My First Baby Brick!

You guys, I have big news.

I caught the baby fever in the blogosphere, and I had my first baby today.

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It was a baby brick. (A brick workout is doing two or more sports in a triathlon in a row.)

So, remember I signed up for that triathlon? It’s like a month away. And honestly, I’m not totally feeling it. I signed up for it just because I bought a bike and because I think I *can* do it relatively easily (it’s a sprint tri), not because I’m really dying to do it. But since I’ve signed up, I might as well give it a try, eh? Plus, watching Anne train for her sprint tri, Meghann and Kelly training for a half-Ironman and Emily training for an entire Ironman is pretty inspiring.

So I went to the pool today and did some laps. The swim part of the race is 400m, which is equivalent to 437 yards. The plan I’m (very) loosely following called for 30 minutes of swimming and 20 minutes of running today. My goal was to do 400 yards stopping as little as possible so I could stimulate the race, and it actually wasn’t too bad. I stopped counting laps after that, and just kept swimming. The guy I was sharing a lane with said that I needed to use my legs more–that I was more pulling myself with my arms. I guess I need to read more about swimming form.

I got out of the pool and changed quickly to run. I ran one mile on the treadmill and realized why they call it a brick. My legs felt. like. bricks. Really heavy and sluggish. I started the treadmill at 6.0 mph, an easy pace for me, and ended up pushing it up to 6.6 by the end because I just wanted to be done.

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During a race once, I saw a shirt that said “sweat cleans you in places soap can’t reach.” YES. There’s nothing a little sweat can’t make at least a little better.

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My stomach’s also feeling a little better now that I’m trying to relax as much as I can. I had a turkey burger on a bagel thin for lunch and then a smoothie immediately after my workout and still feel just fine! Whew.

11 comments on “My First Baby Brick!

  1. Lindsay

    Congrats!! Next, you should try doing a bike-run. It’s pretty tough because unlike your swim-bike transition, you basically get off your bike and hit the pavement running (whereas swim-bike gives you some more time).

    Also, in real swimming you should use your legs more, but in tri swimming, you’re supposed to use your legs as little as possible so that you can preserve them for the other two leg-heavy exercises. So you were actually correct! Can’t wait to hear more about your tri training

    Reply
    1. Theodora Post author

      @Lindsay: Yeah, I know! I tried swim-run first because I knew it’d be easier 🙂 And glad to hear that I was right on the swimming. I am actually finding I’m enjoying swimming a lot more than I thought I would

      Reply

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