REDMAN ‘08 race report

REDMAN IRONMAN 2008 1st Overall

Well, this is quite a while after the fact, the race was Sept 20th and it is now Oct and I am finally writing about what is now my best time at an Iron distance race. Of course this will probably help in shortening it a bit since I should’ve forgot some of the details by now, or it will be mildly embellished

We decide to all go together for the first road trip in my recently purchased family hauler, the T&C mini van. Corey, Jen, the challenging # of Ironman in a year World Record chaser Michael Hennessey, and myself. Uneventful trip heading up since Michael got some much needed sleep, keeping 1 ear open to the conversations. I actually made the drive without doing just that..that’s a rarity and those that have been around long enough know what I mean.

We get to Oklahoma City Fri the day before the event with Corey not sure what the accommodation he booked would look like but it ends up just fine, being right near the host hotel and 4 mi from the race site. We check in and head to the race site. So as not to make a second trip we decide to give the bikes a once over, test ride, and check them in. Nice and roomy set up and the run course looks good. Being it wasn’t mandatory to transition in a tent, I then choose not to to save time. Not nearly the massiveness of the North American IM races with their 2500+ participants. Nice for once.

We head out in search of some simple pasta and following recommendations/flyer from the hotel, end up in a dive strip mall pizza place that everyone seemed to agree on only to find later most just agreed so as not to keep driving around. I order a chicken parmesan and garlic bread minus the cheese and sauce figuring that would be safe. Corey and I step up to a game of Pac Man…sorry Corey, but back in the day, I WAS Mr. Pac Man at the ol roller rink! Had the shirt and all!  Even though I inadvertently lose one of his guys for him, I win handily, though Corey does claim he was more of a Ms. Pac Man kinda guy Well, their chikn p didn’t come with pasta like I thought it would, so my dinner consisted of a tin full of plain rubbery chicken, a piece of buttered bread, then the 4 pieces of ‘garlic bread’, which was more buns dipped in I’m sure some crummy artificial butter. A bit of a change from what I have been eating the last few weeks. Not my idea of a night before meal, but.  I figured, oh well, hope this doesn’t mess me up tomorrow and don’t give it another thought. Becomes one of those things, you have a good race, usually forget about what you ate or think that is what you have to eat everytime after, or, have a bad race,  and it’s all blamed on the crummy dinner you had the night before. Over the years I have learned I’d have to eat some pretty messed up food for it to be affecting things much the next day.

Get to sleep pretty late since I go over and over the food and such and the order of the day/transitions and all. I end up doing things pretty simple in the end anyway. I decide to put something in the 1/2 way special needs bag for the bike just in case I drop anything, but I never really use those. Since I didnt get a chance to use my usual EFS from 1st Endurance for the bike I am going with a new product I tested at some bike races in July called Genr8 (600c thickly mixed in one bottle, 300c in another) , along with 2 pieces of bread with Peanut butter-honey- Chia seeds ( they come out to I figure 100c each) , roughly 1100 calories. I’ll grab a gel flask filled with my own stuff, 1 scoop Genr8 and 1 scoop Chia, a small bag of Pringles (mmm salty!) for the run and the rest I’ll get from the course.

Corey is up at 3:30a.m. …ugh, I know the whole thing about recommending eating 3 hours prior to the start of a race and all, but I personally rarely follow it.  So I lay around until 4:30. I figure I’ll do the same for breakfast as I did for Lonestar 1/2 in March. A peanut butter-honey- chia sandwich, a banana, and sipping on a serving of Genr8 through set up and start. I am bummed cuz I never did budget my money right to be on my Optygen HP that I like to be taking for at least 12 weeks going into a race. I am notorious for arriving at the event with little time to spare, using the adrenaline of cutting it close to get me ‘warmed up’…. But since others are involved in the same transport, I get there with a bit more time to spare and instead use the time running around looking for a morning ‘body cleansing’ box as my warm up.

