Brick Workout #2 Before Tri for Joe

According to the loud DJs coming across the alarm clock radio this morning, there was a thin fog that was causing delays. I laid in bed with my eyes closed, trying to talk myself into believing it was Saturday. After I realized I didn't have the power to change the days and finally opened my eyes, I saw a beautiful, fresh sky – a welcome sight after so many cloudy days in a row. Looking out the window, I thought how it would have been a great morning for a run. Misty morning runs are my favorite. But I was planning to do another brick workout in the evening after work.

It was a mini-duathlon of sorts. Instead of doing three runs and two bike sessions, I decided to just do two runs and one bike in between, just like the race, but much shorter. With the Idlewild 5K this weekend, I didn't want to take too much out of my legs. I decided to bike longer so I'd get the lead feeling in my legs for the second run. After it was all finished, the only thing missing from this brick compared to the last brick was one 1 mile run.

I set my bike up outside like last time. I have my new tire on.

It has some interesting tread.

I wore new shorts that I would like to use for the duathlon. My current bike shorts are a little too big. I look and feel like I am running in a diaper. Until I can find a good deal on thin padded shorts (which is nearly impossible) I wanted to see if non-padded shorts would work for a short 12 miles on the bike. I'm not sure. It will be close to 45 minutes. Today was only 22 minutes. Hmmm.

I went out the door after some quick arm and leg stretches. I only wanted to run smooth. I honestly didn't think I'd be able to run the same speed as the last brick workout I did two weeks ago. But when I got to the end of the street, my watch said 4:02. Huh. I turned around, still focusing on keeping my breathing under control and keeping my legs smooth and stride strong. I got back to the driveway and stopped my watch.
7:56.

:)

To my knowledge, I've never ever ever ran under 8 minutes for the distance of 1 mile. Ever. !!!!!!!!!!

I practically skipped through the house, stopping quickly to jot my time down. Then I went out the back door where my bike awaited me. I threw my shoes on, thinking about all the setup for transition at the duathlon and how I haven't done that in a few years now, and hopped on the saddle. I began an easy spin. The seat wasn't too uncomfortable.

As there is nothing to do while on the bike trainer except watch the dogs or the neighbors mow, neither of which were entertaining, I decided to concentrate on my pedal stroke. I tried to feel the power in a circular motion rather than the mashing down motion. I soon got bored and did a few 1 minute pickups, changing gears and going faster, leaning over into the lower position on the handlebars. When I got to 20 minutes, I finally felt warmed up. So I did just a couple more minutes and then it was time for run number 2.

With Harley-dog in my face, trying to lick my sweat, I changed my shoes. I think I should get the quick-pull laces for the duathlon. Not that I'm speedy or going to place, but there is a lot of time that can be gained in transition, and good grief tying my shoes seems to take forever! I went back through the house, wrote down my times and then went out for my second run.

I prepared myself mentally for running out of juice. If I could just manage a 9 minute pace, that would be realistic and I'd be happy with that. I got to the half mile and saw 4:10. OK, I'll go for 8:20. Running back was smooth. I landed back in the driveway at 8:11, a negative split again.

YAY!!!!

The results.

I sat back outside after walking around a little bit and relaxed. I should have mowed that prairie in the background. There's tomorrow I guess.

I have no idea what to expect for the 5K Sunday. I surely couldn't keep that pace up for 3 miles in a row. So what pace can I maintain? This is getting tricky now that I can actually run different paces. In the past, 5Ks meant run a comfortable hard and then I'd run out whatever is left when I thought I could. Now I feel like I have this huge pace range to play with. If I go out too fast, I'll be screwed. But I don't want to go out too slow and not get the lowest time I can. Hmmmm...

Oh fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun!!!!!

Brick!

Tonight I did my first brick workout in, oh I don't know... a few years!?

