This time included wading through muddy water, across dry lake bed to carpet, then to the boat dock and up a hill. I never swim this slow, especially in a wetsuit, so it had to be the extra distance from water to shore that made my swim split so slow.

Really, nothing. Lots more OWS practice, but opportunity to do so limits me. I guess I could just start going to the lake by myself since now I can measure my distance with my Garmin 910xt. Just kind of dangerous swimming alone.

You know, I'm not going to bemoan this T1 time. I was the furtherest (is that a word?) away from bike out that I could get, and I run in my bike shoes since I haven't learned how to put shoes onto bike and slip in them once I'm underway. Another major factor is that it seems my monthly likes to come at EVERY race, so I had to visit the porta potty. Bummer, but necessary.

Oh...learn how to slip into already mounted shoes, go sockless, practice transitions more.

Being that this was my first HIM, I purposely took it easy on the bike split. I had forgotten just how hilly the bike course at Redman is - mostly rollers, but a few actual climbs which necessitated me coming up out of my saddle. That was unfortunate, because I really wanted to come in at around 3-3:15. Ate 2.5 Cliff Mojo Bars, then switched to Gu's the last hour of the ride to start the run with no solids in my stomach.

The usual - lose weight. I really prepped for the bike split with a huge increase in cycling volume this summer, so my slow times aren't reflective of a lack of effort/preparation, but of excess weight and conservative pacing to account for the half marathon run afterwards. Still, I'm happy that I averaged over 15mph with relative ease, which wasn't the case last year when I did the AQB.

Once again I had to visit the porta potty, and once in there I discovered there was no toilet paper. Jeez! Had to pull up my tri suit, go to the next porta potty to use some TP.

There's no way in hell I'm going to try to rush things in a porta potty wearing slick-ish bike cleats. Don't want to end-up in the bottom of it!

Oh my. This is where I'm really disappointed. I'm a horrible runner under normal circumstances, but I AM a relative beginner runner, and do improve a bit each year. However, I've said it a thousand times - I. Do. Not. Run. In. The. Heat. I just can't do it - I am super heat intolerant anyway, so running in it is just really bad for me.

At about mile 7 my belly started cramping. I looked down at it and noticed that it was extremely bloated (I've been having GI issues for a couple of weeks now....don't know why), and was cramping horribly. Ate a couple more Gus before realizing they were making things worse so stopped taking in nutrition. Also started getting nauseated drinking water, so only sucked on ice after that. So I had four bad things going-on: overheating, GI upset, dehydration and glycogen depletion. I was worried that I would DNF even at mile 12! Mind you - I would have *never* choose to DNF - I was afraid that I would either pass-out, or get really sick and be pulled from the course from race officials. Quitting is not an option to me, unless I've got a broken leg or something that will not withstand one. more. step.

This was my first HIM so it was my Grand Experiment, and baseline for all other HIMs. Next time I will train using all liquid nutrition to maybe minimize GI upset on the run and see if that helps, as well as do some longer runs on my bike/run bricks. I think that at least 35 miles followed by a 1.5 hour run at least 5 times before the race would do me a lot of good. However, I may be wrong on this as when I sat out on the run I didn't feel fatigued at all. Hmm...

I was escorted to the medical tent by the volunteers at the finish line. Bless their hearts. Redman has the BEST volunteers anywhere!

My husband, parents, son and a couple of friends were at the finish line cheering for me. That meant so much to me. I have a good family!

Also, after struggling with a coach who was derelict in his duties, including giving me a horrible training plan for this race (I was vastly undertrained for the run), I finally found an amazing coach who gives a darn about me and my training. She even had one of her friends put up a sign along the run course that said "You can do this, Trina! Love, Coach _____!" How thoughtful was that!? :)


The heat. My weight. Lack of a strong bike and run base. Inexperience.

But...I've got the rest of my life to work on all of that. Except the heat.


Redman is a great race with wonderful volunteers. However, the Oklahoma weather is just too unpredictable in regards to heat that I will probably not do this race again, unless it's an Aquabike. Will pick a climate where I know the run will be in cool weather. I like the cold. I don't mind a cold swim and chilly bike. I absolutely love a cold run.