प्रतिबिंब: Chennai Full Iron Distance Triathlon 2017 (English)

A Triathlon full of headwind

Sir Peter Van Geit

Click this link for Marathi version:
Chennai Full Iron Distance Triathlon 2017 (Marathi)

Background:

Basically I started Triathlon in the month of June & July (2017). Having mastered the art of randonneuring and having experience of few half marathons I decided to go for triathlon. Since my school days I was expert in swimming (this was my biggest misconception). After completing many brevets in last year it made me feel like I am spinning my legs even in the sleep. It was too bored to ride a bicycle on the same highway. While I was not sure if I would be a Super Randonneur once, I became a Super Randonneur three times and I was satisfied by the brevets. Now then I do not wanted to do BRM's. Even after putting your life at risk, BRM medals were not given early as they should be. We have to wait like a bird (Chatak). So I was more disappointed. If I receive BRM medals at the moment I finish, its happiness will not be released in the sky. And who will feel the importance of a medal after one year? Therefore I anymore did not have an apprehension about BRM, knowing that the tremor had ended for me. To experience some different thunder, I planned to ride on Leh-Ladakh in the month of August but it was unsuccessful. Why risking life in BRMs only, when there are other options too. After saying this to myself I started swimming sessions.

Since childhood I had good knowledge of swimming (local style). I was not afraid of water, but what if I tired in the middle of deep water? Such a huge question was raised in front of me. But after seeing some photos of triathlon I noticed that there is a rope tied from end to end on which you can take rest for few minutes. After clearing this doubt I started preparing myself for triathlon. I had never done a triathlon in my life but after registering my name into the Kolhapur for Half distance triathlon many raised their eyebrows. And immediately after that I registered myself for Chennai full iron distance triathlon.

Full Iron distance triathlon: 140.6

3.86 km (2.4 miles) swimming
42.20 km (26.22 miles) running
180.25 km (112 miles) cycling
Together, the total distance of this competition is 140.6 miles.

I was overexcited and was unaware that what is 140.6 and 70.3, but my friend guided me wisely and cleared my myths on time. It is very important to have a wise guide behind it.

The full phrase "full iron distance triathlon" is accurate. The words 'Ironman' or 'Half-ironman' are incorrect, they can not be used for triathlons in India. "Ironman" is a brand and it would be appropriate to say that if you have participated and finished the Triathlon event organised by IRONMAN in the given time, then you can be called as an "Ironman". "You are an Ironman" you will hear it on the loudspeakers and so the world. Participating in the Ironman event is very very expensive for Indian citizens especially if you are from middle class family. The important reason is that this competition is not conducted in India, if you want to participate in it, you have to go abroad. Entry fee, air travel, staying abroad are very very expensive things. I have a dream to participate in the Ironman event. I would like to find a country that will be easy to my wallet and I will be able to participate in this triathlon. There will be no reason to worry if I get a generous sponsor. Otherwise Asia, Philippines or Malaysia the best pocket friendly countries to travel in or I will discuss this with my friend.

Kaustubh Radkar from Pune has been "Ironman" 20 times. The reason behind telling this is, whenever I tell people about triathlon and "Ironman" Milind Soman is the only person alone in front of everybody's eyes. Some of my friends said to me "You completed the same thing that Milind Soman did" I said "Yes, Made in India, it's done". My name was discussed with great like Milind Soman, it was nothing less. The other thing I want to mention that rather than Pune there are more number of Ironmen in Kolhapur. If you say that Triathlon's craze is higher in Kolhapur, then it will not be false.

Chennai Trekking Club:

In Chennai, the full iron distance triathlon is being organised since 1999 and I was going to participate in the 18th edition of 2017. Till date the triathlon in Chennai is the only Full Iron Distance Triathlon in India. Indeed, this tournament was scheduled in July itself, but for some reason it was postponed till December. In the Kolhapur triathlon I got acquainted with Bangalore's Sravan and he informed me about the Chennai Triathlon. Without any delay, by clicking on the link given by Sravan I registered my name for the Chennai Triathlon. I would be able to participate in the Triathlon, I thought that's the reason this competition was postponed because in the month of July my legs did not follow triathlon. Whatever happens it happens for the sake of good. Everything was happening by Lord Krishna's wish. I was able to participate in the Triathlon it was my fortune. Milind Soman has also finished this full Triathlon in Chennai.

