The Brick

I completed my first brick workout for my Ironman training today. It wasn't a very long one, but I'm happy that I have one under my belt. It was a 55 mile bike followed by a 15 minute run.

What is a brick? A brick in triathlon is basically a workout including two or more disciplines in a row. You may do a swim followed by a bike; a bike followed by a run; or even a swim followed by a bike, followed by a run.

How often should you do bricks? Some people are under the misconception that brick workouts need to be done every week. However, this is not true. In my opinion, doing bricks every week is too often. Bottom line, they are too hard on your body. You'll get much of the same benefit with reduced risk of over training by doing bricks every other week or even every 3rd week.

What intensity should be used for brick workouts? The intensity should match the purpose of the workout. For example, if the purpose of the workout is endurance then HR zones 1 and 2 would be appropriate. Additionally, you may vary the intensity of each discipline. For example, the bike may be done in zones 1 and 2, and the run might be done at race pace giving you a nice endurance and muscular endurance workout combined.

How long should brick workouts be? Start short and get longer as you progress through your training cycle. Make it simple as total training volume increases, increase the distance of your brick workouts. Build toward distances just short of your race distance.

Participating in races less then your goal race distance is a great form of brick training. When doing this, just don't be tempted to race hard if that is not the ultimate goal of that day's brick workout.