Matt Coleman – Smithfield Sprint – Saturday, April 2, 2016

Smithfield was my first tri that I have ever done this early in the year. I basically just wanted to see how my running base is now that I am running with a track team and how well I could swim now that I am swimming with the Masters program ( four years too young…).
My Dad and I drove the bike course the day before…Yikes! There is a 120 degree downhill turn and right after the turn comes an uphill. We also biked the run course, so I was pretty familiar with where I was going. Good.
The only problem was the weather forecasted rain, rain, and a whole lot of rain. And rain was what we got.
Swim: 5:02 (1:41/100m) 300 Meters
I don’t know what happened!!! At Tenleytown a week prior, I was swimming 4:25-4:35. I probably just did not have enough rest. Only one person passed me in the pool. He was the winner of the Master Men. My Dad clocked me at 4:57, but I still had to run to the timing mats.
T1: 1:00
I think that for the first time ever I heard someone telling us to slow down running into transition. The timing mats were soaked with mud and it was like a skating rink. I would have been faster if it was not for my sunglasses. I know right! Sunglasses in the rain! They fogged over and became too dark. It was a hard decision as it was raining really hard, but I realized I don’t have the time and said to myself, “heck with it!” So I threw the sunglasses down, buckled the helmet and off I was, on my way.
Bike: 28:36 (21 mph Average) 10 Miles
I knew that I was going to have a great bike leg because the bike is my best and I’m riding the DA. I was doomed from the beginning. My Velcro on my cycling shoes came loose in the rain and I reached down to put my feet in my shoes and it came off. I had to stop and I lost precious time… I got back on and I peddled super duper fast. Only one person passed me on the bike (it was a time-trial start) that person was bib 99, Richard Fitzgerald. He passed me on the bike at mile 3 (about). I was reeling people in one by one. I caught bib 87 in my age group of 15&U. I was bib 97 they staggered us by 15 seconds. My bike leg was strong and the rain stung.
T2 : 00:56
Racked my bike put on my shoes and did not forget my race number belt this time…
Run: 21:39 (6:58/mile) 5k
I was feeling like Forest Gump. I could have run forever, but not 3 years, 2 months, 4 days, and 16 hours! But I felt like I did have the legs for a 10k if I had to run it. Let’s put this in perspective, out of T2 I was 81st overall. That means I passed 20 people in a 5k run. If I were to sprint to a sub 6:00 kick, I would have thrown up. This was a great race!

I would do it again!