The Road to DuaWorlds Mini Series: Part 3

We meet again!

I have for your enjoyment the 3rd of 4 installments of the mini series - The Road to DuaWorlds! I've had a lot of fun producing these entries and hope you all enjoy them as well! Without further adieu..

The Road to DuaWorlds, Part 3

This past week I started off with a Labor Day race in San Pedro called Conquer the Bridge 3. It was a 5.3 mile out-and-back race over the Vincent-Thomas Bridge. For those who are unaware of this bridge, the center point is much higher than either ends, making it a very interesting location at which to hold a race!

Considering I had raced a fast 3-miler two days prior, I wasn’t looking to necessarily blitz this run, but rather see what I could do on tired legs. During warm-up I recognized a guy whom I had raced against earlier this summer. In our previous race, I was able to out-sprint Juan and he was not happy about it. Based on the looks he was giving me during warm-up, he clearly wanted to return the favor. Coincidentally enough, he was also last year’s champion and the course record holder for this race!

The gun went off and we found each other at the front in no time. Going up and over the bridge on the way out, every time I attempted to run on his shoulder, he proceeded to slowly veer in my direction, eventually pinning me up against the cones or the side of the bridge. I would then have to stutter step and bounce around him to his other side. Sure enough, he would veer in that direction! After experiencing this three or four times I said to him, “Juan, you’re swerving, pal!” He responded with a grunt and continued on with a little less swerving.

We reached the turn-around point and headed back up and over the bridge. At this point, I didn’t want him to think that I was a one-dimensional, “sit and kick” runner, based on our last encounter. At about 200 meters from the tallest point of the bridge, I put-on an enormous surge and he covered NONE of it. It was so big in fact that I quickly thought I may have bitten off more than I could chew! The top couldn’t come fast enough but once I got there, I glanced back and saw that I had opened up a 50 meter lead. I experienced a brief sigh of relief as I hit the downward section of the bridge. From there the race was in the bag and I wound up crossing the line in 28:09, a 30 second margin of victory over the swerving Juan. As if this victory wasn’t sweet enough, I also broke Juan’s course record by 13 seconds! This race was yet another confidence building, run-sharpening feat that is setting me up nicely for DuaWorlds.

After this run I had a solid week of training and followed it up with a 10k race in Studio City on Sunday. I didn’t know what to expect for this race as far as competition or the course was concerned. When I got my hands on a map on race morning, I was amazed! This course was like a pinball machine – riddled with 180 degree turns! I stuck with my plan to race nonetheless. The gun went off and I was immediately alone, trying to keep pace with the Mini Cooper leading us out. The victory was in the bag but I wasn’t here for the victory. I didn’t care about winning this race; I cared about the workout and using this race as a sharpening tool for DuaWorlds. With that, I pressed on as if someone was hot on my heels. I lost count but I believe there were 8 or 10, 180 degree turns which took the wind out of my sail every time. I crossed the line 33-mid, pleased with the solo-effort I put forth, despite a slower than normal time. A race official approached me after the race and mentioned that in respect to “normal” 10k’s, this race was about 3 minutes longer due to the myriad turn-around’s. Good news!

I have one more race – a 10k in Huntington Beach – the day before I head to Spain. This one is supposed to be fast and full of competition! It will be a great send off!


There was a piece written about my win at the Conquer the Bridge 3 run in the Daily Breeze. It's equipped with a few pics as well. If you're interested, check out the Daily Breeze article here. The FINAL CHAPTER of this riveting mini series will be posted Saturday night, maybe Sunday morning! I know I know, you're on the edge of your seat.. Only a few days away!

Thank you all for checking in. Talk soon!

-HH

The Road to DuaWorlds Mini Series: Part 2

Hello again!

Below is the second installment in my 4-Part Mini Series, The Road to DuaWorlds. Again, disregard any and all dates, for these are entries over the last several weeks. Enjoy!

