It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these. Two months to be exact. My last brick was on May 20th. This morning I rode 10 miles on the bike followed by a 2.58 miles run to start off my week. I’ve switched things around. I have always considered Monday to be the start of my running week but Coach C has my weekly schedule beginning on Sundays. So Sunday it is.
Weekly Totals:
Runs – 36.97 miles
Bike – 20.0 miles
Total Time Working Out: 6 hours 19 minutes
It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a brick workout. Just looking back on my logs it looks like the last time I did one was 4 weeks ago (not counting the quarter mile brick on 4/30) when I rode 20 miles and then ran 1 mile. Today I planned on 10 miles on the bike, which I did, in the usual time, 27:47 or a 21.6 mph pace. It was actually a spur of the moment decision to jump on the treadmill for a mile while I was stretching out my legs prior to wiping down the bike.
So, I hop on the treadmill and crank out a mile in 7:32. Yep. That’s right. Last month I ran an 8:22 mile after that 20 mile ride. I am definitely noticing progress these days. This makes me even more hopeful and excited about my summer training.
And after all that, I headed to the weights area for another strength session. I did 2 sets of each of the following giant sets:
1) Reverse Crunch/Ab Bench Crunch/Reverse Crunch
2) Hammer Curls/2 DB Pullovers/Cable Curls
3) DB Squats/Leg Curls/Deadlifts
I am now pleasantly tired and ready to play with the girls for the rest of the day.
“Live hard and run strong.” – sneakersister
(yea, that’s my motto)
I’ve had quite a full morning today. Woke up at 5:30 am because Freckle Face couldn’t breathe – darn allergies! Drank some coffee, a little internet browsing then headed out for a 2.25 mile run. I ran in my new kicks that I got in the mail yesterday. These shoes are going to do just fine. Thank you, again, Runners’ Lounge and New Balance.
Got the girls fed and ready for the gym then headed over for workout #2.
Today’s goal on the bike was 27.5 miles. Yea, I know, that’s an odd number, but I wanted to even out my total monthly biking distance for April. I blew away my biking goal for the month which was to bike 200 miles in April. I ended up with 250 miles, average 21.6 mph. I’m feeling good about that. And, of course, because I am now officially addicted to getting in a run immediately after a long bike ride I jumped on the treadmill for a quick quarter mile run so as to stretch out my quads. It works people!
So, 27.5 miles this morning. Yesterday I listened to Erin’s new podcast, you should check it out, she’s a natural. This morning I caught up on kelownagurl’s podcast. Hey, kelownagurl, thanks for the shout out. I figured I’d return the vibe and give you a shout out today. If you aren’t familiar with kelownagurl, she’s training for a triathlon and recording her progress in her podcasts. Erin is a triathlete as well. I highly recommend both of their podcasts.
April Totals:
Running – 47.6 miles (19 runs)
Biking – 250 miles (25 bikes)
Elliptical – 5.8 miles (3 times)
Weightlifting – 4:36:00 (13 sessions)
Total time on all workouts: 24:54:24
“Live hard and run strong.” – sneakersister (yea, that’s my motto)
I am so ready to start running again! I really miss it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really enjoying all of this biking but my legs and my heart just want to get out there and run. Soon, very soon …
I must have started off pretty slowly on the bike this morning because I was kicking some major butt in the last 7 miles or so, 110-120 rpm, and I still rode an average of 21.6 mph. I thought for sure I’d get at least 22 mph with that effort. Well, another 20 miles on the bike is in the books.
Hopped immediately onto the treadmill for my 4th brick, 1 mile in 8:22. I can’t stop myself lately. These brick workouts feel so good. Eventually I will test out my endurance by running further than a mile or two. Eventually.
So, that April biking goal of mine which was to bike 200 miles in April is almost completed and I still have 7 more days to go until the month is over. I’m currently at 195.5 miles for the month.
