Life is better on a bike!

Redman Aquabike Race Report

My first triathlon event of any kind is in the books. Yesterday I completed the Half Aquabike distance of the 2011 Redman Triathlon in Oklahoma City. A 1.2 mile swim in the low, but lovely Lake Hefner and a 56 mile, mostly flat, bike ride. 

The weather was perfect; a light breeze and comfortable temperatures through the morning; it did heat up in the afternoon but I was finished by then.

The weather was very important, particularly the lack of wind, because when the wind blows the water rolls and Susan doesn’t swim as well. On Friday at the practice swim, it was choppy and difficult to navigate plus cold too! I had been relatively calm, but after that practice swim my stress level doubled.

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Consequently, this Aquabiker didn’t sleep much at all Friday night. It was after 1am before I fell asleep and 4:15am when the alarm sounded. I was just too hyped up to sleep regardless of how much relaxation I tried to do.

My husband/coach/everything Mark, knew I was stressed (if he reads this he will LOL, because I don’t make it very difficult at all to know when I am stressed: (quiet and intense) and he quietly supported me, as in made me coffee, loaded my bike and drove me as close as anyone could get to the start which saved a lot of walking and time.

As I walked toward the lit up transition area, I slowly took it all in. Hundreds of volunteers and athletes were quietly going about getting ready for the event or their personal event. Even with close to 1000 people it wasn’t loud – it was too early to be too loud – but there was this nice hum of voices and a buzz of activity.

It was thrilling.

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I already knew where my transition spot was, Rocket was there. I had dropped her off the afternoon before when I was there picking up my packet and attending the athletes meeting.

Speaking of meetings and such, let me tell you there is a lot of preparation to doing something like this, and I am not even referring to the physical part. There is much to learn about triathlons – the lingo, the process, how to train, etc. I had no idea how much it would require of me physically and mentally. It tested me, and that was good.

Anyhow once I got to transition, I set my gear bag down, said hi to the two women on either side of me and set about putting the stuff that I would need for the day out so it would be readily accessible and even visible when I came back from the swim to prepare for the bike. Your transition spot (T-spot) is pretty small and I learned you must not crowd your fellow athletes by having your gear overflow into their T-spot. Lots of etiquette and rules to this triathlon business. So, I made sure that nothing I owned was infringing on anyone else in the neighborhood.

It was an early start, we were up at 4:15 to get there by 5:45.

Next, I played tug-of-war with my wetsuit then proceeded to find my goggles, earplugs and tempo trainer (swim metronome).

Susan checking out her bag of stuff for the day.

Mark parked the car and found me and because of my primo T-spot we could talk while I waited to go to the swim area. Talking to him relaxed me although relaxed is probably too strong a word ha.

Getting ready to head to the start.

I was excited about the bike, but nervous about the swim like many I suppose. I developed a fear of drowning in January after passing out in a hot tub and swimming in open water heightens it.

One cool thing while we were waiting, they announced birthdays and I heard my name called! There were quite a few, since they announced all birthdays around the 24th too.

It was about time to start the fun, once we left the safe confines of transition my nervousness grew. Seeing all the athletes in the various colored caps helped to distract me. Mark was nearby taking lots of pictures to capture the scene.

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Different color swim caps designate which wave you'll start with.
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They had to wait before the first wave could go off because the buoys moved but fairly soon after the theme from Rocky (always inspires me) and Jaws (made me laugh) had played the white caps moved down the carpet towards the water. Then the green, the yellow, pink.

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and lastly, ORANGE!  I was orange.

Susan's group getting ready... it was a bit cold early in the morning.
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As the pictures show Lake Hefner is in need of water, but it had rained the day before so things were also very muddy. Once we were at the shoreline it became real muddy and then slippery as we waded out so we could swim. People were slipping and sliding.

Susan is here too starting her swim. (Hint look in the middle of the picture)

Once it was deep enough I started to swim. It took me a good while to relax into the swim. There were lots of bodies around so I took care, probably too much care, to avoid running into anyone. I also did too much early sighting, having a very difficult time spotting the turn buoys. Normally Redman is a straight out and back for the 1.2 milers (double for 2.4 milers), but due to the very low water levels the swim had to be moved to the middle part of the lake, thus the triangle formation. Being in the last wave, there was a lot of congestion. It seemed people were swimming everywhere so it was hard to use them for guidance (navigation).

I sighted frequently but I still got off course. If I had a GPS of my swim it would look like a bunch of zigzags. I did much better on my sighting at Tallchief.

Due to my not-so-great right shoulder, I tend to veer to the right (pulling harder with the left arm), combine that with a poorly marked course, low light and bad sighting – you have my swim. Even with all that though, my time wasn’t bad – 52:12 for 1.2 miles.

I always feel so much relief when I near the end of any open water swim that I walk out of the water like I am either a. drugged, b. demented or c. ecstatic or I guess d. all of the above. A woman right in front of us slipped in the mud and fell backwards (2nd pic) – it was hard to get out of the water because of the deep mud.

The end of Susan's 1.2 miles... she is very happy.
Very happy to be getting out of the water.

With another open water swim event under my belt, I think I will have more confidence for the next one.

Next, it was through the slippery, sinking mud, up the “beach” and into wetsuit stripper row. Yep, you lie down and someone pulls your wetsuit off in one quick move that takes .9 seconds.

Oh, yes, we do have clothes under out wetsuits I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea. Typically under the wetsuit you wear whatever you are going to bike in, in my case a tri top and tri shorts.

Trotting over to transition area for the next round... 56 miles on her bike.