The Road to DuaWorlds, Part 2

Over the last several days, I have really shelved the swim and have focused much more on cycling and running. On Tuesday, I found myself setting up my bike trainer at the UCLA track in preparation for a multiple-round BRICK workout. The workout: 3 x (12min bike, off and run 1,200 for time) - descend the 1,200s. Each 12 minute bike session consisted of a variation of hard-effort intervals. For example, 6 min strong, 1 min easy, 5 min strong. The purpose was to try and simulate the volatile pacing that goes on in a pack in a draft-legal race.

Amidst the fellow track goers, there were the entire UCLA cross country team and home run king, Barry Bonds. Particularly due to the presence of the X-country team, I really had to show them what this veteran could do, and that I did!

I popped off a 3:32 for the first 1,200 (just outside of 4:40 mile pace) and felt pretty good despite some tight calves from the 5k two days prior. Because this was a workout for a duathlon, I hopped right back on the bike and into round 2. On the next 1,200 I hit 3:30 (right on 4:40 mile pace) and still felt good. By this time, I had the attention of not only the cross country team but also Mr. Bonds. Onto the final round, I was starting to feel the late morning heat and the pressure of trying to descend lower than 3:30! I hit the last 1,200 surprisingly fresh and with about 200 to go, I received some words of encouragement from BLB himself - "come on now, push it! Pick it up!" I stopped the watch at 3:26, right in front of the Bruins. While they couldn't see the time on my watch, they knew I was moving and frankly, I saw a little intimidation in their eyes...not really, but maybe...!

I was really pleased at the result of this workout because that's about as close to a duathlon as I can get and even on the third 1,200 I still had some juice in the ol' pistons!

Today, I found myself in the Orange County Great Park for the Kevin Cook "5k". Quotations are needed because it was more in the range of 2.93 to 2.99 miles, as opposed to 3.1, according to the race director. The gun went off and immediately a three-man group was formed up front. The mile markers were a bit ambiguous so we didn't exactly know quite how fast we were going. With about a half-mile to go, the pace picked up significantly and before I knew it we were into our final sprint in what was a very odd, S-bend finishing shoot - a sharp turn to the right and then a sharp turn to the left.. They could've just gone straight. Seriously, the grounds permitted it! In any event, I was able to out-kick one guy and narrowly missed the other. I think the biggest thing was that he got around the last turn first and therefore had the upper hand. He and I crossed the line within the same second, 13:53. Because the course fell in the 2.95 mile range, the mileage averaged out to about 4:43s! I knew we were rolling but not quite that fast!

My running legs are slowly starting to appear..! Looking forward to continued progress on the Road to DuaWorlds!

Part 3 will come some time in the next couple of days and the final Part of this mini series will follow my last tune-up race in Huntington Beach on Saturday.

Thanks for checking in, talk soon!

-HH

4 Part Series: The Road to DuaWorlds

Hey Everyone!

Over the last three weeks or so, I have completely dropped the ball on keeping you all up to date on my training and racing. Many apologies! I am currently in a training block in preparation for the Duathlon World Championships on Sept. 25 in Gijon, Spain. As a result, I have lessened my swimming to 2 or 3 times per week and have mainly focused on fine-tuning my run and bike. The biking has consisted of some quality workouts, tempo efforts and various group rides. The running has consisted of numerous BRICKs, tempo runs, and a bunch of road races. During this time, I have kept a log or a journal if you will of my workouts and races. Why I didn't do this on my blog evades me..! In the following entries, please disregard the dates, for they are inaccurate since these sessions may or may not have occurred a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

The Road to DuaWorlds, Part 1

Yesterday I went to do my ride with fellow triathletes, Sean Jefferson and Omar Nour on PCH starting out at the parking lot at Malibu Canyon and PCH. What I thought was plenty of time to arrive (supposed to meet at 3pm, left house at 2:15) clearly wasn't as I spent the next hour in bumper to bumper traffic!

