Completed my 1st brick

I completed my first brick workout this morning with great anticipation as well as uncertainty going into it. I started with an easy ride of 30 minutes at a 12mph avg for a little more than 6 miles. Not real impressive, but as I keep telling myself for this 1st tri, train to complete the race and compete only against the demons of my past and the course. After the ride, I took 55 seconds to rack the bike, take off my helmet, get a quick swig of water and hustle to the track where I was going to start my run. As I started, just like MacMadame said, I had no legs. I was determined not to walk though. I knew I would only get about 2.5  laps around the high school track in the 10 minutes. I was slightly discouraged at this pace, but stayed on course to get the workout donne. After 2 laps (1/2) mile I looked at my watch for the 1st time in the run  thinking I just might make 3.5 laps. At that point I decided I would finish 1 mile and not worry about the time. As I crossed the finish line I stopped my watch and started walking a cool down lap before looking at the time because I did not want to beat myself up too bad. When I finished the cool down lap I looked at the time and I completed the brick run portion in 9 min 58 seconds. 1 mile. This amazed me. I thought I was at a crawl the whole time, but a 10 minute pace is what I have been running on avg for all of my workouts. It is amazing what your body will do if you just give it the opportunity to do it. These times and distance are definately not impressive in the big scheme of life and fitness, but they are a milestone for me. Last year at this time I was 470 pounds and wondering if I would live to be 40. Now I am 239 and dropping and feel better than I have my entire life. Thank you all for all of your advice, encouragement and being there for me.

Darrell

Good job buddy!

Congrats!

Good work & keep it up.

Scott

The first brick is always the weirdest and most hardest. I remember mine. I laughed out loud b/c I felt so BAD! Ha!

One thing that will help you. Once you feel more confident and with one on your bike...learn proper gearing, etc...cadence will be your best friend. That's the number of times a leg rotates in a minute. The ideal pedaling cadence is 90 RPM on flats. You don't want to be mashing big gears.

The cadence will get your legs ready to run. You'll FEEL slow off the bike, but when you cross that first mile mark you may actually surprise yourself.

Also-I like biking away from home...I lock my bike up in/on the car and take off. I don't know how far from the track you live, but driving to your brick isn't always the best idea-unless you live somewhere unsafe to run.

I can't wait to read about your progress throughout the summer! Keep it up!

Congratulations, Darrell!!

You are doing so well in so many areas.  Keep up the good work!

Your other brother,

Darrell