Swim- I looked for Michael as I know he can post around an hour swim. I figure I have been working on my swim( relatively) and thought if I could stay with him for any length of time I’d better my chances. Thinking Corey would do the same..he’s no where to be found. Gun goes off and we head out for the two loop swim. I’m having a hard time but am staying with Hennessey. I think things are cool, tapping his feet occasionally, can’t tell how many are ahead, then we start the second loop and all’s fine until he tags onto someone else. I lose my link in no time and away he goes. I think, crap, there goes my time. As we come out of the water I see 1:07 and I sink. I sure seem stuck with that time. I try to remind myself the times weren’t too fast the years before so we’ll see, maybe it’s long. In checking after the race I am 12th overall out of the water! And fastest swim is only 1:01:53, and the top three in the end were all close together. ( Far contrast from IM Lake Placid 05 when I was 915th outta the water and crawled to 15th overall with a 3rd fastest bike, swimming obviously not my strongest! )

BIKE 1:31minutes for 2nd fastest first transition ( well.. except the Women’s overall Kim Grogan’s :52sec) and as I roll out on the bike I immediately see Michael. Hmm, so I figure I must not have been too far back. ( ends up the 1:40 he gained on the second lap I regained in transition. ) But I still didn’t know where that put me overall.

It wont be until the second lap when the 1/2 IM racers are mostly off the course and we hit the turn around for the second loop. I feel great heading out and have to hold back in speed as the HR rises super easy without leg fatigue..a good sign. The course is more rolling than anticipated, but that is good for me.

Coming in for the 1/2 way point turn around I see the first rider ahead of me, and that’s it! So I see I am in second overall, and we are under 2 1/2 hrs for the first half. I overshoot the poorly marked turn around ( Yes, even though Corey warned me about it! ) I saw the arrows on the cement, but there were no cones to corral you into a turn so it looked like a dead end parking lot so I didnt turn right away. Minor U-turn and out I go. After catching up to, I decide to hang back about 50 yards and pace off the guy, figuring if it was easy to stay slightly behind him, then I would go into the run fresh. Deciding at the turn around and seeing where the others were at as to what to do the last 28mi. So now it was a tactical race. HR was down 10 beats hanging back and then I thought, well, I’m not going to get a sub 5hrs at this pace, the other voice says, ” That wasn’t the plan so don’t over do it.., just pace yourself..you remember what happened at Idaho right?!?!” And the other side is like, no, push it a bit.

Well the guy starts slowing and I can’t figure if he just didnt like me back there or was tiring. So I decide to pass, but figure I’ll pick up the pace so he doesnt tag onto me. I pass him and he is like 42 or something, so he’s in my age group, and figure must be a masters swimmer or something..I hope..and won’t be a prob on the run. It is about mile 70 and I press it a bit to get to the turnaround and start the watch to see how far back the next riders are. 20 minutes is the first I see, but there are about 3-4 pretty close to each other, and the guy I passed is already in 5th or so I think. I take my little flask of Pre-Race from 1st Endurance. I like the No2 stuff, I think it works pretty good opening up the legs, so I wanted it to kick in for the run. So it’s back to pressing on and the rest of the ride I fight whether to go harder and break the 5 or conserve. A headwind kicks in and as I get within the last 10 miles I am calculating how close it is getting. By time I turn to go the last few miles around the lake, it is butter smooth new blacktop road and I am hammering, I’m too close to getting that 5 not to try. Surprised I can still hit 25-27mph now at the end of the 112, only cuz I know how close it’s going to be. As I roll to the dismount line I’m thinking ” where’s the timing mat?!?!” I run across and look down, 4:59:37! whew! Now hoping the run doesnt suffer from it. Fuel: I mentioned above but only had I think a 1/4th of the 300c bottle, oops,  and 5-6 bottles of water from the aid stations.

RUN This time, the fastest T2 @ 1:16, pick up my flask of Gener8 and Chia mix but skip my bag of pringles I later wished I’d had. Transition to run felt great and again had to just simmer down into pace as HR easily skyrockets and pace in the 6:40’s feels ok but I know…waaayy too fast for me. I back down and first mile clicks @ 7:46, perfect. Hr hovering around 153 but the next 3 miles creep there way to 7:37 and 158 with Garmin recording 6:50 in there at points, dang it!. Back down again. I see Corey’s girlfriend at the 3rd aid station and I am briefly mistaken as Corey since we are in the same team jersey.

