CHOO CAMP

Ironman training officially began 5 1/2 months ago.  Although I've been putting in the hours training each week, it still doesn't seem real.  Real in a sense that I am actually training for and will complete an Ironman.  My training has been very consistent with over 240 hours of training so far this year.  Well over 150,000 yards in the pool, 1763 miles biking and 465 miles of running. Despite all of that, it hasn't really it me.  This weekend I think it will finally hit me, or rather smack me hard in the face...or legs.

Early Friday morning Tara and I are driving to Chattanooga for a weekend of training on the Ironman Course.  It's all about to become very very real.  The entire weekend was planned around The USMS 2.4 mile Open Water National Championship and planned by the Tri Coach Georgia crew that put on the Augusta training weekend I participated in last year.  They are a fantastic group of triathletes and organized this free training weekend for 100+ athletes out of their love for the sport.

CHOO BESTIES

Schedule of Events for the Weekend

Friday

• 7am - Road Trip to Chattanooga
• Upon Arrival - Ride 60 miles / 1 loop of the bike course 
• Possibly a very short run off the bike.
• Dinner with the TriCoachGeorgia Crew

Saturday

• 11am - 2.4 Open Water Swim Non-Championship Wave
• 3pm - run 1 loop / 13 miles of the run course
• Dinner with ICE

Sunday

• 9am - Ride 112 miles / full 2 loops of the Ironman bike course
• Very short run off the bike.

When I type the schedule out it doesn't seem like that much, but when I add up the training hours we're looking at probably close to 14 hours over 3 days.  That's only a few hours short of what I typically do in an entire week.

Downtown Chattanooga

Swim:

The swim Saturday is in the Tennessee River, the same location of the CHOO swim.  Luckily for us CHOOBS there is a non-championship heat so that we can get a feel for the water.  The swim course this weekend will travel with the river current and then turn around to travel against the river current.  Thankfully the Ironman swim will likely travel with the current, but certainly will not be against the current.  Adding to the excitement, fellow ICE teammates Jeremy and Jenny (championship wave) and James and Tim (non-championship wave) decided to jump in on the action last minute.  I'm a tad nervous about this long of an open water swim.  I love to swim, I'm not terrible at it, but I do not enjoy open water swimming.  However, it's part of the process so I will go out there and enjoy a nice long swim in the Tennessee River with a large crowd of people!

Bike Course: 

My longest ride to date is 82 miles.  I am also slightly nervous about the jump to 112 miles but with proper fueling and pacing all should be ok.  It will however be a very long drive back home afterwards.    By the end of the weekend we will have completed the main bike loop 3 times which will really help to learn the course and provide some comfort for race day.

Run Course

There's been a lot of chatter online about the elevation of the bike course and then the elevation of the run course as well.  I am very curious to see how it compares to the hills of Davidson.  I've felt pretty terrible running this week, but I am definitely looking forward to a slow, easy 13 miles on the IM run course.

I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to share from the weekend, hopefully James will capture a video or two and there will certainly be a blog post after!

COUNTDOWN to EAGLEMAN HALF IRONMAN: 23 Days!!!