I was still so elated from surviving the swim (and in good time) that I forgot I was supposed to get through T-1 (transition 1/swim to bike) quickly. I talked to Mark, had a little gel, smiled a lot and took my sweet time just savoring the fact that this part of the Aquabike I could do well.. and I was looking forward to it.

One quick adjustment and Rocket and I were ready to roll. Fortunately I remembered the rule of walking or running your bike past the mount line, so once I was past the line I hopped on my bike and took off.

Rocket looks ready to go! (That's the bikes name)
Getting on at the start line.

After a couple of minutes I checked my speed and my heart rate, my heart rate was too high (141) for so early so I had to back off a bit. Once we left the lake road and we had a coned off lane to ride in and police officers were at every intersection until we got past Memorial Rd. and volunteers controlled traffic at minor side streets and drives. It was awesome getting to ride without stopping and barely having to slow. The bike course was a fast one, a few rolling hills and except for a few well marked rough or potholed sections, a very nice course. The weather was incredible, mid to high 70’s and light winds which just added to the joy.

As is my practice, I kept my heart rate in Zones 2 and 3 until mile 26 where we turned around and headed for home. Once I headed back I stayed in Zones 3-4 and pushed it. I passed many of the people who had passed me and limited my stops to 1 quick one. Once we turned south we picked up a little headwind but it wasn’t much. Plus with the aero bars the wind had less impact. The only thing that hurt was the part of me in contact with the saddle. I had no issues with cramping; my main fuel, Hammer Perpetuem provided the nutrients I needed and I supplemented with Hammer Gels and Endurolytes. I was very happy with the way it all worked. At the Vendor Expo on Friday I bought a bento box bag for the top tube that was the perfect size. Because Rocket’s top tube is short other bags have interfered when I would climb out of the saddle. This one was the perfect size and allowed me to take on gels and Endurolytes on the fly.

Need to mention the volunteers, they were everything you needed for support on the course. Stopped for a bathroom break, they held my bike. Needed gels, they handed out new ones and took the empty packets. Water bottle low? They refilled it. They were awesome! I could definitely get used to this kind of support.

More riders.. you can see some going the other way as they've already made it to the turnaround point.
Susan coming by me on Waterloo road... she was happy to see me... and I was happy to see her moving along so well.
Susan on Covell.

 

The bike ride much of the time felt almost effortless. I felt strong and in control. The miles disappeared easily and as I rode I reminded myself to enjoy the ride. I had so many emotions as I rode along. Everything I felt was heightened. I was also emotional before the swim (obviously afterwards too) and really my emotions had been near the surface for days. Tears came easily. Happy tears.

I made the decision to not stop again to reload with gel/water. I had picked up 2 gels and water at the aid station just past the turnaround (around mile 30). I finished my Perpetuem about 14 miles from the finish, but still had a gel. I also had Perpetuem solids and Endurolytes so I pushed on.

Other than saddle pain I felt great. After the turnaround I started to pay attention to how many people I was passing and how few were passing me. As I neared coming into Oklahoma City I was impressed that only two guys had passed me. It became a game to see if I could hold it to two.

I had another emotional moment when the course took us behind the cemetery where both my mother and father are buried. My mother died at age 50 and my father passed away at age 56, both younger than I now am at 57. In fact I am emotional remembering how I felt as I pressed on, knowing they would be proud and cheering me on, their memories propelling me towards the finish.

Once on the Lake Hefner dam road I was cruising along when I heard that unmistakable sound – someone was coming up from behind me and moving fast. I was about to get passed for the third time. It was okay though, he looked to be younger than my daughter so I let it go.

Winking smile

Now I was maybe a mile away from finishing something I had been training for for months and I was about to complete it! Up ahead I could see a young and fit female who was cruising along when I passed her I have to admit I felt a certain pride knowing even at my age I can still compete.

I felt good about my ride, on the bike my average speed was 16.5mph for 56 miles. Once I crossed the timing mat my 2011 Redman Half Aquabike was officially over. I racked my bike, changed into tennis shoes and headed for the finish.

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Here's the finish line.

 

Mark headed to the finish too for a few last pictures. In total he took 146 pictures! So you may think there are a lot here to get through, but really I let you off easy.

And here's Susan coming to the finish line... all smiles! A great day!!

My official times:

Overall: 4:30:40

Swim:    52:12

Transition: 10:53

Bike:      3:27:37

I finished 2nd in my age group (only 3 total), 33/76 total Half Aquabike competitors (all ages, males and females).

Redman was more than I expected and everything I could have hoped for. A great way to spend a birthday.

All done with medal and t-shirt in hand!

4 Comments

  1. Steve Howard

    Susan, what a wonderful article on your aquabike event. I enjoyed reading the blog very much. Mark did an excellent job of capturing your adventure with photographs. You were very well prepared and your right, there are both physical and mental aspects that come into play. Not only are you a successful aquabiker but you are a very good writer. I really respect your accomplishments on the in the lake, on the road and at the keyboard. I know your family and friends are very proud of you and so are Debbie and I. – Steve Howard (swimfulthinking.com)

    • Susan

      Thanks very much, Steve, for your very kind words.

  2. Joan Abram

    Dear Susan: Izzie sent me your marvelous blog and I so enjoyed reading it—What an achievement!!!!
    Keep on sending them. Love Joanie Abram

    • Susan

      Thank you, Joanie, I’m happy you enjoyed it! We are taking a bike tour in California next month which I will blog on, I’ll send you the links once posted. Thanks again for reading my post and commenting.~Susan