IronCam: New Jersey State Triathlon, Race Report #5

One week after the NYC Triathlon, I raced the third annual NJ State Triathlon. I've competed in this Olympic distance race since it began in 2006 and it holds a special place in my heart as it was the very first triathlon that I ever did. My first year, I finished in 2:59--my goal had been to break 3 hours. This year, more experienced and much fitter, I was hoping to go sub-2:20.

The week between NYC and NJ State was a light one for me. I had decided early in the year that I'd try to pull off good performances on these shorter races by taking training light in July and then just kick up my volume right after. Although this decision might hurt my base that I was developing for the Ironman, I think it was the right decision in retrospect: it gave my some speedwork and variety in my training and I really did end up getting the chance to nail these two triathlons.

Anyway, coming in off of some easy weeks and basically having had 0 training post-NYC, I was nervous about how I'd perform in New Jersey. Also, I've neglected my swim pretty badly this summer and with no wetsuit and no current, I was a little worried about the water.

My parents had come down to the US with some friends to watch the race... exciting since they'd never seen me compete during my three years as a triathlete. Of course, this also added a little pressure to kick it hard.

I spent two days before the race just taking it easy with the family and showing them around the area--the race takes place right near Princeton. On Saturday, I checked in at the race site and heard the standard pre-race talk. I also took my bike out for a little spin just to check on the race wheels and do a little last minute tuning. I hadn't ridden these roads since I graduated over a year before and, much fitter now, I decided to have a little fun and gun it around my old haunts.

Here's a picture of me headed out from the hotel to explore the area... I'm sporting my SBR team bib-shorts with my old Princeton jersey for kicks.

Saturday night, my parents, their friends and I all had a nice meal and then I was off to bed. I had already warned everyone that Sunday was going to be an early morning but I don't think it really hit them until I woke up at 4:45 am. My dad drove me over to the race site and I got all prepped in transition while he swung back by the hotel to pick everyone else up. I had a lot on my mind that morning--we had received news two days earlier that my grandfather had passed away suddenly--so I spent a little extra time in transition making sure everything was good-to-go and trying to clear my mind.

The week before had been a relatively easy race in my category; Ironman Lake Placid had a lot of the competition tied up. This race, however, had a really strong U25 heat and I definitely spent a good amount of time sizing up the competition.

We all headed over to the swim start (about 1km away from transition) right around 7am. I had to kill a fair amount of time while the sprint waves left... as usual I spent this chatting with people and giving a few tips/encouragement to first timers.

My wave headed out around 8:10. The start was fast but not too, too crowded. Only got hit a few times. Took me a long while to find a pace and, stupidly, I spent a lot of the swim trying to draft off of fellow racers. Unfortunately, I chose guys who really couldn't swim straight and this ended up costing me time and focus. Oh well. After the final turn, the swim just seemed to take forever and I couldn't really spot the exit. I eventually got out of the water, sprinting to the ramp out of the water. I checked my time on the way out: 32 minutes. Faster than last year, but in general, a pretty shitty time. I knew I'd have to make it up on the bike.

I gunned through transition and was out pretty fast. Having spent a good amount of time improving my transition technique, I think I was able to make up a few seconds here. The run to the bike start was long and that favoured me; I leave my shoes clipped in and slide into them while riding, so I'm able to run much faster with my bike during T1.

The bike went well. The first half has a lot of stupid turns to make up mileage and this becomes annoying. I spent a good amount of the race passing and then being passed by this one guy. At first, we were pissing each other off because everytime you are passed you're required to fall back about 10m to avoid drafting penalties. By the end, we were laughing at each other... we both had such close paces that we just couldn't manage not to do this back-and-forth.

Coming in off the bike, I had only been passed (without passing back...) once. A good sign. I gunned it through T2 and headed out for the run. It was a HOT day and I had trouble keeping cool. Thankfully, they had tonnes of icy towels and that made a huge difference. Managed 1 Gu during the run and a decent amount of fluid. By mile 4 (like the week before), I was hurting. I held strong through the final hills and had a decent kick at the end. I sprinted to the finish hurting, but ok. And, again, like the week before, I almost collapsed at the end. The race officials are so funny. They go to catch you but let you stumble as much as possible before grabbing you to avoid (if possible) getting covered in a mixture of lake water, sweat, Gu, "sport drink" and potentially other nice fluids. In the end, I was ok, lay down and checked my watch. 2:19 by my count. Personal best for the course and for Olympics in general. Nice! I'd like to think that my grandfather--an avid athlete--would have been proud.

My family gave me a little time to settle and then I grabbed my stuff and we headed off.

And now, a few pictures from the race...