Winners and Reverse Brick

The winners of the Champion giveaway are: Dash from Dash’s Bites and Chris from Evolving Through Running. Shoot me an email at shutuprun@gmail.com and I’ll tell you how to get your prize!

Thank you for all of your kind and supportive comments on yesterday’s post. It truly was one of those magical days. Coverage of the event made the front page of the paper today, and there was even a picture of my mom and dad!

Just to clarify. I did not organize the race myself or come up with the idea. That was done by teachers and my friend, Joie. I helped by getting sponsors, help put stuff together and volunteering on race day. Not my credit to take!

Today’s workout:

I got up today to rainy skies and 30 degrees. I almost trashed the workout I had planned for today in favor of coffee and the morning paper. But, I know better. Training is not meant to be easy. It involves sacrifice. It replaces Sunday mornings on the couch with the Denver Post. It pushes us and makes us better. But it is not easy.

I was to do a brick today with 2 hours of cycling and a 20-30 minute run. But, with the rain and cold, I knew the bike ride wasn’t going to happen. Plus, I’ve been missing my runs. Half ironman training does not allow for the kind of higher mileage running weeks I love.

So, I opted to first do an 8 mile run, then bike for an hour on the trainer. I had read in the Triathlete's Training Bible, that of three three sports, running carries the most risk for injury. For this reason, it’s not advised to run on very tired legs during training. That’s why most bricks include short burst of running – like 30 minutes, not ten miles. They say if you want to run longer and bike together, do your long run first. So I did. I call this a “reverse brick” or a Kcirb (“kurb”).

In this picture I’m faking being thrilled. I hate being cold, but I love running so I knew it would get better. And whenever I’m feeling lack of motivation, I remember how I couldn’t run for so long and now I can and that is one big fat gift not to be taken for granted.

I ran by my favorite country store. The one that has the bathroom tip jar. I have used and abused this bathroom for years. I’ve laid down some nice ones in there. I have left generous tips to make up for my smell and skid marks. I have also bought many a bottle of Gatorade or water at this spot.

You can imagine my dismay when I got closer and saw this sign:

Dammit. All the best mom and pops disappearing before our eyes. But, more importantly, where will I crap?

The 8 went well. 8:52 average. I grabbed a banana and some muscle milk and got on the trainer with Oprah. She takes up a lot of my bike seat.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea. I love this gargantuan headphones. I think I will wear them during the half ironman. Not sure how they’ll do during the open water swim, but I’m going for it.

I got in trouble for keeping the remote in my sweaty crack while I rode. That’s what Clorox wipes are for, right?

I was tired after this. It was only 2 hours and 11 minutes, but I was ready to be done.

That gives me a total of 7 hours and 24 minutes of work outs this week. I had to take two days off due to regular life craziness, so I guess I’ll be okay with this. Next week hoping to get in at least 8 hours.

Off to find some food,

SUAR

Hey, if you want to vote for me as one of the top 25 Fitness blogger moms, please do so by clicking the pink button in the upper right hand corner of my blog. But only do it if you think I deserve the honor. You can vote once per day. I am now in second place only 22 votes away from first!