Greater Cleveland Triathlon Report!

This was my third triathlon of the season. This was also my first olympic distance triathlon. 1200 yard swim, 40k bike and 10k run.  I woke up around 5:00 and left for the race at 5:30am. The race was only 2.5 miles from my house so I was very comfortable with the course. I rode the long and short courses as part of my training for the last couple months. When I arrived it was still pretty dark, there was a nice glow of lights coming from the west side of the beach where transition was setup.  After parking and grabbing all my gear I headed to the numbers marking to get tagged. Everyone was super nice for being up at who's know what time they got there. "Thank you volunteers" I setup all my stuff in order t1 and t2. I really didn't know how the swim was going to go so I walked down to the beach to see if they had anything setup. 

When I got to the shore I was greeted by 3-5' waves and some heavy winds. Not what you want to see when you have to swim 1200 yards in a race. By then I got a text from my official photographer and cheer person Kirsten, she said it was way too early and she was on her way. When she got there we walked around some, stalking on a bigger gentleman carrying a cup of coffee from McDonalds. The first waves started at 7:30 and I was in the third wave at 7:36. As everyone started down to the beach I finally got a look where the starting line was and how far the swim was going to be. You started to see the fear in a lot of the people's eyes when they saw how ruff the water was. They said it was 3-5 foot waves, some said 5-6. Let me tell you, I have never in my life thought that I would ever go into that kind of water no less swim a race in it. When we got to what I thought was the start, a lot of people where still walking down the shore. That was just the sprint start. 700 yards down the beach was my start. The whole way down Kirsten and I were joking about how ruff the water was and how I needed to man up for this one. It felt like forever taking that walk to the start. 

Once there I threw on my swim cap and goggles to see how the water was. I guess all I could say was that at least the water was warm. Man was it ruff! In the final meeting for the triathlon the officials told us because of the conditions of the water all we had to do was swim out to the first yellow buoy then make the turn to head back up shore, if we wanted to we could swim as close to shore we wanted. We could even walk down the shore, as long as your ankles are in the water you were good. The only thing is when you got to the last yellow buoy you had to swim out and around it before you got out of the water. A lot of the guys got a smile on their faces... I sort of knew what they had planned. I don't know how a lot of other people feel but, I trained really hard and I wanted to try my hardest to complete the swim no matter how long it took. When I told Kirsten about how the swim was going to go down, I think the only thing she said was what the &$@!. You’re gonna swim it right? The first wave was the youngest, it was a beach start so everyone gathered in the coral, when the horn went off it was total madness. Either you ran into the water or waited to see how everyone else was doing. Less then 30 seconds into it you heard "help" a couple of people started to panic out in the ruff water.  I won't lie I as nervous, but I had to man up and get it done. I lined up towards the middle on the beach, I didn't want to be last in and also didn't want to the first. When the horn went off I hung back a few and hit then water. I knew it was going to be tuff within the first 15 seconds. I took in a lot of water the first few waves until I got out more in the water. I almost freaked out until I regrouped and told myself slow down and take it easy. After the turn I headed down the shore for the long swim. I noticed that there was a lot of orange caps still around me so I knew I was ok. I was trying to stay out into the water and not too close to the shore. What felt like an hour went by, fighting the waves and current I finally started to pass the sprint starting point. You can basically sum up the swim by two words, the f bomb and "help" the life guards were on over time today! Finally I saw the last yellow buoy in sight. When turning into shore I noticed that the number of swimmer doubled, different colored caps everywhere. When I could finally touch I tried so damn hard to run out of the water onto shore but my legs didn't have it to fight the current, so I just walk up to the beach. Once I hit the sand I started to pick up the pace and heard Rob from the bicycle hub yell out my name... It was a nice cheer that gave me an extra boost to T1.

When I ran into T1 I saw Kirsten, i was still a little dizzy from being in the water and I asked her how long I was out there. She said forever!!! She lost me and didn't  see me until I popped out of the water. I think she said like an hour... I felt a bit down on that time but I was so damn happy the swim was over. I took my time in T1 so I could catch my breath and get my bike on.

Heading out of the park I didn't get on it yet... They told us there was no racing until you hit the main road, so stay in order. I guess the guy that passed me missed that note. Once I hit the road I laid it down as hard as I could with out using up all legs for the run. The first part of the bike long course is a slight up hill for 4-5 miles. It's hard on the legs if you’re a grinder. I did pass a lot of bikes the first 6 miles, until the first downhill then the field leveled out and we all hung with each other until the big up hill climb. This climb hunts me in my sleep. The first time I ever tried it I ended up hoping off the bike and walking up. The second time I did it but I thought my heart popped out of my chest.  The more I did the course the easier it became. I just had thoughts of me in the middle of a pack of riders jumping off my bike to walk. Around a half mile before the the hill I notice a lot of people slowing down and getting ready. When I passed one guy I asked him if he was ready? He told me that last year he had to walkup the last part of the hill and he was hoping to make it this year. So when I got to the base I started spinning hard and gave it my all. Once I made it to the top, I thought to myself all that worrying over that? Ten seconds later I started hearing yelling of joy when a lady that I passed on the up hill made it to the top! Was a great feeling that I wasn't the only person that was celebrating the climb. There was only about 1.5 miles more of up hill and the rest was a fast paced down to the finish. I saw Kirsten one last time, she was taking pictures and smiling away.  I hung with the same people the last 5 miles of the bike. The last mile was a fast hard pace, i wanted so bad to pass one more rider before the cut off when  we reached the park. So once again i dug deep and sprinted on last rider, i think i was twenty feet from the park entrance. When I came into T2 I knew the run would be a death crawl.

 I tried so hard to run hard but I had nothing more  to give to the run gods. I thought as long as I could run 10 minute miles I would be happy. When I came up on mile three I notice one of the younger swimmers that had to be helped in the water and I started to talk to her, she really didn't want to talk about it. I told her it was really ruff and a lot of people were having a hard time. That's when I saw my photographer for the last time... She yelled out "you call that running!" I think I said that's all I got right now... I really didn't care on time anymore I just wanted to finish. The last three miles I felt like I might be able to push harder but the legs just won't go. Coming back into the park the only thing I could remember is my last training run. I knew I was so close to the finish, the strange thing was I didn't want it to be over yet. I am addicted to the feeling of almost passing out and pushing myself to new limits. I want to be in that moment forever. So I relished the feeling for a few more minutes and pushed on to the finish. I finished in 3:04:15 placing 10th in my age group. 

I have been bit hard by the triathlon bug this year, and I am so proud of myself for getting it done.