climb, they got a little better, a little braver and even learned to clip themselves in and out pretty well.

We stayed for a couple hours and then made our way over to the race area. We had thought we wouldn’t eat lunch since we had early dinner reservations, but everyone was hungry. But first, we walked down by the river and saw the swim exit and found the transition area. It was huge, but I was able to find my number on the bike racks. I found some landmarks/ways for me to remember where I needed to go in and out of transition.

Then Andrew got the kids some food while I went back to the merchandise tent in search of a different shirt that it looked like they had already sold out of. While I was walking there, it appeared they were interviewing a couple of the pros that were racing, but I knew I didn’t have time to stop and listen. We ate a little bit in a shady spot my parents found before heading back to the hotel. My parents took the kids to the pool again while Andrew and I went out to drive the bike course. While I thought it would calm my nerves, it actually didn’t help much. There was a lot of traffic, so I was worried about it being really crowded with the 3000 participants and extra traffic. We got to drive the infamous Andrew’s Lane which was the steepest climb of the course. Some people even end up just getting off their bikes and walking it. But, it wasn’t quite as bad as I imagined it would be.

The kids were done swimming when we got back to the hotel and were just resting. But, I still had to get my bike checked in before our 4:15 dinner reservations. Andrew went with me and he waited outside the transition area while I set up my bike. It was pretty hot at this point and people were talking about how some bike tires had already exploded and were letting air out of their tires in hopes to prevent that. I called Andrew to see what he thought I should do and he said since mine were only around 85psi, that I should be good. I took a couple pictures and debated on approaching a girl that I recognized that was setting up near me, Stacy Halstead. I had followed her story on Facebook about her son who ended up with brain damage after a tree branch fell on him at daycare several years ago. He just passed away a few months ago and she wasn’t sure if she would continue training for the race. I ended up not saying anything just in case she didn’t want to be bothered, although now I wish I had.

Then Andrew and I made our way to the Big River Brewing Company for dinner and met my parents and the kids there. It ended up working out great as they had a light pasta dish that I really liked for my meal and everyone else seemed to really like theirs. It was right across the street from the climbing gym, so the kids went back there and climbed a bit more (it was an all day pass, so you could come and go) and then we got some ice cream before heading back to the hotel for the night. Andrew helped me put on my Tritat race numbers so I was official. I got my drinks of Gatorade Endurance mixed up and put them in the fridge. Then, after getting everyone situated and making sure I was good to go, I tried to go to sleep. Ellie said she was going to hang out in the bathroom for a little while so she could do some stuff with the lights on.

I didn’t get the best sleep, but I did sleep which was good. I was up a little after 4 and had a text from Andrew making sure I was up, but other than that, I let everyone sleep and just went down on my own.  I started getting ready to go and decided last minute to change up my transition bag. I had it all in an Ikea bag since I thought it would be raining. I was able to put all that I needed in the bag I had packed for my after-race clothes and moved those to the bag I got with my “swag” for the race. I made sure everything else was packed and ready to go since Andrew was in charge of getting us checked out and everything to the car. I ate a little and tried to keep my nerves from getting out of control. Ellie was able to sleep through all of it, but she had left me these little notes that night before.

I was thankful my bike was already down there since I had my hands full with my bag, wetsuit and helmet. The hotel was so nice and had their breakfast open at 4 that morning, so I grabbed a granola bar, banana and water to eat and drink throughout the morning before the swim. It was about 4:45 when I started walking down to the transition area which was just a few minutes away. It was still dark when I got there, but they did have a few lights around. Some people were super prepared and had head lamps to help them see while they set things up. I got all of my stuff set out, water bottles on the bike, a couple Huma gels taped to the bike and some broken up Honey Stinger Waffles and Bel-Vita biscuits in my bike bag. I had my Flip belt already filled with my salt vial, three Huma gels, my water bottle  with Gatorade Endurance and a little baggie with Tylenol and band-aids just in case for the run. I put some more sunscreen on, found a morning clothes bag and made my way to the bus line for transport to the swim start. One of the pros, Andy Potts, actually ended up being on my bus which was kind of cool. And I thought the picture of all the bikes in transition was neat. It is sometimes hard to imagine just how big it is.

