Race report – Bintan Ironman 70.3

All the preparation was done. The cycle successfully assembled and in good shape. I had the bibs, timing chips, race gear. Now all that was left was to finish the race. I hardly slept at night, and got up at 3am on race day. Breakfast was to start at 4am, and the shuttle bus taking us to the venue was at 4:30am. I got ready, made sure I had everything required for the race – bib attached to the bib belt, timing chip, change of clothes for the running, swim cap and goggles. I wore the swimsuit and cycling gear to breakfast to ensure I don’t forget it. I made my way to the cafeteria at 4am with all my things. I usually do not eat anything before an event like this, but this was an exception since I haven’t done an event this long and, as I was soon to find out, this exhausting.

My room in Bintan

On arriving at bintan and assembling my bike

At the cafeteria I saw people getting ready for race day in their own way – sleepy faces deciding what to eat (they looked like they had done this before), nervous faces quietly eating (the newbies). I ate an omelette with some croissant, some fruits and coffee. Arjun and Siddhant walked in a few minutes later with their gear. We quickly ate and tattooed our arms with our bib numbers and our calf muscles with our starting wave categories. Mine was the 25 to 29 age group so we were the second wave to start, just after the professionals.

Breakfast on race day at 4am

We took all our stuff and headed for the shuttle bus. There was never this much crowd for this bus as there was today. There was a large gang from Singapore, around 8 people with some of them being sub 5 hour finishers. It was already a bit humid, and you could feel the anticipation in the air – excitement, nervousness, and a feeling of “let’s get this thing started”. We sat at the last seat with me sitting next to a 40 something guy from Germany named John. He finished a full Ironman three weeks ago so he wanted to take it “easy” on this one and finish close to 5:30. He gave me some tips on staying hydrated throughout the race, to drink plenty of electrolytes, start the race slow and slowly increase speed. I met some amazing athletes throughout the race, in both the cycling and the running portion. Our conversations were shorter than the one I had on the bus, but in all cases it was like we had known each other for a long time.

Breakfast spread at 4am on race day

Just after chatting up with John, we had reached the place. We passed parts of the running route on the bus, and it was already looking ominous. We knew that once the sun came up, it would be hell to run here. We reached the Swiss-Belhotel at around 4 45am and headed over to our bikes. I had checked my bike the previous day in quite a bit of detail, so I refrained from doing any last minute tinkering. The bikes were arranged in alphabetical order, starting from the point just after the exit from the swim. Getting there early also helped, because I could get enough space to put my clothes. I laid them out on the cycle and to the side on top of a towel. I could see quite a few people tinkering with their bikes, arranging it and their stuff perfectly to reduce the transition time. I was in my swimsuit and swimming cap. I went for a quick restroom break and by about 5 30am I was ready. I did a 5 minute warm up swim at the swim warm up section just to get used to the water temperature. Music started to play, the MC started his announcements and clever one liners; it was almost showtime.

There was quite a large crowd building up at the swim warmup area with most of the age groups getting their warm up routines in place. At 6:03, the pro men was to start, and at 6:05, the pro women. They would start in a region of the sea around 20 wide, walk around 40m into the sea so that the water is around 4ft deep. That’s where the swim would start. At 6:10, my age group would start. Both spectators and racers gathered to see what these pros are made of – they always clock inhuman times. None of them were bulky, or were built like swimmers with broad shoulders. It looked like they were built like runners – lanky, slim, around 5’7 to 5’11 in height; if you saw them outside the event, you would never think that they would be sub 4:30 finishers.

Waiting at the start line for the swim

The mens and womens pro races started with some cheer from the spectators and other racers. Now it was our turn. I walked nervously toward the start line, looked around and saw many others feeling the same. I wished Arjun well, saw him walk over to the front of the pack. The horn blew and we started our walk/jump in and out of water to the 4ft deep part of the sea. I wet my goggles and also made sure that it was put on tight so that no water got in. The horn blew again; it was showtime!

We had to swim around three large yellow buoys, keeping them to our left while we swam, and then swim around the last yellow buoy keeping it to our right. It was like a trapezium shaped swim. I tried to swim a slightly longer route while going out to the first buoy, which was a straight swim 500m straight out to sea. This was to ensure that I don’t get into the crowd that would form when the 30-34 age group swimmers start in the next wave. This strategy worked until the first buoy, after which I was overtaken by the faster swimmers in the next wave. There was a bit of pushing and shoving, but nothing too hard. I felt quite comfortable in the swim, swimming breast stroke for most of the distance; I am still a bit scared of the water, and I feel that I don’t seem to be moving while doing freestyle. Although the water wasn’t crystal clear, I could still see the corals at the bottom of the sea. After crossing the second buoy, the swim got quite comfortable as we were then heading back to shore. I can only imagine how the pros finished the swim in 25 minutes. I was consciously trying not to use too much of my legs, as I had to save it for the cycle and run.

