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Dave McGranahan
- Triathlon Story 2004
June 20, 2004
June 26,2004 This is a distance biking event to race money for the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation with routes from Toledo, Ohio to Put-in-Bay, Ohio between 50- to 100-miles. I did this event with a buddy and we chose the 75-mile route with no training at all. Not to mention it was only one week after doing the Maumee Bay Triathlon. We had a goal in mind to average 15 minutes miles which we kept to pretty close. The first 50-miles were fine but then my body started to tighten up and I started to get bored. We opted to pass the last rest stop and they told us it was only 10-miles to the finish. It turns out the finish was about 13-miles. Once I hit the 10-mile mark I mentally checked out and was ready to quit. However, my buddy was pulling away and I did my best to pursue him. We met the challenge and we were glad it was over. We would like to do the full trip next year which is riding 75-miles to Put-in-Bay on Saturday and then riding the same 75-miles back to Toledo on Sunday. Now that is a real challenge. Also next year we want to try and skip all the rest stops with a non-stop ride (we stopped four times for a cumulative rest time of around 1 hour
The times in T1 and T2 were not tracked but were included in your bike time. I was very nervous about the bike course because I had scoped it out the night before and there was one very large ominous hill within the first five miles that I was certain I would not make it up. I do not have the official grade or distance but most people stood up on their bikes to get over it. I made it up the hill although I was going so slow at the top I thought my bike was going to tip over. My thigh was so full of lactic acid that I had to pedal slow for several minutes until my muscles could recover. I was looking forward to the return trip down the same hill. My final bike time on this rolling hills course was 1:34 which indicates an average speed of 15.8 mph. My time was no doubt helped by going back down the big hill where I reached a speed in excess of 34 mph (pretty wild going that fast on a bike). I tracked the time going through T2 which was slow at 6:50 but I was chatting with my brother and a gentleman that he met. The gentlemen’s son had recently lost his leg and he was asking me some questions. This was not a problem as the quick breather was nice to have. With the run being a two-loop course of 3.1 miles I decided not to track the run per mile but wanted to try and negative split the run. I stuck with my plan to run with short walking breaks of 30 seconds to a minute every ½ to ¾ of a mile due to the heat which I was not used to (it was probably in the mid to high 80’s). I did not negative split the run, but it was close. The first loop was 42:01 and the second loop was 42:19 for an average pace of 13.58 mph. As
always, I like to compare myself to the
age-groupers to see if I got better and
possibly if I did better than anyone else on
that given day. On this day I was better
than one person in my age group with a time
of 3:49:35! Most of the swim times
where in the low 0:40:00's in my
age group of 30-34 where the great majority
had on wetsuits and I did not. I looked
like a piece of white chalk getting out of
the water compared to many of the tan
southern Californians.
August 15, 2004
The day before this race I had the honor of moving up into a new age group for the men, the distinguished age-group of 35-39. I wonder if this will improve my odds of not finishing last?
Going into the race, as stated earlier, I
did not feel as prepared for the day as I
did last year. Maybe it was because I wasn't
a rookie and I My
swim times on a comparative basis were not
as good as last year. I did not have
as good as times as I would have liked due to the colder
water and lack of a wetsuit. I came out of the water
in 27:30 and made it to T1 in a time of
29:55 (just about the same as last year),
with T1 about the same as last year. The
bike portion of the race was better this
year in part because I purchase some new
racing wheels and I did not
wipe out. Although, I
was d The time spent in T2 was very slow. The run is where the majority of where my time savings came from due to the awesome running leg that Vern Swanson has built for me with the Ossur running foot and the Bionix Quad Band. Total run time decreased from 1:36 to 1:19 which lowered my pace to 12:48 from 15.48. I felt I could have pushed myself harder on the run but I wanted to make sure I could finish the race as my wife was waiting at the finish line again this year with my kids. My pace for the 10K breaks down as follows: 1st mile 11:40:43, 2nd mile 12:49:96, 3rd mile 13:09:80, 4th mile 12:48:07, 5th mile 12:54:48, 6th mile 13:40:12, last 2/10 mile 2:27:80. I try to run an even pace throughout the race but I usually slow down at the end due to fatigue. To really improve my run times I need to do bricks that consist of a 20-mile bike and a 5-mile run with no stopping on the run except. I
just missed finishing out of last place in
my new age group by a mere six minutes. I
remember this guy passing me towards the end
and I was shocked to see someone in my
age-group was still behind me. I did not
have it in my to keep pace with him. I will
have it in my next year and am making a
promise to myself to not finish at the
bottom. This is my goal and motivation. To
see how good I can be and beat at least one
able-bodied athlete. At least it will give
me something to brag about. I will be
looking for Lawrence Delmonico of Sylvania
aged 37 who finished in 3:21.23 assuming he
comes back to improve on this times.
September 12, 2004
The
race started with a 8-foot jump off the Jet
Express Ferry into Lake Erie with a swim
back to shore within Marblehead State Park.
This was a mandatory wetsuit swim. I was
excited to post a swim time as a test in the
pool showed that I swam 15 seconds faster
over 100 meters which equates to more than 2
minutes over 1500 meters. Well I was very
disappointed in that my official swim time
was 37:50. This was partly due to needing
to hop over 100 yards in very shallow water
(not deep enough to swim). Also the
distance was long and the water was rough.
As a comparison, a guy who swims at
Northview HS on occasion (where I swim as
well) finished the swim at Sylvania in a
time of 17:36 and was the fastest at this
race in a time of 22:03. Therefore, this
was a very challenging and long swim.