Sean and Omar were traveling back from Oceanside having swum in an open water race and they too were caught in the Saturday afternoon traffic though about a 1/2 mile ahead of me coincidentally enough. The traffic was so bad - multiple car accidents coupled with beautiful beach weather - we decided to pull over and park at the 22000 "block" of PCH, about 1 mile South of La Salsa.

We rode north from there and I was anticipating a moderate 2-hour ride with wattage in the mid-2's and cadence above 90. Oh was I wrong. They wanted to do a pace-line workout that their coach had given them which entailed: 20min warmup - 3 x (20min pace-line @ 300+ watts, 10min recover) - 20min cool down. While they didn't want to ride that hard and we therefore all agreed NOT to ride that hard, we rode that hard, and then some! The warmup turned into 30 minutes, the wind began to howl, and I definitely did not bring enough nutrition for a ride like this! To add insult to injury, we finished our final 20min pace-line heading South, just North of Zuma beach, which meant our cool down was a lot longer than 20min and not flat by any means! At the very least, we had the wind at our backs which was a big plus. To give you an idea of the intensity of this wind, heading North in our pace-line we averaged 18-20mph. Heading South in our pace-line we averaged 29-31mph!!

Needless to say, my legs were shot by the time we got back to the cars, a good 2 1/2 hours and 45 miles later! As a result, I had an early dinner and hit the pillow at 9ish in prep for my 4:30 wake up time to head out to Ventura for the first of 5 road races in what I like to call The Road to Duathlon Worlds.

The 5k race started at 7:15 but I had to register the morning of, which meant I needed to be there by 6am in order to beat the line of other 'registration slackers'. As expected, the race wasn't anything special and the field consisted of a few hundred moms and grandmas. By my speculation, the course was a little long and absolutely terrible footing. The first 2k was two loops around a landfill which was used as the parking lot. I stumbled twice and quasi-rolled ankles twice but to no avail pressed on and hit the tape at 15:27 - 4:57s (by my watch).

I'm feeling pretty good right now, despite yesterday's painful ride. I also ran the race in trainers. For the first time in a while I felt good getting out there and naturally pushing myself to try and keep pace with the bike leader. Quite a nostalgic feeling dating back to my Cate School days.

I will post the other parts of this series over the next couple of days. I don't want to flood the internet with such good stuff..I want to space it out..! Ha!

Thanks for checking in, talk soon!

-HH

GoHHGo August Giveaway!

Hey Everyone!

GoHHGo Giveaways are back this month! We’ve seen giveaways from K-Swiss and Zico and clearly the bar has been set! As such, I’ve promised not to disappoint and this month’s GoHHGo Giveaway comes from one of my original, most supportive sponsors!

Heralded as arguably the world’s premier high performance wetsuit manufacturer, Xterra Wetsuits has ponied up one of their very own suits for one lucky GoHHGo fan!!

For your chance to win a Vector Pro Full wetsuit, answer me this:

*What year did Xterra bust onto the scene, making their AWESOME wetsuits and where are they headquartered?*

As usual GoHHGo facebook fans with correct answers will be entered in the drawing twice. If you’re not a fan, become one! Check it out at Henry Hagenbuch Triathlete – GoHHGo!

Let’s get into it! Talk soon!

-HH

I Weathered the Storm, Literally

This past weekend, my tri-job took me to the lovely island of Manhattan for the 5i50 Nautica NYC Triathlon. I came in still trying to regain my fitness from my AWESOMELY BAD bike crash two months ago. Rather than sit at home and continue to mope about my lost fitness, I figured the best way to get it back would be to toe-the-line with the best and leave it all out on the course!

The week leading up to the race, I had anticipated the weather to be a factor because there were a slew of thunderstorms expected to hit the New York area over race weekend. Sure enough, race morning we were caught waiting in the rain at 6am to get the green light to jump into the “pristine” waters of the Hudson. The onslaught of rain and wind called for a tough, choppy swim and I exited roughly 17th out of the water. I was able to pull back two guys in the ½ mile run up to transition and headed out onto the bike in 15th.

