The brick.

The infamous brick workout, sometimes the thought of it sends shivers down your spine.  If you have ever done a triathlon or dualathlon you are probably familiar with the brick workout.  I have not done a brick style workout since probably about 2001 when I was training for the Hi-Tech Challenge (kayak, mtn bike, run).  The brick workout combines 2 different workouts to help better prepare you for a triathlon.  The most common brick (and the one discussed here) is to bike then run, a second less talked about brick is the swim/bike brick.

I woke up Tuesday morning had my coffee and some cereal, fed Noah and changed his diaper while the wife slept.  The plan was to meet Mark in South Park to ride for an hour or so before he had to go home and get ready for work.  I looked out the window to gray rainy skies and a bleak forecast of rain until late day.  The temperature was hovering around 50 degrees.  I wasn't going to let a little rain dampen my parade and neither was Mark.  He sent me a text message that read: bringing your running stuff as well just in case the mood strikes us.  At first my brain went, ehh not a bad idea, if its too rainy we can still run....it didn't dawn on me until about 20 minutes later that he was going to drop a brick on my head.

We commenced on our ride through South Park (sorry no pictures too wet for a camera), we covered about 10 miles in around 35 minutes.  Our ride was mostly flat and fast with one hill attack section that leads up to the wave pool and then around past the game preserve and back to Corrigan drive.  Aside from the rain the ride was basically uneventful and I felt pretty good except for a cramp in my left calf that Mark said is probably occurring because I was dropping my heals when I pedal.  A quick stretching section got me back on the bike and feeling good in around a minute.

We headed back to the car as the rain continued to fall and Mark said, are you ready to run?  At this point I was feeling pretty good so I agreed to a short run.  We loaded the bikes back into our respective vehicles then threw on the running shoes and went out for a run.  Of course, about a 1/4 mile into the run my left calf decided to seize up again.  (After some online reading I learned this is common if you haven't done bricks before).  I took a moment and stretched it out and then began running again.  My legs felt a little fatigued and definitely heavy...kind of like I had bricks in my shoes... We decided to keep the mileage light so we turned around at 1 mile and headed back to the car.  As we approached the final hill (slight grade, but a hill nonetheless) I just couldn't lift my feet anymore.  I don't know if it was the waterlogged shoes, the brick workout, or just a general fatigue but I had to call it at the top of the hill.  I logged about 1.75mi.  Mark continued on for the full 2.  Time for the run was about 16 minutes.  Overall afterward I felt great!!  My lungs felt strong the whole time, my legs just weren't in it to win it.  I have a feeling that if I am able to incorporate these workouts into my training once a week or so then I will be ready for my first tri this spring...

Now about that swimming part...GULP.

Now on to more exciting news because I am sure all 7 of my readers really don't want to hear about me, they want to hear about NOAH!  Wednesday (today) my little man is 7 weeks old.  He has completely grown out of the newborn clothes and sleepers.  If we put him in a swaddle sack, he tries to stretch out his legs and can't...then he yells at us.  He is now in 0-3month clothes and has been upgraded to the size 1 diapers.  The diaper upgrade comes as a great relief because we were nearing a blowout disaster with the newborns if he didn't fatten up those legs enough to fit the 1's soon!  The size 1's now fit without gapping in the legs and they are larger so they can "contain" a lot more baby presents.

Noah weighed in at a plump 10lbs 9oz this morning, a number that is a great relief to us because he has shown solid and consistent weight gain for the last 2 weeks now.  He also now possesses a very cute baby belly that leads daddy to break out the rasberries.

Noah regularly coo's and "talks" to us when we hold him or put him in his chair.  He smiles pretty regularly but it's tough to get him to repeat it.  I have a feeling in a week or two he will be regularly smiling at us and the smiles will be repeatable if we do the same action again.  I am really looking forward to when he starts laughing regularly as well because baby laughter is the best.  He is still Mr. Content either in your arms or in his bouncy seat (especially after feedings).  He is sleeping well (up to 5 hours at a time at night now), and mom and dad are taking shifts at night to make sure that we both get enough sleep now.

Hope everyone has a great week, if you would like to receive my blog via email just put your email address in the subscription box on the page.  The blog will be delivered to your mailbox the day after I post it.  If you are reading and not following I would love to have you follow as well, please add me, and if you enjoy the blog please share it with friends who may enjoy it!

Ron