Year 2017, my Ironman Journey !!

Looking back to 2017, other than the professional growth, the biggest achievement for me was to become an IRONMAN. Ironman is a Triathlon race, which involves Swimming for 3.8km in open water, then bike for 180km and finally run a full marathon distance which is 42km. Personally I feel this achievement has made a positive impact on my job and career i.e. why this post on LinkedIn.

It all started in November 2016, when on impulse I signed up for a Half Ironman in Phuket, Thailand. I thought I can do the individual disciplines i.e. 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21km run, how difficult would it be do the 3 disciplines back to back, believe me it was :-), I was cramped, dehydrated and in pain and walked the last 10K of the run, somehow I finished the race even though in not so flattering time. However, that made me determined to do the next one with proper training, and I signed up for Busselton Western Australia Half Ironman in May 2017, and had much better result and most important much more fun.

Endurance runners, they say are 'addicts' and we want to sign up for the next race as soon as one is over, definitely before the Euphoria dies down, specifically when you are happy with your performance. Everyone recommended me to have a 6 months gap between a Half to Full Ironman. But I am an impatient guy and many times think from heart than head and found a Ironman in Maastricht, Netherlands in August 2017. Thought over, asked friends and the family, whose support is the most important part of the preparation and after their go ahead, decided to sign up and started training from Late May 2017.

I downloaded a plan by Lance Watson(Triathlete.com) which was 12 weeks Ironman Plan, specifically because it suited my work schedule and family time. I would not say I followed the plan to the T, but tried to be as close to the plan as possible. As per the plan I had to do 10-12 Hours a week of training, with most of heavy workouts over the weekend. I used to train with my buddies, Daniel and Cedric who were also preparing for an Ironman.

This is how my typical week looked, if I am not traveling:

·     Weekdays, 3-4 Days run or a swim early morning 30-60 Min and indoor bike twice or thrice in evening after office, or a very early road bike and back by 6:30 am, back before tea time and kids wake up :-). Some of the weeks, we will do a eve run after office hours for 2 hours+, the idea was to run with not so fresh legs as in a multi-sport you would never be fresh. Wednesdays eve was a running class with Shem, who used to make us to core workouts and track-work.

·     The weeks I used to travel, I would carry my shoes and jersey and go for a run out or do a treadmill run and strength(weight) trainings or indoor bike in hotel gym.

·     The heavy load was on weekends, which involved 3-5 hours long bike on a Saturday with my buddies, followed by a short run off the bike(Brick workout), then trail run on Sunday at MacRitchie or Bukit Timah for 1:30-3 hours and a swim with my kids for 30-45 min.

Finally, the day arrived, we reached Maastricht on 4th Aug and the race was on 6th. It was an ideal race day, with 18-24 degree temp and sunny day, I would not say everything went as per plan, however after 13+ hours on the road(1:30 hours of swimming in chilly Maas River, 7 odd hours on bike course in hilly Maastricht(NL) & Limburg(Belgium), 5 hours of running through historic Maastricht city) I finally completed the race. Don't have words to explain the feeling, with the finish line on the magic carpet, with India's flag in my hand and the organisers shouting "ATUL YOU ARE AN IRONMAN !!" gives you goosebumps and it was worth the crazy hours of training, lack of sleep, always famished, and living with sweet body pain, watch this short video of the finish line !!

Now to the part why I feel the Ironman training helped me to be better professionally, Ironman and other endurance sports trainings are brutal and you need to be disciplined, prepared, organised, consistent, competitive, persistent and all the traits which help you also professionally with your career and in general endurance sports helps you to be a happier in long term and stress free.. read this post by Luke Davies Why I Like To Hire Endurance Athletes For Sales Roles

My sincere thanks to my partners in crime.. Daniel Marshall and Cedric Lemaitre who not only week on week trained with me, pushed me, encouraged me, pulled my leg and most important put the self belief in me that I can do it, to Shem who helped me improve my running(even though I am still slow). To Meghna, my wife and kids, who supported me in all the crazy hours of training, be it wee hours in morning or late evenings, let me rest when I am not training and tolerate my anti-social behaviour on the weekends. They travelled with me for all the races and in Maastricht, they stayed with me for 13+ hours I was on the road, this achievement is for them.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Cheers, Atul

PS: 2018 will be bigger, better and even more exciting, professionally and health wise.. Stay Tuned!!