After tossing and turning since midnight, I finally gave up on sleep at 2:30am, and got up to shower (carefully, so as not to remove the body marking from the day before!). The dogs got a quick walk, I ate a GF bagel with almond butter and baby bananas,
prepped iced coffee with almond milk, packed up my fluids, the cap, talc and conditioner I had forgotten to pack in my transition bag the day before, and took a leisurely stroll down to the yellow transition area, which opened at 4am, sipping my coffee along the way.
Transition was already buzzing when I arrived, everyone hyped up, lining up to get their bikes tweaked, have race numbers put on, pumping up their tires which lost some pressure overnight. Since it had been raining all night, I was glad to see that my triple-bagged backpack had remained dry. Setting up my area has become routine by this point, and accomplished in record time. After dawdling as long as possible in order to kill some time, I grabbed my bag with a post-race change of clothes, chocolate flavored Zico, wetsuit, cap and goggles, and took the 1.5 mile stroll to swim start.
Yep, that's right. Though the swim is only 1.5 k, the walk is much longer. That's because after being fished out of the Hudson, Yellow transition peeps have a 700 meter jog to transition. The idea of running that distance in my bare feet on asphalt did not appeal. That area is rough in places, and there are stretches of cobblestones to slow down speeding cyclists, so I did something you're always coached not to do- try something different on race day. Actually, I did that several times over this race, but rout one I'm referring to making the choice to semi in my Vibram Five Fingers, so they'd be on my feet for the run to transition. I checked with a ref, and it was a totally kosher thing to do.
The pros were scheduled to start at 5:50am, but because a drunk driver flipped his car on the Henry Hudson Parkway, where we could be doing the bike leg, the debris needed to be safely cleared before we could start. That meant that the start was delayed until just after 6:30.
Watching the pros dive off the pier was way cool, especially seeing how fast they swam, and even seeing a few veer off course, but that didn't compare to the coolness of watching the earlier waves go through the time trial start - 20 people every 10 seconds. You don't really have a sense of how fast that moves until you experience it. And there were swimmers of all abilities - fast freestyles, breast stroke and back stroke swimmers, even a guy not doing much of anything and letting the Hudson's strong current carry him downriver.*
Before long, 35-39 year old women were on the platform. We sat down on the platform, pushed off, and were in. As usual, I reminded myself to swim in full, complete strokes and remember my breathing. Conditions were choppy, and reminded me much more of ocean swims than of my two recent experiences in the East River. I reminded myself to complete each stroke fully, stretch them out and go all the way through, and, as usual, to breathe. The later was accomplished by counting ten breaths (4 strokes per breath)- and was pleasantly surprised to find that the race orgsnizers had clearly marked out every 250 meters. Nice job! While I spotted a few silver caps, like mine, around me, we had caught up to red, orange, and even some light blue and green caps from earlier waves. When I saw the sign indicating the 1250 meter point, I started kicking with my legs, which had been taking a bit of a nap until that point, in order to get the blood flowing and the muscles moving again. Pretty soon, we were at the steep ramp up out of the river, where we were assisted out by volunteers who helped pull us up. (Swim: 19:27 556 OA)
I opted to skip the rinse-off shower and run straight through to transition. Those VFF's came in handy then! How did they fare in the water? Maybe not as well. It felt as though they would fall off several times, though there was really no chance of that happening. It might have changed the way I swam, but having nothing to compare it to, who knows? I do know that they were super-easy to take off when I got to transition, maybe costing me a couple of seconds there, but making my run over from swim finish much faster than it would have been otherwise.
With soggy feet, bike shoes went on, helmet, skipped the shades, even with their lighter lenses because of the rain that was coming down, then grabbed my bike, and ran out. (T1 6:07) It was clear that several of the other racers weren't feeling my urgency to get out of transition and onto the bike. LOTS of walking when there should have been running, and quite a bit of congestion by the Hudson before hitting the HH Parkway. Despite dire warnings about the "steep" hill, it really wasn't a big deal at all. Maybe transition adrenaline helped, maybe that it was still early in the day, and I was still pretty fresh, but I was up that hill with no effort, and soon by people on the ride.
Now, I had expected that we were going northbound on the northbound side, and then at the turn would go southbound down that way. Wrong. Apparently organizers couldn't convince the City to close down traffic in both directions! And it being the first time I've done this race, I didn't realize that until the first of the pros came back down following a lead motorcycle. I also thought the way north would be really hilly and challenging, and heading south we'd be flying. But there was a lovely tailwind heading north, putting me at over 22 mph on some of my mile splits, while heading back, that tailwind turned into a nasty headwind, and fighting through it significantly slowed down my splits and left me in less than ideal shape for the run. At the hour mark on the bike, I thought that it was quite possible that I could make not only my stated goal time, but my super-secret goal time as well. It was going that well! Maybe I should have supplemented with Chomps early or another dose of Sportlegs, but I didn't, not taking in anything except for the Accelerade drink mix until the last quarter mile of the bike, when I downed a pack of Chomps, too little too late.