During the last part of the swim

Getting out of the swim and into the sprinklers

Once I finished the swim, I walked out of the water, through the fresh water sprinklers and into the transition area. I quickly took my running gear and changed into it in the changing tent. I ran back to the cycle, put on my helmet, my bib belt and walked the cycle to the end of the transition zone. While cycling the first km, I put on my gloves and gps watch; the cycling phase had begun. The first 10km was quite easy, after which there were some rolling hills. The roads were very good, with very little loose gravel or sand. Here I made my first mistake: I had only one bottle cage for the cycle, meaning I could take only one bottle at a time. This reduced my hydration, which I paid for dearly during the run. Mistake 2: I hadn’t changed my cycle tire for the last 10 months, I didn’t carry a spare tube or a cycle pump; I was always scared of rupturing the tire and getting a flat. There was one group of mechanics who patrolled the course, so if I missed them, I would have been in a lot of trouble.

The transition area

My bike racked and ready to go!

I was waiting to get to the first aid station at the 24km to get in some electrolytes. My cycling is not too great and it was evident when many people who passed enquired – “all ok?”. Around the 25km mark, There was a large downhill. I got into an aerodynamic position and was going quite fast on that stretch. I got curious and turned my left hand to look at the speed; to my horror the bike slowly drifted to the left. Just after the downhill onto the flat, the bike went offroad into the gravel and sand. Luckily I didn’t fall off, and I didn’t get a flat. From around the 40km mark, we started to enter parts of the main town. Till then, we had seen a few locals, who were cheering us throughout, but not the main town which had some traffic. The traffic police were there though, to stop the traffic at the intersections. It was again rolling hills even within the town, making it difficult to go fast on the downhills as there were people around and a bit of traffic. I was quite comfortable on the bike till around the 70km mark, when my right knee started to pain; that got me a bit worried. I stopped at the aid stations from the 40km mark to drink a few gulps of water and took along with me the electrolyte bottles. Here, unlike the other races that I have been to, they give out the sports bottles rather than plastic ones. From the 70km mark onwards, I tried to save my knee by putting more force onto my left. I also had quite a bit of pain on my neck, from the constant leaning forward as well as from the breaststroke swim. After the aid station at the 77km mark, we entered a national park type of area, again with rolling hills, but beautiful; dense tree cover on both sides and no sign of people other than a few cars passing by.

Here I passed another Indian, Priyankar, who was going strong on the bike, I also passed my namesake, Abinav, from England. I chatted with him quite a bit which helped distract from the knee pain in addition to being good fun. It was his first Ironman as well. He was telling me how getting cramps can often be a signal of lack of training, and that he was saving his legs for the run in the heat which was starting to build up. Finally the bike part of the race was coming to an end; I could see the Swiss-Belhotel as well as people running to my right. Since I was already in my running attire, I didn’t need to spend too much time in the transition. I went to the restroom, then took off for the run.

Tha aid stations were around a mile apart, so 5 in total in a loop of 7km. The loop passes through the start line and the Swiss-Belhotel, with cheering spectators and friends of the participants. It was a flat loop around a man-made lake, with no tree cover at any part of the loop. After going a bit easy for the first 2km, I found a couple of people going at a 5:40 per km pace. I decided to follow them to try and make my life simpler. Another person joined in, he was German and it was his last loop! He would end up finishing in an amazing 5 hours! The first loop got over in around 38 min, and I felt quite good. A mistake I made was to pour water all over myself at the 5km aid station. Although most people were doing this, in my case it made my t-shirt quite wet and heavy. After the first loop, I slowed down as I didn’t feel too good on the inside. It was around 37 degrees C, and I was having goosebumps! This had never happened before, and I was wondering as to what was going on. Then I remember having read somewhere that when your body temperature regulation goes haywire, it is a sign of dehydration.