My overall finish was 116th out of 165 which could have been higher if not for the long shallow water that I had to hop through. Many were able to jog by me in the water. T1 was solid at 3:06 as well as T2 at 5:20. The bike was hard with a finishing time of 1:31.44 (average speed of 16.17 mph) and finished 155th out of 165 on the bike. The rolling hills and gradual inclines were very hard as I do not get to ride hills in my training. Again, I go back to needing to build up the strength in my legs even more. I can only say one thing about the run. AWFUL. If I never have to run on sand again then it will not be something that will make me sad. I can now say that I have run a 10K through the sand. I bonked/hit-the-wall at 3-miles and it was just about survival after that point. This run had everything that and amputee does not want to see on a run. The first mile or so is known as the Quicksand Crawl with a run through soft dry sand. The second mile is known as Sidewinder Strand and you have to run through soft, thick dry sand, then onto a trail that was wet with dirt, sand, rocks and roots and then onto gravel. The second mile also includes a jetty into the water with very uneven concrete (up to 12 inches in some spots) before running back onto the beach through some large rocks. Although you can run along the shore where the sand is compact it did not help that I had never trained on sand and my calves were about to explode. I also was losing a very good amount of the spring in my running leg because it sank into the sand. The first 3 miles took me on a loop south of the transition area with the end of the 3 miles taking you past the transition area. I was never closer to quitting than I was today. However, the fear of DNF appearing after my name in the results kept me going. After passing the transition area you head out onto another 3-mile loop that keeps you on the sand but you must run through grass, gravel and very uneven terrain. You also have another difficult section known as Jungle Alley. This is an area of dense vegetation and rolling soft and thick sand trails. The last mile was gravel and grass road that I walked most of the time. If there were not so many people at the finish line I would have collapsed from exhaustion. The fatigue was due to a combination of being a very difficult course for my situation and not being totally prepared from the incorrect volume and type of training. The difficulty of the run course is evident in the able-bodied 10K times. At Sylvania 10K run times averaged around the low 40 minutes to this race where they are in the 45 minute range. My 10K pace breaks down as follows: 1st mile 14:00, 2nd mile 14:30, 3rd mile 13:12, 4th mile 19:03, 5th mile 16:43, 6th mile 15:47, finish 2/10 mile 3:05 for a total time of 1:38:35 (15.8 pace per mile).
Overall I finished 158th out of
162 and to my surprise I finished ahead of
one male in my age group. On this day I was
better than one able-bodied person that can
be consider a peer!
To learn more about Dave's accomplishments select one of the links below to read his journal and see photographs from the Triathlons he has participated in. |
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This year the
race was changed to a “true” sprint
triathlon which consists of a ½ mile swim,
13.4 mile bike and a 5K run (3.1 miles).
I did this race last
year and had a decent result. I did not
complete any brick workouts
prior to this race which cost me dearly about
halfway into the run portion of this race.
I
had a solid swim time without a wetsuit and
finished 7th out of 16
in my age group with a time of 1
7 minutes
(the fastest swim time was 14 minutes).
In the bike portion of the race, I came
in dead last in my age group with a time of 51
minutes (15.6 mph average). The
fastest biker had an average pace of 21.1
mph. The average biker speed ranges
between 18-20 mph which is where I need to be. If
I build up my leg strength and spend more
time on the bike I am confident I can
average in the range. As always, I have no comparison
times on the run because there are very few
above-knee amputee distance runners. I averaged just over a 12
minute miles for the full 5K. Times for each
mile were 11:53 for the 1st mile,
12:33 for the 2nd
mile and 13:16
for the last mile. That is just 3 minutes
off my best 5K time of around 34 minutes.
The winning time in my age group of men
aged 30-34 was 1:15:21.49 (top sprint
tri-athletes can sometimes finish in less
that one hour). I finished last in the age
group with a margin of over 17 minutes in a
total time of 1:53:47. I did not finish
last “overall” as there were more than a
dozen or so men and women finishing after me
which is many more than last year.
Therefore, I must be getting a little bit
better? 
This
was my first Olympic distance triathlon
since August 2003. The race was held at the
Camp Pendleton marine base just north of San
Diego, CA. I was able to attend this race
due to a grant from CAF (The Challenged
Athletes Foundation
www.challengedathletes.org). My brother had just moved to California and he was able to come out
and watch the race. Overall I was pleased
with my performance although I felt that I could have been better
prepared. I came
out of the water at the edge of the beach in
a time of 33 minutes which I was very
disappointed in. There was a ¼ mile
beach through soft sand to get back to
T1. I talked with my brother about my poor
swim while I walked in.
He thought the time was good as many people
said the distance was actually 1.2 miles
instead of 1500 meters. If that is the case
then I had a decent swim. My official
swim time was 38:54 which includes the time it
took me to get to T1.
new what to
expect. Some veterans told me
not to worry as that was normal. The day
went very smooth and I did
not have any major surprises. I finished in
a time of 3:26:55 which was 17 minutes
faster than the previous year. 
isappointed with the improvement in time
vs. the amount of money spent on the racing wheels, as I
only averaged 17 mph compared to a little
over 16 last year. I need to get above 18 mph and
closer to 20 mph if I really want to improve
my odds of moving off the bottom in my
age-group. 
This
race was held in Marblehead, Ohio and mirrored after the Escape from
Alcatraz Triathlon held in San Francisco,
CA. It was the hardest race I have ever
done due
to the beach run and long moderate inclines
on the bike. I finished this race in a time
of 3:51:14. There were 165 total finishers
male and female. 