Racing Is Racing

By Chris Kotulak

Communications & Broadcast Associate

On Saturday, February 11, 2012, I ran in the Frigid Five five-mile run that took place in Edmond, Oklahoma.  Edmond is the city adjacent to the northern city limits of OKC.  The novelty of my story is the next-to-nothing training I had going into the race; that, and the stark similarities of training and racing with the two-legged runners vs. the four-legged athletes.  

Let’s back up a bit.  The first weekend of February I travelled down to South Louisiana to be with my dear friends Chad and Tammy Hassenplflug, and to go to the Premier Night races at Delta Downs.  Yes, Star Guitar did win again (his 4^th straight Premier Night Classic).  Chad and Tammy are not only terrific people, they are two excellent horsemen and they also happen to be a wonderful couple.  Back in my TVG days, I called the Hassenpflugs Team H, because it really is a team-training operation with Chad and Tammy.  Team H is also into running, biking and competing in triathlons of all sorts.  Because I knew my weekend would have some sort of sweating in it, I passively started to train for it.  Here and there I would put in 10 or 15 minute runs on the treadmill at the health club; one weekend in January I even ran outside on back-to-back days, logging about 2 miles each day.  Big stuff!  Not really, but lately the modest fitness level I keep/kept was the weekly soccer games I played with the grooms in the Remington Park backstretch league I formed and playing in some ice hockey games.   But soccer on a reduced size field (in a league that ended in October), and skating in a few pickup games (before Christmas) is no way to train for a 5-mile race. 

Team H stuck it to me and threw me right into the run-bike-run method of training they use when they are not in a genuine race.  Long story short, I ran 2 miles and biked 6 and I was finished.  Tammy and Chad and their friend Kerry did significantly more and - at a faster pace.  What I accomplished on foot and on wheels, totaled roughly 50 minutes of continuous activity; and with that, I had my primary foundation for the Frigid Five.  More than anything, I had my inspiration from Tammy and Chad.   In discussion of our workout, while we were in their hot tub with a glass of cabernet (tub and wine both very therapeutic), it was remarkable how the horse training philosophy of the Hassenpflugs was not unlike their approach to running.  They like to be patient; they don’t ask for more than they should; they observe keenly and respond wisely; nutrition is a major consideration; they use the best equipment and they are open to trying new techniques of wellness.   It was so gratifying to see such a healthy lifestyle in application with both horse and human.  And the view of their beautiful Southwind Farm and home in a 103-degree, turbulating jacuzzi, made it all sound and feel so much better.

Unfortunately, the only other form of training I got in leading up to the race was one day of 20 minutes combining the StairMaster and treadmill and another day of about 25 minutes on the treadmill.  So often in horse racing you hear a trainer say before the race “I think my horse may need one.”  Well, I knew that was going to be me.  I knew I would be short in this race, but I had to start somewhere and the timing was right (or, it was now or never).  That too parallels horse racing, where an owner may have to run their horse in a race that is less desired than another more favorable race they may have planned for their horse.  That wasn’t really my alibi.  I just didn’t train hard enough to get legged up for my return to racing after my long layoff.  Incidentally, here are my past performances in my three previous races...  A 10k (6.2 miles) in Omaha in 1982 when I was age 18; another 10k in 2008 in Manhattan Beach, CA;  and a 5k (3.1 miles) in 2009 that looped me around Dodger Stadium.  My lack of significant training made me feel like I was heading into the Kentucky Derby off the Bachman Handicap at Fonner Park.  The Bachman is a half-mile stake for three-year-olds run in February.  It’s a prep for the Nebraska Derby – not the Kentucky Derby!


Oklahoma (and much of the nation) has had a record-setting mild winter.  But the folks who named the Frigid Five race would have been proud.  On race morning at the 9 a.m. start, it was cloudy, 24-degrees, and a 15mph north wind.  Mother Nature provided the frigid, now I had to produce the five.  I can already see that this story has gone way longer than I had expected, so let me just get to the important stuff. ..


The first four miles were a variation of enjoyable and bearable – unfortunately, that lead to miserable.  I was suited for the weather but I wasn’t prepared for the entire five miles.  In the final half-mile, felt like the horse that runs hard to the top of the stretch, comes off the bit mid-stretch and then just drops anchor.  I actually finished within my goal of a sub 44-minute final time.  And honestly, only a few minutes after the race I had recovered fairly well.  Post race, I stretched quite a bit, soaked in Epsom salts, took a few ibuprofen and was getting around fairly well.  The equivalent for a race horse would have been: an extra long cool-out walk, some muscle liniments and perhaps some bute (phenylbutazone), which is an anti-inflammatory.

Of course the morning after for both types of athletes can often be less pleasant.  For the guy who might say “I couldn’t get out of bed,” the horse trainer may say “he couldn’t get out of the stall.”  Either term would apply for me.  This adds new meaning to the term, walk of shame.  Holy ---!!!  It felt like I had razor blades in my thighs.  The thing is, I’m fine otherwise and I know I just have to work-out the massive deposit of lactic acid that is having a party in my quads.  After a day-or-so, the horse will be back jogging on the track in preparation for the next race.  Soon, I too will be back jogging, in fact, right now I’m going back to the health club to hit the treadmill for an extended-stride, brisk walk to help escort-out the evil from my legs. 

In keeping with my comparison to horse racing, The Frigid Five is coincidentally the first leg of a March/February Triple Crown they conduct in the area for runners.  I will miss the Preakness leg of it because I’ll be in Vegas for the AQHA National Convention.  But count me in for the Belmont leg on March 17^th with the 8k Saint Paddys Day Race.  8k is just a shade less than 5 miles, so I’ll be sure to be fit for that.  So the process has begun, thanks to the handy work Team H put into my mind and body.  There is a 5k this Saturday along the Oklahoma River near downtown OKC that I am training for.  Heck, that 3.1 miles will be like turning back to 7 furlongs after a mile and 1/8^th.  But, as in any form of racing – pace makes the race.  And training too!