That's right, my first brick of the year took place on Sunday. Some readers are (intimately, painfully) familiar with bricks but for those new to this, it's the geek term for a training ride followed by a run. Bike+Run="ICK!".
I went down to Columns Drive (now that I have my handy annual pass) LATE on Sunday...I spent most of the day cleaning and organizing the office/training room, and finally found myself in the car headed over there at like 6:30, Hammer Bar in hand. I got on the bike, not knowing what to expect as I'd been doing indoor trainer workouts since my birthday and hadn't been out since then on the open road. I was eager to see if I had improved with the extra 4 rides in between. Just four in 2.5 weeks.
The answer? Yes.
I kept a pretty steady moderate pace with a goal to check my time after 2 loops (10 miles), as this was the distance I did previously which left me totally done and tired in :45. I am pleased to report that at 2 loops my time was just over 39 minutes...yes! I went on to do another loop (previously impossible) at a pretty good pace, and netted out an overall average of 16.3 on my bike-0-meter.
Then I was ready for a run...I honestly don't know when my last brick was. A year or more, if not two. I started out with the familiar pegleg/brickleg feeling and was kinda cranky about it then remembered one simple truth.
This is how you get stronger.
And then I smiled broadly and almost giggled to myself about how uncomfortable and familiar and happy it felt all at the same time. At the turnaround I picked it up and managed a negative split - my legs having shaken off some of the nastiness and warmed up into real and functional body parts. I finished and spent about :20 stretching in the now-near-dark lot (yes, there were still plenty of people around) ...feeling like a brick....house. Mighty mighty.
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