Ironman
Meet Deepak Raj, the coach who brought Ironman to India
The 42-year-old running coach who has completed over 20 Ironman races is set for his biggest endurance challenge yet.
Growing up in Bengaluru, Deepak Raj only played basketball for recreation. His time spent on the basketball court at St Joseph’s School only served as an excuse for healthy living to allow him to indulge his sweet tooth.
After a few years of mechanical engineering, a job at a start-up was followed up by a long stint in Infosys. The comfort of a cubicle enveloped his life, and he allowed himself to tip the scale at 95kgs at some point.
All he cared about then was to further his career as a techie – a far cry from the world of endurance sport and the 20 Ironman races that he’s got under his belt today.
Life took a turn when one of the assignments with Adidas took him to the company headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany, for a year. He was surrounded by people who were constantly running and exercising, some even twice his age. It was enough reason to convince him to try an active lifestyle.
“I had bought a pair of in-line skates at a sale, which had been lying around. When I came across a local 38km race, I decided to give it a shot,” Deepak says.
Deepak Raj
© Deepak Raj
First run
After a crash course in skating, he was surprised that he was able to partake in the race successfully.
A few months later, he decided to take on running. The newfound love for health convinced him to change his diet as well.
“I didn’t start eating clean overnight. But one major change was getting rid of cola. When you’re a teetotaller in Germany, you land up drinking many glasses of it while your mates are chugging beer. So, I would now sip on a glass of cola for hours, listening to people who were half-drunk,” he says, laughing.
His daily runs lasted around 4-5km, but on one such day, he ended up running for a good hour. On checking with a friend, he realised that he had done around 10km. The following day, he ran the distance yet again. Though it was still early in his running career, he ambitiously registered for the Berlin Marathon a few months down the line.
“I wasn’t sure if I would have an opportunity to be in Germany again. So it was a good time to attempt the marathon. Besides, it would also keep me honest and disciplined,” he says.
In retrospect, Deepak believes it to be a premature move, given that he had only four months to train for it. Besides, his weight took a toll on his knees and forced him to abandon training to rest for two weeks.
Three weeks before the marathon, he learnt of the concept of a long run before the big race and set out for a stadium nearby to tackle around 30kms. He pulled off 28kms before limping to a cab to get home.
“Not the best preparation, but I got enough mileage to do my first marathon,” he says.
Having finished in a time of 4hr 58 minutes at the Berlin Marathon, he achieved his main goal of finishing the run, and his secondary target of a sub-5hr timing.
He attempted the same race the following year, clocking 4.12 this time around. Buoyed by his improvement, he set his sights on another challenge – his first triathlon.
During one of his earliest races in 2002
© Deepak Raj
New challenge
Deepak was comfortable with running. And it didn’t take long for him to get used to sitting in the saddle for hours while cycling. But he did find it rough in the water, as he struggled to swim distances of just 20 metres at a go. With 400 metres to take on in the super sprint triathlon, he could only complete the distance with regular breaks in the water.
“The swimming leg was to take place in a pool. We had 15 minutes to finish it after which, the next set of participants would jump in. Most got out in 10 minutes, and I had the pool to myself, with Germans cheering me from the outside. The sooner I finished, the sooner they could jump in!” he recalls.
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Another triathlon in Phoenix brought about a similar experience; tougher yet because the swim was the third leg of a tiring race. It was when he landed in Australia in May 2006 that he finally cracked the code to swimming success.
“I saw an Ironman on television, and I felt that I wanted to attempt it. Australia has very good swimmers – I thought there had to be something in the water that they were drinking. And it would make me a better swimmer as well,” he quips.
By this time, Deepak had done about six marathons, with a personal best of 3hr 57min. He had also stabilised his weight after years of yo-yoing.
But yet again, he was staring at a difficult swim – this time, a gruelling distance of 3.8km in open sea for the full Ironman. After a failed attempt to learn in a group – he couldn’t keep up with the rest of the group – he went back to training in a pool by himself.
To qualify for participation in a full Ironman, Deepak first had to finish a half Ironman. He signed up for a race in Gold Coast in September 2007. Though he had pulled off a 1km swim in the sea by then, the start was anything but pleasant.
“It took time to get used to so many people around me. I remember hyperventilating, swimming back to the shore, not in control of things. But I kept going,” he says.
“But I took so long that my wife and a few friends decided to take off on a little shopping trip in the meantime. It was a really long day,” he adds.
Deepak, during on of the cycling legs
© Deepak Raj
Balancing duties
With training for a full Ironman in full swing and a full-time job in tow, life became too packed down. To figure out how to balance it out, Deepak prepared a list to check what he could eliminate from his daily cycle. He restricted his television viewing to just watching basketball matches and skipped regular social life to arise early for training. His wife, Hema, supported him every step of the way.
“What it did, in turn, was made me more efficient at work. The time between the half and full was seven months, and besides training, I had to focus on what I call all the boring things – sleep on time, eat right and just take care of myself on the whole,” he says.
“And I would reward myself with a sweet, each time I attained a target,” he adds.
At Port Macquarie in April 2008, Deepak pulled off his first Ironman. The joy of making the swim cutoff was immense, and he considered his race a success at that point, despite the cycling and running legs still pending. Instead of ticking off an Ironman on the bucket list, Deepak considered it the start of a new journey.
“There were three things that were important at the time – training, family, and work. It’s not like I could produce another six hours in a day, so one of them had to go. So I chose to walk away from Infosys,” he says.
Deepak at the 2008 Ironman in Australia
© Deepak Raj
Start-up life
Quitting his job in June 2013 gave Deepak enough time to rest and recover from training sessions. In the process of completing his first few Ironman races, he realised there was a growing market for triathlon coaching in India. He focussed on growing the sport through his start-up, Tri a New Life.
He first got his Ironman coaching certifications in place. For three years, he conducted camps and clinics to promote his online coaching tool, and once the numbers started growing, he got together with a couple of engineering buddies to develop a comprehensive platform called Yoska. The idea was to guide aspiring athletes remotely to allow them to train at their convenience.
“I had the experience of 14 years in the IT field, so we first developed a product that I could use. But then it got serious when we thought of commercialising it since there was a market for it. Today, I would have trained close to a thousand people,” Deepak says.
Deepak also continued chasing his Ironman dreams and completed the 2017 Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.
Crossing the finish line at 2017 Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii
© Deepak Raj
At each race, he would ask Geoff Myers, CEO Ironman Asia-Pacific, if he could bring the event to India. Deepak even travelled around the country and narrowed down on Goa as a possible venue.
“I’m quite proud of that report that I prepared to show Myers; it’s even better than some of the reports I worked on during my 14 years at Infosys,” he says, chuckling.
The persistence paid off when Ironman 70.3 Goa was officially scheduled for October 2019.
“They make every licensee jump through a lot of hoops and hurdles, to ensure that the country is ready. And it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the community in India,” Deepak says.
Deepak is now pushing out more tutorials to help Ironman aspirants gear up for the big race. And with another target met, he’s had the opportunity to indulge his sweet tooth yet again.