Oklahoma City Redman Triathlon - Half Redman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

I had not swam a race in water with that much chop to it. It wasn't terrible, but it was enough to impact my breathing, navigation, and ability to swim straight. I swam away from the mass of swimmers again - this adds to my time, but helps me relax and swim stronger.

Practice swimming in water with waves and current. Work on navigation and swimming straight.

T1 was fine. They had carpet set up on the beach, so I didn't have to spend any time cleaning my feet off before putting on shoes and socks.

Turn on my GPS while in T1. I waited until the mount/dismount line and that took about 20 seconds to get the correct page and settings.

The farthest I've ridden before this race was 23 miles, so I knew this was going to be rough. I felt good and thought I was staying within myself for most of the race. Around mile 40 I was getting pretty uncomfortable in the saddle. At mile 48 my legs didn't want to play anymore and my back didn't want to areo either. I was hoping to finish under 3hrs, but missed that by a few minutes.

Just need to train longer rides if I'm going to do races of this length.

I had no problems with the transistion. I took some extra time trying to stretch my legs and back before starting the run.

Nothing

Here is where I hit the wall. My legs did not want to even start the run. I figured after running a mile or so they would loosen up and fall into a slow pace - nope. I ended up walking as much as I ran. My longest run before this race was about 6 1/2 miles, so I knew this was going to be rough, but didn't think it would be this rough! I gutted the last mile out with a goal (at that point) to finish under 7 hrs. I was glad to get off my feet and in the shade!

Run longer distances and run after long bike rides if I'm going to continue racing this distance.

I met up with Lindsey and Jack, sat down in the shade, and drank some water. Jack wanted to play, so he kept grabbing my arm and telling me to "get up, Daddy!" Gotta love it. I signed up for a massage, but the family had already spent an hour in the sun and 93 degree heat, so we got my stuff and hit the road for home.


My training program was not focused on bike and run distances of this length. I'm still learning how much water I need to take in during the race to balance between dehydrated and waterlogged. I'm sure I messed up the nutrition on a race of this length too.


The check in was not organized in logical order. The mandatory pre-race brief was terrible. People couldn't hear the briefers and the briefers were not impressive. On the good side, the race was marked very well, the traffice control was great, and the volunteers were wonderful.