My First Brick

On Monday, after weeks of longing for one, I finally went on a brick.

What the frick is a brick? I'm not 100 percent certain myself, but my blog buddy Michael (a triathlete) said recently that a brick is when you run and bike, or bike and run, one after the other. So that's what I did on Monday morning.

First of all, the girls stayed the night with a family member, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do it. For a good brick, you need some time.

I wasn't quite sure what to do first, to bike or to run. I know the order for a triathlon is swim-bike-run so maybe a bike-run would have worked. But I figured I could do a run and get through a bike ride, and that being tired for the end of a run would be harder than being tired for the end of a bike ride. Just a newbie thought.

I set out for five miles and of course I got very excited and energized and wound up running six. I'd run 10 miles on Sunday so I still had that long-run mentality lingering I suppose. Anyway, I wasn't too worried after the run part of my brick. I got through 6.12 miles in 59:36 (I should really have ran for 24 more seconds to have made it an even hour of running, but oh well). I got my bike and set out for.......... a ride.

I had no idea what would have made for a good distance. 10 miles? 12? 15? During my run, I figured out that in an Ironman, the ratio of miles biked to miles run is greater than 4-to-1 but I wasn't feeling a 24-mile bike ride. Not quite. I set out though, not really worried about a distance.

The first mile flew by, in about 4:50. The next mile came and went and I was enjoying myself. I got to three and then four and figured that I would get to six and then turn around. The bike path I was on was great. No cars to deal with, a few other cyclists but for the most part it was just me and the path.

Oh yeah, and the hills. Okay, "hills" is too strong of a word. Inclines are more like it. There were a lot of inclines in some parts, and the inclines and declines are much more pronounced on bikes than they are when you run. The uphills are so hard and the downhills.... weeeeeee!!!

I made it to six miles in about 30 minutes, turned around and headed back for my truck. I was feeling fine, save for the occasional "hill" that forced me to pedal harder. On two occasions I stopped and walked the bike. It wasn't intentional but I figured it was time to do what when I'd pedaled and pedaled and pedaled until the bike stopped moving.

I felt good until about mile 10.5. Then, I felt it. My legs weren't burning but there was smoke coming out of them. I made it a goal to finish strong. I pedaled my legs off for the last mile and change and came in at 12 miles in 1:00:51. I have no idea if that's good, bad or whatever, but I'm just happy I got through it.

All told, six miles running, 12 miles biking and one very hungry LB. I can't remember the last time I was that hungry after a workout. But hey, I did well to work up an appetite.

Anatomy Of A Bike Crash

On Thursday, I was excited about going on a bike ride. I went and bought a helmet, put air in my bike's tires, set off for a 6- to 10-mile bike ride.... and promptly crashed about a half-mile into the ride.

That's the short story.

Here's the pictorial version.



I'd been riding for two minutes, had traveled a whopping .37 miles and was traveling at 14 miles an hour. And of course, I felt happy.

But then...


I went into the turn and noticed water. I tried to slow down. But...

... it was too late.


I was thrown off my bike, smacked my head on the asphalt, crushed my knee under the bike, scraped my arms and thumped my chest.

According to micoach app then, I was thrown off my bike at about 14 miles per hour.

I'm okay. Getting better, both physically and mentally.

Bike Plan Crashed

I bought a bike helmet on Thursday. It was part of my grand scheme of doing my first run/ride. I had planned on running four miles and then riding my bike for another six or maybe even 10.

This plan seemed like a good plan but it blew up in my face.

I dropped the girls off at school and went straight to Target. I bought a nice-fitting helmet there and a few other things and I had intended afterward to pick up my bike and then head over the Mt. Rubidoux. There is a nice bike path over there and I figured it would be a great place to run and then ride. But it was close to 8:30 at that point and when I got home, I just decided to run/ride at home.

The run was great. I ran four miles in about 37 minutes, felt good doing so also. I know I could have run another two or three miles, maybe maintain that pace or not, but I could have gotten to seven miles easy. Instead, though, I wanted to save my strength for a bike ride.

I was curious to see how my muscles would react to bike riding after having run. Of course, it wasn't exactly a duathlon. Four miles running doesn't put a whole lot of stress on the body.

