Greg was busy working on the roof for our house which meant he could make the trip down for the race but luckily I had both my parents along for the ride. We left Saturday late afternoon to make the 3 ½ hour drive to Newburgh. After getting checked into the hotel we headed down to the transition area to get a feel for how early we should leave the following morning. Then we headed to get some dinner before a quick stop at a Dairy Queen to round out the day.
The race had a 7:30 start with the transition area closing at 6:30 so it was a pretty early morning for us. I ended up getting up at 5:15. I’ve got a few pre-race rituals that I’ve developed over the past few months. First, I always shower the night before a race right before bed. I also always mix my GU-Brew the night before and let it chill overnight. I also always have everything ready and laid out the night before so that I don’t forget about anything the following morning when nerves start to kick in. Lastly, I always have Chobani yogurt in the morning before a race- and I never use a spoon (it’s a weird superstition). I went through all of these things and headed to the start.
We got to the race site around 6:00 to find huge lines at the packet pickup. I got my packet and goody bag (which included awesome shirts from under armor who was one of the sponsors) and headed to transition. I got my transition area set up, finished my GU Brew and took some vitamins that I was trying out for Ironman (they’re called pre-race made by the makers of S-CAPS). I also set aside 2 S-Caps for the ride. This race probably wasn’t long enough to require salt caps but I’m still trying to get my body used to them and wanted to test them out in a race setting.
My wave was the first to start which made me a little nervous. The swim is my weakest event and I was worried about lots of people in later waves passing me. The swim was a point to point in the Hudson River. We were told we would be swimming with the current which was flowing at 1 knot. Once the race began it was clear that even though the current was flowing with us the surface waves were flowing against us. I got slapped in the face a few times but actually enjoyed the swim. It was fun going up and over the waves and the sun was rising which made for a beautiful swim. Sighting was a little difficult because of the waves so I found a man that was swimming at my same pace and just watched for him for about 5 minutes. I thought it was working great until I lifted my head out of the water and noticed both of us were way off course. I quickly swam back towards the others and found some new people to sight for but also from time to time checked to make sure I was still on course. I finished the swim with minimal effort and was ready for the bike.
I flew through transition 1 and was off on the bike course. I remember reading that this was a flat and fast bike course so I was surprised to see that the first 8 miles seemed to be an uphill climb. Luckily the hills were no worse than Newfield hill which I’ve biked countless times this summer. After the 8 miles it was rolling hills and some downhill’s back to transition. I had two bottles of GU Brew on the bike, 2 salt pills, one packet of shot blocks, one cliff bar, and a Cliff energy gu before getting off the bike.
As I got back to transition area I was feeling great. Despite the hills my muscles felt fresh and overall I didn’t have any fatigue. I quickly changed shoes grabbed my race belt and a Gu roctane and was off. Again I left my mp3 in the transition area since I was hoping for a podium finish and didn’t want a time penalty for wearing it. I knew pretty quickly that I was going to have a good run. I felt strong and steady. I grabbed a cup of water at each aid station and drank a few sips before splashing the rest over my face. Shortly after the turn around I had the Gu Roctane and washed it down with some water. The run was similar to the bike- we were climbing for the first two miles before flattening out and a downhill finish. The hills threw a lot of people off but again working out in the hills around Newfield worked in my favor and the hills barely slowed me down. I haven’t done any speed work this summer and I always feel like I’m running at the same pace but somewhere over the course of this summer my running has sped up. I noticed it again in this race as I slowly started passing people. I passed about 10 people over the 6 mile course and before I knew it I was nearing the finish line. I sprinted towards the finish line and crossed it feeling the best I’ve ever felt in a race, I wasn’t out of breath, I wasn’t queasy, I really wasn’t fatigued at all- it was awesome!
I ended up finishing at 2:48:42- 1st in my age group and 5th overall female. My swim was 29:27, my bike was 1:27:43 and my run was 49:28. Following the race there was a great post race party put on by one of the other sponsors at a local rib shack. It was easily the best post race food I’ve ever seen- BBQ chicken, gourmet sandwiches, mac n cheese, pasta salad, fruit, etc. I also got a medal and a bag full of goodies for the 1st place finished from road ID and Orange County Choppers. This race was a great confidence booster before Ironman. I feel like nutrition is going to be key for Ironman and I’m glad that I’ve found stuff that works really well. Two and a half weeks left!