A Big Brick

Monday 19th March 2012

Big Brick Session

I had always planned to use this Bank Holiday as a chance to put together a longer brick session that I have been doing up until now.  This is a good way to see how things are progressing and give a bit on insight as to how it may go for the Half Ironman Distance race in May.

Cycling
03:15:34 – 45.63 Miles (14.00 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 73% Max / Cadence 77rpm)

I joined up with my triathlon Pal Donald for a long ride then a run around North Down.

The weather was pretty good and we had a lovely ride around some parts of the Strangford Lough Coastline that were new to me.  There were some really beautiful little hidden gems of places along the way and I am glad Donald chose this route.

Saying that . . . there were also quite a few hills and we made out way up towards Scrabo Tower between Newtownards and Comber.  I remember doing this climb last year as part of the Strangford Triathlon and I recalled it being quite tough.  This time around I actually found it quite comfortable and not too hard.  A good sign that the training is paying off.

We then headed through Comber and along Cycle Route 99 towards Killinchy along the back roads hugging the shore for a large part of the way.

You can tell you are on a rural cycle when you have to give way to Horses, not once but twice during the ride.

Some more typically Co Down short sharp hills followed and we then headed back along the main road to Comber.

Donald then suggested taking another road back up towards Scrabo Tower to join the road we had cycled on the way out.  I must admit my heart sank a little bit at the prospect of a few more hills, but it passed OK, but he had saved the sucker punch until the end. A ¾ mile hill out of Newtownards to the carriageway back to Bangor. A Horrible experience on a nasty hill.

Overall we did 511M of climbing, which was not bad in just 45 miles.

Back to Donald’s to drop off the bikes and head out on the run.  Overall I am pleased with the ride part of the session, albeit the pace was hard to keep up die to the nature of the small twisty up and down roads and the horses etc…

Running
01:17:54- 8.15 Miles (09.32 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 82% Max)

As we headed out on the run I had that feeling familiar to most triathletes – Numb Toes!

Thankfully it went away reasonably quickly and we made a steady pace for the first couple of miles in to the wind and then thankfully we turned off the road and in to a more sheltered trail run.

Once again Donald picked out a lovely route and we had a great run through the trail down to Helens Bay and then up through the trails in Crawfordsburn Country Park (even spotting a Heron) and then back up to Crawfordsburn Village and back towards home again.

I have to admit that had Donald not been running with me, I may have been tempted to walk some stretches where we just kept going.

So we finished off the day with a round trip of over 53 miles on wheel and foot and left me feeling reasonably confident that I can handle the Half Ironman in May OK, but with a realisation that I have a hell of a lot of work to do still before July for the main event.

I know it took quite a bit out of me as I went to bed early and slept like a log.

Thanks to Donald for the company along the way and for keeping me going and for picking a fabulous route.