Big Brick (5 weeks to NOLA)

5 weeks to go and the plan called for a brick workout Saturday and a four and a half hour s/b/r Sunday.  The brick was good timing.  It's time to nail down the nutrition and the clothing I'll wear at NOLA.  I'm pretty sure I'm going with my DeSoto 400 mile shorts and my Tyr tri tank.  I've had concerns with both pieces of gear.  The Tyr top has caused chaffing issues under my arms in the past and the DeSoto shorts have a pretty large pad.  I wasn't sure how that pad would feel during a run.  I used body glide under my arms to help with chaffing,

So, after getting everything lined up, off I went.  I ran to the Y carrying my towel and goggles.  Once I got there, I took off my jacket, tri top, shoes, socks, HRM and Road ID then waited while the life guards put the lane markers in.  Then I swam 2500 yards in my DeSoto shorts.  My hips/glutes were cramping or feeling tight.  Not sure which, but I broke down and swam the last 1000 yards using a pull buoy to make sure I could finish the work out.  After the swim, I got dressed pool side, ate a GU and ran home. 

Once home, I put on my bike shoes, shoe covers, gloves and Rudy Aero helmet and headed out.  Oh, I also tried out a Halo head band designed to keep sweat out of your eyes.  Usually within 30 minutes my sun glasses are covered in sweat.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to try the Halo.  It was pretty windy, like 15-20 mph with gusts close to 30, but it was really nice riding outside.  On the bike I drank 20 ounces of Infinit Ride formula, 16 ounces of water and ate a package of GU chomps.  I rode my usual 26.6 mile loop at a slightly higher level of effort than what I plan to do at NOLA.

After the ride, I changed in to my running shoes and headed out.  Off the bike my calves felt they were going to cramp, but after a quarter mile or so, they loosened up.  The run was uneventful.  I ate a GU 20 minutes in and drank some water at 20 and 40 minutes in.  Oh, and the Halo head band worked like a charm.  First ride ever that I could see through my sunglasses through out the ride.





Overall is was a good brick workout.   No chaffing issues with the tri top and no problems with the DeSoto pad.  I did do another sweat test.  I lost 2.5 pounds and took in 56 ounces out fluid so I sweated a total of 6 pounds in 4 hours.  I had salt caked on my face and jacket, like usual.  I'm going to try to have more sports drink than water at NOLA.  It will be much hotter and more humid at NOLA than it was this weekend.

So here is the workout.

4:40 - run to the Y
6:34 - T0.25 - change and wait for the lifeguards
55:20 - swam 2500 yards
4:16 - T0.75 - get dressed after the swim
4:43 - ran home
6:25 - T1 - A bit long since I didn't lay out a real transition area
1:32:23 - 26.6 mile ride
3:27 - T2
1:00:38 - 6 mile run

On one hand, my first Olympic distance tri shouldn't be a problem in May, on the other hand, I was really really tired Saturday night.  I slept in Sunday then road 3 hours on the trainer.  It was a slow ride on really tired legs.

Next week should be the biggest yet then ramp down from there.

Sorry about the lack of pictures.  I didn't feel like messing with my phone and the gloves and the wind.