FULL-MEDAL JACKET: While the rest of the publishing world was lounging around poolside, toying with the idea of a little tennis or firing up the grill Saturday, Self’s editrix Lucy Danziger was busy swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 and then running a full marathon — 26.2 miles. A three-time Iron Man-er, she chopped 30 minutes off her best time at last weekend’s New York City Ironman competition, finishing with a time of 12 hours and 20 minutes. Aside from taking “a little spill” after a well-meaning volunteer bungled a banana handoff and pedaling into strong headwinds during the last 12 miles of the bike portion, Danziger pretty much kept things on cruise control. Even reports of wayward sewage in the Hudson River didn’t unravel her. “The swim was easy. There was no sign of any kind of ugliness in the water,” she said. And the view from the George Washington Bridge was enough to carry her home. “You look out at that skyline and think Frank Sinatra is singing to you, ‘If I can make it there…’” Danziger said.
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Leading up to the race, she spent anywhere from 12 to 19 hours a week working out, as in a five-hour Saturday morning bike ride or a three-hour Sunday afternoon run. As for her personal reward for Saturday’s feat, she said, “Rest and sleeping in. I am sleeping in all the way to seven o’clock. At least, I’ve been trying to sleep in but my body keeps waking up. My biggest luxury right now is going to the movies and not falling asleep.”
Her life of leisure will not last too long though. Danziger will compete in next month’s Nautica Malibu Triathlon along with Alison Sweeney and Natalie Morales. Until then, Self’s leader can relish her most recent triumph and one that the maître d’ at Luke’s unintentionally kicked up a notch. When a medal-wearing Danziger dropped by the Upper East Side eatery for a postrace burger, he asked, “Oh my God, are you just back from the Olympics?”