University of Missouri grad and former NCAA runner Lesley Smith turned pro four years ago and has had a steady curve of improvement. Last year, she had a breakthrough pro win at Ironman 70.3 Austin which gave her confidence coming into 2015. A painful fall coming into T2 at Ironman 70.3 New Orleans this year left her embarrassed and trudging to a discouraging 11th place finish.
But two weeks later, the pendulum of fortune swing her way and Smith authored an amazing come from behind win at the Challenge Knoxville half.
Slowtwitch: When you started out on the run at Challenge Knoxville were you aware that you were 9 minutes behind Rachel McBride and were in 9th place?
Lesley Smith: No not at all. I know she is a very strong cyclist so I assumed she was up there! A few miles into the run someone yelled at me that I was in 7th place, but that's all I knew.
ST: What were you aware of when you started the run?
Lesley: I was aware that while I did nothing spectacular on the swim and bike, I paced them well and felt fresh relative to the numbers I put out. Then I felt ‘bouncy' (for lack of a better term) running out of transition, which is always a good sign. So I figured I would go for a solid run split.
ST: From what I’ve seen, your best closing 70.3 distance run had been 1:25:18 when you won at Austin 70.3 last year. If you ran that well, you would have fallen just short of catching Rachel. How much better are you now and what factors went into increasing your fitness?
Lesley: I'd say all times in triathlon are relative (within reason) to the conditions, course, etc. For example, I ran 1:22 before, but on easier courses/conditions and I was way too far back after the swim and bike. So then it does not do much good! That being said, the Knoxville race was relatively the best I have ever felt running off the bike.
Consistency over time and solid coaching guidance have allowed me to not feel as wiped out after the bike and swim.
ST: What were you thinking when you PacMan’d past 8 competitors at Knoxville prior to seeing Rachel?
Lesley: Not much. Usually when I am feeling sharp both mentally and physically I have a pretty clear, robotic mind. “Keep ... going.” My mind wandered a lot during the bike portion, but I knew I need to put my head down and focus once I got off of the Argon.
ST: When did you first spot Rachel McBride ahead of you on the run? How far were you from the finish?
Lesley: I saw her about 200 meters from the finish line.
ST: Did you have time to save yourself a little bit so you could sprint past her and leave no room for resistance? Or was it flat out all the way?
Lesley: No, I did not plan anything ahead of time. I just ran steady and knew I could pick it up a bit the last 5k or so.
ST: Your coach is Phil Skiba, who coached Joanna Zeiger. Was he the coach you were referring to when you said, “The only advice my coach gave me was to run like heck?”
Lesley: Yes that was him! One of the many things I have grown to appreciate about Coach Phil is that he does not provide a lot of fluffy information. His behind-the-scenes methods and reasoning are far from uncomplicated, but he keeps it simple when it comes to what he passes along to athletes. This works very well for me because I have a tendency to overly ponder things, so he cuts out the mental clutter.
ST: What did this race win mean to you? Your prize money was about $5600 but was the bigger impact on your self-confidence?
Lesley: To be clichéd, it was a needed sign that my recent and overall work is paying off. Though with both successes and failures, the highs should not be too high, nor the lows too low, so I will not get too far ahead of myself and need to focus on more solid performances this year.
ST: Do you have some empathy for how Rachel must have felt?
Lesley: Yes of course. But chances are she will always kick my butt on the bike and there will be races/circumstances where I will not be able to catch up!
ST: Have you ever had that happen to you?
Lesley: No. But only because running has always been my strength in triathlon, so any time I have performed well at all I have had to come from behind. And when I have performed poorly, well, there are a lack of people behind me to make a pass!
ST: What so you make of the fact that you were coming off a very disappointing - even embarrassing - mishap at New Orleans where you fell down hard at the bike dismount ?
Lesley: Embarrassing is right! That experience hit home the point that there are so many variables and so many mistakes that can be made. Anything can happen. So before the Knoxville race I decided to reset: take a more neutral standpoint mentally and relinquish some of my expectations. In other words, I decided to just not care as much … in a good way. I have no idea if this helped me race well, but it made for a less stressful lead up to the race weekend.
ST: How did you recover and regroup after New Orleans where you were hurting and did a just-finish-this slog to an 11th place finish?
Lesley: I took some extra days off to heal that painful road rash!
ST: What are your target races later this year?
Lesley: I am signed on for some 70.3-at-altitude fun mid-June in Boulder, and I will do a 70.3 in October. In between I hope to do a couple shorter races, since they seem to take less out of me mentally.
Background
ST: Where did you grow up?
Lesley: Iowa City, Iowa. Go Hawks!
ST: Tell us about your family.
Lesley: Parents live in the Iowa City area, and my sister and her husband (both dentists), and niece and nephew live in Minneapolis. I adore being an Aunt and feel lucky to have such a cool experience.
ST: What sports did you do growing up?
Lesley: I did pretty much everything, but I still give my parents a hard time about not putting me in competitive swimming. :) Ultimately club soccer took center stage until I was 15-ish, then I found success in running and focused solely on that.
ST: Did you have dreams and ambitions about what you might do in sports?
Lesley: My goal was to get scholarship money for college via running and academics. Other than that, not really at the time!
ST: Why did you pick the University of Missouri? Why journalism?
Lesley: I wanted to compete at a larger university in the Midwest. Mizzou has a strong journalism program, and the verbal side of academics had always been a strength. In the end it was an 18 year old making decisions, so while it all turned out fine, I cannot claim it was an intricately thought out plan!
