Hi. It's Laura.
Race Weekend is very exciting. The weekend starts with a
mandatory athlete briefing and Expo.
Who doesn't love pre race Expos?! There is so much
gear and equipment and athletes generating excitement about the upcoming race.
The NYC triathlon is the only race I am aware of that
does a pre race mandatory briefing. I do understand why. The logistics of a
race this large in New York City are quite complicated. And with the recent
bombing at the Boston Marathon, new security measures were put into place. The
organizers wanted to make sure everyone was aware of what they were going to
be.
The briefings stared Friday ran through Saturday late
afternoon. Not much else happens on Saturday except for mandatory bike check in
which happens between 2:00pm and 9:00pm. This is no surprise. The organizers
put this information out long before race weekend. No bike, No race, No
exceptions.
I got my bike in around 2:30 Saturday afternoon,
fully loaded and ready to go. I decided to put my rinsing water on the bike
because I didn't want to juggle multiple liquids race morning. I don't care if
my rinsing water is warm so, to have it sit over night, is not a big deal.
After the bike was dropped off, it was home to rest.
I was really looking forward to a good night on the
sofa with a great movie. It is summer time so apparently nothing is on so The
Husband and I wound up watching some cheesy movie on Netflix streaming (Netflix
streaming sucks BTW, they seem to only have movies that no one ever wanted to
watch in the first place).
A little supper and off to bed. I make this sound so very
simple. It was not.
Saturday was one of the busiest days on the UWS that I can
remember.
If you are a baseball fan you know that the All-Star game
is on Tuesday and that it is at Citifield. Apparently that means there are
events all over NYC. Most of them seem to be happening in my neighborhood. There
was a HUGE concert in Central Park on Saturday night, a boy band concert that
had a matinee and evening performance at the Beacon Theater. I happen to live
across the street from artist entrance. Oh yeah, there is the triathlon on
Sunday. To say that the UWS was busy on Saturday is an understatement.
It is bad enough to have prerace jitters and have to go
to bed at 8:00. But to have several hundred screaming teenagers outside on the
street added to my nerves. I was very worried that the concert would let out in
the middle of a bad night's sleep. As it turned out, I fell right to sleep
(lack of nap certainly helped). It was not the screaming teenagers that kept me
up but The Husband's intermittent bouts of snoring that kept waking me up. Don't
worry he got punched, a lot.
The new security procedures were promised to take a
little more time so I decided to get up a little earlier and give myself some
time. The alarm had me up at 3:15 AM. I was sure this would give me enough
time. I am a notorious bad “waker upper” (it is a technical term). I need my
coffee and scheduled this into my time in the morning. It takes me a solid half
hour to get going any morning and I took that into consideration. By 3:45 I was
making breakfast and getting my tri-tats applied by The Husband. This year I ate
all of my breakfast. Last year I only ate half. I knew it was important and my
nerves were better this year over last year.
Transition is open from 4:00am to 5:15 am. If your crap (another
technical term) is not in by 5:15 you are S.O. L.
We left the apt at about 4:20 plenty of time (or so I thought).
We left the building and crossed Broadway when I realized I had forgotten my
bike computer and Chapstick. We headed back to the apartment. Items gathered we
head to Riverside Park again. We are almost at transition when I realize, I forgot
my water in the fridge. Seriously! This is not a good start. I asked The
Husband and he (being the amazing husband that he is) ran back to the apt to
get my water bottles. I went into transition to set up everything
else. Unlike last year, this year I am in a middle row in the middle of
the zone and quarters are tight. I have no great spot to get organized so I wound
up putting my stuff under the tire of the bike that was
racked opposite of mine. I finish setting up and go back to the entrance
to wait for The Husband.
As I stood there waiting the kept announcing how much
longer transition would be open. I also spotted Tara Costa formerly
"biggest loser" fame, not sure if she was a volunteer
or participating. I thought to myself “how stupid of me, of all
things to forget”. If I had no water out on the West Side Highway, where there
is no bike support, and if something happens I am stuck out there until the
final sweep at 10am, yikes! I hear the announcer say 4 minutes until transition
closes when I hear my name being shouted. It’s The Husband!! He has my water.
