I've had the great pleasure of working out with him and his wife on numerous occasions. His athletic ability is only surpassed by his great attitude and demeanor! Many thanks to David for his time and comradery with the Park Ave Team!
Q) What races have you completed this year?
A) This year started out early in April with a few local races. I enjoy all distances and both duathlons and triathlons. I also participated in several local running races - here's the ones I can remember:
A) So many it's tough to include them all. I'd say some of the most memorable highlights, miserable and frightening, include the freezing temperatures of Otsego Lake for the Cooperstown Tri, the extreme heat at Musselman, and the scariest might be hitting 50 mph on a dip in the Syracuse 70.3 bike course with an emergency response vehicle matching my pace and less than 2 feet from my left.
Q) Any other memorable successes?
A) Mooseman, my first half ironman, and tying my wife on the swim at that race and beating her bike split by just a few seconds (always a success when I don't get "wifed" until the run).
- Breaking the 5 hour mark at Ironman 70.3 Syracuse, only my third 70.3, beating my previous PR by over 30 minutes for a 4:51:06 finish and 10th place. I didn't get Vegas, but I was so happy with that improvement since Mooseman is in June.
Q) What are your goals for next year?
A) Next year's goals... there are several actually. I'm hoping not to fall too far behind my wife Jen who is now a pro triathlete. Her new coaches have aligned a very rigorous and demanding training schedule that will be tough to match and keep up with given other life requirements. I'm also hoping to improve my run with the goal of being able to run a 1:30 half marathon during a half ironman. This is a huge goal that might be too big to achieve, but I feel like I have to try and that it's realistic. It's also a necessary goal to help get to Vegas, Ironman 70.3 World Championships, which will take a bit of luck to achieve - the perfect race, not much competition, and a roll-down slot :) Most importantly, completing Ironman Lake Placid. This will be my first full Ironman and hopefully it will go well.
Next year's race schedule is very demanding, and frightening, since I'll be headed to races around the country to support my wife's new profession. My goal here is to complete each race, improve with each race, and hopefully not get injured / kill myself. The tentative schedule includes:
Q) Have you trained with any other teammates?
A) Occasionally I train with Douglas Mauro and Ricky Figueroa... two very strong athletes that keep me on my toes and who have helped me learn a thing or two with their breadth of experience. I also train with my wife periodically, and most importantly my dog. It's tough finding time to train with team members, but I always find when I do it's so much more rewarding and enjoyable.
Q) What's you're favorite training workout?
A) I'd say it all depends on the day... The best training workouts are always those that start out with the norm and then about half way through you feel like you could go more than twice as long and twice as fast. They don't occur too often, but when they do it's worth every second. I also love open water swimming. Nothing completely prepares you for triathlon swimming like the open water, and lucky for us Ontario is just a few feet away. And of course there's the bike run bricks in Irondequoit I frequently do throughout the year.
Q) As a triathlete, what do you like the most - swim/bike/run?
A) I think I like biking the best, but respect running the most. It's the speed of the bike that makes me love it, especially when I cut corners tight and hit the downhills hard. However, I find it's almost always the run split that wins the race. The run is the hardest and if you don't pace yourself well on the bike you'll blow it.
Q) Any stories/feedback around working with Park Ave shop/team that you would like to share?
A) I love that every time I'm with someone from the team I'll either meet another person from the team that I didn't know before and/or I'll learn something new about racing. Everyone on the team I've met has been super friendly and are always willing to help each other with anything. I also know I can count on anyone at the shop to give me a hand whenever I need it. I like how I walk in and just about everyone knows me by first name... it's almost like a second home.
Q) Any thoughts on being married to a pro triathlete? ... Competition in everything?
A) Ha... there's good points and bad points, like most things. It's great that we're both athletic and have a constant desire to improve and get faster. Also, now that she is a pro we'll be traveling to a lot of new races around the country, which we probably wouldn't have done otherwise. And when you're married to someone that enjoys the sport as much as you do, you don't have to do to much explaining when you come home with a new set of Zipp 808's, or perhaps a Computrainer. On the downside she's wicked fast. It's always slightly dreadful when my wave heads out first in a tri and somewhere mid-run you suddenly hear "Your wife is passing you on the left!" I've come to realize that as long as she passes on the run it's been a successful race. Luckily as a pro she'll always be going before me now so maybe I'll finally have that chance! I wouldn't say we're completely competitive, but we're always comparing splits and transition times when the race is over. We never head in with the goal of going against each other, but it'll always gets brought up at the finish line, which she's almost always at before I am and probably always will be.
Q) What races have you completed this year?
