Milind Soman is now Ultraman. Swimmer-turned-model-turned-actor-turned-runner-turned-triathlete Soman successfully completed the gruelling 517.5 km three day race in Florida on Sunday evening.
Ultraman began on Friday, February 17, with a 10 km open water swim followed by 92 mile (147.2 km) bike ride, both of which Soman powered through relatively easily. Day two, which involved a timed 171 km bike ride proved more challenging; he finished just before the 12 hour cut off point, with 5 seconds to spare. On day three, he cruised through most of the 52.4 miles (84 km), pacing himself to complete 2 km every 90 minutes.
Soman’s 76 year old mother, Usha Soman, followed him in a car cheering him on through the race. In a Facebook Live video by Ultraman Florida, which garnered more than 9000 views in six hours, she’s seen proudly running to the finish line with him, in a kurta and sneakers, holding aloft the Indian flag.
Before leaving for Florida, Soman discusses why he keeps pushing himself physically and mentally with MetroPlus. He’s cautiously confident about the race, despite the fact that’s it’s considered one of the world’s most intimidating endurance challenges. “I’m Ironman, but not yet Ultraman,” he chuckles, between training sessions. “That’s a totally different super hero.”
Soman redefined ‘ageing gracefully’ when he successfully completed a gruelling Ironman in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2015 to celebrate turning 50. Two years later, he decided to take it up a notch.
The Ironman, involving a 3.8-km swim, 180.2-km cycle ride and a 42.2-km run, is considered one of the world’s toughest races. (Soman finished in 15 hours and 19 minutes.) Till you compare it with Ultraman Florida: a three-day athletic endeavour covering a total of 517.5 kms: a 10-km open water swim, 423-km bike ride, and an 84-km ultra-marathon run.
Setting goals
“I constantly want to see what level of fitness I am at,” says Soman. “When I did Ironman, I had not swum in 25 years.” Although he started swimming at the age of nine and went on to become a National champion, training for about five hours a day till he was 23 years old, Soman says he got out of the pool when he became a model, and only dived back in two months before Ironman. “I also don’t enjoy cycling — but I think it is important to do the things you don’t enjoy. I began with 5 km, and had to work my way up to 180 km.”
Warming up
Despite being a little rusty at first with the swimming and cycling, Soman says he never doubted his ability to complete the challenge. “I first tried a half Ironman: a 2 km swim, then 90 km cycle and a 21 km run. I knew I could do it: I just wanted to know what it would feel like. And it was fine; I didn’t feel exhausted.”
There was just one hitch. “I am terrible with punctures… really slow,” he says, adding with a chuckle, “Imagine! Why aren’t you Ironman? Because I can’t fix a puncture.”
As for covering 517-odd km? No biggie. “The main thing about an endurance challenge is that you have to endure ,” he says, stressing carefully on the last word. “Not so much physically, but mentally. Your mind gives up first. Not your body. So it’s an exercise in mental discipline. It makes you positive. It makes you strong.”
This is why he keeps doing them. “I did a 100-mile run for the first time over Christmas last year. I’ve run city to city before, but we stopped for tea, to chat, take pictures… This was different. 100 miles non-stop. I’ve been running for 14 years and it was still so hard. To sustain that mindset to keep going requires a lot of ‘mind’. I had to be present every minute of those 31 hours.”
Soman says he doesn’t think of his daily runs as training. “Tell me to do a marathon next week, and I can do it. If you tell me to do an Ironman, I can do it. My idea of fitness is to maintain that level. To be always prepared.” This is why he was never really unsure about his ability to complete Ultraman. “It’s new only for my mind, not my body. There is no science that can map the potential of the body. You don’t know what you are capable of.”
The big challenge
The challenge is to motivate yourself to keep moving. “I might tell myself that 40 km from now I will have a cold coffee, and that keeps me going. You need to distract your mind from being negative, and for that you have to focus on the present. On each step, on every mile. Whether you are running, cycling or swimming, there is a particular technique you need to maintain. If not you call fall, stumble, trip…” That’s why he doesn’t need music when he runs. “Running for me is self-exploration. If I distract my mind, it defeats the purpose.”
Over the years, Soman’s changed his definition of fitness. “My focus now is to feel amazing, to feel good about myself. As you grow older, your body does become weaker, but your mind becomes stronger. You understand and accept yourself.” He admits his idea of beauty hasn’t changed as dramatically. “I’m still shallow,” he laughs. “In a sense aesthetics-wise, that’s what I have always considered good looking, whether it’s a man, woman or rainbow. But I also find beauty in other things: in spirit. In the ability to create change. Evolution is about getting better.”
Redefining beauty
Even if it means you have to accept growing older. “Now when I look at Alisha Chinai’s ‘Made In India’ music video, I think ‘Oh my god: Now I get it. Now I understand why everyone was fascinated — the body, the skin… I was so young, and you are so beautiful at that age. I see a boy coming out of that box who is not me.”
He says this without regret. “At this age, I don’t see myself in that person any more. I don’t miss that. I am in a much better space. I understand myself and the world better now.” It probably helps that he still draws crowds of weak-kneed women every time he makes a public appearance. “With me, I think it’s just become a done thing. Like people who go to a gallery, see a painting and feel obliged to say it’s beautiful without really understanding the intricacies of it,” he says, adding wryly, “Though I’m not saying I’m not good looking…”
Soman admits to enjoying the attention. “Not the selfies: those are an effort. But when I was young I was a loner, an introvert. I was so shy. Along the way, that changed. It’s the attention, not the modelling, that changes you. I began to empathise with people more as I grew older.”
Over the past five years, he has evolved into a running evangelist, relentlessly promoting Pinkathon, an all-woman run, across the country. “As an exercise in self-exploration, endurance sports have no equal. You begin to understand yourself — it is really incredible,” he says. “That’s why running is addictive. It’s like a drug. I run barefoot because I like the feeling of the earth against my soles; it’s such a primal, primordial thing,” he concludes thoughtfully. “It’s intrinsic to who we are as human beings. It’s beyond culture. Part of our DNA.”
