Bead’s Blog

NYC Triathlon-

 

 

 

Everything was going smoothly that weekend. Too smoothly, maybe?

 

The train ride into the city to drop off my bike and pick up my race packet went well. Meeting up with John (Cayman) went off with out a hitch. We went through the race briefing and even got to see Dave Scott (yes, THE Dave Scott!). Packet pick up was quick. Our numbers had to be on our bike before transition so we took care of that in the lobby of the Hilton. A short walk over to the transition area and we were able to rack our bikes, and shortly after, we were back on the train home to
New Jersey.

 

Sunday morning I got dressed and had my pre-race breakfast. I woke my fiancé(and one of my biggest fans) Melissa. Bleary eyed she got ready and packed up the Mia, the Havanese puppy we were watching for the weekend, and we were off to pick up John.

 

No traffic, so we got to Johns house quickly. Still no traffic so we were in NYC by 4:15 am. We drove over 2 blocks from the transition and found a parking spot.

 

Melissa and Mia stayed in the car to sleep while John and I schlepped over to set up our transition area. Only problem was race participant # 208 racked his bike the wrong way the night before into my 2 square feet of space and I had to have a race official move his bike to the other side.

 

I was done setting up in a few minutes, and then got body marked.

 

John and I walked up to the swim start, a nice 1 mile walk to warm up.

 

We were both in early waves. I was in the water, holding onto a rope, waiting for my wave to start. The temperature was about 70 – 72 degrees, but the water had a funny diesel smell. Which may have been a good thing, it probably masked the decaying smell.

 

I had done this swim before so I was relaxed and ready to go.

 

That’s when the “smoothly” ended.

 

Somebody jumped in and ended up pushing the rope down. I held on to this rope so I didn’t float down river with the strong current. I went under while my mouth was opened and I was taking in a breath. Reflexivly I tried to swallow and breathe at the same time and got some nasty river water in my lungs and swallowed a bellyful.

 

I surfaced quickly and caught my breath. The diesel and dead fish smell, and taste permeated my mouth and nose. 30 seconds, or less to the start at this point.  I felt very nauseous. I coughed, and then hurled into the river. Thankfully the current pulled it away from me.

 

Then I heard the sound of the horn and our wave started.

 

I started swimming and I felt I was actually getting into my groove. The diesel and fish taste, with a touch of Apple Pie flavored Clif Shot and peanut butter, was very strong and the nausea returned. About a 10 minutes in( ½ way?) I rolled onto my back for the moment to get some air and then upchucked some more. I swung my arm over and resumed my stroke. The barge was in sight. A few more strokes and I climbed out of the water.

 

I ran off the barge, made a right and started my ½ mile run to the yellow transition area. My wetsuit was unzipped and rolled down to my waist soon after. The improvised showers were mounted near the exit so I ran under them and got a little bit of (hopefully) clean water to swish around in my mouth and spit out.

 

The coughing returned, and I vomited again. The aftertaste was revolting.

 

The transition area was a long run. I got to my area and did a quick change, wet suit, came off, my number was on underneath, got on my helmet, clipped my strap, put on my socks and shoes, ran my bike out, and mounted up.

 

The course went back by the transition, and then made a hard right into a steep but short hill. I knew to gear down on the approach so I was able to climb up and out onto the course quickly.

 

I picked up some speed and went up a few gears as I got onto the Henry Hudson. Once my cadence on the CatEye was at about 85 I settled in.

 

The road got a little steeper and I had to push a little which caused another wave of nausea. After peaking the hill, and on my way down I puked again, not quite avoiding my leg and back wheel.

 

About a 1/3 of the way into the course I could see some of the Pro field coming back. They were flying, and making it look so easy.

 

I was feeling a little shaky as I got to the turn around in the
Bronx. I drank some Gatorade and had a Orange Crème Clif Shot.  My stomach grumbled but I felt a little better.

 

The route passed back over the bridge and I could see the
Hudson again. There was another small climb and I felt queasy again. I held it until I got a slight downhill and I had to throw up again. Orange Crème and Gatorade don’t taste so good on the way back up.

 

Only a few miles to hold it together until I got to the transition.

 

The last turn around and I felt a little relief but I was feeling the effect of running on fumes. I slowed down and dismounted and trotted in to rack my bike. My helmet strap was unclipped and I was ready to slip into my running shoes. Participant # 208 had racked his bike the wrong way again and created chaos in my area and no where to rack my bike.  I had to resist the urge to throw his bike, so I went around and  re-racked his bike to get it out of my way. I got my shoes, and visor on, then ran out of transition.

 

I grabbed a quick cup of water a volunteer offered at the first table. That went down and stayed down. The first turn out of the park and up the hill came up and I got my running legs. A short  path led me out to

72^nd street

.

 

It was a flat, fast stretch over to
Central Park. I saw Melissa and Mia just before I got to the park. I ran over to the sidewalk to get a quick kiss from my fans. This at least lifted my spirits. 1 mile down, only 5 to go.

 

The aide station was right inside the park so I grabbed some Accelerade and water. The Accelerade didn’t taste right and came back up almost immediately. I drank the water and that seemed okay.

 

I felt so thirsty, shaky and nauseous but there was less than 5 miles now to the finish, so I chugged along.

 

As the aide stations came up I just drank the water, which stayed down and seemed to make me feel better.  The mile marker just weren’t coming quick enough. I had run numerous races in the park, and done this triathlon before so I knew the course. It just seemed like it was longer today.

 

Mile 5 came and went and there was a nice downhill. I could hear the crowd and announcer from the finish area and it gave me a little rush of adrenaline. I saw the finish line and focused on it. Then it was done.

 

I felt completely wiped out, drained(literally) as I walked with other finishers. I got my iced towel, and a finishers hat from the volunteers so that made it all worth it.

 

It wasn’t my best race day, but I made it.