TL;DR: This article starts from the days of me being extraordinarily sedentary and unhealthy to a healthy lifestyle. Talks about the trigger that made me switch (read forced) to do. In the end, I have shared my learnings/takeaways.
The Scrim:
Ides of March 2017 my health debts had grown significantly, and my incognizance towards it was at its peak. Waking up with fatigue was an everyday thing. Close to the march end, the first default of this showed up, and I had vertigo. Yes, vertigo (not fear of heights ) the one where you are unable to walk or stand because of constant dizziness/spinning sensation. I was told to improve my lifestyle. It took me about ten days to get out of delirious state after vertigo.
Being a techie in startups for about six years, it became a habit to be awake until 4 am and wake up by 10 am and repeat. Junk food and sedentary lifestyle was an integral part of it.
Fast forward three months later — I set out for a backpacking trip to Hampi. Just before boarding the bus, I had the usual dinner at a well-known burger joint. Feeling dizzy and fear that I might be going to have an episode of vertigo, I head back home. Next day I woke up with the same dizziness. Visited the hospital to find out that I had high sugar levels as much as 240 mg/dl (140 mg/dL is the max limit). The doctor said I had type-2 diabetes and needed to start taking medication. I was just 27, and this was an earth-shattering moment for me.
For a week, I used to check my glucose levels frantically, and it was still at 160 mg/dl.
It took a couple of days for me to accept that I had type-2 diabetes, and it was vital for me to change my lifestyle.
A week later, one night, I set out for a walk with my flatmates. After walking for measly 100 meters, I was gasping for breath. I felt pathetic about myself — For, as a young me, I used to be athletic and play all day long. It seemed that I was so much dependent on medication to fix things up. That night I came back home, threw the SR tablets into the dustbin and made my health goals for the next three months. I documented the journey too. (It’s called the O and the KR. Inspired from OKRs used at the workplace) . Here is the link to the facebook post. https://www.facebook.com/shivram.dega/media_set?set=a.1596624907080929&type=3
After three months (end of Sep 2017) I had lost about 11kgs of weight ran two 10km races. By the end, I also was free from type-2 (My sugar level [HbA1c] have been normal so far and without medication. Touchwood).
Most of the colleagues thought that I was getting married and all this was for that. Well if you were one of them, you know the reason now :).
Cycling Up The Hills:
Looking back at my work, I did the best when there was a goal and challenging stuff up for me. I realised I was more of a goal-oriented person. To keep it interesting, next up, I tried my hands on cycling. Borrowed a bike (Btwin Hybrid) from a friend and started cycling around Bangalore. My first race was Nandi Epic road race by BBCH in Nov 2017. My only goal was to finish it within cutoff. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1625687867507966&set=a.132035003539934&type=3 Made it to the finish line on top of Nandi hills.
The First Try:
It was time to try something new and challenging, triathlon. I heard about Goa triathlon (Feb 2018) from Vinay Basavaraj, a friend and ex-colleague (and an informal coach/mentor, a national record holder swimmer and triathlete himself). I was planning to register for Olympic distance. I could barely swim 50 meters continuously in the pool. It was ambitious to scale 1.5 km from 50 meters in a month and that to swimming in the sea. I decide to go and try the super sprint triathlon (400m swim, 10km bike and 3 km Run). I completed the swim in 14 min and the race in under 1 hrs 07 mins. I rode a rented MTB bike. It was a fantastic experience swimming in the sea. It was time to up my game.
Upping My Game:
Next was to up my game in enduring long-distance and speed. I decided to buy a road bike in March 2018. I did my first hundred in the few weeks of training on it with BOTS century ride. Yeah started using cleats and also had those nasty falls too. https://www.facebook.com/shivram.dega/posts/1778526795557405 . Nandi base and back. Strong headwinds. It felt good, averaging over 25kmph over 100kms.
Meanwhile, I had increased my distance in swimming. I could continuously swim in the pool for about 1km @ 3:15min/100m pace. I participated in Thonnur swimathon in Aug 2018 and swam for 2.5km. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1939714796105270&set=a.132035003539934&type=3 . It was overcoming so many fears of open water.
I did the Bangalore half marathon in OCT 2018 and finished with a time of 2 hrs 42 mins.
It was at that time I heard of Ironman 70.3 to be hosted in Goa. And it did happen in Dec 2018. I finally registered for this event.
The Countdown:
I have been trying to be consistent at working out daily. Honestly, haven’t been so disciplined in the past two years. I keep striving to be disciplined at work too.
Most of the time, you are tired/stressed with work/personal things going on. You always some excuse to not work out. The hardest is to get up from the bed and tie the shoelace. From there on its just a breeze.
Every time I get out to run/bike/swim, I have set some minimum distance that I would do. Also what I call them as ego numbers (Run 3 km (20min run), bike for 25 mins and swim 800 m). Will talk about ego numbers in detail in another post.
Mostly swim is the one that keeps me going. Every time I had a bad day at work and the next day I go swimming, I felt recharged. It is so much to see yourself getting better and beating your previous best, and that keeps you going and builds self-confidence in you. It has been the last three months (from June) that I have been consistent (enough) at my workout.
All that keeps me motivated it to cross the finish line at Ironman Goa 70.3 within the cutoff time (Under 8 hrs 30 mins). Every time I get lazy, I remember this goal.
Takeaways:
Its been about two years since I have adapted to a healthier lifestyle. I have overcome the fear of drowning, fear of vertigo, fear of deteriorate from failures.
I have been more efficient, calm and mindful at work. I have been more adventurous (Fast treks, running down hills and Open water swim, etc.). I have enjoyed my company without seeking external pleasure, and moreover, the confidence in me has grown multifold.
I resonate with this quote from Reinhold Messner, a legendary (Crazy) mountaineer (first to scale all fourteen 8000m+ peaks, also we share the same birthday :) )
“The wonderful things in life are the things you do, not the things you have.” We forget to enjoy and try new things that we think are beyond our capabilities. I feel one can do anything it’s about priorities. There is no right time or right age to do something. If you want to, you should go for it.
Over time, I have realised that being healthy is most important to me. If your mental, physical and emotional health is reasonably balanced, most things are work and personal life fall into place. Also, you start creating a positive space and vibe which is helpful for people around you
Sometimes I feel what I am doing is worth it, (Mostly when you are racing, and it’s hurting, and you still keep going and giving up is not an option). Thinking back two years of the days when my health was way south, I don’t doubt it.
It reminds of another thought from Reinhold Messner.
“I always take the same perspective with each new adventure. I put myself in the position of being at the end of my life looking back. Then I ask myself if what I am doing is important to me.”
And in the end, all I learned was how to be strong, all by myself.
What’s next? Will do a couple more Ironman 70.3 improving my technique and moreover by being consistent. Use the learning of these in my day to day life and vice versa. More importantly, I want to keep enjoying and have a healthy lifestyle and do/try whatever gets me that high. :)
Update: 20/10/2019 : Finished Ironman 70.3 Goa in 7 hrs 56 mins. #MindOverBody #Finisher #Ironman 70.3 #Goa #Discipline
