New York City triathlon

Last year I did a hundred races all over BF Texas and NM. Not that Roswell isn't a nice place (it isn't), but I wanted something a little more glam for my 3rd full year competing. I did local tris at Ft. Bliss and Ruidoso, a tri clinic and race in Boulder, Colorado and this past weekend was New York City. September will have me in San Diego for another Olympic distance. I also signed up for my first 70.3 in October in Tempe. Big year for me and Nora! Onto the race report from NYC.

I was more than a little intimidated going in to NYC for 2 reasons:  this was only my 2nd Olympic distance and the race had close to 4000 entrants. My "biggest" race is Eagle in the Sun. My only other Olympic was the Elephant Man last September a-a-a-and my times sucked (45 minute swim, 90 minutes on the bike and over an hour on the run for a total time of 3:31 - you may remember reading about it). My fears were unfounded though as it was ran very smooth and I killed the race. I was also worried about the weather and the day before the race was hottest day of the year for NYC. Thankfully, it rained Saturday night and killed some of the heat.

My goal going in was to break 3 hours. Distances were mile swim in the Hudson, 40k on the bike, and 10k on the run. Got to transition at 5 and got set up. Race was wetsuit legal and the swim was in the Hudson so wetsuits were definitely in the picture. The swim was with the current but it got weaker as the day wore on and I was in a later wave.  We jumped off a barge into the river and off we went.  The swim was easy for sighting because there was a whole line of kayaks and boats to the riverside (2 swimmers died last year so they were a tad protective) and on the other side was the bank of the river. The only thing bad about the swim was the dead fish and debris that I kept bumping into. I can't tell you what the debris was as I was afraid to look but it felt pretty dang solid. I was hoping for a swim time of about 30 minutes. I got out in 23 minutes! Current helped for sure but 23 minutes!

 Long run from water exit to T1. Thanks to Brightroom for this shot.

Kept on keeping on to get to biking. Course included a steep short climb out of transition and then lovely scenic miles on the West Side highway of New York. It was hella hilly. There seemed to be people breaking down and waiting for SAG support all over the place but I guess that's to be expected with the number of athletes involved. There were also some pretty nasty crashes with one guy taken off in an ambulance.   I managed to dodge the carnage and kept a pretty decent pace and got off the bike in 1:17. I was hoping for about 1:15 but with the hills and the heat, that was good for me.

George Washington Bridge in the background

 Sidebar -  I'm sure somebody more technically adept than me could make this blog and the photos integrate more seamlessly so please forgive me if this blog looks like it was put together by a 3rd grader. I'm a father and husband first, lawyer second, triathlete third and somewhere way down the line comes the part of my life where I get to work on my computer skills.  Sorry for the digression. Where were we?

Got back into T2 and had a fast change to get out on the run. Went straight East out of transition up 72nd street into the middle of Central Park.  This park is a work of art and world renowned as a center of leisurely recreational activity.  It is great for that if you're moving at a "leisurely" pace.  If you are, however, running a 10K after swimming a mile in the nasty polluted Hudson and then biking 40K in 90 degree weather up and down hills, it is quite challenging.  Nora's law school buddies were very kind the night before the race to tell me, "Oh, you're not running in the north half of Central Park are you? That's very hilly!" Thanks guys, but they were right.  It was up and down but blessedly pretty shady the whole way and had lots of aid stations.  I was proud of my effort and my 5K and finishing splits were pretty close.  Finished the run in 55 minutes for a total time of 2:42

I think you can tell I didn't leave a lot in the tank

 I was ecstatic with my results. I couldn't believe it to be frank.  I knocked off 49 minutes from my previous Olympic distance time!  I was even more shocked to find out that I came in 6th in my division out of 45.  To top it all off, I was then told that I qualified for the U.S. National 5150 Championship by finishing in the top 15.  What a mind blower.  I saw a whole new look of admiration in my wife's eyes. That meant more to me than she'll ever know, especially since she's been there from the very beginning baby steps into triathlon and supported me so much.  I know it meant a lot to her too to see me do well.

All in all, all I can say is wow.  Keep up your training, stay consistent, and you never know how far your body will take you.