My IronMan 70.3 at Goa!

If you are reading this, you probably know by now that I did not finish my first IronMan attempt at Goa on October 27, 2024! This post is more about chronicling the event and a self-assessment of what went wrong, and I will stick to the swim leg only, which is where my race started and ended. This may be a long one. I hope I will read this before every stage of my next triathlon (whenever it happens) - the registration stage, the training stage, and the final stage just before the event.

The Buildup

The training leading up to the event was not at all sufficient in the swim aspect. One thing I had decided after a similar distance triathlon last year at Malpe (albeit supported in the swim with buoy and a rope tied all the way in the sea marking the route) was that I would clock at least 3000 km mileage on my cycle in the 11-month period between Malpe and Goa. My running mileage anyhow was in the 150-200 km per month range. From April, I thought I should do at least 10 km of swimming in a month (that would be around six to seven sessions a month) but I never did that. The idea was to have at least 8 to 10 sea swim sessions in the 3 months leading to October 27, but I just went for two or maybe three totally. And to top it, the sea sessions that I did, I always had the "personal" buoy dangling from my waist, that I could hold anytime I was afraid. The pool sessions that I went to were also not structured and the maximum I did at one length was 200 meters (4 reps of to and fro in a 25-mtr pool). I didn't even venture to the 50 meter SDAT pool this time. The thought process despite all this was that I would somehow manage to finish in 60 mins as I had done the same distance in the same sea earlier at Malpe, even though it was heavily supported!

Need to add here that all my training this year had been focused on the cycling and running aspect. Last time when I did the similar distance in Malpe, I had taken 3 hrs and 40 mins for cycling and struggled in the run leg for 2 hour 55 mins. This time I built a decent cycling mileage of ~250 per month Jan to June and then 400+ per month. Approached Elvis for a schedule for the last month of the training and he gave me a wonderful schedule with lots of brick runs. I was targeting 3.15 in cycling and 2.15-2.30 in running. I had worked out my nutrition and hydration plan too. Was all set for a PR timing if I crossed the swim leg!

Did a Olympic level triathlon at Pondy - Aquafest 2024 on Aug 25. Swam 1.5k in the sea (with buoy), cycled 40k in trafficy roads in 1.30 (around 28 kph) and ran 10k in 66 mins. All the brick run training was after this. So, I was all set!

The Prelude

Reached Goa, the venue for the IronMan, a couple of days early and on the 2nd day before the event, Friday, went for a sea swim. Wanted to get the confidence of swimming in the open sea with no place to hold when in the deep. But since it was the first day, I had my buoy along with me, as always. Did a wonderful half hour swim where I exited and entered the sea once in between (for practice) and despite that managed to cover 1100 meters in around 32 minutes. There was no buoy to sight when we were going inside and I was not sure if I was going straight but I kept an eye on expert swimmer Eswari swimming along and so my direction was fixed based on how she moved. Felt confident after the session as I had finished this within my target pace as my planned pace for the event was 1 hour for 1900 mtrs (1.9 km).

Went again to the sea on the day before the event, Saturday. This time I was alone as everyone else was cheering Eswari's kid Sadhana on her tri-kids run. I was not carrying my buoy this time but there were a couple of floating buoys placed for sighting in the sea by the organizers and there were a couple of life-savers on kayaks. Also, there was a good crowd of swimmers. The idea was to do a similar swim like the day before as there was enough "support." But, what happened was that the demons in the mind started acting up. What I ended up doing was that I went only around 20 to 30 meters inside from the last place where I could stand neckdeep in the water, and in that place I was just "cycling" (staying upright in the water pedalling the legs) and in a couple of minutes, I would swim back to the place where I could stand. I did not swim at all that day (other than swimming back to the shore when the "height" was less than 5 feet). I knew that this was not at all a good sign but I kept telling myself (cheating the mind?) that there was no use in preparing on the last day and that all the preparations had been done and that once the buoys are all placed in the sea on the event day I would be confident. I tried telling the same thing to Veena over the phone but she did not buy my story. She said you should have gone in at least for some distance without the buoy. You should have conquered your internal demons then and there!

The D-Day

After finishing all the usual pre-event routines done including nutrition and setting all the transitions bags next to the bicycle in the transition area, went and stood in the beach by around 6:30 a.m. for the 7:00 a.m. start. Went into the water and wetted myself fully once by doing a "warmup" and was all set for the race to begin, already thinking about the 600-800 meters that had to be run after the swimming to reach the cycle parked area. I was given a green cap as I had announced that I would finish the swim after 45 mins only (orange cap for less than 33, light blue for 33-37, dark blue for 38-45, green for 45+ minutes). The event was flagged off at 7 a.m. exactly and every 5 seconds, 5 swimmers were let in, starting with the orange cap group. By the time my chance came in, it must have been around 7:10. Stepped into the water, the first stretch was a straight one. Hold on, let me try to explain how the swim course was. The organizer had given us the course map ahead of time. It was supposed to be a straight (perpendicular to beach) entry and after a short stretch straight, we were supposed to turn left at an obtuse angle and swim for some distance before another left turn (towards the shore) and after some point, turn left again and go towards the first turn that we did (completing a triangle after the first left) and then turn right and reach the shore at the start point itself. The only catch was that the distances between the turn points was not marked on the map. There were huge floating orange IronMan buoys anchored at the turn points, each around 8-10 feet tall and around 3-4 feet wide. Between the huge buoys there were small floating yellow buoys, each maybe 1-1.5 feet tall anchored around every 100 meters as route markers. Maximum of two people can hold those at a time and "rest" if needed.

