Tri… Backwards

My long workout last weekend was a backwards triathlon. I made some coffee and put on my running clothes before taking a little time to lay out what I was going to wear for the bike ride. Then I put all my swimming gear in a backpack with some clean dry clothes so I could grab it quickly on the way to the pool.

I started out by running for about half an hour along a trail near my new townhouse. The trail was well packed dirt and gravel and gently rolling under shady trees. It was awesome. What a find! I felt well rested, refreshed from a couple of days off due to my knee draining. My iPod recently quit on me so I used my iPhone. I have been hesitant to introduce my iPhone to my sweaty hobbies for fear that it would get salty, dirty, and gross. But, since my choices are, use the phone I already have or shell out $100 for a new iPod, I stopped worrying about the potential saltiness of the phone. I downloaded the Nike+ GPS application and covered about 3.4 miles in about 32 minutes. Anything under a 10 minute per mile pace is pretty good for me. I was excited. Lindsay Brust

Next, I biked about 60 minutes in the rolling flats north east of Boulder. I am very bad at planning what to wear on a bike. I always under dress. I think it’s because I run so slow that I always get so warm from the lack of breeze that I don’t compensate for the fact that I ride slightly faster then I run. Regardless, it was a gorgeous day with just a couple of things I needed to slow down for.

By the way, this train wakes me up at night pretty frequently at it passes about a block away from the new townhouse. I underestimated how loud train whistles are. I should know better.

My swim, as usual, was the hardest part of the workout. I was a little warn out from the run and the bike — which, for the record is two workouts for anyone not living in Boulder. Normal people would throw in the towel at this point and go get breakfast and take a nap. Not me. I had to go not drown for a while.

I only made it about 20 laps, which is crazy because a few weeks ago, I was really proud of myself for not drowning for 20 laps. Now, it’s just 1/2 as much as I’m going to need to do and 1/3 as much as I should be doing. (I dislike fractions almost as much as I dislike swimming.) Anyway, I survived. I treated myself to mimosas, sweet potato fries and laying on the couch watching a chick flick. You know, what many people skip directly to on Saturdays.

Run, Swim, Grocery Store

Yesterday I did my second brick workout. To be honest, I’m not sure if it counts as a brick workout because I understand so little about triathlons that I don’t even know what the workouts are called. Nevertheless, I ran 8 miles then walked directly to the gym and swam 800 yards. If you don’t already consider this a giant mistake (I could have drown!) I made a much larger mistake after getting out of the pool.

I went to the grocery store. Starving. I had some oatmeal for breakfast at about 8:30am then proceeded to workout for about 2.5 hours straight. I burned approximately 1,050 calories since I last ate… which is about 2/3 the number of calories I burn all day if I don’t work out.

I was so hungry I was light headed. The only thing that kept me from maxing out my credit card on food was the fact that I knew I had to carry it all home and I was feeling a little light headed. I pounded a whole bottle of Zico Pina Tropicale coconut water as soon as I walked in the door and threw the empty bottle in the cart to pay for later. I tried to focus on the list I’d made earlier. Then I tried to focus on things that where good for me. Then I tried to focus on what Jason would say if he came home from camping to find three grocery carts in the living room and me passed out on the floor with crumbs everywhere. I finally made it out alive with just what I had on the list… plus Kettle Chips. I could not pass up the salt.

Let this be a lesson for you all. Never. Never. Never. Add “grocery store” to the end of “brick workout.” Whatever that is.

First Brick Workout

Last weekend, I did my first brick workout. For those of you who don’t know, a brick workout is when one long workout includes two different sports. Usually, a brick workout consists of a bike followed by a run with no time in between.

Saturday morning, two friends and I rode 20 miles on the rolling hills and flats north of Boulder. It was a beautiful chilly morning morning but the sun was warm and there wasn’t much wind. I was enjoying myself quite a bit when someone in a funny shaped helmet streaked by me. Turned out there were time trials being held on our route that morning. The racers were fun to watch, but there is no place like Boulder to make a reasonably fit girl (me) feel more out of shape then when I’m working hard on a hill and someone goes flying by me like I’m standing still.

I suffered the first official injury of my half-ironman career. I was trying to slide between two signs on the bike path and I didn’t realize that my right foot had clipped back into my pedal. I tipped over and landed on my elbow. It’s a little skinned up, but the only thing that was really hurt was my pride. Good thing my friends didn’t laugh… too much.

We arrived back at my house after about an hour and a half. I waved goodbye to my friends before I changed out of my riding clothes and into my running clothes I had laid out beforehand. Technically, you aren’t really suppose to take a break between biking and running in a brick workout, but I was starving and I knew my 9 miles I had scheduled for a run was not going to go quickly so I made myself a quick bowl of oatmeal and set off down the bike path.

I quickly realized that the reason why it’s called a brick workout must be because you feel like a brick for the first mile or so. My legs felt like lead! About a mile from home, I met the Ninja riding his bike home from kung fu. He was nice enough to ride along beside me and keep me company for a little while before leaving me to the rest of my run.

I have some trouble pacing my long runs because I always get bored and want to run faster to get it over with. I think I did a pretty good job of keeping a steady pace until about mile 7. Home seemed so far away and I was so tired. You can tell by the graph of my running below:

Fortunately, as I got closer to home, I got a late burst of energy. I should probably give credit to the Adam Lambert song that came on my iPod at that point. Either way, I was able to increase my pace to back under 11 minutes per mile. Here were my splits:

My shower and late lunch after so much work was delicious. We will see if I can get another brick under my belt next weekend…