The 1 mile walk from transition to the swim start was different this year. They completed a new promenade that is right along the river. As we walked to the start we saw several waves go by, including the pro waves. Watching them I decided that I was going to get an outside line no matter what. The current was stronger the farther from shore.
Because it’s the national championship us paraTriathletes get treated pretty well. At the swim start and finish we share a tent with the pros and get treated like them. That means, among other things, we get to skip the madness and hassle of dealing with the age group chip distribution and have a great place to just relax before our start time.
I took a quick warm up jog, and then it was time to get the wetsuit on and head to the start pontoon. I got a spot towards the end of the pontoon where the current was strongest. When the horn went off I fought for position for a bit and had feet to follow for about 200 meters, then I was dropped and swam the rest on my own. A few times the current pushed me closer towards shore than I wanted, but I headed back out to where it was stronger each time. I had a good swim, not amazing but strong. At the swim exit I had my wetsuit stripped off. Then it was the 700 meter run to transition. Wow it just kept going and going.
I got to transition where the handlers told me I was about 3 mins down on the leading 2 arm guys. That’s a lot of time to make up but I decided that I would push on the bike. This year the bike was not as congested as last year. I pushed hard on the bike and at the first turn saw the leader about 2 and a half mins ahead of me. I was making time. I did have one really close call on the bike, while passing at about 31-32 mph a rider suddenly swerved towards me. That pushed me into a parallel rut. I could hear the tires bouncing off both sides of the rut. Thankfully I kept my bike upright and popped out. I caught one of the paraTriathletes ahead of me just before the second turn, second place on the road.
Storming into T2 with a good runner right behind me I tossed my bike in the racks, got a time check on the runner in front of me (2 mins), threw on my racing flats and took off. By this time it was starting to get really hot. Running down 72nd street to Central Park was really awesome; I found my legs right away and then started to push. My mantra was run hard, run efficient. I flew past age grouper after age grouper. Once I was in the park I kept on pushing. I knew the guy ahead of me was a fast runner but you never know what might happen.
The weather had gotten really hot. I walked the water stops to take in as much fluid as possible. Every stop, CytoMax, water, water on the face, water on the head, water, then right back to race pace. At mile 3 I picked up the pace even more. The last 2 miles really hurt, hurt a lot.
I finished in 2:22:16. That was 2nd in the Arm Category and 3rd ParaTriathlete over all! All in all a good outing, my fastest 10k off the bike in some of the hardest conditions I’ve ever been in.
Next up is the Mid Summer Triathlon (Portland, OR) August 1st
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