Prelude

I was again honored for this race reason to be a member of USAT’s PC National Team and a grant recipient of the Challenged Athlete’s Foundation.  After the world championship victory in Hawaii I took a bit of time off and trained easy in the winter.  Paul Martin of Amplitude Multisport got me back into consistent base training in January.  In an effort to increase my run times I experimented with the running leg by removing the hydraulic and going with a polycentric knee.  This reduced the weight of the leg and it appeared in my training that I was able to run much faster.  On of my best training days I did five half-mile repeats in 8:30’s.  I was feeling good about the run, swim and a bit better about the bike starting the season. 
 

Maumee Bay Triathlon

This was my second year at this race doing the Olympic distance.  I was highly motivated to beat my time of 3:10:32 from the prior year and possibly break the elusive 3-hour barrier.  The wild card for this accomplishment is always the wind at this race as it is on the shores of Lake Erie and can be pretty harsh at times.  As it goes, on this day the wind was blowing very hard and the inland lake for the swim had small white caps. 

I felt strong on the swim and came out of the water near the front of the pack.  As I hopped to the beach I got the worst side splint ever and could not catch my breath.  I had to sit to remove my wetsuit and I was struggling for air and could not remove it.  I was becoming frustrated as many athletes were running by me as I sat.  I eventually made it to T1 with a horrible swim time of 28:37 for 7^th out of 11.  I was still struggling in T1 and was panicking a bit as this had never happened before.  For the first time ever I was thinking about calling it a day.  However, it was Father’s Day and my kids were on their way to see me finish.  I didn’t want them to think I was a quitter.  My T1 was 5:07.

Heading out onto the bike it took awhile for me to feel comfortable.  The winds were making it difficult and I do not ride well into the wind.  I pushed hard towards the end and actually was able to pass a few competitors although as usual it is the mountain bikers, Clydesdales and newbies.  I was disappointed with the bike time of 1:30:34 (16.4 mph) as it was several minutes slower than last year where I averaged 17.5 mph.  If I was going to beat the 3:10 I was going to need the run of my life. 

The run started well but then two miles in I imploded.  I was completely done as the wind sapped every ounce of energy I had.  Running into the wind it was actually pushing me around.  I think I ended up walking more than I ran and completed the 10K in a horrible time of 1:30:41 for a total time of 3:39:08.  Not surprisingly with the poor performance I was dead last in my age-group.  

I chalked this up to simply a bad day and will move on with the training. 

New York City Triathlon

This race was with the PC National Team and also was serving as the National Championship’s for the PC’s (the age-groupers were going to Smithville Lake in Kansas City.  There were over 50 PC’s in NYC for the event and we were treated very well by Ford, Nautica, Accenture and the race director, John Korff.  To make it even more exciting Grant Darby from Canada was in attendance to race and Brian Leske was also rumored to be there but cancelled at the last minute.  The race had three above-knee PC’s which included myself, Grant Darby and Matt Perkins.  These were the top three finishers from the 2005 World Championships in Hawaii.  Worst case scenario on this day I would be getting a bronze.  I was a bit nervous as this was the 1^st time I was not the unknown and everyone would be gunning for me. 

The swim started great as the current in the Hudson River is very strong.  I eased up a bit on the swim as I did not want to have a meltdown like I did at MoBay.  I was jazzed to see that upon exiting the swim and sitting on the barge Paul Martin was there removing his wetsuit as the same time.  This told me I had a great swim or Paul was really out of shape.  I swam over 1 minute faster than last year.  I ran strong for the ¼ mile or so distance to T1.  Entering T1 I expected to not see Grant as he is a very strong swimmer.   He was half-way through T1 (about 400-yards long) and was using crutches and is the main reason I was able to make up the 77 second swim differential.  I beat him out of T1 by a mere 7 seconds.

The weather conditions were great and I was biking well and knew Grant would eventually pass me on the bike because unfortunately he is also a better biker.  He caught me about five miles in and I could not hang.  I let him go and kept the fastest pace I could to minimize the gap.  I hammered the bike in the last few miles and was hitting 25-mph with a slight breeze and passed many athletes which felt great given my disability.  I knew they would catch me on the run but it was still fun. 

