Bricks: Going longer

Working on building up the post-bike run. Here's the summary!

Today's Workout: Brick, Midland-Ashby ride + 3-4 mi run
Summary:

• Bike: 23.38 mi, 1:13:11, 15.1 mph. Note that the times are always deceiving because it doesn't count time that I'm stopped at streetlights, which is extra rest for me.
• Bike speed splits: 14.3, 14.7, 16.7, 15.0, 14.7.
• Transition: 1:49.4
• Run: 3.93 mi, 37:10, 9:28 pace.
• Run pace splits: 9:07, 9:42, 9:29, 9:33.

Hit rate: 35/37 (94.5%)

I actually felt pretty bad the first 10 miles or so of the bike this morning, but things got better probably due to a combination of downhill stretches and just generally being more warmed up. I spent a small amount of time out of the saddle on the climbs and in the flats and it's feeling much smoother, so I think the big gear work that I've been doing on the trainer is really making a difference. I met a cool dude named Pedro on the way in and he showed me a shortcut from Clayton to Wydown that avoids the nasty left turn on North Hanley, which was nice. He had said that he would have swapped info with me if I wanted to ride with him but he's going to Colorado next week for a few months because he owns a business down here so he won't be around. It was cool to meet him though, we had a nice chat and he kept my pace up. Riding with someone else is always inherently motivating.

I was very happy with my run today. I went out way too fast last week and really was dying towards the end but today I kept it reined in during the early half and held on quite strong for the remainder. I felt pretty good throughout too, which was key. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep trying to extend the runs off the bike, but I think it'd be good to take a full lap of the park (~7 miles) off the bike once in the next few weeks, before September racing for sure, just to know I can go the distance. Even now though, after today's workout, I'm fairly confident I would have had the rest of the run left in me. I'm really proud, my running has come such a long way!

Tomorrow the plan is a morning swim and some kind of afternoon workout. We'll see what the weather is like and decide from there. Yay!

Much love,
Jess

First brick of the season!

Okay it was more of a long transition run than a full brick, but you know, I ran off the bike so it counts.

Today's Workout: Race distance-ish bike + 20-30 min transition run
Summary:

• Bike: Midland-Ashby route, 23.50 mi, 1:32:07, 15.3 mph, 879 ft gain.
• Bike speed splits: 13.4, 15.1, 16.2, 16.1, 16.6
• Transition: 2:09.6, hilariously I fell off my bike trying to dismount while clicking my watch buttons, will have to not do that next time.
• Run: 14 minute turn around, 2.87 mi, 26:47, 9:20 pace.
• Run pace splits: 8:48, 9:27, 9:50.

Hit rate: 25/27 (92.6%)

I want it noted that the bike cadence was much better than yesterday, and most of the average speed being higher was a result of me bombing down the hills every opportunity I got. I tried to focus on being smooth on the uphills, to varying degrees of success (I even spent a little bit of time climbing out of the saddle!). The run cadence was also surprisingly good given that I was coming off the bike. Too excited off the start though and was really feeling the pace taper out as time went on. I'll have to work on extending the length of these transition runs and that might become problematic as the runs get longer. I knew it was going to be short though so I just went fast and tried to hold on. It's good practice I guess. 

I had a blast training today. The roads were clear, there were a ton of other friendly cyclists on the roads, I hung onto the end of a group of old guys on the way in from Clayton who were real funny and shot past me once I got on the bike path in Forest Park and that was really motivating and fun. The transition into the run really breaks up the monotony of a long workout and I really enjoyed that little challenge. All in all it was just getting to do things that are a lot of fun and I had a blast.

Two key nutrition things today: I got up way early and made/ate breakfast about 1-2 hours before I headed out which I think was really important to how sustained I felt energy level wise. Also had a full bottle of water with Nuun that I drank while out on the bike, so that also kept me going once I was off the bike. I'm running out of Nuun though so I'll have to load up on that soon.

The plan is going to be a little more flexible these next two weeks because of a sort of unclear orientation schedule at school. I'm for sure going to be taking morning swims Monday and Tuesday and will hopefully be able to fit in an evening long run tomorrow and a bike trainer session on Tuesday. I may or may not decide to drop the evening sessions depending on how busy I am and how my body is feeling though. I've been putting in good work, I'm willing to be flexible about it. We'll see what happens. Wish me luck with the first day of orientation tomorrow!

Much love,

Jess