Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon, Chattanooga, TN July 12th, 2009
Let me start this race report by thanking Yolanda and putting it out there, this girl is a trooper. When I told her I was thinking of heading to Tennessee to do an Olympic Triathlon, she didn’t hesitate to tell me she would come with me, if fact she registered for the race before me. So, thank you Yolanda!
Chattanooga, TN is about a 13-hour drive from Miami; so the plan was to leave Thursday night drive non-stop until we arrived in Chattanooga. Things didn’t quite work out that way… Being the great Latin’s that we are, got on the road about 9ish versus the 7ish we had planned on. We drove a good way and ended up in a Motel 8 in Poe Dunk town called Lake City. The only reason I know that is because I saw it on the receipt. Yes, we tapped out around 3 AM in the morning about half way there. What can I say it happens to the best of us, moreover there was no logical reason not to stop.
We slept until I heard a car alarm right outside the window; the alarm tune was the same as my trucks alarm. I sprung out of bed darted to the window, and the stupid guy in the room next to us had no clue how close he was to being shot. He had tripped the alarm in his Chevy truck parked next to mine. I can’t say that’s the smartest thing to do in the middle of nowhere. At that point my heart was racing and there was no going back to sleep, we got ourselves together and started trucking north again.
The following six hours wasn’t bad at all (it helped that we have a wireless card and were watching Le Tour de France Stage 7 for the first three hours). Once you get out of the redundancy of Florida, there is some great scenery in Georgia (ok maybe not great, but much better).
We arrived in Chattanooga, TN at about two in the afternoon, and checked in to the Double Tree Downtown Chattanooga. The Double Tree is located about four city blocks away from the race site, which was about a five-minute walk. The hotel was really nice, the staff was very accommodating (especially when I pulled up with a truck load of gear and two bikes) and the price was more than right.
This was Yolanda’s first trip to the “South” so I had to chuckle when she was impressed with how nice everyone is and how the cars actually stop for you when you are crossing the road. I’m glad she got to experience a little “Southern Hospitality”.
Here’s where the story takes a turn I didn’t expected. My legs felt tight so I decided to go out on a ride around town. I figured I’d spin out my legs and get acquainted with the town. Off I went, I was enjoying the small rolling hills in the downtown area and before I knew it I’m on a full-fledged highway! The thought “OMG, WTF did I just get myself into” ran trough my mind. There was no turning around I was committed, so I put on my legs and powered through it, trying to reach the next exit or turn around. Mind you it didn’t help that I was on the emergency lane, not that that makes it any safer but these are the perils of not knowing where the hell you’re going. The fact that I didn’t get a flat was beyond me with all the debris on the shoulder of the road. All of a sudden there was a big drop, and like a boomerang my Profile Design Aero water bottle came flying out of the holder. Now, I would have kept going, but I’m in Chattanooga! Where was I going to find another one for Sundays Race (Answer: Nowhere)? So, I stopped put my bike in the bushes, and walked back and got my bottle. The fun continues, I found a turnaround point and headed back as cars whipped by at 80 MPH probably wondering “did I really just see some crazy guy on a bike?”
Finally, I made it back to the downtown area, not quickly enough, I though I was in the promised land ... I rode bike to the other side of downtown reflecting on the events that had just transpired, and where do I find myself on again? You guessed it, another on-ramp to a highway. This time I stopped, got off my bike and cautiously walked to safety. It seemed like every road in this town lead to a highway! I had pushed my luck for that day and headed back to the hotel. I told Yolanda the story and she was laughing so hard I think she was about to cry. In hindsight it was funny, but thought it was a valuable lesson. Lesson #1 of this trip: Look at a map before you go biking in a strange place.
We turned in early; Friday is the most critical day to rest before a race. Woke up to nine solid hours of sleep on Saturday, which was great! Pre-race bike-run-swim started at about ten in the morning. We got caught up watching Stage 8 of “Le Tour”. This time we checked a map before heading out (lesson learned).
We had an amazing ride with some technical difficulties; Yolanda didn’t put air in her tires before heading out (hear head was still in “Le Tour”). Rookie mistake, her tire started rubbing the frame (Billy fear not, they were her training wheels not the Reynolds). Lesson #2 of this trip: Never, never, ever, ever, ever leave to ride without attaching the tire pump to your wheels. Your tires loose air in the matter of hours.
This wasn’t the worst part about it, in my call to help, I leaned my bike up against a small wall. Yes the unthinkable happened, bam! Right on the floor and a nice chip of paint came off. I almost shed a tear. On the positive side of this travesty, it’s another reason to speed up the process of buying my Cervelo P4.
After the technical difficulties were addressed, we were on our way. There was some cool country/ industrial back roads we headed down. We came upon a sign that said “Rock City” and had a road that seemed 15 degrees shy of vertical heading in. Let me tell you after just watching “Le Tour Stage 8” I was inspired. The inspiration lasted less than a mile. The downhill was worse than the highway experience the day before.
