Happy. Healthy. Heathen.

What a Brick!!

Today was a 35/10 brick…that’s cool triathlon lingo for biking 35 miles, then running 10.  And it was killer.

If you’ve been reading, you know I’ve had a couple of spastic weeks…one to go to Panama City Beach and practice swimming in the ocean, and the next to go to Colorado and ski with the fam over spring break.  Both were fabulous trips, and I certainly was active, but it cut into the OCD nature of my training program.

To get back on track today, I did the aforementioned brick.  Aggressive for the first day back after two weeks, but I’m nothing if not aggressive?  The bike ride was soooo great.  During my two weeks elsewhere, spring arrived in Middle Tennessee, so after months of layering up and bracing against the cold, I slipped on the trisuit and riding sandals only.  The sun was delicious, and the ride itself was strong.  I guess I’ll say that the biking portion is strongest event.  I headed out from the house toward Lascassas (with a tailwind – intentional, cuz I don’t know what race day will be like!) and rode 18 miles (that’s almost exactly the Wilson County Line – past Auburntown), then turned around and faced the headwind all the way home.  It took 1:07 going out, 1:12 coming back.

At home I dropped the helmet, changed shoes, peed (not easy in a sweaty one-piece trisuit), and headed out.  Transition time:  3 minutes – terrible.  I chose this time to run into the headwind first, since I knew I’d need the tailwind coming home.  From my house to MTSU President McPhee’s house is almost exactly 5 miles (5.2 I think).  It took 58 minutes, and even with the headwind I felt strong.  I did the turnaround on Middle Tn Blvd, started back, got about 2 1/2 miles along, and hit the proverbial wall.  Nothing left.  Nothing.  So I walked 100 yards or so, started back jogging…still nothing.  However, when you are 2 1/2 miles from home and have to work in an hour and a half, you find yourself some motivation in a hurry.  Jesse called, cheered me on – that helped.  I listened to my voicemails…son Sam was awarded the Mo Udall National scholarship – that helped A LOT.  Heard the voicemail messages of my other significant others…just hearing their voices helped – didn’t even have to speak with them.  Walked/ran/jogged all the way home jiggety jig.

Of course, now I can’t move off the couch, but It’s A Good Kind Of Tired (that may be the name of my triathlon training manual).  The Sambuca is helping.

Down to the last 7 weeks of training, the last 2 of which are the taper, with limited training sessions.  Here’s where the rubber meets the road, where it separates the men from the boys, all those other canned expressions.  It’s a part-time job from now til May 9.  I’ve reduced the taper from 3 to 2 weeks, so I’ll be doing my last Bike/Run brick at the Country Music Half.  Which means riding the marathon course twice at 2 a.m.  You read that right.  Who’s with me???

Fave random song:  hard to choose from 4+ hours of music:  RESPECT, Aretha (just seemed to fit the training).

Thanks for reading.