Icy Hot Ironman 70.3 World Championships - Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

I completed my first 70.3 Ironman in Phuket, Thailand last year and it was a shattering experience. I was convinced that it just wasn't my distance and was in no hurry to try another. However we had only been back home a few days when I got an email saying that the inaugural 70.3 Edinburgh Ironman would be in July. Five minutes later I had entered. I think I wanted to prove to myself that I could actually run a half marathon without having to walk in parts, after a 56 mile cycle and 1.9 mile swim.

Edinburgh was a much more satisfying experience. It went as well as I could've hoped and I finished second in my age group. The first and second placed athletes were offered a place at the Icy Hot World Ironman 70.3 Championships in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was only 2 months away but, as we didn't have any other holiday plans, I decided to give it a go.

We ended up spending nearly 2 weeks over there and despite feeling some of the effects of hurricane Irma, we had a great time. Chattanooga is a fairly small city with more of a country feel about it, being surrounded by Lookout and Signal mountains. The people couldn't have done enough for the 4000 athletes and their supporters from all over the world coming to visit. They certainly helped me with my bike. I'm no bike mechanic and after rebuilding my bike after transit I thought I'd get the local bike shop to check it out. They couldn't have been more helpful although they must've been thinking I was a bit clueless. One mechanic certainly wasn't happy with how the bike felt. He looked at me and said "did you build this bike??" I said I'd given it a go but was no expert. He then spent another 5 minutes pushing and pulling the handlebars before again saying a bit louder "did you build this bike??" At that point me and Mandy started pointing at each other, it was her/it was him. Eventually they realised that Mandy had put part of the headset on upside down..........OK it was probably me. We did visit them a few more times before race day and each time they had the patience of Saints dealing with a couple of annoying rookies.

With no expense spared, training facilities had been laid on by race organisers at the local YMCA. To be fair it was really big, with a swimming pool and a huge gym. We were there one of the days sheltering during a thunder storm. I had hoped to use the indoor pool but, strangely, it was temporarily closed due to the lightning. Something to do with outside pipework being struck and the bolt finding it's way into the pool. We were all sitting about in the reception waiting for the lightning to pass over. I thought that it's not every day you are waiting alongside world champions Javier Gomez (the eventual winner) and Sebastian Kienle to use the local YM.

The race itself went well, although I'm never again going to rely on Facebook advice from local athletes. For weeks/months before the event competitors were asking if it was likely that it would be a wetsuit swim. Ed the local tri guy had said there would be no chance that the Tennessee river would be below the 76.1 degrees required for wetsuits to be legal. I had mine with me at Gatwick Airport and Mandy said take it just in case. I said no as Ed will know his stuff and decided to leave it in the car and not waste luggage allowance. Unfortunately Ed hadn't factored the earlier hurricane in Texas, which had cooled the river on race day to, surprise, surprise, exactly 76.1 degrees.

I could only see a handful of other numpties who had left their wetsuits at home. It wasn't crucial, unless you were expecting to podium. For me it maybe cost 3 or 4 minutes in time, as swimming with a wetsuit is quicker than just wearing a tri suit. On hindsight I should've just treated myself to a flash new one at the event expo.   There was a strong current in the river, which was very evident during swim reccies. However it was a sign of the impact the race had on the local community, when the local power station had agreed to switch off their pumps during the race to lessen the current. My 1.9 mile swim seemed to go well, most of which was upstream, the last third flew in swimming back downstream.

Then it was onto the 56 mile bike leg, where I had a couple of mishaps. I'd finally invested in a fancy time trial bike, just so I'd look like I knew what I was doing. It was obvious that I didn't actually have a clue when I tried to jump on the bike at the start. I didn't take into account that the seat was a lot higher and handlebars a lot lower than my previous bikes. So me and bike ended up in a big heap on the ground after my attempted flying mount. Not much harm done other than a big red neck. The second bigger mishap happened shortly after the first. I was about a mile into the course and was momentarily distracted by someone passing me. I took my eyes off the road for a second & didn't notice a big pothole until it was too late. The bike had taken a big whack, I was sure that the tyre would have punctured. Thankfully it hadn't, but when I went back on the tri bars they had come loose and were moving about. The jolt had dislodged a couple of the metal screw inserts from the carbon handlebars. I still had 55 miles to go with floppy tri bars. I obviously couldn't now use them so couldn't get aero. More worrying was that they might actually fall off. I was coping at first, but it wasn't long before I started getting really uncomfortable, as I was having to hold myself up on the low handlebars. It seemed to take an eternity but my bike time was 2 hours 55 minutes, which I was happy about as it included climbing up Lookout Mountain. I'm also guessing I must've lost about 5-10 minutes due to not going aero and being so uncomfortable.

Then it was onto the half marathon run. It was very tough, comprising of a 2 lap course with 3 big hills on each lap. The last hill on each lap reminded me of the vertical mile up to the first corner. I had hoped to match the 1.38 time I did at Edinburgh, as that was also a tough course, but Edinburgh wasn't 80 degrees. So I was fairly happy with 1.45.

There had been over 100 qualifying races for the world championships. Every time I've competed in an Ironman event it feels like a big deal. The standard at the top end is always high, so I knew all of the 200 who had qualified in my age group would be good. Before the race I had said that I'd be delighted with a top 100 finish, so I've got to be happy with finishing 58th.
70.3 Ironman events are growing on me and I'm sure I'll try a few more. As for the full Ironman..........nah don't need it, not my distance.
Martin