Once we got to the swim start area, I got in line for one of the port-a-potties. It was the only time I could convince myself to use one. They were nasty yet like they were later in the race. The swim start was a self-seed according to your estimated swim time. Of course, some people lie so they can get in the water first, but I jumped into the 35-38 minute group because that is where I have been for my pool swims. I sat down amongst the other racers and we had about 50 minutes before the pros started. There were a couple guys there that asked me where I was from and if this was my first half. They were both from Mississippi, but one had moved to Georgia. They had just met the evening before and happened to run into each other at the swim start too. The one from Georgia asked me what area of Missouri I was from because he used to hunt in northern Missouri but now hunts near Quincy, Illinois. I told him I was from Kirksville and he said that is where he actually used to hunt. How crazy that out of almost 3000 people, I sit down next to the one who has actually been to Kirksville. Another lady joined out little group and she was from Boston. We talked for a bit-I was the only one who was doing their first 70.3, so they offered some words of encouragement. One of the guys was amazed I had five kids and was able to do it. . I ate part of a banana and granola bar and sipped on my water just hoping I would feel somewhat fueled up when I started. Soon, it was time to get up and moving and get our wetsuits on. Mine went on pretty well. I was a little stressed about it earlier in the week because I hadn’t had a chance to do an open water swim before the race. What I did do was get into the wetsuit and get in my parents’ pool to make sure it felt okay. I had put an oatmeal can in the neck of it all winter and I think that helped stretch out the neck a bit so it felt a bit less like it was choking me. They started pushing us up a bit and then the canon went off at 6:50 for the pro men to start. The women started a few minutes later followed by the start of the fastest age group people. It seemed to move pretty quickly and before I knew it, I was on the ramp going down to the dock. Once I got to the dock, I found a spot, hesitated for a moment to make sure I was good to go, started my watch and jumped in. I swam for the first little bit with my head above water, navigating through everyone and getting my bearings. The first 400 yards were upstream, but it didn’t seem like it was that long. Then you made a turn at the buoy and started swimming the rest of the 1.2 miles downstream which was really nice. I had a small portion where I got into my usual breathing rhythm, but most of the time I was breathing every other stroke just to make sure I wouldn’t run into anyone. I didn’t like the idea of getting kicked in the face.  You hear about what people call “washing machine swims” but this was much better than that. Still people to navigate around, but I made it through unscathed. I just kept the buoys in sight, counted the three bridges we went under and was surprised when I noticed that I was actually at the end and I could see people getting out of the water. Even with my messed-up form, I still came out of the water in 29 minutes with the fastest swim pace I’ve had-thank you to the current! The end of the swim was at a set of stairs they put in the water and they had people there helping you get up on that high first step. Then you climb up the rest of the way and soon after I heard my family yelling and cheering me on 😊. Next up were the wetsuit strippers. I had to unzip my wetsuit and they helped make sure it was below my hips, then I laid down on a mat and had to put my feet up in the air and the yanked my wetsuit the rest of the way off, helped me stand up and off I went to run up the big ramp with my wetsuit in hand. It was much easier than trying to get it off myself. 

And I didn’t realize it at the time, but my dad, Andrew and Ellie saw me running up the ramp.

I saw my family as I ran to the transition area which was great. It was a little bit of a run to the transition area, but I was able to find my bike easily and not get lost. I didn’t rush too much through transition as I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed, then I headed out for 56 miles on the bike through the Tennessee and Georgia countryside.

While I did the bike, my family went back to the hotel, got some breakfast and checked out of the hotel. Then Andrew and the kids went to the Tennessee Aquarium for a little bit while my parents went to church.

The bike course led us out of the city and into Georgia which was 11 miles and then we did a 34 mile loop before heading back on the straight 11 mile to Chattanooga. Thankfully there wasn’t as much traffic as the day before but there were quite a few of us out there together. The rules state that we are supposed to be at least 6 bike lengths apart to prevent drafting, but there was no way that could happen with how many racers there were. I tried to prevent drafting and passed when I came up on someone except for when I could tell there were faster people coming up behind me and I would wait. I did see several groups of people that were definitely working together and drafting and at one point I did see a course marshall out writing down numbers, but I’m not sure if anyone actually got penalities. The bike course went through some pretty areas and had rolling hills along with a few bigger hills. The overall elevation gain for the course was supposed to have around 2400 feet elevation gain, but Garmin showed less (it usually is off on elevation). There was one pretty steep part, aptly named Andrew’s Lane, that was at about mile 26 and after a left turn right to the hill, so you could get much speed before going up.  I put it down into my smallest gear pretty quickly and just spun up the hill and made it pretty well. I did see one person walking their bike up. But there was a nice descent afterwards. And there another long climb after we left the Civil War town of Chickamauga. Chickamauga had a decent amount of spectators out cheering us on and there were others out along the course, whether sitting in their front yards or along the roads. One guy even had a small cooler out with a sign that said “cold water and ice”. It was neat seeing all the support out there. I was feeling pretty well and was trying to make sure I was hydrating and eating. My speed was a little faster than I was expecting after my training rides, which was good. But at about mile 48, I was ready to be done with the bike. I tried to refocus and keep from slowing down too much. I had spent part of the ride praying for different people and situations in my life, so I went back to that. And soon I found myself back on the outskirts of Chattanooga. Since I had gone faster than what I anticipated, I was hoping to get closer to 18mph average and a 3 hour time, but I just couldn’t keep the speed up and didn’t want to totally blow it for the run. My bike time ended up being 3 hours 10 minutes and my official speed was 17.6mph, but my Garmin had 17.8 since the course was actually 56.6 miles, but they averaged out the speed off of 56 miles.

I got my bike racked, got everything I needed for my run, stopped by the ladies spraying the sunscreen and thought about using one of the port-a-potties but the three I opened were covered in poop, so I continued on. The first part of the run went down a sidewalk where you made a u-turn and came back down, so I was able to see all of them cheering me on twice 😊. They were the best cheerleaders.

