Brick

Wednesdays are brick days, and they are fun. Bricks are the most race-typical and they help me prepare mentally and physically. It was relatively short—45-min bike, less-than-3-min transition, 30-min run.

The ride I did on the trainer, so it was exactly 45 minutes. Since I've been riding on the trainer, I've really been trying to focus on things that I'll need to do while racing: drinking at least every 15 minutes, keeping the HR up (today was supposed to be Z4, and I was between 138 and 164 the whole time), working hard to push and pull on the pedals, sprinting a little, adding in hills here and there. It's been good, because it's keeping me honest and focused.

Today's transition was 45 seconds. I decided to go sockless in the Zoot shoes, so I put on some vaseline and threw on the shoes (no race belt or visor to worry about, nor helmet or sunglasses to take off).

Then it was off to the corner of Franklin Road and Mallory Station and then back as far as I could make it in 30 minutes. Today was supposed to be in Z2; I was between 138 and 164 the whole time—either my ride wasn't in Z4 or my run wasn't in Z2, because the HR was quite similar between the two. I made it to the corner of Moores and Landings 15 seconds faster this week than last--that has been my 30-minute marker. Good news! Especially after not having run much. It wasn't that bad without socks; if I hadn't been thinking about it, I probably wouldn't have noticed a difference. However, more than 30 minutes might not be so good (remember this for sprint distances!).

It's still been raining, and I told the people at work that if it was raining, I'd play the Great Dalmuti with them on Wednesday, so today was game day. Fun times in the conference room!