This was my first triathlon since May 2025 because of a “series of unfortunate events”: had surgery for my broken right foot, PT after the surgery; left hamstring, PT for that; got a cold from swimming/nasal infection; rolled right ankle; right Achilles injury and PT for that… So, it was pretty exciting to feel ready to race, needed to be in tune with my body but still wanted to push the envelope.
This was the third time I had done this race — so, my impossible goal was to beat the SOB with my name who had done this race 10 years ago (in 1:22:05).
Beautiful, sunny day, with temps in the 70s, and water temp at 77.5 degrees — so wetsuit-legal by just ½ a degree. Warmup in the water for around 5 minutes. “Self-seeding” to start the race was a joke, because there were no signs showing anticipated swim speeds, more like the mosey-up-to-the-starting-line of a running race (so I seed myself between those who are pushing to the front and those lagging behind), and we’re OFF!
Water is full of reeds and lily pads on the right, so I avoid that, and pass the first buoys pretty quickly, legs are squeezed from the wetsuit but feeling strong and glad to be in touch with good body position (butt up, head down!), reach “wide” with right hand to avoid crossing over and bend that elbow to establish the catch — all the result of a swim lesson with Coach Steve (at https://www.triendeavors.com/) — and breathing/sighting every 3-2-strokes (which might be excessive sighting, but kept me on course). Finished the 800 yds. in 14:03 minutes (1;52 pace) – faster than Coach Steve predicted, and only slightly slower than 10 years ago. And 4/18 for AG!
Stripped off the sleeveless wetsuit, ran a short distance (1:40 minutes) to T1 (1:04 minutes), put on shoes helmet and swapped goggles for glasses, and start to RIDE! Up the long hill (keep the wattage steady, don’t surge, don’t use too heavy a gear, but be strong), turn around and go down down down (feels great to tuck into aero and coast and catch whoever is pedaling ahead of me), turn again and up up hill (here comes Vadim, haven’t seen him for years, I’ll never catch HIM), some guy (no. 181) hunched over on a plain road bike passes all of us (so much for fancy equipment! And after that, he ran a 6:53 pace!), and I scoot back into the Camp Buckner.
44:42 for 13.6 miles (18.4 mph, again a little slower than coach’s prediction), but felt solid and no hamstring twang (gotta love the new saddle and newly fitted bike). 6/18 for AG… But T2 took 1:12 minutes… (9/18 for AG – there’s room for improvement!)
And then, what we’ve all been waiting for: the run. It’s only 5k, but my first running race in a long time, and I’m in my carbon-plate shoes (overcompensating? You bet) and I feel SPRINGY! As I leave transition, I realize I left my watch on the bike, but I don’t want to lose time going back to get it and not having a watch will force me to go by feel. Which is fine, except what I start to feel is… tired. And without a watch, I don’t know how far I’ve gone! There are no mile markers, the road loops through the woods and I remember from prior races finishing on a downhill, but I go up three hills and I’m asking people, “this way to the finish line”? So, yeah, knowing how far I had left to go would have been better for my mental state… but there’s the inflatable Finish Line and I’m DONE!
Unbelievably, despite predicting 9:30 min/mile, I finish in 25:46 minutes – 8:17 min/mile! 4th in Age group!
Bottom line: 1:28:39, 6/18 AG, 63/236 OA. NO Pain! 6:30 minutes slower than 10 years ago, and only 2 seconds slower than Vadim!
Post-race bonus: a Hastings-on-Hudson neighbor, Tim Donahue (biked in 37:36), his 10th-grade daughter (swam in 10:48) and her friend (ran in 23:38) did a relay — and combined (1:13:35), they beat first place overall. Pretty amazing.
