In SF for EFA!

Hey!

I arrived in San Fran this morning, anxiously awaiting the start of my favorite triathlon, Escape from Alcatraz! The forecast for the weekend is blue skies and warm - that's always a plus when having to brave 55 degree water temperatures!

The gun goes off Sunday morning at 8 down at the Marina Green. We start off by braving the icy bay waters for a 1.5 mile swim. Then 18 miles of biking, riddled with classic SF city hills and finally an 8 mile run through the historic presidio forest which includes a daring ascent up what is known as the 'sand ladder'. The sand ladder is such a monumental piece of this course that they award the pro with the fastest split from the bottom to the top!

I competed here last year for the first time and upon completion I truly felt like a triathlete, more so than any other race. I'm really looking forward to toeing the line with the world's best on Sunday. The field is stacked! Potts, Kemper, Docherty - they're all showing up! Game time!

I'll write up a full report as soon as I get a chance. Wish me luck!

Thanks for checking in. Talk soon!

-HH

New Performance Nutrition and Evolution PT

While all of my sponsors play a pivotal role in the success of my triathlon career, I wanted to plug two in particular that really keep my gears well-oiled and moving in the right direction.

For the last 16 years, New Performance Nutrition has provided custom nutrition programs and products to all sorts of clients, whether it be pro-triathletes and cyclists, or those that want to curb health risks such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiac risk. Their motto is simply, "stay pure". As such, their products and supplements reach a level of quality, performance and peace of mind one won't find anywhere else. NPN's products range from whey protein to energy bars to supplements and vitamins. My favorite product is called Super Charge which is great to use when you want to "supercharge" the muscle with accessible energy (glycogen) and really perform beyond your standards during workouts and especially on race day! Whether a consultation meets your fancy or if you would prefer to purchase the pharmaceutical-grade products online, visit newpfc.com for more information. You can also follow them on facebook at New Performance Nutrition.

Darwin Fogt, the President of Evolution Physical Therapy has created an unrivaled PT facility in Playa Vista, CA that caters to any and all needs. If you're recovering form knee surgery, go see Darwin. If you're suffering from rotator cuff syndrome, go see Darwin. If you simply need to unwind in a yoga session during your lunch hour, go see Darwin! Evolution PT has state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, including my favorite machine, the Anti-gravity treadmill (G-trainer).
Even if you don't have an injury and want to try a really cool machine, give Darwin a call and sign up for the g-trainer. I use Darwin and his facilities on a bi-weekly basis and I will continue to indefinitely. Check him out at evolution-pt.com and follow him on facebook at Evolution Physical Therapy and Fitness.

That's all for now. Talk soon!

-HH

Overall a TOUGH weekend..

It started with a quasi-terrorist threat on my flight out to Tampa, which resulted in an emergency landing in New Mexico and a subsequent three hour delay. In addition, there was a one year old who cried bloody murder in the row in front of me the ENTIRE red-eye flight.

I broke my goggles the day before the race and had to frantically search the expo for a comparable pair. Later that day at the athlete briefing, I found out my USAT elite membership had expired and I was unable to race. After bickering with a stubborn official, who took his job way too seriously, I was finally able to renew my membership (only after writing a $100 check) and thus cleared to race.

When I toed the line at 6:52am on Sunday, I should have known based on what I had already endured that weekend, this was not going to be the best race of my life. And with that, it was NOT. Instead, it was a sub-par race, and one in which I could never find a rhythm. I finished 22nd in 1:59:53 and felt completed defeated.

But wait, the weekend wasn’t over. The next morning, my 7am flight was cancelled and I was re-routed to Atlanta where I would subsequently sit standby on three flights before I was able to go home. After 6 hours at the Atlanta airport, I was finally heading home! I arrived in LA 17 hours after the fact, only to find that my luggage and bike box had been displaced somewhere in the Midwest!

I write this now a day later. I’m home, my bag and bike box were just delivered, and I’m about to go to bed and wake up for the start of this year’s Santa Monica ocean speed circuits and I couldn’t be happier!

I’m heading up north later this week for my favorite race, Escape from Alcatraz, and I already know it will be a better experience than Florida, for I’m driving not flying!

Thanks for checking in, talk soon!

-HH

Another successful ITU race in the bag!

Hey everyone!

