Tri Tri Again

Sunday sees me attempt one of this year's cornerstone challenges - The New York Triathlon. This is an Olympic distance triathlon incorporating a 1500m swim down the Hudson River, 40km bike ride along the Western Highway and a 10km run around Central Park. I am not sure whether to be excited or terrified. Currently I’m wavering between the two, often in the same minute.

It’s going to be physically demanding, no doubt. I am maybe a month off being properly ready because I have not actually tried to do all three things back to back. However I am optimistic of completing it and, afterwards, feeling very proud – I just don’t know how long it will take (to finish or recover enough to feel proud).

No reason for this one, a triathlon is just something I have always fancied trying and if you are going to do a one then it may as well be in New York. Well, it may as well be London but at the time of entering I was still hoping to do the London Marathon and didn’t want to do more than one physical challenge in any city. As it turns out I have nothing set up for London, which is bordering on the ironic but I think we are all now far too confused as to what irony actually is for me to risk saying that.

The plus side of doing it in America is they do these things with a bit more style. The organisers have arranged a system where anybody interested can get real time updates on my progress by email or text (although I could not get my head around text requirements). Follow this link and the instructions and you can pretend you are there cheering me on. In case you forget my name when searching for me - I think my bib number is 3525.

I don’t know how detailed the updates are but, with the weather in New York being a nightly minimum of C23 degrees and daily maximum of over C30 you can expect something along the lines of:

35 minutes – swim finished
2 hours 30 minutes - cycle finished
2 hours 50 minutes - collapsed with heat exhaustion
2 hours 55 minutes - placed in ambulance
3 hours 14 minutes - arrives in hospital
5 hours 5 minutes - released from hospital
5 hours 6 minutes - regrets not taking out travel insurance

Apparently there is also a way of watching an Internet feed of the last 30 seconds of the race for each competitor. I don't know how this works and with no idea how long I will take I can’t say when to watch. I have set myself a target time of 3 hours 15 minutes because it is good to have a target but realistically that is a barely educated guess. I start at about 12.15 UK time so, with fortune, will be finishing just as you reach the end of your Sunday lunch. You may have a job recognising me because I suspect a cap and sunglasses will be required and actually, now I think about it, I will also be wearing a skimpy one piece waterproof leotard kind of thing and sweating like a pig in a sauna. Not something to be experienced on a full stomach, or indeed at all. My recommendation, stick to the updates.