Balmy brick

Today was the usual Saturday brick day...I got to start the day having breakfast with HH and was not feeling particularly motivated for a 4+ hour workout. She went mountain biking, so I had no excuse to slack... so I got my crap together and rallied. It was 10:30 by the time I parked at John & Judy's near the arboretum and got myself moving. The brick was supposed to be a 70 mile ride with 2 x 5 mile TT in the middle + a 30 minute run. I rode the long side of Mercer Island and did the first 5 mile piece there, then over Newport to Lake Sammamish and out-and-back on East Lake Samm...2nd 5-mile piece there...then back the short way over Mercer Island for about 65 miles total. On the first 5-mile push, I felt my quads immediately and wasn't sure they were showing up for this program, but the higher tempo seemed to push out some cobwebs. By the last 10 miles, though, I was pretty tired and was also a little frustrated with my bike which has been shifting itself and not totally paying attention when I try to shift it...grrr....gotta get that checked ASAP. I got back to my car, grabbed my running stuff, and headed out into the arboretum. I had a partial malfunction (OK, it was user error) with the GPS and didn't set/re-set it correctly for the run...but I did manage to note the mileage and ran 3 miles, close enough to 30 minutes. I got a bit of a side/stomach ache on the run and was not having much fun, but pushed through it. The whole day it felt like I was in a terrarium...really humid. I think I was a bit dehydrated and that was the problem there on the run.

Despite the fact that I am making significant progress (if I say so myself) to branch into a new chapter of my life and be less of a creature of habit (remember, my last pedicure was not blue!), I think some of my creature-of-habit tendencies are hard wired down to my muscle fibers. I did those 2 TT's today on completely different roads/terrain and different parts of the workout (i.e. miles 8-13 and 38-43), but my time and average HR for both was exactly the same. I think in this arena, that's probably a good thing...focusing on doing things differently elsewhere...

Brick:

65 mile ride
2 x 5-miles TT: 14:44, Avg HR = 147
4:05:31 total
Avg pace 16.1 mph

3 mile run
27ish minutes