[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by graaja

What does a mid-life crisis hit, petrolhead, amateur triathlete do? Goes on a road trip to Goa, does his maiden 70.3 Triathlon, and in the process, gets stung by Jelly fish!

Simply awesome coach. Reading this as a travelogue is even more mind boggling. You are truly an inspiration

And thanks for putting this out as a wonderful travelogue so that lesser mortals like us can get inspired

Wishing you many more

[coolmind]

You are seriously an inspiration sir.
I would not have definitely completed the race with the bite on.
I had been to Goa just 2 months ago but missed that local cake. Will try next time.

By the way, I don't know swimming. But interested in running and biking. Can you please advice any such events which can be managed without swimming please.

[GTO]

Abhijeet Pradhan drops the following note for you!

I am an avid follower of your site. Just read a nice travelogue on Fitness Vacation - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...elly-fish.html (Fitness Vacation to Goa – A road trip, a triathlon and rendezvous with jelly fish)

Great dedication in being able to do the triathlon and some fantastic photos of his 3GT to go with the details! But on a seriously lighter note - Graaja has violated Rule 25 of Velominati! http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/#25 "The bikes on top of your car should be worth more than the car"

[graaja]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

Simply awesome coach. Reading this as a travelogue is even more mind boggling. You are truly an inspiration

Thank you so much for the kind words and wishes mallumowgli!

Originally Posted by coolmind

You are seriously an inspiration sir.
I would not have definitely completed the race with the bite on.
I had been to Goa just 2 months ago but missed that local cake. Will try next time.
By the way, I don't know swimming. But interested in running and biking. Can you please advice any such events which can be managed without swimming please.

Thank you for the kind words coolmind! If you were in that situation, believe me, you would have completed it too. It is more to do with the survival instincts we humans have been programmed with. If you are into cycling and running, then you could participate in duathlon events. I don't know if there is any conducted in Hyderabad, but there definitely should be. Every year there is a Triathlon event in Gachibowli. They may have duathlon events as well. Check it out. Also, they conduct Duathlon in the Thonnur Triathlon that takes place every year in September in Thonnur lake near Mysore.

Originally Posted by GTO

Abhijeet Pradhan drops the following note for you!

I am an avid follower of your site. Just read a nice travelogue on Fitness Vacation - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...elly-fish.html (Fitness Vacation to Goa – A road trip, a triathlon and rendezvous with jelly fish)

Great dedication in being able to do the triathlon and some fantastic photos of his 3GT to go with the details! But on a seriously lighter note - Graaja has violated Rule 25 of Velominati! http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/#25 "The bikes on top of your car should be worth more than the car"

Thank you GTO, for posting this.

Thank you Abijeet Pradhan for the kind words!

Your honor, Rule #25 also has a clause "or atleast be relatively more expensive". With those custom built wheels, Garmin Vector 3 pedals, my bike is no huffy and my car is no Rolls either. So, I am definitely not in violation of Velominati's Rule #25

[nevinfrancis]

wonderful narration

on a side note though - those bebinca, rice dishes, dosa etc might have taken a toll on your diet. Was it all a one time, vacation mode - or have you changed your diet plan altogether?

[graaja]

Originally Posted by nevinfrancis

wonderful narration

on a side note though - those bebinca, rice dishes, dosa etc might have taken a toll on your diet. Was it all a one time, vacation mode - or have you changed your diet plan altogether?

Thank you for the kind words!

Diet was one off. Usually, in the week of race, we do some carb loading to saturate the glycogen stores in the body. All those dosas, bebincas before the race were such carb loading. I did have some celebratory cheat meals the day after the race, and I gained a couple of kilos in about 4 weeks.

But now, the past two weeks after the race, I am back to my intermittent fasting, training in fasted state and no sugar, moderate carb diet, and have reached my pre-carb-loading weight of 77 kg. Planning to bring it down by another 3 kg.

[Ithaca]

Superb thread, Sir.
Enjoyed reading the travelogue to and from the event and the posts regarding the event.

Thank you also for post #45 detailing your diet and fitness regimen.
Threads like this encourage me to get my fitness in order.

All the best with your training and hoping for another amazing travelogue for the Oct event.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Ithaca

Superb thread, Sir.
Enjoyed reading the travelogue to and from the event and the posts regarding the event.

Thank you also for post #45 detailing your diet and fitness regimen.
Threads like this encourage me to get my fitness in order.

All the best with your training and hoping for another amazing travelogue for the Oct event.

Thank you so much for the kind words and wishes

[abhijeetp]

Originally Posted by GTO

Abhijeet Pradhan drops the following note for you!

This is my first post and this travelogue contributed to me being a part of this esteemed forum.
Thank you GTO, for approving my membership.

Originally Posted by graaja

Thank you Abijeet Pradhan for the kind words!

Your honor, Rule #25 also has a clause "or atleast be relatively more expensive". With those custom built wheels, Garmin Vector 3 pedals, my bike is no huffy and my car is no Rolls either. So, I am definitely not in violation of Velominati's Rule #25

Graaja sir, such a massive achievement, truely inspirational. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Your bike is no huffy , the velominati rule was just a joke that came to my mind on looking at your superb 3GT photos.
Wishing you the very best for the ironman event.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by abhijeetp

Graaja sir, such a massive achievement, truely inspirational. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Your bike is no huffy , the velominati rule was just a joke that came to my mind on looking at your superb 3GT photos.
Wishing you the very best for the ironman event.