Soon after, the trouble begins. Mile 8 is an 8:06 and HR 160. The thoughts roll in..” see! those first miles already getting ya!”  The next 3 mi@ 8:54, 8:22,8:43 as I am walking more between aid stations. The horse sounds are coming out now ( running out of gas and as you breath out you blurt the lips like a horse does…plrbrbrb)  The negative thoughts start flowing. Too hard on the bike..not enough calories on the bike, not enough running long ( for those that dont know early season Jan-Feb my left leg felt oddly weak riding and I did a little Computrainer Spin scan and saw 10-15% loss of power for some reason, then my first case ever of Plantar Faciatis in the right heel-prob due to compensation- and was off runing for 5 weeks in July-Aug. Then first runs were 2 weeks leading into Darndest Du, starting the PF back up again.) So what I thought was going to hold me back( my heel) was something else. I see Corey about the 14-15 mi mark and I’m walking. I say to him “look familiar?”. He seems to do much better at the pacing in the run than me. By time I realized that I was indeed bonking , spiraling into negative thoughts and a shuffling pace, I had drug through 6 miles hovering around 9min miles, 145HR, calculating in my head how I was probably going to get caught in the last mile, have no kick left, and have the ” …see.. you went too hard on the bike..” stuff being said. Later, looking back in the Garmin, I still was hitting 7:38’s when running, just walked so much more.

Then it hits me…COKE!!!, why wasn’t I starting on the sodas ?!?!? So the next aid station I slam one and its like night and day. By the next aid station I am revived. Miles 18-23 drop to 8:41, 8:34..7:52. Looking back in the Garmin I was hitting 6:29-6:53’s, then walking the aid stations. HR still hovering back @155 again. Every step feels like my quads are going to seize up. Still in fear of getting caught, at the last turn around I thought I timed a guy at 6′ back.  I see Michael, says he’s praying for my strength, I am too. I keep looking back in the last 3 miles till I realize I really think I have it.  Oddly, no real elation, no feeling of wanting to jump up and down across the line. I get the usual tear up, crap its all over now, now what?, and, all in a days work, relief,  feelings as I come across the line. I do remember that they never seem to have a good pic at the end. I don’t  put my hands up usually because from bike racing, you only did that if you win ( yes, in tris each has their own ‘win’ when doing these and that is about 95% of the participants, so their hands up thing is just fine) Just saying personally I dont like to. Even this felt awkward even though it was for the win. But I wanted a good finish photo like I see, who knows if I’ll ever get another,  and even made a point to try to keep them up longer after the line, but sure enough, right as I put them down on the tape, Click, and the photo he gets looks like I am hammered ( even though I AM, just dont want it to look that way. So I like the above one Jen took instead RUN Stats:3:39 run with a 153 avg HR. Knowing what the general times are for my Age group to qualify again for Kona, I think it is possible if I can get into one next year for ‘09.

All in all, even though I yet again had trouble in the run, this time I had no stomach issues/cramps, or intestinal distress from my bike nutrition. Simple foods, but I do like the liquid for the ease of calories in the bottles.  Not having to really think about it was a relief and I attribute this to the progressive extending of rides without food training ( that’s another blog . Purely a mistiming of starting the Cokes on the run I think. It was a PR for me by 6′ , four years after my Canada 9:54, and felt about the same as I had the same breakdown in the run there. That being a harder course I would say still not quite in the same shape as I was for that one as all times were similar except the bike, which is much harder there.

I do need to thank my wife Eydie for compromising a solid 8-10 weeks for some solid training. I think it worked so much better than how I have usually done it and putting it out there for her in advance which days were going to be what so she wastn blindsided by what I was going to do. After having daughter Lydia in March, I was worried about such a late start to the season, but it turned out great. It was my season goal and probably the most focused I had been on one since the first one. Also have to thank Corey, having him txt me what he was doing in training and me back , helped to keep the motivation going. Calf was super tight after but the heel actually didnt feel too bad after the race like I though it would. But it is still lingering and flares up when I increase speed or distance. 24mi run this past Sat basically 4 weeks from the race and it feels a bit tender. Prob going to end up pacing Eydie for her first full at the San Antonio Rock n Roll Marathon then maybe try Austin. This report definitely got LONG and I already know I’m missing something( imagine that…could there be more?.) The course was great, a well put on race, and nice being at a smaller venue for once instead of the behemoth IM juggernaut. Didnt even feel like doing the usual ‘bad’ food binge really. Had some pizza that night, some donuts that actually didnt really do it like they used to, and pizza again on the way home, all just made me feel icky and that I was only eating because I thought I should. Ice cream woulda been nice though, that was the only thing I was craving. But a regular meal would have been just fine.

Done Deal