Redman 140.6 Bike Race Report

So back to T1 first. No one really told me much about the changing tent and what to expect. So after grabbing my bag and heading to the tent, I walk into see a much of naked guys changing and two old dudes helping them out. Yeah, was kind of weird. Anyways, I found a spot in the corner and dried off and got my biking clothes on, then I bagged everything up in the bag and realized they had bins for us to put those bags in the first place! Lesson learned on that one. I really felt like I was taking my time in T1, but it always seems I was in and out pretty fast. I did not rush, but I also was in no hurry.

T1 Time:  8:49

I grabbed my bike and walked her to the mount/dismount line and then off we went. Ready for 112 miles of bliss. I remember thinking "I am riding in an Ironman!!!" Great feeling! The first part of the bike was around Hefner Lake and it went by pretty fast. The next segment of the course was through some really heavy traffic, but Redman did a great job blocking off lanes and having plenty of police watching out for us (although I did hear about several people wrecking by hitting cones!?)  There was enough going on to keep me looking around and interested in the first portion of the bike that it went by pretty fast. The aid stations were every 10 miles or so, so there was plenty of water/Gatorade, which was great because all I had was my aero bottle. I forgot my other bottle back at the hotel. I was able to stick to my nutrition plan pretty well and never really felt hungry!

The roads at Redman were no joke because they were pretty rough. So rough that in some parts I could not get into aero position for fear of losing control of my bike. The back side of the ride, the last 12 miles before the turnaround seemed like it never ended. Most of the time I do like out and backs on rides, but at least I now knew what to expect. As I got back to the lake, the lady there was yelling out for special needs bags were just ahead, so I stopped and ate something. In hindsight, I should have kept going back to the turnaround and hit my special needs bag at he start of my second lap instead of at the end of my first lap, again a rookie mistake.

BIKE LAP 1: 3:20:53

The second lap was something I was not looking forward too. I took forever to get around the lake this time. At least I knew what was coming up so it did make it a little easier mentally, but I was still dreading it. I felt fairly strong on the bike, but just like in the swim, I was trying to manage the bike and not blow up. Knowing what I knew of the route, I am made sure I was in aero on the smoother parts of the road as much as possible. The second lap was much better than the first it felt like, just because I knew the route now and knew what to expect.

Coming back into the dismount line, I was soo happy to get off my bike!!! My butt was killing me! I was also thrilled to have zero bike issues! No flats, no nothing. Stella did awesome!!!  I knew I was 26 miles away from becoming an Ironman and I really a surge of motivation!

BIKE LAP 2: 3:36:02

TOTAL BIKE TIME: 6:56:55      Average: 16.1 MPH

I was totally thrilled to be under 7 hours for the bike because I projected my ride to be closer to 7:30! Manu people have asked me what I did on the bike for 7 hours? What did I think of? well, here is a short list of what I thought of:

• I wondered what Emily and Jake were doing in OKC
• I wondered about Jared an Jesse were doing at Grannies house
• I wondered how many people were tracking me
• I thought about all the comments I have gotten on my blog posts the last few posts
• I counted how many people were coming back toward me, that had already made the turnaround. I stopped counting at 100.
• I prayed. A lot. I prayed for a lot of people by name, just as their name popped into my head. Some of the names were people I know and some were people I have met from the triathlon world.
• I sang songs.
• I had some very short conversations with other racers. I found that a lot of people were only doing the aqua bike as a warm-up for IM Florida.
• I wrote out blog posts, which I can't remember.

So I had a lot going through my head. I also had some killer ideas that all of mankind would benefit from, but I can't remember a single one. Stay tuned for pictures and the run report. Also as a bonus feature, my bride is going to add a blog piece as her view and thoughts as I ran!

Redman 140.6 Swim Report

As I said in my earlier post, I am going to breakdown Redman into three separate posts. The first of the posts is of course going to be the swim.

I woke up at 4:15 that morning and went downstairs of the hotel to get a bagel. Then I was back in the room getting ready and trying to get myself psyched up for the race. I started having some serious doubts at this point about the race. I knew I would be fine on the swim and the bike ( as long as I had no flat tires like Branson 70.3) but I was really worried more about the run.

We got to the race site and my bride dropped me off and went and parked the car. It was a long walk to the site it felt like, but it really gave me some time to myself to get into race mindset. The road was dark and lonely and I was accompanied by a few triathletes, but we were not really saying much to each other.

Setting up my transition area was really different for me because this was the first race I had done that had a changing tent. I had my bags (1 for T1, T2, Special Needs Bike and special Needs Run) and I was not really sure what to do with them, so I really just kind of followed everyone lead. I dropped off my special needs bas and then just placed my transition bags at the foot of my bike. I then decided that I was just going to take the entire bag with me to the changing tent, so there was no need to spread everything out. Later I figured out they had bins for us to place the transition bags in (lesson learned). So once everything was laid out, I took Stella (my bike) to get the tires topped off and put my wetsuit on halfway. I then hung around my wife and son and talked to them and also spent some time talking to Jeff from Dangle the Carrot! Jeff was doing the HIM and he killed it!

The temperature that morning was 57 degrees, and it was cold. I was so ready to get into the water (temp 74 degrees). My feet were freezing while I was waiting for the swim to start. Soon they got us into the coral and then we waded out in the water.

The swim was in Lake Hefner in OKC. The course was a rectangle course and we had to do two laps. The first wave started at 7:15 and it was just the full triathlon athletes. I had finally decided to not worry about the run yet and just get ready to swim. They began the countdown and then we were off.

My first thought after the siren?  "I am doing an Ironman!" My second thought? "Dude, there is a lot of bumping going on!" This was one of the rougher swims starts I have ever done and it wasn't until midway through the first segment that I found open water. I felt good. the water felt good. The wetsuit felt good, it is rare that I get it on and it feels good, but this time I got it right. I got into a groove and kept reminding myself to back off some, I was not interested in cramping up because I went out to hard, so I really wanted to control myself on the swim. The second segment went fine as well, but since it was a rectangle course, and it was not a wide distance between the sides, I did have some trouble sighting. On the second lap, there was more traffic because the other waves had started, so I really had to work through others swimmers, but it wasn't that bad.

Once I was finished with the second lap, I headed to the swim exit. They had some guys standing in about knee deep water that was helping all the swimmers up, so I headed for him. He helped me stand up and undid  my wetsuit and unzipped me. I got my wetsuit down to my waist and was directed over the wetsuit strippers. I had not really talk to anyone about how this was suppose to work, but these two high school aged girls yelled at me to lay down, which I did, and then they ripped my wetsuit right off and threw it on me! Easiest I have ever gotten that thing off!

I made my way to my bike, dumped my suit, goggles and swim cap, grabbed my bag and headed to the changing tent.

SWIM TIME: 1:28:52

T1 and the bike report coming soon!

T1 Transition

T1 is usually a tough transition for me, and the main reason is that I get lost. I can not remember where I left my bike. There are thousands of bikes all lined up in rows, people hurrying to get their bike, get their shoes on and get out. Sounds simple but believe me, it ain't. I am usually so spent after the swim, that I have trouble.

Lucky for me, I found a training video that discusses the T1 transition. It has been very helpful and I am sure it will cut down on my T1 time this year. Enjoy!