Mark Yost – Smithfield Sprint – Saturday, April 2, 2016

I don’t usually do sprints, but when I do, my son, Matt, is usually the reason. He signed us up for the Smithfield Triathlon in the Tidewater area of Virginia. I agreed, even though I would be in my Boston Marathon taper.

It was a good decision, I think. The final verdict will be in after Boston, but it was a fun race. Well organized and on a fast course, despite the rain (torrential at times), cool temps (but not cold), muddy transition and wind.

The bonus: Chip, Rusty and Rick Fitzgerald from MMTC all raced, and raced well. Chip turned in a hour time, despite being sick. Rick raced 55:44 and second in his AG.

Matt and I drove down Friday, battling the awful I-95 traffic between DC and Fredericksburg. That alone keeps me from doing more races in the Virginia Beach area. We stayed at a Marriott in Chesapeake, about 30 minutes from the race start, which is totally manageable since the time trial swim start doesn’t begin until 10 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Matt, being Matt, had to do everything and early. He’s type triple AAA, which I respect. He learned his lesson once when he ran the wrong course and lost a race. So now we drive the bike course and bike the run course. We went to packet pick-up, when it opened. We attended the race briefing on Friday with the 30 (mainly newbies) of the over 600 registrants and listened to the questions like, “what is drafting?” But, whatever calms his nerves. Except I draw the line when he wants to be a transition 3 hours before the race start.

The swim is short: 300m. A snake swim in a very nice pool. Based on your estimated swim time, you have an assigned start time and, even if someone ahead of you does not show, they stick to it. You switch lanes every 50 with a flip turn (or not) that takes you under the lane line. Some people were not so good at estimating their times, so it looked a bit like an Ironman swim every so often.

The bike is ten miles on what would normally be a lightning fast course. Slower this year, I suspect, because of the wind and rain. The run is a 5K out-and-back winding through town.
We arrived when transition opened on Saturday morning, but about 400 other type Triple AAAs were already there. Matt disappeared with his bike, despite the pouring rain and set up transition and did his practice swims in the pool (open from 9 to 9:30 for warm up swims). I dropped my bike off at the assigned rack (not assigned place on the rack) to get a decent spot, then retired to the car to stay warm and dry.

Matt went off at 10:26 a.m. (he’s a faster swimmer than I am….), so I took a couple of pictures, then back to the car for my final preps before the swim and to put my glasses in bike helmet. (Transition never really closes…. they just ask you to be respectful of the racers).

Swim: 5:31 (T2/16 AG, 1:50/100m)

My estimated swim time was within a few seconds of 5:31; no one passed me and I passed no one, so it was uneventful, except for one flip turn in which I didn’t make the crossover to the next lane immediately. The pool water was warm, and we would be the warmest we’d be all day. The temps were dropping outside even while the rain and wind were increasing.

T1: 52 seconds (1/16AG)

T1 was, fortunately, uneventful. It was getting muddier by the minute, but I had a good position and only had to put on my glasses and helmet. I considered a rain jacket, but decided to be tough like Matt. My shoes were on the bike and the mount was uneventful.

The key to a fast transition is simplicity I think. Some racers in transition brought far more than they needed and it clogs the area while slowing them down. Make your decisions, less is often more, and go with it. Particularly in a sprint. The pain doesn’t last long.

Bike: 28:08 (2/16AG, 21.3 mph avg)

The bike course is an out and back with a triangular loop in the middle. The roads were good, but there is a treacherous downhill followed by a 120 degree left turn to a short climb. It seemed worse driving than it did during the race, but it has disaster written all over it. I heard there were over 20 crashes on the course during the race, but didn’t hear of any at the nasty turn. People were warned.

The course would be very fast under dry conditions. Yesterday, not so much. Lakes on the side of the road, and the driving rain in the wind slowed things down. My focus was on keeping the rubber side down on my tires. Several times, mainly in the gusty winds, I seemed to be losing traction and/or control. Even so, there was a tailwind on the return pushing my speed up to 30 mph (according to Mr. Garmin).

In the last half mile, on a flat stretch of road, I slid my feet out of the bike shoes and made an uneventful dismount before the line. I watched the race leader crash during his dismount, mainly due to the slippery roads.

T2: 1:29 (3/16AG)

T2 was slower than I wanted, but I had made the decision to go sockless on the bike (good call), but wanted to wear socks on the run (to prevent blisters with Boston around the corner). So, I sat on my butt, dried my feet and put on dry socks. I keep my shoes and socks in a sealed plastic bag inside an Ironman transition bag). They were nice and dry, for about a minute. But even wet socks over 5K will protect me from blisters, but my feet had to be dry when I put them on. So the major delay was drying the feet. Immediately after crossing the time mat, I ran through a mud swamp…..whatever, you have to accept the conditions.

Run: 20:01 (1/16AG, 6:25 min/mile)

The run was a mixed bag. I had energy in my legs (after feeling nothing but sluggish legs since the Napa Marathon on March 6th). I’d taken the entire week off, after running a slow 20 miles with Erin Kelman the previous Sunday. So it was nice for them to feel like they wanted to run, and the nagging hamstring tightness that I’d had since Napa was not too bad.

I expected to run under 6:15 pace, but could not. My toes felt like ice blocks and this was, admittedly, the first run off the bike that I had done since Ironman Florida last November.

Most of the run is on pleasant streets, despite the headwind on the way out. Police monitor the intersections, so it is pretty safe.

I crossed in 55:59, second in the age group. Another 58 year old crushed me on the bike by over two minutes and I only made up about 90 seconds on him in the run.

This is a good season opener. It will tell you where you need work (for me, always the swim and certainly on the bike). Matt and I will do it again, hopefully under better weather conditions.

A tip for next year. There are lockers and showers accessible in the Y where the swim is held. It will simplify your logistics to bring a lock and use a locker, rather than going back and forth to your car. (Plenty of parking by the way, but get there early. I guess Matt was right).

The real highlight of the day was watching Matt race. He finished just off the podium in 57 minutes, a good time in a fast age group. It’s fun to watch him mature in his racing and get faster. He beats me on the swim, the bike (usually, as long as he keeps the wheels down and his feet in his shoes), and will be beating me soon on the run (if he keeps training smart).

I’m leaning towards more shorter and faster races. I think they may be healthier and they make more sense to keep a normal work/life balance. But I’m naturally a slow twitch fiber guy, and I have a hard time shaking the marathon/Ironman distance addictions. And Matt keeps saying he wants to go long; I’m trying to convince him to enjoy his cardio and speed, while he is younger…. Save the Ironman distance for when you slow down.

Smithfield Tri: consider it for 2017 despite the awful traffic on 95. (By the way, Chip and Rusty came down on 301 and 17 to avoid 95).