Big Brick

Today I went out and did what I'm calling a "baseline brick" for The Big Kahuna 70.3 triathlon in Santa Cruz early next month.  First I went out and rode just over 53 miles with OC Velo.  Then I came home, changed and headed straight out for a 10 mile run.  Both are familiar distances on their own, but this is the first time I strung them together to see what would happen.

Laguna Canyon

The ride was south through Newport Beach, Irvine and Laguna Beach.  It was a pretty routine ride and at times a little more mellow than I had hoped for.  One of the highlights of the ride is a 2 mile climb to the height of land on El Toro Road in Laguna Woods and then a gentle 6 or 7 mile descent down El Toro, into Laguna Canyon and on to Pacific Coast Highway.  To me, this particular stretch of the ride affords a perfect view of the classic Southern California landscape.  The south end of El Toro Road is especially wild, running through large areas of coastal chaparral.  Laguna Canyon is a deep, twisty canyon that ends at one of the nicest beach communities around.

The climb and the descent

It's good to have great training partners, and I've got one.  About 15 miles out of Huntington Beach, Craig told me to get on his wheel.  He wanted to hammer but knew I needed to stay as fresh as possible for the run.  We made it back to Huntington Beach pretty quick, hitting 22 or 23 miles an hour when we had the road to do so.  When we got back to town, Craig headed home to get ready to see Cowboys & Aliens with his son.  When I got home, I got ready to run.

Bolsa Chica Beach Path

I was in and out of the house in 15 minutes.  Not quite the transition time I'll want to lay down in Santa Cruz, but then again I won't have to change clothes and check my e-mail on race day.  The route I took is a familiar one - out of the house, west to the beach and then south on the Bolsa Chica beach path.  At about 7 miles, I turned inland and ran back to the house.  It's essentially a big quasi-triangle that circles the Bolsa Chica Wetlands.

It was a pretty typical run, save for miles 2 and 3, where for some reason things got a little rough.  But by the time I hit the beach I had found my legs and finished the run strong.

The Stats:

The Bike - 53.32 miles in 3:08:34; Average speed 17 MPH

The Run - 10 miles in 1:22:27; Average pace 8:14/mile

As I mentioned, I would have liked to have had a faster bike split.  But you know how group rides are sometimes, and all things considered I'm happy to go with the flow.  Luckily, the second half was the fast half and despite drafting off of Craig for the last 15 miles, I definitely felt the ride in my legs when I started running.  I'm happy with the run.  I'll be going for a faster pace on race day but I feel today was aggressive enough to test my ability but not so over the top where recovery is going to take awhile.

Going into this workout, I was pretty sure that things would go fine.  That said, I'm glad to have done it as it was definitely a confidence builder.  So when it comes time to execute the race next month, I'll be building off some experience.