Mixed it up a bit tonight with a 30 minute indoor bike workout followed by a 30 minute treadmill run. The bike ride consisted of a short warm up, followed by 3 x 8 minutes of higher intensity cycling, with a minute recovery after each 8 minute block.
1. 1st 8 minutes – easy gear, high cadence with 30 seconds out of the saddle every 2 minutes.
2. 2nd 8 minutes – medium gear, medium cadence with 30 seconds out of the saddle every minute.
3. 3rd 8 minutes – hard hear, low gear with 15 seconds out of the saddle every minute.
The short “out of the saddle” sessions really worked my quads and with my heart rate still elevated, I changed shoes and jumped right onto the treadmill. The idea behind the quick bike/run transition (BRICK) is to teach your legs and body to switch as fast as possible and as efficiently as possible between two very different kinds of effort – exactly what will happen in a multipsort event such as a duathlon or triathlon.
The duathlon I’ve signed up for is only 6 weeks away, so I really need to step up the amount of time in the saddle before race day.
I kept the speed consistent throughout the 30 minute treadmill run – sounds boring I know, but it wasn’t. Every minute I increased the incline until it got to 10%, then I dropped it back to 1% for a couple of minutes as a recovery period. It really felt like I was flying after gutting it out at the steeper inclines.
The 30 minutes passed quickly and at the end of the workout I felt quite fatigued. I’m sure my quads won’t thank me in the morning and I hope I haven’t done too much damage as the clock ticks down to 3 races in 3 days over the weekend.
Can’t believe I haven’t been here in so long. £ races in 3 days? Gulp!
My comments have been few and far between too. Sorry about that…
The first race is really just a 5k time trial against the clock. The real race is taking place in Miami, but I’m taking part “virtually”.
The other two races are real – an 8k cross country which should be a lot of fun if it rains like the weather forecast is suggesting! The Sunday race is a hilly half marathon which I’ve wanted to run for a long, long time.
Should be fun. Just hope I don’t mess myself up for the marathon next month.
–Steve
Hi Steve,
Just checking in to see what you’ve been up to lately. Looks like you’re getting some great workouts in & tuckering yourself out sufficiently too! 😉
I always marvel at the way you so keenly pinpoint the areas of fitness you need to improve upon for a particular endurance activity (like a marathon or duathalon, etc.) & then so expertly match them with training exercises to work out the particular corresponding areas of body, in order to gain the most benefit from your workouts.
Many people can do this in a general fashion, but you seem to have a particular gift for addressing your training in a very granular & precise fashion. It’s very impressive. You’ve obviously got such a deep understanding of so many facets of the training process. It’s fantastically inspiring, & you certainly deserve a lot of respect for it too!
And it’s not just your experience in marathoning that gives you this practical knowledge; it’s also the effort you’ve put into understanding various related topics – It’s clear you’ve done a lot of reading on the body’s biomechanics & physiology, as it relates to training, as well as many other pertinent subject matters.
I am truly in awe of you, your intelligence & knowledge, & your abilities! All hail, Steve, the guru of running! 😎
Why thank you! Not sure I’m totally deserving of all the praise, but I’ll take it. At the end of the day, I’m just a regular guy who loves to run 🙂 Thanks again..
Modest as always…. LOL. BTW, like the new look & layout of your blog.