The morning of the triathlon began with a 3:30am wakeup. I set 4 alarms due to my huge fear of oversleeping. I woke up EXCITED and blasted pump up music (Magic by B.O.B and Do For Love by Tupac were the most energizing) while I danced around my apartment and ate my pre-race banana and ½ a power bar. This is my favorite, but I only eat it before races because it has so many calories/carbs:
Then it was off to 72nd and Riverside to get my transition zone set up. It’s important to organize all your items very carefully as to not waste time between the swim and the bike and the bike and the run.
Once that was set to go I took the mile and a half walk up to the swim start at 99th and the river. Kendre and I got into our lovely wetsuits and white swim caps, prepping for our 6:17am start time. I was using a wetsuit I bought online and it was SO tight, but luckily I got some insider info from a co-worker triathlete who told me to bring a can of Pam cooking spray and spray the wetsuit and myself for easy on and off, and to avoid chaffing. I really went to town and it looked like I had already been swimming before the race start, but nope, just cooking grease all over me! Literally a girl waiting next to me asked if I somehow got a pre-race swim. Pretty gross.
At 6:17am on the dot my group of about 100 competitors jumped into the Hudson River for our 1 mile swim. Luckily there was a strong current that morning that kept me bobbing along. My parents and cousin came to watch the swim (way to go for being up so early!) and even in the middle of the swim they were able to spot me in the water and I took a second to stop and wave…clearly wasn’t too competitive at this point in the race!
Swimming is not my strong point but it wasn’t too painful and I managed to finish in 20 minutes, along with the bulk of my wave group. Here are a few shots from the swim:
My group headed to the swim start
Women aged 25-29 swim wave
Look at that power stroke!
Getting a little help out of the water
