Shark Tank India’s Vineeta Singh opens up about ‘hardest ever’ swimming experience, Namita Thapar and Anupam Mittal laud her courage

She wrote, “I FINISHED LAST. I’ve always struggled with swimming & unfortunately all triathlons start with swims, that too in open waters. Last weekend’s at Shivaji Triathlon was one of my hardest ever. A windy, choppy lake resulting in a panic attack that lasted almost an hour! In spite of all the pep talk from Sham & Kaushik, I couldn’t breathe, so asked them to carry on. Got on the rescue boat & decided to quit. The idea of quitting was painful but Shivaji Lake looked like the kind of beast I had no courage to tackle that morning.”

 

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Since Vineeta Singh had not trained enough for the triathlon, she had no qualms about quitting but her perspective changed when she saw a 9-year-old girl braving “her way through the waves”.

Vineeta added, “Although I was ready to throw in the towel & made peace with it – this wasn’t a critical race, I hadn’t trained much so it was OK to head back to my children, tell them mama needed to train harder in open water & try next time. But was I ready to get my first DNF? Unlike most triathlons, this one didn’t have a timing cutoff, so what was my excuse? What would it take to somehow stop the negative train of thought & slowly paddle my way through the 1 km?”

Eventually, the entrepreneur jumped back into the water and finished the race. When Vineeta looked back, she saw that she was the last one to reach the finishing point. “And just like that, I jumped back in. Paddled a bit, tried floating on my back, tried a couple of strokes, then went back to the rescue rope. Repeated this a few hundred times. What’d normally take me sub 39 mins took me 1.5 hrs. As I finally got out of the water, I looked back and I was absolutely the last one out (much to the relief of the Navy rescue crew). Threw up all that lake water I’d drunk & just sat down for a few mins before getting on with the bike & run legs. Had to savour the moment I’d visualised for the last 30 mins. Also, knees were still wobbly 😅”

Vineeta concluded, “Looking back, this race I wasn’t mentally as strong as I could’ve been. Mental strength like other muscles needs regular training. The visualising, the breath-work, the positive thinking could’ve started earlier, but one learns more on tough days & I’m grateful. While most people had finished the race by 10:30am, I was still finishing my run at 12:20 & yet there were 100 Navy soldiers cheering in the heat. God bless the whole unit at INS Shivaji 🙏 I came back & told my children: Mama finished last today, but mama didn’t quit ❤️.”

As Vineeta Singh shared the story, her fellow Shark Tank India judge Namita Thapar commented, “What an inspiring story, so beautifully narrated, you go girl 💪” Anupam Mittal wrote, “Now i know why you torture yourself … darr ke aagey jeet hai 🙌.”