Another very important thing I would like to mention here is that the entry fee for this tournament. How much entry fee? What do you think? Any guess. The entry fee for the International Ironman triathlon event is between Rs 45,000-50,000 (depending on the time of enrollment). If there is a event of 10 km running in Pune city then the entry fee will be around Rs. 1,000 sometimes. Chennai Triathlon entry fee was only Rs.1000, And if you want T-shirt and finisher medal then it would be only Rs. 1350. Isn't it great?

Pune to Chennai Travel:

How can a common man like me afford to travel by air? So I booked ticket in Chennai Express (Railway ticket). From the day it was booked, it was still waiting for the confirmation till the day of travel. After being fed up by railway's IRCTC app, I decided to go by Volvo bus. Later I felt that if I had booked airline tickets before it would have been much easier, because I almost spent 2500 Rs. reaching Chennai.

In the entire travel I have been in touch with Abhi Londhe, where we arrived and departed, we were informing each other. He was traveling to Chennai by plane and we had already decided to stay in the same room. Even Sravan was going to stay in the same hotel. Max Classic Apartments near Old Mahabalipuram Road was booked by Sravan for us. Pune to Bengaluru and Bengaluru to Chennai I traveled by Volvo bus. After reaching Chennai I booked rickshaw by OLA and reached Max Classic Apartments. The rickshawala was gentleman and it is not habit for people living in Pune so I was bored. We did not even have a simple verbal conflict. After 22 hours of continuous travelling in Volvo's semi-sleeper bus I was feeling very refreshing instead of getting tired. The fatigue of every muscle in the body was eroded. In the last 22 hours, I was not doing any kind of movements, only I had been lying on the semi-sleeper seat like dead duck. But I never thought that all my fatigue would disappear. The body fatigue due to daily runway disappeared and this was unexpected to me. Next time too I decided to go by Volvo sleeper class (if the railway booking not confirmed).

My friend Abhi was waiting for me in Chennai. We both had dinner and started discussion on Chennai triathlon. Service apartment booked by Sravan was very nice. Good facilities were available at Rs 1500 per day. As I started reassembling my cycle, Abhi offered his helping hand. He was a bicycle seller, therefore mounting the rear derailer was a easy job with his help. Otherwise, I had to do a lot of work for reassembling rear derailer. After assembling the bicycle, it was too late to sleep because we chatted for long.

Day Before Triathlon:

After finishing our breakfast in the morning we took our bicycles and headed towards the place where we were going to swim tomorrow. Yes on the bicycle, because there was no other option. Seeing the place where we were going to swim, I was frightened. We chose the same route on which we were going to ride tomorrow. The road of 5 to 6 km from Highway seemed very awful. There was huge workload of vehicles and a lot of potholes as well. This distance of 5 km was to be done four times in the triathlon event. There is no such a road in Pune that I will compare with, and not even think of cycling on this kind of road in Pune. The sureties were sure of the puncture. But now there was no alternative. There was no doubt that this 20 km distance out of 180 km will take more than 1 hour for sure. After seeing the swimming venue, we returned to the hotel room. We left the bicycles at hotel room and walked towards the old Mahabalipuram road(OMR) to feel the humidity of Chennai. While walking on the OMR we enjoyed the taste of sugarcane juice, fresh coconut water and chicken tandoori. The Sun was shining and there was a fire in the form of sun shine.

Even though the practice done indoors, some part of the activities during event has to be done under firing Sun. It was very important to adapt to the temperature and humidity of Chennai. This small tour made us very well aware of the atmosphere of Chennai. After having lunch, I started contacting my recreational triathlete group friends who were also going to participate in same event. Most of the people from Pune have participated in this triathlon. Until then Bengaluru's Sravan reached Chennai. We all met together and in the evening we went to Agni College of technology to collect the bib in Sravan's car. Swapnil Bhosale, Vaibhav Ramtirthe, Abhi Londhe, Sravan, me and Sravan's two friends Manjunath and Shiv . we all reached the Agni college. Swapnil and Vaibhav came by bicycle. The volunteers of the Chennai Trekking Club started gathering. And at the same time, Peter also came (Peter must have called "Sir"). I introduced myself to Peter Sir and thanked him for organizing the Full Iron distance triathlon. Because of you my dream will come true to participate in full iron distance triathlon. Going abroad for "Ironman" is not at all affordable, when I said this Peter Sir gave only a gentle smile.

