{"id":728,"date":"2019-09-26T13:03:49","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T13:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racereportblog.com\/?p=728"},"modified":"2025-02-25T20:47:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T20:47:24","slug":"westchester-triathlon-9-22-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racereportblog.com\/?p=728","title":{"rendered":"Westchester Triathlon, 9\/22\/2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

My only regret in this race is falling in love with the podium and getting jilted\u2026 I had won for my age group last Sunday\u2019s 70.3, and two years ago I had just aged up and came in 2nd at this race. In between came last year\u2019s Did Not Finish at this very race (my only DNF and only race of which I did NOT blog): I hadn\u2019t finished because of back spasms, and when I got off the bike could not run a step. So, really, if I finish this race, it\u2019s a 100% improvement over last year. And yet, I still coveted the podium.<\/p>\n

So, I do my normal pre-race routine (for which I was taunted by Alan Golds, who drove us to Rye Playland Beach the day before we raced to register and swim the waves, feel the salt water: \u201cyou\u2019re getting up at 3:30 a.m.?!\u201d). Yeah, I need an hour to shovel down all that nutrition. Yeah, I already had racked my bike, but had to plan\u2026 For example, to prevent the helmet shield from getting covered with dew or humidity, cover the whole helmet with part of the large towel where bike shoes await. There. A new efficiency.<\/p>\n

I stroll down the row to see Zander, John McD, Tom Andrews and Kevin Carlsten getting ready, racked very near each other and giving me a shout out. Nice to see the Home Team. Our newest plebe, Michael Litsky, is doing his first Olympic distance (0.9 mile swim, 25.6 mile bike, 6.2 mile rrrrrrrun), after his first Sprint distance this summer. \u201cAh, welcome to the Dark Side, Mike\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Tom Andrews, John McDermott, me, Zander Reyna, Alan Golds, and Kevin Carlsten<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Zander is missing, replaced by Mike Litsky. Some believe they are one person…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stroll down to the beach at Rye Playland – I\u2019m so early, it\u2019s not clear where the gate is unlocked – and a couple dozen of us watch a beautiful sunrise waiting for the lifeguards to get out on kayaks. Relaxing warmup, but the air and water are both around 67 degrees and as I predicted, I\u2019m shivering for the next 20 minutes. Bruce Kaliner is waiting as well – he took first place to my second place in 2017 – and I realize I need to avoid starting the swim with him, I\u2019ll be swimming HIS race instead of my own \u2026 So I hang out with Kevin, always a source of positive energy.<\/p>\n

Rolling, self-seeded start. I had done the Toughman a week ago at a 1:44 pace, so went for the \u201c1:45 or Faster\u201d section. (Shut UP, Zander! Not all of us swim at 1:10!). The only starting horn is for the first group – those promising collegiates, who look fast, but \u2018tis a pleasure to later pass them on the bike and run – and the rest of us wait 3 seconds at a time, like cattle, to run into the water. I splash up to my thighs, then almost waist deep then, okay, swim, dammit! Feels smooth, strong, more relaxed than fast – trying to feel my lats engaged is harder with the full sleeve wetsuit – drafting briefly, passing here and there, mostly clear water and of course that beautiful sunrise is now a bright glare in my face. So it\u2019s hard to see the buoys, but there are a lot of them (weird, a giant ball amidst the other pyramids) and that reassuring 500-yd. buzz from the Garmin suggests that I\u2019m making progress.<\/p>\n

Turn at the outer point (just beyond the jetty – Alan had teased Mike that we had to swim to the horizon), maybe 15 yards to the next red buoy, then some confusion as three or four guys ahead of me start heading towards the buoys from the first leg instead of straight into shore – another fine lesson of Racing MY Race; literally, \u201cthat\u2019s the wrong course, guys.\u201d Maybe a current was pushing against me on the way out, maybe the same one helps to push to shore, but it feels great, and 0.9 Miles is DONE. More water to run through, get onto shore and start stripping my wetsuit and RUNNING uphill to transition among the folks taking their sweet time. And Jeff Boyer, coach for some friends, shouting from the sidelines, \u201cAh, THERE\u2019s someone who\u2019s racing!\u201d<\/p>\n

T1 feels fast and relatively efficient, and the helmet-under-towel works well (I don\u2019t lose more time wiping off that shield\/visor) and I am OUT just after Bruce K, my nemesis-for-a-day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Bike Course<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The road is pretty broken up so I can scarcely ride in the aero position for the first 4 Miles, and I am breathing pretty steady and unlike last week\u2019s 70.3 I am more consistently in zone 2, cranking up the watts, yes there are hills but so much shorter than I\u2019ve been suffering, I\u2019m passing a lot of people and only occasionally passed by others, but almost no one seems to be in my age group. A few fast descents, one (younger) guy to whom I warn \u201con your left\u201d later passes me and says, \u201cI\u2019ve seen you before at another race – you pass me on the downhill flats and I get you on the hills!\u201d At about mile 20, I pass him, and knowing the elevation map, say \u201cThere are no more hills, Red Baron.\u201d<\/p>\n

