NYC the Race

I just got back from New York City yesterday afternoon. I love that city. The people, the energy, the food, the trains (subways), the diversity of everything.
 
I also love the NYC Triathlon. Why? For a lot of the same reasons. It's a world class event. The course is great. The people, volunteers, and spectators are truly some of the best. I love running up 72nd into Central Park with the huge crowds cheering all of the athletes on. Even though it's a bit disgusting it is cool to say you've swam in the Hudson. I give this race an A+ and would highly recommend signing up for the lottery which open November 1st. http://www.nyctri.com/new-york/registration/registrationinfo/
 
I also love the triathlon team Full Throttle Endurance out of Chelsea Piers. They have truly made me feel apart of their team even though I live in MN and do not train with them. They are a great group of people. If you're in the NYC area, I would highly recommend training with them.
http://fullthrottleendurance.com
 
I arrived Thursday afternoon and as soon as I got out of my cab I was smiling ear to ear. The energy was grooving, I felt good and just so happy. I raced Sunday so I had some time to relax, acclimate, and explore the city.
 
The logistics of traveling for races.
 
1- Make sure I have my wetsuit, goggles, bike helmet, run & bike shoes, race suit, race belt, nutrition, and compression gear.
 
2- When traveling for a race I always pack up my bike and check it at the airport. Next time I travel to a race I am going to use bike transport which will be cheaper and less of a hassle than taking it apart, packing it up, hauling it around to and from airports and hotels, putting it back together, just to take it apart again.
 
3- Sleep, rest, recovery, relaxation. All while trying to find a balance between traveling, race prep, and having some fun.
 
Pre race: Saturday LeAnn and I headed to Brooklyn for some fun. We parted ways around 4p so I could make it to the athlete's meeting by 5. I just made the last meeting with 5 minutes to spare. Got my packet and headed off to bike check. Which became a 3 hour train ride. I laughed because last time I did this race I also had a long train experience. *Note: check the train weekend schedules.
 
Once I got back to my hotel, I ate, and went to bed. I was a bit anxious trying to fall asleep since I had to get up at 2:45a in order to make the shuttle to transition. My mind was running, I was envisioning the race, going through every part of it. I have been working on my mental game a lot this past week since I have been in a little bit of a rut of negative thinking about racing and my performance. I haven’t had as much time as I need to train, eat, and recovery properly which means I haven’t performed as well I would like. All of that has created a slight downward spiral in my positivity towards triathlon.
 
I had two people say things to me this week that really helped me change my thought process. If you read yesterday’s post this is a repeat. But it was so powerful for me. Sometimes you just need a pick up from a friend.
 
1- “It’s not a feeling, you are STRONG. You should always be confident in what you can do. The boy doesn’t change but the mind does. Strong mind, strong heart, strong body. We are whatever we believe we are. And you my dear are a beautiful, strong, fast, and bad ass lady. Don’t forget it. It things start off poorly you just have to remind yourself of who you are.”
 
2- “ Funny thing is meeting you, I feel like you have a lot of power behind you. You have the option to release it whenever you want with whatever you want.”
 
 
I fell asleep to those words. Letting them manifest within me."I am strong. I am fast. Time to flip that switch. Turn it on.” I woke up on time, made it to transition on time. Got a good warm up. Had a great race. It was hot, and it was tough, but I was able to put myself back into the mind set I need to be in which got me through the race. "Being comfortable with being extremely uncomfortable."
 
One thing I forgot to do was double check that I tightened everything on my bike. (Rookie move for sure.) I forgot to tighten my seat post. So right away in my ride my seat starting falling down. This is bad news because my knees were in my chest creating poor biomechanics which means I was over using my quads which burns them out for the run. I obviously got through it, but that one little thing cost me a possible 3rd place.
 
I ended up getting 4th in the elite wave and 8th overall female.
 
Next race is Brewhouse sprint triathlon Saturday August 1st.
 
Thanks for reading!
 
Jess