First Brick of 2010!

And I was excited about it? Crazy as it sounds, yes, I was. I got everything all laid out last night so that all I'd have to do this morning was eat and put on my clothes. I wore the same thing that I wore yesterday evening bike riding - tights, tri shorts, two long-sleeved shirts. I brought along my gloves, just in case, but ended up not needing them. We have to be there at 5:30 in the morning, so I tried to get to bed early last night!

When I got to the Park, I was tiny bit surprised to see how many people were there today. I guess lots of people were looking for the practice. Before he gave us the workout, Robert asked how many people were on their first ride of the year and a couple people raised their hands. I felt like I didn't have to since I went last night, even though that's technically probably cheating.

Of course, my rear end definitely noticed the fact that I went riding last night and this morning! Oof. I noticed it the second I sat down on my bike this morning. So, um, yeah. It wasn't my most comfortable ride ever. But, I managed to get through it. I definitely got up out of the saddle a couple times, just to coast, which didn't help my times any.

The workout for today was to ride for about an hour and then run for about 20 minutes. I ended up doing two loops of the Park, plus a little bit before heading back to put on my running shoes. The biking today was fine - other than my rear - but I will say that I did notice my legs were a tiny bit tired from yesterday. I knew I wasn't going as fast today as I did yesterday, but I'm okay with that.

After putting on my running shoes, I decided to just run the Lower Loop of the Park. I didn't think it would take me 20 minutes, but I knew it'd be pretty close. I didn't have that jelly-leg feeling, instead my legs felt like lead. I really felt like I was running with a ball and chain. Even though it doesn't sound that great, it actually wasn't too bad. I even passed some people while I was running, which doesn't happen very often. Probably because even though my legs were leaden, I was running faster than usual!

When I got back to my bike, I noticed that everyone else was grabbing their bikes and doing a half-mile loop running with the bike. I was hoping I could sneak out of that part, but as soon as I got back, Robert spotted me and said "Grab your bike!". Hard to argue with that. So, I didn't start my watch, but it was about 5 minutes more running.

I actually really liked today's workout. I always liked the bricks last year and I'm hoping that this year isn't any different. Robert said that once it starts getting lighter earlier in the day we'll do more transition practice during the bricks, but for now we'll do longer rides and runs. After reading some of the detailed information on Alcatraz, I'm now realizing that there are lots of transitions, so the extra practice could be helpful!

Biking
Time: 57:33
Distance: 12.99 miles
Pace: 13.54 MPH
Calories: 616
Maximum HR: 175
Average HR: 158
Total Bike Mileage: 16.54 miles

Running #1
Time: 16:18
Distance: 1.82 miles
Pace: 8:57/mile
Calories: 202
Maximum HR: 184
Average HR: 173

Running #2
Time: 5:00
Distance: 0.49 miles
Pace: 10:12/mile