Bricks are building blocks. Building up your multisport training is important for race days where you are doing two or more ‘splits’Β or disciplines – ie. biking and running or swimming and biking. It’s good to get your body used to those transitions.
When you’re training for a multisport race such as a triathlon or duathlon, the importance of a BRICK workout (one discipline with another immediately following) can be really beneficial to your overall race day performance and overall physical fitness.
Let’s use the triathlon BIKE to RUN change or ‘T2’ as it’s often called for this example.
After your normal bike training ride (however long or short that may be), have your running shoes and socks ready to go. As soon as you hop off the bike, slip on your run gear and get on your legs to start a run. The run can be nearly any distance (even just a half mile). Why? This builds the muscle memory within your body so it’s more and more prepared for the race day transition.
The feeling of “wobbly” legs tends to become less and less with this type of practice. The same type of training can be done for the SWIM to BIKE ‘T1’ transition. Practice getting out of your wetsuit and right onto the bike OR out of the pool and going for a ride – even a short 1-2 miles soaking wet. How does your seat feel? How do the handlebars feel?
This type of BRICK TRAINING in your workouts can make for a much better race day experience and level of confidence.
What are your ‘go to’ BRICK workouts? What have you found to be best?
Ready to put this into action? Join us on race day at the Last Call Triathlon this fall at Boyd Lake in Colorado.