Nicholas Marcantonio

Age: 26

Residence: Glens Falls

Occupation: Professional Triathlete

Education: B.S. in Fitness Development, Cortland State University, 2015

Primary Sport: Triathlon

Blazing into the Pro Ranks of Triathlon 

By Christine McKnight

With a body of wins and high finishes in major races, Nick Marcantonio has met the rigorous standards required for triathletes who want to compete as professionals. Nick realized he might have a future as a professional triathlete after completing the Big George Half Ironman race at Lake George in September 2016. It was only the second race of his fledgling triathlon career, but he crushed the field, winning by 20 minutes and throwing down a course record of 4:08 that still stands.

Six weeks later, Nick posted a top-10 overall finish and won the 20-24 age group in his first full Ironman, Maryland, anchored by a sparkling, three-hour flat marathon leg. That performance qualified him for a trip to the Super Bowl of the triathlon world, the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, in October 2017.

As prep for Kona, Nick traveled to Ironman Texas in the spring of 2017, winning his age group by over an hour – and posting a sub-nine-hour performance. It was a turning point in his trajectory toward going pro. “After Texas, I knew I could certainly be a professional triathlete one day,” he said. “That’s when it really became a one-way mission for me. It meant foregoing a more traditional career working 9-to-5 in a field I went to school for, which was a big obstacle. Needless to say, there have been sacrifices along the way.”

Nick found the flexibility to help make his dream come true at Grey Ghost Bicycles of Glens Falls, which sponsors him, and where he works in sales on a schedule that expands and contracts to reflect his training volume and travel schedule. “He’s beyond talented, and we know he’s just scratching the surface as he starts down this road,” said Grey Ghost General Manager Steve Fairchild, who was a highly competitive cyclist himself earlier in his life. “We’re all excited to see where this goes for Nick.”

With the groundwork laid, Nick turned in a breakout year in 2019, winning 70.3 races at Connecticut and Lake Placid – and finishing 19th overall in the full Ironman race in Lake Placid to qualify for a second trip to Kona. He finished in 9:14:48, good for 11th place out of 101 world-class men in the 25-29 age group, on a hot, windy day in Kona last October. With a body of wins and high finishes in races with large fields, Nick met the rigorous standards required by USA Triathlon for athletes who want to compete as professionals. He received his pro card last October.

Nick went into the 2019 Kona race on very limited swim training due to wrist and forearm tendonitis, but relied on his overall fitness to pull off a PR swim of 58 minutes and change. He had a strong bike of 4:48, despite knee pain that developed at about mile 70 of the 112-mile bike. Off the bike, the pain dissipated, and he began methodically clicking off 6:30 miles until about Mile 17 in the notoriously unfriendly Natural Energy Lab. He eventually backed off to 7:30s and came in with a smile. “I was pretty happy with it, but I know I have a lot more room for growth in the sport,” he said.

Nick’s 2020 spring schedule as a rookie pro includes four 70.3 races: Texas (April 5), Alcudia-Mallorca, Spain (May 9), Eagleman, Maryland (June 14), and Mont Tremblant, Quebec (June 21). “The half is certainly my wheelhouse, so I’ll be focusing on that, but there will be some fulls in my future as well,” Nick said. 

Coaching Nick is Kevin Crossman of T3 Coaching, who has known Nick since he was a sixth-grade student in Kevin’s physical education class at Glens Falls Middle School. Kevin has coached more than 100 amateur athletes across Ironman finish lines, mostly at Lake Placid. But Nick is his first pro athlete. “It’s unbelievably exciting,” Kevin said. “We’ve been together for the long haul. As his teacher, coach and mentor, I’ve had the opportunity to watch his growth, both in sport and as he has become a young adult. He has earned this. It’s a long process to become a top pro, but I have no doubt that in the years to come, you will see Nick consistently climb the ranks.”

Kevin typically gives Nick his training plan in two-week blocks, with specific goals in mind, and a focus on making improvements in designated areas. A big training week for Nick is 25 hours. On average, it’s 18 to 25 hours, but off-season, in the fall, it might be as little as 10 hours.

Nick’s strengths, Kevin said, include grit, passion, aerobic capacity and, notably, an elite-level run. He said Nick has made dramatic improvements in his swim, flexibility, nutrition, injury prevention and cycling. “We’ve mapped out a long-term process for addressing his weaknesses and building on his strengths, and almost daily, his training focuses on them,” Kevin said.

Nick found his way into triathlon after playing youth hockey from age six to 16. As a freshman in high school, he picked up running as a way of staying in shape for hockey. He was recruited to run at Cortland State University, where he assumed a leadership role on his teams and was a three-time Division III All-American in cross country. He incorporated cycling into his training as a junior and began thinking about triathlon in his senior year.  

He graduated from Cortland in 2015, but found himself at an emotional low after his father passed away from cancer a few months later. At loose ends, he decided to embrace triathlon and signed up for his first race: Ironman Lake Placid in 2016. After being hit by a car while on a training ride (his new bike was totaled but he escaped serious injury), he reached out to Kevin for coaching, and was able to defer his Lake Placid entry to Ironman Maryland the following October.

Nick’s biggest fan is undoubtedly his mother, Carolyn, also of Glens Falls, who travels to as many of his races as she can. But she says she’s not surprised. “He has always been so focused, driven and goal-oriented,” she said. “Beginning with his running career in high school, whatever Nick sets for his goals, he has always achieved them. I am so proud of him.”

Modest by nature, Nick has an undeniable attitude of optimism and gratitude. “Whatever I’m doing, I want to bring everything I have to the table and go for it,” he said. “I treat every day like it could be my last. If I’m going to race or train, have dinner with my mom or whatever, I’m going to be the best I can possibly be. There are billions of people on this planet, but only a very few of us are able to race at this level, and I realize it’s a gift.”

In His Own Words: How Nick Trains

Swim – I’m swimming five to six days a week, from 2,000 to over 5000 meters depending on the session. Swims range from recovery work to form/technique swims, hard interval swims at race pace or faster, or long, aerobic interval swims. I’ll also do open water swims in the summer months.

Bike – I’m on the bike six to seven days a week. Given my focus is the 70.3 distance right now, my total bike volume is a bit less, but my frequency is the same if not more, and I am doing more high-end quality intervals to meet the demands of 70.3 racing. Most of my rides fall between one and two hours and range from easy recovery to aerobic and hard interval rides. I’ll do long rides once a week, which can be up to six hours depending on the time of year. In the winter I ride exclusively indoors on my trainer. In the summer it’s a mix between outdoor and indoor. I can better dial in my intervals indoors without being interrupted, and in terms of performance, the quality of training is much better for me. If I’m riding outdoors, it is for recovery rides, long rides where I am going 100-plus miles, social group rides, and race-specific intervals in the weeks preceding a race.

Run – I’m typically running four to five days a week. A usual week will include a long aerobic run, recovery run, hard interval workout or quality run session, and a run off the bike. A long run may be 16 miles at 6:15-6:45 pace, a recovery run may be 30-60 minutes at 7-plus minute pace, or as slow as I need to go to recover. An interval workout, depending on the time of year, may be 400-meter repeats on the track to mile repeats on the road. On the track, I am generally working my high-end speed or working my VO2 max. For mile repeats, I’m working more at my lactate threshold. Runs off the bike vary from easy runs to long runs or quality runs where I’m running at 70.3 race pace. 

Christine McKnight (trichris@nycap.rr.com) is a veteran triathlete who lives in Wilton.