Because I seeded myself so badly (estimated a 32 min swim time), I passed a LOT of people. This was good because it assured me that I was going in the right direction and bad because I had to go around folks. This was a nice way to swim - the views of the rocky cliff on the left and the houses on the hills to the right were really neat. It was also really odd to swim under the bridges because I've never done that. Surreal. It rained as I went under the first bridge, which was also neat but seemed to make the water choppier so I breathed/drank some water by accident there. I tried to keep my stroke strong and long and didn't kick much at all. Didn't ever really feel the current, which was disappointing. The rumor was that the buoys were all yellow until the last one which signaled the place to turn to get out (green). I never saw the last buoy but was able to follow a guy in what looked like a Sport Factory suit to the finish. He helped a lot!

Know the course better so I can to better allocate my energy (I say this every time) and sprint to the finish rather than moseying around trying to find the finish or following someone else in. I had a sprint in me here.

Overall, though, I'm pleased with this swim because I've not done any speed work in months.

It was AWESOME seeing the NAMC folks coming out of the water and up the steps. That made my day. Thanks you guys.

Not hesitate about whether to put the socks on or not. 25 miles without socks is OK - I shoved them into my running shoes for later since my feet were covered in grass, which turned out to be a good move.

After we got out on the highway, I was dismayed to find that the hills were not rollers at all, but were grinders (someone else said this in their report and I heartily agree). There was never really a need to get out of the saddle but I had to go to my lowest gear many times. Round about mile 4, I realized that my left foot really hurt. I couldn't get the velcro adjusted and it was killing. Finally, I stuck my finger in my shoe to see what was up and part of the tongue was curled over - fixed that and felt immediately better. Whee! I probably lost some minutes here with the coasting to work on this. By the way, my cadence was 85.4 (no room for a decimal in the box for that) for the time I recorded, which absolutely ROCKS for me. WHOOO!

I bided my time until mile 5 when it was time for GU. Mmmm, delicious GU. Having my GU always perks me up. I started to go down some big hills, which was fun and then the whole men's field passed me. I saw Brett and then Chris Z. who said hello. I admired the men with the see-through shorts and shouted encouragement when someone went by really fast. We saw the two male leaders come by, which was supercool. The guy who was passing me at the time and I turned to marvel at them. Then, the ladies started to pass me. Courtney zoomed by like I was standing still and a couple of super-fasties but not so many women passed. There was one lady who played tag with me for the whole bike. She was from Nashville and in my age group. We passed each other at least 6 times apiece. I made her the devil for a little while to motivate myself to pass her but she turned out to be nice. I still was able to catch and pass her at about mile 23.

My plan (from Doug, the super-spouse) was to hammer the bike and see what happened on the run so I purposefully kept my gearing easy and tried to keep a high cadence while going as fast as possible. I hung in pretty well but got tired towards the end. It may have started to rain during the bike (don't recall because I didn't bring my sunglasses) but I kept my speed high. I passed probably 10 men in the last 5 miles. I don't know if they got tired or if they were slowing to begin their runs or it was the rain but it was odd. I never pass men on the bike.

Maybe GU earlier? I might have had some low fuel from the swim.

Increase my cadence and overall bike fitness.

I don't do flying dismounts. Especially after 25 miles, I'm too stiff to lift my leg over the top tube. I applied my socks and running shoes (pre-tied!) grabbed my visor and number and left. While running out of transition I reset my Garmin and switched to running.

I had a great transition spot, so that really helped my times.

Limber up and do the flying dismount. Use the multisport function and remember to actually START the garmin for the run. Double duh!

As I came out onto the road to start the run, the NAMC folks all yelled, which was really cool. Quite the motivators! Then, a guy came over a loudspeaker to say that rain was coming in 2 minutes and to take cover. Rats! I had really been enjoying my nice, soft, and dry socks.

Sure enough, just about a mile into the run (after the cool towel station - which would have been great if it had been hot), the heavens opened. It poured and the course was under water. Not a dry foot around. I settled into a good rhythm and enjoyed the run. I needed to use the bathroom (too much water, thankfully, and not the other) but pushed the thought away. I tried to get some folks to run with me, because I'm no faster than them, but not today. Next time. Some super-fast folks came by on their way to finish, which was really neat. I cheered for them and pretty much everyone else I could recognize. I kept a running commentary of "go blue" "go Thunder" "go Peachtree" "go skirt" etc - the cheering really helps me ignore my own discomfort. Probably it makes me slower, but I can work on that. I knew I had to keep a good pace so Doug wouldn't pass me. I saw all of the NAMC folks again on the out and the back. And there was a dude on a unicycle. How is that OK on a narrow run course? I started to get really tired as we approached the hill and gave myself a peptalk. Then I told the dude in the red tri suit (looked like Sports Factory but wasn't) that he'd have to pull me up the hill and HE DID! He told me to take smaller steps just like Michele does (she's the track/CC coach) and that helped, then he left me in the dust. HA!

Sprinted to the finish to hear all of the NAMC cowbell, awesome!

Pick up the pace on the run and focus better on maintaining a higher speed closer to my LT. I thought I'd broken 48 for sure, but no. It's OK, though, because I really did work a lot harder on the bike this race so I can't complain about the run.

Cowbell with Elena and the other NAMC folks. It was really cool to see all of the runners coming in. I hung on until I saw Doug come by and then hit the potties. Spent a good amount of time in there and then talking to Doug while I tried to get my GI to stop cramping. I don't know if the cramps are the immodium or the hard running but they suck. I'm going to have to work on my nutrition to find out what causes this.


Overall fitness. I had a great race. I was disappointed not to beat my WPL time but I just haven't put in the time to be a speed demon yet.


This was a great race. It was very organized and the volunteers were awesome. Plus, there is a lot of fun stuff to do in Chattanooga. Next time, I would bring the kids (plus a Grammie or two) and go to the aquarium and the kids' museum and stuff like that, plus the brew pub.