#YeahButDidYouDie: She's (Not) A Brick House
(Or what most people call "Breakthrough Workout of the Week")
Each week, I'm going to highlight what I view as my "Breakthrough Workout of the Week" - or, as my friends say to me when I say it was the hardest workout yet ... "Yeah, but did you die?".
Today's workout was a completely new concept to me - but it's something that experienced triathletes do all the time.
It's a workout called a Brick.
What's a Brick?
A brick workout refers to the stacking of two disciplines during the same workout, one after the other with minimal to no interruption in between. As you switch modes of exercise, your body needs to effectively and efficiently prepare for the next demand while recovering from the previous exercise demand. Your heart rate increases significantly as your body tries to shift the blood flow from the muscles of the first exercise to the demands of the muscles of the next. Brick workouts help your body handle the aerobic, anaerobic, and muscular demands of a triathlon event.
You can read more about Brick Workouts on Breaking Muscle.
What Was Your Workout?
My workout today was what my coach deemed as my "Easy Brick Workout".
How she outlined it:
Warm up for 4 miles, then fast spinning for 20 min (no big ring), then cool down for 20 min. Spin out your legs in the final minute or so, then switch to your run shoes (if you need to) and go straight into your run - fast for 10 min.
OK, let's do this ...
How Did You Do?
It was (in my opinion) a beautiful day for a midday workout. Remember, I like sunshiney weather and have no problem with heat. So, when I began my workout, it was mostly sunny and 76 degrees with a slight breeze. I spent most of my ride in low gears on the middle ring - at one point, I even got my max speed up to 19.1/mph (I was cruising!). Over the course of the 60 minutes, I ended up cycling for 15.2 miles. I'll take it!
On the cool-down, I practiced pulling my water bottles from their cages - this is a skill that I've not YET completed mastered, but I'm getting better! So that qualifies as my "One New Thing Every Workout" - I'm trying to get better at one granular item during each workout - be it a drill or something as rudimentary as drinking while in movement on the bike.
My ride finished at my truck, where I racked my bike and traded in my helmet and cycling headphone for a visor and Bluetooth headphones. I did NOT swap out shoes because I currently am riding in my running shoes (I don't have cycling pedals on my bike yet - they're up next once I become more comfortable with handling the bike at higher speeds and avoiding obstacles at higher speeds) and then I set into my run.
10 minutes fast? Easy peasy! Just a little 5 minute out-and-back from my truck. Took a HUGE drink of water, headphones in, playlist fired up, watch started and here we go!
I start running and run STRAIGHT of the path and nearly in to a retaining wall. My legs wanted to keep riding the bike and I needed them to run! It was the WEIRDEST sensation I'd ever felt during any training - the best I can say is my legs felt "drunk". I slowed down to walk a bit until my legs felt like they were almost normal - and then I finished out my run.
Easily my worst run ever. The feeling was so weird - have you ever seen the movie "Best in Show" where the guy has two left feet and walks in loops? Literally, that's how I felt.
So - What Did You Learn?
Well, one, I think my hydration was definitely off. I went through two bottles of Nuun on my bike during my hour-long ride, but unfortunately, most of that hydration came during the cool-down portion. I made a point to take a pause before my 20-minute speed session to drink, but that also means I spent 20 minutes pedaling as fast as I could possibly go, consistently with no hydration on a warm and sunny day.
And once I settled in to my run, the back of my throat most DEFINITELY felt dry. Which meant I was definitely dehydrated by that point. Once my run finished, I took down 64 ounces of water pretty much immediately. So, yeah, not hydrated effectively - which is one of the things I pride myself on when I run.
I most definitely "spun out my legs" as the last portion of my ride was downhill on a bridge directly to my truck. So, I probably need to practice gearing a little bit differently.
But mostly? I guess my body just needs to adjust to what I'm asking of it. I made sure to keep my "transition" time between workouts minimal - according to my Garmin, it took me roughly 2:30 minutes to rack and lock up my bike, swap head gear, drink some water and head out for the run. When I started running, it definitely felt like I didn't have feet - and I certainly noticed that my running strides were shorter and more "staccato" compared to how my stride normal feels - a little more smooth and elongated, kinda like ice skating/roller-blading.
#YeahButDidYouDie?
Nope! I mean, I probably looked like a drunk when I started running (with the weather so pretty, it was a very busy day on the trail this afternoon).
I was certainly happy to see that Brick box turn green on my Training Peaks. And I was certainly happy that I was done with it - I guess it's a good thing that I say to myself "Well, THAT's the hardest thing I've ever done!" after each workout.
Because it's something new, and it's something I'm not used to trying and there's always going to be a level of difficulty.
I just have to remind myself of things - just like I did with running:
If a marathon was easy, everyone would run them.
If a triathlon was easy, everyone would be doing them.
39 days until my first Triathlon.
1 month and 11 days from today.
Gotta keep pushing!