Brick # 1

Since I decided to start the process of training, Saturday's have almost always been swim days. The wife goes to Zumba class as the rec center and I hit the pool for anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. Yesterday was the first break in that routine.

I set my garage (a.k.a.: transition area) up with a saw horse along with my transition towel. I then mounted the bike for a 10 mile ride using a simple out and back ride along the Sulphur Gulch and Cherry Creek trails. It was an ideal morning to be training. There was a bit of wind, but nothing terrible and while warmer, it was still cool enough to be enjoyable.

As I may have alluded to before, I live at the top of the hill so any ride or run that starts at home invariably results in an uphill return and so it was yesterday. I pushed hard to finish my slightly more than 10 mile ride and ended up in front of my garage door huffing and puffing. My legs were pretty tight as I pushed the bike into the garage and hung it on the saw horse.

Right after dismounting the bike, I hit the lap button my Garmin 305. It had been set up for auto multisport mode and it went right into transition. After a hurried change into my running shoes, I hit the lap button again and the run began. I had not even gotten out of the driveway before the watch started beeping lap changes at me every second and before I knew it, I had gone 26 miles!! Well not really, but clearly there was something screwy with the GPS signal while I was somewhat inside. Fortunately the time was accurate but I was not entirely sure of my distance.

Much as expected, the start of the run was hard. My legs were sore, sure, but more than anything, I was breathing hard and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. I guess that's not a surprise because my HR monitor showed an average of about 156 bpm which is about 15 above my normal rate. Also, because of the issues with the distance on the watch, I had no really good idea of my pace. I felt slow.

I managed to struggle through the course and finish what I guessed was around 3 miles, possibly a little more. Later on I mapped my distance on Gmap Pedometer and found it to be just over 3.1. That gives me an estimated time for the run of 29:31 or 9:31 per mile which I think is pretty respectable.

Clearly I learned a few lessons from this first brick that will help me when I go out next time:

1) Get plenty of water before hand. I'm usually pretty good about drinking water during the day before a run and usually go out well-hydrated. I did get up early in the morning (around 4:00) to drink a smoothie, and I should have downed a big glass of water then. Given the warmer day we had yesterday, it's not surprise my HR was up due to dehydration.

2) Leave the Garmin outside during transition. I'm a little surprised I lost reception just standing in my open garage, but that seems to be what happened. Next time, I'm going to leave it in the driveway and snap it onto my wrist afterward.

3) Drink lots of water the night before. I don't do very many morning runs so I don't have a hydration routine for them. That needs to change.

4) Consider easing back the last part of the ride. It's great to have a good head of speed on but easing back the HR before transitioning probably makes some sense for the long run.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how this first brick went. That said, I'm also glad I have four more scheduled. They definitely push me in terms of effort and more importantly mentally prepare me for what's ahead:

Brick 1 Results:

1) Bike : 10.14 miles, 35:36, 17.1 mph average
2) Transition: 1:43
3) Run: 3.19 miles, 29:31, 9:31 ppm average