2026 Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga Race Report
If you’re getting ready for your first Ironman triathlon, check out our free guides:
On Sunday, Matt and I raced at 70.3 Chattanooga.
4th time for me.
3rd time for him.
It was exactly the same, but also completely different.
We have a unique history with this race.
Chattanooga was the site of our first half Ironman back in 2021. I’d actually signed up in 2020 and after the race got postponed and then cancelled, I went to the Six Gap Century instead, which is where Matt and I met.
We came back and did our first 70.3 together at Chattanooga in 2021.
I did it again in 2022, while Matt spectated after recovering from Covid round #2.
We did it together in 2023. A bad day. The second time I got sick during the run, and we lost a teammate in a bike crash. We hadn’t been back since.
Now, it’s 2026. The course, the atmosphere, the beautiful rolling farmland, and brutal run course heat were all there. It was the same. But it was also completely different.
72 hours from race day
Monty is monitoring the packing process.
We left Florida around 10 am and started the 7 hour drive north. We needed to get in at 5:30 pm so Matt could do a quick shake-out run before picking up my best friend Claire at the airport! She was flying in from Illinois, and we were excited to have her as a roommate for the weekend.
After picking up Claire and her bike, we headed to the grocery store to grab a few essentials. The funny thing is you can spot triathletes everywhere in town during the race. In fact, you can pick them out by their clothing and what they have in their grocery cart…
When I saw a thin, fit guy wearing Ons pushing a cart with only bananas and Pop Tarts, my triathlete radar went off. It was Matt Hanson. To which I yelled- “Matt!” (Full disclosure, I’ve interviewed him several times so this is only partially weird.) If he thought he could shop at Publix at 8 pm without being noticed, he was mistaken.
Grab a copy of my latest book: The Complete Guide to Your First 70.3 Triathlon.
48 hours from race day
First thing on the agenda was an open water swim. It’s not “technically” allowed to swim in the river prior to race day, so we headed to the nearby dam. We met up with teammates Justin, Angela, and Kevin for a 25-minute open water swim before booking it back to our Airbnb to get ready for a bike ride at 11:00 am.
We’ve ridden in town before, and it’s not the best road surface, so for a better quality workout, we drive to the Dollar General Mart just across the Georgia line. The weather was unseasonably cold- actually pleasant! But Chattanooga is always deceiving, because somehow the heat always turns on for race day. We were looking at a high of 90°, but thankfully that would be after we’d already finished.
Matt and Justin did race efforts, while Claire and I had an easy spin and climbed up to Chickamauga (backwards on course). Then, we turned around so we could do the descent. It’s not too steep, but there’s rough road, so it’s good to get familiar with the surface before race day.
The next order of business was to eat second breakfast and head to athlete check-in. The line is always super long, but AWA athlete status gets you in a bit faster. We added Gin to our group by then and made the rounds through Ironman Village saying hello to our friends and team sponsors, Larry at bambū werx and Mike at Rudy Project.
Rudy Project is a Triple Threat Life Club partner. We get 35% off. Code is triplethreatlife. Instructions to sign up here.
TTL Club members get even more cool discounts. Sign up here.
A fun new thing at the expo this year was Miles the mascot. It’s actually a pretty cute idea, and I’m not sure why they didn’t do it sooner.
Our final event of the day was a team pizza party at the local climbing gym. (My coach informed me that I was not allowed to climb…) But we had pizza, talked with teammates, and shared some advice for athletes doing the race for the first time.
24 hours from race day
This is a busy day because we have a workout, lots of food to eat, and race prep. Our day began with a brick at 9:00 am. Our ride group had grown to include Eric, Kelly, Kevin, and Angela. With all the coordinating, we forgot to do some coordinating of our own, and left our bike bottles in the fridge…
A quick request to the group of athletes gathered at the Dollar General quickly sourced us two different nutrition sources and a bottle, so all was well. That’s the great thing about triathletes! After an hour ride and a quick run off the bike, all the race prep was complete, and it was time to eat more food.
We packed our bags, put numbers on bikes, and headed to transition for bike check-in. The transition area at Chattanooga is massive, because this is the biggest (or one for the biggest) 70.3 races in the country. We were all the way at the end by bike out in the same row, so that was fun!
After all the race prep was done, we headed back to the Airbnb to relax and (you guessed it) eat more food before an early bedtime, because we had a 4:00 am wake-up call the next day…
Race day!
It’s race morning! By this point, one of our coaches had arrived (with pup Sunny in tow) and was sleeping on the pull-out couch, so we had a full house! After a quick breakfast, mobility and activation, we started the walk to transition… Until we realized we didn’t have Matt’s bike computer. After quickly locating the missing tech in a helmet bag pocket, we were back on track.
Our coach suggested we walk to the swim start as a good warm-up and to avoid the hustle and bustle of the long swim shuttle line. It was peaceful to watch the sun coming up over the water, which we noticed wasn’t moving much. The Tennessee River is interesting in that it typically always manages to squeak in under the wetsuit threshold (73° on race day) but the current is hit or miss. Judging from the kayakers sitting perfectly still, the current was missing today.
The Swim
My swim was strong and a good pace, but I didn’t quite get into my groove until the last 10 minutes. I do love this swim though, because there’s plenty of room to spread out and find clear water. Also, when you turn to breathe, you get to look at the massive cliffs that rise up from the river with tiny spectators standing on top. Once you swim under the blue Walnut St. Bridge, you’re almost home.