In any case, I was drinking atleast 2 glasses of water/electrolyte at every aid station, and in alternate aid stations I was having a banana and a couple of slices of watermelon. The next loop was quite tough, I had slowed my speed to a walk, and I did walk at every aid station. This loop took a long time to get over. I had to play mind games and tell myself that once I finish this, it is the home straight. Just one more loop to go. I struggled past this loop, and entered the last 7km of the race. In these last 7km, I learned what eternity was. It felt like a marathon. I was now walking for most of the distance, and really had to push myself to run bits and pieces of it. I saw many people struggling and suffering through it. Many were hunched over, walking, trying to run, pouring gallons of water over their head at the aid stations, spraying their entire leg with the relief spray. I met a Gael, a guy from France who had been living in Mumbai for a while. He said that we should be pros at handling the heat; I told him I am from Bangalore, and it rarely gets this hot and humid here. It was not as if my legs were really tired; I felt quite nauseous because of the dehydration. I had to convince myself that the more I walk, the more time it would take me to reach the finish line. When I ran, I tried to run fast and when I walked, I tried to walk fast.

I saw Abinav jogging past me at the 5km mark, and he encouraged me to follow him. I tried to, but stopped again at the 5.4km mark at the aid station. Just 1km to go, I kept telling myself. I ran till the 6km mark, walked for a while, then I could see the route into the hotel. I saw a couple of photographers along the way, which made me run and smile, for the cameras. The last km I just ran, tried to run faster and faster as the finish approached. There were some amazing people still cheering on competitors on the route. 500m, 400m, 300m, 200m to go! I saw Abinav just ahead of me, so I just sprinted past him, 50m, 40m….10m, and done! I had finished my first Ironman, with my namesake just a few seconds behind. The MC announced that he had never seen two people, who didn’t know each other, and with the same name, finish at the same time. At this point I was beyond exhausted. Me and Abinav went into the tents where they were giving massages, food, and some delicious coconut water. We just sat there with the Ironman towel around us and didn’t say a word. Abinav had to leave though, so we said our goodbyes. I probably will never see him again, which is the beauty of these events. Most people who I met along the route and pre/post race I won’t see again although we talk as if we have known each other for a long time. I guess there is something about shared physical pain that makes people friendlier.

After finishing the race

Part of the team India contingent at Bintan

I just sat there for a while, met Arjun who had finished a good 25 minutes ahead of me and was having the post race lunch. I knew if I ate anything, I would just throw up. I met a couple of other Indians as well who had taken part and had come from Mumbai, Delhi. Siddhant, who had come with his wife and his daughter, finished aroung 5 minutes afterward though he didn’t seem too exhausted. After catching up with many of the others, I went to collect my t-shirt, bike and swimming stuff, and headed for the shuttle buses which would take us back to the resort. I eagerly looked forward to getting back to my room, getting under the cozy sheets and sleeping with no alarm clock. I had learned a lot from this race, met some amazing people, understood what it took to do well here. I have listed some of my key learnings/experiences below:

On finishing this, I just know that I have entered a different world, like a Narnia or a Hogwarts. It is a competitive world, with people gunning for the world championship age group slots. But it is more like a competition with yourself, to do better than what you did rather than beat the next person. There are these people who have normal jobs, who do all the regular stuff, but every morning/evening, they spend at least 2 hours in training for extreme events such as this one. They are among us, they are ordinary but extraordinary.

Although this event has the swim and cycle, I felt that the run part is the most difficult. Most good triathletes are really good runners, and are built like runners, lanky and slim. They do not have broad shoulders like swimmers or giant quads like cyclists. The run is the sport with the maximum impact on the body, and it is here that most people are truly tested.

I was very lucky before, after and in the event. I packed my cycle in a cardboard box which was a mistake and luckily nothing happened to it in the transit during the flight, cab rides and ferry ride. I stayed at a family friends place, and they treated me like royalty. Delicious and healthy food, great house located at the centre of the city, they gave me a metro card which I could easily use for transport for sightseeing around Singapore. I borrowed tools from generous people and took their help in assembling the bike. I got accommodation at Nirwana Resorts, one of the best ones, at a cheap rate and at the last minute! Bintan is an island restricted to the resorts. If you don’t stay in one of these resorts, it is close to impossible to travel. I had a backup accommodation, and if I had stayed there, it would have been impossible to do this event. Because I stayed here, I met all the amazing athletes. Nothing happened to my bike during the race. After the race as well, I got some spare bubblewrap from Siddhant and alan keys from Nathan which really helped in packing my bike.

I learned a lot about what it takes to conquer the ironman. I have a liitle more insight into how to train, what to train, do’s and don’ts during the race, the required preparation for the race in terms of gear, and how to trick my body and mind to achieve better times. I know that I must try and do an event like this once a year to open my mind to new experiences and meet new people who share similar interests.

It was a once in a lifetime experience, as I will never be this ill prepared for future events, and I will never have my first ironman again! Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way, and hopefully I will conquer the 5 hour mark soon!