{"id":14341,"date":"2013-08-17T10:45:34","date_gmt":"2013-08-17T09:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=14341"},"modified":"2013-08-17T10:44:01","modified_gmt":"2013-08-17T09:44:01","slug":"triathlon-training-double-brick-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/08\/triathlon-training-double-brick-sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"Triathlon Training – Double Brick Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"

With only 4 weeks to go until the Triathlon World Championships in London it’s almost time to start some speedwork in my training. I have until now been doing mainly strength and endurance work and building up my overall fitness. it’s also time to start working on some race specific training such as Brick session. Brick sessions are back to back sessions, usually a bike and then a run, although you can do swim and bike sessions too, but as many people struggle with running off the bike then bike to run sessions are the norm.<\/p>\n

My training schedule called for some double brick sessions in the form of a bike, run, bike, run and in a strange way I had been looking forward to them. I did the first last week, a 35 minute bike ride, followed by a 10 minute run, followed by a 20 minute bike ride followed by another 10 minute run. Not only does it get me used to running off the bike, but it gives me an opportunity to practise transitions too, even if they aren’t exactly as they’ll be on race day. I swap tops when doing these at home for two reasons.<\/p>\n

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  1. I need a cycling top with pockets in for the ride so that I can carry a pump, spare tube, multi-tool and mobile phone just in case – I don’t bother with all of this on race day.<\/li>\n
  2. I stick a t-shirt on over my tri-suit for the run as I don’t want to be seen running around Ynyslas is a skimpy tri-suit!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I had another of these double brick sessions on my\u00a0schedule for Friday, and this time extended the bike portions out a little to be closer to 40 minutes each.<\/p>\n

    I actually run really well off the bike. In fact, I always run a lot faster off the bike than I can if I just go for a standalone run. I’m not supposed to have started any speedwork yet, but I just can’t help myself when running off the bike. I jump off the bike, change my shoes and then go off at top speed. The whole session was supposed to be at a fairly steady effort, but when running off the bike I just have to go flat out!<\/p>\n

    Bike 1<\/h2>\n

    The first ride was around what I call the Staylittle Loop. From Ynyslas it heads into Borth, through Dolybont and then up over the Lon Glan Fred Climb<\/a>, through Staylitte and down the narrow twisty hill towards Tre Ddol. It then cuts off the corner and adds in the little climb up to Gwynfryn Hall before heading back to Ynyslas.<\/p>\n