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Periods didn't cramp her style: How Solonie Singh Pathania finished the Full Ironman Triathlon

Solonie Singh Pathania finished the Full Ironman Triathlon this year. That's a 3.86 km swim, a 180+ km bicycle ride and a marathon 42.20 km run, non-stop. She's only the third woman to complete this endurance race and was the sole female Indian participant tin Sweden in August. And she did this while she had her periods. Here's how

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After training for two years with Dr. Kaustubh Radkar [for the Full Ironman Triathlon] , I was completely prepped for my race. But the evening before, I got my periods. It shook me up because I was expecting it a week later! As most women would agree, these are the taxing times and I had a gruelling race to finish! The full Ironman triathlon is a rigorous race that involves such high levels of physical exertion. Menstruation added to the stress.

My entire body was hurting and I felt bloated; overall, my state was nerve-racking. But then I thought to myself, there's no escape so I took a mild painkiller at night and woke up absolutely fine.

My race started on a good note and I even finished swimming 3.8 kms in one hour and 37 minutes, which was a good start. The cramps set in when I was 50 kms into the cycling bit. They were extremely painful and I even had back cramps. The aero bicycle added to the pain since I had to bend over it. Every passing kilometre was excruciating. I could not bend forward for long stretches and sitting on the saddle was becoming more and more painful. The tampon had also shifted and this cause more discomfort.

This affected my speed and at one vulnerable moment, I just let it all loose-I howled! I realised that with the decreasing speed, I wouldn't finish the midpoint which was a criteria to complete the race. I was just not able to push myself. At 80th km, I used the restroom and refreshed a bit. I felt a bit better but the agonising cramps continued.

I still had 100 km to cycle to go and I thought to myself: These cramps ain't going, so let's just suck it up and finish the race. It was all a mind game now and I decided not to worry about the 100 km ahead and about the 42.2 kms of running after that. I broke the big fat 100 kms into shorter 10 kms goals, and with baby steps, I got into the game again. With little stretching and a lot of determination, I finished my cycling and changed into my running gear.

But 100 meters in the run, the excruciating painful cramps returned — I had 42.2 kms ahead of me. Again, I broke them down into shorter targets.

I finished the race in 13 hours and 49 minutes — much faster than I anticipated. I was really surprised since my body was revolting at every level.

What kept me going through this trauma was what I learnt during training: 'Endurance sports is about how you bounce back. If you can't get in the game again, it's just not your day.' I was not ready to give up, especially after training for two years and investing time, energy and money!

The experience has only made me stronger and I'm inspired to attempt it again next year. When I spoke about my periods in interviews I sensed people were uncomfortable. The most common question is: 'How did you get past the swimming?' My proud answer: 'Just shove up a tampon, maintain personal hygiene and you are good to go.'

It's part of who we are, might was well deal with it.

(as told to Pooja Patel)

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