The weirdest thing happened as I got out of the swim. A volunteer reached over and tried to unzip the back of my wetsuit. Appreciate the kind gesture, but it caught me off guard, and I fumbled a bit not being able to go through my regular process of grabbing the strap. After a very long run to transition, I arrived at the bike. Matt was getting dressed. Yay Matt! Claire had just left and Gin was running out with her bike.
My transition was a bit longer than usual, because I needed to implement Part 1 of our Chattanooga Cooling Protocol- arm sleeves. (More on this coming in Thursday’s post). Also, I somehow managed to drop my bike (slippery hands) but despite a scuffed up pedal, all was well.
The Bike
Photo by LMG Photos.
The most dangerous part of this bike course is the first 10 miles out of town. You have to get past the water bottle launcher at the railroad tracks and the rough roads in St. Elmo before you hit smooth pavement in Georgia. Unfortunately, the first 15-20 miles is always a bit busy since this is a huge race.
I ran into a few guys on the bike course who either didn’t want to let me pass them (not really allowed), one that liked drafting way too close (definitely not allowed), and one who would only ride on the left side of the road (not allowed and not safe).
I think it’s about time I write a helpful reminder about Ironman bike course rules… Coming soon.
But I did tag-team with a few ladies who swapped places back and forth on the hills and flats, and they were fun. One lady yelled, “Tag you’re it!” as we kept passing each other, and I was cracking up.
Things seen on the bike course: Beautiful, rolling farmland. A few horses. A few ambulances. A roadside 10 commandments sign. A guy with a long beard sitting in a lawn chair surrounded by hundreds of miniature goats. A couple with a sign that said- “We love Iron people!”
I grabbed water at every aid station to pour on myself, but honestly felt pretty cool. I think in my eagerness to throw a half empty bottle off the road I may have hit a volunteer… I heard “Ow!” (sorry). Overall, I felt super strong, but didn’t exactly get through all my nutrition, so I was wondering how that would play out once I got to the run. Thankfully, I had an emergency gel in my bento box (thanks coach!) so I got in some of the carbs I was lacking.
Once I got off the bike in T2 and the wind was gone, I had an “Uh-oh, it’s hot now” moment. But I gathered all my Chattanooga Cooling Protocol items (more coming in Thursday’s post) and headed out on course after being generously splashed by an enthusiastic volunteer with a massive jug of water.
The Run
The run is the trickiest bit (especially for me) at this race. I have learned (the hard way many times) that no matter what pace you run in training, you can’t expect to come to Chattanooga, the first hot race of the season, and think you’re going to do that in 88° after riding 56 miles, oh yeah and we swam a bit too.
So the only goal for lap 1 was best easy pace + and walk every aid station. Here’s my aid station procedure. Walk at the start and pour water over my cooling sleeves and head. Jog to the end to grab ice to stuff in my sports bra and hat. Repeat.
I was pleasantly surprised that all of our cooling strategies were paying off big time! My heart rate was staying much lower than normal, I felt steady, and I was focused.
Despite being a very positive person, I have a tendency to go to a dark place during the run, especially a hot run. When you have a very high sweat rate like me (3.7 lb an hour) it doesn’t really matter how fit you are; you’re going to suffer in heat. Thankfully, we didn’t have much humidity, so that was a big help.
But the biggest thing (aside from my Chattanooga Cooling Protocol, that again, is coming Thursday!) was that I prayed. I didn’t want to go to that dark, angry, judgmental place, and so I prayed. I decided I would dedicate this race to God, and I picked a verse that has helped me in the past.
“But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.”- Psalms 3:3
And when I needed more, I repeated the lyrics to What an Awesome God over and over again my head, in time with my cadence. The only way I can describe it is steady comfort and peace feeling God’s presence with me during this run. He definitely had his hand on this run, and it was incredible.
The one change in the course from year’s past was due to construction on the Walnut St. Bridge. So, we did an out and back on the Veteran’s St. Bridge. It’s a bit hotter because there’s no shade, but some lovely person thought to put an aid station under the bridge.
That’s where Matt saw a giant M2 written in chalk on the road. I never saw it, but Matt told me about it after the race. M2 stands for Marshall Martin, the Spaero teammate we lost during a bike crash in 2023. He loved this race, and it’s so nice that someone honored his memory in that small way.
The Finish
Me, Matt, Gin, and Claire. Thanks to our wonderful coach Marni for taking all these great photos!
The best part about the run at Chattanooga is the end. From 12.7-13.1, it’s all downhill to the finish. You should know this massive hill, because you ran up it coming out of T2. Well, now you get to run down it, and that’s where I saw Matt waiting for me. He ran by me for a few seconds, squeezed my hand, and said he would be waiting for me at the finish.
After a big hug and a photo, it was finished. We did it! We found a spot in the shade, ate our lunch, checked out our bikes, and walked back to the Airbnb for a well-deserved shower and rest. The final cap on a great weekend was eating dinner and ice cream with our friends.
This was our first 70.3 of the season, and we’re so happy that we were able to share it with our coaches, friends, and teammates. Matt had a bike PR, I can apparently now push Olympic power during a 70.3 bike (who knew?!), and I didn’t melt into a B-puddle during the run, so I’m going to count that as a huge win. Matt placed 23rd in his age group, and I was 22nd in mine. We had a few Ag winners and PRs on our team, and everyone had a fantastic day.
We’re so blessed by the community that surrounds us and for the ability to do hard things, be in nature, and glorify the Lord in everything we do.