Story of 2013 does not go down without a mention of my extended family, my constant cheering squad, without whom the task would have been even more arduous than it already was. There were my almost roomies Neha & Puja. And along with Muthu & Venki, I could walk in to their place anytime to a warm welcome and food. :) And then there were my brothers Vivek, Vikram and Prakash. We were all buddies in training (there was enough to train for) and the trips. There were Wildflower, Sharkfest, Death Ride, Expedition Man & Ironman. Ironman Lake Tahoe was a disaster but I got a chance to give justice to the training by completing another iron-distance race later in October that year.
When you "train" for your first marathon -- and by train I mean really train, not like I did for my first marathon when the longest I had run was maybe 14mi in San Diego hills and still had a great race -- you go through the first half of training building the base and then maybe do a half marathon and are excited by it. And training for a full marathon means doing pretty much a half marathon every weekend for the next 2 to 3 months. Now take that analogy to full ironman. After Wildflower 1/2 IM in May, it was like that. Lot of training during week and both days of the weekend (or so it felt) and still not able to keep up with the training plan coach Char had come up with. All the races I registered for kept me honest and excited about training though.
After Wildflower I knew I could swim, so finally got the courage to go and jump in San Francisco bay for Sharkfest. I had registered twice before and didn't show up. :-) Third time was a charm. Training for Death Ride & Expedition Man meant lots of trips to Tahoe, which had become like my second home by now. After the Death Ride high, I was peaking (probably early) by the time Expedition Man came around in August. I thought I was ready on the race day at IMLT but the slacking in training over September was evident during a cold swim when I pulled out after a terribly slow 1.2mi.
Post IMLT
After a disappointing day at IMLT, letting all the friends who showed up to cheer down, sunk in, I was happy to let it go and reflect on the rest of 2013. It was only in a conversation with Deepika that I realized something more. The question she posed to me was if I was going to attempt another race soon. My answer to her question was "there aren't any races now." It hit me!! So if there was a race I was ready for it and would do it. I wasn't done with the year yet! A quick search showed up The Great Floridian - pretty much my only choice. Registered for it in a flash and I prepared for the journey from one coast to another.
The planning for Florida race brought new learnings for Venki, who was accompanying me to Florida, and me - packing & shipping bike in a box, figuring out pickup and drop-off locations which are open at times that would work for us, etc. The best thing to come out of it was the realization that shipping a bike is a piece of cake! Out of town races were not out of reach anymore.
From west to east. From the snow and chill of Lake Tahoe to warm and humid atmosphere of Clermont near Orlando. From the very familiar roads and routes of Tahoe to utterly unknown course. But it was what it was and it had to be dealt with.
Florida
The race was on a Saturday - which is how typically the triathlons are scheduled, except for the branded Ironman races which occur on Sunday. This was a small race. Still quite popular in Florida. They called themselves "Tougher than Iron." :) They had hills! It was nothing like Lake Tahoe but definitely a challenging bike course. For doing it the first time. The good thing is that there were three loops on the biker course. That meant only the first loop would be unfamiliar. :)
After capturing views of the beautiful Alcatraz & Goldengate park from the plane, we landed in Orlando late Thursday night. Friday was the day to pick up the bike, assemble back again, make sure it is working and check in for the next morning's race. The lake looked beautiful and the weather seemed perfect! There were some talks of alligators in the lake!! And reassuring words that they don't usually bother crowds. Yeah. Right!
It all went smoothly on Friday. We had lunch, drove through the bike loop and had a pretty much relaxing day on the eve of the race day. The hotel we were staying in was quite close by, that worked out well too. And as it happens quite often, the day before the race day is almost always perfect! :) It was predicted to be a much warmer day on Saturday and whether wetsuits would be allowed or not for the swim, that call would be taken just before the race started. The race was slated to start at 730am.
Race day
By the time we got to the start location, maybe around 530am, it was already quite warm. Everyone was curious to know what the verdict about the wetsuits was. Okay, not sure about everyone, but I definitely was curious. Here I was, I never had swum in any kind of water body without a wetsuit. Little nervous about what to expect. I was dressed up in my wetsuit and I was sweating profusely already!
The verdict was out. The water temperature was at 82F. Above 78F water temperature, no wetsuits allowed for the competitive racers. Above 84F water temperature, no one is allowed to wear wetsuits (for safety reason.)
It did not matter!