ITU Mazatlan was a success! I finished 23rd with a time of 1:58:32 and thankfully this time, my legs actually chose to properly function coming off the bike!

Consisting of a stacked field with at least three former Olympians by my count (J. Shoemaker, V. Plata, F. Serrano), today’s race was fixing to be a tough one!

Going into my South America tour in January, I was coming off a Christmas break where I was all over the map visiting friends and family. With that, I didn’t really have a consistent amount of training under my belt as I headed south of the equator. This time however, I had a solid 8 weeks of training at my home-base in Los Angeles. Though of course as luck would have it, as my fitness improved, so did my competition in Mazatlan.

The swim course consisted of two laps and an exit/re-entry after the first lap. The conditions were choppy and as the day went on, the wind picked up. I tried a different, swim warm-up this time and it worked beautifully. I didn’t blow up in the first 200 yards as I have in the past, I felt like my pacing was stronger and more consistent than it had ever been. I came out of the water in 48th (out of 52) with a split of 22:04, 3:18 off the leader.

The bike course consisted of 6 flat, out-and-back laps, with a nasty head wind going north. To give you an idea how nasty it was, I clocked my pack riding on average 20/21mph into the wind and 28/29mph with the wind! So, I jumped on my bike and bridged up to Ryan Borger (USA) and two Mexican competitors. Together we bridged up to Americans Jimmy Archer and Sean Jefferson and started working pretty well together. I was so elated to find myself in a pack with Americans, with whom I could communicate, as opposed to yelling “vamos” a hundred times! We then picked up two or three other competitors, one of whom was Victor Plata (USA). Going into T2, I split a 1:03:27 on the bike (which I believe was a touch long, based on my Powertap readings) and was off to the races cramp-free!

The run course consisted of 4 flat, 2.5km, out-and-back laps. By this point it was 1pm and temperatures were easily in the high-80s. Coming out of T2, Sean Jefferson (multi All-American and mile best of 3:56) and I hooked up and ran the entire way shoulder to shoulder. I was able to count the number of competitors in front of us on the first lap and we were sitting in 38th and 39th. My legs felt great and I was at complete ease during the first half of the run. I started to feel our pace a little in the third lap and even more in the fourth. On the final lap, I had lost track of how many people we had gobbled up and now it was a mano a mano battle! What I live for! Half way through the last lap, I could feel our pace quicken and we were still, literally, shoulder to shoulder. With about 300 meters to go (or so I thought), I quickened my cadence for just a couple of steps and saw Jefferson’s shadow fall a little behind. So I picked it up more! And then more! And what I thought was the finishing arch, was actually a fake and the real arch was another 50 yards past that!! I thought to myself, “holy *&#@! I went too soon!” So I gave it one last, desperate push, and crossed the tape just ahead of my worthy opponent! Yes!!! I split a 31:36, second to only Jarrod Shoemaker and had passed 16 people to claim 23rd!

If you all recall, I split a 36:50 off the bike in my first ITU race, because my legs were shot. With that being said, Jefferson did a fantastic job and I’m sure he will return the favor in due time as I anticipate a great rivalry with him for years to come!!

My goal going into this race was to score some points and there are two criteria that you must meet in order to do so. One, you need to finish in the top 20. Two, your finishing time needs to be within 5% of the winner’s time. With that being said, I did not meet my goal, as I finished 22nd (among Pan-American competitors) and 4.4% off the winner’s time but in hindsight, the competition here was better than one would find at most Continental Cup races, so I feel pretty pleased with my end result!

My next race will be another match up with Sean Jefferson in his home state at the St. Anthony’s triathlon in April. Check back soon for training updates!

Thanks again for all the supportive emails, texts and phone calls, it is truly motivating!

Talk soon!

-H

On the eve of ITU race # 3

Hey all!

Been a while since my last post and I figured what better timing than the night before my ITU race in Mazatlan, Mexico!

Tomorrow's race should be a lot of fun as the start list includes two-dozen Americans! This is great because it means I will actually be able to communicate with some of the athletes on the bike!

My training all around has been going really well lately. I feel like I'm in a much better place, fitness-wise, now, than I was heading into my South America trip in January. My main focus has still been in the water and I have taken that to the next level by joining forces with Gerry Rodriguez at Trifit. Just in the last month, I feel I've become a stronger swimmer and I not only attribute that to Gerry's workouts, but also the other triathletes like Chris Foster and JJ Kaye who frequent his workouts as well and kick my butt all over the pool!

