Isoman is described as ‘triathlon evolved’. The principle is that each discipline takes about the same amount of elapsed time and therefore, theoretically, each has equal importance. Back in my university days (when I only swam and ran) I might have agreed, but now I’m not so sure!

In any case, Izzy and I entered this race because it fitted well with our Ötillö swimrun training plans. I also like doing new things. There was a full distance event at 11km swimming, 90km biking and 42km running. Despite flirting with that idea, we had both sensibly gone for the half distance instead.

Anyone who knows anything about triathletes will know that many of them dislike the swim and see it as something to get out of the way. In contrast, this event was a swimmer’s race. Despite a very accessible 45km bike leg, and a tough but achievable half marathon run, entrants to the half still had to be up for a 5.6km swim!

Preparation for the race had been far from ideal. Although I had done most of my training, work had been more manic than it has been for years. Lots of late nights, shortened sleeps and extra stress. I also did not target this race and my taper, such as it was, was merely an easy week beforehand. I arrived at the race fit, but not exactly zingy!

And so we found on a sunny morning in Redditch that we were lining up for a four lap, star-shaped swim of the lake in Arrow Valley Country Park. The water was green and murky, which makes a change from the brown and murky that I’m used to. It was also really warm. Although the swim was much longer than usual, the pattern of racing was the same. Some people shot off, I started at a sensible pace, found myself bridging groups and gradually overtaking towards the end. I got into a kind of metronomic state, with my arms swinging over as I counted strokes and sighted every 12th. It was calm and the banks were close, so it was quite easy to swim in straight lines. I saw Izzy as we went under the timing mat for the last lap.

My time was much slower than for the similar length swim race in Manchester, but I had been acutely aware of making sure I could still stand and safely ride a bike afterwards. My last road triathlon had involved a heavy crash off the bike out of transition and I didn’t fancy a repeat! Still, I was more than happy with the consistency of my lap times (24:16, 24:46, 24:46, 25:12).

One unique aspect of this event is that the transitions are timed out for up to 7 minutes (T1) and 5 minutes (T2). So I took my time to go through smoothly and even say hello to Izzy as she came in just after me!

Trying not to suffer too much on the run

Out onto the bike leg. I was riding my new time trial bike for the first time in a race. In fact, it was only about the fourth time I had ridden it all, and certainly the furthest I had ever been on it! The first part of the ride was on a dual carriageway. The traffic was very light, but I was too afraid of excessive wobbles to check over my shoulders for cars and was mostly concerned with staying upright! Once we got onto the county lanes I settled down a lot and my next concern was how to drink. I had forgotten to practice this bit … It was wobbly, but I managed it by dint of slowing down. After a while I even found that I was enjoying myself. My average speed was just under 30km/h. I’d be happy with that over double the distance on my road bike, but I’m sure there’s room for improvement there!

A perfectly timed 5 minute transition and I was out on the run. I had really been looking forward to this part. It was to be a test of how much I’ve improved recently. However, after about 5 minutes my shins started screaming at me. They were really painful. I decided the best cure would be to tell them to shut up and keep on running 🙂 It felt like I had to slow to a jog though. Sure enough, after about half an hour whatever the problem was resolved itself and I felt fantastic.

About 10 minutes later I started to melt … The sun was beating down, far more than I am used to ‘up North’. It must have been at least hitting the heady heights of 25 degrees. I took a cup of fluid at every aid station but the tell-tale signs of heat exhaustion / dehydration were kicking in. Shivers, wooziness, swollen hands. I gritted my teeth and kept plugging away, knowing the end was near. As soon as I fell over the line I crawled into the shade of a bouncy castle to drink and cool down.

Izzy at the finish

The facts do not lie, my two times were only 18secs apart. Which is strange as they didn’t feel the same! I was disappointed with my run time (which was 10-15 minutes slower than I had hoped for), but knew I couldn’t have done any more on the day. The race was much harder than I expected. Which is back to this business of being equalised … Compared to a middle distance triathlon, we had basically swapped an hour and a bit of biking for the same of swimming. And I’m fairly sure that biking hard is less tiring than swimming hard. A bit of results analysis also shows that for over two thirds of the field, final positions didn’t vary by more than 5 places from when they exited the water.

Eventually after various revisions of results, I was confirmed as 3rd female / 10th overall. It was a shame podium positions were only given to winners, but it doesn’t change the result. An interesting touch is an award for ‘most equal’ athlete based on time. I placed 6th in this competition and wonder what could have been if I hadn’t been so knocked out on the run! Izzy was 4th / 16th, so it was a good day out.

Overall I had enjoyed the race, despite my body reeling for a couple of days afterwards from the effects of the heat! It was well organised and the marshals were friendly. There was every opportunity for people to take part, with a quarter distance race and options to enter single discipline races as well, which Andy happily availed himself of (beating my half marathon time by 5 minutes!).

Andy found it hot as well!

Next up is the Beast of Ballyhoura, a 72h team adventure race in Ireland, which happens to be the European Championships and somehow slipped into my diary in a moment of inattention 😉