After a year of training, I ran Redman Full Iron on Sept 25 and finished, but not without making some mistakes and suffering the consequences. Hopefully this report will help others avoid the mistakes I made. Overall, I am very happy that I ran this race and finished it, and I’d like to thank BJ Johnson for convincing me to run a Half Iron and a Full Iron this year. It wouldn’t have been possible to complete this race without someone to train with for the past year. I would also like to thank my wife and son for putting up with my crazy training schedule.

The swim started with the obligatory playing of Iron Man. Wet suit legal, flat glass, and cool temperatures contributed to a PR swim and I felt great. T1 goes well. On the bike, I feel very good and I’m averaging 19+ mph on the first lap. I decide to drink a 24 Oz bottle (alternating Gatorade and water) per hour and take an Endurolyte every hour or so. I also had a double strong bottle of Hammer Perpetuem on the bike for protein that I sipped throughout the ride. Things kept rolling well until mile 70. I go to get off the bike and my left hamstring cramps…. Ah, Houston, we have a problem. Pop two Endurolytes, half a banana, and some Gatorade, get back on the bike and take off some speed, but the damage is done… I’m DEHYDRATED! By the time I finish the bike, both legs are cramping, headache, and slightly dizzy. My left chest muscle even cramps while I’m putting on running shoes. As I head out for the run, I realize my day is hanging by a thread. I’m walking, and after a while, I know that there isn’t going to be any running for me. After a 6 ½ hour death march, I get it together enough to jog across the finish line with my 6 yr old son and I’m thinking, we did it… let’s get to the hotel. Not so fast…I must have looked pretty rough because the volunteers seemed pretty adamant that I should go to medical. I refuse until I start to fade out and shake, then two volunteers assist me to medical, where they put me on a lounge chair upside down with my feet up and my head down. Doc feels for a pulse and tells the nurse to start an IV. I try to take my own pulse and I can’t find it. For the first time during the day, I’m genuinely concerned about my medical situation. After they get a second IV bag in me, I feel much better. In talking to the Doc about my pre and post workout weigh-ins, we determine that I probably sweat more than 40 ounces an hour during hot weather. So, my hydration plan of one 24 ounce bottle per hour is flawed… to say the least. I should have pre hydrated in the days leading up to the race, when I woke up race day morning, and I should have pushed 30 ounces an hour during the race. He explains that after hours of exertion while dehydrated, my body temp has crept up to ~103 and my brain has become accustomed to this. As I cool down, my brain freaks out and tells my body to shake to try to warm up. In addition, since I don’t have much fluid in my system, as my pulse rate comes down, I’m not getting enough blood to my head, which almost causes me to faint.

The take away here is that if you’re doing a long distance event, you need to know your sweat rate, pre hydrate and plan accordingly. However, do not just pound large volumes of water because you can dilute your salinity and this may even be more dangerous than dehydration. There is a fine line that needs to be walked in a race like this. Drink too little, or too much, and you’re in serious medical trouble, AND YOU WON’T KNOW IT UNTIL ITS TOO LATE!!! You will also need to incorporate Electrolyte capsules, like Endurolytes from Hammer, into your plan.

As far as the Redman course, staff, and medical staff, I thought they put on an excellent event. The swim is a two lap course and half of the lap is shallow enough to stand if you wanted to. The bike has a little more elevation change than I thought it would. The hills were a little less than what you get if you ride the frontage road of I-30 between Rockwall and Greenville. The run was dead flat. There were plenty of aid stations on the bike and run with Gatorade, water, Endurolytes, and various food items. I can’t thank the volunteers and medical staff enough for the post race treatment they provided!! In under an hour, they took me from feeling like I was going to die to well enough to drive back to the hotel.

Upon returning home from the race, I read the following in Lava Magazine in regard to all participants in the 2008 Ironman Louisville Triathlon. They measured their hydration levels using a Tanita Body Scale before the race. I wish I had read this BEFORE Redman!

In men who tested with a hydration level above 65%, 97.78 percent finished. Men who tested with a hydration level below 55% either finished in the bottom 18 percent or did not finish.

In reflecting upon the whole experience while writing this, I’m suddenly struck by how analogous my inadequate hydration plan is to how inadequate my spiritual plan has been over the past year. While training hard, I’ve drifted away from regularly reading God’s word, and trying to grow spiritually. I didn’t even acknowledge God in the first 5 paragraphs of this write up! None of this would have been possible without his blessings of good health, the means to train/race, and his assistance on the run course when I inevitably started praying for his help. Hopefully, I can correct this as well…

See you on the road, AND AT CHURCH!

Scott