This past weekend, my tri-job took me to the lovely island of Manhattan for the 5i50 Nautica NYC Triathlon. I came in still trying to regain my fitness from my AWESOMELY BAD bike crash two months ago. Rather than sit at home and continue to mope about my lost fitness, I figured the best way to get it back would be to toe-the-line with the best and leave it all out on the course!
The week leading up to the race, I had anticipated the weather to be a factor because there were a slew of thunderstorms expected to hit the New York area over race weekend. Sure enough, race morning we were caught waiting in the rain at 6am to get the green light to jump into the “pristine” waters of the Hudson. The onslaught of rain and wind called for a tough, choppy swim and I exited roughly 17th out of the water. I was able to pull back two guys in the ½ mile run up to transition and headed out onto the bike in 15th.
The bike course was out-and-back on the Westside highway - a deceptively tough, rolling course - that met us with a tail-wind on the way down and an unrelenting headwind on the way back. My intention for this race was to really press the bike because that was where this race could be won or lost.
As such, I worked those rollers hard and came into T2 in 13th. There was a group of several riders a few minutes ahead that I was trying to reel in but based on their remarkably similar bike splits, it was thus difficult for me to take-on one or two riders, let alone 4 or 7!! I thought this was a non-draft race! Oh well…
Out onto the run, I was able to reel in a struggling Andrew Yoder and that was unfortunately it for me! My run legs eluded me on this day, which happily shed some light on where my fitness is at in its current state – just a few miles short… I crossed the line in 12th – 1:58:30.
Despite finishing outside of the top 10, and even with CERTAIN variables working against me, I’m not at all discouraged by my first complete race back. Lastly, I’d like to give a BIG shout out to all the New Yorkers who may or may not had even known there was a triathlon going on but nonetheless cheered us on as we ran against traffic in Central Park! Some of the best spectator support I’ve seen in a long time!!
Just a few more races left in 2011 and it will all culminate at the Duathlon World Champs in Gijon, Spain on September 25. But first, an ITU race in Kelowna, BC and then the Nautica Malibu Tri!
Thanks for checking in. Talk soon!
-HH
**I want to express my sincere condolences for the families of the two people who tragically died during the swim of the NYC Tri. This lifestyle we lead is often times precarious and daunting and it is one of the total downfalls of this sport when we lose a fellow triathlete.**
