This was a long swim for a Sprint, but I was really only doing this race as practice for the KIC IT Olympic Tri in Stamford in two weeks, so I didn't mind the extra distance. The water was calm, there was no discernable current, though we were swimming up river, and the buoys were easy to see.

Nothing, really. Relative to the field this was my strongest event. I followed my plan to swim hard for the first 200m, then found a slower stroke that was comfortable for the middle of the race, then pushed it hard the final 200m.

Got my foot stuck in the wetsuit and fell over while trying to get it out. Area was dirt, so I got dirt all over myself in the process. No big whoop. Forgot to loosen the staps on the basket clips on my pedals, and that cost me some time trying to get my feet into them. Lesson learned.

body glide the feet, and check basket clips before the race.

Good course. I was riding a hybrid, so I knew I'd be kind of slow here. Still, felt like I had a pretty good ride.
Almost got wrecked thanks to the guy in front of me riding on the wrong side of the bike lane and listening to his iPod. We were on a good downhill, I was over 30 mph and coming up on him fast. He was all the way to the left, with no one on his right and I'm yelling to him "on your left, on your left," but he was completely oblivious until I just about went into his rear wheel and had to jam on my brakes, almost running myself off the road. That's when I noticed he was listening to his iPod and never even heard me yelling. I was a wee bit toqued off.

Talk to the race organizers about stopping boneheads coming out of T1 with headphones on! What a dope.

Almost ran out of T2 with my bike helmet on. Had to go back and put it on my bike.

Not be an idiot

Actually ran a pretty good pace for me, but really felt gassed. I don't think I hydrated enough during the bike.

Drink more fluids.

After the obligatory water and stretching.....cold beer and a cheeseburger at JP Doyles.


It's a well run race, and it's a nice setting along the Hudson. I thought they could have done more with post-race activities in the park. It's a nice park and maybe some jumpy houses or face painting or other fun stuff for kids would have been nice.