Good brick!

Today was a brick day...and a really good tough one, yowsa. I drove my bike out to Cycle U this morning to help get the first TDC training clinic off the ground. Once Ed and the other uber-competent coaches got my peeps going (10 showed up, yea!), I made an exit and took off from there on my ride.

I needed to do 50 miles with a 10 mile TT in the middle + run 20 minutes. It seemed cold, so I took off on the trail wearing my whole arctic-ready ensemble (lobster gloves, beanie hat, booties, "teflon" jacket) and went out to Marymoor to do the TT on East Lake Sammamish Pkwy. I was toasty by the time I got to the park and downgraded to normal-person gloves. The 21 mile warm up getting out there felt OK, but not great and I wasn't quite sure how well my legs had recovered from the week and how this one was going to go...I hit E. Lk. Samm pretty hard and it was apparent pretty soon by my HR that it would be a tough one...but actually not as awful as I'd thought it might be. Well, except that damn little hill at about mile 5. I tried to attack the hill. It attacked back. I didn't give up, but my HR hit 163. I kept at it, hammered on up and down and into Issaquah. In the last half mile I got a little jacked up by the traffic and had to unclip and hop up to the sidewalk, but I don't think it messed up my time much. I was happy with how hard I pushed this 10 miler...just under 31 minutes.

After the TT part, I was surprised that I felt better for the rest of the ride than I had warming up...it was a little odd and I kept wondering when the bottom was going to fall out, but I felt OK all the way in-- never fell apart (kept on the nutrition, so maybe that was it?). I came up Newport, over Mercer Island the short way, back through the arboretum, the UW, and back up the trail to Magnuson. Despite having a gazillion clothes on, I still had a pretty quick transition to the run and looped Magnuson Park. My legs piped up immediately when I started running...still feeling my hamstrings from Thursday. But the run was OK, too and 20 minutes is nothing. I really like doing bricks because they make me feel like a real triathlete! I ended the run loop by coming up through the off-leash dog park. I love going through there and looking at all the cool dogs...it was a typical crowded Saturday there today and it turned into a bit of an agility test as I had to dodge a lot of 4-legged moving targets, puddles, and dog parents throwing sticks and herding their pets. Not the smartest thing to do at the end of a long workout probably, but it was fun scenery!

This was a really good, strong training week--quality (tempo run and tempo bike) and volume were both up there --got in 14 hours this week.

I'm going to "Hot Flash" later and I hope I can get a bar stool as I'm not sure how well or how long I'll be able to stand up or dance. Glad tomorrow is my rest day.

Brick:
55 mile Ride:

21 miles warm up/moderate

10 Mile TT:
30:51
Avg HR = 149
Max HR = 163
Avg pace = 19.4

24 miles

Total:
55 miles
3:30
Avg HR = 126
Avg pace = 15.7

Run:
2.3 miles
20:05
Avg HR = 144