Now Sachidanand Swami was coming to meet me. Sachidanand Swami was a Facebook friend of mine who lived in Chennai. We had never meet in real life before but it is impossible to tell in words the love given by him in the first meet. His younger brother Shivanand Swami had met me in Kolhapur during my half distance triathlon. And now, during the Full Triathlon in Chennai, the elder brother Sachidanand Swami was in front of me. Sachidanand Swami affectionately gave all details of Chennai atmosphere. His intention was to ensure that the weather should not spoil the party. He asked me to drink coconut water during event without fail. Then he left us so that we could meet tomorrow. After that I started preparing for tomorrow's battle.

All the accessories, energy food and electrolytes that I carried along with me were sorted out. Gels, salt capsules, peanut butter, gatorade sachets all these things were packed in a sack. I didn't have a tri-suit then, so I was going to use three types of clothes for three types of activities, swim short for swimming, jersey and bib short for cycling and short with same jersey for running. I don't have Garmin as well, so I was depending on stopwatch for swimming, GPS for cycling and Strava mobile app for running. I was also going to use chest strap heart rate monitor which is compatible with strava and cycling GPS too. I don't have Garmin yet. And you know what my flickering mind always chant, "Garmin...Garmin...Garmin" I don't think I would get salvation without getting Garmin.

BIB Number:

Agni College of technology 5 to 6 km away from old Mahabalipuram road. On the day before triathlon, after 6 pm one can get the bib number from here. 'Simple arrangement high triathlon" (simple living higher thinking). If you contact the organizers, they can arrange room for your stay at night in this college. Full distance participants were told that they will get their t-shirts in the morning as they were not arrived.

You don't have to submit your bike before the day of the event cause there were no such a arrangements. You have to bring your cycle with you while coming to the event in the early morning of event and you should place it horizontally on the ground. While going to swim you have to handover your bag to the volunteers. After completing your swim you can collect your bag from the volunteers. After taking the required material for cycling you have to forward the bag to the volunteers again. Cycling starts and ends in different locations. The bag you submit is transmitted to where cycling ends. This transport was flawless. Your bib number is written on the bag. If you write your name on the bag, that will made easy to find your bag and you can save the time.

Day of Triathlon:

Today, December 16th, it was my 19th wedding anniversary. A day to go somewhere in a beautiful place along with wife. Instead, I fell in love with triathlon. On this special day she allowed me to go to Chennai for triathlon. She should be appreciated for this. I decided to give finisher medal of this triathlon to the wife as a wonderful gift.

In the early morning, me and Abhi packed our sacks and left for the triathlon on cycles which was 7 to 8 kms away from hotel room. When we reached the triathlon area, the place had its own form. Till yesterday there was no one, and today these all people appeared from nowhere. One volunteer was telling everyone the necessary instructions. After seeing the Garmin watch in his hand, I guessed that he would be a triathlete. I listened well to him and followed the instructions. As Peter Sir said yesterday, I collected my t-shirt and flushed it in my sack. I was not sure whether I would complete this triathlon but because of the money I paid, I took the T-shirt. You will not find any arrangements for bike parking there. All along, I also parked my bike horizontally across a row in the grass. I buckled the helmet to the bicycle. There was so dark in the early morning and we had no idea what was happening around here. But after completing the swim I found out that there was a graveyard next to the place. Oh my God!

Running and cycling materials were kept in different bags, otherwise it would have been time to hunt for my material. After swimming, an empty bag was also kept for carrying wet swimming material. This time I had two different shoes, one for cycling and one for running as well. According to my friend's advice I bought myself a Nike shoes and also cleat shoes for cycling which even my coach didn't take the courage to use. So for me, this triathlon was a luxurious thing. I submitted the bag at the baggage counter and got ready to jump into the water. Nitin Ghorpade a friend from Aurangabad said that "this triathlon is like our BRM 'Self-supported". If you have watched the triathlon videos on YouTube, then remove it from the head first. This is Made in India which is something else.

