Landau Injury Law

Driving down to Fredericksburg, past the Courthouse where many serious injury cases have been won, Doug Landau could not help but notice the temperature rising to record levels.  Nevertheless, the Triathlon Trial Lawyer performs well in high heat and humidity.  He was confident, having won the Biathlon (Swim-Run) at the Spotsylvania YMCA 2 years ago.  And the Reston Herndon injury lawyer was excited to be biking on Route 1, Jefferson Davis Highway.  After a slow pool swim, Landau picked off competitors and arrived with a screeching transition for the run through the woods and bog.  Doug was able to finish first in the Masters category, second among the men and third overall. Landau noted that the 2 competitors ahead of him had a combined age of less than his 47 years !  He enjoyed biking past the Spotsylvania Circuit Court house, where he has tried personal injury and workers compensation cases over the last 25 years.  .More exciting than collecting his awards, Landau enjoyed helping 7-year-old “Racin’ Mason” Allen to race in her first triathlon.  This wonderful Fredericksburg girl had just had her first swim practice this week.  Her father, Edward Allen of Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen, purchased her pink bicycle the day before the race !  Mason swam with a smile, and finished in style.  

It’s never a good idea to stop during a sprint triathlon, that is, if you want a top finish !

Today I stopped not once, but three times !  I stopped in the cold, pool swim, in order to get my “electronics” (watch, “time window” goggle chronograph and heart rate monitor) working.  And then I had to stop on the bike ride twice.  My rear wheel was rubbing against the frame.  I could hear, feel and smell the burning rubber.  It was not safe.  And it’s better to be safe than sorry.  Especially when you represent injured athletes and bicyclists who have been in crashes.  Had I kept going, my wheel could have worn out or overheated and burst, causing me to crash, suffer a head impact or worse, a brain injury.  Averaging some 24 miles per hour, I try to not take unnecessary chances. There was a screw loose (many of you are cheeky enough to think, “no surprise there !”), and I was able to take the wheel off, and re-align it so that it would stay “true” for the remainder of the 12 mile bike course.  The Triathlon Trial Lawyer managed to finish in under 65 minutes, or about a minute slower than last year, for 14th overall, out of 550 registrants.  Had I not stopped 3 times, I believe that I would have been in the top 10 again, and had a course PR (= personal record).

Doug Landau, shown here with long-time Reston Triathlon Board Member Chuck James, volunteered at the 2nd annual Reston Sprint Triathlon at Lake Newport Pool.  The Herndon Reston area injury lawyer helped get athletes registered on Saturday.  Raising thousands of dollars for Reston Interfaith made the effort rewarding on many levels.  Doug will be racing tomorrow in this event which sold out in one day !  Multisport events are popular in Northern Virginia, and the race will be staffed by the wonderful people at Set Up Events.  The race is also part of the Virginia Triathlon Series (”VTS”), where racers get points that are tallied at the end of the season to determine overall winners.  Last year, Triathlon Trial Lawyer Doug Landau and 2 of his training buddies each won their age group at this race, and went on to win prizes in the overall series.  Doug races in the competitive 45-49 group, and winning the series last year gives him no guarantees going into his first VTS race of 2008.

Once again Doug Landau took part in the Cascades 10km. (6.2 miles) running race in Sterling, Virginia over the Memorial Day weekend.  A tough, rolling course on a beautiful course with Outback Steakhouse and other delectibles made for a great start to a terrific weekend.  Shown here with a Sterling Fire Department race volunteer, the Triathlon Trial Lawyer got an ice water shower to help cool off after crossing the finish line.  Because it is important to give back to the community, not only money but time and effort, Doug Landau will be a volunteer next week at the Reston Interfaith’s fundraiser.  He will be assisting at Lake Newport Pool at the Reston Sprint Triathlon registration May 31st.  On June 1st, Landau hopes to repeat as an Age Group Champion, as he finished 8th overall in 2007 and won the 45-49 Age Group en route to winning that grouping in the competitive state-wise “Virginia Triathlon Series” in October.  While not registered for the series in 2008, Abrams Landau trial lawyer Landau hopes to give full value in this and the other races he has entered.  Doug also will be a volunteer again at the Reston Triathlon in September, though this year he will also race, as it’s the 25th anniversary of this wildly popular event.

While many clients are aware of the Herndon High School track and cross country teams running past the “Landau Law Shop” and that ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd’s 120-year-old building is on the Herndon Festival race courses, not many know that in  the evening, on Thursdays, the Reston Bike Club leaves from the parking lot by the Caboose down the street.  With 5 levels of riders and directional “cue sheets,” the RBC draws many riders to the “Downtown Historic District” of Herndon, Virginia.  Doug Landau can see the group assembling from the upper balcony of the main ABRAMS LANDAU building.   During the racing season, the TriathlonTrialLawyer tries to join these skilled bicycle riders as they bike around Herndon, Reston, Ashburn, Sterling and other areas in Fairfax County and Loudoun County.  Since the “Landau Law Shop” is located by the 20 mile mark of the W&OD Trail, clients, teammates and friends have visited with us before and after their bike rides and/or run training.  Shown here is Herndon sports injury lawyer Doug Landau with Reston Road Runners Club President, Reston Triathlon Race Director and Virginia Trial Lawyer Donna Rostant before a recent Thursday night ride.

