Thonnur Triathlon - My 2nd Half Ironman

TRI-THONNUR HALF IRONMAN

The mesmerizing Thonnur lake, this is where I started my triathlon journey. Sunil had suggested me to try it out with a Sprint, and I have been trying Sprint, Olympic and now Half Ironman. Its the journey of Triathlon and am in the middle of it. Its a long long way to go yet. Am learning and will continue to learn the art of TRIing.

What is a Half Ironman?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironman_70.3

My Timing for the Half Ironman:

Cut-off was 9-hrs, and my target was 8:00hrs, and I completed in 8:25:00hrs, so good scope to improve.

Event	Distance	Timing (In Hours)
Swim	1.9kms	00:51:01
Cycling	90kms	04:03:57
Run	21.1kms	03:17:15
Total		08:24:48

Results here:

https://www.accur8timing.com/results/thonnur-triathlon-2018-race-results/?Bib=145&race=race_09aa012e-2e55-4448-bec4-6da6455b0810

Big kudos to Ajit Thandur Sir and his fabulous team of selfless volunteers who did an amazing job. Ever grateful to the villagers of Sanaba, very very supportive and were part of the event wholeheartedly.

Training:

For me, it’s all about training, and the event is a mere closing formality. I did train up for exactly 1-month, specifically in my weak area: Swimming. The 10 sessions with each almost 1km or more, it did really help a lot. I had been doing a lot of cycling and did not practice much, but I lacked running practice. So, it was betting big on swim+cycling and hoping to do best possible with run.

I did one practice Half Ironman, which was self-supported. I could swim in 1:15hrs at a School swimming pool and cycled 90kms towards Airport in 5:25hrs (due a flat which cost me an hour :-(). And finally run 21.1kms towards Hennur in 3:03hrs, totaling to 10:10hours, but it included delicious breakfast and lunch at home after each event.

Day before the event:

Me and Prasad, took our car and fixed the bicycles on the cycle rack, stayed at Srirangapattana, strategically because it’s the closest hotels that we can get to the race location. We thoroughly enjoyed our journey packed with home-made food and ate at a canal off Cauvery river.

Race Day:

We woke up at 4:30am and got ready and headed straight to the race location, this time Thonnur triathlon was happening at exact opposite side of the lake, which meant, we had to take a detour of about 15kms, and hence early start was necessary. We somehow did not plan to eat breakfast.

Pic: Beautiful Thonnur lake early in the morning from far away distance

The Swim support team getting things ready in the lake

Swim:

Get set and Swim, I waited till all the people left the shore :-), I like calm waters

Michael phelps in the making :-) :-).... thats Swamy swimming

I had swam 2.5kms in open waters, but had taken whopping 2.5hours. So, was determined for a better show this time. I was eager to get done with swim. Since am a slow swimmer, I let everyone to jump and then I started at the end. Hardly 100 meters, I realized the water was getting into my swim goggles, that’s irritating. I somehow managed to complete the loop and then stopped at one of the coracles. 2^nd time again it happened during lap-2, and was blinded on both eyes, barely saw the flag and could swim towards it. This time, I tightened the strap a bit, and it helped. 3^rd, 4^th lap were quite smooth, which increased my confidence and pushed hard on the 5^th lap. Each lap was 375m, which would be 1.9kms for 5 laps.

For the most part, I swam with butterfly and breast stroke, and rarely free style. In open waters, am yet to gain confidence with freestyle.

The overall time was just 51 mins for 1.9kms, that shocked me too. My fastest 1km in swimming pool is at 33mins. But, the competition helped me to pace up. And also, in pool, we waste time in turning around, but here it was just non-stop swimming.

