Brick Workout

As a beginner triathlete, there are a lot of tips, terms, and tricks to the trade that I don't know. However, there is one that I do. Brick workouts. A brick workout is when you do one activity right after the other, e.g. swimming then hopping out of the pool and getting on your bike. Triathletes will incorporate brick workouts into their routines because...well...it's kind of obvious why.

Last night I did a Brick workout. I didn't plan to do it, it just kind of happened that way. It was such a beautiful day and I wanted to do my workout outside, and I conveniently was located at my parents' house and so was my bike. Initially I wanted to run, but I really wanted to bike. The solution? "Ok, I'll do both."

I've mentioned this before, but my parents live next to Cherokee Park, arguably the prettiest park in the area, and there is a popular (yet HILLY) 2.4 mile loop that I planned to use. I rode down a hill into the park, rode the loop twice, and then rode back to the house. Total distance was a little over 5 miles.

Some reactions that went through my head while riding:

"Am I ever going to make it up this hill?"
"These other cyclists are intense."
"Darn it, I'm already in the lowest gear."
"Do I have a flat tire?"

As you can see, I was pretty paranoid during my ride. My bike is so lightweight and so high-tech, it's going to take a while to get used to it. I got two flat tires in the first week of riding it (one was my fault) so now I'm going to be constantly worried that I have a flat tire. Great.

After I got back to my parents' house, I hopped off the bike, got a drink of water, stretched my quads, and took off running. I felt like my legs were still moving in a pedaling motion. I had to walk a few times, but I ran most of the way.

Overall: whoa. I've got some work to do. The triathlon in August involves a 14 mile bike ride and a 5k run, and I did a 5.2ish ride and a 5k run. And I didn't even do any swimming!

Time to step it up. I'm excited to see how I progress!