A Good Brick

So it was snowing last night when I was blogging and much of it was still on the ground when I made the decision that I wasn't going to ride outside today. It turns out I could have as the roads were mostly clear and dry. But, I had errands to run with the wife and didn't get started until after 1:30. Not good if you have a 61-mile brick to do.

Neal Henderson at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine says that riding on a trainer is like 1.5 times what you would do outside. So the math goes something like this. Assuming an average speed of 17 mph, it would take me 3 hours to do a 51-mile ride outside. The inverse of 1.5 is 2/3 so 2/3 of 3 hours is 2 hours. So theoretically, riding on the trainer for 2 hours is like riding your bike for 3 outside. Not sure if this is accurate or what, but if Neal says it's true, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The man coaches some world class athletes and knows his shit cold.

So, 2 hours on the trainer followed by a 10-mile run outside (oh hell no, I'm SO not running 10 miles on a fucking treadmill - I don't care how much money you pay me...$1000? Seriously? Ok, I'll do it). Sadly, no one paid me to run on a treadmill today so I ran outside and had a great run. My running has come so far in two years it's crazy. My legs used to be absolutely DEAD for the run after a ride. Maybe it's just something your body needs to get used to and that's why most of the world class triathletes are in their 30s. It just takes that long for the body to get used to all that punishment - slowly ramping up your speed on the bike and run while your HR zone stays the same.

T-minus 4 months and counting for Ironman CDA. I think my training is on target and I like how I'm feeling.