It's been awhile

You may have noticed my absence lately, or maybe you haven't. Regardless, I've been busy with work, which hasn't left much time for blogging. However, I have still been doing some fun workouts and races.

"Race", you say? Yep. I set out to do the Greater Cleveland Olympic distance triathlon on August 10, but mother nature made the swim too choppy. I have to admit that I wasn't all that disappointed. Swimming ain't my thang, although I really try to make it my thang. So, we did a 1.2 mile run, 24 mile bike and I think a 6.55 mile run (it was the same course as the half-Ironman - they just did 2 loops).

My friend, Suzi, and my husband discussed amongst themselves and decided I could do the first run in 9 minutes. I'm like, "ok, whatever you say". I thought they were on crack and 10 minutes would be still overly optimistic. But, I did it in 9:24 - not too shabby for me.

Then, I got on the bike. I had a new bike that wanted to play in a bad way. In an uncharacteristic move, I totally let the throttle out and figured if I died on the run, so be it. I caught up to people I usually couldn't hang with to save my life. Definitely fueled me on. I went up the one majorly steep incline and barely noticed it (got to love the compact crank!). We got stopped by a train towards the end of the bike. This was good, because I could take a heart rate break and they would subtract my time, but bad because we were all bunched up then. To make matters worse, after the train stop, we merged with the sprint race. It made it hard to pass and even harder not to draft. Don't dig on the draft thing, so went a little slower than would have towards the end. Did get bunched up again in the park, but you can't pass and drafting at 15 mph isn't all that helpful. Overall, I did the 24 miles in 1:13.52 (about 19.5 mph). I was worried about blowing up on the second run, but figured it was worth it.

The run then went amazingly well. I felt strong and was clicking off fairly consistent miles. Joe (from Ironman Lake Placid video) caught up to me around mile 2. Somehow, I fended him off and finished a minute ahead of him. Total run time was 59:06. If the course was 6.55 miles, then that is a 9-minute mile. Definitely a good run for me.

My total time after train adjustment was 2:25:12 (a time I'd never see in a regulation Olympic distance with a swim), which was good for 4th in my age group out of 6 women. I was a minute out of 3rd place. My age group was very competitive. I would have placed in the top 3 in any other age group. Oh well. What would I do with a plaque anyway? I did place 9th out of 28 females. Overall, a very solid day.

I also got to hang with many of my old and new friends, such as Suzi, PK, Dave, Ben, TriguyJT, Daisy, Tracie, IronG, SnickersGirl, TriEric, Aimee, Solar, Charlie, Stacy,Allanjel, etc. I also heard e-Speed, but I never got to talk with her. I love this race, because the race director is the nicest guy ever and I know everyone! Other than the windy conditions, it was a lovely day to race! Great job everyone!

I leave you with yet another Matt video from the day. My hubby is definitely talented!