Norm Smith M35-39

san diego, california

What is your favorite product available at TriSports.com? It’s gotta be my spiffy Zoot Zenith – it even helps MY swim! ;)

How did you get your start in Triathlons? I had been running for about 3 years and decided that I needed to do something besides pounding the pavement. Triathlons sounded like fun (despite the swim part), and here I am.

What is your favorite workout? Anything that doesn’t involve a pool is fantastic ;) It’s not race specific and I wouldn’t call it “training”, but there is an epic ride which I’ve done a couple times; it runs from my house out of the urban areas of SoCal and East up Palomar Mountain.  It ends up being ~120 miles (provided you don’t get lost – but that’s another story entirely) and almost 20K feet of climbing.

“When I’m not training/racing, I enjoy…” C’mon, I live in Southern California – it’s all about the beach here! ;)

If you could have one superhero power what would it be? I’d have to go with some sort of super healing powers; I decided to try out off road tri’s last year, and I seem to have serious issues keeping the rubber side of a mountain bike down. And between that and having had a few run-ins (literally) with cars while on my road bike last year I’ve managed to go through 3 helmets and increased the number of scars I have exponentially.  (Also got my first stitches last year – good time.)

 If you could have one superhero power what would it be? Wonder Woman. She is my true hero. We go way way back in my athletic career. She is a part of every race I do.

Describe your biggest race disaster. Last year at Vineman 70.3 I was run off the road by a pickup truck at mile 5 of the bike.  The guy slowed (presumably because he saw me), and then (presumably because he hadn’t actually seen me) turned right and literally pushed me right off the road. Luckily I had seen him and was somewhat prepared, and managed to come out with nothing more than some missing skin (on me) and missing paint (on the bike.)  (yeah, finished the race, no didn’t do well; unfortunately it was mostly due to my run, not the bike.)

Do you have a non-negotiable pre-race ritual? I get a haircut before every major race.  Other than that, it’s wipe off the goggles, pump the tires, and make sure running shoes still have tread.

What culinary indulgence do you allow yourself after a big race (that you don’t normally partake of)? A double double from In and Out.  (also fries and a chocolate shake.)

Have you ever accidentally destroyed a very expensive piece of gear? I used to have a rear mount bike carrier on my jeep; last year the bolt holding it in place snapped. Unfortunately it did so while I had my bike on it, the rack (and bike) fell off and went flipping down the road after me. Luckily the frame itself was okay, but the wheels and crank had to be completely written off. Ironically; I’d been bringing the bike home from getting it tuned up. 

What is the worst job you’ve ever had? I’ve been lucky enough to have mostly good jobs. I worked third shift at a custom polymer processing facility for almost a year; that was probably the worst (because of the hours, though, not so much the work.)

What adjective describes you best? Hungry (no, I meal literally for food, not metaphorically :)

Finally, do you have any advice for athletes new to multi-sport competition? Remember that it’s supposed to be fun. And remember that everyone was new at some point.

Recent Race Results: Carlsbad Half Marathon...1:28, Surf City Half Marathon...1:33, Tour de Palm Springs Century...4:45, San Dieguito Half Marathon...1:32, California 70.3...5:11, Avenue of the Oaks Metric Century...3:29, La Jolla Half Marathon...1:54, San Diego Century...5:03, Laguna Hills Half Marathon...1:32, Rock and Roll Marathon...3:17, IronmanUSA...11:09