Tamara Gorman (left) Tony Smoragiewicz (middle) Brian Gorman (right). Smoragiewicz won the Rapid City Triathlon on Sunday, Brian Gorman finished second overall, and Tamara Gorman won the women's division and finished third overall. (Photo Sam Hurst/IDS)

Early Sunday morning, when most of Rapid City was just getting out of bed, they went into the water 1,2,3. After an 800-meter swim, 20 kilometers on bicycles, and a 5K run, they crossed the finish line 3,1,1…as always.

Tony Smoragiewicz, Brian and Tamara Gorman are Rapid City’s world-class trio of young endurance athletes. After dominating the state in swimming, cross country, and track, during the school year, they are now full-throttle triathletes for the summer. What better place to start their season than in front of the small community of local endurance athletes gathered at Horace Mann Park for the 6th annual Rapid City Triathlon.

The 93 participants in Sunday’s triathlon went into the pool in order of their speed. That put Brian in the water first. He is the beast of the Rapid City Racers Swim Club. He graduated last month from Stevens High School and will join the University of Minnesota swim team next fall. Twenty seconds later, little sister Tamara was second into the pool, followed by Tony Smoragiewicz twenty seconds after that. At the end of 800 meters, Brian had opened a 30 second lead over Tamara, and as they transitioned to bicycles, he was a full 40 seconds ahead of Tony. No surprises there.

After the 20k bicycle course Brian was still in command. Tony had moved to 2nd place. Tamara was third, but still the most dominant woman on the course. No surprises there.

Tony Smoragiewicz checks the wattage monitor on his bike during the Rapid City Triathlon on Sunday. (Photo Sam Hurst/IDS)

Tony Smoragiewicz likes to tell people that swimming was his first sport. Father Jim was a swim coach at University of Toledo and threw him in the water when he was very young. But in recent years Tony has emerged as one of the greatest long distance runners in South Dakota high school history. He is the reigning state cross-country champion. Last month he won both the 3,200 and the 1,600-meter races at the state track championship (Tamara was a mirror image on the woman’s side). Tony is one of only two South Dakota high school runners, and one of a handful of national high school runners, to ever run the 3,200 under nine minutes.

And so…in the cool haze of Sunday morning, when the triathletes got off their bikes and slipped into their running shoes, Brian knew that a 47 second lead on Tony wouldn’t last. He knew it because they train together every day. He knew it because triathlons are three events rolled into one. And he knew it because the math is cold-blooded and precise.

Sure enough, the least surprising result of the day was Tony Smoragiewicz crossing the finish line first in 58:35, with Brian close behind, and Tamara fourth overall, first among all women.

The question was never who would finish 1,2,1 in the Rapid City Triathlon. The real question is…why are these three so damn good?

After spending the last week with Tony and Brian, I came to realize that it all comes down to math. Triathletes are obsessed with math. They live in a world of endless calculation, razor thin margins, and the tiny thresholds between endurance and exhaustion. Run a race the right way, and they can keep going forever. One small miscalculation, and they crash in a spasm of cramps.

If we truly wanted to raise the level of math scholarship among American school children, we would dump “No Child Left Behind” testing and turn all students into triathletes.

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Jim Smoragiewicz (middle) explains the physics of entering the water to Tony and Brian. Even in a two hour long race every second counts. (Photo Sam Hurst/IDS)

I showed up at Tony’s home at 7:30 am last Wednesday morning. Tony and Brian were on their way to Sheridan Lake for a 1,000 meter “open water” swim. I had my notebook and I was pumped up on the idea that I was about to discover the secrets of elite triathlete training. The first insight…healthy food is essential.

Tony was munching on a secret breakfast burrito consisting of cream cheese, a hazelnut-chocolate spread called Nutella that he discovered in a running magazine, sliced banana, and toasted almonds, wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla.

“So do these ingredients give you extra energy?” I asked.

Tony gave me a blank stare. “What?”

“You know…how do these special nutrients boost your metabolism?” I was feverishly taking notes.

“They don’t. I just like the taste.” I scratched out a few lines in my notebook.

Off we go to Sheridan Lake.

Triathlons vary widely in their distances and personalities. But the “Olympic distance” is twice as long in each category as the Rapid City Triathlon, and the swim portion is in open water–a lake or ocean.

