2nd time ironman! That is Ankush, our son. We had posted the story 'When the Buoy Dunked An Ironman' the same day. But the official pictures came later along with the story by Ankush himself. Sharing his Four part narration which is gripping as well as inspiring. Thanks Son and keep it up. Over to Ankush.
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Ironman Tallinn Race Chronicle. I finished my second full distance Ironman (3.8km swim + 180km bike + 42.2 km run) at Tallinn, Estonia on 23rd Aug 2025.
Covering the journey across four posts as Pre-Race, Swim, Bike, Run.
Pre-Race
The start of this one dates back to 2024 when I looked at Tallinn to be the place where I aimed at my first full-iron finish. But guys at Sweden and Estonia embassies had different thoughts. Rather than a first Ironman finish, I got my first visa rejection, and from not one but 2 countries 😃. End of the dream at least for 2024
Anyways, signed up IM NZ 2025 next day where the magical first ironman finish happened in March 2025 at Taupo! (Ed: You may browse the story of Ankush's finish at New Zealand Ironman here)
On the side, Ironman guys at Estonia were grateful enough to consider the visa rejection and give a FREE slot into Ironman Tallinn 2025 which I grabbed without any hesitation. After all, who would not love two full Ironman’s in a year!
And so after Taupo was done in March, and the broken ribs suffered there were healed by end of May, I started training with full gusto for Tallinn. Overdid it and ended up with a knee injury (Patella Tendon) that would sideline running for the next 10 weeks all the way up to race day!
Thankfully it didn’t hamper swimming at all, and only partly the bike. Was able to put in a few long rides in Training and was confident of a steady pain-free ride. So here I was landing up at Tallinn in August with ZERO running training!
The first impression upon reaching was – COLD! Didn’t anticipate such cold weather and after soaking in one day and night, it was clear that the biggest challenge would be the weather than the course itself. Did a recee ride of one loop of the course, which was good and also a 10k controlled run+walk to get a feel of the course. A couple of chilly swims over the next two days and it all looked set!
Time to visit the expo, finish check-in formalities, setup the Transition Bags and prepare for bike racking!
With the man who got us to hear about Ironman - Milind Soman and Ironman Rockstar Ankita!
The wet suit
All Bags!
My trusted steed 🙂
Swim course being readied. Took eternity for the marker buoys to be positioned.
The Timing chip (Bib Number 645)
Practice swim. Made some amazing friends at this event. Burzin, Araf and Saket here.
Just after racking the bike on the eve of race day, we got intimated that the race start had been delayed by 3 hours from 6.30 am to 9.30 am due to the morning temperature prediction of a mind-numbing 5 degrees! Helped feel a little better with a mid-morning start at 9.30 am but the weather stayed cold through the day.
More on that in the individual reports below. But what an Ironman finish really brings to the fore is
how and where you derive your energy from. In my case those sources are:
1. Prayers - Hanumanji was summoned multiple times 🙂
2. The feeling of mum watching from above. Like protecting her child always!
3. All the countless training hours that have been clocked and backing yourself up with that
4. The loved ones waiting at home for you to finish
5. Biggest of all - your own WHY!
Swim
Lining up at the swim start of an Ironman is always a goosebumps moment. At Taupo it was the Maori Haka, here it was arms around each other, eyes closed and thinking about WHY you are here! And then the battle-cry!
Swimming is my weakest discipline, from a speed and comfort perspective (inherent fear of water!). Somehow I’ve never really developed comfort in swimming with tens of swimmers splashing around me. Got a kick on my face that put me off-rhythm in Taupo, and similarly got smothered at the first turn here by some athletes to the extent that I was gasping for air and had to get to a kayak to pause and get my breath back!
And from there the real trouble started. Fogging up of my swim goggles. I couldn’t sight any buoy at all and it panicked me further. All I did in lap 1 was swim 100m, look for the next kayak, hold on to it, lift the goggles, see the next buoy and aim for it. Repeated this eight times! Timing went for a toss.
I had another mishap in lap 1 when I got stuck under one of the Red-turn buoys while swimming around it. It floated over me and each time I changed direction, it stayed over me. Scary moment where I somehow pulled myself from under it and got some much wanted air! Took a painstaking slowest-ever 1h6m to complete just lap 1 (1900m) and for the first time I got the gutting thought if I would even make the cut-off of 2h20m.
