NYRR Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Queens, NY-Corona Park

This is my first race report of my first triathlon-New York road Runner (NYRR) Sprint Triathlon-8/1/2010. After living in NYC for the past year and participating in various road races, mostly to get into the NYC Marathon the following year for 2011, I noticed that NYRR posted sign-ins for their second sprint triathlon. Although not a qualifier for the marathon, there was something appealing about it. It's funny, I have friends who do triathlons, but never thought about doing one...maybe it was the fact I never liked to swim much...or maybe that I didn't even own a bike (much less ridden one for ten years)...at least I run. Anyways, I decided to sign up since it seemed reasonable. 400 meter swim...13 mile-bike ride...3.1 mile run. The problem is that I still haven't swam or even own a bike...and there was 5-weeks to go.

Okay...swimming..got that covered. Since it isn't an open water swim I'd figure I could just go here...

Now for the tough part...getting a bike. Since I haven't rode a bike for well over 10 years, much less know what kind of bike to get this one would be tough. After some research on triathlons it seems clear that biking is the most technical (hence $$$) aspect. I was thinking of going with my sister's 10 year-old huffy bike, but decided against it. A tri bike...sexy as it is was (way out of my price range) so I settled on this...

Cannondale CAAD 9

Okay...now after a lot of riding and running I felt ready to do the NYRR Sprint Triathlon. Notice I didn't say much about swimming...of course that will come back to get me.

SWIM:

I really don't have much to say except I really suck without my noseplug. One of the things I realized during my training, I can't swim without noseplugs. For whatever reason water just rushes up my nose and I can't keep my head in the water (which is bad since you want to essentially look at the floor to keep your body from becoming vertical).

Corona Park-Aquatic Center 

This was a staggered start so you lined yourself up according to your expected finish time. Since it was only 400 meters (1/4 mile) it didn't seem to bad. Seeing how this was my first I didn't want to be that guy who thought they could kill it only to block everyone else so I decided to hang back. It wouldn't really matter time wise since your time starts when you cross the line right before you hit the pool. Since this isn't a mass start what it did mean was that I didn't hit the pool until an hour later! Not that it matter, my noseplug kept slipping during my swim so I had to stop every other lane to adjust it. Not my proudest moment seeing how my wife said she felt sorry for me as she was watching...great :@)

Swim: 15.41 (383/434)
     T1: 3.53 (317/434)

BIKE:

I was excited to get out of that damn pool and ran down the stairs to my bike...this is where I was going to put my 1000+dollar bike to get use! I put on my biking shorts and shirt, took a swig from my G2, put on my glasses, helmet...yeah you'll notice from T1 I was taking way too long.

 The bike course was a 13-mile loop (2 to be precise) around a flat technical course in Corona Park. It was relatively uneventful as far as problems. Being a sprint, there were all manners of bike from the Cervelo Tri bikes to a bike which I think was taken directly from the set of the Wizard of Oz.

The only issue I had during the bike ride was with the new Timex Global Trainer (TGT) watch I got from REI. For whatever reason it was not recording my speed accurately so would underestimate my speed. While I felt I was doing about 18, it had me going at 12. Kind of annoying when I typically rely on my GPS to pace myself. I just turned it off and kept going at a decent cadence, not wanting to go all out on the bike portion.

My only complaint would be the lack of riders not observing the USAT rules. I'm not an expert by any means, but seriously...don't stay in the left lane the whole time! I had one lady weaving left and right, as I attempted to pass her on the left (while saying "on our left") she must have thought I meant move to your left cause that is what she did! In the process caused me to ride out of control on my bike. Almost falling, I pulled my left calf muscle to boot and pulled over to stretch it out. I lost perhaps 5-10 mins in the process.

Aside from that I did my two loops. I went to rack my bike and changes to my sneakers/race belt.
Bike: 44.33 (162/434) Average speed: 17.51 mph
     T2: 2.34 (348/434)

RUN:

Wow...experienced what a brick is! I only practiced it once prior to this race, but felt the heavy legs as I went out. The run was a 5k through Corona park. Relatively flat and some nice sights around the park like Shea stadium in the background and of course the iconic Unisphere. I tried to push it and my initial pace was probably about 7.5 min/mile but I really felt my heart about to pop out of my chest. It's one thing to run on a fresh pair of legs, it's another after a swim/bike. I pulled back and took it easy for the remaining 2.1 miles. As I neared the last 0.5 miles I saw someone in my age group and decided to bump it up alittle...until the end when he felt the same....

Run: 27.10 (202/434) Average pace: 8.55

FINAL THOUGHTS:

This was a awesome experience for my first triathlon (although only a sprint). This is the second year NYRR put on this event and hope they move more into the multisport arena. NYRR does an excellent job organizing runs and would do a great job here. As for my performance, I was excited to do my first but also felt I could have improved in many areas. For instance, I realize a fatal flaw in the swim was the issues with my noseplug and practicing my bricks. In any case I feel totally hooked and look forward to my next event...Ironman 70.3 Syracuse. I hope to work on my weakness and put in a solid performance for the half ironman (HIM).

Thanks to my wifey for all the awesome photos and my greatest supporter!


Tune in this September for my first half ironman, I will have lots to say!