Oh thank goodness. I run into transition against all of the people heading out
which it looks like most everyone and get my water on the bike with minutes to
spare.
I was concerned about getting to the start line on
time. From transition it’s a 1 mile walk
I know I need to use the restroom before I get my wetsuit
on and I also need to drop my sneakers from the walk into the waiting trucks. We
manage to get to the start area on time.
The restroom lines are huge but I am in and out without
incident.
I asked The Husband if he could drop my sneaker into the
truck while I get my wetsuit on.
I stood to the side and struggled to get my wetsuit on
because of the humidity. You try pulling on 1/2 inch thick neoprene when you
are drenched with sweat. It ain't easy. I swear it took me 15 minutes.
I get it to my waist, which was enough before I need to get
to my corral, and The Husband returns. We head down to the start together. Twice
on the way, I had to stop. I thought I stepped on a rock I bent over to wipe it
off my foot. I took a few more steps and had to stop again because it hurt. After
I cleared the foot a second time and it still hurt I asked the husband to look.
He tells me I have a splinter. Are you kidding me? We go to the medical tent. No
doctor, no nurse and no tweezers. They tell us there is another medical tent
beyond the start. We head through the chaos next to the pros who were just
going into the water, and there is no second medical tent. I am slightly
panicked at this point because once the pros start it goes fast. I don't want
to miss my start. I head back to the coral and The Husband heads out in search
of tweezers.
Please keep in mind the humidity is 100%. The poor guy is
drenched from running home for my water and now running all over Riverside Park
looking for tweezers. In the end he comes up empty handed. It’s too late. It’s
time for me to go.
My age group is headed to the barge and we are moving
quickly! NYC Triathlon does a time trial start format. The whistle blows every
20 second and 15 athletes enter the water. The pros started at 5:50 am. I was
the 9th group into the water and I entered the water at 6:23am. I was less
nervous this year waiting to go in and on the barge I felt good. I started my
awesome watch and when the time came, I jumped.
Once in the water, I swam. Yes that is what you do when
you jump in the water. I felt ok and then I didn't. I picked my head up at
about the 600 meter mark and looked back. I was pretty far from the barge and definitely
far from the finish. This is where I had my panic attack. I stopped swimming
and sat there. The internal conversation sounded something like this: “WTF
where you thinking, triathlon again?” “You are such an idiot”. “I can't do
this, I have to stop”. “I feel like I am suffocating”. “Everyone will be so
disappointed”. “I need to quit but I can't quit”. “I could get them to pull me
out now I can take a DNF”.
At this point I unzipped the back of my wetsuit and
flipped onto my back. I cannot tell you what exactly changed. Maybe the
internal conversation continued but I don't remember. I do remember telling
myself “you are an idiot and you have a plan you have trained for this”.
So I flipped back onto my belly and started stroking. I remembered
not to kick and just kept stroking. Once I got going I refused to look ahead
because I didn't want to freak myself out again. So when I felt the wrist bands
(mandatory for participation and getting your bike back at the end) cutting
into my wrists I just let it go. I told myself it didn't matter I didn't need
my hands for the rest of the event. I now however look like I tried to commit
suicide from the gash on my right wrist.
I came to the end of the swim. It was relatively free
from incident except for being cut off at least once before getting to the
finish barge. But I made it.
All of the thoughts of quitting I had towards the
beginning of the swim were now gone.
I head down the long 700 yard jog from the swim finish to
T1. Last year I walked out because I was so wiped out. This year I run it. I find
my bike, get my bike gear on and realize I need to pee. The port-a-potties are
at the back of transition, grrrr. That will take too much time but I know I cannot
head out on the West Side Highway without going.
I exit transition and wind up using the public restroom
out of T1 which is adding time to my bike ride. I say “priorities”. I thought
about peeing my pants and not worrying about but I knew I stood no chance of
winning my age group at this point so, into the bathroom I go.