Thank you so much for the kind words and wishes Abhijeet. While in Goa, my friends were teasing me listing all the expenses I have been doing on the bike. And it was a nice coincidence you quoting the Velominati rule as well

Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to lots of contribution from you to the forum.

[rmonie]

Awesome & inspirational! Congratulations on completing the event successfully! Loved the photographs & the story telling style!

[Axe77]

@Graaja: Are you going for the Goa Swimathon on 23 / 24th March by any chance. Work permitting I want to go there that weekend. Let me know if you're going - will be great to catch up.

Just got done with Dubai Ironman on Friday 1st Feb. Had an unfortunate incident at Delhi airport Tues evening, just before flying to Dubai - badly twisted and sprained my ankle while running to catch my Del Bbay flight. Had to follow through with loads of icing and volini to contain the swelling so it was a rubbish feeling to go in with on race race day.

Race plan turned into a 'get over the finish line' sort of affair with an underpar bike and a pretty painful run (run was shit both because of heat and ankle, I definitely needed better fitness levels too to better handle the heat). Ended at 7:12 including transition time, a far cry from my 6:40 in Bahrain 70.3 a few years ago.

Still, these races teach you a thing or two about mental strength as well. My 2:06 run in Bahrain was a far more comfortable affair than the absolutely painful 2:25 run in Dubai. But hanging in at these kind of times are immensely satisfying in its own right.

One important reminder for Goa that I got from an amazing Mumbai based coach who's a friend - its going to be very very hot and humid and one will be well advised to do a lot of late morning runs with specific focus on hydration and nutrition. I thought that was great advise and putting it out there if its helpful.

For Goa, I have a full marathon, my A race for the year, that's very very close before Goa 70.3 - so really plan to treat Goa like a fun affair and not push too much - but I definitely don't want to suffer more than necessary so these training tips will likely be useful I guess to prep oneself. Look forward to the strava feeds and of course your updates here.

Cheers,

[amitwlele]

Heartiest Congratulations Ganesh. Super effort.

Doing all three activities is the long term goal for me in next couple of years. Need to learn proper swimming first

Following you on Strava now to get inspired

[graaja]

Originally Posted by Axe77

@Graaja: Are you going for the Goa Swimathon on 23 / 24th March by any chance. Work permitting I want to go there that weekend. Let me know if you're going - will be great to catch up.

Just got done with Dubai Ironman on Friday 1st Feb. Had an unfortunate incident at Delhi airport Tues evening, just before flying to Dubai - badly twisted and sprained my ankle while running to catch my Del Bbay flight...

Race plan turned into a 'get over the finish line' sort of affair with an underpar bike and a pretty painful run (run was shit both because of heat and ankle, I definitely needed better fitness levels too to better handle the heat). Ended at 7:12 including transition time, a far cry from my 6:40 in Bahrain 70.3 a few years ago.

Still, these races teach you a thing or two about mental strength as well. My 2:06 run in Bahrain was a far more comfortable affair than the absolutely painful 2:25 run in Dubai. But hanging in at these kind of times are immensely satisfying in its own right.

One important reminder for Goa that I got from an amazing Mumbai based coach who's a friend - its going to be very very hot and humid and one will be well advised to do a lot of late morning runs with specific focus on hydration and nutrition...

For Goa, I have a full marathon, my A race for the year, that's very very close before Goa 70.3 - so really plan to treat Goa like a fun affair and not push too much - but I definitely don't want to suffer more than necessary so these training tips will likely be useful I guess to prep oneself. Look forward to the strava feeds and of course your updates here.

Hi Axe77, Congratulations on the Dubai 70.3. Saw your race details in Strava. You did fantastic considering you went into the race with an injury. I am sure you would have bettered your Bahrain timing without the injury. Yes. These long distance triathlons teach a lot of physical and mental endurance indeed!

It is actually a very good idea to train in the sun and also follow the same nutrition plan that you would use for the race. And it works. I did this at least in 4 of the last BRICK sessions before the race. Used to run at 11:00 and used to follow the same nutrition plan. This helped a lot during the race in Goa where the heat was unbearable. So, at least during the weekend workouts, you can practice this.

For this year, I am going to consider the Goa 70.3 as my A race and will do some half marathons and maybe a 30K hill ultra as part of the training. Good luck with your full marathon for this year.

I am not planning to go for the swimmathon this March. Will probably get banned from home if I did 3 events in Goa in a single year

Originally Posted by amitwlele

Heartiest Congratulations Ganesh...

Need to learn proper swimming first...

Following you on Strava now to get inspired

Thank you for the kind words Amit.

Actually, swimming is not as difficult as it appears to be. I learnt proper swimming only a couple of years back. I was able to manage a 2.5km swimmathon (but took 2 hours though), and a sprint triathlon within 6 months. So, get yourself enrolled under a swim coach, and I am sure you will be doing Triathlons in no time.

I am following you in Strava as well. Let us keep in sync in Strava.

Originally Posted by rmonie

Awesome & inspirational! Congratulations on completing the event successfully! Loved the photographs & the story telling style!

Thank you for the kind words and wishes rmonie!

[TheGearBox]

The Varanda Do Mar hotel. Loved the place. The rooms are pretty decent, the support staff are very friendly and the food was great. I plan to come here again in October for the next Ironman Goa event.
Attachment 1841667

Hey, your hotel was just a 5 minutes walk from where I used to live earlier. I became a member of Team BHP recently, hence the late reply.