IRONMAN Chattanooga 70.3 - LESS IS MORE

Oh where to begin on this race report.  I guess I need to start with how I ended up at Chattanooga 70.3 just months after finishing the Full IM there. 

So the Tri Club I belong to, Metro Tri Club, also known as Team Godzilla, chose the 70.3 IM at Chattanooga as the team event for the 2018 season.  After finishing the full IM just months before, I was not sure I would race because I knew how miserable the hills were on the run.  So what changed my mind, you ask, well 2 things, first, my daughter China said she planned to do it as her first Half Ironman race.  I know what you are thinking, at least if you know China, she hadn’t run a Tri longer than a sprint and she is going to do a half…hahaha, I laughed too.  Now that she was committed to racing, I couldn’t let her do it alone, your first half can be scary.  I still didn’t really want to race, but after reviewing the course maps, I realized that in the Half you didn’t have to run those awful hills that almost killed me in the full IM. So I was in, and China swore she was going to train for it.  I even gave her a training plan for a first timer. 

Fast forward to 20 weeks before the race and the start of the training plan. The training plan assumes you have a base already down.  Of course China did not have a base, oh she had run a few times, swam once maybe and rode her bike on a few short easy rides.  So when the plan started, China did not, there was always a reason, she was tired, the weather was crappy, well that was true, but that doesn’t stop a real triathlete. Then she kept getting sick, she teaches in a pre-k class and caught everything the kids drug in to the class room. Still not a good enough reason not to be training. 

Fast forward again to 6 weeks before race day. China starts swimming once a week, of course her time is faster than mine on the very first swim. She runs once a week, sometimes twice, most runs between 2 and 6 miles, yes faster times than mine.  She rides once a week with the Cyclery Women’s ride, between 10 and 25 miles at a 15 mph or less, mostly less, average. 

Keep that remote in your hand, we have to fast forward again.  2 weeks out from the race, China rides 50 miles with a little over a 15 mph avg, without any problem.  Swims in lake in wetsuit one time and runs 3 miles on a hot day. That was about it.

Now it’s race week and China doesn’t seem to be nervous, she says, “well I can do the swim and the bike, and walk the run if I have to”.  Her only goal was to finish under the cutoff. 

The Crewe, that’s all the people I work out with, loads up the SUV’s with bikes, gear and food and heads out to Chattanooga.  The weather forecast shows severe thunderstorms the night before the race and all day on race day. We all hope for no rain on the bike, it would make the roads slick and dangerous, especially for a first timer. 

Friday night we pick up packets and sit in compression legs to relax a bit. We get dinner with the Crewe, running into teammates along the way.  Team Godzilla had 27 members at the race. It’s always so much more fun when there are lots of people you know at the race.

A Little Relaxation before the Big Race

Saturday, we drive the bike course, eat breakfast at an awesome diner, and then head to transition to drop off our bikes, hoping the thunderstorms don’t roll in.  China still seems pretty calm, it must have been youth because I would have been a mental wreck had I trained the small amount like she had.  We continuously joked about her “less is more” training plan.  She kept telling everyone that they were going to be jealous when she finished the race using “less is more”.  It gave us old people hope that we could still beat the kids because they took nothing seriously. 

China hasn't realize how hard this will be yet

 

Enjoying Ironman villiage

So we drove out to Ironman village and checked the bikes in. 

Zilla's racking bikes (photo credit: Jeanna Clark)

Oh and China asked me if I would come back out of the run course after I finished and help her finish the run, so there was some fear there, even if she wasn’t showing it. Then we all met at the team tent and got a group picture before dinner. 

Team Tent, ready for action (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

Team Godzilla, Locked and Loaded

Dinner was at the Big River Grill and it was fantastic, 14 of us were there and my niece Kayla and her husband Caleb came with us.  I have to give a big shout out here to Caleb, he was gracious enough to take our team photos and he is awesome at it. 

This was Kayla and Caleb’s first Ironman race and they were new at Ironfanning.  They did Awesome during the race, they were cheering us on at every transition and taking photos and video.

So I was feeling pretty good, but while sitting at dinner on Friday my back started hurting it just hit out of nowhere.  Saturday, I got a massage at Ironman village and it felt better, but by Sunday morning it was really hurting again, so much so that I couldn’t hold my arm over my head.  I had no idea how I was going to swim, or even put my arms in the aero bars during the bike. Pre-race always seems to have some malfunction for me. 