Cycle:

After awesome swim, I ran towards the base camp thinking probably am the last one in the Half Iron category, only later I got to know at least 10 were behind me. In that hurry, I decided not to change over to padded shorts needed for cycling, rather went ahead with swim shorts J. This was not a gud decision, while it saved me time, but the shorts were too tight and were not allowing my muscles to free up. Each lap was 22kms each, cycling between Sanaba and Melkote, we stop 1km short of Melkote. It’s a rolling terrain, the route is simply awesome, very scenic. Its lot of climbs and headwind towards Melkote and return is quite smooth. Lap-1 was cool and it took an hour. And lap-2 was even better with 50mins. And that’s when I realized I had not eaten my breakfast. All the hotels on the way looked heavenly L. At one moment I thought of ordering parcel and then pickup on the return. But, I did not want to lose momentum. So, I ate lots of bananas and chikki. That helped me to an extent, but then how many can I eat. I got bored of it, my taste buds started hating banana and chikki. For my luck, the fruits changed to watermelon and musambi. That helped a bit J. 3^rd lap was struggling and then 4^th one I pushed a bit. To make it closer to 4hrs. The idea was simple to close it within 4hrs (5 with swim) and give 3hrs for running.

Run:

The body was exhausted. As soon as I started, it’s a climb, and I started off with walk instead of run. I waited till the slope and started running but only for some distance. The terrain is completely rolling and it was 12:15pm hot mid-day. It was fight against the hot sun and the climbs. It drained us a lot. By the time we completed first 10kms it was 1:35hrs. I did not take any break. I ate a few slices of musambi and then off again for the last 10kms. It was 2:00pm and the heat had reduced significantly and sparingly clouds passed by making it cool climate and I used this time to gain some momentum. Right then, the volunteers on jeep had stacked ice and 2 pieces on me cooled the whole body, loved it J. I did less run and more more walk, which increased my overall time. 03:17:00hrs for a Half Marathon is way slow by my own standards and really needs a good push.

Results and learnings:

The 15th place off the 35 participants is sure an encouraging result and would love try harder next time. While swim timing is good, free style could save me time and energy. Run was ignored and paid the price. While I have done 65 half marathons, but I struggled in the event, due to exhaustion.

Prasad did an amazing job with Olympic distance with 04:00:00hrs timing beating his previous best of 04:45:00hrs

My 2nd Half Ironman

Interesting facts:

• My entire Half Marathon was completed without solid food or gels, should plan better
• There was a family of Father, Daughter and Son, and all 3 completed the Half Ironman within the cut-off time of 9-hrs.
• Prasad did his running with barefoot on this simmering heat
• A 52-year old gentleman N.Seetharam beat me to the finish line in the Half Ironman :-), hats off to him

Who can TRI Triathlons:

If I can do it, I bet you can do it better than me. Trust me, everyone can do it. Its matter of a bit of practice and dedication. Whether you know swimming or not, good to practice a lot, to get away from the fear of open waters. If you haven’t cycled, it’s probably the easiest of the 3. If you haven’t run, better start running today. Triathlon is an awesome test of endurance and I wish you give a TRI.

What Next:
A long way ahead yet for the next 2 phases. Will keep trying Half Ironman few more times to get more confidence, to beat myself.

A Dream Trek called "Sar Pass" at 13,800ft

The tricky trek is called "Sar Pass" in Shivalik range of Himalayas. Sar Pass is at 13,800ft above sea level. We "Die Hard" Trekkers led by Vasu flew to Delhi and took an overnight bus to Bhunter. With a quick breakfast parathas (at least 3 each :-)), we took a local bus to Kasol, where the base camp was located.

"Sar Pass" expedition is organized by YHAI (http://www.yhaindia.org/) for 10 days, it costed Rs 6,090/- per person. Best part of YHAI is, once we report into the base campsite, everyone is treated equal, we are all participants immaterial of what we are in the real world. Everyone has to fall in line, carry a tiffin box for food/pack and a mug for tea/bournvita.

Day 1: Reporting at Basecamp, Kasol (6,500ft)
Report at reception, we submitted the membership form, doctor certification on fitness, with seal and registration id of doc. Tents allotted and we spent rest of the day in Kasol to shop.

Day 2: Acclimatization
Acclimatization is a must to tackle Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). The symptoms could be vomiting, diorhea, giddiness, diarrhea, severe cold/cough, breathlessness.

