Aquathlon!

And a very lovely one it was too. An extremely nice thing about swimming with a team is that one does not just show up to race and then skulk away exhaustedly afterwards, there are actually teammates to chew things over with before and after - we brunched at the cafe at 72nd St. in Riverside Park.

(Below: me and TNYA lanemate/former student Joe, only Joe had the prudence to put on a clean shirt before being photographed!)

So, just random thoughts.

It was the most beautiful day - overcast early, but it really cleared up, low humidity etc. Water temperature at 70 degrees, which is in my opinion perfect (I did not wear a wetsuit), and good running temperature too (low to mid-70s).

The 1.5K swim was way faster than last year - last year there was either no tidal assist or very little, but this year it was speedy! Hairy bit at the start where we all had to swim slightly upstream and over and around a buoy, bit of a bottleneck as everyone was fighting the downstream current, but after that it was lovely - I forgot to start my watch at the race start, mentally noted time on clock in transition but promptly forgot it again afterwards (c. 26 minutes, maybe, as opposed to 35:15 last year - with proviso that I am not sure whether the transition time goes with the swim or the run).

I had a good run, though I was very aware that I have been doing zero running at hard effort - all my runs are more "comfortable," usually with HR in mid-150s, and it's really time for me to start doing some faster intervals again, because I should be able to run quite a lot faster than that at 5K! Watch time (again, not sure about transition) was 26:28, which I was fairly pleased with (c. 8:30 pace). Avg HR 167, max HR 176. Time to start doing speed bits, as I say - it is still my goal to race a half-marathon at 8:00 miles, which I think is attainable in the next few years, but I will have to work more on speed as well as endurance, I have gotten in the (to me very enjoyable!) habit of just putting in a lot of miles in zone 2...

(Last year's run time was 30:18, though as I say, transition may be included in that - will wait and take a look when official results go up to see what official numbers are this year. At any rate it is encouraging to think that I am at least a minute or two faster than last year - it is not a fair comparison, as it was an easier/quicker swim this year and also a cooler day if I recall, but I was prepared for the worst, so I will take this as good news!)