Nautica New York City Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

As I was putting on my goggles for the swim, they fogged up immediately and there was little I was able to do about it. My attempts to fix the problem just made my goggles dirty and the fog kept coming (mistake #2). This would hamper me later.

The start was not nearly as violent as I thought triathlon swim starts would be. After we started, it took me a good minute before the crowd thinned out enough that I could actually take full strokes without running into someone, but I never got kicked in the face or elbowed in the gut or shived or anything.

As the swim went on, I was able to find my stroke and go pretty smoothly. The only problem was that my goggles were fogged up and I couldn't tell how far we were from the end. I also neglected to pick out any landmarks at the sea wall or in NJ to help me out (mistake #3). Because of this I probably didn't push as hard as I could have - I was just so unsure about when the end would be.

When it did finally end, I found out my watch wasn't as "water proof" as I had hoped. It was more "allergic to getting wet" so I had no idea what my time was. I decided that was a good thing so I could just relax and race how my body felt instead of looking at my watch.

I later found out my time was 21:55, which I was really happy with. My fastest time in the pool for this distance was just under 35 minutes.

Anti-fog or spit in the goggles, pick out landmarks, maybe take a swim lesson, push a little harder.

It was a long run back to transition and I had a little trouble finding the strap to unzip my suit. After I did, I just trotted along with everyone else. My transition area was a little bit of a mess and I had issues finding my bike (remember, foggy goggles and no glasses).

Once I finally got to my bike, I moved quickly (but the guy next to me still put me to shame). I was happy to have my glasses on. I jogged my bike out to the mount line and a lot of people were jammed up trying to mount a couple feet early.

Just practice some more, keep better track of where my bike is, set up better for the confined space.

Of my three weak legs of the triathlon, the bike is the weakest. I knew I was lacking in training due to not being able to find a bike that fit me for a long time and an injury that made me miss all of May for the bike and run.

I managed to get up the initial hill without any problems and then followed the crowd up to the highway. I saw my family which was nice.

During the ride I pushed pretty hard. I was surprised that I passed as many people as I did. On the ride up to The Bronx it was encouraging to see all the riders coming back down Manhattan. When I made the turn and headed back downtown I could still see a steady stream of athletes coming up, but after ten minutes, that slowed to a trickle and then only the ocassional cyclist who had equipment problems.

The course was full of long, rolling hills, but nothing that I found to be too steep. I actually found it easier than I was expecting.

It was nice to have spectators up in The Bronx so late in the race. One woman held up a sign thanking us for visiting. I had to give her a smile for that.

There were no mile markers on the course, but I was able to use the exit signs to count down the streets until we got to the final turnaround. As I headed in, I spun faster and unclipped easily (I had gone clipless three weeks earlier).

My overall speed was 16.2 MPH which might seem slow to some people, but it equaled the fastest time I ever managed to hold in a long training ride, so I was pleased with it.

Just more training. I lost focus once or twice and had to snap myself back to attention to push the pace. Maybe a bike computer would help with this.

I moved as quickly as I could, but by this time my gear was kind of a jumbled mess. It was also tough to get my bike racked again because people's bikes were all over the rack at this point. The most important thing for me was not to forget something, and I succeeded in that respect.

Just practice some more.

My legs were heavy as I headed out onto the run, and this feeling stayed with me the entire time. As a former runner (a long time ago), I felt that if I could manage to get to the run, I'd be home free.

I headed up the incline and out onto 72nd, and I kept waiting for my legs to feel better, but they refused. So I just kept as steady of a pace as I could. I saw my family and then kept my focus on the park up ahead. I was a little surprised there were still so many spectators. I thought being in the second to last wave would have thinned things out a bit.

Once in the park, I just took it mile by mile, determined not to walk. I got water at the aid stations and enjoyed some encouragement from the other runners going about their daily workouts. I was only passed by 6-8 people the whole time, but managed to pass a few dozen other people.

After we passed the 5 mile sign, I knew I was headed home. Soon a volunteer shouted "Only .25 miles left!" I was delighted until the next volunteer a hundred yards later said "Only .3 miles left!" I felt like I was moving slow, but not backwards. That was my only complaint about the volunteers - on the run course they were a little misleading about what was to come. Not only about distances, but about they also said things like "Just over this hill then it's all flat!" even when that wasn't the case. Not a big deal, but if you're going to tell people how much further they have left, you should be accurate.

I was trying to push the entire final mile and stepped it up a little more for the last quarter mile. When I heard the loud cheers from the crowd I knew the finish was right around the corner. I kept a steady pace through the end, gave my dad a high five as I came down the chute and then enjoyed my ice cold towel. I was so happy I was done!

Even though my legs were heavy and I felt like I was moving very slowly, my time for the run was just about what I expected it to be.

Injury hampered my run and bike training, so I wish that didn't happen. I could have worked harder on aquajogging. If I knew my final time was so close to my pre-injury goal time, I might have tried to really gun it the final two miles (mistake #4). Need to practice bricks more.

Got my towel then guzzled a bottle of the best water I've ever had. I quickly cracked open my cytomax and went to work on that too. I grabbed a banana and bagel then walked around just trying to relax a bit. I called my family from the free phones (great idea!) and met them. Then I walked back to my bike, packed up my stuff and my girlfriend treated me to a cab ride back to Brooklyn.


The minor stress fracture I suffered at the end of April took me off my bike and out of running for over a month. I built the running back up slowly, but was afraid to really push it because if something else happened, I'd be out of the race and my first triathlon would be a DNS.

My bike base was weak because it took me a long time to find a bike that fit (I'm short) and was in my budget.

Otherwise, all my mistakes were basically just first timer errors that will be corrected with time.


This was my first race and I had a blast. The course was challenging, but not too tough. The volunteers were great. The logistics are a bit of a hassle, but that's what you get if you want to race in NYC. I'm planning to sign up next year.