The time has come...

My 2009 pics from volunteering:

That woman only has one leg, amazing! I nearly cried because I was so happy for her.

The guy in the red is a friend of mine doing his first tri.

...to jump into the Hudson River! The jokes continue ("you're going to grow a 3rd eye from swimming in there") but the reality is that I'm going in on Sunday and plan to swim my little heart out. Then I'll bike my legs off and get off and run a loop of Central Park. The Nautica New York City Triathlon is HERE!

Well, training has been fun and time consuming, though not as bad as I thought it was going to be. The beginning was tough because of my time commitments to my regular job and my coaching job, but once coaching ended for the school year my time became less crunched. I got in some serious workouts upstate a few weeks ago and did a heck of a 40 mile ride this past weekend with a 2.5mi run afterwards "for fun". It actually felt great- the whole thing- the ride, the run, everything. I feel really comfortable on the bike and while I know the first bit of the run is going to feel stiff and like someone put cement in my shoes, I know it is going to get better and I'll be fine. I have big plans for the swim, I hope to come in between 17:00 and 18:00 because of the tidal assist and since I'm not wearing a wetsuit, my transition shouldn't be too tedious. I have all of my new "gear" including a Zoot tri tank, Sugoi Blast tri shorts (mmm spandex) some Endurolyte tabs and little CO2 cartridges in the event of an "incident" on the ride.

At this point, I can honestly say that I feel well trained, mentally prepared, gadget-ly prepared and really, really excited. I'm trying not to let myself get too hyped up yet (it is only Thursday!) because I want to stay calm, sleep well and be cool as a cucumber Sunday morning. I'm racing for Team Columbia in the Ivy League challenge which is fun because I believe they win pretty consistently (08, 09). In all fairness, the race is held in our home city, we have home turf advantage even though the only part of the race we could actually simulate is the run through CP since the rest is in the Hudson and on the West Side highway. In any event, GO COLUMBIA!

I'm not sure if luck will help me at this point, but it certainly is welcome. ;) I hope to be posting a race report next week with lots of big smiles and happy memories. Good luck to everyone else who is hopping in the Hudson on Sunday- have a great race and stay cool.