Heading into T2 I was delighted to see that Grant was still there but just getting ready to head out.  This meant he had an approximate 3-4 minute lead and due to his hop-skip run technique I knew I had the ability to catch him.  However, MoBay loomed in the back of my mind and until I crossed the finish line I was not taking anything for granted.  I was shocked while donning my running leg that Matt Perkins came flying into T2 and with a blazing fast transition due to a quick-change system on his prosthetic he beat me out of T2.  I went from 1^st to 3^rd on the bike leg.  This irked me as I knew I could be a better biker if only I had some real hills to train on in my hometown which unfortunately is flat as a pancake.  Just as in Hawaii it was coming down to the run. 

Perkins was in my sight the whole time and he was fading a bit as I slowly gained on him.  I caught up to him near the end of the first mile as we were running up 72^nd street into Central Park.  I slowed to provide some encouragement as we could not let a Canadian win the US National Championship.  Matt noted he was cooked and had nothing left and was unlikely to make a charge.  I poured it on and was hoping to catch Grant.  As the course is a single loop I was not able to see Grant for quit some time and I was getting a bit worried that it would not happen.  I finally caught site of him late in the 3^rd mile or so and was able to go by fairly comfortably.  I was not sure how fast I was going as this was another watchless race.  I let up a bit after passing Grant and crossed the finish line in 3:12:43 (about 2-minutes slower than 05’).  If I knew my times were that close I would have pushed harder at the end as the difference was in the run being two minutes slower than the previous year.  I was now for the 1^st time a PC USA National Champion besting Grant by 5-minutes.  Matt Perkins took 3^rd as he was unable to catch Grant and finished in 3:26.

The 3-hour mark eluded me again and I was also not able to beat Brian Leske’s 2001 NYC results of 2:56:42.  Maybe I will in 2007!

Sylvania Triathlon

Today, I was once again aiming for that pesky 3-hour triathlon and no better place than at my favorite hometown race.  I like this event because it was the place of my first triathlon and it is at the venue where the Team Toledo Triathlon Club holds its open water swims and I bike on all the same roads.  The weather was absolutely pristine with cool temperatures and no wind.  I was feeling it.  Today was the day I would finally hit the sub 3-hour goal.   I missed last years race due to the weather debacle in Kansas City and was anxious to get under way.

The swim went awesome and I entered T1 with a time of 27:43 and bested my prior swim times by nearly two minutes.  This put me in the middle of the pack of the 34 deep age-group of 35-39 males. 

I hammered on the bike as hard as I possibly could to take advantage of the conditions.  It was an uneventful ride but I had a PR bike with an 18.1 mph average for a time of 1:22:56. 

I started the run feeling strong and covered the 1^st couple of miles in a brisk 9:45 pace or so.  As was the case at the other races I started to fade fast from there on and slowed considerably.  I felt the goal slipping away and started to get upset with myself for not training harder for the run off the bike and doing longer runs.  I kept at it and finished the run in 1:14:17 for a total time of 3:13:43.  This was consistent with other races but disappointed in that I wasted a great swim and bike with yet another crappy run.  I did finish ahead of one person in the age-group who had a time of 3:18:56 so at least I was not last.  If I am going to reach my goal I need to get my 10K off the bike to be less than 60 minutes.  This is doable as I have run the sub-60 10K but I need to get rid of the several extra pounds I have put on and run up to 4x a week. 

Back to the training and onto the World Championships in 6-weeks. 
 

ITU World Championships, Lausanne, Switzerland. 

I prepared for the race with nervous excitement as this would be my first trip to Europe and I was  now the guy to beat.  The trip almost did not occur due to finances but several people insured that it did which included Swanson Prosthetics, Team Toledo Triathlon Club, Challenged Athletes Foundation and Ossur.  It also took some creativity on my part to garner cheap accommodations (with the help of a fellow PC Team Member - Matt Henderson) to keep the costs down.  The city and overall experience was spectacular.  One of my favorite moments was a practice swim in Lake Geneva and taking a few moments to tread water and looking back at Lausanne.  Not many people can say they have done that!  We also took a practice ride of the bike course which was going to be four laps of a 6.25K loop.  The hills were much more extreme than the online video showed and were also very technical with strong switchbacks.  I am used to riding straight and flat in Sylvania and I knew I had my work cut out for me.  The race had four AK’s including Grant, Matt, Ruben Grande and myself who were all at the 2005 World Championships.  If the race didn’t go well I could finish without a medal. 

