The Final Brick

So what's this post about? Masonry? Building some type of wall or foundation? Nope, not even close. A brick, to triathletes like me, is a workout combining two (usually) of the sports associated with triathlons in sequence with each other. Most often, the bike-run brick is executed as an excellent way to simulate the not-entirely-pleasant sensation of running off of the bike, which, of course, is a big part of any triathlon.

(By the way, this photo is NOT from today's workout; it's from the Honolulu Marathon in December 2005. Why did I put it here? I don't know, I don't have a good recent photo of me racing or running or biking, that's all. The blog needs more photos!)

This morning I did a 2-hour bike-run brick as my last major workout before the Honu race on June 3. Sometimes brick workouts are referred to as "breakthrough" (or BT, for short) workouts. They're called breakthrough workouts because they are really taxing and (hopefully) result in a breakthrough to greater levels of conditioning once you complete them (and recover from them, of course). I did it in full racing gear (the cycling jersey, shorts, hat, etc. I plan to use in the race) and set up and used a transition area (this is the place where in the race you switch over from swim to bike and from bike to run ) to make it as close to the real deal as I could.

For the bike, I did 26.37 miles in 1:30:37 (read hours:minutes:seconds) for an average of 17.46 mph. Then I ran for 33:45, negative-splitting (17:45 out, 16:00 back) the out-and-back 4.3 mile course (overall pace, ~7:50 per mile). (By the way, how do I know it was a 4.3 mile run course? Well, everything is an estimate, but when I am not sure how far I have gone and want to have a better idea, I use the Gmaps Pedometer to figure it out.) Best of all, I experience no cramping on the run! I think that the non-cramping can largely be attributed to a better race nutrition plan executed properly. In yesterday's post I talked about race fueling and not being sure how I would do it on race day. Well, on days like these, it's time to try out different ways of doing it and figuring out what works and what doesn't. Here's what I did:

• Only clear water for the first 20 minutes on the bike.
• At 20, 40, and 60 minutes, I ate one PoweGel. The first was one spiked with 50 mg of caffeine*, the second had 25 mg, and the third was "unleaded" - no caffeine.
• Follow each PowerGel with clear water, and also had a bottle of Gatorade to drink during the ride.

Each gel has 110 calories. The Gatorade (20 oz.) has 130 calories. 110 x 3 = 330; +130 = 460 calories. I took in about 460 calories during the 1.5 hours on the bike. That averages out to about 306 calories/hour on the bike. I had no stomach upset at all and ran well off the bike. Then, on the run, I took one gel with me and ate it between minutes 10 and 20, for an additional 110 calories. That means I had a total of 570 calories during the entire workout (2 hours and about 4 minutes), for an overall average of about 275 calories/hour, all with no upset stomach. This is great information for race day. I now know that I can handle this level of intake and operate at a pace that is about as fast as what I plan to do on race day.

* Regarding caffeine, I use it. Every day. I have read quite a bit about the substance and know that it is a powerful ergogenic aid (look it up if you don't know what it means), but only when not habitually ingested. I still think it is an aid, even taken every day (even if only as a placebo). I plan to use it on race day. And, even better, before the workout, I had a venti brewed coffee from Starbucks (~20 oz. of delicious black coffee!), delivering, according to some estimates, up to 700 mg of caffeine (I'm not sure if I believe that estimate; see this article about a 2003 study showing quite a bit of variability in the caffeine content of various tested coffee house brews). And look here for an interesting article published in the Wall Street Journal (which is, by the way, probably my favorite newspaper - no I don't currently subscribe, but a friend of mine who does just recently began giving me his copies once he is done with them - YES!) in 2004 that I remember reading regarding caffeine content in coffee house coffee. Anyhow, I had quite a lot of caffeine before the workout, but like I said, I am habituated to it - I drink 2 cups of strong, black, home-brewed drip coffee every morning, so don't stay up at night worrying about me taking in too much caffeine.