Sunday Brick

Annette and I were up just before 5am to meet several bikers/runners for a brick workout. We were meeting at the Water Department building on Hwy 31, biking out 30 minutes then 30 back. Then running 4-6 miles.

For some reason I didn't factor in the additional time it takes to get two bikes ready. You always have to air up your tires on road bikes and some days this is a pain. So we ended up being about 3 minutes late. When the Cruisers say they start at 6, they start at 6. If your not there no one waits. When we got there everyone was gone. I got the bikes ready and told Annette to take off and that I would catch her as I finished getting my bike shoes on.

Let me tell you, she is going to be a strong biker. It took me almost a mile to catch up to her and I was riding hard. The object of this rise is to push the pace as hard as you can just like in a race, then run. I kept Annette in my rear view and when I would get too far ahead I would circle back. We were riding into a strong head wind so this made it even more challenging. I could tell she wasn't having as much fun as I was. I told her when she saw the first bike coming back to turn around, that would put everyone getting back about the same time.

It wasn't long and we saw Brenda, she had turned back early so she could get ahead of the others. I think Annette turn back then. Then came Cindy who is an awesome biker, followed by Bailey, James and David. I turned around shortly after I saw James go by and headed back. It was a faster ride going back, the wind was not quite as bad but we did have some crosswinds. I passed Bailey and Annette but never caught up to James and Cindy. I think my average speed on the bike ended up being 16.3mph for right at 13 miles. Not too bad considering the head wind and turning back for Annette two or three times.

After we got back to the parking lot we dumped our bike gear and got ready for the run. This was not a transition like in a real race, we all just took our time and waited on everyone. Bailey, Cindy and David are all injured so they could not run but Michele had showed up for the run portion along with Jenny and another girl.

I started out running with James B. who is very fast. I was amazed at how good my legs felt. Usually I can barely run after the bike so I guess I am getting stronger and more used to it. It was interesting since I seemed to be pushing him some in the first mile. We went out much faster than we probably should have but thats ok. First mile was a 9:30. I could hear the girls way behind us talking so I tried to stay ahead of them. After about 1.5 miles James started speeding up and left me in the dust. So here I was by myself with several fast girls behind me. It wasn't long and Michele was saying things like "we are watching you". I felt like a rabbit being chased by a bunch of wolves. But thats ok, it made me push the pace. 2nd mile was a 9:10, wow. Pretty fast for coming off the bike.

At the two mile mark we all took a walk break and the girls caught up to me. It was getting very warm by this time and none of us had brought water but we had decided we were getting 6 miles anyway. I took off again, with the girls in chase. It was just Brenda, Michele and Annette left at this point. The other two girls had turned back at mile 2. Mile 3 was much slower, I think we tok a couple walk breaks here ending up with an 11:03. Brenda had caught up to me and she said lets run to the end of the road, relaxed pace then take a break. So we did. End of the road was mile 4 and a 9:32 pace. We turned back on to Bethlehem Rd headed back and decided to do the same thing again. Run a mile then take a walk break. We were feeling the heat but it wasn't unbearable. We ran on the wrong side of the road just to stay in the shade. I looked back and didn't see Annette and Michele so I figured they were walking a lot. We kept pushing and I told Brenda I just wanted to stay under a 10:00 average for the whole run. We hit mile 5 at a 9:58. One mile to go seemed like nothing. We had one last small hill then it was a little downhill and flat to the parking lot. About .1 out Brenda said lets pick up the pace to finish so we did. It was a nice sprint to the parking lot and I was very glad that it was over. I hit 6.0 halfway in the lot. 9:58 last mile. Overall average pace for 6.01 miles ended up being 9:52 so I was pretty happy with that. Thanks Brenda for pushing me!

I kept looking down the road for Annette and Michele and never saw them. I was about to get worried when I looked out on Hwy 31 and here they come. They had decided to make a loop instead of turning back the way we did. Afterwards Michele invited all of us to her house for breakfast where she cooked eggs, bacon and home made biscuits and gravy. It was so good!!

Memorial Day is the Du for the Parks Duathlon so I think I will be ready for it. Last year I had a DNF because of a flat so this year I am out for revenge! Its a 2 mile run, 12 mile bike, 2 mile run. I would love to win an age group award. We shall see!