Completing the NYC Triathlon
By Tony Thoman

It had been a few years since I had set any goals for myself as an athlete. Long gone are those days when I focused on those sub 36 10Ks and obsessed over sub 3 hour marathons. Now, I'm happy just to finish these distances, and not come out with any newly revealed injury. Well, as many athletes tend to do as they near 40, I decided that I needed to stoke up that old fire again ... but I needed a worthy goal.

One type of race I have always enjoyed is the Triathlon. They are always challenging, but ultimately lots of fun as well. The combination of swimming, bike riding, and running is perfect for me, as they happen to be the only three sports I can actually do. Usually these tris start at obscenely early times, so the swim usually starts at dawn, and I have started many a tri as the sun is just rising over the water. A rude awakening, but a truly beautiful experience nonetheless. The biking portion is always a joy, feeling the cold rush of air on my still wet body gives me a good goosebump rush. When I finally go into the run, my biking muscles always have a hard time adjusting to a running gait, but once I find it, I am thorougly pumped up, picking up speed with each mile.

In looking for some kind of race that I could really set my sights on, I finally took a good look at the New York City Triathlon. The course sounded totally cool. A 1.5K swim in the Hudson from 100th Street to the 79th Street boat basin, a 40K bike ride up the Henry Hudson Parkway, right through my home turf: Riverdale and Van Cortlandt Park, and then the icing on the cake: a 10K loop through Central Park. In my opinion: a dream course that I could not resist.

So, with a new goal in mind, I now had a reason to begin a real training regimen. This was not to be my usual half hearted attempt at getting back in shape or a temporary phase. I was going to really get in shape for this thing, and do well in this race! I wasn't going to miss out on a Tuesday night speed workout, nor was I going to miss any of our cross country races in Vannie. Of course, I know had every reason to do some 50 mile bikerides up in Westchester, and head over to Fordham more often to swim laps.

In hindsight, I did not train like I had hoped, as nagging injuries kept me from developing a good training routine. Even worse, two of my team mates got injured on their bikes, making me (and especially Maureen!) nervous that I too would end up in a hospital emergency room. Both Dave King and Linda Filar got seriously hurt in Greenwich in the last few weeks, while they were on their bikes. To add, these are two individulas who are known to be cautious and careful, and demonstrated that even a conservative rider like myself could get hurt.

My interest in doing the NYC Tri never waned though, and I did a good job of doing a few practice runs: one in Greenwich, and another in Kingston. In Kingston, I did the whole thing while nursing an injured calf, and in Greenwich, I rode on a half flat tire, so I had not yet had the chance to see what I could pull off in the NYC Tri.

The race began at 7 AM. I joined my group of swimmers on a little barge off the promenade. There were about 100 swimmers in my wave, and we had to crowd in a tight line on the lip of the barge before the starting horn sounded. We had to swim about 20 straight blocks not far from the shoreline. Throughout the swim, I could look up at all the landmark apartment buildings on Riverside Drive, and used them as locators.

The transition from the swim to the bike was a doozy. We actually had to run barefoot for about four blocks along the river, before we could enter the transition area. I quickly got my bike together, swallowed some gu, and pedaled my way up the hill to the West Side Highway. The biking portion was also quite enjoyable. It is not every day we get to cycle on the West Side Highway or the Henry Hudson Parkway (unless you are Steve O'Connor), and experience the smooth pavement, the hills, and the speed you can attain on such a surface. As we rode over the Henry Hudson bridge, I spotted my apartment building, and thought how nice it would be to take a detour and get a drink of juice. Throughout the ride, I passed some, and some passed me. I got a kick out of seeing some cyclists on their old fashioned 3 speeds with balloon tires, but noticed that for the most part, my bike was a true relic compared to some of the high tech outfits zooming by me at 60 miles per hour.

So far, so good. The transition from the bike to the run went well. I got an extra dose of motivation when I saw Maureen, Tree Frog, my parents, and my sister Kate with her husband, as I began my ascent back up the hill in my Asics. Little did I know that up to this point that the race had not yet really begun. Throughout the run and swim, I was enjoying myself to the utmost, but once I hit 72nd Street, and felt the full brunt of the sun, I was reminded that this was going to be another unusually hot and humid August day. As things turned out, temps rose up to 94 degrees that day, and I know the mercury had climbed above 90 by the time I started the running portion of the race. My legs felt unusually fluid, but my heavy breathing was a sign that I was feeling the heat, and needed to be careful. Sure enough, by the third mile, I was totally spent, and had run out of gas. I could not fathom doing another three miles in the brutal heat. I had to walk a little, and play tricks on myself to muster my running legs to pick up the pace again. Here I was in Central Park, and I felt like I was running mile 24 in the NYC Marathon all over again. When I finally heard someone yell that the finish was "just around the corner", I summoned up my last ounces of energy and tried to round the corner. Unfortunately, whoever had made that claim was lying. There were two more corners to round, and a good 200 yards to go, and they felt like an eternity.

When I crossed the finish line I felt I had truly run a race that forced me to summon all my inner resources: something I indeed had not done in a long time. I was dizzy, delusional, helpless, and utterly fatigued, and how good it felt! I had not only completed my race in good shape considering the conditions, I had done a respectable job. I still don't know my time or place as I write this piece, but I couldn't be more satisfied in completing the race, and (with perhaps the exception of the last few miles) totally enjoying the whole experience. While I have no hopes of setting my sights on an Ironman in the coming year, I would certainly like to do the NYC Tri again, and talk some of my teammates in trying this race out as well.

Tony Thoman, August, 2002