Tony Smoragiewicz and Brian Gorman enter the cold Sheridan Lake water in preperation for the Rapid City Triathlon earlier in the week. (Photo Sam Hurst/IDS)

Sheridan Lake is a perfect place to train. But it’s cold…very cold. Brian waded in up to his knees “just to get my feet acclimated”, and promptly announced, “I feel like I’m in an ice bath.”

Jim Smoragiewicz was in a fishing pontoon, guiding the two swimmers out into the lake. “We’ll just go 500 yards out… about six minutes.” He announced. “…and 500 yards back.” I decided to smoke a cigar on the beach.

Tony and Brian sprinted twenty yards from the beach to the water, and an amazing thing happened after they were a hundred yards into the lake. Tony was ahead by a full body length. Of course, by the time they swam a thousand meters, Brian was four body lengths ahead, but Jim pulled Brian aside to teach a small physics lesson about energy and efficiency.

“Tony is ahead at the start because he is pushing off the bottom of the lake and porpoise diving the first fifty yards. You’re swimming. It’s faster to porpoise dive, and you save energy. You’re a better swimmer than Tony, so you’re going to beat him. But if you porpoise dive at the beginning you’ll come out six or seven body lengths ahead instead of only four, and more importantly, you’ll save your energy.”

It is hard to imagine that training is measured in increments of one second or two body lengths for an endurance race that spans two hours. But that’s just how Tony and Brian think. They practice running in and out of the water for a half hour. Brian masters the porpoise dive. Tony practices taking off his wetsuit during the fifty-yard sprint from the beach to the parking lot. On and off. On and off…each time trying to cut a second from the all-important but under valued “transition”.

Tony Smoragiewicz grabs his bike as he transitions from the swimming portion of the Rapid City Triathlon. (Photo Sam Hurst/IDS)

How often do you think about how long it takes to strip off your clothes? How often do you think about how long it takes to put your shoes on? That’s the world Tony and Brian live in. They wear hi-performance slip-on running shoes with tabs at the heel that they grab while they pull their shoes on quickly. But Tony wasn’t satisfied with the factory model, so he sewed big loops on the back of his shoes to give him a better grip.

A second here, a second there.

As Tony and Brian ran out the far end of the Sheridan Lake parking lot, Jim turned to me with an observation on the psychological side of triathlons. “There is always a first group out of the water. They are the swimmers. Everyone has a strength, and Tony isn’t a swimmer. They will be out of sight on their bicycles by the time Tony comes out of the water. They are counting on that. The key is for Tony not to get over-excited about being behind. Adrenaline can waste energy. He knows he will close the gap with the run at the end. But if he can come out of the water close to the first group, they will know right then and there that he’s got them beat.”

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Smoragiewicz and Gorman take a small swim out into the middle of Sheridan Lake as Jim Smoragiewicz rows beside them last week. (Photo Sam Hurst/IDS)

It obviously takes a tremendous work ethic to be a good triathlete. And the best push the outer limits of conditioning to cut one or two seconds from each phase of the race. But in the end, everyone knows genetics are the deciding factor—the 1,000 pound gorilla in the room. In every sport, some people are freaks of nature and some aren’t. The true freaks are people who combine a relentless work ethic with a genetic gift. Tanner Chleborad didn’t get drafted by the Seattle Mariners just because he has a great work ethic (though he does). He’s a 6’5” pitcher with a “loose arm” who throws 90 mph as an 18-year-old. Drew Iddings isn’t a standout defensive end because he works hard (though he does). He is one of the elite high jumpers in the state and runs the 100-yard dash with the speed of a sprinter. Tony Smoragiewicz is one of those freaks of nature, and he’s got the measurements to prove it.

Endurance athletes live in a cult of measurement. Three of the most important are “VO2 max”, “wattage”, and my favorite, “lactate threshold”.

Lactate threshold isn’t the kind of thing a guy talks about on a first date. It’s not like saying, “I’m really fast.” Or, “I’m really strong.” Or, “I’m really smart.” You’ve got to be in the cult to appreciate it. “If she likes my personality, just wait until I tell her about my lactate threshold.” The lactate threshold lurks in the weeds of the endurance culture, but it is a critical measurement.