ST: What were your best days competing for the Tigers? What were your PRs at what distances?
Lesley: To be honest, I do not know those details off the top of my head! In short, I was only on the track and cross country team for a couple of years. While I had some decent performances off and on, it was ultimately not for me, and I got really burnt out. The second half of college I got in-state tuition and worked at a micro-brewery (in lieu of running). In hindsight I do not regret that decision at all because that is the experience I needed at the time, and I made lasting friends from both experiences.
ST: Tell us about the work you did after graduation.
Lesley: I got involved in the event management industry; mostly in the mass participatory bike/run arena. The work has always been from home, but it used to require a lot of travel.
ST: When did you get involved with triathlon? Why?
Lesley: Around age 27, when I was living in Austin, I missed being consistently active, so I joined a local triathlon group to do so, but in a more social setting.
ST: How did your first triathlons go?
Lesley: There have been a few treacherous swims where I was happy to just make it to dry land. The sad part is that one of said swims was just last year. And I cried a little during the bike portion of my first 70.3 because the task seemed so daunting. But they went well enough that I wanted to see how much I could improve.
ST: What was your best performance as an amateur?
Lesley: I got 2nd overall female at the 2010 CapTex Triathlon soon after starting (albeit there was not a pro field that year!), and won the Galveston Olympic distance race (disclaimers: cancelled swim and no pros there either).
ST: When did you turn pro?
Lesley: April 2011. Probably prematurely, but I wanted cheaper registration fees!
ST: What was the first race as a pro where you thought you might make a career of this?
Lesley: In 2012 I had a big PR in an Olympic distance race and had a couple of top 4 finishes in 70.3. I am not saying these were out-of-this-world performances, and there were PLENTY of poor outcomes, but I took them as a sign to continue pursuing triathlon.
ST: You spent a few years as a pro cracking the top 10 - but I could not find many podiums. Were you discouraged?
Lesley: Off and on. But I have always told myself it's all relative and takes time. Easier said than done though!
ST: Why did you choose Phil Skiba as your coach?
Lesley: A couple triathlete friends of mine had been coached by him and I was always intrigued by his very numbers-oriented, scientific approach. If I am going to pay for a coach I want someone who for sure knows something I do not. And when it comes to Phil, I cannot even touch the surface of what he knows.
ST: Do you still do some work outside triathlon to make ends meet?
Lesley: Yes. I work on a contractual basis doing both event management and communications and marketing. I decided in 2014 to work less and focus more on triathlon, but I still value keeping my non-triathlon résumé going.
ST: When and why did you become Lauren Goss’s roommate?
Lesley: We knew each other through racing and always kept in touch. When she decided to move to Boulder she let me know she had an extra room and invited me for the month of January. I had always heard about the wonderful training in Boulder, so since I had the flexibility to take a long trip and was living in the freezing Midwest at the time, I took her up on it. Then, in short, I loved Boulder and moved here indefinitely.
ST: As pro triathletes are you both able to emotionally support one another? How important is that?
Lesley: Yes, we of course have a deep understanding of the triathlon aspect of our lives. And we have a lot of fun venting about... stuff. I will not go into details there!
ST: Do you train together at times?
Lesley: Because we have different coaches our schedules do not match up that much. But we are always at Masters swim together and will start runs or rides together when we can.
ST: What are your strengths in triathlon? What are your weaknesses?
Lesley: Running has always been a strength, as that's my background. At the 70.3 distance, swimming and biking are in a close battle for the ‘weakness’’ title.
ST: What is it about triathlon that gives you joy?
Lesley: At a simple level, our bodies were meant to move and be active. When I do that and accomplish something from it, it is a genuine feeling of satisfaction. I also value the connections I have made with fellow athletes, both as a runner when I was younger, and now as a triathlete.
ST: Can you recall moments in triathlon when you really laughed hard at something that happened?
Lesley: I am sure there are a lot. A recent incident: roommate Lauren Goss getting into the shower with her cycling kit AND helmet on after riding through a hail storm.
ST: What is the importance of removing clutter from your life?
Lesley: In short: over-analyzing causes stress. For me at least - in all areas!
ST: I see you are also focus on good nutrition. How much of a difference has that made?
Lesley: I am focused on getting in nutrient-dense foods and nailing a nutrition plan in races. The best nutrition advice I have gotten triathlon-wise was from Coach Phil: make sure to eat enough carbs.
ST: Are there any not-good-for-you foods you miss?
Lesley: Nope. Because I eat whatever I want at all times. I find restricting myself causes too much stress and I do not find it necessary. I DO try to make sure I fill up on the healthy stuff and stop eating when full for the most part. That's about it.
ST: I see several references to Ryan Scott in your blogs. Tell us about him.
Lesley: I met my boyfriend Ryan after moving to Boulder early last year. He is an amazingly talented Nordic skier and after skiing for Montana State he spent some time on the world cup circuit. So, we both value an active lifestyle, which is an important value to have in common. When we can make schedules work he is my favorite training partner (he's done a few triathlons way back when) ... and we have a special understanding of each other in general. Oh and we have tons of fun as well.
ST: Anything else you’d like our readers to know?
Lesley: Via the Maverick MultiSport Team I am also lucky to have top level equipment with the Argon 18 bike, Enve wheels, Rotor Q Rings and Durace components. Of course the ‘engine’ is the most important, but at this level of competition I rest easy knowing my equipment is on point and not holding me back.
