First Ironman Race at Busselton , Western Australia 2012

The Dream came true !. Finally .....I am an IRONMAN! Unforgettable moment. The finish was spectacular.  The atmosphere at the finish was electrifying and the crowd was awesome. Nothing like an Ironman finish. All the pain and agony that I suffered for 14 odd hours vanished when I entered the last 200m of the race with my hands held up high...

The Impossible ... just became Possible ..

I take this opportunity to give credit and  my utmost respect to Kana.. my training buddy and mentor.  Kana convinced me to take part in the Ironman Western Australia race after catching up with me during the Singapore Aviva 70.3 Ironman 2012 race. Back then it seemed almost impossible. I barely survived the race and to do something double that distance seemed virtually impossible. I am happy that I was convinced to take up the challenge to do it.


Here's the video  of my race in Busselton.

 
We started training in June 2012 , which gave us a good 5 months to complete the race.
We enrolled in Athlete Lab in Singapore, a Sydney based Triathlon training group. http://singapore.athlete-lab.com/

Eduardo is the Head coach at Athlete Lab and he provided us with great plan to approach the training systematically.  He first found out our strength and weakness.. There were more weakness than strength. After which he developed a customised training which was very volume based ..i.e. bloody heavy training ..


Fast forward to 1st week of December. Our families joined us for the race and the pre- race jitters were overshadowed by our children presence and wife support.  We arrived 5 days before the race which gave us sufficient time to adjust to Perth's "summer" weather. It was cold in the morning and hot in the noon .



Race day seemed to arrive very quickly and all the months of preparation has led us to the starting line.
The ironman swim involves at least 1400 racers swimming, kicking, pushing, hitting you in choppy waters. Swim start in an ironman race reminds of Koi fishes jostling over each other in a crowded pond to eat the feed that is being thrown to them..  Really stressful... The only way to avoid this is to flank the corners but clock more miles during the swim.
The cold water swim also presented us with a challenge. Being in Asia, water is warm throughout the year . So jumping into the cold water with a very tight wetsuit was a huge challenge. But once we got over the awkwardness of being in a wet suit, the buoyancy of the wet suit became a boon.



Out of the water sooner than expected, so I was pleasantly pleased with the time and headed to bike portion of the race which proved to be huge challenge.
The crosswinds and headwinds slowed me down considerably. After having witnessed several accidents and bike being swayed in the wind, I decided to ride conservatively.
It took a long 6:45hr to complete the ride and the butt really hurt.
Once I was out of the saddle, I was back in my element.... the run.

The initial 5k was such a buzz .Must be the adrenaline... after reality sets ... together with heavy legs and empty stomach... It is gruelling ... but that's what Ironman is all about... Mind over body.

About the 40km mark, I could hear the announcer calling out the competitor's name and calling them an ironman. That got me so  emotional.. I was crying for about 2 km .... till the finish.




Kana on the right and myself on the left.

Once the final 200m was in sight, I was delirious.... shouting out loud ... "I am an Ironman" to everyone .... and running towards the finish in daze totally missing my family who were trying to call out to me... Such is the Ironman finish

So it was a HAPPY ending .. finished the race safe and sound ...and lived to tell the tale.








I can never over emphasis the importance of family support. Kana and I spent hours or even the whole weekend training for this big event, missing some important family outings and missing on kids activities.
Without their support and kind understanding, the achievement won't taste as sweet. Big Kudos to them.  Till .. the next race beckons us..