Friday, August 31, 2018

Chattanooga Preview Weekend

This past weekend, in addition to, or maybe as part of, celebrating my birthday, I went up to Chattanooga to preview the bike course of the Ironman. This was something that I wanted to do from the very beginning and is one of the benefits of training for and racing a local Ironman. I talked about it with my coach early on when I signed up and he suggested about 5 weeks out from the race would be good timing to ride the course. I actually liked the idea of it coinciding with my birthday weekend and was happy when it became an official ITL group ride and weekend in Chatt.

I celebrated my actual birthday last Friday with a long morning swim, getting together all of my gear, and a little after 5:00 p.m. heading up to Chattanooga with Jonathan and his pup, Brooks. We stopped in Rome for a birthday dinner at a dog-friendly rooftop restaurant (Harvest Moon Cafe) and I knew it was going to be a good weekend right from them. It was an awesome night, beautiful weather for a rooftop dinner, yummy food, and I felt super special.



Cupcakes didn't hurt either (Honeymoon Bakery.)


I was nervous to ride the bike course on Saturday. Not because of the distance but because of the anticipation of knowing what it would be like. I can't tell you how many times people have told me positive things about the bike course in Chattanooga. That I would love it and that it would be so much easier than anything I had been riding. It seemed like after every long ride I did where it felt hard or I struggled, someone would tell me, "Well that was way tougher than what you will be doing race day!"

Whenever I have doubted myself or struggled, I had that positive thought in my head. And as much as I love being prepared for things, I felt some anxiety around knowing FOR SURE what the course would be like. I was afraid of doing it and thinking it was hard, feeling weak, or having a bad experience on the preview day. I was scared of how that would affect me mentally in the last weeks leading up to the race if the day went poorly.

Well, spoiler alert: I loved the course. It was a great day and now I am nervous for the OPPOSITE reason... how could race day go BETTER than how I felt/did on the preview day?! It's always something, right? :)

We started bright and early Saturday morning at the St. Elmo Food City, rather than start down at Ross's Landing where the bike course would actually begin. Doing it this way misses out on a few miles of the course coming in and out of the city, but allows us to have more parking space and not have to deal with the heavy traffic later in the day.

It rained a bit as we head from the hotel to the start of the ride, which caused some panic in me, but it cleared up by the time we were loading up and getting ready. Weather was cool and crisp and perfect for a long bike ride. There was a small group of people, all of whom are doing Chattanooga Full, who were riding that day and it was fun to have together for the first time just our little IM Chatt 2018 ITL group. I wish I had taken a picture!

My friend Kevin and I decided to stick together, as we often do on the bike, and we head out feeling pretty strong from the very beginning. We took off easy, and I tried to scan everything around me, remembering everything and take it all in to bank in my memory for race day.

We rode out of town a few miles, then on to the highway. I was expecting things to look familiar from having done the Chattanooga 70.3 twice, but it wasn't exactly registering for me. It felt a little windy on the highway and it did come back to me from the 70.3 that this happened there as well, and got better after getting onto the back roads. I didn't love the road condition on the highway, it felt a bit bumpy to me, but I knew that would get better as well. Pretty soon, we turned to the right and head out on the loop portion of the course. The roads immediately become smoother and you have a great view to your right.

Kevin and I stuck together, with a few others nearby us, chatting and riding and the miles went by quickly. There are very little turns on the Chatt bike course but there is one that came at about 2 hours in. Since we didn't start at the very beginning of the course, I don't know what mile it was for actual race day, but I will use that time as a gauge. It is really the only tough climb on the course. The hill starts pretty gradual and you don't really notice you are climbing, but then gets steeper quickly and you're like, "Huh? Why do I have no momentum to push right now?" and you have to grind a little. We said to one another to make a mental note of where this climb was. All in all, it wasn't terrible though.

At the top, right as you start to gain momentum going downhill, there is a SHARP left turn on to Hog Jowl road. Following the left hand turn, you get onto the back part of the loop and I just loved it. The roads are pretty, there are lots of rollers, and it was a very enjoyable ride. I said to Gerke that it was just as pretty as Lake Logan, but minus feeling like I wanted to die. I felt strong and it was a fun part of the course.

