Brick, baby

Oooo boy my legs were cactus yesterday. I was tossing up doing a brick session (ride then run) as well as a swim but I thought a nice recovery day for the legs might be in order.

When my scheduled ride time came I was laid out on the couch reading some CSR articles and the two new kitties had finally summoned up the courage to come and lie pressed up against me, purring and relishing the patting attention they were getting.



So I thought I'm much better off having some serious bonding time with the new cats and giving myself a leg-free day to recover a bit so I can try to be on fire for this Striders 10km race on the weekend (and hopefully a nice long ride too, 100km+ with plenty of hills, weather dependent).

I'd been for a longer swim than usual at lunch (3.7km) and that was it for the day. I went through the normal cycle of emotions I get on days like that where I bounce between thinking "Damn I'm a lazy sack of shit, I've got to get my act together and start training properly if I want to be any good this season. I'm a joke!" to thinking "Hey my legs are completely rooted and feel like marble pillars, lets not be stupid about things - recovery is an essential part of training."

Ah well, made peace with it yesterday but ready to fire up a different session today so I set up the turbo trainer at 5.30am and pounded out about 1:15 of single leg drills and spinning drills until I was sweating like a horse. Even with the balcony door wide open the slight lick of breeze does nothing. Thankfully I'd learned to put towels down under and over the bike so I don't drown the carpets and rust the frame.

But I digress. Jumped off the bike to clean my teeth, grab my lunch and give some love to Sarah and the kitties, then back on for five more minutes of 90+ rpm and came straight off into my running shoes and out the door in less than a minute to try a real brick transition.

Did spot on one hour around the harbour, about 11.5km at an average pace of 5:20min/kms and an average heart rate of 142 (about 76% of max), so a real aerobic run.

Felt like a good honest workout, now I’m buzzed! No speed work, but kept the HR good and the pace was ok (sub 5 mins until the last 2 km or so when I couldn't handle it and just let it blow out to over 6mins as I cruised home).

Great route too – prime Sydney waterfront all the way. Round Lavendar Bay, Kirribilli, Harbour Bridge pathway, Cahill expressway walking track above Circular Quay, then the waterfront path from the Opera House around Farm Cove to Mrs Macquaries Chair and the Boy Charlton Pool, then doubling back the same way to Cumberland St stairs and Fort St exercise park for some stretching.