Tomorrow promises to be good weather, better competition, and a ton of fun!

I will be sure to give you all a full race report the first chance I get!

Thanks for checking in.

Talk soon!

-H

The Dreaded 1-hour Swim...Complete!

Hey there!

This morning, I participated in the nation wide one-hour swim competition. A competition for distance, this swim was a great way for me to gauge my improvement over the last year.


I began swimming with the Bruin masters program in September of 2008 and a few months after the fact, I participated in my first 1-hour swim, hitting the wall at 4,000 yards on the nose (equates to 1:30 per 100yd average). Today, one year later, I hit the wall at 4,810 yards which equated to an average of basically 1:15 per 100yd. I was more than elated with my result! I have worked so hard over the last 15 months and it has completely paid off.

Going into today's swim, my goal was 1:15s or 4,800 yards, however I thought that that might have been a bit of an ambitious goal. This is especially due to the fact that I had missed some crucial longer set workouts during the first three weeks of January while I was racing in South America. With that being said, my result is a testament to my swimming fitness and I couldn't be more pleased!


The swim itself went relatively smoothly up until the 35th minute, where it then got pretty interesting...

At that point, my goggles completely filled up with water (I'm talking 100%) and I could no longer see the two pool-side clocks that I was using to pace myself. It was so bad that I didn't know where the walls were until I was within two strokes from them! While it seemed like having to endure this annoyance for 25 more minutes was a total disaster, it actually wound up being a blessing in disguise. Instead of dwelling too much on my pacing, it forced me to lower my head and continue ticking off the yardage.

I was able to see the "10 minutes left" sign and figured if I swam my 1:15s, I could get 800 in during that time. Sure enough, I was able to get 860 yards in and finished on a good note!

While I was very excited about having met my goal, the best part about that hour was being able to rip my goggles off after 25 minutes of torture!

I wanted to thank my fellow Bruin masters members for kicking my butt all over the UCLA pools for the last 15 months, for if not for them I'd still be swimming doggy paddle!!

That's all for now. Check back later for more training updates!

Thanks again. Talk soon!

-H

A Successful Trip to South America

Hey!

I wanted to give you all a quick update on my race in La Paz, Argentina.

Going into my first draft-legal triathlon, I anticipated that I wouldn't have to do too much work on the bike and therefore conserve my energy for a killer run. I was COMPLETELY wrong!

I came out of the water really far back and right from the start I began working my way up through the field. Blowing past stragglers and small chase packs, I found myself hooking up with the second chase pack and remaining there for the duration of the bike leg. In this pack of 12 or so riders, no one opted to share any of the work with me, except for a few Argentineans. I must have yelled "Vamos" 50 times over the course of the bike leg to try and get these guys to work a bit!

Coming into T2 I was in 26th and more than ready to start picking off my competitors on the run. One small problem - my legs were shot! For the first 2 laps of the 4 lap run course, my legs would not move! On a cardio basis, I was completely fine however physically, my legs were a wreck! I had never felt so unable to use my legs in my entire life. You may think I'm exaggerating but I would honestly say I haven't run that slowly in a competition since the 6th grade! At the same time, I’m a fighter so while my legs were completely dead, I made sure not one person passed me, and I was successful!

By the third lap I began to find my legs although it was still a struggle (and the 100 degree heat didn’t help). I wound up finishing 19th as the third American behind Chris Foster (2nd), Manny Huerta (4th), and just ahead of Nicholas Vandam (21st) and Richard Swor (22nd).

Apart from finishing my first ITU triathlon, the highlight of the competition was the thousands upon thousands of Argentineans that lined the streets chanting and cheering! Over the course of my run, despite hurting terribly, I must have high-fived 100 hands. To them, it didn’t matter whether you were 1st place or 40th place; they embraced you all the same. Frankly, they made my first ITU experience that much more enjoyable and I am forever grateful.

We are currently heading back to LA and in my eyes this trip was a complete success. Even though I was “lapped out” in the first race, I still feel I gained invaluable experience in ITU racing that will help me tremendously throughout my career. For the next two months I will be living underwater at the UCLA pools and prepping for my next competition in Mazatlan, Mexico on March 20th. Check back later for training updates and the like.

Thanks again for checking in!

Talk soon!

-H