This was my fourth year completing the New York City Triathlon and the one I trained for the best.I swam, I rode and I ran. And I conquered.
Here’s a quick review:
The Swim: 1,500 Meters (~ one mile)
The swim in the Hudson River isn’t as bad as you would think, the most surprising thing is that the water is brackish. Last year there was a considerable amount of dead fish up and down the river due to a vicious heat wave the week of the race and it smelled awful, and people, there will always be debris (it is a river), it’s not like we have dead bodies floating around (anymore). This year conditions were almost perfect.
If you can get past the fact that you’re in the Hudson (and are lucky enough to get into the race), this will be one of the fastest swims you’ll ever do. John Korpf, the race director announced just before the swim start this year that the river was running at 7.1 knots. As someone who has spent his entire life on land and unfamiliar with nautical terms (I’m Jewish) I had to look up the significance of this speed. According to Google converter (knots to MPH), the river was running at 8.1 MPH. The joke is that a bag of chips has done the swim in 24 minutes. I did just a little better than that.
The Bike: 40K (~25 miles)
The bike course takes us out of Riverside Park at 79th Street and up and down the northbound lane of the West Side Highway; the northern turnaround is on the Mosholu Parkway at Gun Hill Road and the southern at 55th Street where it turns into West Street. It’s hilly at parts, flat and fast at others and includes iconic views of the George Washington Bridge, the Hudson River and the New York City Skyline. It’s also known to be bumpy and unfriendly to water bottle – there are alway a considerable amount littering the course, this year was no exception. Regardless, the fact that I now own an awesome bike sort of made it feel like I was cheating and for the fourth year in a row I didn’t lose a bottle or flat on the course (my only fear about the bike section).
The Run: 10K (6.2 miles)
The run is challenging. Right out of my transition there is a steep hill (about 50 feet) taking runners up to 72nd street where we are rewarded with cheering crowds and one almost one mile of flat road. The race enters Central Park and runs up over the top clockwise and it’s one rolling hill after another, as I mentioned, it’s challenging. I really feel the hills after the swim and ride. This year I was lucky enough to have three members of The Congregation pace me for 4.5 of the 6.2 miles. The run was particularly hard due to the humidity and I was super thankful for the support and coaching from my friends. I don’t know if it’s just that I’m older or it was more humid this year, but it was awful and made for less than optimal race conditions.
Regardless, I finished the race in record time (for me) and plan on signing up again for next year’s race when registration opens in November.
As the race director says, on August 2, 2014, I’ll see you in the Hudson!
Above is the video I put together from the 2013 race (an alternate version of the video can be found here):
This was amazing. Did my first one this year and can't wait till next August!!