I get to T2 and lo, mine is the first bike on our rack. And I get out before Bruce, who says hello and I say goodbye.<\/p>\n

I am ready for a fast, light run, bouncing off the springy boards of the boardwalk along the Rye Playland amusement park, off into that darn unshaded marsh, but it\u2019s not as long and awful as prior races, and as I actually reach the turnaround, I realize (a) I am running towards Bruce, which means I\u2019m ahead, but that he\u2019s chasing me, so I am running from a demon, and (b) with a shorter race – 10k rather than last week\u2019s half marathon \u2014 every single mile is harder because it is faster. I later do the math, and I\u2019m pushing 14% harder than the 9:00 min.\/mile average with which I was delighted for the Half Marathon at the end of last week\u2019s 70.3. That\u2019s a big difference.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Run Course<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Goal is first two miles in zone 2, and I slow down a little after the hill that goes past the transition area (and the crowds of spectators, a gauntlet before hitting the tree lined streets of Rye) to bring my heart rate down from 154. (I went out too fast in Florida last April, I won\u2019t do that again!). Gulp down my liquid nutrition – last of the UCAN – and then wish I could throw away my hydration belt\u2026.<\/p>\n

And then it\u2019s every mile by feel, pushing as hard as I can in that moment, ignoring the watch. Mile 3 feels solid but hard, and I decide that Mile 4 will be lighter, not slower but landing more lightly and feeling my full height, I pass someone in my age group (big guy with 56 on his calf; great, maybe I will get 2nd or 3rd) and where oh where is that turnaround, it is a really long time to reach Mile 5, but as I run back I see coming towards me Alan and Tom and\u2026 Bruce, and I realize he\u2019s close but unless he gets a lot faster he won\u2019t catch me, and I\u2019m dying for that right hand turn into the temporary fairgrounds and finally it\u2019s here, Mile 6, those last 0.2 Miles down the grassy chute are killing me, I later learn that my heart rate climbed from the 160s to 173, and I raise my hands for the Finish!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Done, done, done! And almost immediately I\u2019m greeted by Danny Sokol, whom I\u2019d met in prior years, and he\u2019s extremely fast on the bike and run and\u2026 he has aged up to my group. And I\u2019m thinking if he has 1st Place, I\u2019ll have 2nd, that\u2019s cool. But Danny announces that he came in 3rd<\/em><\/strong>. And turns out, someone else came right after him, so I came in 5th (and Bruce in 6th).<\/p>\n

Disappointing after taking 1st Place the week before, but.. Oh, well. You can\u2019t control who shows up on race day. And if Danny, stunning athlete that he is, only took 3rd, well,this was a competitive race.<\/p>\n

Bottom line; 5\/39 AG, 73\/600 OA. Swim in 28:30 (=1:47 min\/100 yds). Bike in 1:19:59 (=19.9 mph). Run in 48:05 (7:45 min\/mile). T1 in 2:28, T2 in 1:51, a grand total of\u2026 2:40:56.<\/p>\n

The dumb thing is feeling this need to apologize, as if completing a fifth triathlon in the year and the second in 8 days wasn\u2019t sufficient. \u201cOh, alas, I am not as fast as I used to be.\u201d What athlete doesn\u2019t wish they didn\u2019t age? And who doesn\u2019t covet the podium, whether from up close or a distance?<\/p>\n

Slower than past years, but a solid, hardworking result on each part. And 100% better than last year – because I finished this year. During the race, I felt great – and no injury, a huge accomplishment. I was craving a PR – but that\u2019s not realistic. I\u2019m older, and it\u2019s nice to work towards being faster, but makes no sense to be disappointed if I don\u2019t improve on what I’ve done in the past.<\/p>\n

And our team did well. Alan took the podium (3rd Place for 60-64 – he\u2019s disappointed for ending his 1st Place streak), Kevin takes 5th overall for the aqua bike (hamstring injury prevented him from running), John takes 5th for 50-54, Zander takes 5th for 45-50, and Mike Litsky finishes his first Oly.<\/p>\n

A day full of successes, and the end of a season. Maybe a running race or two in the next couple of months, but I am soooo done with triathlons for 2019!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My only regret in this race is falling in love with the podium and getting jilted\u2026 I had won for my age group last Sunday\u2019s 70.3, and two years ago I had just aged up and came in 2nd at this race. In between came last year\u2019s Did Not Finish at this very race (my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2019-races"],"yoast_head":"\nWestchester Triathlon, 9\/22\/2019 - Race Report Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/racereportblog.com\/?p=728\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Westchester Triathlon, 9\/22\/2019 - Race Report Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My only regret in this race is falling in love with the podium and getting jilted\u2026 I had won for my age group last Sunday\u2019s 70.3, and two years ago I had just aged up and came in 2nd at this race. 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