Apr 27, 2008

Bricks are building blocks.

I realized something today while out on my 2nd run of the day.

The run that followed a 20K bike on the du course at Willow, which followed a quickie 1+ mile run on the du course at Willow.

I learned that a sprint duathlon (run/bike/run) or sprint triathlon (swim/bike/run) is still an endurance event, even if it is comprised of multiple events.

Hmmm.

What brought this realization to light?

The freakishly fun Ann Arbor/Dexter/Chelsea/Dexter/Ann Arbor 40 mile bike ride yesterday.

And then today's 3 Metropark (Willow, Oakwoods, Kennsington) and 1 Recreational Area (Island Lake) super brick:

  • Ran 1 mile in Willow Metropark.
  • Rode 12.44 miles through Willow and Oakwoods Metroparks.
  • Ran again in Willow but got a little bored, so I hopped in the car ready to call it a day.
  • HOWEVER - I ended up running 3 miles at Kennsington (No where near Willow or Oakwood) to make up for my lazy assed morning at Willow.

I now have my bike and my run goals for April met (110% covered), now I need to focus on swimming again. My butt is a little sore. My quads are a little tired. I need to remember that my legs have propelled me by one form or another, be that biking or running, over 56 miles in 2 days.

Tomorrow is swimming. No running. No riding. I need to give those precious quads a rest! 45 minutes in the pool. Man I am sooooo ready for this.

At the run after the bike - I really had to force myself to run. I ran about a half of a mile at Willow, and then I gave up. My legs were just too tired. I hopped in my car and headed home. On my way I remember that there is a nice flat course at Maybury State park that I like to run.

I headed there, only to realize that my pass expired (of course - being that it is 2007) and that I had no cash on me to get the 2008 pass. I drove on to Kennsington. Hey. I love running at Kennsington, and plus I wanted to check out Island Lake recreation area, as it is attached to the Metropark.

I get out at Kennsington and head out. I was doing a recovery run for sure, with my pace in the low 12's. Here is a really neat thing to realize after so many miles (an so many hills!) on the bike. Somehow spinning up the hills on Sweet T has trained my quads that spinning is better that grinding.

My legs moved fast and short strides... I chopped my way over the hills, and my legs felt awesome! Well.. tired, but the hills are a LOT easier now.



I feel confident about Willow next weekend. I am going to take it slow and just enjoy the race. My goal is to finish - my stretch goal is sub 2 hours. If I can hit 1:50 or less I will be estatic, but a lot lies in my running. I am not so sure that I can hit 10 minute miles for both 5Ks consistently, which is what I need to do if I am to hit that 1:50 mark. My biking I can get done in 40-45 minutes potentially - the strong cross and headwinds can and do knock my speed down quite a bit (13 miles per hour is really slow!) but if I can spin fast and long for the length inside Willow, and the portion in Oakwoods Metropark, then I may be able to cover the distance speedier than I have in my test runs. Or test rides I should say!

At the end of the day, finishing is what I am here for. This du is simply a training ride with other people which I have paid money for and will receive a nice multisport t-shirt after completing.

The real fun will be the 20 miler I am doing the next day! :)

OK well off to clean the hizzouse and recover. I need to figure out what on earth I am going to swim in tomorrow night.

Runnergirl out.

5 comments:

MNFirefly said...

Nice pics! You know that you can do it!

Stuart said...

Sounds like a great weekend and a bundle of mileage under your belt, nice job!

chia said...

Fantastic use of the fitness friendly weather this weekend :-)!!!

You're going to rock that du next weekend. You readily deserve some bad ass times. Relax and forget yourself - tension only takes away from success.

TriGirl Thea said...

Phew! A duathlon one day, and 20 mile bike the next -- you are a machine my friend.

Good luck with them both!

Doug said...

"lazy assed morning at Willow"?????? As I recall, there was some wining about "don't drop me", you were the one who did not want to ride fast :P.

You want to ride fast? Come out Tuesday to Hines, this is what is on tap for me:

Warmup 5 miles with cadence 100-110 rpm
Workout: 6x3mile above TT effort with 2 mile recovery
Cadence = 60 - 80 rpm. HR Zone 4
Cooldown 5 miles easy spinning

Want to come??????? THIS will make you fast! IF you can handle it :).