Race Report: Jarden Westchester Triathlon 2010

The Westchester Triathlon was my last triathlon for 2010. It is the biggest race I have done yet with about 915 competitors. The day before the race we headed up to the race site in Rye, NY to pick up our packets, rack our bikes and check out the water. It was a beautiful day!

I was a bit nervous about the swim so I was happy to have the chance to test the water before race day. The swim involved two things that are new to me. First, it was a land start. All of my races so far have been in water starts - either waste deep or treading water. The other issue was that the swim was in the Long Island Sound so it was salt water. If you've been a long time reader you might remember my ocean swim in La Jolla, CA last year. In short, I am a mid-western, fresh water, lake loving girl at heart. The salt water was not too bad, but I still prefer fresh water.

The swag for this race was fantastic (which was a good thing since it cost $185!!). We received:

- A technical-fabric hooded sweatshirt

- Water bottle
- Gloves
- Coleman Flashlight

- Zoom race belt
- Zico coconut water
- Samples of chamois cream, raw bar and prunes












On race morning we woke up at o'dark-thirty, ate a pre-race breakfast of English muffin with PB&J and jumped in the car. After a quick stop at Dukin Donuts we were on the road. We arrived at the race site with plenty of time set up and get situated. In no time at all the transition area was closing and we headed down to the beach.

Swim: .9 miles
23:52 / 4 of 29 Age Group (F25-29)

It was a waived start with a total of 10 waves, 3 minutes apart. I was in wave 8. I positioned myself in the second row of my swim wave group and just ran and dove when they blew the horn.  I definitely prefer an in-water start, but the land start was not as bad as I imagined. There was a lot of contact to start and I did get a good kick in the face. But, we quickly spread out and for a few lovely minutes I had clear water and a straight line. But, after a few hundred yards I started running into the men in the waves in front of me. I tried to just swim around them and avoid any unnecessary contact. On the way back to shore in the last 500 yards the swim was very crowded for me. I was running into a lot of guys who were breast stroking, back stroking and doggy paddling. It was really frustrating for a few minutes, but finally I was out of the water. I ran up on the beach and towards T1. I was happy to have the salt water behind me.

T1

2:57 / 9 of 29 age group

T1 was pretty uneventful. I threw on my socks, shoes and helmet and ran out of transition. I had a good spot close to the swim in and the run out. This was nice because transition was big and it would have been a long run across the parking lot with bare feet. The downside was it meant I had to walk hobble pretty far with my bike to reach the bike out.

Bike: 24.6 miles

1:22:06 / 17.6 mph average / 2 of 29 age group

I can't believe that I had the second fastest bike split in my age group! I did push very hard on the bike and I felt that I handled the course well. I passed a ton of people but I did not think I was really going that fast since about 700 people started before me...


My goal for 2011 is to get a bike picture where I don't look like a complete idiot...

Sam and I had gone to Rye the weekend before the race and road the course. I think this was a big help because I knew exactly what to expect. The course is mostly uphill in the start and downhill on the way back so I pushed really hard in the beginning since I knew me legs would be able to recover a bit on the second half.

Claire's Climb is a .4 mile climb in the middle of the race and the last major uphill in the course. It is named after Claire Collier who lost her battle with ALS in 2009. The climb is timed separately with an award for the fastest climb. There were a lot of people cheering on the climb and and even a lone bag-piper.
Overall it was a well marked and well patrolled bike course. My biggest complaint is that the course is very crowded. There were a lot of people who did not understand basic etiquette of cycling like staying to the right, no drafting, and calling out "on your left." It was quite irritating at times.

I saw a lot of random things on this bike ride including road kill, tons of water bottles, a cop getting screamed at by an angry motorist (upset about the delays caused by the race), and an arm pad from aero bars. But, the most interesting thing I saw was the top of an aero helmet at the bottom of Claire's Climb. I'm not sure how that happened...

T2
2:16 / 13 of 29 age group

Run: 6.35 miles

55:14 / 8:42 min/mile / 9 of 29 age group

The community support on the run was really great. There were tons of people out in front of their homes cheering on the racers. Some were having big parties and other houses it was just an elderly couple or a young mom and child. Many people had radios turn up on their porch or the car stereo blasting upbeat music. During mile 2 there was even a band playing in their driveway.

I was not sure how my foot was going to hold up for the run. My plan was to run as strong an as fast as I could in case the pain forced me to walk. I figured less time on my foot was better than taking it easy.

The first two miles were virtually pain free. I was thrilled! I started thinking that maybe I just needed to be really warmed up before running and then I wouldn't have any foot pain. Unfortunately, after two miles the pain started creeping in and miles 3 and 4 were uncomfortable but not terrible. After four miles the pain was getting a lot worse, but I did not want to slow down and I really didn't want to walk. Around five miles I passed a guy and he commented, "You make it look so easy" and I replied "You have no idea how much pain I'm in right now." My mantra for the rest of the run was the "The faster you run, the sooner it will be over."

The last tenth of a mile was across a field and down to the finishers shoot. The uneven ground was especially painful and I was grimacing across the finish line.

8:25

8:45
8:40
8:40
8:59
8:54
2:51 (last .35 / 8:04 pace)

Overall
2:46:22 / 3 of 29 Age Group / 384 or 915 Overall

I was very proud of my finish time. I do not time my swim so when I cam across the line my clock time was 3:07. I wasn't sure exactly how far back I had had started so I couldn't calculate my final time but I estimated around 2:50. 2:46 is a major personal record for me - almost a 20 minute improvement over this distance from last year!


After the finish we grabbed some cold pizza from the food tent and some Muscle Milk. We found a few of our AG team members cheered for others while they crossed. After a bit I decided to head over to the massage area to take advantage of the post-race massages. It was about a 10 minute wait and then I got a 8ish minute massage. It was great :) I told him my calf was especially sore/tight and I think he was cautious and didn't want to work it too much when what I really wanted was him to focus on my leg. Oh well. It was still a fantastic perk.

After the massage we headed out. We did not stay for awards because I had no idea that I had actually placed in my age group. I found a picture from the awards ceremony and I photo-shopped myself in :) The Westchester Triathlon is a qualifier for Escape from Alcatraz. The first two in each age group earn a spot. I'm bummed that I missed a spot, but in all honesty I did so much better than I expected that I can't be too upset. Plus, I was six minutes behind #2 and I know that even on my best day I could not have cut 6 minutes off that race.

On the way home I iced my foot with a frozen water bottle I had brought with.

I couldn't be more happy with my 2010 triathlon season. In the last year I've had major improvements in my bike and my run. I know the bike improvements came from consistently attending the Tuesday and Thursday morning bike rides with Asphalt Green in Central Park. I'm looking forward to the off season but I'm already dreaming about 2011.