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Written by Vince
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Thursday, 21 May 2009 12:39 |
The combination of a bike workout followed by a run workout is known as a brick, brick workout, brick training, or transition run. The purpose of a brick is to teach your body how to switch from cycling to running. The run doesn't need to be long or fast; it just needs to be long enough to make the switch.
You might be wondering why I’m talking about brick workouts. Well, I'll tell you why. After I posted Big Bike Weekend II, someone told me that I should make my brick runs longer. My knee jerk reaction was to run out and get an MDot tattoo and start trash talking but then I realized I should just blog about it instead.
My workout last Saturday was the I-Care Classic century -- basically a 100 mile bike ride and I followed it up with a two mile transition run which took all of 16 minutes. To be honest, it's more of an academic exercise than anything else since my body changes gears almost immediately. We (me and my body) have played this game many times over and it's nothing compared to the first time.
When I first started doing triathlon, I would train in each of the disciplines and I had heard of brick workouts but I never thought to incorporate them into my training. The first time I experienced the sensation of running off the bike was during a race and it was as if someone had filled my legs with sand while I was riding. I remember getting off the bike thinking -- what the heck happened to my legs. I quickly learned that bricks are an essential part of training and now my biggest problem is keeping the pace down when I come out of transition.
Bricks - they're not just for running anymore. In fact, you should not only incorporate bike-run bricks but you should also add swim-bike bricks. The point is to get the body accustomed to what it's going to experience on race day. And while the legs feel heavy coming off the bike, I've experienced light-headedness coming out of the water hence the need for swim-bike bricks. But it doesn't stop there; I also incorporate bike-run-bike-run bricks as well run-bike and run-bike-run-bike bricks. Needless to say, I think I've got the brick-thing covered. My largest workout and longest brick were the same workout. It consisted of a 56 mile bike, a 13 mile run, another 56 mile bike, and finished with a 5 mile run all of this done on a scorcher of a day when I decided to eat Taco Bell or die.
The end.
Speaking of bricks, this reminds me of something completely different but I'd be curious to see how you respond to the following question.
QUESTION: Give me three uses for a brick (as in a rectangular block of clay). Write down your answers and then continue reading.
THREE USES FOR A BRICK: This is a psychological question used in some interview processes. The idea behind the question is to see how the person will answer. For example - I asked this question to an engineer and his response was: build a fireplace, build a house, and to create a walkway. All three of these uses are practical and show a lack of imagination. I asked my wife the same question and her response was: bludgeon someone over the head, break a window, and oh yeah... build a house.
In a hiring situation, you'd probably want to hire my wife over the engineer because she is able to use her imagination when problem solving.
And that reminds me of another one of those questions:
Why are manhole covers round?
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- easier to roll out of place
- easier to put back from an alignment standpoint
- it can't fall through - if it was rectangular or square and it was jarred loose on either edge, it could fall - a circle couldn't
Did I pass?