Brick

To use the triathlete lingo, I did a brick today. No, not in the toilet. A brick is at least 2 workouts on 2 different disciplines. I rode for 23 miles on my super duper trainer and then ran 3 miles.

I bought a velodyne trainer about a year ago for $300. They're worth about $1500 brand new. Although mine is over 10 years old it only had 50 miles on it. It was and still is one of the most advanced trainers available. You take off your front wheel and clamp your rear wheel in like most trainers but that's where the similarities end. It has a magnetic resistance and a motor assist drive. By using icons on the screen, if you're in the pack, resistance is lower, off the front or back and resistance is higher. At 20mph the resistance is perfect, just like on the road. There are several modes. You can program in your own course with hills or you can choose from several, like the 1986 world championship course or 1988 olympic course. You can choose the steady resistance mode, race mode. The race mode is pretty cool. You choose the "level" you want to race at and the "pack" ebb and flows as on the road. Also you can program in the heart rate range you want to keep and it will adjust the resistance to keep you in the zone.

I only did 3 miles but did them a little quicker. My natural stride omes under me at about a 7:30 mile. Not quite there yet but I did do an 8:14, 8:22, 7:56. Not bad for an old bike racer just trying to keep in shape to run with his wife. I didn't get hurt last time I ran 2 years ago until I started running those 1:20 quarter mile sprints. I think I'll lay off of those this time and see what happens. I'm gonna hold steady at 3 mile runs for a while until I'm impatient with the distance and then bump it up slowly.