Say Ironman and the first image that comes to mind is that of Robert Downey Jr in a powered armour out to save the world. For athletes the word Ironman holds a similar fascination, only it's not a superhero but a super race. Known as the most grueling of races, the Ironman triathlon combines a 3.8 km swim, 180 km on the bicycle and a 42.2 km run - all in a matter of a day. Anuradha Vaidyanathan happens to be the only Indian to have been placed in the top 10 of her category at the Ironman championships since 2006. And now she is setting her sight on the Ironman Championship to be held in California in September this year.
India's first triathlete, Vaidyanathan holds various laurels in her kitty. In 2009 she was the only Asian to compete in the arduous Ultraman distance events in Canada. She was placed 6th in this race which combined a 10-km swim with 420 km on the cycle and a 84.4 km run spread across three days, thus becoming one of the mere 450 people in the world to have finished an Ultraman.
Vaidyanathan juggles various roles - that of an athlete, a teacher and an entrepreneur. She successfully manages her intellectual property (IP) management firm PatNMarks in Bangalore and teaches courses on innovation and IP at IIM Ahmedabad. But sports continues to be her foremost passion. "It is heartening to know that people want to know more about triathletes," she says. Her comment highlights the lack of awareness in India about triathlons or endurance races that involve completion of three sequential events - swimming, cycling and racing.
She happens to be the only Indian to have competed in an Ultraman and Ironman and says the preparation for the two is quite different. "Ironman is a single-day event, while the Ultraman is a three-day stage race. The two events are different in their physical and mental preparation, and, even more so, in the sense of adventure," explains Vaidyanathan. "I trained a lot longer and a lot more for the Ultraman, doing multiple day rides and longer runs."
Ask about her training schedule and she maintains that there is no general template that a triathlete follows. "Training would be different for a professional runner and for a housewife with no prior experience of endurance sport," elaborates Vaidyanathan. It would do well for aspiring triathletes to not blindly copy her schedule, but focus on their own strengths and stamina and customise their training accordingly. "Try and focus on the different sports that make up the Ironman and see how your body adapts to each of these. Put together a schedule of these three sports and vary the length and speed accordingly," she advises.
People should look at a holistic strength programme that focuses on their physiology and stamina. "For instance, I have one leg longer than the other. So I had to come up with a strength programme that addressed this muscular and skeletal imbalance," says Vaidyanathan.
Vaidyanthan's training schedule varies on a daily basis. There are days when she has a shorter swimming session, a medium running session and longer session on the bicycle. On non-recovery days, she has a shorter session on the bike, a longer swimming session and medium running session. "You can vary these. But you can't have all long sessions or all short sessions on the same day. There are caveats to training. Once again, I will reiterate that don't blindly copy a professional athlete's training schedule as that can be very harmful," she says. Vaidyanathan's most important advice to triathletes is to reclaim the outdoors. "Our relationship with the outdoors is so marred by stuffy air-conditioned malls being put in place of open parks for the community to walk in or run in," she says.
India's first triathlete, Vaidyanathan holds various laurels in her kitty. In 2009 she was the only Asian to compete in the arduous Ultraman distance events in Canada. She was placed 6th in this race which combined a 10-km swim with 420 km on the cycle and a 84.4 km run spread across three days, thus becoming one of the mere 450 people in the world to have finished an Ultraman.
Vaidyanathan juggles various roles - that of an athlete, a teacher and an entrepreneur. She successfully manages her intellectual property (IP) management firm PatNMarks in Bangalore and teaches courses on innovation and IP at IIM Ahmedabad. But sports continues to be her foremost passion. "It is heartening to know that people want to know more about triathletes," she says. Her comment highlights the lack of awareness in India about triathlons or endurance races that involve completion of three sequential events - swimming, cycling and racing.
She happens to be the only Indian to have competed in an Ultraman and Ironman and says the preparation for the two is quite different. "Ironman is a single-day event, while the Ultraman is a three-day stage race. The two events are different in their physical and mental preparation, and, even more so, in the sense of adventure," explains Vaidyanathan. "I trained a lot longer and a lot more for the Ultraman, doing multiple day rides and longer runs."
Ask about her training schedule and she maintains that there is no general template that a triathlete follows. "Training would be different for a professional runner and for a housewife with no prior experience of endurance sport," elaborates Vaidyanathan. It would do well for aspiring triathletes to not blindly copy her schedule, but focus on their own strengths and stamina and customise their training accordingly. "Try and focus on the different sports that make up the Ironman and see how your body adapts to each of these. Put together a schedule of these three sports and vary the length and speed accordingly," she advises.
People should look at a holistic strength programme that focuses on their physiology and stamina. "For instance, I have one leg longer than the other. So I had to come up with a strength programme that addressed this muscular and skeletal imbalance," says Vaidyanathan.
Vaidyanthan's training schedule varies on a daily basis. There are days when she has a shorter swimming session, a medium running session and longer session on the bicycle. On non-recovery days, she has a shorter session on the bike, a longer swimming session and medium running session. "You can vary these. But you can't have all long sessions or all short sessions on the same day. There are caveats to training. Once again, I will reiterate that don't blindly copy a professional athlete's training schedule as that can be very harmful," she says. Vaidyanathan's most important advice to triathletes is to reclaim the outdoors. "Our relationship with the outdoors is so marred by stuffy air-conditioned malls being put in place of open parks for the community to walk in or run in," she says.