I figured out how to put on my helmet, adjusted it and then got both tires nice and filled with air. Soon after, I headed out, excited, hopeful.

I turned down one street, made a left and got near the end of that street. I went into a right turn when I noticed water. I didn't have a ton of time to react. I went through it and figured nothing would happen.

The back tire, though, had other ideas. The tire slid out from behind me, to the left. I hit the brakes and that's when all hell broke loose. The entire bike slid to the left and I was coming down. I looked up and saw the street rushing up towards me. My head smacked the ground but I barely felt anything. The helmet had served its purpose.

However, the helmet spared me from having any lingering head issues but couldn't protect the rest of me. My knee hurt the most initially. It was quite tender and swelling already. My arms had various scuffs on them but nothing stood out, just the knee. I got back on my bike, unsure of what to do. Almost immediately, though, my knee asked to go home. I hadn't even been a half mile when I fell. I went back a different way and wound up riding one mile.

I wasn't concerned about anything but getting home, of course. My knee felt strange, quite tender to the touch, and that's what I cared about. The ride was shot, nothing good had come of it, and in fact it served to all but shatter my confidence and motivation to ride.

As of this writing (it's late Thursday), my knee is in discomfort, pain sometimes, but I can walk okay on it. Turns out the biggest problem is my wrist. I've resorted to wearing Yvie's old brace to help stabilize it. Having some pressure makes it feel okay. The problem isn't moving my fingers and my wrist up and down or even side to side but when I try to rotate my hand or arm, like if you are turning a doorknob, that's when I get a shooting pain. The wrist looks a little swollen in comparison to the other wrist but I haven't gone to the doctor. I plan on going on Friday if things don't improve.

So there you have it. I get adventurous and try something new only to have this happen. Sigh.


My new helmet saved me from some head pain. Already paid itself off after one wear.

Kind of hard to tell but that's where I smacked myself. Some of that is dirt from falling - the street there was quite filthy - but my knee was already red and tender at this point.

A new wrinkle

While 2009 might be the year of my first marathon, 2010 could see yours truly delve into another facet of fitness: endurance sports.

Well, I suppose the marathon falls under there, but I was thinking more of something I haven't been able to do before - a duathlon.

I got my first bicycle earlier this week. I've actually owned bicycles before but that was in the mid-80s, and I don't think those really count now. I got a hand-me-down bicycle from my father-in-law, who upgraded and wanted to get rid of his old bike. It's actually perfect for me. It retails around $150-200, which is what I had thought it would cost me to get going. I'm not going to upgrade to a $600 bicycle like my FIL anytime soon so his old one is perfect for me.

It's actually in great condition and I've ridden it a couple of times already. I'll take a picture of it soon enough so you can see what I'm dealing with. (UPDATE: Picture is up!)

Of course, I haven't had the bicycle for more than a few days, haven't really gone anywhere on it, have no idea how long it will take me to bike 5, 10, 15 or whatever amount of miles, but I'm already thinking about a race.

This one.

The Camp Pendleton Devil Dog Duathlon.

The race is simple: a 5K run, a 30K bike ride and a 5K run. So that's essentially a 10K sandwiched around a long bike ride.

The 10K itself would take me about an hour I'd say, the second leg of it I'd run after the bike ride so I'd probably be slowed down some. But it would be an awesome challenge. Supposedly the bike route is mostly flat, while the run is on gravel roads. Not sure how steep it is but that area can get quite hilly.

I've actually mentioned this race before, but it was more of a pie-in-the-sky type deal since I didn't have the money to get myself a bike. Now I have one and I'm anxious to go out and ride it. This week has been ultra-busy and next week I'll be down in Central America, so my first bike ride may not happen until a few weeks from now.

Not sure how it will fit into my running either. I don't want to injure myself by riding the bike so I'll just have to ease into bike riding. No 20-mile rides off the bat for LB. Still, some 30-minute bike segments would be a good change of pace from running, so there's an upside to the running as well.

I think one of the better visions I have, though, is this: LB, Yvie and Kennedy on their own bikes down on a bike trail in a nearby beach on a less-crowded weekday. This summer, that vision will come to fruition!

As for the duathlon, we'll see but I'm guessing I'm going to make that one happen as well.