As an athlete approaches peak performance, lactic acid builds up. A steady supply of oxygen helps clear it from the blood. But when an athlete can’t clear lactic acid as fast as he produces it, he goes tumbling over the threshold and crashes. At one moment in a race, a runner is performing at his maximum sustainable level. He can go forever. But if he crosses the magic line, the buildup of lactic acid drops him to his knees in a writhing spasm of cramps and exhaustion. That’s when Sports Illustrated photographers rush to photograph the pained terror of defeat on the face of an Olympic marathoner who has collapsed a 100 meters from the finish line. The crowd cheers in sympathy and admiration. But the runner knows…maybe it was hot that day. Maybe he was overwhelmed with adrenaline half way through the race. Maybe he was pushed by another runner at the wrong time. But whatever the reason, he just miscalculated his lactate threshold.

Tamara Gorman watches the action at the Rapid City Triathlon on Sunday. This year alone Gorman has won the state cross country championship, and the 1600 and 3200 meter races at the state track meet. She is also a member of the Rapid City Racers swim team. (Photo Sam Hurst/IDS)

Triathletes face a particular challenge. Swimmers have a tendency to shoot all their adrenaline in the initial swim, leaving nothing for the bicycle or running phases. Bicyclists must peddle the longest distance and still come off their bikes with enough energy in the tank to run. The curse of the runner is that he can’t panic. He starts out behind, and if he wastes his energy on panic and anxiety, he will use himself up before he ever gets to his advantage. So how do triathletes keep themselves steady? How do they know when to exert and when to lay back? If only there was a way to measure the level of maximum output that a triathlete could sustain just before the lactic acid crash.

Enter Jim Meyer, the man who finished third in Sunday’s triathlon. Jim is a civil engineer from Spearfish, who was trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Jim’s company, Quarq, designed and manufactures a wattage monitor that uses “strain gauges” that can be built into the gearbox of high-performance racing bicycles to convert an athlete’s exertion into wattage and feed back to the rider how much energy he should be exerting during any given part of a bicycle race. Up a hill, down a hill, over long stretches of flat road, Tony Smoragiewicz can watch a digital monitor on his handle bars and know when to increase his exertion and when to back off and save energy.

Wattage calculations balance a rider’s weight with his strength. It’s a crude measure of genetic endowment. Imagine Tony—who weighs 138 pounds—riding against another bicyclist who weighs 180. The heavier racer may be stronger than Tony, and may be able to exert more power over a short period of time. But if Tony can put out just as much wattage, weighing forty pounds less, he will be the first to the top of the hill. That’s where Tony’s genetics come in. At the age of 16, based on tests conducted on a stationary bicycle in a lab, Tony can generate 975 watts for a short sprint…just below the level of a professional rider. Even more impressive is his ability to sustain high wattage for a half hour. That’s what separates Tony from a sprinter. He doesn’t yet have the technique of a professional, or the strength and maturity. But he has the genetic gift.

Triathletes or marathoners who must sustain maximum physical exertion over long periods of time need one thing above all else…oxygen: lots and lots of oxygen. Wildlife physiologists who study sprinters in nature—cheetahs, gazelle, or the pronghorn antelope of the Great Plains–point to their remarkable ability to breath in massive amounts of oxygen for short bursts of time…just long enough to outrun a lion or a wolf pack. If there is a secret to the success of a triathlete, it is probably the ability to push oxygen into the blood stream and sustain the process for long distances. Exercise physiologists call it “VO2 max”.

Matt Vukovich is an exercise physiologist at South Dakota State University. He is the guru of the northern plains. VO2 max is a calculation of milliliters of oxygen an athlete breaths in per kilogram of weight per minute.

Vukovich puts a snorkel-like mask on an athlete and then cranks up a treadmill to measure how much oxygen (room air) the athlete takes in and how much CO2 is exhaled. He has tested Smoragiewicz and hundreds of other high-performance athletes. “Tony (who will be a high school senior next year) is clearly at the top of high school runners, and he is right in the pack, probably high in the pack of college runners.”

“The average, healthy, college-age male has a VO2 max of around 35-40.” Vukovich told me. “Tony’s is about 76. Olympic endurance athletes are up to 80. Lance Armstrong was around 85.”

“Is 76 the highest Tony can go?” I asked.

“No. Genetics are very important. But the most important thing is work ethic. Tony can improve his VO2 max by training.” Like so many endeavors, and all sports, it always comes back to hard work. When you combine a personality that thrives on hard work with the genetic inheritance from mom and dad, you get a freak of nature. You get Tony Smoragiewicz and the Gormans. You get 1,2,1.

CORRECTION: This article has been changed to reflect the fact that Tamara Gorman actually crossed the finish line as #1 among women, and #4 overall. Spearfish engineer, longtime triathlete, and founder of Quarq finished 3rd overall.