On Sunday,we were up early, China, John, Jeff and I headed to the transition to get our gear laid out and get on the bus, that would take us to the start of the race.  Traffic was awful and it took longer than expected to get there.  We were in a rush and I was worried about China’s gear, I wasn’t really paying enough attention to my gear setup, which would slow me down later when I realized what I had forgotten to do.  Of course I was on the verge of exploding and had to run to the Johnny, which caused us to loose each other in the crowd of 3000 athletes plus spectators. It took a while for us to find each other and head to the bus.  I was beginning to panic, I didn’t want China jumping into the river without me there watching her.  Once we were back together, China, John, Jeff, Kyle and I were all the bus and ready to get to the start. 

Zilla's ready to rock (photo credit: Jeanna Clark)

At the start we ran into more Zilla’s all in different places in the starting line. We had to line up based on our predicted swim time, so Jeff went right to the very front, but China, John, Bill, Kelly, Jeanna and I were all in the same group, so it was fun chatting before the gun went off.  I got my hug from Bill, I have raced Ironman with Bill so many times, If I don’t get hug from him, I’m not sure how I can finish the race.

The swim course takes you up river for about 200 meters then you cross the river and head down stream to the finish.  On Saturday we saw a guy trying to swim upstream and he wasn’t even moving, so of course we were all really worried about the upstream swim section. 

Swim Course

It wasn’t long and the pro’s were in the water and we could see them swimming by. 30 minutes later we were on the dock ready to jump in.  

I saw that China was nervous for the first time, she had tears in her eyes and I hugged her, told her to jump in, pull the neck of her wetsuit open to get some water in it and just take it slow and get into a good stroke pattern.  I said “stop and breast stroke for a while if you need to calm yourself down”.  She was working on being brave, but I could tell she was scared.  I had planned on trying to catch her on the bike and staying with her for the rest of the race, but I had not told her that.  I looked over at John and mouthed that I was going to stay with her during the race.  He gave me that “you are a good mom” nod. 

China and I jumped off the dock at the same time, but when I came back up to the surface, some guy jumps right on top of me.  He hit me hard in the arm, the good arm, I’m not sure if his knee hit me or his foot, but I really thought my arm may have been broken.  It knocked me deep under the water and I was fighting to get my head out of the water and away from the dock.  At that point, I was freaking out hoping China got off ok, as my head surfaced, I saw China already swimming quickly away from me. I just started swimming, thinking the whole time “how the heck am I going to finish this with my arm hurting so bad”.

 

What my arm looked like after the race

I took off and once I made it to the downstream section, I figured I could just float down if my arm kept hurting.  Funny, I didn’t even think about the bad arm, because the good arm hurt so much.  I swam under all three bridges all the while keeping an eye on all the kayaks in case China was hanging on to one of them, but I never saw her.  She was out of the water 6 minutes in front of me. 

Feeling relieved to be out of the water (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

I made it to the ladder, got swam over by a couple guys, I guess they really needed to get out of the water before me, but finally was out of the water.  Shout out to the volunteers on the ladders, they pulled me out unzipped my wetsuit and pulled it off my shoulders, in just a split second.  As I got out of the water I heard people cheering for me, I saw Jeff’s girls and then Kayla and Caleb.  I felt relieved that I had made it out of the water.  I ran straight to the wetsuit strippers and they had my suit off in seconds and I was running up the hill to transition.  That’s when I realized I forgot to hit my watch.  So when I looked at my watch I knew my swim time was wrong, but even so, it was still a good time for me.

Out of the Water (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

I ran into transition following Jeanna Clark, Tim Holland was just behind us and Mike Gonski was at his bike already.  China’s bike was gone so I knew she made it out of the water and was already out on the bike.

Running into T1 (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

My plan to be out of transition quickly faded, I was in such a frenzy when I was setting up in the morning, worrying about China having all her stuff and then making a mad dash to the Johnny, that I forgot to load the beano bag on my bike with all my food, so I had to do it in transition, it went pretty quickly though.  I headed for the bike mount line stopping to get sprayed down with sunscreen, btw, the volunteers double teamed me and I was coated with spray, the volunteers were great. I quickly got on my bike and took off. 

Bike Course Map, check out the elevation

I knew that there were two sets of railroad tracks that could take me out of the game in the first 8 or so miles, so I was watching for them.  I made it across both sections without a blowout or a lost water bottle. There were others, not so lucky at both sets of tracks. There must have been 50 lost water bottles on the ground.