Riding this weekend, we had wonderful SAG support with us and we stopped for the first time around 2.5 hours in. I went to the bathroom in the woods (still not sure what I am going to do on race day!) refilled on bottles, grabbed some snacks, and then was anxious to get moving again. There was a few people in our ride who are much faster than me and we all took out together after regrouping at the SAG stop. To my surprise, Kevin and I were both hanging with the fast crowd pretty well. We weren't immediately behind their wheel, but I was shocked that I felt strong and enjoyed trying to stay on their tail as we made our way in to Chickamauga.

On race day, I know that ITL will have a tent in Chickamauga and it will be a good place to ride through for a boost of energy, so I started to mentally try to visualize the support and the mindset that I would be in on race day. The 70.3 rides through this town as well, so I also knew a bit what to expect as we got closer. One thing I didn't anticipate was Kevin telling me that my back tire looked low, which I confirmed that it was REALLY low when we had to stop at a red light. 

Fortunately, as I mentioned, we had awesome SAG support so it was only a few minutes ahead where I saw Coach Adam's truck parked and I stopped to put air in my tire. It didn't seem like the tube had burst, so we thought maybe we could just manage it throughout the day without the need to fully change the tube mid-ride. With pumped up tires tires, I jumped back on my bike and started to HUSTLE to try and catch back up with my friends.

Coming out of Chickamauga there is a climb, followed by a decent descent. I figured that the fast people would get away on the climb, but I was hoping that I would be able to catch up with Kevin. The fact that I was trying to push hard to catch back up, coinciding with the climb out of Chickamauga, left me pretty out of breathe, but I was determined not to be alone for the rest of the day so probably had my best segment of climbing I ever have in my life. I want to try and channel that on race day to remind myself that I CAN push hard through climbs and still have strength for the rest of the day. I will recover from it. Especially at this section, because the uphill is then rewarded with a nice downhill. I caught up to Gerke as we came out of the downhill from Chickamauga.

From the gas station that you pass while climbing up Chickamauga hills, to the end of the road where you turn left to start your second loop (or right to go back in to Chattanooga) it is about 3.5 miles. I know that pretty well now, but more on that fact later.

I was so glad to have caught back up with Gerke. It took a little bit to register that we were back on the highway and that the left turn we had taken was the official start of our second loop. When I did realize that, it was a bit of an exciting moment. That was it! We had seen all there was to see on the course - and it was all really, really nice!  We were at about 56 miles and it felt good to know that we had seen what there was to see.

The thrill was short lived when I suddenly realized that riding had gotten extra bumpy, and it wasn't because of the not super smooth roads of the highway. I shouted that I was stopping and pulled into a ditch where I confirmed that my back tire was completely flat and needed to be changed. I called Adam in the SAG truck and he said he was on his way over to help me change it, and I started the process of taking off my tire.

I feel pretty confident that I can change the tire on my front wheel on my own, although I have never had to do that. But I was nervous about the back tire. I struggle with the gears and chains and was reluctant to do much until Adam got there. When he did, he shoo-ed Gerke away to keep riding, and helped me change my tire and put the wheel back on. Once we got it situated Adam asked me if it would be okay if he "rode me up" so that I was not riding alone on the highway. Honestly not knowing what that meant, I said "Sure!" and thought he would maybe drive right behind me for a few miles until we turned onto the back roads. Then he started loading my bike onto his rack and told me get into the back of his truck.

Wait, what?

My heart sunk a little as I realized what he meant and reluctantly climbed into the truck. I was really disappointed that I was going to miss riding part of the course, but I didn't feel like there was a better option because I didn't want to just be alone the rest of the day. The next few minutes were TERRIFYING as Adam flew down the road until we caught up to Gerke. The whole time in the truck I just kept thinking to myself, "I should be riding this. I should be riding this." but I tried to stay calm by also appreciating the humor of the fact that I was riding in the back of a pickup truck for the first time in my life, with a helmet and bike shoes on, and wind whipping around me like crazy. Gerke's reaction when we rode by and he saw me in the back of the truck was pretty priceless as well.


I felt like I had my own personal pit crew as we pulled over, grabbed my bike off the truck, and I hopped on, catching back up to my friend and starting to ride again. I am pretty sure the first words out of my mouth as I was back riding and next to Gerke were, "What does your watch say for distance???" I wanted to know how many miles I had missed. The answer was about 5.

