Ben races NYC Tri; Jenna competes in Austria World Cup

The bike ride leg of the race was pretty neat for somebody who’s lived in New York. You get to ride up the West Side Highway, which is completely closed to traffic for the race. We even rode through the Henry Hudson Tollway and across the bridge into the Bronx. I had my Garmin Edge 705 with me, and my Quarq power meter linked to it. Though I didn’t look at it very much during the race, it confirms the fact that I went out too fast and lost a lot of ground on the second half of the 40km bike leg. I was about 75 seconds behind the leaders at the turnaround, and over 4 minutes behind going into the second transition. It could have been a headwind coming back, and the fact that I was riding a road bike with poorer aerodynamics. Of course, I had my power meter with me, and the data from my Edge 705 clearly shows that I faded by internal reasons.

The run leg of the race was the coolest part. We ran from Riverside Park down 72nd Street to Central Park, and the entire road was closed to traffic. We had six lanes of road to run on, with nothing but fans and gigantic buildings on either side. After that we ran around the northern end of Central Park and finished near the Great Lake.

If you ever get a chance to do the New York City Triathlon, I recommend it. Next time, I’ll share links to my data in Garmin Connect. Read more about my travel, training, and racing adventures at http://bencollins.org

Jenna:
It was a rough week of preparation for me leading up to the Kitzbuhel, Austria World Cup. This is race #2 of 3 that I will do in a row. After being sore for a number of days following Athlone, I tried to flush everything out in time to do a bit of speed and get ready to race again. I really wanted to have a good race here since my last World Cup in Madrid ended before it really started with my crash early in the bike.

I biked down to Lake Schwarzee, the site of the race, a little over an hour before the start time and signed in. The weather was overcast and the roads were still wet from rain earlier that morning. With the very technical “s” curve in the bike course, everyone was a bit on edge. It wasn’t until I was halfway through my transition set-up that that the rain started again. So, in order to keep my run shoes from becoming drenched, I flipped my plastic box upside down and tucked them under. My bike shoes and helmet, however, got completely drenched.

I was one of the last competitors to select my start spot, as I was wearing #33 in a field of 36. Fortunately, I got a spot not too far from the left side, so I wasn’t stuck in the middle of everything. I got away well, but rounding the turn buoy, I pretty much got eaten alive. I thought I was so far back until I exited the water and realized I was at the back of the front group. I knew I should try to move up in the second lap of the swim so I would have a better time of getting into the front pack on the bike. Exiting the swim, I was still at the back of the lead pack. I ran really hard to transition and quickly got on my bike. However, as I tried to put my feet in my wet shoes, my right one came unclipped. The 2 seconds it took to correct this was all it took for me to miss the front group. The next athletes were more than 2 minutes behind me, so I put my head down and rode as hard as I could. After 2 laps of riding alone, I was finally caught by the most worthless pack ever. No one would work. By the end of the bike, we were over two and a half minutes down. I tried to convince myself that I could still have a fast run, so I flew through T2 and was the first of my group out onto the run. My body lasted about 300 meters and then it started to shut down. I spent the rest of the run just trying to keep my cadence up and my legs moving. All I really wanted to do was sit down. I fell back to 28th place, where I finished.

It was a generally disappointing day. My swim was okay and I still came out of the water with the lead group, so that is encouraging. I think with a bit more practice and more confidence in large fields, I will find it easier to exit the water in the front pack. My fitness in the water is right where I need it to be. As for missing the front pack on the bike, there really are no excuses — it shouldn’t happen ever. But, perhaps if I had not raced a week prior, it wouldn’t have. Either way, lessons were learned and I am really fired up to have an amazing race this weekend in Poznan, Poland.

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