 

I was riding at a very comfortable pace, not taxing myself much, staying around 17.5 mph.  It’s a beautiful bike course and there were so many people on it, that I was able to chat with other racers most of the time.  I kept riding wondering if I would catch up with China.  I am a faster rider than her for long distances, but she can smoke me in the short stuff.  I was really hoping she took my advice, when I told her not to go out too fast, because she would regret it later.  

I thought I saw her in the distance around mile 18, but there were several hills, so I didn’t catch up until mile 20.  When I pulled up next to her she was eating some shot blocks, I was glad to see she remember the advice we had all given her, about feasting on the bike.   She was in a good mood, even after multiple hills. I rode next to her for about 5 minutes and she said, “Mom, go on, I know you can ride a lot faster”, I told her that I had planned to try and catch her and finish the race with her. I got a smile out of that.  

So we rode more hills and finally came to the steepest of the hills. You turn a corner and BAM… you are hit with about a 12% climb, it’s not terribly long, but long enough to be really hard.  We saw a few people walking up the hill, but we planned to ride it.  China took off like a bullet, I was the tortoise, slow and steady.  China got to the top and slowed down and waited for me.  I rolled over the top and said “what the heck got into you”. She replied “I just wanted to get over it as fast as I could” and she did.  

Next up another water stop, it was starting to get hot so I told China to throw off any half bottles and grab cold full bottles at the water station.  I took the water I had left before the water station and squirted it all down China’s neck and back to cool her down.  We rolled through the stop without incident, China also grabbed a banana, but couldn’t get the peeling off, so she handed it to me, I peeled it and it handed back to her. She kind of had a Sherpa for the whole race. 

It wasn’t long and we hit mile 40 heading into Chickamauga, as soon as you get through town there is a 2ish mile climb, it doesn’t look big, but it is a grind, the good part is, there is a screaming downhill for a couple miles after it.  I did my best to pull China up the hill, to my surprise she did extremely well on the hill, I didn’t hear one complaint.  We rode past a guy who asked if we were friends, because we had the same kit on, China said “no that’s my mom”, the guy says “that is awesome”. We felt pretty Awesome.  

Heading into T2, happy to be finished with the bike (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

We killed the downhill, rolled through the last water station and made the turn for the last 11 miles back to transition.  China started to pick up the pace there and we rolled into transition in good time.  Just as we rolled up, we saw Kayla and Caleb and Caleb was getting some good shots of us.  Keith Timmins rolled up, just as we were dismounting our bikes and the three of us ran into transition together.  

We both have our tongues sticking out, total concentration (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

We were pretty quick through transition, I even stopped at the Johnny while China was stretching her calf that had started to hurt.  We both got sprayed down with sunscreen again, and were out on the run in about 6 minutes.  

Run Course

Heading out of T2 to the Run course (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

Run Out (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

We came across our family and all our teammate’s families, all cheering for us and taking pictures.  It didn’t seem long before we hit the big uphill into the sun.  It was hot, way hotter than we had anticipated.  So I told China we would walk the hill, we walked, but for only about 30 seconds then started running again.  We were already in need of a water stop, the first stop seemed like it would never come.  We got to the stop, I grabbed ice and poured it down China’s sport bra and in her hat, then did the same for myself, we grabbed water and some food and headed back out. 

I have to stop here and tell you, I really thought that China’s run would be a death march, but she was running a slow, steady pace, and she never complained.  If you have ever run with China, when something is hard she complains and gets angry, she is mad at the world and doesn’t want you to speak to her or even look at her.  I was surprised to see how happy she seemed and never once did she get angry.  She may have cried a couple times during the run, but she just kept pushing.  I stayed about 2 or 3 feet in front of her and she just hung on.  There were some really proud moments for me during this race. 

We were clicking off the miles and of course posing every time we saw a photographer on the course, one guy asked us after we passed the course photographer, if we had posed for him.  China said “you bet we did”. We must have had 10 people ask if we were friends or on the same team, with China always answering “that’s my mom” and me always commenting “It’s China’s first Half IM”.  Everyone out there was so supportive, it was the most fun I have ever had racing. 

When we hit the bridge, China says, “let’s run for the next 3 light poles then walk” when we hit the third light pole, she said, “oh heck, let’s just run all the way over the bridge", so we did.  We walked right before the switch back and then ran to the next water stop.

