Every few weeks or so I get motivated enough to try my hand at a brick workout. (Brick workouts consist of back-to-back training exercises to prepare you for multi-sport competing.) This is my second full brick workout where I’ve done the swim-bike-run combination. The first time was actually 2 weeks ago: I did half distances of the sprint triathlon I’ll be participating in. That means that I only did a 0.25 mile swim, 6 mile bike ride, and a 1.6 mile run.
Today I was completing my first week of scheduled training (instead of fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants training) and I had some make-up work to do, so it ended up being a brick workout of complete sprint triathlon distances. I started off with the half mile swim, progressed to the 12 mile bike ride, and ended with a 4 mile run.
Needless to say I was pretty exhausted! With 14 days in between the complete brick workouts it seemed as though I was spending my time in-between well. There was a marked improvement in endurance. I’m getting smarter about hydration and fueling. It all really just comes down to listening to your body! Fortunately I’ve been doing these brick workouts at the gym so everything’s pretty convenient. I realize that I’ll eventually have to move this outside to the real world, but I just want to make sure I’m ready first! For now I can be that crazy lady who jumps out of the pool, rips off her swim cap and googles, and heads to the bike with a funky tan lines and marks on her face! My times are still pretty slow, but hey, I finish fairly strong! Here’s an awesome video of Julie Moss, a college senior who crawled to the finish line of the full-blown Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run).
I’m working on the endurance aspect right now…when I get more comfortable with the transitions and the bricks I’ll work on my speed. But, for now, I’m strictly focused on just finishing the swim-bike-run trio!
Amara in Training 