Kinda Hot

I travelled down to Redditch today, where Rosemary was doing Isoman, a triathlon which was designed to ‘equalise’ the time spent swimming, cycling and running. For the triathlon uninitiated, swimming takes the shortest time and cycling takes the most. The good thing about the event is that they were running a complimentary half-marathon which I had entered as part preparation for my big event next month.

I arrived just in time to see Rosemary come into T2, the change over from biking to running and managed to give her a bit of a cheer. I missed Izzy, her race partner for ÖTILLÖ who I also wanted to cheer on. I then registered for my race, trotted over to the coffee van for a latte and had my final race food of strawberries, muesli and yoghurt. As I lay in the sun, I started to become a little concerned about how hot it was and how much water I seemed to be needing to drink.

I then set off to get a few pictures of R on the course, chatting to marshals and then rushing back to the finish line to capture the final moments. My beloved finished in 3rd place, looking slightly worse for wear…..salt encrusted sweat drips down the side of her face and calls of “I don’t feel very well”. We cheered Izzy over the line shortly afterwards with her looking a bit more fresh.

It was my turn, sweating profusely after a few jogs to the toilet and back. The small and unselect field gathered by the starting line, a mix of genders mainly of people that looked as though a full triathlon may be too much. I joked with Rosemary that “I could win this thing”.

The hooter honked and I immediately into the lead, catching the first marshal unaware and I went the wrong way in a race for the second time in a week! Fortunately only 5 seconds were lost this time and I weaved my way in and out of bodies to the front again. My GPS peeped to signify the passing of the 1st km….. in a far too quick 4:26. I settled a little going 10 seconds slower in the next.

The course was being shared with people doing an Iron distance triathlon who were running their marathons! I was passing them like they were standing still. Perhaps more worrying was that I needed a drink and sponge at the first feed station in the baking hot heat.  On the first hill, a fellow competitor put himself on my shoulder and as it was into a headwind I slowed down a bit to force him past! Then I tucked in behind until he kicked a little and had 10m on me. It was hard going to the church on the top of the hill and I was wishing for more water. I concentrated on maintaining a steady pace rather than chasing down the leader who now had 50m on me.

I gained on him on the downhill though and soon passed him again without breaking pace. There was a wiggly bit coming up to the half-way point in which my competition accidentally took a short-cut. “Oi…..you’re going the wrong way” I called and he had to go back round the wiggle, losing maybe a little more time than I had at the beginning. My legs were feeling good at this stage and I thought…. “bloody hell….I may be over the line first”. This was definitely a new experience. Coming into the start-finish area with music pumping out, I was waiting to hear my supporters and right on cue Izzy and Rosemary bellowed “c’mon Andy”. I smiled but didn’t waste any energy looking to see where the calls were coming from.

Just before the next drinks station, I swallowed a gel and was glad to get a water to wash the gunk down. The sponge was even better. I imagined Craig Alexander in the lava fields of Kona and felt I was in his shoes! It helped to be moving much quicker than the Iron distance competitors. There was no way I was slowing down, even over the church hill! The heat was attritional but I refused to slow! Blahh, this leading lark is much easier than champions would have you believe.  When you’re in 30th place and feeling like shit, it’s much harder to keep pushing hard.
I occasionally glanced over my shoulder but couldn’t see anyone. At around the 18.5km my senses were screaming “stop”, my head was cooking sous vide, the legs were jellifying and I was feeling sick. Ohhh no…heat exhaustion was creeping in fast. Only 2.5km to go though! It was great to be able to hear the music in the finishing area and I pushed on. Gahhh….I wanted to go close to 1 hr 35 min but I was a tad over the 1:40 mark. It didn’t matter though. I crossed the line, smiling inwardly satisfied that I’d pushed hard within the domain between exhaustion and oblivion and come out the other side.  

I wibbled and wobbled, then lowered myself to the ground. Izzy poured water over my head which was utter bliss! An organiser came over to say well done and see if I was ok, which I was. It was good to get a banana too. Conscious that we had to eat, I towelled myself down and changed kit. We wandered over to the car which had no room for me…… “You’ll have to cycle into town” Rosemary said and I didn’t have the energy to object. Even more surprising that I was I didn’t care that Nando’s was the only choice we had to eat….being close to the train station for me.


It had been a successful day…..