2008 Redman Iron Distance, OK City, OK.
By: Travis.
September 20, 2008
Let me start this off by apologizing to my
Lafayette
brethren who did so well at this race last year.
Bert, Miller, Stan Manuel, and the Cajun trio team did us all proud last
year and I really thought that I was going to carry on the tradition this year.
Leading up to the race I had only done two
Olympic distance events all year so that I could concentrate on training for the
long distance. Two things I tried to
get better at were nutrition; most importantly coming to grips with my
dehydration issues, and second was getting better at running off the bike.
To help with the first I started using Infinit with high sodium and
potassium content on the bike and Thermotab salt pills on the run.
For the second I upped my run training to six days a week.
I thought my training was solid enough and I was looking forward to doing
well at Redman.
Race morning I was calm and excited to get
started. Everyone was happy that the
weather was cooperating this year; high of 82 with 8 mph winds.
There were five waves for the swim start with all iron distance
participants starting at
7:15
. I seated myself in the middle of
the pack and started a nice easy swim when the cannon went off.
Very little jostling and the first loop was uneventful.
The second loop I started to run into some traffic from the other waves.
I saw some pretty strange things; people swimming the side stroke and two
people doing a variation of the front crawl but using only one arm.
Both of them had two arms but for some reason for the short time I was
passing them they only stroked with one arm!
About three quarters of the way into my second loop I came to a complete
stop because I thought the guy I was passing at the moment was drowning.
I asked if he was ok and he looked at me like I was from another planet.
He just went about his way doing this weird breast stroke kind of thing
seemingly going nowhere so I just left it alone.
I finished up the second loop feeling strong.
Swim
Time:
1:06
:XX
I was happy with this; swimming was the one
thing I didn’t spend a whole lot of time on averaging at best 4500 meters a
week with my longest workout in the 3000 range.
The volunteers in the changing tents were great; got my bag with shoes, helmet,
and singlet and I was off in about 3 or 4 minutes.
I started hydrating right away swapping water and Infinit every 15
minutes. The bike course is a two
loop affair that literally brings you out to the middle of nowhere.
Now some people call it “rolling hills” some say “varied terrain”
I call it fricking hilly! I tried to
keep everything nice and calm but I have to admit it was a lot harder than I
imagined. I finished the first loop
feeling ok but was not looking forward to doing it again.
I stopped at special needs and had a turkey sandwich and a few sips of
coke I had stashed, did some stretching and was off again.
A volunteer told me I was 31st overall but to be honest I was
starting to get a little disheartened with my comfort.
My neck was starting to seize up and my back was aching so much that on
the second loop I had to stop at every aid station to stretch out a little.
I was beginning to accumulate some salt on my shorts but not too much so
I was feeling good about that. Finally
made it back to transition and just really wanted to get off the damn bike.
Bike
Time:
6:15
:XX
Again I was happy about this; I had put in a
number of 5 to 5 and a half hour rides with two back to back 6 hour rides in
training but there is only so many times you can ride around Bendell before you
go dizzy so the hills slowed me up a bit.
Took a little longer in the second transition to stretch out again and started
off on the run. When I started the
run I was 7 hours and 30 minutes into the race and at this point still truly
believed that I was capable of a 4 to 4 and a half hour marathon.
My legs felt fresh, the salt accumulation wasn’t too bad and my spirits
were good. My plan was to take a
salt tab every thirty minutes and a gel every 40 minutes.
I saw Kristin at the one mile marker and told her I was feeling good.
Everything was going according to plan until mile 5.
I stopped at the aid station and started dry heaving.
My shorts were completely crusted and I had enough salt on my legs to
fill up a Morton salt container. From
that point on it just went down hill. I
was able to only jog a few hundred feet before the heaves would come back and
though I tried I just couldn’t put anything in my stomach.
I passed Kristin again and was walking at this point and really did think
of just giving up. She started
walking with me and told me to just go to the turnaround and she would meet me
again and walk with me some more. I
jogged to the turn around and stopped at special need to change my socks and
rest for a bit. Kristin met back up
with me and we walked to the 15 mile marker together.
She said she would wait for me there and we would finish up together.
At about mile 18 I was kind of disoriented and heaving pretty bad.
A volunteer in a golf cart asked if there was anything she could do;
“Yep, just shoot me now, shoot me fu**ing dead!”.
Instead of biding my wishes she actually drove back and picked Kristin
up! I had started walking/shuffling
again and they met back up with me at the 20 mile marker.
I asked Kristin if she was up to walking 6.2 miles with me and of course
she, always the trooper, gave a resounding “hell yeah”!
And so we went, she patiently waiting as I periodically dry
heaved/vomited, all the way to the finish.
Run Time: I
haven’t even looked to be honest but my guess is somewhere in the
6:30 to 7:00
range.
Total time of
14:39
and feeling pretty bad about it. I
really thought I had figured out the hydration issues but I guess it’s back to
the drawing board. If anyone has any
advice on this issue I’m all ears.
Thanks for reading,
Trav.