Portland athlete hopes to go the distance at World Indoor Championships
PORTLAND, Ore. — Two years ago, a retired athlete sat at his desk for his day job in San Francisco with a burning desire for another passion. After some soul-searching, he packed his belongings and moved to the Northwest, a place where he could live out that wish. A little over a year later, he is making quite the impression at Concordia University Portland, and is planning something spectacular in early 2016.
David Pless, Concordia’s Assistant Throws Coach, is hoping to make big moves at the March 2016 IAAF Track and Field World Indoor Championships.
Pless is no newcomer when it comes to being in the spotlight. As a college athlete, he won three NCAA Division III National Championship titles in the shot put. Thinking his throwing career had come to a halt, Pless decided to move to San Francisco for work. A year later he realized that sitting in a desk all day was not making him happy, he had a hunger for something more-to compete, he wanted to “push his limits and see how good [he] can be.”
This is when Pless stumbled upon two-time Olympian Jarred Rome, Concordia’s Throws Head Coach, and sent him a throwing video for critique. Rome saw potential. “Pless could do great things,” he said. For his part, Rome was excited about this new opportunity to coach a raw, talented, triple-national champion. Completing the move in Jun. of 2014, Pless began his post-college throwing career.
Preparing for a competition like the World Indoor Championships is not easy. David has been training with Concordia’s throws team for more than a year, and working with a nutritionist on his diet to gain weight, build strength and improve his technique. Despite having to still work a desk job 5 hours day, David still gets in about 7 hours of training on an average day.
A typical day for David includes waking up at 7:30 a.m., making a breakfast that consists of about 12 egg whites, biking to his sales job, lunching on chicken and rice around 11:30 a.m., biking back home, and driving to Concordia for throws practice in the afternoon, followed by a lifting and stretching session in the gym that lasts well into the evening hours.
After his workout, Pless either heads home for dinner of (6 cups of brown rice, ground turkey and vegetables) or picks up a few steak burritos from Chipotle. This leads up to another session of rolling out his muscles until 10 p.m., consuming a protein shake and then finally getting to sleep.
When asked about his goals, David answered they were simply to “make the World Indoor team during this championship and then the 2016 Olympic outdoor team by improving my shot put throw to 70 feet.” Overall, he said he’s working to become “one of the best throwers in the U.S.”
David competed in the 2015 Indoor and Outdoor U.S. Championships in shot put, where he was exposed to some of the best throwers in the country. When asked about his nerves or feelings going into 2016, he stated “I had an opportunity to compete against the best at the U.S. Championships, including world champion Joe Kovacs, so I feel more confident and comfortable with that experience.”
Along with the hard work and training that Pless has put into this competition, Pless’s supporters say he has the right state of mind that athletes need for competition. They say he’s ready to go the distance at next year’s World Indoor Championships held in Portland.
