Ironman CEO: Gurgaon meant for work, Noida meant to live in
The CEO of PolicyBazaar.com swam 3.86km, cycled 180km and ran 42km in less than 12 hours to complete the Ironman triathlon, held in Kalmar in Sweden recently. The 43-year-old IIT-Delhi alumnus, who returned to India recently, says that though he is glad he was able to finish despite stomach cramps, he isn’t quite happy with his timing, which was 11 hours and 39 minutes.
It all began when Yashish and his friends lost a school friend to alcoholism and other health issues. It was then that they decided to form a fitness group. “Today, the group has about 90 members, and at least 70% of them have fitter bodies because they do long-distance running and participate in endurance sports. Maybe because I am the most active member of the group, I had to go the extra mile. And so I took up the Ironman challenge,” he says, and adds, “To get ready for the race, I trained under a coach who had completed the Ironman race twice, taking less than 10 hours. I participated in two Delhi international triathlons, one a sprint and another a half, and won both across all age groups. I felt pretty confident after that.”
How did he manage to find time to train? Yashish says, “You will find time if you have the willingness to do it. I always had two hours in the morning and as the days came closer, I began to take two half-days in a week. Since I work in Gurgaon and live in Noida, I would sleep on the way. And the way traffic crawls here, you can make up for the lack of sleep. Sometimes, I cycled 60km from Noida to Gurgaon.”