We got back to the hotel to change into our running shoes and headed out. We ran by the staging area for the race, to get a glimpse, and then headed up the monster hill that would await us on Sunday. After we got to the top of the hill we gave each other that look of “are they serious with this hill?” We continued the run around the streets of downtown and made it back to the hotel to wrap up the 20 minute run. There was a b-line straight for the pool only to find it full of pesky kids (can you tell I don’t have any...). We jumped in and enjoyed the cool water.
After a short rest, we headed to the race site to pick up our packets and I was on a mission to find an aloe-vera leaf. The race site was completely organized. The packet pick up was running like a fine tuned machine and took about 2 minutes to pick up packet and race chips. The race bag had all sorts of goodies: gel packs, salt pills, all sorts of informational packets and some other miscellaneous goodies. Most importantly the race packet had a clear concise race plan of the event course maps and narrative description of the course. It was the most comprehensive race outline I’ve seen to date (not that I’ve been around so long, but I was impressed). Now we were off to find my aloe-vera leaf, which was not available at the local organic food store. If you’re wondering why I needed an aloe-vera leaf, check out my blog (Omarto’s recipies link). Needless to say, we found my leaf while driving the bike course (I’m a multitasker). The importance of this is that we got the second “holy shit” moment that awaited us that day. There was nothing but hills on the bike course (I’ll further explain this later).
We got back to the hotel once again and relaxed till it was time to go to church at five thirty in the afternoon; it was a few blocks away so we walked. After church we found a restaurant on the way back for the final carbo-loading meal. Yolanda does more traditional carbo-loading while I’ve taken a different road for nutrition. Yoly had the traditional and I had a garden salad, when I got back to the hotel I made a 5 banana shake to top the day of at somewhere around 18 bananas. I’ve been averaging 15-20 bananas a day and other organic types of nutrition (I know what your thinking, don’t worry I have a hook up with the guy at the produce wholesaler).
At the hotel we were final prepping all our gear for race day. My legs were feeling a little tired. I wasn’t about to take any chances, so you guessed it, ice bath time! Good thing the ice machine was next to our room and I had huge coolers. I filled up the tub with ice and a pinch of water. Ice baths always seem like the longest 15 minutes of your life (and we won’t talk about the shrinkage factor), but it was worth every second. My legs felt relieved. Side note: If you go back to high school chemistry, you put salt in the ice bath the temperature drops even lower, borderline hypothermic.
Once again we turned in early set the alarm for 3:38 AM (I like to wake up at odd hours).
I woke up feeing like a million dollars! Slept like a brick, my legs felt fresh, I was ready to go! Made my pre-race aloe-vera drink, ate a few bananas and had an Omarto’s Lemonade. I also woke up to a missed call from Coach Omarto with last words of wisdom. This message was the pre-race pep talk I needed; I got my head in the game and was ready to go. Yolanda finished her morning routine and we were out the door around 5AM.
We rode over to the transition area and we were the first to arrive. It seemed so quiet and peaceful; I took it in as the calm before the storm. This was a sold out event with over 1300 athletes, most looking to qualify for the USAT National Championship. We set up our transition area and headed to the busses that took us to the swim start.
This was a point-to-point swim down the Chattanooga River additionally it was a time trial start. There was no current, the water was dead flat, it was also silty (not very buoyant) and this was not a wet suit legal race, water temp was 80 degrees and the ambient temperature was about 85 degrees, no wind.
After about an hour waiting in the swim start area, I started warm up. Normally my warm up is a 400-500-meter swim, but they was no swim warm up due to the untraditional start. I ran a few laps and did the normal (out of pool stretching) warm up we do during swim practice with Coach Boris.
The race officials got us into start order, and the national anthem was played. I mention this because I was amazed mid way into the national anthem there was technical difficulty with the PA system and it shut off. All athletes kept singing the national anthem; it was a moment that brought a great sense of pride.
As we were shuffled off in line Yoly and I wished each other luck and I headed to the water. To start the race you entered the water at a dock and hold on as you shuffle forward until you were in front of the starter. Every five seconds they started the next person.
I was looking dead at him until he gave me the go ahead. I started down the river, and didn’t get into a grove until around 800 meters. I didn’t really feel fast in the water but I kept my stroke count up. My conditioning was there, but the speed wasn’t. My swimming has come a long way in the past few months. Gary Fahey “The Stroke Doctor” has been instrumental in technique (believe me I have the video’s) at the Boris Camp I’ve been working on speed and endurance. I still have a long way to go, and this swim made that apparent. I am my own worst critic so maybe I’m extra tough on myself. I can’t emphasize enough how well organize this race was. There were canoe boats every 100 feet and the swim course was clearly marked. On one occasion I started swimming towards the outer edge and was corralled back in by a volunteer on the water. I made it to the swim exit in 25:54. Not the time I was looking for, but I can’t change it now. Only train harder.
