Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Olympic Brick--My Favorite Workout

I got to do my favorite all-time workout yesterday. I hadn't done it for awhile. Fantastic! Check it!

The Olympic Brick:
Bike 15-30 miles
followed by 3-6 mile run
To be done at tempo, or better yet, race pace (high intensity)

My favorite place to do this workout is Fiesta Island for the bike, then run south along the east side of Mission Bay for the run. I do 1 warm-up lap around Fiesta (4.2 miles each), followed by 3-4 higher intensity, steady-state (time trial-ish) laps at race pace (or negative split each lap). Fiesta is great because you are guranteed a head wind for half of the island, giving you great torture into the wind. However, the torture only lasts 2 miles. Then you get 2 miles recovery. I can handle any sort of headwind for 2 miles! I like this brick because it's longer than most (especially the run). When I'm all done, I can record a full bike AND run into my training log so I feel like I'm getting the most bang for my buck. It does take a lot out of me though so I don't recommend it more than once or twice a month (unless, of course, you're a superstar).

Happy Training!

What's YOUR favorite workout?

10 comments:

Wes said...

You Ironpeeps are so athletic! My favorite workout? Beer-ups, at descending intervals :-)

Cliff said...

My favourite workout...

hill repeats. Surprisingly I enjoy it on the bike and on the run.

Right now training for marathon...

fav workout:

20 min - Warm up
40 min - hill repeats - 6 reps
- keep steady below Zone 4
20 min - cool down

triguyjt said...

love our swims on tuesdays...

each way to breakwall is .5 miles
we all swim hard out there....wait for the straggles...regroup and repeat..

then we swim a distance of about 350 yards a long beach to another pier..and back....

lotta camaradiere..afterwards...big breakfast...wee

Diana said...

My favorite workout is dragging a 55lb tire around the yard after biking 20 miles! Nothing like working those thighs and getting a good sweat going!

jameson said...

that's a good one...

My favorite: pretty much anything that makes me go so hard I feel like I am going to puke! You should try it!

Anonymous said...

I agree, bricks give a huge bang for the buck. Hummm, fav workout is usually sprint intervals in pyramid style of short distance/faster speed progressing up to longer/slightly slower, and back down the other way.

Backpacker said...

Favorite workout for this week: Couch Surfing-if you touch the ground you have to start over.

Unknown said...

Bricks make you feel soo good don't they??? I don't know what my favorite workout is - probably just a slow recovery ride with the hubby where we talk about how our training is going. :)

Unknown said...

Nice job with the brick workout!

...and yes, I'm finally back to running.

Benson said...

"...giving you great torture into the wind."
thank goodness for crazy people. makes me look less abby(normal).

I like group swim with race simulation. like water polo-salmon spawning wrapped together.