5-13-08 (72 of 92) BRICK

"What doesn't kill me makes me stronger"...I must be turning into freaking Charles Atlas, then. The brick today was rough in the transition. I was scheduled to ride for 41 minutes and run for 20 minutes. The bike was good - I started at the West Point end of the park and headed for the Lanett side. Once I left the park, I headed away from the house and explored a couple of other 'parks' on the highway. I really pushed harder than I expected to push, but that was a good thing. I covered 12.17 miles in 44:19 (at an avg speed of 16.5 mph). After I got back to the jeep, I locked up the bike and changed into my running shoes as quickly as I could ( but didn't time myself), then took off on my 20 minute run.

Bike:
Mile 1 = 3:53
Mile 2 = 3:43
Mile 3 = 3:31
Mile 4 = 3:41
Mile 5 = 3:20
Mile 6 = 3:39
Mile 7 = 2:59 (Holy CRAP!)
Mile 8 = 3:32
Mile 9 = 3:36
Mile 10 = 4:11
Mile 11 = 2:58 (Holy CRAP! again)
Mile 12 = 3:37
final .17 mi = 1:32

Wow! I kept some pretty decent speeds and consistent times on that ride - - better than it felt on the bike! Only 1 leg over 4 minutes and I think that was crossing the dam (lots of speed bumps/ripples) and climbing the hill after it.

Then I ran:

OWWWWWW..my legs growled at me from the first step...so how did I respond to their growls? I sped up of course hahahahaah - sadistic? maybe. fun? eventually.

I didn't really have a pace in mind, I just wanted to run what felt quick for the 20 minutes. I ended up covering 2.53 miles in my 20 minutes (avg pace of 7:58/mi - -hoooahh!!). The miles broke down like this (on a very hilly route, doing the turnaround at about 11 minutes):

Mile 1 = 7:41 (this first split had me REALLY pumped up).
Mile 2 = 8:14 ( about a 33 second change in pace, but that latter part of the second mile, I was starting to push the speed again).
Mile 3 (partial) = 4:11 for .53 miles.

The first part of the run was rough....even painful. But I remembered a quote from an Ironman Winner: "It's about handling the pain, if you can't deal with the pain, you need to find another sport".

I was tired, but I was happy with the workout. I do wish I'd done a little quicker on the bike, and that I'd gone ahead and run to 3.1 miles, but it's probably best that I stuck to the planned workout.

I also carried a hydration pack on the full workout (add another 5-6 lbs of load). I still have mixed feelings about it, but I'm giving it a fair shot.