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Redman Triathlon - Half Redman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
United States
Oklahoma Redman Triathlon
75F / 24C
Precipitation
Total Time = 6h 15m 20s
Overall Rank = 442/573
Age Group = F25-29
Age Group Rank = 17/22
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 4:50 am, finished packing my stuff, made some coffee at the hotel, fixed a mini whole wheat bagel w/peanut butter and a banana, and drove to the race site. I missed the turn, because apparently even though the road is "Lake Hefner Road," the signs only said Grand/74 North. So I drove an extra five miles or so before I realized my mistake and turned around. I just watched for landmarks then. Made it to the site around 6:00 (where did I lose so much time??) and there was no parking left anywhere close by. I had to park about a mile away and carry all my gear in. By the time I got to transition, there were a few raindrops, and once I'd gotten bodymarked and picked up my chip there was a pretty steady, albeit light rain. I decided to just leave my stuff in plastic bags, instead of laid out on a towel like usual. I made sure I had a bike bag, a run bag and an "other" bag. Then I just hung around, had a GU, etc. They closed transition and we all filed over to the swim start, but by this time the rain was coming down pretty hard and they ended up delaying the start of the race, due to flooding on the bike course. The RD considered making the race a swim-run-swim and that was not good news to me because the bike is the only thing I'm decently good at! But luckily they ultimately decided to do the race as originally planned, with the exception of a mandatory dismount around mile 6 of the bike, to walk through the 3-4 inches of rain on the road.
Event warmup:

I had no warm up to this race! In fact, most of us got quite cold, since it was in the sixties and raining. We stood there shivering in our wetsuits and trash bags for a good hour or so. When we finally got in the water it felt so warm!
Swim
  • 42m 12s
  • 2112 yards
  • 01m / 100 yards
Comments:

This swim was pretty nice. It was a bit crowded at the beginning. I seeded myself a little too far back, and had a hard time getting through some really slow people. Got bumped around quite a few times, and even kicked in the face, but luckily it was not a strong kick! After a couple hundred meters, it thinned out and I had no problems. I sighted pretty well until just after the turn around to go back, and then I tended to drift to the outside, but overall it wasn't bad. It was still overcast and lightly raining so the buoys were very easy to see. For me, this was a really good swim. I felt pretty strong, didn't get tired, and actually enjoyed it a lot - I'm just not fast! :)
What would you do differently?:

Take more swimming lessons.
Transition 1
  • 02m 58s
Comments:

I was pleasantly surprised to find wetsuit strippers at the swim exit. I've never been stripped in public before, and you know, I kinda liked it! ;)
The rest of T1 was pretty uneventful; I didn't even bother drying off my feet because the towel I had was completely soaked by the rain, and they would've just gotten wet anyway as soon as I took off.
What would you do differently?:

Maybe hurry up a little. I was taking my sweet time.
Bike
  • 2h 56m 5s
  • 56 miles
  • 19.08 mile/hr
Comments:

This bike started off poorly for me. I didn't get clipped in properly, or there was something screwy with my chain, I don't know, but I somehow slipped as I took my first pedal stroke and kind of fell down (the bike didn't go completely over on its side, but I did manage to scrape up my right knee pretty good). It stung a little, but mostly it was my ego that was bruised, heh. At least I gave the spectators some amusement!

After that incident I was a little worried, since it was still raining lightly and the roads were all wet. I thought I'd take it easy, but then when I got going, I was averaging 20+ mph all around the lake, and it felt good, plus I knew the course was supposed to be relatively flat and with few turns, so I decided to not hold back. I ended up passing a ton of people on this bike. I tried really hard to push up each hill and not slack off and coast anywhere. And it paid off. At the halfway point, I was at 1:27 so then my goal became doing the 56 miles in less than 3:00. I did get tired in the last 10 miles and slowed down a bit - this was when two of the ladies I'd passed caught up to me again, but I never gave up. I really enjoyed the course and all the support along the way (great police coordination & volunteers out there!!!). The only bad thing was that the roads themselves were pretty rough. I'd say at least half of the course is chip seal or equivalent roughness with plenty of potholes and bumps. But oh, how nice it felt when you'd hit a smooth stretch of road!

And I am happy to report that there was no peeing on the bike - at least not on MY bike! (that I know of ;) ) I wasn't too keen to repeat the pee-stravaganza I had at Racine, and luckily I didn't have to go at all at RedMan. Although, RedMan would've been the place to do it, with all that rain... !
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. The official results show 19.1 mph as my pace, but my cateye registered 19.3, and I know I set it to the right tire calibration. So who to believe? Ah well, whatever it was, I had a good ride!
Transition 2
  • 03m 11s
Comments:

Took my sweet time again. And fiddled around with my race belt and couldn't get it to clip for a while. (Didn't I have this problem last time? Apparently, I didn't learn my lesson to just RUN with the belt and put it on later.)
Run
  • 2h 30m 54s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 11m 31s  min/mile
Comments:

This run started off surprisingly well. My shins weren't really hurting for some reason - they've been giving me a lot of trouble the last month, but they did ok here. The only bad part of the first lap was the crazy amount of standing water on the course - this park was NOT built for rain! My shoes were completely soaked within the first mile, and they never dried off. But I actually held a 10:00 pace for the first seven miles and was doing all the math in my head... I realized that if I kept up that pace, I would finish sub-six (with a couple minutes to spare). That was huge for me, since it's a long-standing goal, and I was feeling pretty good. It was also great to see BTers and my fellow KCM members on the run - very encouraging.

