Smith Mountain Lake - Race Report

The first tri of the season is over – with a sigh of relief and a few lessons learned.

TRIgirl DL and I left Friday afternoon, meeting up to caravan with TRIgirl MW. We were supposed to ride with TRIgirl CD, who unfortunately caught a miserable stomach virus. We arrived at Smith Mountain Lake just in time to pick up our race packets and meet up with the Baby and Returning Pinks for a great pre-race meal. Baby Pink TRIgirl JS had generously offered to share her family’s beautiful lake home with the TRIgirl racers – which was within minutes of SML.

The weather predictions leading up to the race had not been promising – but overall we were quite lucky. Not quite as cold as expected and the rain held off.

Now that I am in the 40 age group – I started in the very last wave – about 20 minutes after the first wave took off. Thankfully, this last wave included several other TRIgirls and Guppy KB. TRIgirl KO took a bunch of photos before the race - hope to get a few up when she has a chance to send out.

To try to overcome the jitters of an open water swim – and remind myself of the somewhat successful wetsuit experiences I’ve had this year, I spent a few minutes in the water before the race. The water was cold, but not miserable. I swam a bit and proved to myself – my arms could move and I would not suffocate.

After watching the other waves head out, it was finally time for my purple cap group. This was the first open water race I’ve been in where not only did we need to be in the water before we started – but we actually swam out to a point where we couldn’t touch bottom before the gun sounded. There was plenty of room to spread out, so the fighting to find a space was not bad at all. Heading to the first buoy was still a mind game. The buoy looked much closer on land than it did in the water. But the lake was clean and without a current. The first buoy came more quickly than I expected. I turned and started on my way to the second buoy, concentrating on regulating my breathing. Suddenly I saw a few caps from the wave ahead of the purple caps. Before I hit the third buoy, I even saw a cap or two from two waves ahead of mine. After making the turn around the third buoy, I completed the homestretch, thinking about my form. Walking out of the water – I checked Garmin – 15:15. I was very happy with my time actually swimming, though a little disappointed that the timing mat was way up by the transition area (which I was a bit disoriented finding), so the time posted by the race was around 17 minutes and change.

Between that extra time - and some poor preparation, (getting out of the wetsuit, thinking about whether or not to wear a windbreaker (yes) and to leave insoles in my bike shoes (no), playing around with what liquid to take on the bike (which I never even drank)), T1 was less than stellar.

TRIgirl SD had checked out the bike start yesterday and gave us a great tip for the race – run up the short but steep entry, pull over, mount the bike and go. Thanks to her, that was probably the smoothest part of my T1.

The bike route was nice – a bit hilly in places. Around mile 7, I think, there was a major decsent. Since it was an out and back, I realized it would also be a nasty uphill toward the end of the ride. Overall, my mile laps on the bike were not bad, most ranging around 3:30-3:40, a couple around 4:00 – 4:30 and the best while coasting down mile 7 was 2:50ish. I was on track for a 45-47 minute bike, until the last mile, when the course met up with runners and I felt like I needed to slow down (for their safety and mine) – and the last couple of hundred yards when I saw a bunch of cones and thought I was entering the transition area and started to dismount, ran a bit around a turn – and then realized it was still a few tenths of a mile away. Fumbled around getting back on the bike to make up a little time into T2 – but still finished at around 48 and a half minutes due to not being as prepared as I should have been.

T2 started OK. A fit looking guy was at the end of my bike rack and told me I looked great and ready for the run. I realized he was done with the race as he was changing clothes. I had forgotten to put the Yanks in my sneakers prior to the race, so dealt with the laces – then realized there was something in the bottom of one shoe, took it off, shook out the debris, retied. And in the meantime, my bike fell over on the rack. Nice guy helped me get it back on the rack, and I was ready to start off on the run. Made it almost to the run start and looked down. AAAGH. Forgot my race belt. Back to my bike rack, nice guy smiled when as I clipped on my number – and headed off once again.

When getting our race packets, we noticed that a good part of the first run mile was uphill. Not too steep, but a long gradual uphill. I was very grateful for our West Creek workouts. While I definitely would have been happier with a flat course, it wasn’t too bad. Since there was talk of some of us completing our required weekend 10 mile run after the race, I remembered Coach G’s (who we greatly missed, but could not join us as her due date is quickly approaching) advice to keep the run fairly easy. I walked the first water stop and took a quick break at the second one. Then it was time for the long downhill to the finish line. That, I liked! Overall run time was just over 32 minutes – and thanks to the downhill, I can claim a negative split.

So overall, I was fairly happy with the actual swim, bike and run portions of the race. I think I could have pushed a little harder here or there, but the biggest lessons I learned from SML – 1) check out the transition areas pre-race and 2) really think through the transition process. And – I was so relieved to survive the swim in the wetsuit!

The Baby Pinks had a great race – awesome times – and really seemed to enjoy it. Returning Pinks impressed as well. And much respect for TRIgirl MJM who came out to do the swim and bike – even though she could not compete in the run, her best event, due to a knee injury. TRIGirl LS finished in the top twenty for overall female (whoo hoo!) – a pretty amazing feat considering this race was a national qualifier.

Post race, the idea of the 10 miler lost appeal to just about everyone, so we headed back to TRIgirl JS’s home for a great cookout prepared by her mom and dad. We were all pretty hungry – and really appreciated their generous home cooked dishes.

Alas, since we made the decision to put off the 10 miles till the next day, staying the night to celebrate Cinco De Mayo, while very tempting, was nicked.

Hoping to return to SML for future races!