Sunday, December 20, 2009

Go Henry Go!

Meet triathlon's next big thing...Henry Hagenbuch. Henry and I go way back. The last time I saw Henry, he was in middle school and I was the science teacher, who also happened to coach cross country. On our first run, 7th grader Henry was pushing 6 minute miles effortlessly. He made this 2:39 marathoner feel quite old and slow that day. The kid had an engine and still does. After only one season of triathlon, he's going pro in 2010, and I'm not surprised. You can track Henry's progression in the multisport world at gohhgo.com. Today marked my last day of hammering every run, and it's a good thing because I was starting to dread my runs. I'm bumping up the mileage after this week so I'm gonna need my recovery days back. Thursday was a 7 miler on the tready finishing the last 2.5 miles at 6-minute pace (I'm not bragging, just documenting as this blog is also my training log of sorts). Today was a hilly 12-miler and I wanted to average 7-minute pace. At the top of the climb and the turn-around, my Garmin read 7:40 pace average, uh oh. I bombed down the hill hoping to finish at 7 minute pace but never really committing myself to go for it. After 2 miles, my average pace was down to 7:20. And another 2 miles, I was at 7:10. With one mile remaining, I was at 7:04 average pace. I was hurting and I really did not want to commit myself to push and try to get to 7-minute pace. I got some reprieve at a stoplight. Thoughts like just warm it down and 7:04 average is pretty good crept in my head. I decided that once the light turned green, I would just start and then assess the situation. The light turned and I started up and the legs didn't feel great, so I told myself just to work on turnover and feeling good regardless of time (i.e. I gave up). I glanced at my watch and saw 7:02 average. SHIT! And this is when I fully committed myself to the effort. I got on my toes, pumped my arms and I was bounding like a gazelle. With about 200 yards left, I was at 7:01. I went into a full sprint and just at the corner of my house, just when I was about to give up, the Garmin changed to 7:00. Relief is a wonderful feeling. I hope you get a big dose of relief for the Holidays.

2 comments:

Henry H said...

Kiet,

Thanks for the plug! I appreciate the recognition.

I remember those runs in the 7th grade, because I used to breathe every third step and you made me change that to normal breathing, as if I was walking, which was very difficult to begin with!

Good effort on that run. Down to the final sprint, I like it!

Again, great to hear from you.

Happy Holidays!

-Henry

Charisa said...

Nice run!