A) This year started out early in April with a few local races. I enjoy all distances and both duathlons and triathlons. I also participated in several local running races - here's the ones I can remember:
- Rochester River Challenge: Flower City Half - Duathlon (5K, 20M, 5K) and Half Marathon following day
- Spring Classic Duathlon (formula 1) - 2M x 10M x 2M x 10M x 2M
- Cooperstown Tri - Sprint
- Ironman 70.3 Mooseman
- A Tri in the Buf - Olympic
- Musselman 70.3
- Delta Lake Tri - Olympic
- Shoreline Triathlon - Sprint - this turned into a duathlon because of high waves
- USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals - Olympic
- Ironman 70.3 Syracuse
- Harrisburg Marathon
- Johnny's Running O'the Green - 5M
- Spring Forward Distance Run - 15K
- The Fast and the Furriest - 10K
- Fleet Feet Summerfest - 12K
- Barktoberfest - 5M
- Scarecrow 5K
- Run for Hospice - 5K
- Scare Brain Cancer Away 5K
- Race with Grace - 10K
A) So many it's tough to include them all. I'd say some of the most memorable highlights, miserable and frightening, include the freezing temperatures of Otsego Lake for the Cooperstown Tri, the extreme heat at Musselman, and the scariest might be hitting 50 mph on a dip in the Syracuse 70.3 bike course with an emergency response vehicle matching my pace and less than 2 feet from my left.
Q) Any other memorable successes?
A) Mooseman, my first half ironman, and tying my wife on the swim at that race and beating her bike split by just a few seconds (always a success when I don't get "wifed" until the run).
- Breaking the 5 hour mark at Ironman 70.3 Syracuse, only my third 70.3, beating my previous PR by over 30 minutes for a 4:51:06 finish and 10th place. I didn't get Vegas, but I was so happy with that improvement since Mooseman is in June.
Q) What are your goals for next year?
A) Next year's goals... there are several actually. I'm hoping not to fall too far behind my wife Jen who is now a pro triathlete. Her new coaches have aligned a very rigorous and demanding training schedule that will be tough to match and keep up with given other life requirements. I'm also hoping to improve my run with the goal of being able to run a 1:30 half marathon during a half ironman. This is a huge goal that might be too big to achieve, but I feel like I have to try and that it's realistic. It's also a necessary goal to help get to Vegas, Ironman 70.3 World Championships, which will take a bit of luck to achieve - the perfect race, not much competition, and a roll-down slot :) Most importantly, completing Ironman Lake Placid. This will be my first full Ironman and hopefully it will go well.
Next year's race schedule is very demanding, and frightening, since I'll be headed to races around the country to support my wife's new profession. My goal here is to complete each race, improve with each race, and hopefully not get injured / kill myself. The tentative schedule includes:
- Ironman 70.3 Galveston
- Ironman 70.3 New Orleans
- Ironman 70.3 Mooseman
- Ironman 70.3 Syracuse
- Ironman Lake Placid
- Ironman 70.3 Timberman
- Ironman 70.3 Vegas (pending I manage some luck and actually qualify)
Q) Have you trained with any other teammates?
A) Occasionally I train with Douglas Mauro and Ricky Figueroa... two very strong athletes that keep me on my toes and who have helped me learn a thing or two with their breadth of experience. I also train with my wife periodically, and most importantly my dog. It's tough finding time to train with team members, but I always find when I do it's so much more rewarding and enjoyable.
Q) What's you're favorite training workout?
A) I'd say it all depends on the day... The best training workouts are always those that start out with the norm and then about half way through you feel like you could go more than twice as long and twice as fast. They don't occur too often, but when they do it's worth every second. I also love open water swimming. Nothing completely prepares you for triathlon swimming like the open water, and lucky for us Ontario is just a few feet away. And of course there's the bike run bricks in Irondequoit I frequently do throughout the year.
Q) As a triathlete, what do you like the most - swim/bike/run?
A) I think I like biking the best, but respect running the most. It's the speed of the bike that makes me love it, especially when I cut corners tight and hit the downhills hard. However, I find it's almost always the run split that wins the race. The run is the hardest and if you don't pace yourself well on the bike you'll blow it.
Q) Any stories/feedback around working with Park Ave shop/team that you would like to share?
A) I love that every time I'm with someone from the team I'll either meet another person from the team that I didn't know before and/or I'll learn something new about racing. Everyone on the team I've met has been super friendly and are always willing to help each other with anything. I also know I can count on anyone at the shop to give me a hand whenever I need it. I like how I walk in and just about everyone knows me by first name... it's almost like a second home.
Q) Any thoughts on being married to a pro triathlete? ... Competition in everything?
A) Ha... there's good points and bad points, like most things. It's great that we're both athletic and have a constant desire to improve and get faster. Also, now that she is a pro we'll be traveling to a lot of new races around the country, which we probably wouldn't have done otherwise. And when you're married to someone that enjoys the sport as much as you do, you don't have to do to much explaining when you come home with a new set of Zipp 808's, or perhaps a Computrainer. On the downside she's wicked fast. It's always slightly dreadful when my wave heads out first in a tri and somewhere mid-run you suddenly hear "Your wife is passing you on the left!" I've come to realize that as long as she passes on the run it's been a successful race. Luckily as a pro she'll always be going before me now so maybe I'll finally have that chance! I wouldn't say we're completely competitive, but we're always comparing splits and transition times when the race is over. We never head in with the goal of going against each other, but it'll always gets brought up at the finish line, which she's almost always at before I am and probably always will be.
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