Triathlon - confused about bricks

I did a search on the topic but I'm still confused on the "correct" way to do them. Right now I'm working out in the gym because it's too cold to be outside and we don't have any snow yet. I go from the stationary bike to the treadmill.

Here's the dilemma: Say I'm aiming for a 16 mile bike/ 4 mile run sprint tri, do I do the full 16, then the full 4 miles or do I do 4/1/4/1/4/1? In other words, should I do the whole distance as one brick or should I break it up into multiple "reps"? (I hope that makes sense.)

IMO either way will work. The goal of a brick is to get used to the running motion after being on the bike. It usually takes 1/2 mi or so to get your stride feeling right. I would say mix it up and do both.

I agree with above post.. mix it up to keep things more interesting for yourself.

My only other suggestion after having done a triathlon.... make sure your bike efforts are hard! Running is a piece of cake if you've been loafing on the bike... but definitely is awkward if you push yourself on the bike.

You don't need to do the full bike and then full run. What you are doing with a brick is training your body to run after the bike. So, you can bike and then run about 20 minutes and you'll be accomplishing what you need. For a tri with a 16 mile bike and 4 mile run you could do the full distance if you wanted, though, because its relatively short.

Also, you don't need to worry about doing bricks yet or doing a lot of them. You don't need to start doing bricks until about 6 or 8 weeks before your tri. Do one a week for 5 or 6 weeks.

I agree with above post.. mix it up to keep things more interesting for yourself.

My only other suggestion after having done a triathlon.... make sure your bike efforts are hard! Running is a piece of cake if you've been loafing on the bike... but definitely is awkward if you push yourself on the bike.

I will partly agree with this in that I believe you do need to know what "hard" really is. A Triathlon is "managing energy expenditure" while being well aware of "what and where your limits are". Then as you work your way into longer distance Tris (Olympic, 1/2 IM and IM) you need to be very capable of understanding and managing your fueling needs not only against the given distance but given conditions of race day.

To know what "hard" really is you need to train and race in their back yard with their rules - to do this I race a ton of swim, bike and run specific races. My swim is a mass start open water race against real swimmers who are for the most part NOT triathletes. The same goes for the Bike I race in a number of Time Trial events against people who sole passion in life is the bike. Then there is the Run, and where I race 3-4 marathons each year at places like Boston and Pikes Peak.
So, I know what training and racing "hard" means at least to me. My definaitions and compairson of training hard and racing fast come from a whole different place. My Bike local TT's (10.5 miles) are all anerobic, meaning that my HR is at it's max around 185 - 190 the entire time and something I would never do in a Triathlon. When I finish I can barley stop and stand without my legs shaking and my chest in pain from breathing so hard and deep - it is a 100% focused effort to be as fast as possible. In the state TT championships it's 40k where near 54/55 min. total time is a pretty average time on a course that is hilly and windy. In either race series I am a mid-pack racer and have nothing but respect for the real TT guys as they are damn fast - but they can't run or swim :). So when I'm on the Bike leg of a 1/2 IM Tri going along at 22 - 23mph avg speed for 56-miles it's a walk in the park in compairson to how hard I have to go in a TT specific race to be a mid pack racer.

Now for the Brick - I am a firm beliver in periodization and yes I am a long course guy but you can draw parallels to the shorter distances THEY ARE THE SAME. So for me I have short bricks (that I do every day) and long bricks (that I do on weekends). I also have slow and fast bricks, all of which is in line with the "timing" and "build-up" of my training against a "specific race". What I mean when I say "Specific Race" is "How" I train for say the Boston Marathon is very different than how I train for the Pikes Peak Marathon or even say the Detroit Marathon. Every event has specific key fundamental elements that you need to consider and be ready for.... whether it is altitude, hills, flat, hot or high humidy, wind etc... That's what makes IM Hawaii so difficult… as it has just about the worst of all conditions you could imagine to deal with.

So with out getting too technical - I believe you need short bricks and long bricks. each have a specific purpose in your conditioning. None of which needs to be the complete distance of race day, I never run 26.2 miles before running a marathon although I do long aerobic runs of 18, 20 or 22 nearly onece a week. Why? because doing the full distance is too much wear and tear on the body - but mind you everyone is at a different level, what is long for some is just a warm-up for others.

My daily (short) brick is Run 9.0, Bike 25.0, although sometimes it is Run 12.0 and Bike 35.0...for me it is a give and take in that range. One or two times a week I will work on speed, in others it may just basic aerobic HR. In either case I work to a specific HR with warm up and recovery time. I also mix-up as to run or bike first - mainly because of available daylight or weather conditions. Being winter it is very common for me to run 9.0 after work around my neighborhood, do a quick change and head down stairs to my home gym to ride my Lifecycle 9500 for 1-hr or so. Daily, I get 2-hours a cardio/day and that is the foundation to my overall fitness.


My weekend long brick will depend what I am gearing up for for but in the range of Run 18, Bike 50-60.
But for me I really have a basic rule in that I train as a marathon runner year round and use running as my main aerobic driver in that I tend to run in the range of 50 - 65 miles/week year round. This includes an LSD run of 18, 20 or 22 on Saturdays. This is why at 47-years old I can still place in the top 200 - 300 overall in most any marathon such as Chicago, Detroit, MCM, etc...but I can guarantee you that I have no natural talent or skills - I just work hard and for the most part sweat blood to get what I get. But my daily bricks combined with strength training are the foundation of my durability and why I can train and race at the volume I do.

An Additional note - Bricks are not just Bike/Run. I do alot of Swim/Run and Swim/Bike workouts as well. I stress that you need to be flexable in that you should not focus so much on the order of how you train for the simple reason that life and other responsibilities may pull you in multiple directions. When I run on a treadmill it takes me a while to get into the groove of Running - for me that amounts of struggling for maybe 3-4 miles then my body is in tune and I can run for a long time. So I would say be specific with each - focus on your running then cycling (or what ever order) don't chop it up back and forth several times in a day.
The other Key is "Strength Training" Learn to do at least 2 - 3 Triples/week. After, I do my daily Mini-Brick I add strength training in 2 - 3 times mid week as well - strength training is one of the most important things you can do to stay durable and to move to the next level.


Good luck

I want to know how early MHR gets up in the morning! You're amazing...

get those kind that troy aikman throws at people in that comercial.

MHR,

Your post (above) was very helpful. I wish that I could maintain the running mileage that you do. It seems that once I cross the 50 mile/week threshold, I break down. I feel that I've been undertrained before all the marathons I've run, and before my only Ironman effort. I really want to do another IM, and get to the line having pushed my training to my limits. I'm new enough that I don't know my limits, especially in the swim and bike. I'm going to focus 90% of my energy on bike and run becuase I don't think I'll ever become an efficient swimmer. I'm 53, but I still feel that I have a few good marathons left (even a PR), and I know that I can do another IM faster than my 1st. Thanks for sharing your training thoughts on brickwork.
Dave