The water was very cold (low 60’s) and I was swimming without a wetsuit because it was lost in New York.  With all the other expenses for this trip, getting a new wetsuit was not at the top of the list.  I think the cold hindered my performance some but I also took it a little easy as I knew it was going to come down to the run.  Grant finished the swim in a quick 24-minutes and the rest of the AK’s came out close together in a little over 30-minutes.  T1 was quick and Matt and Ruben were able to get out before me and I was in last place.  This was not starting out well but it was a familiar position.  I have been winning with the run so I was not panicking and focusing on doing the best I could on the bike. 

We had the bike course to ourselves as the age-groupers were not going off for sometime but would likely catch a few of us on our last lap.  Matt was no where to be seen and on the first lap I was not able to close the gap on Ruben.  The second lap Ruben and I exchanged leads several times and on the third lap I was finally able to drop him for good.  I knew at this point I would not catch Matt and I wouldn’t see Grant until the run.  It turns out Matt was able to make-up two minutes on Grant and had the fastest bike of the day with a 1:29:14.  Near the end of the last lap of the bike was a near catastrophe.  The lead age-groupers were smoking fast and closing like a freight train on my left.  In the interest of not killing someone I moved over to let them by and I was not able to get my line on this steep downhill.  I was nearing 40 mph’s on this section coming into a turn and instantly knew I wasn’t going to make it.  Knowing you are going down and not being able to do a damn thing about it is quit unnerving but I was calm. There were hay bails right where I needed them.  To ensure I did not go flying over the steel barricades that lined the entire bike course right behind the hay I locked-up my front brake at the moment of impact.  The timing was perfect and the rear of my bike went straight-up and allowed me to do a couple of head-over-heel somersaults across the hay.  Of course I immediately thought my race was over as I surely broke something on myself or the bike.  I was a little dazed and stood up while several race officials were screaming for medical assistance as I presume the wipeout looked much like the guy on the ABC Wide World of Sports “agony of defeat.”  Except for a bit of blood on my hands there were no bones visibly  protruding from my body.  That’s a good start!  Quickly grabbing my bike while still dazed I was thrilled to learn my front Zipp did not snap and neither of the tires were flat.  The handlebars were bent and my watch broke off due to the force but most importantly the bike was rideable.   I lost about five minutes with the ordeal and was pleased that Ruben did not pass me during it.  He must have really faded hard on the last lap.  I finished the bike a bit slow and rolled into T2 with a horrible bike time of 1:41:10 and some very sore wrists.  

The run was four laps of a 2.5K loop so I would be able to assess how far the competition was ahead.  Heading out I was quickly dismayed seeing Grant just finishing his first loop which meant he was up by at least 15 minutes based on what I knew of his historical run times.  Matt was about 1K behind Grant and looking much fresher than he did in NY where I passed him in the first mile.  I was going to need yet another “run of my life” to pull this one off.  The pain from the crash was increasing and just like my other runs this year I started to fad fast about 3-miles in.  There goes the gold was my only thought and then my efforts started to focus on catching Matt and getting silver.  However, Matt was making up serious ground on Grant and was close to catching him and increasing his lead over me.  I couldn’t help but yell encouragement to Matt to catch Grant as I knew I wasn’t likely to catch either and I wanted an American to get the gold.  Matt finally caught Grant on the last lap and won the gold with a 4:03 margin of victory (nearly the margin I won by last year and in NYC this year).  Although I did not have the run of my life Matt did with a 1:09 compared to his 1:25 in New York.  I walked towards the end of the run but ensured Ruben didn’t catch me and I ended up running a 1:15:47 which is close to what I ran all year.  This was definitely not my year for running.  My total time was 3:35:43 on the hardest course I have ever raced.  I am humbled with the bronze and provided my kids with a valuable lesson that you can’t win every race.  At least I still have the bragging rights as the US PC National Champion that was won in July in NYC. 

I will have renewed focus over the winter after a short break and some solid base training in the winter.  I have purchased a new wetsuit and Grant, Matt and I hope to meet up again next year in Hamburg, Germany where I must regain the gold! !

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.