Let’s talk about the swim exit for a minute, those that have done the “Escape to Miami” know about exiting the swim via stairs. This was that type of exit with a completely different set of stairs. As soon as you exit the first set of stairs you run about 75 feet and are faced with stairs that rival the stairs that Rocky Balboa ran up in the movie “Rocky”. They are steep and plentiful! My heart rate was steady out of the water, but the stairs definitely put me squarely in “Zone 5”.
There was about a 200 meter run to the bikes after the stairs. Helmet, glasses, bike and I was off to the monstrous bike course (my shoes are clipped in if you were wondering). Transition took 2:22.
There are no hills in Florida that compare to this course, not even Claremont (two different animals). This was 25 miles of nothing but hills. There was only 3 major down hill portions. I hate to keep referencing it, but think “Le Tour de France” Pyrenees Mountains. Ok maybe not to that degree but let me tell you how I in my mind I transfigured my soul with Carlos Sastre.
The first 13 miles were the most brutal up hill climbs imaginable to a Floridian, there was one down hill section. These hills are not what most would think; just because there is an up hill it doesn’t equal a down hill. It was more to the tune of up hill, plateau, up hill, slight down hill, up hill plateau, up hill and then a good down hill. This went on for 25 miles. There were two steep climbs that brought me out of the saddle. I could hear Steve Brookner’s voice in my head, “Drive!” ,“Drive!”, “Yah!”, “Yah!”. Followed by my own motivational cursing at myself (we’ve established I have weird habits).
Lets have a little chat about the down hill sections, this is where the Men and Women were separated from the boys and girls. So buckle up your pants and let’s go for a ride! I knew I had to make up what I had lost on the up hills on the down hills. The first down hill section I tucked away dropped into the big ring in the front #11 in the back and put the hammer down. I quickly came up on 40 MPH. The second section brought me into 42 MPH and the third into 43.7 MPH. This was not for the faint of heart, and it was evident by the amount of riders I was blowing by. I wasn’t overtaking I was leaving these guys standing still on the downhill. I had smile ear to ear, it was the gratification of all the suffering during the climbing. Then again I’m a speed junkie.
I finished up the bike course in 1:09:59
Bike to run transition went smoothly, minus the fact that I forgot the gels and salt tablets that I take “just in case”. Transition took 1:08
You would think these guys would give you a break after a brutal bike course, think again. Right out of transition there was that nice little climb Yoly and I had the holy shit moment about the previous day followed by a slight down hill into a nice little up hill followed by two stories of stairs (I was thinking the same thing you are “are you f’ing kidding me?”). There was a few more rolling hills and then off to a board walk along side the Chattanooga River. It was a beautiful run from a scenic standpoint, not so much from a running the final leg of a triathlon standpoint.
My legs were on verge of failure by mile two and all I could think about was the message on my phone of Coach Omarto telling me races are won on negative splits. Failure was not an option. I kept the turn over in my legs as fast as possible as I made the turnaround. I cranked up the cadence of my legs and while I knew they were going faster it felt like a lack of power to the floor. This could have been fatigue, I’m not sure there was pure adrenaline running through my body at this point. I saw Yolanda at around mile four on my way back; she was still heading for the turnaround. I mustered the energy to yell “Daleeeeeee, ponte las piernas, daleeeeee!!! (Translated meaning: Goooo, move your legs, goooo!!) I kept running, at this point the same guys that I left standing still on the bike came back for a little payback and blew by me at 6-6:30 minute paces.
The finish was a long downhill (the first hill encountered in reverse) this would have been great if my body knew how to capitalize on the downhill. My legs put on the brakes and for the life of me they wouldn’t free up until I hit the break at the bottom. At the end of the break of the hill there was about a quarter mile to go and it was an all out sprint.
I finished the run in 46:57 and finished the entire race in 2:26:18. I placed 14th of 92 in my age group and 105st overall of 788 males. I accomplished my goal of securing a spot on the Navy Regional Teams and qualifying for the USAT National Championship in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on August 22, 2009.
I have a lot of work to do before then, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this event. Team Magic put on an amazing event and any race director looking to get it right, needs to follow their model. I look forward to participating in future races hosted by Team Magic across the “South”.
I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without the many people who support me in life starting out with my Mother, she has been my biggest advocate and there is no replacement for a supportive family. My Coaches have been instrumental in my development. The Boris Camp of coaches is first class, Coach Boris Fernandez, Omarto Fumero, Ricky and Gary Fahey (which is not part of the Boris Camp but well deserves mention) has spent countless hours not only in training but also in mentorship, development and nutrition. You can have all the coaching certifications in the world but none give you the gift of being a phenomenal coach and all these guys have the goods. Additionally I need to thank my fellow teammates at the Boris Camp that wake up every morning to train, challenge and test me. The Hammerheads continue to be an amazing support system that assists far and beyond the call every time.
I thank you all, and truly feel blessed to have each and every one of you in my life. Until next race I wish you all the best, train smart and in the words of Coach Omarto “Make your move!”
-Milo Fernandez
PS: I forgot to mention for those wondering, Yolanda and I trucked it back the 13 hours non-stop after the race. Like I said the girl’s a trooper and she had to work on Monday!
