Waterfront Chattanooga Tri RR

I traveled down to Chattanooga, TN on Saturday with Ben, Eric, and Beth to race in the Chatty Tri yesterday. Beth booked a room at the Chattanoogan which is an extremely nice hotel in downtown Chattanooga and extremely affordable. We almost didn't want to race Sunday morning so we could sleep in and take advantage of the room service breakfast that we could order. I mean what sounds better? A Tennessee Omelet or 2 hours of pain during a triathlon?

Anyways, we had a great weekend trip. We came on Corbin on Friday to stay with my mom before we headed on down to Chattanooga on Saturday. She fixed an amazing dinner Friday evening for us and I got to enjoy my grandparents peaches for the first time this peach season. Those peaches are better than any other fruit in the world. Saturday, we woke up and got our workouts over with, then went on down to TN. Once we got there, we checked into the hotel, picked up our race packets, then went to dinner at Big River. We had a great dinner then went back to the hotel. Sunday morning, we rode our bikes to the race since it was less than a mile from our hotel. I was racer #4 so I would be the 4th person to start in the time trial layout of the race. Two guys that I knew were better swimmers than I started in front of me, so I wanted to sprint and get on their feet from the start. At 7:30 AM, the first swimmer was off (who was racer #2. Racer #1 wasn't there). I sprinted but wasn't able to get close enough to their feet to hang on. I kept them fairly close considering they both swam in college, and they both only put about 30 - 45 seconds on me in the water. In the past, they both usually will put 1 - 1.5 minutes on me, if I had a good swim. I got out of the water in 17:58 (without a wetsuit) and this is my fastest mile swim ever (even if its a little short). I sprinted through T1 with only racers #2 and #3 in front of me.

Once I was on the bike, I caught racer #3 before the 2 mile mark. I started to climb one of the many hills on this course and looked down to find my water bottle; it wasn't there. So, I had no hydration for the entire bike ride. I thought about this for a second, and figured it wasn't too big of a deal, so I just hammered on. I caught racer #2 around mile 10 and I just flew by him. He stayed close to me for a mile and re passed me before the turnaround. After the turnaround, I went right back by him and I never saw him again. At mile 14, there happened to be a cycling shop van on the side of the road for race support. I asked him if he had any water and he said yes. He drove a mile up the road, got out of his car, and gave me the water bottle. I was so happy to have some hydration. I drank this entire bottle before the end of the bike, and was able to consume my GU also. Without any water, your mouth gets all sticky and it feels like cottonmouth when you eat a GU. So I want to thank River City Cycles for being out on the course for bike support. You guys really helped me a lot.

I came into T2 with no one in sight of me. I had a great transition and took off on the run. I heard them announce that racer #2 was in T2 once I was a few hundred meters into the run. I ran scared the whole run. I knew Eric Bell was behind me, and how fast of a runner he was. I wasn't sure how much time I had on him in T2 (he wasn't racer #2, he started behind me) but I knew I couldn't run slow and still beat him. I started the run slower than normal, but started to pick up the pace once I was out there. Every aid station I came to, had volunteers who were excited to see the first person, but unprepared for me. I didn't get any hydration at two of these aid stations because of this. They just sat there and clapped for me while I was trying to get water or gatorade from them. I got to the turnaround and saw Eric about 1 minute or so back from me. I just put my head down and continued to run scared. I was able to hold him off and win the race. I finished the race almost exactly 4 minutes faster than last year. I swam 2 minutes faster and biked 2 minutes faster, and ran the exact same time. I was really happy with the race and glad to take home my biggest paycheck to date.

However, before the awards and after the official results had been posted, the race officials came and talked to me. Another racer had accused me of taking outside assistance (the water bottle from the cycling shop van) and also of drafting. The official told me this was a 2 minute penalty and it would cost me the victory. No officials saw me break any rules, so therefore no officials recorded that I broke any rules. It is illegal for an official to assess a penalty without any official record of the broken penalty during the race (I didn't know this at the time). I argued that the van was out there for race support and that I didn't do anything wrong. He eventually told me that I need to work on my integrity and gave me a warning for doing something that was borderline illegal. I was unaware of any such rule, and I asked the official why he didn't cover that rule in the pre race meeting. I was more offended by the questioning of my integrity and just the fact that another racer accused me of cheating.

Other than that, I had a great trip to Chatty and enjoyed the weekend.

Next race: Steelhead 70.3

Tony