Transition was already buzzing when I arrived, everyone hyped up, lining up to get their bikes tweaked, have race numbers put on, pumping up their tires which lost some pressure overnight. Since it had been raining all night, I was glad to see that my triple-bagged backpack had remained dry. Setting up my area has become routine by this point, and accomplished in record time. After dawdling as long as possible in order to kill some time, I grabbed my bag with a post-race change of clothes, chocolate flavored Zico, wetsuit, cap and goggles, and took the 1.5 mile stroll to swim start.
Yep, that's right. Though the swim is only 1.5 k, the walk is much longer. That's because after being fished out of the Hudson, Yellow transition peeps have a 700 meter jog to transition. The idea of running that distance in my bare feet on asphalt did not appeal. That area is rough in places, and there are stretches of cobblestones to slow down speeding cyclists, so I did something you're always coached not to do- try something different on race day. Actually, I did that several times over this race, but rout one I'm referring to making the choice to semi in my Vibram Five Fingers, so they'd be on my feet for the run to transition. I checked with a ref, and it was a totally kosher thing to do.
The pros were scheduled to start at 5:50am, but because a drunk driver flipped his car on the Henry Hudson Parkway, where we could be doing the bike leg, the debris needed to be safely cleared before we could start. That meant that the start was delayed until just after 6:30.
Watching the pros dive off the pier was way cool, especially seeing how fast they swam, and even seeing a few veer off course, but that didn't compare to the coolness of watching the earlier waves go through the time trial start - 20 people every 10 seconds. You don't really have a sense of how fast that moves until you experience it. And there were swimmers of all abilities - fast freestyles, breast stroke and back stroke swimmers, even a guy not doing much of anything and letting the Hudson's strong current carry him downriver.*
Before long, 35-39 year old women were on the platform. We sat down on the platform, pushed off, and were in. As usual, I reminded myself to swim in full, complete strokes and remember my breathing. Conditions were choppy, and reminded me much more of ocean swims than of my two recent experiences in the East River. I reminded myself to complete each stroke fully, stretch them out and go all the way through, and, as usual, to breathe. The later was accomplished by counting ten breaths (4 strokes per breath)- and was pleasantly surprised to find that the race orgsnizers had clearly marked out every 250 meters. Nice job! While I spotted a few silver caps, like mine, around me, we had caught up to red, orange, and even some light blue and green caps from earlier waves. When I saw the sign indicating the 1250 meter point, I started kicking with my legs, which had been taking a bit of a nap until that point, in order to get the blood flowing and the muscles moving again. Pretty soon, we were at the steep ramp up out of the river, where we were assisted out by volunteers who helped pull us up. (Swim: 19:27 556 OA)
I opted to skip the rinse-off shower and run straight through to transition. Those VFF's came in handy then! How did they fare in the water? Maybe not as well. It felt as though they would fall off several times, though there was really no chance of that happening. It might have changed the way I swam, but having nothing to compare it to, who knows? I do know that they were super-easy to take off when I got to transition, maybe costing me a couple of seconds there, but making my run over from swim finish much faster than it would have been otherwise.
With soggy feet, bike shoes went on, helmet, skipped the shades, even with their lighter lenses because of the rain that was coming down, then grabbed my bike, and ran out. (T1 6:07) It was clear that several of the other racers weren't feeling my urgency to get out of transition and onto the bike. LOTS of walking when there should have been running, and quite a bit of congestion by the Hudson before hitting the HH Parkway. Despite dire warnings about the "steep" hill, it really wasn't a big deal at all. Maybe transition adrenaline helped, maybe that it was still early in the day, and I was still pretty fresh, but I was up that hill with no effort, and soon by people on the ride.
Now, I had expected that we were going northbound on the northbound side, and then at the turn would go southbound down that way. Wrong. Apparently organizers couldn't convince the City to close down traffic in both directions! And it being the first time I've done this race, I didn't realize that until the first of the pros came back down following a lead motorcycle. I also thought the way north would be really hilly and challenging, and heading south we'd be flying. But there was a lovely tailwind heading north, putting me at over 22 mph on some of my mile splits, while heading back, that tailwind turned into a nasty headwind, and fighting through it significantly slowed down my splits and left me in less than ideal shape for the run. At the hour mark on the bike, I thought that it was quite possible that I could make not only my stated goal time, but my super-secret goal time as well. It was going that well! Maybe I should have supplemented with Chomps early or another dose of Sportlegs, but I didn't, not taking in anything except for the Accelerade drink mix until the last quarter mile of the bike, when I downed a pack of Chomps, too little too late.Right up what actually was a steep hill, that took way more effort than it should have. I've run down that hill many times; up only once prior to Sunday, and it felt much easier on fresh legs than it did on legs with 25 miles of hills on them. But I knew that I would see people I knew over the next little bit. First, I passed by the Terrier tent with mixed feelings. I had chosen not to wear the entire uniform due to our recent differences, but opted to wear the shorts, which were more comfortable than my other pair of tri shorts. After I passed, I heard "Go Galit!" and waved in acknowledgement. Shortly after heading into the park, at the 1 mile mark, fellow mom Lauren was cheering- she had to defer due to injury, and came out to volunteer.
