Brick # 3

Three Saturdays in April and three bricks. Workouts are actually going pretty well.

Before discussing this morning's brick, I wanted to update my progress in the water. Beginning with this month I cut my pool work down to once a week. At the time, I had been making steady progress and felt like I needed to add more rest considering the intensity of the bricks.

Two weeks ago I swam at a pace of about 42.72 yards per minute which was slower than previous workouts by about a whole yard. Knowing that progress is never a straight line, I didn't let it bother me. Last week I resolved to work harder to improve my speed. And I did--by all of 0.16 yard per minute. I was also exhausted during the entire swim.

Last night, I decided not to worry about speed. Instead I just worked on being smooth. Prior to heading to the pool I spent a couple minutes watching the Mr. Smooth animation at the  Swim Smooth website. Once in the water I went easier on my first hundred yards and I only checked my watch when hitting the lap button every four laps. The result: I ended up going at about 43.87 yards per minute, faster than I have to date. It's just more proof (as if I needed any) that swimming is more about good technique!

Today was a lot like last week. At 4:00, my alarm went off and I trudged down to the kitchen to mix up the peanut butter and banana smoothie. It was very satisfying. Remembering last week, I also made a point of finishing a big glass of water and then it was back to bed.

Four hours later I rolled out again was on my way out the door within 15 minutes. It was another cool morning but I felt good and seemed to making good time. I even passed a guy who in all fairness was probably wrapping up a 30 mile ride while I was just doing 12.4, but it still did my ego some good.

Transition is still pretty hard for me. I managed to get my shoes out of the pedals before tipping over, but it was close. Then up the driveway and into the garage. I had a little trouble getting my ruining shoes on. I wear orthotics and they were slipping. I may need to come up with some kind of Velcro solution for that.

I left the transition on the run tracking pretty short strides, but I felt good. Sort of a "I'm really doing this" as I went out and commenced my four mile run.

The run pace was, as expected, much slower than it had been in the last two weeks. I was more interested in going further than faster today. I figure being a little over-trained for the event (which is now five weeks away) rather than trying to gain marginal amounts of speed.

All in all, I was still pleased with my results. Next week includes the same four mile run, but I'll be riding 15 in front of it.

Brick 3 Results:

1) Bike : 12.4 miles, 44:14, 16.8 mph average
2) Transition: 1:51
3) Run: 4 miles, 38:21, 9:26 ppm average