My First Brick

On Monday, after weeks of longing for one, I finally went on a brick.

What the frick is a brick? I'm not 100 percent certain myself, but my blog buddy Michael (a triathlete) said recently that a brick is when you run and bike, or bike and run, one after the other. So that's what I did on Monday morning.

First of all, the girls stayed the night with a family member, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do it. For a good brick, you need some time.

I wasn't quite sure what to do first, to bike or to run. I know the order for a triathlon is swim-bike-run so maybe a bike-run would have worked. But I figured I could do a run and get through a bike ride, and that being tired for the end of a run would be harder than being tired for the end of a bike ride. Just a newbie thought.

I set out for five miles and of course I got very excited and energized and wound up running six. I'd run 10 miles on Sunday so I still had that long-run mentality lingering I suppose. Anyway, I wasn't too worried after the run part of my brick. I got through 6.12 miles in 59:36 (I should really have ran for 24 more seconds to have made it an even hour of running, but oh well). I got my bike and set out for.......... a ride.

I had no idea what would have made for a good distance. 10 miles? 12? 15? During my run, I figured out that in an Ironman, the ratio of miles biked to miles run is greater than 4-to-1 but I wasn't feeling a 24-mile bike ride. Not quite. I set out though, not really worried about a distance.

The first mile flew by, in about 4:50. The next mile came and went and I was enjoying myself. I got to three and then four and figured that I would get to six and then turn around. The bike path I was on was great. No cars to deal with, a few other cyclists but for the most part it was just me and the path.

Oh yeah, and the hills. Okay, "hills" is too strong of a word. Inclines are more like it. There were a lot of inclines in some parts, and the inclines and declines are much more pronounced on bikes than they are when you run. The uphills are so hard and the downhills.... weeeeeee!!!

I made it to six miles in about 30 minutes, turned around and headed back for my truck. I was feeling fine, save for the occasional "hill" that forced me to pedal harder. On two occasions I stopped and walked the bike. It wasn't intentional but I figured it was time to do what when I'd pedaled and pedaled and pedaled until the bike stopped moving.

I felt good until about mile 10.5. Then, I felt it. My legs weren't burning but there was smoke coming out of them. I made it a goal to finish strong. I pedaled my legs off for the last mile and change and came in at 12 miles in 1:00:51. I have no idea if that's good, bad or whatever, but I'm just happy I got through it.

All told, six miles running, 12 miles biking and one very hungry LB. I can't remember the last time I was that hungry after a workout. But hey, I did well to work up an appetite.