Another BRICK in the wall

Building up to the dualathlon for early July; I felt I need to begin to add in a couple of BRICK sessions.

To the unknown these are Bike/ Run Sessions - some triathletes will refer to a back to back session as Brick but most commonly are bike followed by a run.

I haven't done one of these in sometime, in fact not since the end of summer when I backed off training. These can be a little stressful on the body if attempting since a break. In the past I've ridden to my parkrun and then slogged out 5km after a 15km ride.

This session was done in the relative warmth of the house - actually more the garage/ training room/ bar/ man cave. Having set the bike up on my wind trainer I got the bar stool out set-up to watch some cycling on the ipad while I shifted the wheels while catching up on all the news.

When using the wind trainer I find I work harder on my riding than I do normally for a variety of reasons; firstly there is no training partner to slide up next to and talk about how we wished we were pro, a lack of movement towards any cafe, no traffic lights to stop at and most of all no coasting on downhills - with a constant spin required means a good 20 mins can certainly feel like twice as much.

Tonight's session was a simple 20/20

• 20 min bike spin 
• 20 min run

I like to aim for a time off the bike rather than distance as I find this starts to build my strength better; If I've done a long ride I will only run for a short period, just enough to shake off the riding legs.

Running just short of 4km into an evening headwind I could certainly feel the legs in the last 1km; and needed to find a little more to get myself around the block and back home.

Returning to super wife on the couch with the heater up full-blast meant a warm reception that felt like a yoga session was going on, 20/20 was a the perfect amount of time for my BRICK - 40mins in between getting the Z-Girl to sleep, eating dinner and then returning for a yummy fruit & yogurt recover feed with a little foam rolling to boot.

It would be harmful I think to pound the body with these sessions every night; but having spent the day out with the family this was a really time effective way to get a great session completed in the evening.

A strong house is built with good bricks and you could say the same about a triathlete; as a Dadathlete these combo sessions are a MUST to get the time put into the legs in the lead up to July's first event of my season.

#dualathlon #triathlon #dadathlon #forher #Geelong2016 #BRICK