Although, I was ready to get off the bike, I was a little hesitant to start a 13 mile run as it had gotten hot, really hot. I didn’t realize it at the time, but afterwards other racers were talking about the heat index being 100 and it being one of the hardest runs they had done. I just thought it was hard because it was the first time I had run 13.1 miles 😊. There were some good parts of the run that were in the shade and there were a lot of parts without a bit of shade. Then there were the hills, some good hills and with the heat, I did walk some of the hills as did a lot of others.  They had some awesome aide stations every few miles that handed out water and Gatorade Endurance, which I partook of. They also had Coke, Red Bull, bananas, orange slices and pretzels. And the best part was the handfuls of ice that I would put down my top and in my hat along with cold, wet sponges. The best aid station was called Kona-Nooga and they decorated the area with palm trees and wore grass skirts and leis. The group was one that helps disabled people compete in different sports, so they were out there in wheel chairs helping out too. And we did a u-turn after that area, so we got to go through it four times since we did the run loop twice.  Part of that area was the River Walk path which took us down near the river. At one point I saw a mommy and daddy ducks with about six little ducklings between them swimming down the river 😊. I did pretty well at remembering to take my salt every mile which I think helped prevent me from cramping in the heat. Except when I first started taking it, some fell on my leg and mixed withe the sweat and that is when I realized the strap from the bag on my bike had rubbed a raw spot on my thigh and it stung when the salt got to it. I saw Andrew on the pedestrian bridge the first time around and my parents took the kids to the Children’s Museum and lunch while he was waiting for me.

My second lap was a little slower as I think the heat was getting to me and I walked a little more trying to hold off cramps. I remembered the wonderful messages from the card from the little kindergartners to push me on. It was odd that at times, it was jut this large group of people quietly running, no talking, just the pounding of feet and heavy breathing. And then you would pass a group of people and they would cheer you on, sometimes by name since your name was on the front of the bib, and really encourage you. My watch showed I just had a couple miles left but it felt like I still had a ways to go if I was remembering the course right. But, I soon came to the pedestrian bridge again and then the fork where you start the second lap or go to the finish. I got excited and picked up my pace and soon I saw the finish chute with the red carpet. I couldn’t believe it…I had done it with my family cheering me on and in less time than I was hoping-6 hours 21 minutes. I was so thankful nothing had kept me from finishing. That would have been so hard to have done all of that training and not be able to finish.

After finishing, they gave us our medal and a hat and then we stood in line and had our picture taken. Then it was on to find my family. Ellie was the first to spot me and she was so excited for me. My mom was with her and then we found my dad, Jackson and the twins. Last was Andrew and Lincoln who were disappointed that they missed me actually finish. The tracker was off and showed that I was somewhere else.  I was a sweaty, stinky mess but they all still gave me hugs. And I think my dad was even a little choked up when he gave me a hug. He thought it was so neat to watch me do the race.

Once we were all together, we got some pictures and I was so disappointed that I didn’t get one with my parents, so we did one later 😊.

I went and retrieved my bike and all my gear. My parents went ahead and started the trek home while Andrew and the kids took my stuff back to the hotel to get it all in the car and I went to the climbing gym to take a shower. I had asked them the day before if I could pay to use their locker rooms since I noticed they had a really nice locker room with showers. They said that the owners do the Ironman and do open up the locker rooms to participants. There was one other girl there when I got there and another one showed up as I was leaving. It turned out perfectly and it was so nice to have a good shower before getting in the car for the long ride home. Andrew and the kids were waiting for me in the car at the hotel which was just a short walk. There was a Five Guys just next to the hotel and I decided I was pretty hungry at that point since I didn’t get anything to eat right after the race. I called Andrew to see if they were okay with me grabbing something to eat real quick and he said he could use something too since he didn’t get lunch. But before I got there, I remembered I didn’t have any money with me, so food had to wait. I had also made an appointment to try out cryotherapy after the race, but it was around 2:45 and my appointment wasn’t until 3:30. I knew Andrew really wanted to just get on the road, so I skipped the appointment. We stopped at a gas station that had a Subway and all got some food a little later. I was hungry! It was a long drive home, but not as long as it took to get to Chattanooga. I was sore, but I tried to stretch out by putting my legs up, used the roller stick a little bit and put on some calf compression sleeves. We stopped a couple more times and got home around 11:45 that night. The kids went off to bed, we unpacked the car and I made sure to sit out all my wet stuff. Then it was off to bed since Ellie and I had to be at school at 6:45 the next morning for her field trip to Nauvoo.

I’m so thankful for the opportunity to do this race. It took time and dedication on my part but it also took commitment on Andrew’s part as he took up some of my slack with the kids. My parents and family were super supportive too. I was fortunate that I was able to do most of my workouts while the kids were at school, but it still did have an effect on our daily life. I would like to do another one at some point. I would like to go back to Chattanooga and see if I could get a faster time…especially if it isn’t as hot. So, we’ll see….