Great transition practice today! The Columbus triathlon club did these great R-B-R workouts called Hicks, or Hilly Bricks. The run was performed on a long hill with a flat bike. You can also do this with a bike trainer. Do a complete transition each time. 6 x (R 4:00, B: 10:00, R 4:00 ) Be careful of run intensities…at only 4 minutes each it seems easy to do them fast, but 6 reps is a lot. Keep all efforts at RPE 3-4. Up the effort the last 2 if you've got anything left...

So this was a friggen awesome workout. I loved it. I started off slow and then really picked up the pace by the end. I did 7:30 pace on the last two runs. Glad I get tomorrow off because I'm going to need it, but seriously, it was awesome. I can't wait to actually do this on my bike and get some real transition practice in. That will be awesome. I think I have another one of these, possibly in the middle of the week, coming up in a week or two. I'll see if I can get that one done, outside, after work.

Looks like we are finally hitting the middle 40's this week!!! Keeping my fingers crossed.

Steady effort at RPE 3

40 minutes: 10 minutes warm up, 2 minutes rest, then 30 minutes continuous at RPE 4, transitioning as soon as possible to bike

Swim-Bike brick.

Felt fairly good.  Just boring on the drainer.  Ugh.   Wishing tomorrow was going to be warmer, but doesn't look like I will get that pleasure so I will have to do tomorrow inside again as well.  Can't wait for warmth!!!!

Probably a good thing I have the day off today, from working out.  I had a horrible nights sleep.  Kept waking up all night long.  I blame it on the egg and chorizo burrito I had for dinner AND thinking about not getting the dog.  Still pretty bummed about that, but whatcha gonna do.  The village won't allow fences around the house, and truthfully I don't want one.  So we can't have the dog.  So it is to choice #2.  Which, in and of itself is not a bad choice. 

A Westie.  Cute as the dickens.  Will primarily be an indoor dog, which partly drives me crazy because every animal I've ever owned has lived outside 99% of the time, including Tom the cat.  But, without the fence, it will have to stay indoors.  And besides, from what I understand, they like it inside anyway.  So we will start down that road.  I'm hoping we have better luck with that.  I've been wanting an animal for so long now, it's driving me crazy.  And our options are slighly limited because of Beth's allergies.

Oh, I forgot to write a funny story about my swim last night.  So I'm in the farthest lane on the deep end, and there is an aqua aerobics class going on.  And it is FULL.  I'm guessing about 30-35 people in the class.  The instructor is quite popular.  So at one point, I'm swiming along and I realize that I'm not going to terribly fast even though I'm supposed to be hitting my T pace, if not a little lower.  I FINALLY hit the opposite wall and push off and I'm flying.  WTF??  My next rotation breate to my left and I see the entire class is walking in a HUGE circle.  They are creating one hell of a current.  And it actually affects me at both ends because when the current hits the wall it actually bounces back and creates more wake.  So for about 2-3 of my 100's, I'm really struggling.  Kind of funny.  Gave the instructor a hard time when I saw him in the locker room afterwards. 

Speed day
wu: 250 continuous.
main: 8 x 100 hard, then 2x 75 all out. (100s at T pace, 75s at Tpace -5seconds)
cd: 150 easy

Fantastic swim tonight.  Absolutely cool.  Able to keep, and maintain 1:50 pace for the 8x100 and then actually dropped to about 1:40-1:45 for the two 75's.  Two things made this happen.  First, and foremost, I was able to get my goggles to NOT leak.  Made a huge difference.  And because of this I was able to do the second thing, which was do some seriously hard push offs on my flip turns.  I was even able to get in 1-2 dolphin kicks with each kick off.  I think that made a huge difference.  Doing those paces I still wasn't that winded.  I'm really getting excited. 

On a personal note, I'm really disappointed.  We have been emailing with a breeder about getting a dog.  An Airedale.   Tonight was the call and it was a short one.  We can't have one.  We have to have a fence, and we don't have one.  They won't even accept an electric fence.  So now, we have to look at something different.  Maybe a Westie.  Very cute.  But probably won't be able to go on runs with me.  But that's ok.  I want a dog.  :(

60 minutes tempo
wu: 15minutes, rPE 3
main: 6 x (3t, 2r) 3t at RPE 7-8, 2r at RPE 2
cd: 15 RPE 2-3

Interval paces (run and recovery walk)

1 = 9:45
2 = 10:00
3 = 10:17
4 = 10:13
5 = 10:46
6 = 10:58

60 minutes : 35 minutes at RPE3, then tempo of 4 x (6t,2e). Keep 6t at RPE 5-6 which is under lactate threshold.

30 minutes at RPE 3

Brick Day.  I actually had to force myself to slow down on the run.  Hit the button on my watch, took off running and the legs felt really good.  Looked down at the watch and I was going 8:02!!!!!!  Whoa there big shooter.  So I slowed the turnover down a little bit and was sitting at about 9:05 for most of the first mile.  Finally got the legs to slow down a little more to get the HR down to 168 and held it there at about a 9:40 pace the rest of the way and then really knocked it down the last little bit just to take it easy.  I'm hoping that is a sign of things to come.  Last year, I would be lucky to do 30 minutes without a ride before it without dying at that pace. 

On a different note, should be interesting to see what happens in the mini-super Tuesday election today.  Maybe the primary will be over after today, because frankly, I'm getting tired of it.  Talk about "the longest season".  Thank god it only comes around every 4 years.

Race-specific
wu: 6 x 50, odd swim, even kick.
main: 3 x 600, 1 is RPE 3, 2 is RPE 9 for first 100 then RPE5, 3 is RPE 5
cd: 200 easy

Awesome workout tonight.  Felt really, really good.  Especially the high RPE at the start of the second 600.  It was pretty tough but I was actually able to get my HR and breath down before I finished the second 100 and I was still going at a high RPE.  Felt good.

Well, I'm a bachelor tonight and tomorrow night.  Beth is in Toronto.  Will probably go to the gym in the morning and see if Tony is up to going out tomorrow night.