Nautica New York City Triathlon

I ended my past post by borrowing a campaign slogan from Nike; well, I did it.

Yesterday I swam 1500 meters in the Hudson River, biked 40 kilometers along the West Side Highway and then ran 10 kilometers through Central Park in the Nautica New York City Triathlon. My total time was 2 hours, 49 minutes and 59 seconds.

The day started at 4:00am where I made some final bleary-eyed preparations and headed out into the already hot pre-dawn morning. After setting up my transition area I set off to the swim start where waves of athletes had already begun their journey.

Queued up on the starting barge, I dropped into the water and awaited the starting horn. The horn sounded and in an instant the water roiled as we jockeyed for position in the strong river current.

Look! Do you see me?

It wasn't long before I was stung by my first jelly fish. By the time I finished I'd been stung on my hands, feet and a rather strong sting on the back of the neck that's developed into a nice welt.

Needless to say I was delighted to finish the swim and rather glad for the protection offered by my wetsuit!

My official swim time was 28:50.

Thank God that's over!

The transition area was about 400 meters from the swim finish which explains the kinda long T1 time of 7:57 but once out on the bike course I opened up a devastating can of speed, cruising through the course in a time of 1:17 -- an average speed of about 19 MPH.

I'm also happy to report that I topped 40 MPH on a few of the downhills.

Yeah, love that!

Does this thing go any faster?

T2 came and went in a blur, in and out in 2:29. Unfortunately things were about to slow down.

At this point in the day, the heat (91 degrees and humid) and my lack of proper training caught up to me. My time for the 10k was 53:13 or about 8:33/mile.

Not looking so hot... Despite the heat.

YES! I see the finish line!

All in all I am really pleased with my performance and feel I did well given the lack of proper training. I'm toying with the idea of doing another Olympic distance in the late summer; and actually training this time!

I also want to pass along my most sincere thanks to Jared, Tony and Suzanne for coming to cheer me on (and for the great photos! Thanks guys!). And also to Salena and Jack who are the best support crew a guy could ask for!

On a tragic note, I wish to extend my condolences to the family and friends of Esteban Neiva, whose race and life were cut too short.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it"
-Helen Keller