"She's a Brick..."

Well, thank you for getting that song stuck in my head!!

Too new to offer brick advice (only ever done 1) but I will be interested in the responses you get.

A brick is any workout where you do two or three legs in succession. Bike to Run is most common, since that gives people the most problems. I'd try to do at least one swim-to-bike, though, since there's a unique feeling as all of the blood goes from your arms to your legs. (Hint - you're likely to feel very hungry all of a sudden, but you shouldn't eat too much until your stomach settles).

Word of caution - the run portion of your brick should not exceed 1 hour. That's plenty of time for the adaptation benefits. Anything longer increases injury risk dramatically. 30 to 45 minutes is ideal. A first brick of 1 hour bike and 30 minutes run should be just fine.

2 great brick workouts (from coachgordo.com):

1) 60x30x3. Bike 60 minutes, tranisition to run 30 minutes. Repeat 3 times. Great bike-run practice, and a gut-check for your ability to pace. 1st brick should be 5% below race pace; 2nd should be at goal race pace; 3rd should be faster, if possible. If you do it right, the first should feel too easy, and the last should be tough. If 2nd is tough and 3rd is hell, you went too fast in the first ;-)

2) Race simulation, with breaks:
(following times are Iron-distance specific, but you can adjust for a half)
Swim 60 minutes.
Go have breakfast, read the paper, etc.
Bike 5 hours.
Have lunch, take a nap, etc.
Run 1-2 hours.
Total elapsed time should be 12-14 hours, so the breaks are substantial. The idea here is to get used to going all day, without the full stress of back-to-back-to-back. Each leg should feel pretty fresh, but it's still a long day. Note: day after should definitely be a rest day.

Bricks can seem tough. The first time I got off my bike and started to run, I thought I was going to fall down. I'd run 15 seconds, then stop for 20. "All righty, I'm ready to go", and start for another 30, and stop for a minute. First mile took 20 minutes! 2nd mile was 12, and after that I was back to my 8:30's.

Each subsequent brick has seemed easier. Last time out, I biked for 1:30, then planned to run :30. I don't know how far or how long I went (no watch), but it was easily 50 minutes, and felt great.