The bike course is just as brutal as I remember it. I am 8
minutes in and the sweat is just pouring off my head and down onto the bike.
From my placement in the race, I get to see some of the elite athletes already
on their way back, way impressive and perhaps just a little inspiring (Ok
a lot). I was grateful that it was overcast for most of the ride, actually all
of the ride.
The West Side Highway has not been paved recently and the
potholes are brutal on the butt. Between Hurricane Sandy and snow removal, the
pavement is best described as “ouch”.12 ½ miles from bike to the turnaround at
Mosholu Parkway and back down the west side. Rolling hill after rolling hill
after rolling hill.
It’s amazing what happens in a race like this. I caught a
group of women and we were riding and chatting. The camaraderie &
cooperation was just amazing. When you are half way through one of
the best triathlons in the country, it’s awesome that
people can be that respectful and considerate of one another. I must note here
that my foot with the splinter in it was throbbing like crazy. The splinter
entered the foot in the exact spot where my cleats are which is the power
position for cycling.
As I finish the bike and head into transition, I see
there are swimmers still coming out of the water, wow!
Into T2 (same place as T1 just headed for a different
sport), quick change and I head out. On the list of things that I have forgotten
to do, reapplying sunscreen was one of them. I knew I was tired so I allowed
myself to walk out of transition and up the steep hill to get onto 72nd street.
Again, after the panic attack, winning the age group was
not going to happen. Once I was out on 72nd street, my right calf
started to tighten. I allowed myself to walk and stretch the calf. In addition
to the calf, I had a wicked stitch in my side. I know from all of my bricks
that it takes me a little while to settle into the run. I allowed myself run/walks
down 72nd and into the park. The morning was ticking away and the sun come out
just as I was making my way into the park. I remember reading on the weather
channel that the heat wave was supposed to start around noon. I disagree. As
soon as the sun came out, the heat was overwhelming.
I hit 1 mile mark upon entry into the park. 5.2 to go.
I am not recovering and I am a little worried. I keep
trying to push myself and making myself run but I have to keep stopping because
of the stitch in my side. My foot is fine. Fortunately I am not striking the
foot where the splinter entered.
At mile 2, I feel better and start to run, I took water
at every station and Gatorade at every other. I would take one water for drinking
and dump one on me for cooling. By the time I hit the 5K mark, other than the
sun bearing down, I felt ok. I could feel that I was not getting my feet far
off the ground and didn't care. I was going to make it.
Once on the east side of the park, the home stretch, I execute
my plan like I planned and not the improvised plan the course and heat were forcing
to me to do. I allowed myself to walk through every water station from
beginning to end. It gave me a minute to rest and consume.
I saw two runners passed out on the course at about the 4
1/2 mile mark. At mile 5, I borrowed some one else’s friends who were cheering
her on. They were loud and they were awesome and they were happy to cheer for
me since all of my people were at the south end of the park.
I run this park 3-4 times a week and I run this course at
least twice a week. It is never as long as it was during the race. I finally
made it down to the 72nd crossover and had almost forgotten they make us run
through Cherry Hill before being able to cross the finish line. Through Cherry
Hill and into the finish line corridor to the finish line. I was elated
and hot.
The second I stopped I could feel how high my core
temperature was. I did the following in this order: cross the finish line, get
an iced towel, get my finisher’s medal, drink water & Gatorade and then
onto medical.
I entered the medical tent to see if they could get the
splinter out of my foot. I had yet to check in with my family and was worried
about how long it was taking. But exactly like the start, there were no
tweezers to be found.
The medical staff was doing the best they could. It was
not their fault. They were all very nice and very accommodating.
I found The Husband and home we went. But of course, not
before having to walk all the way across town to collect my bike.
Bike collected, I go home to celebrate with my family. Thank
you family for all of your support. You have no idea how much it means to me to
have there for me.
You will be happy to know I slept for 12 hours.
Onto the next one!
Laura.