So, after a big day yesterday consisting of a 10 mile bike ride (quickly becoming by far my easiest ride of the week and the least amount of miles I will ride) and a pretty decent weightlifting session, followed by 6 hours of back breaking, back aching yard work I did get up and head to the gym this morning for a long ride. Today I rode my farthest ever mileage in one shot, 30 miles. I felt the same afterward as I do when I put in a 20 mile ride. Again, I averaged a 2:46 minute mile which ends up being 21.6 mph. This is where the self torture comes in.After riding my longest distance ever I immediately hopped on the treadmill to run an 8:55 paced mile. I swear to you this is such a perfect way to shake out my legs after a bike ride. It feels amazing!
Week in review:
As a reminder, my goals for the week were:
Bike 60 miles (including two 20 milers)
Run 10 miles
Weight lifting 3 times
Weekly Totals:
2 Runs – 3.10 miles (avg. pace: 9:22)
5 Bikes – 81.80 mles (avg pace: 2:46)
3 Weights – 1 hr 24 min
2 Days Yardwork – 9 hrs total
I’d say that was a really good week.
I also want to thank feener for the Run U Mother shirt that I won on her blog giveaway. If you have a couple of minutes definitely stop by her blog.
Peanut wandered into our room at 4 am last night. Ugh! Every night this week has been like this. She is sick, poor thing. I was probably up for a good hour before dozing off again. Despite this, I just had a killer workout at the gym this morning. I headed over at my usual time but the place was packed! Everyone must have off from work today and decided that they want to get their workouts done early. All of the machines were taken, the only two remaining were the Stairmaster and the Mountain Climbing one. So, onto the Stairmaster and I started climbing steps. I can’t remember how many flights of stairs it said I climbed, over 30 stories for sure. It ended up being 1.02 miles worth of steps.
Next I headed over to the bike. I decided to try out the race setting. I punched in my weight, age and level and then it’s a 5 minute race. I set it on level 7. Maybe I should have put in a different level because, get this, it gave me a rating of 52 and said I was Elite. Yea, right! I’ll try it again next week at a higher level. 1.8 miles in total for the 5 minute race.
Now for my regular bike workout. 25 minutes, 9 miles. Averaged 21.6 mph.
Just then I decided I wanted to do another brick. Since I wasn’t walking all the way downstairs, gathering my stuff and taking it to the car my transition was so much quicker. Maybe a minute tops. I hop on the treadmill and first I started out slow because I wasn’t sure how fast my legs would go after 30 minutes on the bike at 21.6 mph. Within a few seconds I punched it down to a 9:15 pace for the first mile and then 8:46 pace for the second mile.
Can I tell you how much I am loving these brick workouts?? I love them! I feel so good afterwards.
Planning to hit some trails tomorrow and I’ll take my camera so that I can provide some pretty sites for you to look at. Hopefully the weather man is wrong and it WON’T be raining tomorrow.
This morning I woke up early so that I could head to the gym without the kids in tow. On my schedule for today, a 20 mile bike ride. I’ve learned that I don’t really start getting into my groove until somewhere between miles 8-10 and once I’m there I feel like I could just ride forever. Probably not forever but I definitely hit that zone and all of a sudden my legs are moving on their own and I keep increasing the tension on the bike. I hit 120 rpm’s this morning on level 8.
As I neared the 20 mile mark I considered going on until I hit 30 miles which would put me at my longest ride ever, or hop off the bike and hit the streets for a quick run just to see what a brick feels like. I opted for the brick. So, I quickly wiped down the bike, grabbed my stuff and threw it in the car and headed down the street. Since I wasn’t wearing my Garmin I had no idea of the distance or pace. I had my stopwatch so I started the timer and ran for 16 minutes. When I got home I mapped it and as it turns out I ended up running 1.75 miles.
I had no idea how my legs would feel when I started the run, especially after a pretty quick 20 mile bike ride. Actually, they felt pretty good. I ran a 9:16 pace. Crazy, huh? I’m not considering a duathlon in my near future but I sure like the combination of the two for training purposes.
A 9:16 pace and I ran on the grass as much as I could as per my friend’s instructions because of my shin splints.
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