Aquathlon Weekend

Last weekend I became a triathlete with my first triathlon, the Sobe Mossman Sprint triathlon in Norwalk, CT. This weekend I became an aquathlete with not one, but two aquathlons . An aquathlon is a swim followed by a run. On Saturday, I did the inaugural Coney Island Aquathlon, which was a .25 mile swim followed by a 2 mile run. The organizers did a pretty good job with the event, it was a fairly small crowd and a nice dri-fit t-shirt with registration.

Sunday was the Stars and Stripes Aquathlon in Riverside park. It was a 1500m swim in the Hudson followed by a 5k run in Riverside park. We had a large contingent of team in training athletes signed up for either the aquathlon or the Riverside Park tune up swim which was just the swim and not the run. This was an important swim since it was an opportunity to swim the same distance as the triathlon in the Hudson River. The race day course is a little further north.

The start for the swim was from a floating dock by W. 70th street in Riverside park. From there we swam south until we exited by the Pier at West 56th street. A "quick" transition and its off for a 5k run up into Riverside Park. While the much vaunted current seemed almost non-existent (oft-repeated tales of a log doing a 20 minute mile seem mythical), the swim was not bad, at least once I exited the water. The run felt good as well, with my goal being to go at a relatively easy pace and still running an average of sub 10 minute miles.

Swim only athletes getting ready to start their race in the Hudson.

Finish line for the swim

The team in training contingent, ready to do it again, next week.