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Race Result

Racer: Steve Smith
Race: USAT National Age Group Championship
Date: Saturday, August 31, 2002
Location: Various, --
Race Type: Triathlon - International Distance
Age Group: Male 30 - 34
Time: 2:07:34
Overall Place: 53
Age Group Place: 13
Comment: Not bad for a limping, sick triathlete



Race Report:



This was the highest of three high priority races for me this year, the goal was to qualify for the World Championships in New Zealand. To do so I needed to finish top 10 in my age group. However, I figured a top 15 finish would suffice given that some athletes would decline their slots. When I first set this goal in November 2000, I was counting on a rolldown; a couple of weeks before the race, I figured I had a pretty good shot at qualifying outright. Then a car hit me. And then my sinuses got massively infected.

I finished 13th in M30-34, 53rd overall, in 2:07:34. I was 30 seconds out of 9th for my age group. I had a mediocre swim of 24 (no one went sub 20, the swim was long), a decent bike of 63 (one guy barely broke 60), and a PR (tri) run of 37:54. I also had surprisingly good transitions for me. Anyway, I think I have a good chance of getting a roll-down slot. As I left the awards ceremony to have sushi with some west-coast triathlete friends, the fine Mike Plumb & Tri Chickie, there were four no-shows on the worlds acceptance sheet and one decline; however, everyone who finished ahead of me had originally indicated an interest in worlds when they registered for this race.

I had a BLAST in this race, well, more specifically, I had a blast in the run. As I approached the last mile, me and another guy, whom I'd been running behind for about a 1/4-mile, approached two other guys. As we closed the last 40m, some guy comes up behind us, out of no where (mind you, there are lots of other people around from other age groups, but this group is all M30-34). Now we are one big pack of five, hammering pretty hard (probably around 5:40 m/m). We hold our little pack for about 8 seconds when the Guy From Nowhere pushes thru the pack. I go out after him, someone comes up on my shoulder ... but then he's gone. It's me and Mr. Nowhere. I make a move, barely getting a lead, before Mr. Nowhere responds, flying by me. We're in the last 400m now, and I'm sunk. He gets about 20m ahead before I regain my composure and begin to close things down in the last 100m to finish 4 seconds behind him. Little did I know that the guy on my shoulder held on to finish two seconds behind me. Check out this age group cluster:

12 MICHAEL BRESSON 2:07:30
13 STEPHEN SMITH 2:07:34
14 MICHAEL KRAEMER 2:07:36
15 THOMAS MEISER 2:07:48
16 DENNIS REARDON 2:07:55

There was another cluster of guys at 2:07:10, but I never saw them. Crap, with a better swim perhaps I could've mixed it up with those guys instead. Then again, the guy who bested me by 4 seconds, Bresson, ran the 2nd fastest split of the day in 34:11 (fastest was 32:51).

Man, that was fun. I haven't been in a footrace like that ... pretty much ever in a triathlon. The last time I was in a footrace like that in ANY race was in my last A-priority race, the local 5K with a fastest Restonian award. I lost that footrace by a second (to a non-Restonian), but PR'd the (hilly) run at 16:58, a PR that I wouldn't have achieved without someone to chase. This time around, I again broke a major milestone to go sub-38, and, again, this wouldn't have happened without Mr. Nowhere to chase at the end.

The bike was mostly uneventful. Surprisingly a couple of guys passed me on the long hill climb (3 miles?). Of the 4-5 guys that passed me, I think I caught all of 'em but two. Apparently some tacks appeared on the road, but I never saw them.

Because of my cold, the swim sucked. It could have been better; I wussed out at the start and started one row deep. Mistake. I got caught behind a bunch of guys that I could have passed if I had the space. One lesson I took from NYC: get out front early by pushing hard, then ease into a pace. Lake Coeur d'Alene is gorgeous; it'll make a great swim venue for IM-Spud.

Anyway, based on all that, I had a decent race. Considering, however, that a car hit me the previous week and that a nasty cold hit me Friday afternoon, I had a pretty damn good race. While swimming the course on Friday I couldn't believe how much fluid was coming out of my nose. Later that day I had trouble swallowing; something in my throat was inflamed. Crap. I knew this was not good.

When I killed the lights Friday night at 10 p.m. to get some sleep, I tossed and turned for two hours while my head filled up with mucous. Being horizontal just sucked: I was miserable unless I was sitting up. So, at midnight, I decided I wasn't going to sleep. I sat up & watched movies all night long. I just accepted the fact that I would be much less miserable upright and sleepy than horizontal and fidgeting. I dealt with the situation as I would deal with a race: if this is what I have to push through, fine, let's do it. Besides, in all my physiology reading I distinctly remember some studies indicating 10k running performance was unaffected in runners who hadn't slept up to 36 hours before a race. The situation didn't stress me at all; it was much better than rolling around all night in the dark with the same result: no sleep.

I think my illness affected my race in two ways: 1) being horizontal, the swim sucked; but more importantly, 2) it took me out of the race mentally. As I started the run I considered dropping out. Hey, I had a good enough excuse, I thought. But these were just silly thoughts; I went on to PR the run. Still, in a race like this, I need all my mental energy focused on doing my best, and I spent a lot of time worrying about things instead of pushing myself mentally and pushing positive thoughts. I think I had a 2:02 or 2:03 (22:45, 60:30, 37:15 + 2:00 TA) in me for this race, I just couldn't find it on race day. Musta been buried underneath all the green stuff.

Lastly, it was great to finally meet Bob Williams, someone who lives barely 30 minutes from me, and it was fun to hang out with Trevor before the race and Mike & Tri Chick after the race. Thanks to everyone who wished me well, and thanks for reading to the end.

One more season goal: Win my local race this Sunday, the Reston Triathlon. Turns out there's some young kid, Marek Dvorak, from the next town that beat me by a minute at Nationals. He'll be there. As will super swimmer Michael Orton (won National Sprints). And there are a couple of other guys who *can* beat me, but the race is pretty much up for grabs. The great thing about Reston is that it's a seeded start, so we'll be racing head-to-head for the tape. And that's what I love best.