I got up at 4:45 and did my usual pre-race bagel and banana. Then prepared all my bottles with a mix of Base Performance Amino and Accelerade. I packed all my gear the night before so I wouldn't have to worry about it this morning. After I loaded my bike I took off to Nashville. I got to the parking lot at 6 am and I'm pretty sure it was already 85 degrees. I knew weeks ago this would be a hot painful race and mother nature didn't fail to disappoint.
So the race started at 7:30 but we had to wait almost an hour to swim because the sprint racers went in front of the Olympic distance racers. So I hung out with my mom for a while before finally getting in line for my race. With about 5 minutes before my start I put my goggles on. SNAP! The strap broke. I had to run back to my bike where my bag was to get another pair. Sounds easy right? Transition was about 500 yards from where we were standing. Nothing like a sprint to get your heart rate up. So now I'm back in line with another pair of goggles. That is why I keep three pairs with me.
SWIM 1.5k or .92 of a mile
The swim was a time trial start with 6 swimmers getting in the water at at time then being sent off every 2 or 3 seconds. Oh and we swam in the Cumberland river. Hopefully I don't get sick because when I swim I have water in my mouth pretty much the whole time and that is one nasty river. Swim was actually pretty fun. It was my first open water race and all my practice at the lake paid off. The first part of the swim was against the current which was no fun. It was kind of like a water treadmill. We were bunched up for a while so I kept feeling peoples feet and had somebody all over mine. I'm pretty sure I elbowed somebody in the head as well haha. Sighting the buoys and swimming straight were pretty easy. As a strong swimmer I find it fairly easy to keep a straight line. Others I know struggle and zig zag all over the place. I noticed this when we crossed the river. Because of the current if you didn't aim a little upstream you would get pushed down stream and have to work harder to get around the buoy. I held a pretty straight line which I was happy with. The next long stretch of swim was down stream. I remember noticing the buildings in downtown and thinking I never thought I would actually be in this river. Anyway we made one more turn and had to swim back up stream to get to our exit. I believe my time was 29:07. Now I had to run up hill and back over to transition. This seemed to take about a minute just to get to the bike.
BIKE 40K or 24.9 miles
Once I got my bike it was another 150 yards to the exit where you mount the bike. I jogged this pretty controlled. Once I got to the mounting line it was a simple step on my left shoe, swing my right leg over and off I went. My shoes are already on the pedals so the tricky part is getting my feet in them while moving. 1oo yards later and with one foot already in the shoe I lost a bottle because of a bump. You get penalized for leaving anything on the course so I had to make a quick U turn to go get it. A nice volunteer was kind enough to put the top back on it and put it back into the bottle holder that sticks out behind my seat. Bad thing was the bottle was now empty. I had planned on having 64 ounces of drink with me...now I only had 32! No worries, I've learned to make race day enjoyable you have to have a plan and be flexible when that plan needs to be changed. The bike course was a 12 mile loop that we had to do twice. It was a fun course for sure. Unfortunately my fun on the bike equaled my pain and suffering on the run...I'll explain. So the course only had 3 hills that were some what difficult. The rest was pretty much flat and down hill. There were several sections where I was hitting 30-34 mph which feels so fun. I lost count but probably passed about 50 or more on the bike course. I found a group of guys that seemed to be biking about my pace and just tried to stay with them. We were passing some folks like they were not even moving. I felt good the whole ride. My drink situation didn't hurt me. It was definitely getting very hot out there, I had one bottle of water just to pour on myself occasionally which helped me stay somewhat "cool". I kept wondering if I was biking too hard but I was having too much fun at those speeds to care. My legs didn't really feel taxed until I got to the last hill. I knew then, at mile 23 that I had probably taken to much out of my legs and the run would be tough. I ran the run course a few weeks ago with my friend Kelly so I knew with tired legs i was in for a suckfest!! The transition from bike to run was pretty smooth. Nothing to it really. You take your feet out of your shoes and pedal on top of your shoes for the last 200 yards then swing your right leg back over the bike and stand off to the left side of the bike. When you get to the line you hop off and keep running along side the bike back to your spot on the rack, off with the helmet and on with the visor, shoes and race belt with race number.
RUN 10K or 6.2 miles
I emptied the rest of my water bottle on top of my head before taking off. The jog out of transition and onto the run course told me all I needed to know. This would be the hardest run I had ever completed. The run course was a 3 mile loop that we had to do twice. On the loop we had to climb the pedestrian bridge, climb 1st avenue, and climb 3rd avenue. If you are familiar with Nashville you know those are some steep long climbs. I made it almost a mile before I had to walk. I don't know what my run pace was because my legs were so tired, but at this point it had to be about 100 degrees and I'm sure the heat index was close to 105. The heat was literally sucking the life out of me. They had water just about every mile but it just wasn't enough. I pretty much walked 2-3 times per mile. Probably the most depressing thing about the race. I CAN NOT STAND TO WALK!! But I was struggling even to walk it was so freakin hot out there. Near the end of the 1st loop I was actually contemplating not finishing. I don't think I can really give you an accurate description of how miserably hot it was. I tried over the past few weeks to prepare myself mentally for the heat but I still couldn't overcome it. My legs really didn't start turning over until about the 4th mile. I walked a lot less on the second loop but the damage was already done at that point. I had wanted to place in the beginners category but knew the chance for that was long gone. Now I just wanted to finish under 2:50. I got to the top of 3rd ave for the second time, hit the last water stop and made the best push I could with the 1.5 remaining. When I was about 500 yards from the line I used what I had left, which was too much. I was in a full on sprint and heard a friend of mine yelling "you better dig". 10 yds to go and I hear "NUMBER 726 Chris Hanson from Smyrna Tennessee" it's kind of cool to hear that. I crossed the line, and pretty much pulled a Chuck Liddell, arms down and flexed and let out a scream. So glad I didn't quit...So glad i finished. By far it was the hardest thing I did. I thought my last Country Music 1/2 Marathon was the hardest but it got trumped big time today.
In the end I was the 4th beginner, could have placed if I could have just got myself to run more. I placed 9th out of 33 in the 25-29 age group. I guess that's not to bad for my second only. It definitely put the 1/2 Ironman distance in perspective. I was going to attempt one in a month but after today I know I'm not even close to ready. So I'll get back to work and tackle that distance next summer.
Next step for me is one more Tri either in August or September. A 1/2 Marathon in October and finally my first Marathon in December. Need to put a lot of work into my run. Hope you enjoyed the read. Thank you for all the support from those who texted, tweeted, or facebooked!!
