Sunday Brick

Having already logged about 60 miles on the bike in the past few days, I was anxious to get back on the run so I planned a 50/10 bike/run brick workout today. I started at the base of Cedar Point Hill and planned to go 15 miles south and turn around so that I could re-fuel at my car after 30-miles. The final 20 miles would be done on my "normal" route out to the Marina (10 miles) and back. Part of the parkway was closed due to debris in the road so the first few miles were done on the actual bike path, which is always a little scary riding on because some of the turns are tight and visibility is not the greatest. I got back on the road as soon as possible and hit my 15-mile turnaround point after laboring up a few hills in N. Royalton. The best thing about going uphill is the downhill on the return! I had my GPS with me and clocked 39.7 mph near the base of the hill! I found myself riding into a bit of a headwind heading north but managed to maintain about 17 mph on average. Got back to my car and loaded up on more Gatorade and downed a GU (God I love those things!). At the 40-mile point I was relieved to turn around and catch what I thought was going to be a nice tailwind. However, it seemed that the wind shifted on me as I was fighting it on several occasions and was nearly blown sideways at one point. Although my legs felt relatively good, I found myself coasting more during those last 10-miles than I was at any other time during the ride. All in all, the 50-miler felt great. Hopped off of my bike and tried to transition to the run as fast as possible. I had to break down my bike and shove it in the back of my car, throw on my running shorts, put my socks and running shoes on, hit the bathroom and hit the road. Legs (specifically hamstrings) felt a little tight at first but loosened up considerably after about 2 miles. I was surprised to see my mile splits right around 7-minutes even though it didn't feel like I was going that fast (Bryce said he feels the same way off the bike). Hit the 5-mile turnaround and downed one last GU (God I love those things!). It's amazing how fast 10 miles can go by after having just spent 3-hours on a bike. I believe my last mile was 6:44 and I felt strong. Legs were starting to weaken.... or was it that they still hadn't fully recovered from Boston 6 days ago. Time will tell on that one. I stretched for a bit at my car and enjoyed a peanut butter PowerBar on the way home. I recently signed up for the Little Smokies 1/2 Ironman at the end of May, which is less than 5 weeks away. Time to get my swim on now!