The Brick Foundation

It has been more than a month since that fateful day when I received an email invitation that would change my life forever. Today I made it official, I am registered for Kona!

My training in the past month has been very good. Nice and steady. You see, I am in what I like to call "Phase One" of Ironman training. I am getting my body used to doing all three disciplines. Focusing on building a solid base, making sure that I am being consistent with my workouts and listening to my body for any aches and pains that I might be feeling. I've been a bit sore here and there, but so far so good.

Here is a little snapshot of what I have been doing for Phase One. You might think that this looks a little crazy, but I promise you it's not. This is just the beginning. I have some friends that are doing Ironman Coeur d'Alene in a few weeks and if you saw what they are doing for training right now your mind would explode! It's absolutely nuts. But in a couple of months I will be doing that too.

What the heck is a Brick? Glad you asked. A brick workout is a very important aspect of a triathlete's training.  It's where, like shown above, you do two disciplines back to back with little or no interruption in between just like you would in a race. These workouts are key. As you switch from one discipline to the next your heart rate is going a million miles an hour and your body needs to efficiently prepare for the next exercise while at the same time recover a bit from the previous one. One thing is to be able to swim, or bike, or run but another is to do all of them. Trust me, you don't want to have that "my legs feel like jelly" feeling during a race and brick workouts during your training will help your body handle the demands of a triathlon.

Physically, I feel as though I could push myself more. My body seems to be cooperating for the most part and on the days that I'm not so tired I always feel like I could swim, bike, or run longer. Mentally, I am not going to lie, I feel nervous. I psyched myself out a bit by watching a whole lot of YouTube videos last week of Kona races in years past like 2012 Ironman World Championship. Just hearing that cannon go off and seeing the mass of bodies thrashing in the water had my palms sweating and a knot in my throat. Not to mention all the talk of the winds. In my family, talking about the wind is usually a good thing. As an avid windsurfer my dad has been scheduling his days of fun around big winds for a long time. But I have a feeling that come race day he won't be enjoying the wind gusts as he tracks me on the bike wondering if I have been blown off the road or not.

Time is on my side. If I start out now with a strong foundation, as I make my way through each phase of training I will be just fine. Trade winds and all.