The Largest Fitness Competition Coming to the Largest City
The Ironman
photography smith_cl9
The Ironman Triathlon Versus Manhattan–2012
In case you didn’t hear the news, our fair city is going to be host to the Ironman Triathlon in August of next year.
For those of you who are fitness fanatics (or morning and weekend fitness types, as I practice on a pretty regular basis), the time to begin planning is now.
According to Dara E. Wittenberg, a USA Triathlon Level II Certified Coach, you’re going to have to dedicate 13-20 plus hours a week (whew!) to prepare for this and ideally, you should have a few triathlons under your belt to attempt this Mother of all Marathons. You can get the specifics here.
There’s a general entry fee of $895 to compete and contestants will swim 2.4 miles in the Hudson River, bike 112 miles on Palisades Parkway and run 26.2 miles from Fort Lee, New Jersey across the George Washington Bridge and finish in Riverside Park.
New York and New Jersey Mayors Bloomberg and Christie and John Korff, owner and organizer of Korff Enterprises, Inc. (the company that owns the New York City Triathlon) are excited about the notoriety and the economic impact that the Ironman will bring to the area. According to a New York Times article, race officials estimate the marathon bringing “$50 million to the tri-state area.” As Korff said in the article, “. . .people think this [Manhattan] is just a concrete jungle. . .we’ll show them you can swim, bike and run in New York City.”
Those of us who live here are well aware of that! I wrote a blog on New York’s luxury condos and their great fitness facilities a few weeks ago. I thought I’d recap a few of the great places (indoors and out) where one can prepare for not only New York’s upcoming Marathon in November of this year but for next year’s Triathlon.
A Few Manhattan Luxury Condos with Great Fitness Facilities:
Upper West Side
The Rushmore, 80 Riverside Boulevard
7,000 square foot La Palestra Fitness Center with personal training available and a staff of exercise specialists
Indoor swimming pool
Trump Condominiums, 220 Riverside Boulevard.
Indoor swimming pool and large fitness center
The Aldyn, 60 Riverside Boulevard
The Aldyn Athletic Club and Spa
75-foot indoor swimming pool
Yoga and Pilates training
Thirty-eight foot climbing wall
15 Central Park West
14,000 square-foot fitness facility
75-foot skylit lap pool
Nearby gyms/training:
West End Sports Club, 75 West End Avenue
Soul Cycle, 117 West 72nd Street
Equinox, 2465 Broadway
Crunch, E. 59th Street
Upper East Side
The Laurel Condominiums, 400 East 67th Street in Lenox Hill.
The Trophy Club Triathlon Training Center
Training circuit
Two resistance pools
50-foot lap pool
Weight training–Atlantis, Cybex, and Life Fitness
The Lucida, 151 East 85th Street
La Palestra Fitness Center and onsite exercise specialists and physiologists
Indoor pool
Azure, 333 East 91st Street
State-of-the-art fitness center
Nearby gyms/training:
New York Sports Club, 349 E. 76th Street
Equinox, 817 Lexington Avenue
Midtown West
The Cassa Hotel and Residences, 70 West 45th Street
State of the art resistance and cardiovascular training
Windsor Park, 100 W. 58th Street HYPERLINK “http://bit.ly/lsS5fK” http://bit.ly/lsS5fK
State-of-the-art fitness center
Yoga/Stretching Room
Jumeirah Essex House,
24-hour state-of-the art fitness facility
Nearby gyms/training:
Crunch Gym, West 38th Street
Greenwich Village (West and East Village)
Superior Ink, 400 West 12th Street
State-of-the-art fitness facility
Yoga/Pilates
One Jackson Square, 122 Greenwich Avenue
Technogym Fitness Center featuring European-model Kinesis personal training system designed by Antonio Citterio
Nearby gyms/training:
Crunch Gym, 113 4th Avenue
Nimble Fitness, 42 East 12th Street
New York Sports Club, 34 W. 14th Street
Chelsea
The Caledonia, 450 West 17th Street
Full-service Equinox Fitness Center
100 Eleventh Avenue
Large fitness center
70-foot indoor pool
Nearby gyms/training:
Steel Gym, 146 West 23rd Street
David Barton Gym, 215 West 23rd Street
Equinox, 100 Tenth Avenue
New York Sports Club, 270 8th Avenue
Public pool of note:
Chelsea Piers Sports Center–Six lanes of indoor pool with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Hudson. Inspirational, but with a cost–$50/day.
These are a just a few of the many excellent resources we have in our “concrete jungle.” Of course, the biggest gym of all and my personal favorite is Central Park. With its parks, public pools, running and cycling trails, this is one big, free green space that gives us the ultimate in training for any fitness goal.
Where are your favorite places to train? Are you planning to run in the New York Marathon? Are you training for next year’s Ironman? Let us in on where you train and what you think the best Manhattan has to offer its fitness fanatics.
Sources:
Zinser, Lynn. The Ironman Triathlon Comes to New York. June 7, 2011.