The Columbia Triathlon is another example of how I try to always combine friends, family, sports and the law.

This Olympic Distance race is one of the most competitive in the United States. The course included a cold mile lake around an island (so you could not see the finish until later in that leg of the race); a 26 mile bike ride over a hilly, challenging course; and then a 6.2 mile “rolling” run, with several steep hills. I improved over 6 minutes from my 2003 time with a 2:27:34, finishing 191st overall, out of over 1,900 finishers (and 2,500 starters). Here I am about to pump my tires before the race begins. (more…)

Doug Landau, the “TriathlonTrialLawyer” enjoys competing in races all over the world.  The ABRAMS LANDAU trial attorney has represented injured athletes from all over the country. Landau also puts on small sporting events and volunteers at larger competitions each year.  In June, he will be heading to Lakeville, located in Litchfield County,in the NorthWest corner of Connecticut for his 30th high school reunion.  Like his classmate, and legislator Andrew Roraback, Doug has also been a member of the Litchfield County Bar Association for over 20 years.  While he has many duties as part of this class’s record setting Reunion Committee, he enjoys helping with the annual “Reunion Run,”  usually held on the school’s picturesque cross country and gold courses.  Here Landau (’78) is shown in 2006 after helping out Math Instructor Charlie Bell during an “off” year.  

In keeping with the ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., “open date book” policy, here are events for which the Herndon Reston area injury lawyer has registered. Many clients have come to watch Doug Landau try a case. Here are dates so that you can also see him “tri” a race !

[Shown here is Doug Landau with a check. This was not from another successful case on behalf of a disabled, brain injured or bike crash client, but for a 10 mile race in upstate New York. While Landau does not “run for the money,” he has won valuable prizes all over the United States and abroad as an Age Group and Masters Amateur triathlete, road racer, track athlete and triathlete. As is his custom, the All American multisport athlete donated this check to a local school.

Doug Landau’s next race will be the nationally famous Columbia Triathlon at Centennial Lake, MD on Sunday, May 18th, 2008. This Olympic Distance triathlon may be TheAthletesLawyer’s longest race of the year. The last time he competed in this Columbia Triathlon Association event, he did so as a relay team, finishing in second place. As Doug Landau has not entered the Virginia Triathlon Series this year, he will be returning to races, such as this, that he has done in the past and will try new events as well.

Memorial Day will see him raising funds for the Sterling Fire Department (more…)

In an event that raises funds for the Special Olympics, put on by the wonderful “FinsWheels and Feet” crew, Doug Landau, the “TriathlonTrialLawyer,” began his 2008 Triathlon Season.

After several days of rain and cold weather, some participants were in wetsuits for the short outdoor pool swim !  The race began with a 250 meter serpentine swim. Passed repeatedly in the frigid pool, Landau managed a pedestrian 4:55.39 for 63rd. After his “pokey” swim, The Athletes Lawyer passed many of those who swam faster in the first transition in a blistering 00:41.70. Next, the racers biked 20km., completing 2 laps through the rolling Virginia Run Community located across the street from Bull Run Elementary School in Centreville, VA. Landau posted 33:38.9 for an average speed of 22.1 mph, for 10th best bike split. T-2 was on frozen feet and took 1:06.45. Running on what felt like stilts in 46 degree weather was difficult, but Landau managed 6:22 pace for the last 2 miles and a 20:30.45 5km. to post the 15th fastest run split in his Newton Racing flats.

With a total time of 1:00:52.8, the Triathlon Trial Lawyer was 8th overall against some 400 other athletes. The Herndon Reston area disability, brain injury and workers comp lawyer was also 2nd in his age group, in his first Triathlon of 2008. Having finished 10th in 2005 and 8th in 2006, Landau was pleased with his performance, if not his time and age group placing. [Shown here is the TriathlonTrialLawyer Doug Landau getting his age group award from Race Director and “Riptide Sports” Shandra Richardson and the Race’s Shark Mascot !]

The Madeira School and Sea Devils Swim Team once again hosted a unique fundraising sports event for the Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation (”CBTF”) on a sunny morning at the Greenway.  The Dan Fiduccia Spring Biathlon is one of the firrst events of the multi-sport calendar, and this year exceeded past participation.  Award-winning swim coach Rod Montrie and Gib Smith [shown giving Doug Landau his medal] have been the race directors of this Sprint Biathlon which brings young competitors and old, teams and individuals and even a Trial Lawyer who does the race more than once on the same morning (or, as was the case in ‘06, a race in Herndon at 6 and then at Madeira at 10, winning the former outright and winning his age group in the latter !).

Herndon-Reston area sports injury trial lawyer Doug Landau did the Spring Biathlon not just once, but twice !  This year, Landau once again competed as a Relay team member, swimming the 525 yards in the pool in 8:37 before handing off to sprinter Ken Atkinson, who then covered the 5km. course that consisted of roads, trails, grass and HILLS .  The Triathlon Trial Lawyer ran with his talented, multifaceted team mate.  Then, after “refueling” with about a 20 min. “pit stop,” Landau entered the pool as a “solo” athlete.  Swimming another 525 in 8:58, the Triathlon Trial Lawyer managed to pick off a number of the fast swimmers and end up with a time of 31:40.   It was a beautiful day, a well-known course, plenty of cheering friends and family, for a great cause.