Before starting the triathlon, I prayed to God "Lord ShriKrishna, take care of me this time" and said four verses of the Bhagavad Gita in my mind. A lot of photos were clicked of participants. There was one "Slow Photographer". While taking photos, I got to know Francois, but speaking to him felt a language problem. My weak english was not understandable to him and his fluent english was going over my head (It must be or don't know his mother tongue was not English). But he became my friend, that's for sure. After listening to all the instructions about swim, we went to the swimming venue.

3.9 km swimming:

Old stone mine and water stored in it was used for swimming 3.9 kilometers distance. The water stored in it was deep and 150 meters long. One full lap to the mine was 300 meters and to complete 3.9 km swimming distance one have to complete 13 laps.

When I read about 18 hours cut off time, I was really relieved. There were no worries if it took more time to finish the swim. Coming alive from the water was my only target and then there was plan to complete cycling and running in the remaining time. I have never crossed this distance of swimming in my entire life. After swimming 3.9 km, I could not guarantee that my body would cycle 180 km and run 42 km. I was chanting Lord Hari's name in my mind. Taking the names of Lord Hari I jumped into the water. Before starting to swim I started to drown in the water, and absorbed the water temperature with the body. I jumped into the water remembering the names of Lord Hari.

It took me eight and a half minutes to complete first lap. The U-turn you needed to take after every 150 meters was irritating and was a waste of time. It was a test of a swimmer like me. After every 300 meters I have to shout out my bib number loudly, which was time taking. But there were no better options than this. They did no mistake in counting my laps. I swam comfortably for 10 laps but last 3 laps were seemed to be never ending. After feeling some pain in calf of the left leg I took some rest near U-turn area. As the heartbeat was normal I started to swim again. I was very happy when I started the last lap. I was happy with the thought that swim will end after this.

The last time I shouted the bib number F-116 and came out of the water. It was 2 hours and 26 minutes in the stopwatch. The time for swimming was a bit too much. But there was no cut-off time for swimming. This had definitely helped me. Without any additional stress on the body, the swimming was finished very comfortably. After coming out of the water I was not able to stand upright. I felt like I was going to fall so a friend of mine gave his hand for support. On that basis I restored and slowly started walking towards transition area. On the way I collect the bag from baggage counter. I dressed my cycling jersey with the help of towel. I ate some peanut butter, a gel and a salt capsule. Putting the helmet, goggle and hydration pack on my back, I started the cycling campaign. While leaving I had more than enough banana, orange, ORS, chikki, cadbury and water which was arranged as refreshments.

180 km cycling:

The road to the first five kilometres was very bad. All road was in pits. There were so many pits that finding much space for tyre was also very difficult. Also traffic was tremendous. JCB, bus, dumpers used to go on and off continuously on that narrow road. So it was very difficult to ride a cycle could not even think of speed. It would have been a crime to think like that. Looking at the deep relationship with the punctures, I thought that my cycle would definitely going to punctured. But luckily it didn't happened. After first five kilometers we had to turn right towards old mahibalipuram road(OMR). At that point a car obstruct my way in such a manners that I had to apply brakes with full force, I did that but forgot to uncleat the shoe locked in pedal. Being a neophyte user of cleats, I fell right on my right knee. I don't remember how much was the impact, but due to knee collided with the tar road, there was a wound and blood started flowing through it. I was scared to see that.Was my triathlon in danger? No, I was not going to leave the triathlon in any condition. I wiped the blood with gloves and ignoring the knee wound I started pedaling towards Old Mahabalipuram. The fighting spirit of the Marathi soil helped at this time.

The next ten kilometers were full of traffic. Bus, autos, trucks and two-wheeler were creating huge troubles. There was no solution to get rid of this problem. Using cleats was very difficult. After that traffic, the road was very good from there. The wind was flowing but was not creating trouble to bike's speed. Until 45 km (U-turn) there was no trouble by the wind. After the U-turn, volunteers from there saw my blood-drawn knee and ran into a medical and got a bottle of Dettol. Is there some trouble? Does the knee hurt? He inquired with full affection. I think he should be volunteer of the year. I was not worrying about the knee or its pain, anyhow I wanted to complete the triathlon, my dream. At checkpoint I swallowed all the food stuffs with my peanut butter and left the checkpoint.

