After a four year hiatus, I finally got back out racing, and I forgot how good it really feels. I picked the race I did, because I knew the course was pretty much flat, and I didn’t want to race at the end of July in Nashville, because I know how miserable that race can be.
I’m going to keep this race report brief. Chattanooga is a great city for a race I’ve decided. No wonder so many people race the half and full there. My parents drive down, so while waiting to check in at the Crash Pad I parked at their hotel and was able to ride my bike to transition. This is something I would never attempt in downtown Nashville.
I picked the sprint as something easy to train for in the two months I trained, and just as a little motivation for training. It worked. I’ve been more consistent than I have been in a long time while trying to listen to my body and rest as needed while building back my fitness.
The swim was short and downstream. I actually like longer lake swims, but I also tend to panic sometimes in open water, so this was good for my first time back racing. I swam a little too far into the current, but it wasn’t too bad making the turn to the finish. The volunteers were truly helpful with telling athletes to really bring their feet up to reach the bottom stair at the exit. Sometimes they want to help people who don’t need it getting out, but I thought for once they did a good job of helping when needed. Of course, helping when not needed is always better than not helping at all.
Getting to T1 was long, or at least it felt that way because of the stairs. I had a little bit of difficulty with my shoe, but once I was headed out I felt strong. I was also really thankful I bought a new aero bottle for my bike, because it allowed me to drink really easily when I knew I needed it, since I didn’t eat much pre race (1/2 of a blueberry bagel).
The bike course was fast. It took me a minute to settle into a pace, since there is one short hill as the beginning, so I took that easy to keep my heart rate from spiking, but after that I just found myself riding at a very steady pace for the remainder of the ride. I got a little irritated by people not calling out their passes, and by the potholes that need to be filled, but overall it was a really good course. The U-turn is a little tight, but I can stay clipped in for it, so it’s not too bad, you just need to make sure you slow way down for it. I was also very cautious coming down the hill before the bike finish, because it has one tight turn before you go into the straight line to the dismount line.
T2 was a little tough, just because I need socks to run, but once I started running I felt good. The run course was flat and went along the river, and it felt long, but my watch told me it wasn’t. I feel like I could have pushed the pace a little more, but I’ve always had issues with pushing through the discomfort, so I know if I race short course again I will need to work on it.
Overall, I’m really happy with the way this race went. Team Magic puts on a good race, and the volunteers did an excellent job. I’m planning to come back in 2022 to see if I can improve on my run time and get to the podium, because if I had my fastest 5k I would have been up there.