IronMan at 50!
Ironman Distance at 50
(3.8 km swim, 180 km cycling and 42.2 km run)
Reposting what I had posted in FB, as I am not sure if I will retain FB forever!
When I was just getting "active" around 2017, I read about Milind Soman finishing an Ultraman Triathlon at 50. Had thought at that time that I should do a full IronMan triathlon by 50. I had no specific event in mind and I didn't even know how tough it would be. Once I became good at running and better at cycling, I realised that this was a Herculean task. So the thought of doing an IronMan (140.6) was pushed to the backburner. The spark was suddenly lit around March when Eswari shared a post about some friend of hers finishing a "self-supported IronMan". I was amazed and thought it would be great for me to do so for my 50th birthday. Just as I was thinking aloud, Eswari, Sudo and others encouraged me and so I fixed up on the plan. The date that I set was Jun 21, Saturday! I was supposed to train for this from March till June, but in reality I was just continuing my regular running sessions training for DRHM and I took my cycle out for a few rides. Absolutely no swimming at all till Jun 17!
My birthday celebrations happened on Jun 20 and slowly the jitters started. Just two swim sessions on Jun 18 and 19 for 1k each and roughly only 300 km cycling mileage in 3 months made me feel undercooked but I decided to fight it out, even if it took 24 hours. The sun was out in his full glory in 20th and that added to my fears. It rained decent on 20th night and as always with rains, hope sprouted in me.
The D-day came. Woke up by 3.45 and got ready. By 4.30, Aishu, Elvis and Ram Singam were at my door step. As Elvis had instructed, I had packed a few bags (items required for cycling and running separately). Elvis fixed the cycle to the stand in the car and we reached the swimming pool by 4.55. The helpful pool attender Karan - who was initially reluctant to open before 5.30 am - he himself called me at 4.50 to say that he had opened the pool and all was ready. As soon as we reached the pool, another batch of TTBians Sudo, Muthu and Viki came, just to see us start and to support me! Subhashree and Eswari also joined me and the swim started at 5.20 am. Now, till this date I have never swam more than 2km and that too in a pool setting, the numbers are even lower and the practice was next to nil. With this in mind, I decided to take it slow. I kept the strokes coming slow and delayed my movements to concentrate on breathing right (even if the body was not exactly where it should be). It helped. Did around 1.7 km by 1 hour. Was tiring a bit around the 1.15 hour mark. Eswari who was swimming fast till then, per her schedule, joined me and started doing slow along with me. She was instrumental in me not taking longish breaks at the wall after that and kept egging me to move on. Another huge support was Rams, After 6.30, lots of coaching students had got into the pool. Rams ensured that no one "encroached" into my lane. He was just walking end to end when I was swimming, to keep the lane "private" to me! Finished the 3.8km swim in 2.20 minutes. The last 20 minutes, a huge crowd was cheering me from up the pool and they were counting down the laps left. After the swim, had a bite of bread omelette and got ready on my bike. Took a few pics and I was out for cycling by 8.05 am (2.45 hours after I started).
Next, came the cycling leg. My cycling distance PB was 125 km that I had done twice. Kept my expectations low with this in mind. Nine hours is what I planned for the cycling leg, worst case (7.5 hours best case). Nathiga Selvan joined me from the pool for cycling. We both rode for around 7km to Irumbuliyur where my partner for the day Boopathi caught up. All three of us rode to Porur Toll on bypass where Elvis and Rams took a few photos of us, and we returned to Perungalathur for a total distance of around 40 km before Selvan peeled off. At 48 km mark we were at Vandalur and we decided that our U-turn on GST road should be around the 112-115 km mark so that we could reach our running area - TNPA to finish 180 km. We had one "aid station" stop at Guduvanchery where Vinoth, MSD and Aishu helped us out with water and fast and up (and mutta mittai). We started riding on GST Road towards Dindivanam. There was a steady headwind. The saving grace was that the Almighty decided to tell the Sun to not be harsh. That helped a lot and we both kept a decent pace (around 25 kph) and around 80k mark, we took a short lemon juice break, 3 hours 30 minutes into our ride.
10 a.m. break!
