Another Brick in the Fortress of Fitness

Brick Day
Ride
time- 1:21
distance- 24.33mi

Run
time- 30min
distance- 3.5mi

To begin, another race has been planned and registered for. Dirtbag Fitness will be making an appearance at the Firecracker Sprint Tri on June 26th. This will probably be the last race of the summer for me because shortly after that Summer School ends and the wife and I will be shipping out to do the normal Summertime Grand Tour of the West Coast and I'll be too busy traveling and seeing family to plan a race. We'll see, maybe there will be a 5k or something at one of our stops I can last minute register for. Anyway, that leads me to today's workout and my newest conceit: The Fortress of Fitness.
Today was a brick workout, which is an important part of triathlon training. Going from the bike to the run and getting over the jelly legs feeling to get a strong kick going is what bricks are all about. With the plan now being the big swim on the 19th and the triathlon on the 26th, its time to start popping one brick a week into the schedule.
As the overarching goal of all this Dirtbag Fitness foolishness is to have fun, seeing as there are no endorsements in my future, I'm never going to be a professional, and why do it if I'm not enjoying it, I'm constantly looking for ways to keep myself entertained and creatively discuss the journey of triathlon from the Dirtbag Fitness mindset. And since a brick workout lends itself to the easy metaphorical leap to an actual brick used to build things, I decided to go with that. But a brick hut? Too Hawaiian. A brick house? Too Commodores. A brick fortress? Hell yeah, that's Dirtbag Badass. From now on, brick workouts go towards the strengthening of our Fortress of Fitness. (It's like Superman's Fortress of Solitude, but not so...lonely. Or cold. Ok, it's nothing like Superman's Fortress of Solitude. But in my head it looks more like the BatCave. But not underground because what good is a fortress if its underground? So...ummm, SQUIRREL!)
Today's brick was my first in a while, but it still felt strong. The wind was blowing like it was trying to take me to the land of midgets and Technicolor, which always makes the ride fun fun fun. Just keep telling yourself how much stronger fighting the wind makes you. And how being sure you don't get blown into traffic is doing wonders for your bike handling skills. Still, the ride went well and I got up out of the saddle a few times to really drive up the hills, and stayed down on the aerobars the rest of the time to stay out of the wind and pretend I'm quick like Macca. I also practiced getting my shoes off while still rolling and clipped in and I think it worked rather well. I'll be doing that every time I get off the bike now so I can get quick and smooth with it. Will make T2 faster AND I won't be running through the transition area with my cycling shoes on. Once this is squared away I'll start looking at starting with the shoes clipped and putting them on while riding. And not dying.
Quick change into running shorts and my Bikilas, one more squirt of water to beat the heat, and I'm off for a 30 minute run. I'm looking for quick cadence right off the bat with good form and a confident body position. If I can hold these things, I'm good.
After training to run six miles, going out for only 30 minutes was nice. I felt like I could run harder and it was half over before I knew it. I'll be fartleking for 45 minutes and doing a long run of 6-8 miles during this abbreviated training cycle too, so these brick runs will be good for speed and confidence.
In the spirit of keeping it light and fun, I tried to celebrate running with a young lady runner I passed by. That is to say, I held up my hand for a high-five. She held hers up to wave at me. When mine didn't go down a confused moment passed as we approached closer...closer...until finally recognition dawned over her face and she assumed proper five-ing position while running. And then we nearly missed and I almost knocked her over with the force of my Dirtbag Power, Speed, and Exuberance.
Overall, this was a good, strong brick in the wall of my Fortress of Fitness. Now to go to the Bed of Comfiness and the Wife of Snugglitude to sleep the Sleep of Restoration. (Am I done doing that now? Yes. Except the Fortress thing. I like that.)


**This post will also appear on the Run Smiley Collective blog.