On the return journey, the first 5 km went to bliss. After 5 km the weather was so windy that, in my entire life I had never experienced such wind while cycling. I was riding on hybrid, and was not using aero bars, imagine the life of cyclist in that situation. Headwind was creating huge problems to me. After completing 90 kilometers of cycling with an average speed of 25 km/hr, I was happy with my performance. Reported bib number to volunteers and again I went to kill another lap of this horrible route. While riding back I saw Dr. Shrikant Ket appeared near Agni College and Sacchidanand Swami were heading towards the triathlon venue on the cycle, but I just waved at them and kept pedaling forward.

I didn't have any idea about the headwind in Chennai. I prepared on katraj tunnel climbs and faced headwind in Chennai. The headwind was a out of syllabus question for which I was not prepared. Even Peter Sir said that, "today's wind is blowing more faster than usual". Hearing this I became more angry on the wind. But there was no use of anger here. In the second lap, I rode with cool in front of the wind, and used defensive technique. The knee pain started showing off but I neglected it as much as I could.

Each coin has two sides. This wind had another side as well. The wind benefited us so much that we did not realise the humid climate here. See there was something positive. I met Nitin Ghorpade a friend from Aurangabad at the end of cycling on OMR. I shared my knee incidence with him. Expressing the feeling of sadness helps to decrease the pain. Whatever.....but Nitin was blood-solid in 5-6 places. He showed his wounds to me. Despite being injured, he was riding fast. This was really inspiring to me, I completely forgot my knee pain after talking to him. As advised by my friend Swami, I spent moments for drinking coconut water. Even I suggested Nitin Ghorpade to drink coconut water. Chennai coconuts were Super. If you like something in Chennai, you express it as "Suppar"(Super). The aunty who sold coconuts to me, gave "suppar" coconuts. After listening to the word "suppar" the aunty voluntarily gave me a small coconut.

While the sun was setting down, I reached the checkpoint of 180 km cycling. I told my bib number F-116 to the volunteers and literally gave up the cycle and I was out of exile. What a relief that was! My friend Sachidanand Swami was waiting for me. After clicking 4-5 photos in different poses he took the cycle from my hands. He was with his camera especially to click my photos. The kind of help Swami offered to me was out of this world. I was relaxing a bit. If there is a friend he must be like Swami. 3.9 km swimming and then 180 km cycling took 11 hours and 16 minutes.

42km Running:

I needed to run 42 km distance in 6 hours and 44 minutes. I did calculation by dividing 404 min with 42. It was well above than 9 min per km. Situation was not out of control yet. Before starting to run, I released water stored in my bladder. Bladder was so full that it was painful to even walk. The color of urine was almost like white which was good sign of hydration during triathlon and that means my condition was not so bad to run the full marathon now. A runner who have sub-5 record for full marathon in first attempt should not face any problems to run at 9 min/km pace. And that's what I was telling to myself. "Come on Vijay, you can do it...you can do it". I checked the response from my lower body muscles, there was no response at all. Not a single muscle was in mood of running. The entire muscles from lower body suffering from unbearable pain. So I walked slowly for first 15 to 20 minutes and then leg muscles started responding one by one slowly. After receiving positive response from both legs, I started running.

After completing the first lap of 5 km, I met my friend Abhi Londhe (Abhi nahi toh kabhi nahi). We were separated in the morning after jumping in the water and after that this was our second meet. First we waved at each other during cycling from a distance and this time we hugged to each other with joy. A feeling of joy and a sense that your dream going to fulfill. Both were happy like child. The dream of full Iron Triathlon was about to fulfill. Yes, that was possible. "Anything is possible" that's what we say about triathlon. We congratulated each other and moved on to the remaining campaign of running. Still, all the situation was in good control. I was never running out of time. While running, I was calculating time and distance and running with required pace. A decision to buy Nike shoe for running proved to be more than perfect cause I was able to run smoothly on that road which was full of pot holes, dust and small size stones. Meanwhile I completed 21 kms, which were 2 laps of 8 shaped track having refreshment points after every 2.5 kms.

When I was about to start my 3rd lap my friend Sachi swami himself took a decision to ride with me on cycle. It was much needed as I was very tired mentally and physically. Hats off to his perception. I didn't know anything at that time. He realized my physical and mental state. My condition was as helpless as the patient in the hospital or like a 6 months old child. Swami helped me like a doctor. I don't know how to thank him. There was darkness in some places on the running track. So I was running with mobile torch in one hand and from time to time I was changing hands. Believe me there was no pain like holding mobile torch in hand while running in full iron triathlon. A head torch would have been better in that situation.