Then continued the ride in the sun till we reached the scheduled U-turn distance at 99 Coffee Shop. Again, the lovely volunteers Aishu, Vinoth, MSD joined by Selvan and his daughter Oviya were there before us. They had got prasadam from Singaperumal koil, and that was our lunch! Eating something solid after all the liquids and gels was so nice. I had sweet pongal and Curd rice (Boo had puliyodharai and curd rice). We then resumed our journey back, 113 km by 1.30 pm when we started back towards the city! The next 1.5 hours was easier and we both kept a decent pace. While Boo kept telling me that I should go easy as I had to run after this, he was pedaling at 30+ kph. Thanks to the tailwind and slight descent in gradient I too could keep up and by the time we met our lovely volunteers again, had done 40k in 1.5 hours. Had a 10 min break to fill up water bottles and freshen up ourselves with cold water splash in the face and neck. Then resumed the journey with less than 30 km left at 3.10. The next 30 (it ended up being 33 actually) took another hour and 10 minutes and by the time we reached TNPA where we were to run, it was around 4.20. So, that was roughly 8 hours 15 minutes for the cycling, halfway between my best case and worst case expectations! Once there, changed my clothes and got into running attire. Had a sip of tender coconut water and a banana. Volunteers were checking on me if I needed a stretch or a spray of pain sprays. I was all fresh and I said I would start my run!
My expectations for the run was to finish in 6 hours or so. Around 4.35 was when I started running. Sudo was the person leading the pack. As mentioned earlier, he was the person who I sounded out first and he was very happy to support. Each of my "milestone" runs, Sudo has been with me - be it my maiden olympic triathlon or my 45km @45 run or my self-supported marathon or my maiden Half Iron distance triathlon attempt at Velachery. Here too obviously he was leading the way and we started well. Had a "tea break" at 3rd km which went on a bit long! After that was running nicely. After all my prior triathlon attempts, my strategy this time was to run slow and run long with no sudden spurts of fast running. So was consciously running at a 7-7.30 min per km pace. Since we were running in a loop with our volunteer team near the midway, had quite a few stops (every 2-3 km) with the lovely volunteers supporting us with all we needed. A good crowd was running with me too. Around 10 km mark I guess, I had a gel and washed it with tender coconut water. Now, this water had fermented and it left a sour taste in my mouth. I was getting a puky feeling and so I started walking. Satheesh and Ramachandran tried to get me back to running rhythm but I was apprehensive of vomiting and so I kept walking for longer periods.
Soorya came into the picture, probably around the 16th km. He said he would pace me. I went along. He was running at a consistent 7 to 7.15 pace, which was my plan too. There were quite a few breaks as more volunteers/supporters had joined and so we had a few "photo sessions". Karnan joined me and Soorya and started playing Ilayaraja songs. A few km went so easy and smooth. The original idea was to run 30k in TNPA and then go towards Madambakkam Tank Ground (MTG) but somewhere the plan got changed and we were told to leave TNPA by 25th km itself. So we were to shift from the relatively serene and pitch dark TNPA (forgot to mention, when we were running in the dark roads in TNPA, the lovely volunteers were riding behind us with their headlight on for atleast half hour if not more). Anyway, so signed off from TNPA and started our run towards MTG. My watch started alerting about low battery. Around that time, Vamsi offered his watch for backup and I wore that in the right hand.
The journey to MTG was hard in the initial phase. More than the traffic itself, the commotion about how the lead vehicle and tail vehicle should line up, and the constant shouting from front and back was keeping us engaged! Around 3 km from TNPA, it was 28 km into my route, and we had a long tea break this time. I used this opportunity to stop the activity on my watch and start a new activity on Vamsi's watch. Two-thirds of the run done. Soorya was slightly cramping and he wanted someone else to take over pacing. I had decided by then to settle into an 800-200 routine, 800 mtr run and 200 mtr walk. This stretch took us through the dark SSM roads and here again the bike marshalls were of great help. Reached BU at around the 36k mark and started towards MTG and reached there around 37k with around 5 km to go.
Nothing could have prepared me for the situation there. I was pleasantly surprised (nay shocked) to see such a huge crowd waiting to support me. Even my better half and kids were present, which was another surprise. Kids were holding up banners and a big crowd came along with me to pace me. I stuck to a routine of 2 rounds running (1k) and 200 mtrs walk. John was running along with me. When the last loop was left, started my customary sprint. I was surprised that I could run at 4.15 pace for that stretch! Finally finished at 11.00 p.m. exact! There was a huge sense of relief on completing this "challenge" that I had set for myself. I was hugely honoured to be given a guard of honor by the TTB family! A surprise cake cut and a wonderful gift from them was the literal topping on the cake!
I can keep boasting about how this was self-supported but I know deep down that this was a TTB-supported event. Thanks TTB for all the love and support! Special thanks to "ponnu" Aishu who was with me from 4.30 am to 11 pm and checked my BP and sugar levels periodically!
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