It was an in-the-water wave start with about 75 other people in my age group. We were swimming with the current so had to hang on to a rope before the start to avoid being swept downstream. Nice! Apparently the favorable current had slowed from the earlier waves, but it certainly helped a lot (hence the crazy finishing time).

The swim itself was pretty uneventful. There was a little kicking and splashing at the start, but the field spread out fairly quickly. The course was about 20 yards wide, marked by buoys and kayakers. They also had markers every 300m on the seawall, which was helpful.

The water was murky, so I wasn't able to get a good draft, but it didn't really matter with the current. The end of the swim was very shallow about 50 meters out, but you couldn't really stand up because of the silt. Close to the end, I had one big gulp of the Hudson, which initiated the gag reflex, but it turned out OK :)

Not drink from the Hudson.

There was a longish run on asphalt to T1- longer than I expected. It was a little painful for the feet, but OK. I felt like I was in slow motion during the transition but couldn't point to one thing in particular that was poor. It was also a long way from my bike rack to the bike exit.

Wear trisuit.

For me, this was a fast ride. I averaged about 1.5MPH faster than training rides and didn't get passed as much as I usually do! I felt good and stayed aero for most of the race. The course was almost a straight out and back up and down the Henry Hudson Parkway. Pretty scenic, as well, as it followed the Hudson for most of the way. It was mostly flat at the beginning and end but somewhat hilly during the middle part of the course.

The course was rough in places, and I saw lots of people changing out flats on the side of the road. There was virtually no crowd support on the course, as there really wasn't anyplace convenient to watch the race.

Like others have mentioned, I measured just under 26 miles according to my computer.

More hydration.

Took a gel and a quick bathroom break. Everything went pretty smoothly, otherwise.

This was a subpar run for me. I had gone pretty hard on the bike, and it showed on my run performance. Soon after mile 1, which was mostly uphill, my quads and hamstrings started locking up, and I went into walk/run mode. It was also a very hot day, and I think I also need to tweak my fluid and nutrition.

The run course itself was nice- mostly through Central Park and often in the shade (thank goodness). We were sharing the run paths with all the other weekend runners, which was not a problem at all, as there was plenty of room. Kind of fun, too- lots of support from folks out for their morning workouts.

More bricks in training; re-evaluate hydration/nutrition.

Walked a couple of miles back to transition and to car.


Heat, pacing on bike.


Overall it was a well-managed race. I'm glad I did it but probably wouldn't do it again due to the high cost and difficult logistics getting around the city during registration and on race day.