The bike course was out-and-back on the Westside highway - a deceptively tough, rolling course - that met us with a tail-wind on the way down and an unrelenting headwind on the way back. My intention for this race was to really press the bike because that was where this race could be won or lost.

As such, I worked those rollers hard and came into T2 in 13th. There was a group of several riders a few minutes ahead that I was trying to reel in but based on their remarkably similar bike splits, it was thus difficult for me to take-on one or two riders, let alone 4 or 7!! I thought this was a non-draft race! Oh well…

Out onto the run, I was able to reel in a struggling Andrew Yoder and that was unfortunately it for me! My run legs eluded me on this day, which happily shed some light on where my fitness is at in its current state – just a few miles short… I crossed the line in 12th – 1:58:30.

Despite finishing outside of the top 10, and even with CERTAIN variables working against me, I’m not at all discouraged by my first complete race back. Lastly, I’d like to give a BIG shout out to all the New Yorkers who may or may not had even known there was a triathlon going on but nonetheless cheered us on as we ran against traffic in Central Park! Some of the best spectator support I’ve seen in a long time!!

Just a few more races left in 2011 and it will all culminate at the Duathlon World Champs in Gijon, Spain on September 25. But first, an ITU race in Kelowna, BC and then the Nautica Malibu Tri!

Thanks for checking in. Talk soon!

-HH

**I want to express my sincere condolences for the families of the two people who tragically died during the swim of the NYC Tri. This lifestyle we lead is often times precarious and daunting and it is one of the total downfalls of this sport when we lose a fellow triathlete.**

Treasure Hunt at SF ITU!

Hey Everyone!

I arrived in my hometown of San Francisco yesterday evening ready to take on the stacked field at TriCal’s Treasure Island ITU Race. This year it’s part of the USAT Elite Race series – a series of draft legal ITU races with larger-than-normal prize purses.

This will be my first race back since my bike crash back in May. It’s bittersweet, because while I’m elated to get back out there, my fitness isn’t where it was prior to that accident. I missed about 40 days of training and I’ve worked hard as of late to get as much of it back. What I would say, it’s not that I’ve lost too much time in each discipline (probably 2-3 seconds per 100 in the pool and that equivalent in the bike and run), but it’s really about how I feel. The time difference isn’t much but it hurts a lot more! Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to getting those competitive juices flowing again!

This course is unique. It’s situated on Treasure Island (the island in the middle of the Bay Bridge) and it consists of a two lap swim, a 6 lap bike, and a 3 lap run. What’s unique is the bike course. Each lap consists of at least a dozen 90 degree turns on what I consider to be pretty precarious road conditions. The Elite race, due particularly to it being a draft-legal race, tends to see a higher-than-normal number of bike crashes. Whether or not bike crashes happen tomorrow, it’s such a competitive field that there will be enough action going on to satisfy anyone!

If you’re in the bay area and are interested in seeing a fun, competitive race, come out to Treasure Island tomorrow Saturday, July 9 around noon and watch a number of Olympic hopefuls mix it up! Let’s get into it!

Hope to see you out there. Thanks for checking in. Talk soon!

-HH

..And the Zico GoHHGo Giveaway goes to..!

After much deliberation from the GoHHGo panel of hardworking judges.. (they clearly need some Zico)

the winners are, BRANDON and NIKKI!!!

Brandon exclaimed, “Zico Pomberry is the Bomb! I use it after cycling.”

Nikki exclaimed, “Piña Tropicale is my fav. My favorite way to replenish is to throw a bottle in my freezer pre-run or pre-ride so when I’m done, it’s super cold! Living in Arizona, I need all the help I can get to cool down in this crazy summer heat!”

Congratulations!! Please come forward and claim your prize by emailing me your contact info at gohhgo1@gmail.com.

Check back soon for yet another GoHHGo Giveaway!!

Happy tri-ing, talk soon.

-HH