After Freedom Ride on August 15th that gave me the first sports medal in a very long time, I took a break from cycling for a couple of weeks. I also caught a viral fever towards end of August that took me out of action for some time.
The idea…
As I was getting back in shape, one of my colleagues, Manivannan Elangovan spoke about an upcoming Olympic Duathlon event in October conducted as part of Hyderabad Triathlon. This event starts with 10 Km run, followed by 40 Km cycling and ends with 5 Km run.
Cycling sounded fun when I decided to take the plunge a year back but running did not sound like my cup of tea. I did not want to disappoint Mani and played ball during the conversations assuming that I can pull out later. Around 4 weeks before the event, Mani started pushing me seriously and I decided to give it a try.
Preparation at Hyderabad
For the last 6 years, I walk every morning for about 25 mins at Indira Park that is right opposite to my kids school. I wanted to check out my ability to run any significant distance by converting this morning walk into a run. I embarked on my first practice run on September 16th and was surprised at being able to run continuously for about a kilometre. I completed about 2.5 Km run / walk in about 20 minutes. This gave me confidence and I decided to give it a serious try.
I repeated the 2 Km runs at Indira Park for the rest of the week. I also encouraged my cycling friends Mani and Aditya to subscribe for the event. We decided to spice up cycling that Saturday with some running. Another colleague, Aditya Majety joined us for the ride on Saturday. He had already subscribed for Power Duathlon that was literally double of Olympic Duathlon on every leg.
After riding for 30 Km on Saturday, we locked our cycles at Himayat Sagar lake and started running. Mani ran like a pro and also coached us. I managed 3.9 Km in about 28 mins. Aditya Majety continuously ran at a steady pace and it appeared that he could run for ever. Syed and Aditya did quite well for their first run! The icing on the cake was the 300 meter sprint that Mani asked us to do at the very end. We were all exhausted but felt happy that we were about to run more than 3 Km after cycling continuously for 30 Km. We were all hungry and had a variety of dosas for breakfast at a roadside stall.
I had set a deadline of Sep 30th to make up my mind on registering for the duathlon. I noticed that the registration fee for Olympic Duathlon was going to increase after Sep 28th. So, I registered on 27th and Syed registered the next day. Aditya took a couple more days to make up his mind and he surprisingly registered for a triathlon event. He was the only one to have chosen swimming in addition to cycling and running. I was glad to have a swimmer in the gang.
Practice runs at Kodaikanal
I continued with my daily runs at Indira Park and longer rides over the weekend. I went on vacation with family to Kodaikanal, a hill station built around a beautiful lake. We stayed at a hotel near the lake. There was a nice running track along the lake and its circumference was about 5 Km. I completed running a full loop around the lake on all the 3 days we stayed there.
Final preparations
After training for 4 weeks, we all felt confident that we should successfully complete Olmypic Duathlon well within the cut-off time of 7 hours. A day before the event, I collected my bib and timing chip from the organizers. I also bought a smart dry-fit from Nike to make sure that I had the right attire to go through with the event. Another learning from Freedom ride was not to push the limit on big event days. So, I attached my cycle mount to my car and decided to take my cycle to Gachibowli Stadium in my car. The mount can carry two cycles and the plan was to pick up Syed on my way to the stadium.
The D-Day
I woke up at 4:30 AM, made myself some coffee and got ready as usual. I started from my home at around 5:30 AM. I picked up Syed and reached the venue by 6 AM. After attaching the bibs and timing chip, we were all set for the start at 6:30 AM. There were about 120 participants for the Olympic Duathlon.
First Leg – 10 K Run
We started running at around 6:35 AM and with the pleasant weather at that time, it was an enjoyable start to the Duathlon. The 10 K run was essentially running along a straight road that passed 2 hills (Microsoft and ICICI at Gachibowli) for 5 Km and retracing the same route back to the stadium. I kept pace with the lead pack for the first couple of kilometres and felt good. Though I dropped some pace after that, I kept running continuously for the first 5 Km and completed it in about 28 mins. It was easily my best 5K and was surprised myself. But after completing 5K, I started losing pace rapidly and another problem hit me soon. At about 8 Km, I started feeling pain on my left knee. The Duathlon had just started and with a long way to go, I did not want to risk losing my knee. So, I stopped running and started on a brisk walk. I completed the 10 K in 1 hr 7 mins, which was still my best time till then.
Second Leg – 40 Km Cycling
I spent about 8 mins stretching my legs and sipping some Gatorade before I started cycling. I thanked my stars that the pain in my knee did not flare up while cycling. Looks like I strained my running muscle, which did not affect my cycling. I started quite strongly and overtook several people during the first 10 Km of cycling. All the 3 hills during the first 10 Km passed easily and I rode at a good consistent pace on the relative flat surface after Kokapet hill till ICFAI. I took a little break at ICFAI for some Gatorade and bananas and maintained good pace all the way back to Gachibowli stadium. I completed the entire 40 Kms in 2 hrs 9 mins.
Final Leg – 5 Km Run
As I got off my cycle and landed my foot, I felt my knee pain flare up. It was much worse than the way I felt after the first run. After some stretching, I tried to run but the pain was too much. I then decided that the goal is to just complete the last 5 Km and did not matter whether I run or walk. Eventually, I limped along the 5 Km in 53 minutes and successfully completed the Duathlon! I took a total of 4 hrs 23 mins to complete the Olympic Duathlon.
I made sure I had some energy left to take some pictures with my medal to show off! Mani had completed the event about 15 mins ahead of me and was waiting for me at the finish line. He clicked a few great pictures that I will cherish for a long time!
Mani had got some Australian oranges that we had with salt for recovering. It felt like magic potion but I started to blank out as we were finishing off with some stretching exercises. I realized that I was hungry and had to eat something. Mani and I went to the food counters and Syed joined us in a few mins once he finished successfully as well.
As we had our food near the swimming pool, we saw Aditya swimming to complete his final leg of Sprint Triathlon. It was around the same time when cyclone Hudhud crossed the coast near Vishakapatnam that is around 700 Kms from Hyderabad. The winds had picked up and several hoardings crashed. We thanked our luck that we finished cycling before the winds hit us.
Mani, Syed and I took a picture together before heading back home. Mission Accomplished… And in style!!! I would not have thought that I could complete an event like this even 3 months back. I realized how determined training can push our limits. And I could see that I am developing an addiction to complete challenging events like this one!