I tried to get back in a groove, but not long after I was back to riding did did things get bumpy AGAIN. I stopped, checked again, and confirmed. Another flat.

This time Gerke just kept riding because he knew the drill at this point and I called Adam again and let him know. His reaction was the same as mine, which included a few expletives. He said he'd be right over to me but that we needed to get another tube. We quickly had a whole pit crew working for me and within minutes, Adam and other SAG, David, were with me and working to change my tire again. Jonathan and my friend Karen, were also moments away from finding me on the course, and showed up just as we finished changing the tire. I felt very special for all the support, but also bad that I was taking up so much time of all the SAG vehicles. And of course, frustrated that I was again, not riding my bike when I should be.

While changing it this time, Adam found what was causing the issue, and he felt confident that from that point on I would be good. I hopped in the car with Jonathan and Karen, while Adam took my bike and "rode me up" again to find Kevin on the route. I was in a MOOD at this point. I was so frustrated at all the time I was spending in cars, when I should be out riding my bike. I felt like I was missing out on what was supposed to be my preview of the course and I started thinking in my mind if I should change my plans for Sunday, to be able to ride the course again, since I was missing so much.

We did another pit stop when we reached Kevin, and this time before I even asked, he let me know what his watch said for distance. And I was about 10 miles behind.

I got back to riding right before the big climb before you turn to the back part of the loop. In reality, the parts on the course that I missed was best case scenario. I had ridden that part of the course before on the 70.3 and I didn't miss any of the more challenging or complex parts of the course. I was relieved by that and happy that I got to do the climb again. One of the few times in my life I was happy to be able to ride up a hill I think! Adam had let us know before we drove off that he would be stopping with everyone for a SAG stop right after the left turn onto Hog Jowl, but that we should keep riding through it.

I followed his instructions, even though everyone was there stopped and I really wanted to socialize, but also really wanted to catch up on the distance I had missed. I turned my frustration into energy and tried to push through the rollers on the back half as best I could. I knew up ahead there was one of the other few turns on the course, a sharp right, that I had noted to be careful of on the first time around because there were some pot holes and gravel right by it. I figured if I rode fast enough to that turn, then I could loop back and try to make up some additional mileage.

So I pushed through, feeling strong, getting to the turn, and looping back. I rode until I saw everyone coming, and turned back around after Gerke passed me. Apparently he had missed the memo and stopped at the SAG, so when I finally caught up to him and I shouted "Yay! We are reunited!"

The momentum of the day and adrenaline was still with me and I felt comfortable riding harder than I usually do, at a pace a little bit out of my comfort zone, but still not killing myself. Gerke knows me well enough that he saw that in me and before I even said anything else he commented, "Don't worry about me. I am good. If you want to keep hauling ass, go for it." Part of me wanted to stick to the plan to stay together, but I had a small fire lit in me and I wanted to see what I could do. I also did really want to get ahead, so that I could loop back and make up some of the distance. I had in the back of my head as a goal for the day to try to get to 116 miles and I knew that I needed to keep doing what I was doing if that was going to be at all possible.

I was riding by myself now and felt strong all the way through back to Chickamauga. I was eating my potatoes, pistachio bars, water, Gatorade, and salt. I also ate a Chocolate Chip Clif Bar and a Stinger Honey Waffle as well. Everything was just ticking and feeling good the way it was supposed to at this point. I hit a red light in Chickamauga, the same one where we had noticed the flat at the first loop, and turned back. I quickly realized that Chickamauga was not a good place to loop back because of the traffic and got stuck trying to cross the road. Then, when Gerke and a few others in our group did come through, they stopped at a SAG vehicle, so I just decided to keep going.

My second time out of Chickamauga without the adrenaline of trying to chase someone and more miles on my legs, the hills felt a bit tougher. I tried to make a mental note of how long it was and what point I needed to focus on as being the top. I pushed to the top, then down the decent, trying to remember where I could maintain speed and where there were a few bumps to watch out for. Then came back out to the end of the road, where this time, we were all planning to turn right to head back in.

Adam was parked there and I let him know that I wasn't ready to go back in yet and wanted to loop back to make up the distance. He said "Might as well, we are going to be out here until the last rider comes in and there are some people a ways back." I was right around 90 miles and on track to ride my fastest century ride yet and wanted to see how fast I could do it in. Adam had signaled me to head back up towards Chickamauga when he responded... Whereas, I was hoping to go out onto the highway, where it was flatter. Although logically it didn't make any sense since there was more traffic at this time of day and no SAG vehicles out there. So I head back the way I had come.

