On Sunday I raced in my 6th NYC Triathlon. It blows my mind that I jumped into the Hudson for the first time six years ago with no idea what I was doing. Sometimes even now I feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing, this race is all about learning and improving as time goes on.
*photo cred: NYC Tri
For this particular race I felt prepared. I didn’t feel the most prepared I’ve ever felt but I felt good. Typically I go into this race with a big time goal; this year was different. Instead of chasing a PR, I decided to go with the goal to have fun and do my best. Of course a PR would be great, but if it didn’t happen I wasn’t going to get myself upset over it.
I didn’t chase a PR this year for a couple of reasons. Normally I have a huge crew cheering me on (family, friends, MM, etc) and this year it was just a small crew (HI Jill! Hi Emily!) so I didn’t feel like I had to show off quite as much as I have in the past (I’m a liiiittle competitive with myself). I also knew it would be really hot. There was a heat advisory and pushing myself to my max could have been dangerous. And lastly, in 2015 my time was really fast (for me) and I knew that in order to beat that, I’d have to be very prepared. Based on my training this year versus last year, I thought I might come close to the PR but didn’t expect to beat it.
Enough about my thoughts before the race, let’s get into race day! It all started at 3:45am when my alarm went off. Gah. I got out of bed, gave Ollie a wave while he continued to snooze and got myself ready. I just finished Whole30 (more on that later) so my race eating was going to be different than what I normally have. While at the apartment I ate a banana and almond butter and drank a small cup of iced coffee. I applied my race tattoos and headed to Riverside.
By 4:45 I was at my transition area setting up all of my gear. Normally pre and during the race I eat power bars and Gu, but because of Whole30 I was nervous my stomach wouldn’t agree with all the sugar and artificial ingredients. I looked for the most natural energy snacks and actually found a bunch of good options. I laid them all out at transition (along with some Gu if I got desperate), unsure of what I’d end up eating.
I met up with two friends then we all headed north a bit over a mile to the swim start.
While waiting I had a Chia Squeeze. It’s important to eat while waiting around because hunger creeps up as you wait a few hours for your start time. After struggling into my wetsuit and lining up, I jumped into the water around 6:45 am.
The swim felt great! I knew that as long as I found my rhythm and didn’t panic all would be fine. Right away I got into a good motion and made my way south. I didn’t feel like I was pushing it hard, which is how I like to keep it during the swim, smooth and steady. The swim is not my strong leg so my aim is always to get through it and not feel exhausted when I transition to the bike. I couldn’t tell if I was going faster or slower than past years but when I got out of the water I was a little surprised at how much slower I was than last year (20 mins this year, 16 last year) but I felt okay with it. After talking to friends post-race, it seems like the current was slower this year.
It was then time to strip the wetsuit and transition to the bike. I ran to my zone and actually ran to the wrong row! Not sure how that happened but my transition time was slow because it took me a bit of time to find my bike, whoops. Once I finally found it, I was off on my new set of wheels.
I felt SO GOOD on the bike. I haven’t practiced much in the aero bars of my Specialized Alias but I’m proud to say I used the aero bars for what felt like the majority of the bike ride. With my super smooth bike, the 25 miles flew by. I felt comfortable and confident the whole way (while internally panicking about flat tires because I def do not know how to change one). I did get hungry pretty early on and tried to eat a Cliff Banana Mango Coconut pouch (all natural ingredients, how good does that sound??) but silly me, I couldn’t open the cap while riding. Note to self: twist the cap before on the bike. I had to give up because I was about to crash every time I tried to open it, and instead ended up with Honey Stinger Energy Gel which was quite tasty. I know that you’re not supposed to try anything new on race day but since this race was more about enjoying myself and prepping for my bigger race next month, I didn’t mind experimenting.
Towards the end of the bike I was still hungry and ate a few Honey Stinger Energy Chews. With a couple of miles to go on the bike, I didn’t feel tired at all, which made me think I wasn’t working hard enough. I gave the last few miles extra energy and made a mental note to stay more focused on the bike and push my pace and effort when racing.
After the bike, time to run. I entered into my transition, quickly switched to my running shoes, grabbed a mini water bottle filled with water and Tropical Nuun and took off (I highly recommend these bottles for the race, it’s light and small and cheap so once you finish it, toss it aside). I don’t know if it’s the race-time adrenaline or the knowledge that the race is nearly over, but the run tends to be my strong suit. Somehow I run faster in triathlons than in strictly running races. Crazy, I know.
[Thank you Jill for this awesome pic, I’m floating!]
The heat was coming on strong but I didn’t let it get to me. I stayed hydrated by sipping on my water bottle and running under sprinklers along the course. I kept a good pace and finished with a sprint!
While definitely not a PR, my final time of 2:50:25 was my 3rd fastest and I was very content with that. I met up with friends after the race, celebrated over brunch then retired to my couch. What a day.
[This picture of Ollie CRACKS ME UP. He’s like, you just swam in the Hudson? Hands off!]
Before the race started I was not feeling race motivated. I wasn’t that excited about the race, and looking towards my next race (Ironman 70.3 in 3 weeks), my desire to train hard and race was at an all time low. Happily I can report that after doing this race, my love of the tri has once again been ignited and I’m back in the game!
Here’s my final race time rundown:
- Swim: 20:51
- Bike: 1:28:46
- Run: 50:34
- Total: 2:50:25
Now of course I’m thinking, next year I want a PR! I want to train harder and work it as hard as I can on race day. I’m going to put that motivation into the upcoming Ironman and see where it takes me. Stay tuned for an update next week on how my training is coming along!
