The NYC triathlon is one of the most iconic triathlons in
the USA and attracts 4000 competitors every year. On Friday I drove down to the
city that never sleeps and was graciously allowed to stay at the apartment of
Erik Reitinger.
Pre-race
The race starts at 5:50am which meant getting up at 3am and
driving from Brooklyn to the race site (even at that time of morning there is
traffic). Because we had to carry our transition and post-race stuff with us in
the clear plastic bags provided, I soft-pedalled the mile to transition, and
that was my bike warm-up. Even without carrying the stuff I don’t think I could
have done a bike warm-up though, as it’s NYC and there is literally nowhere to
ride. I did a short run warm-up, and swim warm-ups were not allowed. So at
5:45am I was as ready as I could be, but left much to be desired.
Swim
I’m sure we’ve all heard “you can’t win the race on the
swim, but you can lose it.” I always thought this really referred to going out
way too hard and then not being able to bike and run well. However, I found
there is another way to do it too. The swim is a straight shot down the Hudson
River, swimming with the current. This allows for very fast swim times, but you
have to know how to play the game. We were lined up based on our bib numbers,
and since I had a higher number I was on the left side (close to the side of
the river). I didn’t think this would be an issue as presumably everyone would
swim straight forward. Key words, I didn’t
think. The gun went off, we dove in- my goggles didn’t come off (yay!) I do
a couple dolphin kicks and come up to the surface. WHAM! Someone punches me in
the back of the head. They didn’t stop there as they kept hitting me. I tried
to move over to the right to get away, but then the person on that side was
repeatedly trying to grab my shoulder and pull me back. So I’m being attacked
from both sides, and although this would in the past have left me in extreme
panic mode, my only thought was WTF!
I extricated myself from the situation by jumping over to
the left side of the person who seemed to want to beat me to death. By this
time however, a lead group had already formed and created a gap, which I was in
no way able to close. I ended up swimming solo and made the mistake of not
moving over to the right side (towards the middle of the river) where the
current was strongest. It’s a big river, and this would have made a huge
difference to my swim time, but as it was, I came out of the water 2+ minutes
behind those in front of me.
T1
It’s a good thing we don’t
really need skin on the bottom of our feet as it was a 600m run on
asphalt from the swim exit to transition. Ouch.
Bike
If I had been able to get out of the water with those ahead
of me, this would unequivocally been a very different race. Those in front of
me were in small groups, and this not only offers a mental advantage, but due
to the stagger rule used in the U.S. there is a small but significant drafting
effect that occurs when riding with others. Alas, I was in no-man’s-land, so
rode solo the whole way. I didn’t pass anyone and no-one passed me.
Run
The run course went through Central Park, which was pretty
cool, and offered a fairly challenging route of large rolling hills. Although I
wasn’t exactly blazingly fast on the run, this is the first time this year that
I wasn’t slowing down significantly on the uphills. I didn’t have the extra
gear to go faster, but I feel I probably could have done another 5-10km at that
pace. Again, I was in no-man’s-land and did not catch anyone or get caught.
So while not the result I was looking for, I learned a lot
at this race and it will only make me better in the future. Thanks to everyone
who is supporting me: Nineteen, Louis Garneau, Blade Carbon Wheels,Skechers, C3, MultisportCanada, and Kristen Pawlick from Wishbone Athletics.