Appalachian Power Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon

On 4 May 2013 I participated in a Sprint Distance triathlon at Smith Mountain Lake.  The temperature in April and May has been very cool lately, and even cooler in the mountains.  The water was so cold for this event that the swim distance was shortened to 400m from 750m.  This triathlon was also the first I competed in with a wetsuit.

The swim was an in-water start, I think I prefer those to the running beach starts because there are less flailing elbows.  I know from previous experience that I can tire myself out at the beginning by sprinting a little too hard.  I consciously swam at a consistent pace for the brief 400m swim, enough so that when I finished the swim and entered T1 I was not out of breath.  The transition will mostly smoothly, I did drag my bicycle shoe across the towel holding all my gear and that created a little catastrophy but nothing significant.  By applying the stick of lube to my feet prior to the race I was able to remove the wetsuit quickly.  Removing the wetsuit did not prove to be an impediment at all. 

The bicycle portion was 20K, there were more hills on it than I practice on in Hampton Roads.  I had installed my aero bars and bounced between using them and the "drop-down" bars.  I remember nothing remarkable from the bike ride.

T2 I thought went pretty quick, again no issues.

I stink at running.

I ended up 90th out of 196 men.  In the 35-39 age group (Clydesdales are now >220 pounds so I have to compete with skinny little twits) I was 14 out of 15.

Place	Bib	Age	Sex	NAME	city/state		Rank	SWIM	Rank	T1		Bike		T2	Rank	RUN	PENALTY	TIME	DQ
1.	220	39	M	Edwin Garita	Henrico VA		1	6:56	3	1:42	2	35:22	3	1:03	1	19:51		1:04:52
2.	16	35	M	John King	Christiansburg VA		8	8:18	10	2:46	3	36:04	1	0:53	2	20:11		1:08:10
3.	54	37	M	Steve Burtis	Roanoke VA		6	8:06	12	3:00	4	36:29	6	1:06	3	20:50		1:09:29
4.	76	38	M	Andres Marte-Grau	Roanoke VA		11	8:39	1	1:21	5	36:45	2	0:59	5	22:05		1:09:47
5.	262	37	M	David Sellars	Hardy VA		13	10:18	4	2:13	1	35:20	11	1:36	4	21:57		1:11:22
6.	261	39	M	James Dillon	Chesterfield VA		9	8:20	9	2:43	6	37:05	4	1:03	7	22:34		1:11:44
7.	100	38	M	Jay Bass	Blacksburg VA		3	7:47	2	1:34	8	39:33	5	1:04	6	22:27		1:12:22
8.	146	39	M	Richard Diz	Eldersburg MD		2	7:20	6	2:41	9	40:20	7	1:11	12	25:01		1:16:31
9.	279	36	M	Justin Hendrix	Fairlawn VA		12	9:11	8	2:42	7	39:07	10	1:30	10	24:23		1:16:51
10.	138	37	M	Jeff Woodford	Vinton VA		14	10:26	11	2:51	12	42:19	9	1:23	9	23:10		1:20:08
11.	156	37	M	Benjamin Eib	Fairfax VA		7	8:16	14	4:55	13	42:20	14	2:03	8	22:39		1:20:10
12.	163	39	M	Erik Anderson	Columbia MD		4	7:59	13	3:54	11	41:40	12	1:39	13	25:15		1:20:25
13.	200	37	M	Todd Melby	Durham NC		10	8:34	7	2:42	14	43:05	13	1:47	11	24:30		1:20:36
14.	211	35	M	Jacob Braun	Norfolk VA		5	8:00	5	2:31	10	40:27	8	1:13	15	28:53		1:21:02
15.	127	35	M	Andrew Mokey	Silver Spring MD		15	10:39	15	5:07	15	44:12	15	2:18	14	27:15		1:29:30