We woke up at 5:00am, after the morning formalities, we got the whistle at 5:30am for Tea. More than tea, its the way to make sure everyone is awake :-). At 6:00am, second whistle to line-up for morning exercise, which includes a 2km run outside Kasol. We all form a round and do some hard exercises to heat up the body.

7:30am, we are back at basecamp and soon after breakfast, we lineup again at 8:30am for a 4km climb to get acclimatized.

After climbing for about 1000ft, we will be asked to spend a couple of hours as part of acclimatization. It was 52 people strong group majorly from Bangalore, Pune, Lathur, Mumbai, Gujarat, Kerala. So, we thought of introducing each other. When everyone was asking others to start off, one name came from the crowd, 'James' am from "South Africa", and immediate response, am Naveen from "Uganda", and then everyone turned to Canadian Bro Girish (pakka local), and the rest of peaceful Indians burst into laughter. This icebreaking session helped us started working together as a team.

We still had 1.5 hours left, and what better than playing Dumb Charades. We selected ("forced") the teams for performing at night 8:00pm. Then the cold water bath, every bathroom, we could hear hmmm, ahhhh, ouchhhh for bath with ice cold water. A few smart people chose to bath with hot water, rest of us wanted to truly acclimatize ("save money").

9:00pm entertainment session: AVD (Avadesh from Delhi) was the master of ceremony. All that he had was 4 songs :-(. But, come the moment, everyone rose to the occasion, we had 14 songs, 3 dance performances, the entertainment was unlimited.

Day 3: Acclimatization

After 6:00am exercises, we were asked to pack our rucksacks with at least 5kgs weight to start another practice trek for 8 kms. And again, we spent 2 hours on the peak to get acclimatized. This trek was bit hard and was very helpful.

Day 4: The Real Trek started
After 3 days of acclimatization,  hard exercises, we were off to "Sar Pass", the moment had arrived. We were all set at 8:30am to begin our much awaited trek.

After all the initial enthusiasm, we started realizing the tuff terrain and took good breaks. We would fill up water at any stream on our way, its the cleanest possible water we could get.

We reached Grahan camp by 4:00pm, all in good health, and were asked to dump the rucksacks and come out of tents to get acclimatized to the new altitude. Welcome drink, soup and then started off with dumb charades again :-)). We were given sleeping bags and a blanket. This repeated at all the camps, so only one set of thermals was sufficient.

Day 5: Grahan Camp (7,700ft)

From Grahan onwards we won't be getting mobile signal for next 3 days, in a way, its fun to be away from the mobile and get into the real world. Woke up early by 5:30am, after tea and breakfast, we started off by 8:30am towards Padri.

This was supposed to be a picnic, but still took a good toll on most, we reached Padri at 3:00pm. With at least a few having stomach upset, cold/cough.



Day 6: Padri Camp (9,300ft)

Padri to Mingthatch is the toughest of the entire stretch. While the beginning looks alright, the tough part is at the last 5%. The elevation is almost at 75 degrees and the elevation gain is almost 700 ft.












Day 7: Mingthatch Camp (11,200ft)

We were all very tired of the last 5% climb, but water scarcity meant we needed to use tissue papers. Water source was not strong enough, even drinking water was not sufficient. We all had a good dinner and slept early. AVD gave everyone in the tent a nice massage using the Decathlon water bottle.

Day 8: Nagaru Camp (12,500ft)

Nagaru campsite was the highest camp in Sar Pass trek. Nagaru provides wonderful view of several valleys and peaks from here. From here, Sar pass was just 3-hours away. The highest camp had the highest quality of food as well. Hot hot gulab jamoon in this ice cold weather was unbelievably good, and everyone's aim was to steal one of the jamoons from other's plate.

Only here, as soon as the sun sets, we are expected to stay inside the tent for the cold waves. So, 6:00pm dinner and 7:00pm bournvita and 8:00pm lights off.

