Bricks are a Beast

I've latched onto a new form of torture: the brick workout.

The brick workout is the foundation (pun intended) of a triathlete's or duathlete's training.  It's when you ride your bike for many miles and then immediately hop off of it and start running.  Its purpose is to get your legs in shape for the bike/run portion of your tri.

Transitioning from biking to running is the hardest part of a triathlon (or my upcoming duathlon on Aug 27,) because of the way the longer bike routes really tire your legs out, and then YOU'RE STILL EXPECTED TO RUN.  Add on top of that, my slow-as-molasses running skills and, well, I could use some better preparation.

This is the hot mess I was after the brick.  In South Carolina. In August.

I only did one or two bricks before the triathlon in May, so I've decided that Saturdays in August will be dedicated brick days.  And because my upcoming du' is a run-bike-run, I've also decided to follow that format for my bricks. That and I biking and then running is clearly just not enough sweating for me.  I need to run then bike then run to really get in a good workout.  Now before you have a panic attack on my behalf, please know that I only ran one mile before biking 13 and then running another mile.*

Today was my first true brick and I realized two things:
1) I must really love my friend Daniel to agree to do this duathlon with him, which involves more running, which I hate, and less swimming (or none), which I love.
2) The juxtaposition of 13 miles on the bike next to a measly mile run makes the mental part of running entirely more do-able. It also makes me realize just how horrible it would be to run a half marathon, which also happens to be 13 miles.


* The upcoming du's race distance is two miles running, 13 biking and then another two running, if you're curious.