I was so hot in the wetsuit that I decided to get rid of it. It was 2 loops of 1.2mi each, running from the beach and back to beach for each loop. I decided that if I am not comfortable on the first loop, I will go for the wetsuit on the second loop. It helped that the swim cutoff was 2:15 instead of 2:00. I completed the entire swim without a wetsuit. I was excited about doing my first open water swim without a wetsuit. And also excited about actually passing 1 or 2 folks in my second loop! Finished the swim in about 2:06. After using up about 9min for T1 (T1 = transition from swim-to-bike), I was off biking.
All the loops (swim, bike, run) started from the start location or is commonly called transition area. Venki was here. Cheering me, posting my updates and sharing with a bigger crowd.
Swim cut-off met. Now, on to bike cut-off. Having a successful race depends to a large extent on how smart one executes their plans on the race day. And on an unknown course where I had never rode before, it came down to how well I handled the unknowns. I had 8:15 to complete my 112mi on the bike. Split evenly among the three loops, that gave me 2:45 for each loop. I had no idea how each loop was. The first loop, I consciously rode within myself. This was the time I was guaging the course. It took me close to 2:40. Not too bad, but Venki was sweating. And I don't mean from the heat.
It was cutting it close but I still felt in control. The second loop was going to be the toughest I thought. Hottest time of the day - temperature easily hitting the 90s. This was not the time for heroics. "Keep it steady and take care of your head." "Drink lot of water, pour lot of water, eat, use ice on head when available." It was a very well managed course and the ice at ~60mi was a blessing! Second loop done! About 2:50. Another high-five to Venki.
I had completed two loops in little over 5:30 including the breaks in between loops. Last lap. And weather easing out. Less than 2:45 to go but now I had a spring in my step. With the body feeling good and now knowing this is the last loop, I started to pick up pace after the first half. Again I passed some bikers. Nice! Now I knew I could do this. Finally done with the third loop. 2:35. And the bike course done in little less than 8:10.
All that is left now is to run!! Excited! That was such a well executed biking that I was actually feeling warmed up now. I had 6:30 to complete the run. I was going to use all of it and enjoy the race. Take it easy in the first half, finish strongly.
The course staff had mentioned the entire course was well lit. So I abandoned my headlight in my run gear back and headed for the run. I was running slowly, with walk breaks, averaging about 13min a mile. Soon, in an hour's time, it became dark. Quite dark! Where are those lights you promised???
With pitch darkness around me and slight hills, I was going to just walk. The run was about 2.5 loops. After pretty much walking back to transition area (1st loop completes after the second crossing), I picked up my headlamp. Ran-walked to complete the 1st loop. After finishing 13mi in such slow fashion, I figured it was about time to pick up some pace. :-)
The second loop went by much quicker. And the food served on the run course was awesome as well! The cold drinks provided an energy boost and the hot soup gave a boost to the taste buds. The finish was close! But I was cutting it close as well. By the time I completed the second loop I knew I would be finishing it. And Venki started to sense the same as well.
There were not many runners left, but of the folks left I probably looked the strongest. I was passing folks again on my last loop! I took my Team Asha t-shirt and took off for my final hurrah. Racing ahead at maybe 10 or 11min per mile, I reached the finish line.. about ONE minute before 1am, the official cutoff time. There were however more folks on the course. Iron-distance races that are not Ironman brand are not as strict. We heard the next day that the last racer finished at 2:30am. But here I was. I had done it!
All of 17.5hrs! Consistent racing all through. That was the longest race I had done and at that intensity! I was an Ironman then! Not a branded Ironman, but Ironman nevertheless! It felt like a perfect race on a blistering hot day! Heck, it was 79F at 1am when I finished my race!
Funnily, surprisingly, happily, the next day didn't seem like the usual next day of a marathon. No limps, body feeling fine. It probably meant I had room for getting better. I will take that day any day though. Sunday was for packing the bike back and shipping it off, catching up with Laukik's brother for lunch and in general chilling out before our red-eye flight back to San Francisco.
Two years down, most of the memories are still fresh in my mind. It was my biggest achievement then. And it probably still is. When you have accomplished something you had dreamt of for years, first it slowly sinks in and then comes the void. The question of "what next?" Goals are such. You need to constantly keep updating them and striving towards them. Otherwise, you get stuck in the past. It was high time for this race report. And it is also high time for a new challenge. Life's so short!
So? What next.... ?
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