Biggest brick this year

Yesterday I worked all day doing sports massage at the Ragnar Relay finish line on Whidbey Island...it was a gorgeous day and a fun, upbeat event, made even better because I got to work with my BFF from massage school, Shannon. It was, however, a long day (had to wait through 2 ferries on the way there and 3 on the way back) and, despite the fact that there was no workout yesterday, it didn't exactly feel like I'd had a "rest" day during today's brick. (Of course, I probably didn't help the brick prep by my beer consumption or by being the last customer at the Coastal Kitchen and having too much garlic heavy Greek food at about 11:00 p.m. last night...oops).

I had one early client today (a Ragnar survivor) and then got out on the bike at 11 a.m. for my big 'ol brick. This one was a 45 mile ride (incl 25 miles tempo) + a 5 mile run. In the interest of time, I just rode from home to Mercer Island and did the long side 3 times (I know how lacking in creativity can one be, but hey, if it ain't broke...) for the miles and tempo stretch I needed. Let's just say 25 miles is a longass time (for me) to hold tempo pace...whew. This ride was friggin' hard...I really had to mentally stay with the program to keep the workrate through it and strangely, I think I felt the worst in the last 11 miles --after the tempo part of the ride. I was totally limping home dreading the run. I did a decent transition and started running slowly downhill to the Lake...purposely holding back on pace because I didn't trust that there was much in my legs. I was pleasantly surprised, however, that the run felt better than the bike, by far. Not sure what's up with that, maybe it was just because I wasn't supposed to push it. I was definitely ready to be done by the last 1.5 mile or so, but I was not that miserable. My HR was a little high, but I really didn't feel I was pushing it, I think it was the temperature and just cardiac drift since I was out about 3.5 hours total. It was a nice hot afternoon, but a lot of Lk WA Blvd was shaded and pretty pleasant. I will admit that I ran about a mile downhill and didn't run back up, so the run was downhill then flat. I ended by the lake where I threw myself in and then walked up over the stairs to my house. My knees were pissed about the 6 flights of stairs on the way home, but otherwise felt good today...hamstring was a little surly on both the bike and the run.

The great thing about this brick is that I learned I can feel good on the run after feeling like total crap on the bike...I have a feeling I may need to pull up that memory at some point.

6 days till the Federal Escape Tri :)

Brick:

Bike: 45 miles
9 mile warm up: 38 min
25 mile tempo: 1:21:41; Avg pace 18.4mph Avg HR=142
11 mile moderate: 42 min

Run: 5 miles
45:21
9:04 min mile pace
Avg HR= 155
Max HR = 168