Brick ... House and Opium

I didn't have a stressful day like the days from last week ... but still, a rich experience to pick through and mull over. 

Last week I responded to a really crappy day with a tough ride, but thought about the day's events during the entire ride.  When I finished, I had some peace and a bit of perspective. 

Today ... today was my first ever real brick.  No thinking going on!  And how do I feel, not having gone over the day's events?  Better than ever!  Yeah, I've got a bit of a runner's high at the moment ... the opiate kind. 

Here's how it went.  First a run of 2.5 miles that I call, "The Monster."  While it's short, there's a 350 foot ascent in just over a half mile.  There's a little over 400 feet of climbing total in one mile's space.  Then for an 11 mile loop on the bike that is mostly flat.  One stupid steep, but super short hill, and of course, the last two miles back home are uphill.  Then, a repeat of the run. 

I've been practicing for the first brick, which had to be cut short due to daylight, by running a mile after each ride over the past 10 days or so.  Now it feels fine.  My legs didn't feel really heavy until I was finishing up the last run.  I was also pleased with the transition of shoes and equipment when switching from run to ride.  It took me a minute, well, 1:09 each time.  However, I didn't have to stop and retie my shoes or adjust anything after I left. 

Am I ready for my duathalon on February 18th?  Well, that's 2 mile run, 18 mile ride, 2 mile run...all around a man-made pond.  Completion, sure.  Today I ran around a 9 minute pace on the first run, going real slow on purpose, though up that hill, that's not slow!  The ride was 18.5 mph average, then the last run was 8:00 pace.  I don't know the exact paces as I didn't reset my garmin for each leg, just kept on the whole time.