So heres my take on my first Ironman at Ironman Chattanooga. As far as the race in general, being the first year it was held, I felt went very smoothly. The volunteers did a good job at getting us what we needed as best they could, and the course had both its easy and hard areas. To begin, although the swim was not wetsuit legal, I felt the downstream swim and rolling start allowed me to stay calm and control my stroke allowing me to come out of the water with a good time and great energy. The bike course I think was my favorite part with the rolling hills, great scenery and overcast weather. I tried to hold myself back as much as I could to save energy for the run and still pulled off a 21.9 mph average. This counted stopping for a couple minutes to refuel at the special needs area. The run is where a discovered my bodys extent of what it could endure. I managed to keep a descent pace for the first half which would have allowed me to finish under 10 hours as I had hoped, but those dreams quickly faded when both legs seized on me going into mile 15. I had all I could do just to keep walking. I managed to get my legs loosened enough to walk the up hills and jogging the downhills. I think even I had run just the run course for a marathon, it still would have been difficult considering the crazy inclines. I felt I learned quite a bit from this experience and what I need to work on for the next one...if there is one.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:09:00 +0000
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