Brick House

I've had a lot of dumb ideas lately. Running a marathon, Mud Chasers, running 9+ miles on the hottest morning of the year (until this week, when it's going to be hotter), and on Saturday I had another bad one: Trying out the duathlon training workout my wife was doing in preparation for the Keystone Warrior Memorial Duathlon next Saturday.

Friday was an absolutely gorgeous day, and I ran a very hilly 8.5 miles before work. While this was just a wonderful run, it probably set me up for a tougher time on Saturday, when the plan was to run two miles, bike 10 miles, and run two more miles. My wife told me recently recently that a run then bike or bike then run workout is known as a brick, so hence the title of this post.

I got up Saturday morning with legs still tired from Friday, and with bright sunshine for the first two miles, I quickly felt tired and overheated, but finished the two miles in 17:46, not bad. After the run, the bike ride felt like bliss, since the wind from riding keeps me cooler and drier. My plan was ten miles, but I cut it a mile short due to a little soreness in the right outside of the knee,. I was worried that my IT bands might be acting up again, since I'd read in the Runner's World "Injury Issue" that biking could aggravate ITBS. I finished the 9-mile ride in about 53 minutes. (I had forgotten to reset Garmin)

As I started heading back toward our base camp (my wife's) car, I passed her riding in the other direction, and she warned me to walk a bit before I started running. I found that after my ride, my legs felt so rubbery that I didn't think I could run 10 feet, much less 2 miles. However, after about a two minute walk, my legs felt well enough to try. For the first quarter mile, my legs felt very wobbly, but then seemed to regain their strength. My pace was good, and there was a nice breeze, making it feel more comfortable than the first run...until the last half mile, when I hit the wall. I finished the two miles in 19 minutes.

I'm really happy with how this first brick workout went, so I'm leaning toward signing up for the Catfish Sprint Duathlon on July 10. My challenge will be to squeeze biking in during a very busy June schedule. Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep my base mileage up. I ran 10 miles today, which is farther than I ran at any point last year between May and October, but with the hot weather come back, likely to stay this time, it might be my last double digits for awhile.

In other "news" I signed up for the Dreaded Druid Hills 10K on June 25. This race is supposed to be devastatingly hilly. Between this race, a duathlon, and at some point in June some speed training in preparation for the Harrisburg Mile, it seems like the summer will be filled with some interesting challenges.

Note: I just noticed that this was the 100th post here at EYD. Sorry it's such a boring one. Thanks everybody for reading and hopefully post #200 can be a little more fun.