Friday Tri: Bricks

Bricks are the triathlon term for workouts that are back-to-back in different disciplines. Most typically, triathletes will do a swim-bike brick or a bike-run brick, because those are the two that will be done in a race. Sometimes, a reverse triathlon will require a run-bike brick or a bike-swim brick, just to confuse you. I have found that I do almost all of my workouts as bricks of one kind or another. Usually, I do a bike-run brick, because I find it comfortable to warm up on the bike and then move to a challenging run. Or it could be that I am just easily bored and don't want to spend too much time on any one sport. That's why I'm a triathlete, right?

There are other kinds of bricks that can be useful to any kind of athlete, however. Ideally, you should train your body that it can handle anything you throw at it. You also want to train yourself to realize what works and what doesn’t work for you. Mud races which are becoming more popular, where you do obstacles courses, or Xterra with trail biking and running or even winter triathlon are great for shaking things up. Or you can simulate the effect for yourself at the gym.

          For example, twice a week I meet a friend at the gym. We start out on ellipiticals, because that’s her preference, but if one of the ellipticals is being used, I let her take the other one and I will get on a bike. We do that for 30-45 minutes, and then move on to weight lifting. Then when she is ready to head home, I go in and get some swimming in. I do this because the swimming pool has certain hours that don’t make it convenient for me to swim before my friend arrives. Sometimes I swim at a different time and then do weight training after the swimming. Not only do you get in a double workout, cardio and weights this way, it can also be extra challenging to make yourself do cardio after weights, as well. You are going to feel more tired and that will force you to pay more attention to what you are doing.

A beginning triathlete will want to practice whatever transitions are particular to the race ahead, because you want to get your body used to being able to go from swimming horizontally to running and biking. Believe me, if you have never done a triathlon, the first time you do one you will be surprised when you get out of the water and try to run toward your bike to discover that suddenly you can't stand upright and you have a tendency to fall over as if drunk. This is partly because your body isn't used to what's going on, and partly because you're working at a higher intensity in a race than you would in a normal workout and you're more tired.

          When you're finished with a bike and have to click out of your pedals, get into running shoes, and start out of the transition area, you will have another nasty surprise. Your legs feel like lead. They are so tired, it feels like you are dragging them along with you. You've been looking forward to getting off the bike for so long, but now it doesn't feel as good as you had hoped. Tri bikes, which have a slightly different angle set are supposed to make it easier to run off the bike. I can't say I believe that much. I used an old Quintana Roo, which is a Tri-bike, for about 4 years and now I ride a Time Trial (TT) Cervelo bike that is pretty standard road issue for elite bikers. I haven't noticed much difference getting off the bike at all.

           Practicing transitions in a brick is the second-best way to make sure your race goes well. The best way? Doing lots of raced. Because there's nothing that's more like a race than, well, a race. If you really want to do a lot of transitions, you can try a continual brick. I do these periodically, when I am feeling especially masochistic. I will bike for ten minutes, then hop off the bike and run a mile, then back on the bike again, over and over again. You can make these intervals longer, 30 minutes on the bike, 2 or 3 miles of running. This is easy for me since I’m indoors on my own equipment. But it’s also great for when the kids want to work out with me. They can use either the bike or the treadmill that I’m not using, and they can still be with me and talk to me.