Walking the swim at the Williamsburg Virginia triathlon

Pennsylvania triathlete Ben Foy & Herndon Virginia lawyer Doug Landau atop the AG winner's podium at the Patriots Sprint Triathlon in Jamestown Virginia
Pennsylvania triathlete Ben Foy & Herndon Virginia lawyer Doug Landau atop the AG winner’s podium at the Patriots Sprint Triathlon in Jamestown Virginia

Athletes competing at anniversary park took advantage of the shallow water to walk large portions of the half-mile swim course. Some may have swum just a small fraction of the brackish water half mile swim. As Doug Landau had already opted to wear his  legal wetsuit, he swam nearly all of the first leg of this Virginia and Maryland Triathlon Super Series event.

Lawyer Landau was down in the Williamsburg area to visit with family, and was able to preview the course on Friday and Saturday. He even went swimming Saturday afternoon, after the Olympic and Half Iron distance races were concluded.  Just as he will scout out an accident scene or courthouse for a case or trial, Landau will check out the race venue in advance. At Jamestown on Saturday, he noted significant chop, very little visibility, and that the water was probably too warm to be wetsuit legal. In fact, he left his wetsuit in the car when he arrived raced a morning on Sunday. However, upon hearing the race director’s announcement that the water had cooled due to all the rain, he ran back to the athletes parking lot in order retrieve his neoprene full body suit. Starting off in the fourth heat, lawyer Landau tried to swim the swim in order to have the bike and run later that he had hoped to have.

Virginia & Maryland Triathlon AG award winner Todd Pederson & Doug Landau compare race strategies after the Patriots Sprint race
Virginia & Maryland Triathlon AG award winner Todd Pederson & Doug Landau compare race strategies after the Patriots Sprint race. Pederson travels from North Carolina to compete throughout the Mid-Atlantic, and put in a strong race at the US National Championships in Milwaukee

Upon exiting the water, the triathlon trial lawyer passed a number of athletes running the 500 meters to the transition area. Once on his bicycle, Landau continued to pass other racers, including many of the collegiate competitors who had started well ahead of this Masters competitor. After passing continuously on the bike, he executed an swift second transition, hit the ground running, chasing after his friend Todd Pederson. Competing in VTS/MTS races nearly every weekend, Pederson also raced at the National Championships last month and is a fierce competitor from North Carolina.  Landau knew he would have to make up significant ground, as he saw his friend had a 75 second advantage at the bicycle turn-around, and a 45 second advantage at the run-turnaround. While the bicycle portion of the course had some grade to it, the run course was completely flat, and Landau was able to use his foot speed to catch his friend just before the 3 mile marker, as well as other athletes all the way to the finish line. After the race, Landau noted that Pederson had the faster transition splits, which is the Herndon injury lawyer’s forte.

The Patriots Sprint Triathlon was another superbly executed event by the Virginia and Maryland Triathlon Super Series folks. There were plenty of volunteers, and race director Greg Hawkins even joked at the start that there were so many water safety helpers on the river, that a competitor could simply home from surf board to kayak for the entire duration of the swim leg of the race! For beginner triathletes making the transition from shorter, pool swim events, to open water races, the Jamestown venue is an excellent choice because athletes can stand or touch the bottom of the buoyant, brackish inlet for nearly the entire course.

Lawyer Landau was fortunate enough to win his age category by over a mile; his overall time would have been good enough to be on the podium in most age groups, male or female.  Always thinking about how to do things better, whether in Court or at the races, Landau I would have liked to have had his cyclometer on the bike and the run course chalked ahead of time. However, he felt that under the circumstances he gave full value in this week’s performance. For more information about the Patriots Triathlon weekend events, click here.