At long last Thursday afternoon arrived and it was time to head towards Oklahoma City for Redman 70.3. Race week had left me a bit scattered, I think that it is my least favorite week of the whole training cycle (not counting race recovery...ugh.). I was terribly distracted all week and had all kinds of thoughts, doubts, dreams, and nightmares. What was I thinking when I signed up for this? Do you realize how far 70.3 miles is? What have I done?! Add to that apprehension over allergies and a developing cough and I was a hot mess. By the time we arrived in OKC, I had chills and felt like I was fighting off an illness. Cue the frantic trip to CVS where Mr K and I purchased all of the decongestants, a Netti Pot (and bless Mr K's heart for helping me use this thing for the first time ever), and Emergen-C. No time for illness!
I woke up feeling cautiously better on Friday morning and we headed out to the practice swim. I wanted to see the course and feel the water before the rush of race morning. It was also the first time I had the opportunity to swim in my wetsuit. (Nothin like last minute!). I'm thankful that Mr K was there to help me put it on, I'm sure that looked like quite the scene. The water temperature was in the mid to low 70s, not super cold but much chillier than the warm lake I swam in during the summer. It took my breath away at first then I settled in and had a nice swim. I was one of the last people out of the water at the practice swim and apparently I stumbled upon a wedding as I came out of the water. Who gets married at a triathlon practice swim? Crazy triathletes, that is who. My friend Debby, who was also out at the practice swim, pointed out that a 70.3 or 140.6 triathlon would be the worst honeymoon ever.
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| Big smiles at the practice swim (Photo: Mr K) |
I took Friday super easy and was able to nap and rest at the hotel for a good part of the afternoon. I was excited to go to race check-in and tried to just soak it all in. Athlete meeting, money spent at the expo (all the Redman gear!), and it was time to rack my bike in transition where it would be waiting for me the next morning. We enjoyed a feast of pizza at Hideaway Pizza, one of our Oklahoma favorites, before heading back to the hotel. When we returned our buddy Stude stopped by for a pre-race visit and pep talk. Lights went out early, but sleep was elusive at times. I felt like I woke up every couple of hours and we ended up getting up before the alarm.
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| My first 70.3 was also the US National Championship (Photo: Stude) |
Race day was finally here!! We got parked in plenty of time and made the one mile walk to the start area. The morning was cool-ish, compared the the hot summer mornings, with temperatures in the 60s. The dark lake looked like glass as there was barely a breeze. You just can't ask for better weather in late September. So much excitement in the air, it was going to be a good day. It was my friend Alicia's third time to do Redman 70.3 and it was nice to see that her bike was racked pretty close to mine. The transition area was so busy - just bustling with athletes preparing their bikes and running gear for the day ahead. I checked and re-checked my stuff and then headed out to meet up with Mr K and get into my wetsuit. Mr K was so patient and helpful as I checked and rechecked my gear. I could hardly believe that it was about to go down!
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| With my beastly Iron friends Stude and Debby (Photo: Mr K) |
I am such a lucky person as I had the best cheer squad out there rooting for me. Mr K was joined by Drum, Baha, Ninja, Fi, TPG, and Robert - most of them getting up at an obscene hour to drive from Dallas to Oklahoma City in time for the start of the race. It is a pretty incredible group of friends that I have and I'm especially reminded of this in moments like this. I got some final good luck wishes from Mr K, the Ninjas, Drum, and Baha just as I was heading into the water. Alicia and I laughed and talked as we waded into the lake. It was go time!
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| It is impossible to look cute in a wetsuit & swimcap (Photo: Drum) |
Swim - 1:06:53
I found myself fairly calm heading into the swim, just wanted to get through it as evenly and smoothly as I could. No drama, no wasted energy. I was glad that I went to the practice swim on Friday because I knew how the water would feel, how it was shallow enough to touch in places, and how my wetsuit could help me out if I worked with it. My swim leg was next-to-last so I didn't have to worry too much about a pack of faster swimmers swimming over me. I got off to an okay start - the water was colder than I was used to and their were people all around me. I tried to find my little "bubble" of swim space. The course was shaped like a big rectangle that was sitting parallel to the shore. I was just starting to find my rhythm when a couple of swimmers came around me. One of them made contact with my face and that is when things went terribly wrong. My nose clip disappeared into the murky waters and I knew that my race had just taken an interesting turn. I never, ever swim without a nose clip. I have plugged my nose since I was a kid, it is just something that I do. I know that I should have been better prepared and I even had a spare clip....in my bag on the shore. Womp. Womp. Never again will this happen to me - huge lesson learned right there in that moment!
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| And we are off! (Photo: Mr K) |
Sooo.....here I was, early into my swim and with no idea how I would finish. I looked out at all the buoys and had a brief "oh my gosh this is impossible" moment before I took a deep breath and went back to work. I swam with my head out of the water for a little bit, but that was quite difficult and tiring. Then I decided to put my face in the water and give it a shot. It was terribly uncomfortable as I am not used to breathing this way, but I was making progress. I saw a kayak near the first turn and made it my goal to get to the kayak so I could take a break and regroup. The kayaker was great, told me that I had great form and talked about how special it was to be doing a race like this, and that he and his daughter did the full 140.6 distance at Redman the year before. I took the time to catch my breath and gather myself for more swimming.
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| The look of "what just happened?" |
I swam to the next turn (the short side of the rectangle) and took a moment at the next kayak. While here I heard myself making a terrible cough, you know the kind that sounds like it might be a precursor to barfing? I'm thinking that I was swallowing some of Lake Hefner. I saw the next kayak 100 yards or away and reasoned that I could just swim kayak-to-kayak all the way through. A few minutes later I was frustrated and winded and I flipped over on my back to take a break. This is when I discovered that I could make good progress whilst backstroking....so backstroke I did. I was actually holding a pretty good pace compared to the swimmers around me and those turn buoys were getting further and further away. Not ideal, but forward progress is the name of the game!
I worried that I might be killing my shoulders for the bike, but kept on going. I think that I might have had a more decent swim time if I'd figured this out earlier. All those hours of training spent swimming and I backstroked half of my 70.3 swim. Ridiculous! I was never so relieved to get out of the water and found myself laughing and shaking my head as I stumbled to the shore. What the heck just happened? No time to dwell upon it because it was time to ride my bike!
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