Redman Half Iron Oklahoma City, OK.
Since I moved from Toronto to Texas 7 years ago, I have had the pleasure of trying out some independent, smaller races. I appreciate the consistency and organization of the WTC-type races but I also enjoy races with smaller crowds, more diverse groups of people, and different styles of event management. Redman was on my radar for a few years and this year, it fit especially well into my schedule as I am preparing for a late-season Ironman. Only a 5-hour drive from our home, I knew it would be logistically easy and a fun way to see new parts of the country with my husband. I also thought it would be a good race for testing out my nutrition and race execution in order to have a better idea of what works for my late season race. With Fiona’s expert help, I had a good idea of what I needed to do and my goal for the race was simply (if it can ever be simple??!!) to execute the plan and see what happens.
Having spent the last 6 months or so training with Fiona, I have noticed a change in my attitude about racing and training. First of all, I find training a lot more fun as I am challenging myself in new ways and remembering what it is like to accomplish things beyond just going through the motions in training. I have been an NRG athlete for many years but after some time doing “my own thing”, I decided it was about time I have some EXPERT coaching again! One of the major changes I have made, with Fiona’s guidance, is to my nutrition and I was very excited to see how it would feel to race when properly fueled. I knew that in training I felt stronger and more durable with fewer peaks and valleys in my efforts. I was keen to see how it would go if I stuck to my plan for my effort level and intensity coupled with my nutrition plan.
The morning of the race was exceptionally calm and actually really fun! The Redman events include a full iron distance, half iron, full aqua bike, and half aqua bike. The transition and race venue are laid out beautifully and the transitions are short and easy to navigate, a real bonus! The swim start was a deep water start and the race organizers (perhaps not intentionally but brilliant anyway) lined up the buoys perfectly with a water tower on one end and a tall building on the other end, making for easy sighting. Not only that, the sun was never in our eyes; a real bonus for a late season swim!! When the gun went off, there was relatively little body contact and I found a nice bit of water to swim in but was not completely alone. I had a good group of swimmers around me. I found myself working pretty hard right form the gun but tried to settle into as much of a rhythm as I could find. This swim never felt easy, but I knew that for this distance, I must work somewhat hard to apply the appropriate effort.
I am always thrilled to get out of the water… not that I don’t enjoy swimming, but it’s always a good feeling to be back on your feet, ready to tackle the rest of the day. Once on the bike, I had a firm idea of what I needed to do and made it a point to stick to my plan. After settling into a nice rhythm, it was time to focus and pay careful attention to the controllable aspects of the race, effort and nutrition. The race included a nasty stretch of potholes that made it difficult to keep pedaling and stay in aero position, but the upside to that was that it seemed to break up the groups of riders and clear the way up ahead a bit. I rode the second half of the bike with a focus on staying smooth and steady and not having any spikes or dips in power.
By the end of the bike, I had passed a few women and was keen to see where the rest of them were. Not everyone had their age on their calf so I was more interested in maintaining good momentum and steadily progressing, regardless of who was in front of or behind me. Once I got into T2, I made sure to move efficiently and pick up my gel flasks! Figuring out where to carry them is always a puzzle!
Once I was off and running, I knew I had to maintain mental focus as my legs felt like they had done a bit of work already. I felt like I had worked hard but I also felt strong. I knew that my bike/run workouts in training were spot-on as I was able to find a good rhythm fairly quickly and got back to the work of sticking to my effort level and HOLDING it! I could see the words on the page from my race plan and kept “re-reading” them to myself. The course was two out-and-backs with a lollipop on one end so there is one section of the run course where you cannot see your competition. At the 3-mile mark, I saw the first outline of a female racer and was excited to see if I could make up some ground. As I progressed through the course, I got a little boost knowing I was moving steadily through the field. Don’t get me wrong, it hurt like heck, but I kept telling myself it was worth it for all sorts of reasons. My husband was at the finish line, and knowing he was there supporting me made it that much easier to push myself to get to the finish and not let off the gas pedal.
About 2.5 miles from the finish, an athlete running the opposite way shouted to me “she’s not that far in front of you”… I figured she meant the lead woman but I couldn’t be sure of that. Regardless, my plan would still be to work as hard as possible to get to the finish line. Knowing that the lead woman may be just up ahead added a good bit of fuel to that fire. Within about a half mile, I could see the outline of what must have been the lead woman up ahead. I knew it was time to grit my teeth a bit and do what I could to catch her. With a good deal of discomfort, I managed to catch her and steadily move ahead to try to hold on for the lead. I saw Ronnie up ahead in the finish chute and that was by far the best moment of the race! The race announcer announced that I was the first woman and I could hardly believe it, what a thrill! This was certainly an unexpected bonus for what was to be a day of testing out my plan and maintaining my mental focus. Thank you to Fiona for being the most patient, professional, and motivating coach!! Thank you Ronnie for making this all so much more enjoyable that it ever would be without you!! You are the best training and travel partner I could ever hope for.