So China had a system at the water stops and it wasn’t a fast system.  We would walk at the start, then get water, oranges, and potato chips. Sometimes she would just have the volunteer put the chips in her mouth, so she didn’t have to touch them with her sweaty hands.  She would stop and eat them in the middle of the stop, chatting with the volunteers, then she would get to the ice and have me or the volunteer poor it down the back and front of her sports bra and in her hat.  Then if she had to pee, she would stand on the side of the Johnny and pee, then pour water down her shorts.  

If you are reading this and you are not a triathlete, I know you are thinking how disgusting, but we do it all the time in races, we pee in the water, on our bikes and during the run.  There are bathrooms, but they are hot and stinky and too slow to get your shorts down and up. Funny China always thought it was gross hearing about it, but when she was out there, she just didn’t care.  

We spent on average 3 minutes in each water stop, if she could cut that down to one minute, with 15 water stops, she would have cut 30 minutes off her run without much effort.  She sees that now, but she was having way too much fun to drag her out of them faster than she wanted.  I just thought, let’s make this as fun as possible. 

So we ran across the pedestrian bridge, made the turn and started the second loop.  Funny, China started picking up the pace at least from mile 7 to 10, I guess she got a second wind.  As we ran we saw Zillas everywhere, so we started cheering.  We saw Ty, then Mike, then Donna, Zillas were all around us and it was fun cheering them on.  At the Kona water stop China was soaking up the excitement of just a 5k to go to the finish, by then she knew she was going to make it and get across the finish line far before the cutoff time.  

China was pretty happy, so we talked about the finish line, I told her to enjoy it, high five everyone on her way through the finish chute and I told her to run across the line in front of me, so she could have a good pic of her first finish.  It seems like in a just a blink we were running down the hill and onto the red carpet. 

Hitting the RED CARPET (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

Heading to the finish line (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

We took our time, giving high fives along the way, we waved at our IRONFAM, and strolled through the finish line.  I hugged China, so very proud of her, and got our finisher hats and medals. We stopped to talk to the IRONFAM and Caleb got some shots of use together. 

We Did It (photo credit: Caleb Wylde)

We then went through the finish line wickets, pictures in front of the Ironman wall, then over to the food tent. None of us could really eat though, China tried, but only got about 2 bites down. China was starting to feel the after affects setting in and she had some blisters on her feet so she had John pull her shoes and socks off and I found a chair for her to sit in.

(photo credit: Finisher Pix)

 

Leading up to the race the Crewe gave China tons of tips on how to have a good race, but we may have forgotten one, don’t wear crappy socks. China told me a few times in the last few miles of the race that she was getting blisters, and she did, and no wonder, when John pulled her shoes off, he saw she was wearing crappy socks, he shook his head and said “these socks will peel the skin off your feet, you need some good socks” China said “they already peeled the skin off my feet”…. Hahaha. I know those two probably thought the crappy socks were somehow my fault, but I swear she owns swiftwick socks. 

China ran into her friend Cheyenne from McKendree and they chatted about the race, it was her first half also, but she had actually trained well for it and rocked the race course. 

Cheyenne & China

John and I went and got all China’s gear together for her and brought it out of transition. Then headed back to the hotel for a shower.  Chatting all the way about the race and everything that happened.  China was tired, but happy.  China had to go home after the race, due to work on Monday, so she rode home with Caleb and Kayla, I’m sure laying in the backseat the entire way. 

I have to give a big Thank You’s to so many people.  First to Team Godzilla for making this such a fun event, it was kind of like a family reunion wrapped around a workout.  To Rhonda Grammer for pushing me during our morning runs.  To the Crewe for always being there for me, no matter how early in the morning it is.  To all the Crewe families that were cheering us on all day long. To Bill Peterson for telling me how awesome it will be to race with my daughter, he said it will be a memory that would last forever and I’m sure it will. To all the family and friends that followed us online the entire race and texted, emailed and FB messaged us after.  Most of all to our IRONFAM, Kayla and Caleb, for cheering us on, taking awesome photos and dragging China’s butt back to Illinois after the race. 

The IronFam with their Athlete

One last note, I have looked at the pictures that finisher pix took, they are good, but none as good as the ones Caleb took of us. 

As for CHINA, will she do it again… I think that is a question she will have to answer. 

Will She Do It Again #LESSISMORE