Check out some of the main threads on the race. I saw some posts that said other races that use the same channel of water around that time of the year usually see water temps in the 74-77 range. It will be on the edge. The currents are also a moving target. Some years there was no benefit. Other years people felt a small current. Someone predicted 1-5 minute gain for a 1:15 swimmer over the IM distance.

You know...if you start swimming now you might have a decent swim regardless of it being wetsuit legal or not.

How belittling! But I'm looking at apportioning my training differently depending on whether I expect it to be wetsuit legal.

Good lord. The race is a year away.

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Wow, harsh forum.

Exactly. The race is a year away. So if there is a CURRENT temperature report online somewhere, I need to find it now. The current temperature of the river next summer is not going be of much use. :)

I've lived here two years now. Last year the high was 109 and it was freaking hot the whole summer. This year we barely had any days over 90� So banking on what water temperature is this year for next year is kind of silly.

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Thanks for your opinion. Personally, I'll take some data points over no data points. I'm just silly that way. :)

I usually ignore the posts that don't answer your question, but rather tell you why you shouldn't be asking it.

Someplace someone posted a graph of the mean temperatures at Nickajack. The mean temp for the end of September was 74 degrees (90th percentile was 78, while 10th percentile was like 68).

---

Proud Member of Chris McDonald's 2018 Big Sexy Race Team "That which doesn't kill me, will only make me stronger"
Blog-Twitter-Instagram-Race Reports - 2018 Races: IM Florida 70.3, IM Raleigh 70.3, IM 70.3 World Championships - South Africa, IM North Carolina 70.3

LOL, point taken!


Exactly the info I was looking for -- complete with standard deviation! My faith in the forum restored -- thanks.

Really, a water temp post already? I agree do more training

---

Giddy up, there's no reason to look behind you, you're not heading that way.

You know ... some people are sub-1 hr swimmers and still want to know what the water temp is. Without knowing the OP personally, how do you know if he is a decent swimmer or not?

---

__________________________________________________________________________
My marathon PR is "under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."

The local river swimmers were measuring water temps around 78 degrees this week.

FWIW We were on the river Friday, and at 2:00 it was 78 per the temp gauge on the boat. Felt nice. Current was pretty strong too. But as was mentioned before, race day could be entirely different.

Mark

what is start time for IMCHATT?

i have heard 7:30

thank you

Darryl

Pros will start at 7:30am, age groupers will start in a rolling start right after that. Brian

There I fixed that for you :)

---

Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca

Brian,

Thanks for the information. I know you must be busy with Raleigh 70.3 just a month away.

You stated that IM Chattanooga will be a rolling start for the age groupers. Will there be a discernable difference in the IM Chattanooga "rolling start" vs the IM Louisville "time trial" start?

Thanks,
Alan Parker
japarker24

---

Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Happy Runner I am in the same situation as you. A year away or not, sometimes first timers have reasonable questions. Who woulda thought?
Check out this link. It may help a bit.
http://crushingiron.com/6-reasons-to-ditch-the-wetsuit-at-ironman-chattanooga/

I'm not a coach and I won't pretend to be, but that's a pretty silly list in my opinion.

"To Use The Current. The swim will be with the current. A wetsuit, by design, is very sleek and slippery piece of equipment. However, with an “aided” swim that can can be a disadvantage. You dont want the water to slip over you, you want to use the current to grab every piece of your body. More friction."

The current isn't THAT fast. You're not going slower than the current. Both suiters and non suiters will be going current speed + whatever you generate.

Then the rest are basically just reasons to not wear a suit in general (If you panic, if the time to take if off is slower than than the time gained, if you overheat, arm fatigue, etc.).

I've got Chatt signed up as my first full, but I don't see much about it that makes it too special for suit vs non suit. Obviously it's a super fast and warm swim, but if you're pulling 2:00/100 and a suit can shave 20s off that, it'll do it regardless of what the current is doing. I'm not going to argue as to whether a suit is worth it for the other drawbacks, which can be legit, but I don't think it's super useful to say "Panic? Don't wear a suit at Chatt" lol

---

JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

If you read the whole article, at the very end he states that he was wrong about not wearing a wetsuit. He did the race without a wetsuit and had people blowing past him in wetsuits. His conclusion was, I am an idiot, wear the stinking wetsuit, its totally worth it!

Yeah I saw that. Assuming you can handle the temp I don't know why you wouldn't for any reasons that make Chattanooga unique. Good he knows for the future.

---

JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.