Triathlon Training Continues: Brick Workout #2!

Hello, hello!

Thanks for all the great feedback on my new blog header! I’m so glad you guys love it, too. It’s so weird to come to my blog and have it look so different, heh! A huge thank you to my awesome graphic designer Bailey, who designed the header for me. If you’re looking for graphic design services, give her a holler! She also made me a cute new favicon (the little icon that shows up next to fANNEtastic food in the browser tab) to match! Love it :)

And now — for details of triathlon training brick (bike + run) workout #2! If you’re new to the blog — my boyfriend Matt and I are doing our first triathlon (a sprint triathlon) in late July!

What’s that you see? Me in an official awesome tri outfit? Why, yes! Remember how in the post about me and Matt’s very first brick workout I mentioned that I tried on tri shorts but they were way out of my price range? Well, I arrived home from my internship on Tuesday night to the absolute sweetest surprise package ever!

My family’s good friend Jill from Tampa (remember when we had both Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner at her family’s house in 2009 when my family still lived in Tampa? They are major foodies — check out those posts for some EPIC feasting) reads the blog (hi Jill!), and when she read that post, she went out and bought me a tri outfit, plus a new pair of goggles (since I’m having issues with mine), AND a new CamelBak (which I gave to Matt since I have one and he needs one)!

Is that not the sweetest thing ever? Thank you SO much Jill, you completely made my day! I may not win the triathlon, but I will certainly be the most stylish now ;)

Here is my awesome new tri outfit:

Cute, right? Clearly I tried it on immediately upon getting the package.

I love that the back of the shirt is white so it doesn’t attract as much heat! It’s all super comfy, too.

Don’t worry, I tried on the goggles immediately, too. Yes, I’m still wearing my work earrings. Disregard.

So hot right now. The bulging vein in my forehead is especially hardcore.

The outfit actually arrived at the PERFECT time — Matt and I were talking about how we needed to fit in another brick workout but we are going to be out of town for the next few weekends, practically until the triathlon. We wanted to do one on Tuesday night, but I was supposed to have an event for my internship until late. And then… the event was cancelled!! Instead, I made it home by 5:30, found the awesome new package with my tri suit, and was out the door with Matt by 6 p.m. for our brick workout, new clothing and all!

Our plan: bike 12 miles, run 3.1 miles.

My transition area was a whole lot simpler than our first brick workout thanks to my new outfit! During the actual tri, I won’t change shoes, and I’m so excited now to not have to worry about awkwardly changing clothes 400 times and somehow wearing some sort of bikini bottom/black sports bra combination for the swim, ha.

Our goal was to make it through the brick workout without the whole flat tire and 20 minute walk with our bikes part that was included last time ;)

(But we were prepared with tire repair stuff this time, if needed!)

Everything went smoothly this time! It was pretty hot during the bike ride, but the breeze kept it manageable. Our route was VERY hilly but it was fun to be out and about. I love biking in the evening, it’s so refreshing :)

Given all the hills, it took us 1:09 to finish just over 12 miles on the bike. I think I’m getting faster! (Matt could be way faster but he’s nice and stays back with me, hehe)

We raced inside, quickly transitioned (change of shoes for me, change of shorts for Matt), and were off again for the run! We didn’t end up eating the chewy snacks since we put honey in our water, hehe.

I wore my CamelBak for the entire bike ride and run and it REALLY helped with staying better hydrated this time. I still haven’t mastered drinking water from my water bottle while on the bike so it’s a good solution! The honey in the water really helped my energy levels, too, I think.

Run — success! We ran the 5k (3.1 miles) in 27:57, for an average pace of 9:01.

Splits:

• Mile 1: 9:15 (legs feel like jelly + uphill)
• Mile 2: 9:00 (getting into the groove + flatter)
• Mile 3: 8:52 (more hills but feeling good!)

It was interesting to see how a run felt IMMEDIATELY after a bike ride this time, since last time we had to walk our bikes for a bit since Matt’s tire was busted. My legs definitely felt weird for the first mile, but we got into the groove pretty quickly. It was nice that by the time we ended up running (about 7:30 p.m.) the sun was starting to set so it wasn’t nearly as hot or beating down on us. Makes such a difference! It also helped that Matt started to play pump up music for us on his phone the last mile ;) We’ve decided we’re crossing the finish line at the tri holding hands and blasting the Rocky theme song. I know. We’re that cool.

And my new tri outfit was super comfy. I can’t wait to rock it at the real thing!

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I’m off to my internship for day 2 of teaching kids how to cook! It was fun yesterday and I think the kids enjoyed themselves — they even all ate the veggies we made! I think it makes such a difference to include kids in the cooking process — helps them to take ownership of the meal and get excited about it, even if it’s healthy. I’ll do a recap post about the cooking classes next week — we have three more to go, including today!

After work I’m racing off to the airport to fly out to Colorado! I’m attending the Fitness & Health Blogger’s Conference this weekend in Boulder.

It should be really fun — I’m excited to see blog friends and meet some new ones, as always! Plus, the conference includes a Friday morning hiking trip in the beautiful Colorado mountains! So pumped. I’m attending on behalf of Attune Foods and will be sporting one of their shirts and passing out coupons and probiotic chocolate bars, so come find me if you’ll be there! :)

Catch you guys later from out west!