Thankfully at the lap change on the pontoon, fortunes turned. When I went in for the second lap, I was among the last 5 athletes left in the water (Yes! last 5 out of 1088!) but that meant just calm all around 🙂 also cleaned the goggles once and they stayed good.
Swam a lonely second lap but with a very relaxed rhythm and completed the remaining swim in 54 min plus the walk to transition in 4 min, in an overall disappointing time of 2h4m, but very relieved that it got done. My pre-race target for swim was to better my Taupo time of 1h48m. But that's for next time now.
And It Starts!
Hundreds of swimmers splashing!
At the end of Lap 1. Fingers and thumbs were jammed!
Relieved that it got done!
After an as-planned transition of 18 grand minutes 😃, in which I took on a buffet of bananas, a croissant, gels, peanut chikkis and had conversations with Saif, Ankita, Milind and said Hi to Prabhjoth Bhargava over a video call too 😃 , It was now time for my favourite part of the race, the Bike!
Had planned to conserve the ailing knee and not go all out but maintain a steady 24kph, that meant each 60k loop in 2h30m, and I stuck precisely to that. The cold, wind and rain made the arms shiver on the bike especially on downhill sections, and that shivering translated onto the handlebars too 🙂 Each time the course went into the village section, I would start praying to god to keep me safe from a puncture! The roads there were chip-seal type. But amazing landscape and picture perfect surroundings.
Having learnt the very hard way at Taupo of how NOT to throw garbage off a moving bike 🙂 , I stopped once every lap to dispose off empty gel pouches and take on fresh bottles of electrolytes and nutrition!
So 3 prayers, 10 Gels, 4 bananas, 5 electrolyte bottles, 180kms, and lots of shivering later, I finished the bike in an exact planned time of 7h32min. Legs were fresh, HR was averaging around 140bpm and I was ready for the run.
Picture perfect village roads in Tallinn
Stuffed till the brim as i headed out for the 180km bike!
Aero!
More Aero!
Pushing Hard!
And harder!
RunThis was where I was getting into the unknown and was most nervous about.
I hadn’t run since June 14th and whatever little I had tried had not lasted beyond 12-13 mins before unbearable knee pain would take over. The plan was to have a go at the start and see till where it lasts pain free, and if the pain comes, then drop to a walk + run or just a walk in the worst case. But there would have to be sufficient time at hand to walk (hated the idea of walking itself though since the ironman is swim bike RUN!!!)!
The course was 4 loops of about 10.5 Km each. I ran (<10% walk) the first 20K in 2hr30m and was very happy. Was getting hopes of a sub-5h run. And then the pain came from the 21st Km onwards. I didn’t take any chances and dropped to a 50% walk+ 50% run combo. It also had become very cold and dark by now and I picked up a woolen pullover to add to my tri-suit and a skin-tight layer that I was already wearing. 3 layers in all along with cycling gloves which i held on to for the run!
Completed the next 21 Kms in 3 hours for an overall 5h30 min marathon time. To me this was a huge accomplishment in context of where I was on my running training!
Crossing the finish line (at 1.40 AM) and hearing "Ankush, You are an Ironman!!" was a different level of satisfaction unlike Taupo where it was first-timer’s elation. Here it was about how a measured and controlled effort can still get you the perfect result and how to listen to your body! Overall Time 15h41m31s
Overall I was very happy with the post-race energy levels. Showered up at the venue, had a salad bowl and walked home with the bike at 3 AM. Was back at 9 AM cheering our 70.3 friends 🙂
That's a wrap up! Can’t wait for the next – IRONMAN Hamburg on June 7 2026! Pictures follow:
Started the run a bit before sunset that happens so late in those parts!
Before darkness fell and got freezing cold!
Four laps of 10.5Kms
And the run up the
red carpet!Finished!
Hard earned Medal
With the time and name engraved!
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All is well that ends well.
Thanks Ankush for penning down and sharing your incredible story.
Keep it up and all the best for the next Ironman in 2026!
Thanks for browsing.
Do leave a comment. It will inspire Ankush to keep going.
- Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Ankush Bhargava/ 5th Sep 25/ Secunderabad and Chennai
#Ironman #Grit #Determination #Triathlon #Perseverance #endurancesport #NeverEverGiveUp #Tallinn #Estonia #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #2ndtimeironman #gueststory
