It’s a great pleasure to share
with you all about a recent change in my life. In December 2015
Multifit sponsored me to
do the Ironman Zurich in July 2016. Since then I have wholly devoted myself to
training for this beast of a race. For those who don’t know what Ironman is ,
it’s a race consisting of 3 sports swimming , cycling and running. The full
Ironman (140.6) requires an athlete to swim 3.8 kms then cycle 180.2 kms and
lastly run a full marathon which is of 42.2 kms. All this under 16 hours of
time limit, to achieve the coveted title of Ironman.
With the support of Multifit and
Cymour I have embarked upon this journey not only to complete this gruesome
race which will test my endurance but also to achieve a competitive timing. I
have been sharing my training pictures and videos online. But that is only 10%
of what I am actually doing. The triathlon training has changed my life. I am
in the fittest shape I have ever been. Each day is harder than yesterday. Everyday, I feel like
quitting but that is when I get over it and keep pushing on. Thanks to my crew,
coach, sponsors and supporters I have developed myself into a weapon.
Last week I took part in the Bhor
Triathlon just to test myself. The longest distance offered was the Olympic
distances (1.5 km Swim, 40 km Cycle, 10 km Run). Check out the following race
report.
Bhor Triathlon
The reason to do the race was
just to get myself ready for the bigger and more brutal Ironman. To simulate
that I went in tired and exhausted into the race. I had a hard build up of
training before the Bhor triathlon. Right upto the day before the race I was still
doing running and swim intervals. However I was still confident of doing well.
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All Packed and Prepped |
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Getting Ready for the Race |
I camped out near the race venue
on the night before the race. The race start was in a small village of Mhakoshi near Bhor. It rained throughout the night. Thankfully the
tents kept us dry. I had the awesome Nikhita Nath for company and help me
prepare for the race. After a good nights sleep I was feeling great for the
race. A light breakfast and I was ready for the 1.5 km swimming. The organizers
(Zenith Sports Initiative) had a pretty neat and efficient setup. The Olympic
Cat triathletes were the first ones to get flagged off.
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The beautiful location of the race!! |
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First out of water |
I dived straight in and started
with a fast freestyle pace to get away from the crowd and soon managed to put
quiet a distance from them. The swim was is a small lake with good clean water.
The swim had 4 loops of 375 mts. I had recced the loop the day before so I knew
what to expect. I kept a comfortable pace never exerting too much which was
enough to get myself the first person out of the water. I could sense my
triceps were tired from swimming drills from last week, which did not allow me
to function at my optimum. I later got to know that I took about 44 minutes to
finish 1.5 km of swim. Usually I would do it in 30 minutes.
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The cycling route was winding and rolling through the amazing countryside |
After the swim I headed straight
for my bike. The bike was a hybrid which was given to me by Aniket Mahashabde
of Cymour. The hybrid served me well on the immediate slippery and muddy uphill
section to get to the road. Thanks to the organizers who provided me with a
pilot vehicle who was ahead of me the whole time clearing traffic and showing
way. The cycling terrain was all rolling with pothole ridden roads and
sometimes no roads at all. It was good to have the Cymour crew and Niki cheer
me as they chased me in their car. I took about 1 Hr 30 mins to finish the 40
kms of cycling and managed to gain a considerable lead on my competitors. Then
off I went for my run which was supposed to be only 10 kms but ended up doing
16 kms.
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Trail Run |
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Greatful to Sushil and Prashant Tidke who paced me on my last lap |
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Always a relief to cross the finish line |
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Getting my bearings |
The running route was supposed to
be a loop of 2.5 kms x 4, but it actually turned out to be 3.2 kms. I started off
with a comfortable running pace, slowly increasing my pace as I went further
into the laps. By this time the weather had turned from a cool overcast to a
hot, humid and sunny. By the 3 rd lap I still had a lead of over 2 laps over
the guy behind me. After a cool 13 km run to finish first I was joined by
Sushil and Prashant where we did one more victory lap and still finishing
first. Although I would be lieing if I said I had an easy race. I was competing
against myself never getting comfortable and pushing myself through the pain. I
was glad to finish and lie down.
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That is all you need after a hard race |
Crossing the Finish Line
It was an honour to receive the
winner’s trophy from Prashant Tidke, a long time friend who has been inspiring
me since I took up the sport. I was overwhelmed by all the strangers coming up to me and said I was inspiring them.
They all cheered and clapped for me. All in all it was a great race, very well
organized, a beautiful backdrop of the sahyadris and the perfect rainy
atmosphere of the monsoons to top it all. I would recommend the race for
beginner triathletes, a great way to get your first tri experience.
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Receiving the Trophy from Parag Ghuge, Pravin Patil and Prashant Tidke (From left) |
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With the beautiful Trophy |
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My Baby and the Trophy |
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The Tri Life |
Was waiting for this report. Nice writeup. Good inspiration for those trying to compete. Hearty congratulations once again. After all d hard work n training a well deserved trophy. Proud of you.
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