Sunday, November 13, 2016: I am standing on the Bambolim beach in Goa in my swim shorts looking at the placid sea. I am a bit nervous. Memories come rushing back: the year is 1970 and I am seven, my brother three. We are standing on this same beach holding our father’s hand tightly as we watchmother swim out into the ocean. Our mum, a strong swimmer, strokes her way confidently. We are worried. When she emerges later from the water after what seems like an eternity to us, our mother simply says, “What joy to swim in the open sea!”
This memory of my mother spurred me to take the plunge into Bambolim Bay that Sunday morning. I am 54 and I recently gave up a demanding career as editor to relocate to Goa.
I had reinvented myself professionally, and it seemed apt that I should reinvent myself physically too. I had always been an athlete, but life had overtaken me.
In Goa, I first took up endurance cycling and then decided to push myself further; to train for the Olympic distance triathlon that’s held in Goa every year. It includes a 1.5 km swim in the open sea, a 40 km cycle ride, and a 10 km run, all to be completed in five hours. In swimming coach Elias Patel, co-founder of Enduro Sports Goa, organisers of the Goa Triathlon, I found the perfect coach. He looked at me and said, “This is a very safe bay, but we will swim only as much as you want to.”
By the clock
Starting that week, training began in earnest. Wake-up time was 6 a.m. I slowly advanced from a modest 200 metres to 1 km in two months. Around four weeks before D-Day, I managed to swim the stipulated 1.5 km in the sea. The swimming box had been ticked.
Cycling came easier. I had already completed two 200 km rides last year. It held me in good stead as I began doing 30 km drills three times a week on my mountain terrain bike. Russell Bell, Goa’s most experienced race cyclist, took time off to train with me on two mornings, climbing the steep 5 km Chandreshwar Hill one morning just to steel me for the challenge ahead.
But running was the real hurdle. I had not run on tar roads for several years. Also, as a college-level athlete, I was more familiar with sprint relays and the 800 metre race. I pulled my calf muscle in an early practice run. But soon, the initially modest 3 km runs were followed by my first 10 km run, finished in decent time, some three weeks before D-Day. All the boxes were ticked now!
Of course, the ‘brick’ training was critical: A 20 km cycle ride followed immediately by a 3 km run. This is acknowledged as an integral part of triathlon training because it tests the leg muscles and gets them used to handling two diverse, back-to-back activities.
Ironman Kaustubh Radkar’s three-day, intensive camp at Bambolim was helpful. Coach Kau is popularly known as India’s foremost triathlete, having completed a mind-boggling 16 Ironman events and most recently his first Ultraman event in the best Indian timing.
While Coach Kau tweaked my swimming technique, another Ironman, Sunil Menon, corrected my running form and introduced me to the joys of Chi Running (running with minimum pressure on your legs and body). Goa’s leading triathlete Nisha Madgavkar later encouraged me to do multiple ‘hill-repeats’ on my cycle (climbing and descending a steep hill slope multiple times). And the Sunday before the race, Nisha actually swam two sets of 1.5 km each with some of us in the open sea to make us mentally strong.
On the eve of the race, the atmosphere at the Bambolim beach resort, the nerve centre of the Goa Triathlon, resembled a sporting Kumbh Mela. National and international triathletes rubbed shoulders. Some assembled their bikes, while others collected their racing bibs, and others just exchanged notes.
In the evening, Pablo Erat, Swiss triathlete who has won all three Goa Triathlons held so far, addressed us. Extolling the virtues of the sport, Pablo reminded everyone to enjoy the experience: “Soak in the atmosphere, have a smile on your face, be nice to fellow triathletes and stay safe at all times.”
Kicking the butt
Interestingly, Pablo, 47, used to be a smoker till the age of 35. He began triathlon training to kick his smoking habit. He succeeded and today, the businessman-triathlete is super-fit and competes in two full Ironman, two half Ironman and one triathlon event every year. Pablo’s wife, Lucia, is also a winning triathlete. There were other inspiring athletes at the event, like Lt. Col. Gaurav Dutta, an infantry officer, who despite losing his left leg in a mine blast was competing in his second, super-sprint triathlon in Goa with a prosthetic leg.
The atmosphere on race day was no different. The full moon from the night before refused to set in the western skies. A very palpable tension hung in the air. There were three events, the super sprint triathlon (one-fourth the distance of the Olympic triathlon), the Olympic triathlon solo, and the Olympic triathlon team event (three individuals, each doing one event).
Jostling for space
At precisely 7.25 am, over 300 triathletes including me ran into the ocean for our sea swim. Everyone jostled for space. I wisely swam on the extreme right of the group, thereby avoiding being hit by fellow swimmers.
The waters were calm and I had a good swim. We had to deposit our numbered wrist bands to race marshals on the two sailing boats anchored deep in the sea before heading back to the coast.
The transition time was tricky. The more seasoned athletes were wearing trisuits and could mount their bikes and take off in a jiffy, while lesser mortals like us had to change from swim gear to cycling gear, thereby losing valuable time. I was also riding a heavy mountain bike, when lighter road cycles were the norm.
On the cycling leg, we encountered the 600 metre gradient of Bambolim hill. I did it quite easily, thanks to all the ‘hill-repeat’ practice I had put in. Once atop the plateau, I was greeted by loud cheers from my Goan cycling buddies. It energised me magically.
Pablo Erat had already begun running when I was not even halfway through my cycling course. He was followed closely by a bunch of young Indian Army soldiers. The soldiers, part of the army’s Triathlon Centre for Excellence in Pune, impressed everybody with their athletic prowess.
By the time I began my 10 km run, the sun was beating down hard. I took care to rehydrate at every water point, generously dousing my head with water. Both Pablo and Lucia, who had already finished first in the men’s and women’s categories, cheered me on: “Keep going, you are almost there!” I finished in three hours and 53 minutes, quite happy to beat the four-hour barrier on my very first outing. It’s been a life-changing experience, teaching me about resolution and focus in a way few experiences do. And it feels good to know that I am the first triathlete in my school and B-school batches.
When he is not writing features and shooting pictures, the freelance journalist is busy training for his next triathlon.
