A month ago, Kaustubh Radkar hustled himself through the 3.86 km swim in Lake Taupo, New Zealand, wondering what in the world he'd chase next. It was his 25th Ironman triathlon finish, the highest number by an Indian.
Turns out, it would be the last Ironman race staged before the Covid-19 pandemic put a halt on all sport. In a world of re-imagined sport, one of the most gruelling endurance races on the planet, the Ironman triathlon (consisting of a 3.9km swim, 180.2km bike ride and 42.2km run) has now moved indoors and virtual. All one needs is a fitness app and an exercise bike.
Ironman is calling its race series VR or Virtual Reality, done via GPS upload with varying distances each weekend. The first one that it rolled out in the first week of April, VR1, was a 5km run, 90km bike and 21km run. Since pools are shut almost everywhere, the swim component has been dropped from the virtual races. While competing in a regular Ironman event could cost a triathlete anywhere between $500-$900 depending on the race destination, the virtual series is free to sign up for as of now, and offers participants roughly a 54-hour window between Friday and Sunday to finish a race, unlike the 17-hour cutoff for regular Ironman races.
The three activities can be completed on separate days in any sequence, but each leg must be done in a single session. Finishers are rewarded with digital badges and points, which go into the athlete dashboard and profile, which works as a sort of loyalty program for merchandise and discounts. Ironman VR races also promise to offer slots to age-group athletes for the 70.3 World Championships in New Zealand in November (the details of how it will be worked out, though, are yet to be revealed). Apart from races, Ironman's virtual club offers challenges, it could be a tempo run or push up, each set up by a coach or brand.
"When I thought maybe my life would change after 25 finishes, I just didn't imagine the sport itself changing," says Radkar. "Ironman is a smart brand and virtual races are a way to keep athletes engaged with the sport, motivated and fit to compete when normalcy is restored. The virtual series has got a lot of people excited. The question is how long will it be free. The last race I did was a simulation for an Olympic distance, 10km run, 40km bike and another run of 3km. The Olympic triathlon swim of 1500m was essentially co-related to a 3km run effort. The good thing is everyone has a couple of days to do the race and it doesn't have to be finished in one go."
Radkar, 38, a former national-level swimmer who took to the triathlon after moving to Boulder, Colarado, the mecca of the sport, has been competing and coaching aspiring triathletes in the discipline for a decade now. After his swimming career ended in 2004, he was looking for ways to stay fit and coaxed by friends, he competed in his first triathlon in 2008. The Pune-based triathlete is also a specialist in rehabilitation science for patients with cancer and heart disease.
"Coaching got so busy that I don't run a clinic anymore," says Radkar. He's just four short of coaching a three-digit magic figure of students who'd finish an Ironman race. It was a goal he'd set himself for this year, which now seems to be slipping away. "So far, 96 of my students have competed and finished the race. Hundred has a nice ring to it, but with no races happening I don't think I'll get to it anytime soon."
Presently, Radkar has 55 trainees from around the world, whom he coaches through Skype/Zoom sessions. His biggest group of students are in Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore; apart from 15 students overseas, primarily in Europe, US, Singapore and Indonesia. From travelling to Mumbai every two weeks to be with his students, Radkar now goes for a group ride with them on Fridays through the Rouvy app, an indoor cycling application which uses augmented reality to bring remote riders together. It's somewhat like riding through Google street view with superimposed 3D images of the riders.
Radkar also has his own app named beRad and charts out weekly workouts for his students, who then use fitness apps like Garmin Connect or Strava to sync with his dedicated application. "So wherever they are in the world, whatever time they exercise, I get their data, which I then study, analyse and use to create a plan for the following week." Now, with the sport going virtual, an exercise bike at home has turned into a necessity. Also, the space to run. Radkar himself has a 15-metre lawn with a whole lot of turns, which he uses for running now, since venturing into streets and public parks is no longer an option.
"Most people don't have a lawn and societies aren't allowing them to run inside the perimeter of the colonies, so they are limited to doing a whole lot of stair climbing to stay fit, and running indoors. Cycling indoors can be boring, so I have a Netflix show on most of the time or music playing," says Radkar, who's using this time away from travelling for races and training to post weekly blogs and listening to podcasts by other top international coaches.
Now with races vanishing from the calendar though, Radkar is faced with a lengthening crisis and an uncertain curve ahead. To maintain a semblance of economic stability, he's begun a return of sorts to his former profession as a rehabilitation expert and worked with two patients via teleconference last week. Radkar is also considering re-opening his clinic. "As an entrepreneur, it's scary," he says. "If races don't happen, a big chunk of my livelihood will be on hold. Why would people want to pay and train under a professional coach if there are no races to go to?"