And then, I was pretty much out of gas. I tried accelerating to no effect, so walked up a hill. Something I was positive I wouldn't have to do at this race. Then I saw someone beside me, coaching... Me? Someone behind me ? I don't know, but the advise made sense - to slowly get grinning legs under me. Take off my cap to cool off, pour water over my head at the next aid station. Ha! I do that every race - carry my Accelerade, but grab the water to throw on myself. Still, hearing that advice helped, and got me up and over that hill and to the following hill where my buddy Nate was waiting to cheer me on, which gave me the next push toward all the glory of Harlem Hill. Calculating my splits, I realized I was way too slow to hit super-secret goal time, and was losing more time than expected to hit my goal of under 2:45. But I was determined to run the rest of it, as smartly as I could. By mile 3 I was sick of Accelerade, and just wanted water. Two cups on my head,one sort of in my mouth, but mostly down my front as I wasn't stopping. Aid station just past mile 4 had ice. Now, for that I stopped for a second! Ice down my bra, down my back, in my mouth - anything to bring down my core temperature. The day had gone from cool, rainy, overcast, to hot and sunny just in time for the run. My legs, try as they might, couldn't break a 9 minute mile max pace. Usually slower. I wanted to come as close to the 2:45 goal, which had gone south at the same time I did, and so pushed through determined not to slow down anymore. And the that same coach (about whom I hope to have exciting news is a few posts) who wad on the west side popped up again on the east, by the Met with more words of advice and encouragement. This time I was preference they were for me. I thanked him that time, and pushed for the finish. There wad a "rabbit". In front of me that I knew and really wanted to catch since I know she's a faster runner than I am. Following her for the 3 miles to the finish, giving every last ounce of push I had in me, crossed the line a couple of seconds after her, but probably faster than if I didn't have someone to chase. (Run 55:37 1237 OA)
Total: 2:48:39PR
25/191AG
107/1051 Female
1008 OA
Slower than I wanted, whatever that meant. I had nothing to compare it to. Here's what I do have to compare it to - statistics in each group compared to where I was, and specifically comparisons against others I've raced with. Considering where I finished in South Beach, I'm really pleased with my improvements. There's plenty of room for more of them. Ways I could have have raced smarter and trained better, but half fun is figuring out how I can improve next time, while the other half is just going out and racing with all I've got.
And with that, I'm on my way to Israel to reunite with my girls, take a little recovery, then swim in the ocean, run on the beach, hike, visit family-modified training, if you will, for the next few weeks.
I'll be posting soon, though about recent flying at TSNY, and Circus Warehouse, as well as about some product reviews, if you will.
*I was saddened to hear about the deaths of two of the athletes. I have said to those I've spoken and will repeat again, that it can be scary a. jumping into the Hudson, b. with a bunch of other people. Panic can set in, and in those whose hearts may be compromised, cause an episode. As with the sport of triathlon in general, and really with any unfamiliar undertaking, the best form of prevention is proper preparation. By this I mean not just swimming in a pool, but attending open water swim events - clinics, smaller races, even just swimming at the beach. The amount of water safety personnel provided was significantly larger than in any other race I've participated in - kayaks, police boats, lifeguards both in the water, and watching from above. But ultimately it is the individual's responsibility to ensure that s/he is properly prepared for the swim, both mentally and physically.
Total: 2:48:39PR
25/191AG
107/1051 Female
1008 OA
Slower than I wanted, whatever that meant. I had nothing to compare it to. Here's what I do have to compare it to - statistics in each group compared to where I was, and specifically comparisons against others I've raced with. Considering where I finished in South Beach, I'm really pleased with my improvements. There's plenty of room for more of them. Ways I could have have raced smarter and trained better, but half fun is figuring out how I can improve next time, while the other half is just going out and racing with all I've got.
And with that, I'm on my way to Israel to reunite with my girls, take a little recovery, then swim in the ocean, run on the beach, hike, visit family-modified training, if you will, for the next few weeks.
I'll be posting soon, though about recent flying at TSNY, and Circus Warehouse, as well as about some product reviews, if you will.
*I was saddened to hear about the deaths of two of the athletes. I have said to those I've spoken and will repeat again, that it can be scary a. jumping into the Hudson, b. with a bunch of other people. Panic can set in, and in those whose hearts may be compromised, cause an episode. As with the sport of triathlon in general, and really with any unfamiliar undertaking, the best form of prevention is proper preparation. By this I mean not just swimming in a pool, but attending open water swim events - clinics, smaller races, even just swimming at the beach. The amount of water safety personnel provided was significantly larger than in any other race I've participated in - kayaks, police boats, lifeguards both in the water, and watching from above. But ultimately it is the individual's responsibility to ensure that s/he is properly prepared for the swim, both mentally and physically.
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