I completed my first “brick” of 2017 this morning with a friend. For those who don’t know, a brick is basically a bike ride followed immediately by a run. They’re pretty popular amongst triathletes (of which I am not). They’re also awful. Luckily, we took it easy on ourselves with a 25k mile in town ride followed by a 5k run.

I’ve been out of the saddle for a few months aside from short stints on the track so I’m having to force my body back into the very unnatural position of an aero road bike. The first few rides of the year make you think you need a new saddle but the reality is that your body has simply regressed back to a more natural state of being which don’t include hours of routing your body weight through your sitbones.

I also find the transition from biking to running to be particularly tough. As soon as I take off running I’m reminded of three things: 1) Why the hell am I doing this? 2) Did I miss the part where legs converted into Jello? 3) Why does it feel like I’m going to slow??

Unfortunately, I can’t answer any of those things except #3 which is likely just the speed differential of going 3-4 times my running speed only moments early. It’s that feeling you get when you get off the interstate going 80 and are suddenly stuck on 35 mph backroads. You feel like you’re going absolutely no where and the change of pace is frustrating until you rationality that you’re still traveling 35 miles per hour or roughly 10 times a quick as you can walk.

This year I’ve really got to focus on distance riding. There are a few rides I’d like to do. I’m not certain what I’ll be able to do with work and life being what they are but I hope to have at least two bike trips coupled with roughly 50 miles per day.