Do you have what it takes?
Race report from Ironman Chattanooga 70.3 2018
I was a senior in high school the first time I heard about the Ironman. Endurance sports wasn’t really a thing I was interested in back then. I played on the high school basketball and soccer teams. We had to run sprints and mile time trials on occasion, but I hated it. Running for distance gave me side stitches. I hadn’t swam much since grade school. I almost never rode my bike.
You can imagine how hard it was for me to fathom why anyone would want to do an Ironman. My basketball coach, Coach Young, introduced us to the race during a team dinner — it was that time of year. He tuned into the the NBC coverage for the Ironman Championship race in Kona. I remember seeing the hot lava fields and the suffering on the faces of the participants.
Coach Young was a very fit, disciplined, hard-working, intense man. He competed in Ironman races and looked the part. He clearly loved endurance sports. I think introducing us to triathlon was an attempt to inspire us (we weren’t a very good basketball team). Maybe he wanted us to see what real dedication was all about.
Do you have what it takes? my coach seemed to be asking.
“Yeah, right.”
This past May 20, 2018, a far cry from my senior year, I completed Ironman Chattanooga 70.3. It was a hot one—almost Kona-like. I may not have had the best stretch of training in the weeks leading up to the event, but I’d been going at it fairly consistently for nearly a year and a half; by race day, I felt ready.
At the swim start, I dropped off my gear bag. The volunteer took my things and asked with an empathetic tone, “Are you nervous?”
I smiled. “No.”
Looking back, the attitude behind that answer is what I remember most about the race.
Confidence.
I knew this race would be tough, but I also knew I could handle it. I may still be learning how to reach my potential, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know I’d be mentally prepare to deal with whatever the race might throw at me.
I’d fight back.
I held back on the swim and the bike to give myself room to suffer on the run yet I was still on personal record pace. Both my swim (primarily because of a short course and favorable current) was the fastest I’d ever done a half-IM swim. I rode my second fastest time for a HIM bike despite riding a notch well below what I’d consider my ideal effort for this distance. My bike is a weapon and it showed.
By the time I hit the run, I still had a lot in the tank, but I could feel the battle was about to begin. The heat and humidity was reaching its peak. I went out at what felt like a comfortable pace. I peeked at my watch a mile in. It registered a pace that would put me well ahead of my best HIM run. But I was starting to worry.
I finished the first loop strong, then the fatigue hit me. Starting the second loop, I knew I had several miles ahead with no cover from the hot sun. Doubts crept in. My confidence dipped for the first time. I decided to chug a Coke at the next aid station to give me a boost. That would prove to be a mistake.
Coke on the tail end of a long distance triathlon run can be a godsend. Usually, you want flat Coke. That’s not what I got; the Coke I drank was fully carbonated. With minutes, a gas bubble had formed in my gut. I couldn’t clear it. It got painful and it was slowing me down.
So this was the test.
Do you have what it takes?
I stayed patient. I focused on putting one step in front of the other and cooling myself off every opportunity. Somehow, I muscled through it. Finally, with about three miles left, I was in the clear. I couldn’t quite get back to my original pace, but at least I was racing again. I’d survived the test.
At the finish line, I saw my friends and basked in the glow of another successful half-Ironman, my personal best. The mood around the finish line at Chatt was festive. The steady stream of athletes crossing the finish line was accompanied by the enthusiastic voice announcing their names to loud, energetic music.
Glancing across the field, I recognized another finisher, someone I hadn’t expected to see, someone I hadn’t seen since high school. It was Coach Young. Still fierce and fit and killing it at triathlon.
He was understandably surprised to see me. It had been a long time since he’d moved from Virginia to Tennessee. It took a beat for him to place who I was as I approached him out of the blue to say hello. It was surreal to catch up and stir up old memories. Wins and losses. Struggle and triumph.
Perhaps it was surreal for him as well, to see a former student and player of his grown up, surviving, challenging himself. Tackling Ironman no less. Thanks for the introduction.
Do you have what it takes?
I’ll be back in Tennessee racing Ironman Chattanooga on September 30, 2018. Follow me on my triathlon journey here.