Ok, now that the course is explained, let me continue my story. I started my straight line swim, the first 100 meters was just walking in the water as the depth was less than 5 feet. After that I got into swim mode and it was pretty cool. There was no huge crowd around me as the faster swimmers had gone ahead and I was among the last set to enter the water. After around say 200 meters, held on to one of the small yellow buoys, more to settle myself a bit and then continued up to the first huge orange buoy where I had to make a left turn. After the turn, I started losing my sense of direction. I was looking at the huge orange buoy where I was supposed to reach and it was a bit far (I remember telling my friends before also that the distance between the 1st and 2nd turn points seemed more). So I wanted to have the comfort of the smaller yellow buoys next to me, just in case I wanted to hold. This thought slowly started becoming an obsession. There was a current going across the sea from the direction where we were going to, and so all the swimmers were naturally getting drifted away a bit. Most others did not seem to know/bother and were just focused on the next turning buoy. Whereas I was trying to reach the next smaller yellow buoy every 100 meters. This made me do more than what I was supposed to, but I was not aware of it then. Before I could reach the second turn, there was a section with a few jellyfish and I experienced a jellyfish sting. This did not make me stop though it pained a bit on the earlobe and the forehead. I had to stop for a minute though as another fellow triathlete was panicking after the sting and I reassured her stating it was not serious and that she could continue. After all this, looked at my watch and it showed something like 800 meters in 24-25 minutes. It was there that I felt I was doing great and as per plan. I continued my swim towards the 2nd turn. Around two yellow buoys before the turn buoy, I had skipped stopping at two small buoys and had built up a rhythm. But suddenly felt that the next "stop" was far away and so started panicking and did pedalling at the same place. Called for help, the boat was around 30-40 meters away. Till he came, I was stationary, pedalling at the same place. Once he came, I had to say something and so told him, "jelly fish" sting and so was resting. He was kind enough to offer vinegar, but said that it was in another boat. I said "dont bother" and resumed. I did not even hold the boat for 30 seconds, I just wasted time as I was afraid and needed that reassurance. Anyway, reached my 2nd turn buoy and my watch showed 1100 meters in 34 mins or so, and I was happy to have kept the desired pace.

After the second turn, I realized that most swimmers had gone ahead of me and there were just a handful with me. This is when I realized that probably the tracking was wrong and I had done lesser than desired, from the completion point of view. But still I did not even assume that I would be late than 70 minutes. So, I started taking this up a bit seriously and tried to increase my pace. But the current was from my right this time and I was being pushed to the left whereas I was supposed to keep the buoys to my left. So again I had to put in some effort to stay on course and so I had to rest after every few minutes of effort at the buoys. Finished this stretch with some pace and took the penultimate left. Had to do some circus to go around that orange buoy and not cut across. I realized that many swimmers were actually cutting across and maintaining a shorter length there. That distance from the 3rd to the 4th turning buoys was tough for me. At one stage, I crossed two yellow buoys without stopping but after around 20 mtrs after the 2nd one, I returned back to hold the second one as I saw the 3rd one was a bit far and I was afraid. Here, I called another boat volunteer and asked him if he could row along so that I can just see him and swim. He said that it would lead to disqualification, so I told him to stay where he was and keep an eye on me. This stretch took longer than I thought and by the time I reached the last bit I was already at 67-68 minutes and I had to now reach the shore in a straight line. Here too, I was searching for stop points as I had become tired after swimming nearly 2 km already, which I had never done in training. Somehow reached the shore by 73 minutes and switched off my watch. I had done 2.3k swimming per my Garmin watch (and I believe it was right). The organizers were waiting for me at the shore, and they removed my timing tag tied to the ankle and marked me as DNF (did not finish). I tried asking if I could cycle/run without asking for medal, but they refused!

The lessons

1. Past records (one year ago, that too) are not an indicator of future performances.
2. Train for every single leg of the triathlon. Don't assume that you can skip seriously training one and can catch up on the other two.
3. Take your sea swim sessions seriously. Every day in the sea is different. Ten sessions means you have seen 10 different facets of the sea.
4. Training the mind is as important as training the body. More independent swim sessions in the sea will help in that.
5. Do the race distance individually at least once before the race (holds good for all three disciplines).
6. Trust your skills.
7. Have training buddy/buddies doing the same race. This will help you avoid skipping sessions as you can mutually motivate each other.
8. Whether #7 is possible or not, try to have a coach. If not for all three aspects, at least for the weakest discipline, have a coach and better your technique and speed. For all the talk about IronMan being an endurance event, speed is needed too. You spend so much for the race, do not hesitate to spend that extra bit more to get good results.

Finally a word of appreciation for the IM finishers in my team, Ramanathan and Balaji. Both of them rocked it. Also special kudos to the all-women relay team of TTBians Eswari and Aishu and Bangalorean Swathi (TTB became Tambaram-Tambaram-Bangalore)!