A Bengaluru railways officer completed the Ironman triathlon in Hamburg, Germany, in the first attempt on Sunday.
Considered one of the toughest single-day races, it comprises a 3.8 km swim, 180 km cycling and 42.2 km running.
Shreyas Hosur, deputy financial advisor with the South Western Railways, Bengaluru, achieved the feat in 13 hours and 23 minutes.
The celebration did not include indulgent meals. “It was 10.30 pm when we got back to our hotel and the kitchen was closed. So my wife and I shared the one packet of ready-to-eat bisi bele bath we had left in our bags,” the 34-year-old shared with Metrolife from Copenhagen, Denmark, on Monday.
Shreyas is now craving chocolates and sweets like holige. He is also readying to go on a family holiday to Greece, a break that is due since a long time, he said.
Shreyas has done half-Ironman distances (1.9 km swim, 90 km cycle ride and 21.1 km run) four times but he had to dial up his efforts hugely for the full race.
“I would train before and after office hours. I stopped going out for dinners and socialising. We stopped stocking sweets and junk food at home, even for our guests, so I could stick to my diet plan,” he shared.
Everything went well on the race day on June 5 except for a “scare” of three-four minutes when he experienced a cramp in his right hamstring after 60 km of the cycle ride. “Once you are in the Ironman (race), you have to do everything on your own — from (cycle) repairs to nursing injuries and eating at the right intervals. My coach and mentor Somya Rout had prepared me for everything,” he looked back on the training.
There was another scare as he said: “My visa arrived a day before I had my flight!” But his wife, Divya Shreyas, who is the general manager of IT, social and environment management, BMRCL, kept him “positive all along”.
The idea to pursue the full Ironman race came to him in mid-2019. “I have always been into fitness, running, adventure sports and achieving new feats,” he explained while sharing that his attempt to swim across the English Channel in 2009 was called off due to bad weather.
What’s the next challenge he wants to take on? “I don’t know and that is giving me a mid-life crisis already,” he cracked up.