Definition time! For those that may not know, and as I understand it, a "brick" workout is any workout designed for multi-sport where you do two different sports back to back in one session. The point is to train for some endurance and also to get your body used to switching muscle groups while fatigued already. So you could do a run then swim. Or swim then bike. Or run then bike. Or any other combination! When I first read about them (and I don't remember where I read this), the idea was to do the activity multiple times, back to back. Since then I've seen that any two sports back to back is called a "brick". But to me, the bricking aspect of it comes from switching back and forth between the two where you really get your body used to the change. It's incredible how hard that second 5K always is. Maybe this is more important for duathlons, since you run then bike then run again. Anyway, I remember how much I found the workout to be a benefit when I did it a few years ago.

So without further ado... my brick session on my back porch and in the neighborhood.

Here's the set up.

I set my trainer up on the back porch so I could ride back there, then run out to our street and go to the end and back. I decided to run 1 mile, then bike 10 minutes for 3 times (except ending with the run). So it was run-bike-run-bike-run with the run distance totaling 3 miles and the bike distance approximating maybe 9 miles? But I think I was going a little slower than that. That is one of the sucky things about the wind trainer - there's no way to tell what your power/effort really is.

Wee little dogs out in the yard.























So here I am with dry hair pre-workout. Man I sweat a lot. And I think it's funny to start a workout in makeup. It was the end of the work day. I just always feel funny going for a run in makeup. And I was too lazy to take out my earrings.

I took off out the front door down the street.
Run #1, I ran this mile in...
8:18.

Whhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??

Hmmm, well that was a tad on the fast side and surprising side.

I got on the bike - teehee! This headband rocks. Keeps the sweat out of my eyes, though at one point on the ride portion, I put my head down and about 10 drops dripped out onto my handlebars, like I had squeezed it or something. Or it was collecting in a pocket. Weird. I couldn't help the goofy smile. I was thinking about actually doing the duathlon.
And woah, hey, anyone need some blood because that vein on my arm be poppin'.

The first bike session was kind of easy, probably too easy. I picked it up two different times for a minute each. Other than that it was just extremely boring. We have a boring back yard. And bugs were flying around me, annoying me.

Run #2, ran in 8:32.
Still a bit shocking. Surely I would die on the third run.

Bike #2 was better. It went by really fast. I tried to push longer and harder to feel a little bit of burn in my legs to mimic how it feels actually out there on the road, racing.
I was taking pictures because I was so BORED.

Harley didn't understand what I was doing.

So I was prepared to just not be able to run the same pace on the last run. I got my legs pretty burning on the bike and figured I'd just run out of gas. But I didn't!!!! Run #3, ran in 8:28! I definitely was sucking wind really hard and was tired, but I kept the pace! I felt the lead legs similar to during an actual duathlon, so it was good I finally was able to simulate that.

Mmmmmm water...

I'm really happy with the workout! It was fun, and different, and I did way better than I thought I would. For the next one, I think I need to bike longer to better simulate the fatigue in the legs for the last 5K of a duathlon. It is such an odd feeling. Maybe I'll bike for 20 minutes, with some hard intervals, then run a mile and only do that twice.

I can't believe I ran those miles that fast (which I know really isn't fast, but for me it's fast). This makes me very curious for what I could pull off for a 5K these days. I think I owe my seemingly added strength to both weighing less and the Monday night group rides. Biking long distances makes you strong, for sure! And it's only May! Wooohoo!

Post-workout reflections... eh? get it??

I am getting stronger. Finally. And I love it.

Below is what I wrote/scrawled on when I came through the house between each activity :)  The neighbors across the street were sitting outside during this and must have thought I was a little odd popping out my front door, tearing off down the street...three times. If only they could have seen the bike too. Come to think of it, it probably would have been slightly more interesting in the front yard. But I don't think I have the guts. :)  T = transition, like when you're actually doing a duathlon or triathlon (your time in the transition area is also timed... you can make up a lot of time here. It's kind of like a pit stop). I wasn't hurrying, obviously.