Glenn’s Birthday “BRick”!
June 4, 2006
No… I didn’t get a brick for my birthday…
I did one.
No… It has nothing to do with sitting on the toilet.
BRick: B=bike, R=run… When you run after biking it feels icky… hence Bike+Run = ‘ick’… a “BRick”. But in honesty, after you bike several miles and go for a run your legs do feel like bricks are strapped to them. Try it!
The goal was to get out of the house by 7:00 AM and do the “BRick”. I actually got out of there at 7:45.
I’m way behind in my Tri-Training. Consider this - I haven’t been on my bike since the UCLA Triathlon on April 9th. That’s TWO MONTHS! And I have a Triathlon on June 10th and had to get on the bike and do a run at least once before then.
So I did.
Goal: a 6 mile ride (2 laps around the Rose Bowl) and a 3 mile run (1 lap around).
Hmmm… Normally, an 8AM ride would mean a few people out and about riding and running around. I wanted to beat the heat and so did everyone else. It was packed! Which is great. I feed on the energy of people out there getting fit and getting their workout in before the rest of the day. It’s an awesome feeling. You don’t go home without a good workout when so many people are there with the same intention.
Side note: One awesome thing about my Odyssey Mini-Van is that I can just stash my bike into the back after my ride and lock it then go for a run with no worries.
Okay, despite being off the saddle for two months, the ride wasn’t that bad. It starts with an incline and I just wanted to take it easy. But my legs felt good so I was able push it more than expected. Effort level was very important because I had to save some for a run. I managed it pretty well. I felt the burn in my legs a little early and I couldn’t pedal every inch of the way. Normally I can keep a cadence of at least 70 RPMs on my pedals throughout the whole ride. Especially the speed portion. But I had to rest my legs and didn’t hammer down like I like. I normally can ride on the big gear much longer but I didn’t want to push it so I took it easy.
The ride was fun. Relaxing. Easy. But not too easy. And it was faster than expected. I usually do the Rose Bowl at an average speed of around 16mph. I was surprised to log my times and found I was at my average. My running and weight training has definitely strengthened my legs and if I push it on the bike, I know I can up my MPH significantly. This is a good sign.
After the 6 miles I got to my car and quickly put my bike in the back, got on my running shoes, my iPod and grabbed another bottle of water. The transition time took about 2 minutes. I locked everything up and off I went.
Holy Shit. At first it didn’t seem so bad. But then it felt like I was lifting my feet with bricks attached and pounding them on the ground. Every stride felt worse and worse and worse. After .3 miles into the run (point 3 miles!!!) I gave in. I walked. It was a horrible feeling. Not the physical part I was experiencing but the mental part of not having enough power to convince myself to keep running. I was so discouraged in myself. I thought in five days I’ll have to do this all over. This after an open water swim in fact. It was very frustrating!
It only took about 20 seconds before I won the mental game. I picked up my feet and started to run. My legs know how it feels to lift my feet and move. I’ve done it enough times. I just had to do it through the pain. It felt like I was moving inches after every step but I checked my Garmin and it showed a high 10 minute mile pace. That’s pretty good after going for a bike ride. So no matter how slow it felt, I was actually moving faster than I thought. I kept reminding myself that after one mile things would get easier. It always does.
At a mile and a half I started to feel good again. I kept concentrated on every single step. I count every step at a 1-2, 1-2, 1-2 pace in my head to distract my mind from the pain. Like a march in double time Often times I talk to myself, ‘cmon, move, lets go…” and it helps me move my legs.
The last half mile or so I didn’t have ‘a kick’. It was a run at pace. I didn’t have it in me to go faster or harder. I just wanted to finish. And by god I did!
I took a four minute walk to cool down before getting to my car. I poured cool water on my head, downed my Gatorade and stretched. I turned on the radio to the STARBUCKS XM RADIO STATION and relaxed for about ten minutes. I watched people running with their dogs, parents pushing strollers and people riding on their bikes. I watched a guy struggle with a bike rack and felt like telling him he should sell the bike rack and buy an Odyssey.
It felt so good to do what I did. It was awesome. I can’t wait to do it again next year - on my 40th Birthday. But next year I hope to do a 20 mile bike and a 6 mile run! Or more!
Here are my splits:
BIKE:
Mile 1 04:30, Speed 13.3 mph
Mile 2 04:06, Speed 14.6 mph
Mile 3 02:46, Speed 21.7 mph
Mile 4 04:00, Speed 15.0 mph
Mile 5 04:03, Speed 14.8 mph
Mile 6 02:41, Speed 22.4 mph
Mile .31 01:05, Speed 17.2 mph
TOTAL: 6.31 miles in 23:11 with an average speed of 16.3 mph which is an average 03:40 min mile.
RUN
Mile 1 10:19, Speed 5.8 mph
Mile 2 10:24, Speed 5.8 mph
Mile 3 09:55, Speed 6.1 mph
TOTAL: 3.0 miles in 30:38 with an average speed of 5.9 mph which is an average 10:13 min mile. Pretty close to my 10k averages from last Sunday!