And then mile 8 hit, and my pace dropped to 11:00. uh-oh, what's happening? this is not good.... I started to really hurt too, especially in my hip flexors and butt fat (yes, my butt fat was KILLING me!). And I don't even have that big of a butt (or do I??). Anyway, from that point on, everything went downhill. I realized just before the end of mile 10 that I was not going to make it in under six hours, and I started to walk. Mental defeat I guess. From then on, I started walking more and more. It was disappointing, but by that point, my hips were hurting so much, I didn't care. I did not train enough to be able to keep a 10:00 pace for 13.1 miles. I still had a good time out there. The volunteers were fantastic, and the weather finally cleared up. It actually got hot for the last few miles (which of course, took me the longest). But I made it in, and it was still a PR for me - by a half hour, no less!
What would you do differently?:

Not skip ANY runs in training, thereby (hopefully) avoiding the injuries that left me unable to train the past few weeks. And maybe do a couple barefoot runs each week to strengthen my feet.
Post race
Warm down:

After finishing, I grabbed some food and went to the medical tent to get my cut cleaned out. It wasn't that bad really, but it had had all sorts of icky stuff festering in it for the last 5 hours: rainwater, sweat, road grime, etc. So I got that cleaned out and then went to find Tom and Lisa at their tri club's tent. Didn't really see anyone else I knew. Chatted with them for a bit, then got my stuff out of transition and walked the mile back to my car to go to the hotel and SHOWER.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of run training and poor swimming technique. One of these days, I'll do something about that second thing. Maybe.

Event comments:

This race is one of, if not the most well-organized race I've done. I had high expectations based on what I'd heard of the race and I was not disappointed. Good race swag, a nice, safe course, lots of police and volunteers out there, plenty of aid stations, and very good pre-race communication. The only complaint would be that the race venue is not very good if the weather is bad (it was basically a glorified mud pit by the end) but this is no fault of the RD's! I really enjoyed the race overall and had a great time!




Last updated: 2009-07-31 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:42:12 | 2112 yards | 01m / 100yards
Age Group: 0/22
Overall: 0/573
Performance: Average
Suit: sleeveless ProMotion
Course: one long counter-clockwise rectangle
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:58
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
02:56:05 | 56 miles | 19.08 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/22
Overall: 0/573
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: Out north and west of Lake Hefner, then back
Road: Rough Wet Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 03:11
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
02:30:54 | 13.1 miles | 11m 31s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/22
Overall: 0/573
Performance: Average
Course: two out-and-back loops along the east/south end of Lake Hefner, with a little loop at the far end.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2009-09-20 9:11 PM

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Extreme Veteran
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Olathe, KS
Subject: Redman Triathlon - Half Redman


2009-09-20 9:30 PM
in reply to: #2416771

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Member
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Central Florida
Subject: RE: Redman Triathlon - Half Redman
I'm proud of you! (Especially as I've just been sitting on my rear for awhile)
2009-09-20 10:02 PM
in reply to: #2416771


24

Subject: RE: Redman Triathlon - Half Redman
Hey LindaKC,

Congrats on the PR!!  Sounds like all-told you had a great race.


sometimesitri
2009-09-20 11:24 PM
in reply to: #2416771

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Master
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Straight outta Compton
Subject: RE: Redman Triathlon - Half Redman
Nicely done! Especially the bike- and after you tipped the bike to still come out strong. It was fun, and your analysis is right on.
2009-09-20 11:47 PM
in reply to: #2416771

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Champion
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Chicago
Subject: RE: Redman Triathlon - Half Redman
Great job Linda. You looked happy on the run and great bike! The course was about 0.6 miles long i think. Great race and good job on the pr!!!
2009-09-21 9:57 AM
in reply to: #2416771

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Alpharetta, Georgia
Bronze member
Subject: RE: Redman Triathlon - Half Redman
Awesome job, girl. I canNOT believe how strong you've gotten on the bike. You are amazing!!!!
Congrats!!


2009-09-22 2:50 PM
in reply to: #2416771

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Extreme Veteran
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Subject: RE: Redman Triathlon - Half Redman

Great race, very impressive bike split!! Hope to see you out on the road back in Johnson County sometime soon.

2009-09-22 8:19 PM
in reply to: #2416771

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Expert
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Wellington, North Island
Subject: RE: Redman Triathlon - Half Redman
Awesome job on the race Linda!! A 30 minute PR is huge!

It's so great to see how strong you are on the bike. I'm so impressed with you and how you overcame your fears and started riding again after the accident and now are so FAST!

Just . . . and AWESOME job!
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