“Nishant from India, you are an Ironman. Welcome to Ironman Barcelona”.
Meeting The Ironman
Meeting the Ironman is one of the proudest moments of my life.
And, no, I am not talking about Robert Downey Jr. though that would definitely be a mind-blowing moment. This Ironman is a person who has accomplished to win one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world.
Meet Nishant Khimesra, hailing from Udaipur, India, who achieved the title of Ironman after completing the Ironman triathlon in Barcelona in 2021. Nishant, is a Senior Software Engineer in Microsoft, in Dublin, Ireland.
How It All Started
The first thing that came to my mind when I read about Nishant’s achievement is that he must have been definitely a sportsman since his school days. But he surprised me when I learned that the first time he completed a 10K race was in 2018.
Ironman Dreams
It was the ambiance of the Ironman setting in Dún Laoghaire’s that attracted Nishant to this event. The spirit and joy on the faces of the participants, the vibe that he felt at the Dún Laoghaire beach in 2018, his own exhilaration because he had just completed a 10K race as well made him confident enough to say to his wife, Ankitha, “I want to do this next year”. Ankitha had full confidence in her husband and started exploring diet plans to suit his athletic needs.
Pulse Triathlon Club
In the pursuit of achieving his Ironman dreams, Nishant approached Pulse Triathlon club in Dublin. As the name indicates it’s a club dedicated to training triathletes. On the Irish Triathlon scene, Pulse is one of the main Triathlon Clubs in Ireland.
Started by a group of friends who were training for Triathlon, Pulse trains members, ranging from complete beginners to elite triathletes. Nishant received amazing intense training from Pulse, especially in swimming. He was a complete novice when it came to swimming. From there to Ironman champion, he did cover quite some distance with the help of Pulse.
Cycling
Before he moved to Dublin, Nishant was never interested in sports or doing any kind of exercise. Cycling was the first recreational activity he decided to take up after his move to Ireland in 2017. His mountain bike helped Nishant cover different trails through mountains with his favorite being Ticknock in Dublin mountains.
Training
The training schedule Nishant followed and still does is intense with training every 6 days a week. For around 12-14 hours every week, he splits his time for cycling, running, and swimming.
Doing 2 bike, run and swim sessions each day, Nishant would sometimes go up to 4-5 hours of cycling, 2 hours of running, and one long swimming session of 1.5 hours.
Diet Plans
Nishant is Jain and follows a vegetarian diet. Initially, they were under the impression that it would be hard to do such high endurance sports with just surviving on a vegetarian diet. They soon found scientific journals stating the opposite.
Taking more sprouts and lentils in his regular diet for sources of proteins instead of protein powder or any other supplements. For carbohydrates, bananas and bars with natural ingredients. Eating more natural food rather than processed helped as well.
Half Ironman
Before competing for the Ironman, Nishant did a series of half Ironman events. He completed 4 Half Ironman(IM) distances out of which the Half IM Dún Laoghaire in 2019 is his favorite memory, because everything had started from there.
Completing Half Ironman distances helped Nishant to gain more confidence as well as practice towards completing the Ironman distance. His best timings were achieved at Metalman Half Ironman in Waterford, Ireland in 2021. He had completed the swim, bicycle ride, and run in 5:32.
Ironman Triathlon in Barcelona
Nishant completed the Ironman triathlon in Barcelona in 2021 by completing a 900 m swim (due to storm-like condition in the sea, the distance of 2.4-mile (3.86 km) was reduced), a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride, and a marathon 26.22-mile (42.20 km) run, raced in that order in 11:20:39.
The road to this victory was paved with tons of hard work and determination. Nishant was diagnosed with bronchitis 3 weeks before the race in October. This was after his stint with COVID in January 2021.
But he was determined to see it through and finally, Nishant made India proud by completing the triathlon in Barcelona, Spain on 3rd October 2021 at 11:20:39, thus earning the title of Ironman.
Nishant felt the happiest when he entered the red carpet at the end of the triathlon and saw his wife, Ankitha and 4 year old son, Farin cheering from the stands enthusiastically. When he whispered out with tears in his eyes, ‘Farin, your Dad is an Ironman’, they announced at the stage, “Nishant from India, you are an Ironman. Welcome to Ironman Barcelona”.
Future Plans
Nishant wants to participate in Ironman which will be held in Cork in August 2022. He has been training hard for the upcoming event.
The most thought-provoking yet simple message that he has for everybody around him is this, “Your body is your best friend – listen to it and love it. Give yourself a goal every year and train for it.”
Just like Nishant there might be thousands who has and will unlock their potential through determination and hard-work. Kudos to all those people who will fight against every stone that will try to deter them. Bring it on buddies.
P.S : Nishant Khimeshra has made India proud again after completing the triathlon course of Full Ironman in Cork, Ireland on 14 August, 2022. He swam 3.8 km, cycled 180 km and ran 42.2 km in the town of Youghal in Cork.