Greater Cleveland Triathlon- Olympic Distance

Sunday August 7th, I participated in another Olympic Distance Triathlon. 

I completed the Greater Cleveland Triathlon for Team in Training and raised over $1500 to fight cancer. 

Holy shit, the swim was incredible! The waves were huge.  I still haven't used a wet suit and I was regretting this decision during the swim.  I've never heard so many people yell for help during a Tri Swim.  A wet suit adds bouyancy and without one, if something happens, you could drown and not float. For a few moments I was a little spooked.  I stayed out by the bouys and just focused on getting out as soon as possible. The swim was quite an experience, a little fun and a little scarey.  I finished the mile swim in 45:41.  I was exhausted and my legs felt like jello.  I usually don't kick much during the swim portion but in order to get out asap I kicked a lot. 

The bike portion was pretty windy and holy smokes, my friends were not kidding about the hills! This country girl is not used to biking such steep hills. My legs were really feeling the effort.  The downhill portions were much faster than what I'm used to as well.  My ass was quite sore which was surprising because I have been riding much longer distances.  I assume it was from all of the climbing.  I finished the bike in 1:40:03.

Heading out into the run, I felt more relaxed and kept thinking, "the run is only 6 miles, that's half the distance of what I'm used to running on my long runs, I can totally do this".  I kept a steady pace and once I worked through the bike legs I felt comfortable.  The breeze felt nice and it was not so hot.  This was probably one of my more comfortable runs in a triathlon.  I finished to the cheer of my Grunt Girl teammates and ended up with a 1:19:45 time. 

Overall my time was 3:51:42, much slower than Maumee Bay Oly Tri but the course was more difficult and.... the waves were huge lol.

Next week I will do the sprint distance at Vermillion- this is one of my favorite races that I have been doing each year.  It will be interesting to see any improvements with this shorter distance. 

Also-I passed my goal and raised over $1500 to fight cancer for Team in Training.  I'm so thankful to everyone who donated!

P.S.- I think Lake Erie water causes heartburn.