An officer & an Ironman

Arushi Chaudhary

A 3.8 kilometre swim, 180 kilometre cycling, 42.2 kilometres of running and a 17-hour timeline to reach the finish line — that’s what the Ironman Triathlon, widely regarded as one of the most challenging one-day sporting events in the world, entails. It takes an indomitable spirit to surmount the odds to succeed. And an indomitable spirit is what Maj-Gen Vikram Dogra displayed as he became the first serving officer of the Indian Army to earn the Ironman title by completing this daunting triathlon that took place in Austria last month in precisely 14 hours and 21 minutes.

The Ironman Triathlon kicks off at 7 in the morning and the first event is swimming, where you are required to swim through 3.8 km of open waters. In this edition, it was 2.8 km of swim in a lake and 1 km in a canal. This was followed by 180 km of cycling, which is an arduous task. However, the difficulty level compounded manifold, considering that the participants had to navigate the hilly terrain of Austria, with the aggregate elevation going as high as 5,200 feet. The last category is the 42.2 km run. Its route traverses by a lake and goes through townships, where people going about their daily routines just stop by to cheer you on.

Knowing the different categories of this seemingly brutal event is one thing, experiencing them first-hand quite another. “The time taken to move from one activity to the next is added up in your total tally. So, you’ve got to keep moving. There is really no time to pause and catch a breath or reflect on how you performed because every minute counts,” says Maj-Gen Dogra.

How did the idea of participating in the international event of this level come about? “I have always been into sports. I was the Sword of Honour and a gold medallist for my course at IMA and I have participated in a whole lot of adventure sports like bungee jumping, mountaineering and rafting and have been a cycling enthusiast for many years. So, the inclination for such an event was always there. I participated in the Sprint Triathlon in Delhi nearly five years ago and then went on to participate in the Olympic and half-Ironman triathlons. The Ironman Triathlon seemed a natural progression.”

Speaking of his preparation for the event, he says no physical training or endurance task in the Army prepares one for the event. The 40-km run that officers are required to complete as part of their Commando training comes the closest to just one sub-category in this event, and that too is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. “However, the discipline and commitment instilled in me by the Army played a major role in my success at the event,” he adds.

Maj-Gen Dogra started preparing his body for the event almost two years back. At first, the focus was just on building core strength through running, working out in the gym, playing sports like squash and so on. It was only in March this year that he started training for the individual categories of the Ironman Triathlon with swimming practice at a heated pool in Delhi, cycling on the Yamuna Expressway, first on the weekends, and eventually from 2 to 7 am every day, and running on the roads around Sena Bhawan in the evening after traffic abated.

“Apart from training your body for an event of this kind, it is also crucial to provide it with the right nutrition. A protein-rich diet to help the body recover from the wear and tear quickly, taking supplements for essential nutrients like magnesium, potassium and sodium lost in the process of working out and supplementing your diet with nutrient-rich add-ons is an integral part of preparing the body. Likewise, on the day of the race, it is crucial to stay hydrated and take supplements like BCC and glutamine to prevent soreness.”

Having completed the entire event in an impressive time of 14 hours and 21 minutes, Maj-Gen Dogra describes the experience as, “I’d call it the ultimate one-day endurance event in the world. Before you begin, it seems undoable. Once you are at it, you are just focussed on completing it in time. After it is over, you are already thinking of doing the next.”