We woke up at 2:00am, and after morning formalities, tea was served at 3:00am, breakfast at 3:30am and pack lunch at 4:00am, we started off from the camp at exactly 4:30am.

Meanwhile, Mr Kirti Sir and his son Prajot woke up at midnight and setup their DSLR camera for this beautiful pic of our galaxy Milky Way:

After about 3 hours of climb, we reached the most awaited destiny "Sar Pass". Sar in kulluvi means frozen lake. And pass meaning connecting two valleys. We got to see the wonderful frozen lake.

After all the photo sessions and knowledge gathering, we had to walk almost 4kms in snow. Best part of the trek. At times, the legs dipped into the 2-feet snow. Rarely, the support sticks went in 4.5 feet down. And the fun part, throwing snow balls at each other. Everyone got hit with at least one snow ball.

After the 4-km walk, came the fantastic part of snow slide. The slide was almost 400meters. Everyone went thru the awesome slide, for an easy ride downstairs, with elbows as breaks. Krupa was about to overrun the slide, and luckily stopped. Canadian Bro accidentally jumped off, but made good use of the jump and landed downstairs properly. Vasu was in high speed zone almost about to hit Jigisha.

Day 9: Beskari Camp (11,000ft)

A sigh of relief for everyone that the peak was achieved, a sense of achievement prevailed in the camp. No one was ready to stand up inline for the assembly :-). We all were much relieved that we did not need to climb anymore. We met awesome Camp Leader Mr. Bhavesh, he shared his water paintings of Bekari surroundings.

3 people were not feeling well, but tablets and good sleep, everyone was up and healthy to climb down.

 

Day 10: Bhandak Thach (8,000ft)

"Mini Switzerland" truly is mesmerizing. The snow mountains, tall trees, amazing valley views, vast grass lands, grazing horses, heaven on earth. The plank contest between Sushma, AVD and Swamy was all the start and then Vasu, Krishna, Manoj, Bharath, Shivu, Pramod also took the challenge.

Then it was cricket time. There was 1 batsmen and 1 bowler as per the rule book. Rest of the rules were all out of syllabus. 1 pitch out, 1 six out, 3 leaves out. And there were at least 25 fielders around the poor batsman. Gully, slips, short leg, silly mid on/off, leg slip, hand slip....

Only success criteria was to play as long as possible, because each ball we played as if a bomb was thrown at us.

Day 10: BhandakThach to Bharshani and to Kasol Base Camp



We started off from Bhandakthach with a heavy heart, we gave our experience and farewell speeches. Praised our good hearted guides for remarkably taking us through the mountains safely. 51 people completed the trek, only Hemalatha aunty had to return back as she was not feeling well due to high altitude.

Special Thanks to AVD, Krishna, Rafid, Naveen, Pramod, Bharat-1, Yogitha, Shivu, Bharat-2 for helping fellow trekkers on many occasions, without these guys trek would not have been complete.

When we all thought we reached safely, Vijay fell of the slope when he was just 20m away from the flat roads. That was a bad fall, he had a bump on his forehead and a hairline fracture on his right hand which was detected only in Kullu, with no x-ray facility at Manikaran and Kasol :-(. We hope he recovers soon.

We reached Bharshani at 1:30pm, took a cab to Kasol basecamp and after the formalities, received the certificates and headed back to Delhi to catch our flight back to Bangalore.

A dream called "Sar Pass" will remain in our hearts for a long long time. I must thank each one of the 52 in our group for making it a fun filled trek. We were more than a family, helping each other when needed. Hope to trek again with you folks.

Finally, our "Die Hard Trekkers" anthem:

"We are we are trekkers

1st 3 days acclimatize…

1st 3 days acclimatize….

we do mmmmorning walking

we do vvvvvery tough walking

we are..we are… trekkers

come in a line...count count again

come in a line…count count again

this is called as discipline... 

this is called as discipline...

we end the day with hot drinks….

10 o clock…lights off

we are…we are…. trekkers

hard to die hard trekkers

Mundina sala cup namde"