Up. The. Hills.

As I climbed back up the descent I had just come down, Gerke passed me going down. I felt kind of badass climbing up this route. And was also anxious about my watch. I wanted to keep going fast so that I could set a good record for my fastest century, but I was just crawling up this hill! I knew that I would have the descent back down to make up for it though.


I rode back towards Chickamauga, until I hit the gas station on the way in to town, where a police blockade had been set up since I rode through there last. I didn't feel like dealing with that, so I turned back, which made for about 7 miles round trip. When I returned to the end of the road, Adam was gone, but Jonathan and Karen there. I told them I wanted to keep riding, and not just to try to get to 100, but to get to 116. I still had that in my mind, despite having had to catch up some miles. They let me know it was 6 miles back to the Food City from the turn, filled up my Gatorade bottle, and I head back towards Chickamauga, letting them know I wanted to do the 7-mile section two more times.

I hit 100 miles at 5:44:33 - my fastest century yet, and a big jump from the week before when I had gone sub-6:00 for the first time, riding in 5:57:12. I was excited and with that feeling of having accomplished something for the day, I decided to scrap the idea of climbing these hills 2 more times and decided to turn back in after this section.

I was proud of myself for doing that repeat in and out of Chickamauga, adding a tough 14 miles to my day. It is always good to have good practice climbing, and I was excited to have had the extra practice on the descent as well. In total, I did it 4 times on Saturday, so I got pretty good at understanding where I needed to slow down and where I could build speed, all of which will help me during the race. You can see my elevation profile below, with the one major climb on the course being the highest peak you see twice. Then the one climb coming out of Chickamauga in the very middle and again 3 times at the end.


At 102.7 miles I turned right onto the highway and head back in to Food City. Eventually the highway turns into a road into the city and leads you right to where we had parked the cars. When I got to the stop light where I would have turned into the parking lot my watch read 109 miles.


I paused for a minute thinking through what I wanted to do. I knew that my friends were all waiting at the parking lot. I knew that I had ridden a significant amount for the day. I knew I hit some big milestones with my fast century, and that I had already made up the distance that I had missed from getting "ridden up." It had gotten hot out and I was feeling tired, but I also knew I was way too close to 116 to stop now.

I pulled out my phone and texted Jonathan that I was going back out. I turned off the highway onto a side road. I wanted to go out 3.5 miles then turn back and it felt like it took FOREVER. Those were the longest 3.5 miles of the day. The road was super bumpy and I started to get worried that I would get another flat, but I just kept going. I was so close. I turned back as soon as I hit 112.5 on my watch and made my way back to Food City, finally stopping my watch for the day at 116.52 miles, 6:39:03 hours of riding, and an average speed of 17.5 MPH!!!!


Honestly, I could barely believe that I had ridden that fast. That was the best ride I have done this year by a long shot. I had one four hour ride back in July that I averaged 17.8 mph but every other training ride is usually in the mid-16s. With this being so much longer and faster than my usual, I was thrilled. I don't usually like to post my speeds and times, since it is all different and relative for everyone and speed is not usually what it is about for me. But this was just exciting to me. If I did that on race day, I would have been thrilled! And now, frankly, I'm a little nervous to see if I can even repeat that!

When I finished, every other rider had already stopped and I was the last one to pull in to the parking lot. I didn't really realize it but I had ended up going further than anyone else, despite my flat tires. I was so so happy with my day and mostly so proud of myself for pushing through. I turned the momentum from what could have been a frustrating day into a positive one and it was such a fun training day all around.

Early in the season, my friends and I all did the Up the Creek bike ride and it was another day similar to this one. It was fun, I felt good, I got stronger as the day went on, it was a beautiful course. Everything just came together. I've been riding my bike enough to know that not every day is like that, so you have to appreciate the ones that are. I thought of that early season ride that was such a high, and now this late in the season ride giving me the same feeling and I was really happy to still be able to have that this far into training.

I am so thankful that my preview ride of Chattanooga was a good day. It made me excited and eager for the race and I am really looking forward to seeing what that day brings.