At some places stray dogs were chasing and barking at me unnecessarily. In some places cows were sitting on the road like they have called for "cow conference" and discussing on serious issues. It was very difficult to find a road through it. At the same time there was a need to take care not to fall under the cow's dung. After every two and a half kilometers there were checkpoints and they were helping to refresh my energy levels. After 3 laps of 10.5 kms I applied heavy relief spray on thighs and calf muscles. So the pain of thighs and calf muscles diminished. I was very scared to see a group of stray dogs behind a triathlete who was next to me. I laughed at that situation and I was scared too because those dogs could follow me also and I would have had the same situation too.

The practice in Pune's environment is not so helpful to do triathlon in Chennai except swimming. Our destiny was good, the wind was flowing while running too. Not like cycling but was good enough to feel cool and fresh. Swami was riding with me on cycle for last 21 kms. He tried to increase my enthusiasm from time to time. When I was tired...When I was having unbearable pain, he gave me the verbal and moral support which can not be compared to anything in this world. While running, I was concentrating on my heart rate which was I think very important at that time. The heart rate was kept between 110 bpm to 140 bpm. More attention was paid to heart rate than speed of running. I have no words to write about the painful experience of last 5 kms.

Even after full iron triathlon was completed, I did not have any energy left to celebrate. In 17 hrs and 44 min I completed full iron distance triathlon in Chennai. After receiving finisher medal, I could not even stand still in front of the camera. Somehow managed to give some poses to Swami. Life was taken by the calamity. "Will you again take part in the triathlon??" If someone would have asked this question, then I would replied that I will not take altogether, Triathlon go to hell... I decided to never participate in triathlon again. How dreadful it is! Even in that situation Swami took my photos along with the finisher medal and later sent me an email attached with those photos.

Sravan finished this triathlon in 15 hrs and 30 min something and was resting at hotel room. But he called us and came back with his car to take us to hotel room. God bless you my dear friend Sravan. Sravan himself put our bicycles on his car and we got to the hotel room comfortably sitting in car. Thanks to the Sravan and his friends with heartfelt gratitude. When I reached the hotel room, I had a nice bath. There was a white layer of salt on a sweaty body throughout the day. I fully agree with the statement that our body is made of salt. After bathing I started feeling fresh. Then just came on mobile. I sent a message to my beloved wife and tried to sleep. Wedding anniversary gift was full iron distance triathlon finisher medal. I fulfilled my dream. What a joy that was!

In this way I became full iron distance triathlon finisher, made in India.

On the next day, I gave gentle massage to my friends Sravan and Abhi with wooden roller. The muscles of the hurt feet must have been relieved with the gentle touch of that wooden roller. But note that you will get such a massage only in this kind of events. :D

Return trip:

Up to Bengaluru I travelled with Sravan in his car and with his two friends Manjunath and Shiv, now they are friends of mine too. We had lunch on Chennai-Bengaluru highway at a hotel famous for Biryani, Star Biryani at Ambur. We did lot of research on google and finally found the correct one. Out of four two were vegetarian. In the evening Sravan has given me a nice hospitality at his home. The taste of that "Rassam" made by Mrs Sravan was really nice and authentic. As I didn't know the roads in Bengaluru, Sravan booked me a OLA cab till pick up point of the travel agency and that made my work a lot easier. The journey from Bengaluru to Pune by Volvo bus was very comfortable, it helped me to recover also.

Social Media:

I don't know how much to thank Whatsapp group "Recreational Triathletes" and its enthusiastic members. I m really thankful to Anirban Mukherji, Kaustubh Radkar, Aditya Kelkar, Zarir Balliwala, Sharada Kulkarni, Vishi Upadhyay, Anjali Bhalinge, Abhi Londhe, Sravan and his friends and many other friends who inspired me by their tri activities. Thanks to all Ironman finishers and triathletes from all over India for encouraging words.

Also on Instagram I am very much thankful to beautiful triathletes who excite the excitement by throwing beautiful and attractive photos of triathlon activities. I do not have any idea of what motivates me. And how can I forget the friends on Facebook. I want to sing a Bollywood song for you friends,