The swim performance depended heavily on location within the swim lane. The further outside toward the middle of the river, the stronger the current. Guess where I ended up? I was pretty much sitting all the way on the inside of the lane, to the point where I had to deviate out twice to miss hitting an inside buoy. So I had much less of a current to carry me to the end. My actually swimming, which seems secondary to lane position in this race, was probably ok. I was pretty tired from the start, but held decent form.



Swim toward the outside. Look at the overall results for this race and you'll see the swim times are absurd. Several finished under 12 minutes, which is crazy.

Done right, this swim would be a blast.

There was a long run from the swim exit to the transition area. My overall time wasn't that bad. I got out of the wetsuit more easily than normal. I was much more tired than usual when I got out of the water, likely effects of the cold. That slowed my speed getting to the transition area.

Not much. Racing healthy would help.

This is usually my strongest leg, and this race was no exception. I had a relatively subpar performance, which I attribute to my cold. But given the scenerio I pretty happy with how I did.

The course was very crowded with bikes. Most people were respectable and obeyed the rules. I didn't see any flagrant drafting.

I did have some fun near the end of the race. Two other bikers and I kept passing each other, pushing the pace. Near the last turn around I responded to getting passed yet again by putting on the after-burners. I succeeded in dropping my two competitors, and was feeling pretty good about myself. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that there was quite a ways to go after the last turnaround, which was also up hill. My legs were absolutely on fire after pulling away from the other two riders, but I couldn't suffer the humiliation of letting them catch me at the last minute. I kept pushing until the dismount and managed to keep them at bay.

I did well considering my cold.

I didn't drink enough, which is becoming a chronic issue during races. I only managed to get down 1 bottle of Gatorade. My goal was 2 bottles. I need to drink more.

The T2 time very high, reflecting the fact that after a pretty quick T2, I started the run without my race belt and had to turn back to get it about 1 minute into the run. Oops.

Well, this one is obvious.

I had nothing left in the tank for the run. I was dragging big time. I seriously almost started walking during the first couple of miles. It was really hot and the sun was a killer. Dehydrated, undertrained and sick doesn't translate into a great run split. I persevered and gradually got my running legs and felt a second wind. By the end I was holding a decent pace, but too late to make up for lost time.

Drink more on the bike.

Walked around and took in fluids.


Not training the last few weeks may have slowed me down somewhat, but running the race with a pretty bad cold really took its toll. This was the second race I've run with a cold, and this cold was much worse. Overall, I'm happy with the results.


This is an extremely organized race. But like others have already posted in race reports, between registering at a hotel far from the transition area, having to really stretch out the waves, the general grossness of the Hudson river, and finishing the race over 1 mile from the transition area, there are several logistic problems.

It is very cool to race in Manhattan--and having the whole course closed to cars is a great bonus.

It will be on my race schedule again next year.