The rest of the weekend in Chatt was great. I was certainly tired after the ride, but I didn't feel destroyed. We went back to the hotel, where I showered and rested, and gave some cuddles to my other SAG support, Brooks, who had gotten to come hang out with us on the bike course while Jonathan was supporting. I looked through the pictures from the day, and just stared at my metrics, feeling so proud and happy.


After a little rest, we head out to meet friends for dinner at Urban Stack, a burger place I love, and then went over to go see the bicycle crit that was going on. I had never been to a crit before, and frankly didn't even know what it was, but we got to watch the end of the Pro Women's race. It consisted of doing loops along the 1 kilometer course blocked off in Downtown Chatt, over and over and over again for an hour. There was strategy to the ride as it is a team sport, and also winners given for best time on specific loops throughout the ride. It was so cool to watch and something I had never seen before!


In between the pro men and women crit racing, there was a one mile road race on the crit course titled the "Magnum Mile." That morning, there had been a 5K in Chattanooga that Jonathan and a few others from ITL participated in. It was a 5K in memory of Cameron Bean, a professional runner who had been hit and killed by a car three years earlier in Chattanooga. Cam was the college roommate of one of our ITL coaches, so it was meaningful to him and to our group to have runners at the morning 5K. That evening, the top 25 men and top 25 women from the 5K competed in a mile race under the lights during the crit. It was super cool to watch Coach Patrick compete and to see the speed on these men and women. Given that Cam was a professional runner and had many friends in that crowd... the 5K and mile bring out some fast runners!


On Sunday morning, I got up and did a 2 hour run in downtown Chatt. The run course for the Ironman is a 2 loop course and I was tempted to run a single loop of it, but instead, I just explored specific parts of the course, most importantly checking out the areas that I had had never been on. The run course for the full Ironman is very similar to the run course for the half. You run out of transition, up onto the highway for a bit, then turn on to the bike path that runs parallel but along the river. For the full, you just run further out on the highway and the bike path. I have done all of this before in other runs or races in Chatt.


The part I explored was when you cross over Veteran's bridge, for the 70.3 you do an almost immediate U-Turn and then cross over another bridge. Whereas for the full, you stay on the other side of the river for a few more miles, running through a few neighborhoods and along a golf course. I had never seen this part of the course and it is where the majority of the hills are on the route.

Some of the hills are challenging, but all doable, and it is so so pretty.



I am really glad that I ran the course and explored the parts I didn't know. I know that come race day it will be so helpful to be able to talk myself through those portions of the route.

During the run, I worked on my race day mental prep for myself a bit. First, when I was on that back section of the course, a few times while running the hills the little voice in the back of my head started saying to me, "You should just walk this. Come race day, you will probably walk this hill, so might as well do it now."

This is a voice I have been hearing quite a bit on my runs lately, which is new to me. Somehow the little evil voice in my head has become convinced that I am going to walk during the race and that this fact is inevitable. And maybe it is, who knows! But, I don't want to go into the Ironman with that idea in my mind. I want to go in with confidence and with the mindset that I am treating it like a RUN and not a run/walk. If I have to adjust due to circumstances on the day, so be it, but I am going into it that I am getting off the bike and RUNNING a marathon!

On my run I told that little voice to shut up and that I was not going to be walking on race day. That I was strong. And steady. And that I was going to be running then and I would be running now.

I also purposely did two loops of the two bridges. The first time I ran over the foot bridge heading back to Downtown Chatt, I mentally imagined myself on race day, coming over that bridge for the first time and heading out on my second loop of the run. What will be going through my head? How will I be feeling? What will I need to be telling myself? Will I see friends? Will I stop at special needs around the corner? I imagined myself going through this scenario on my first loop back over the bridge.


On the second loop back over the bridge, I imagined that it was race day and I was coming back over for the second time. This time turning to the left as I rounded the corner off the bridge, down the hill and to the finish. What will be going through my head? How will I be feeling? What will I need to be telling myself? Will I see friends? I pictured this scenario that I have pictured so many times. What the sounds, the lights, the feeling will be like. I ran down the hill towards what will be the red carpet, but this morning was just an empty street.

I imagined what it will be like the next time I was running here, just a few weeks away. It gives me chills to just think about. Tomorrow is officially September and officially race month. I can't believe it!

30 days!

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