Brick day

Since this is the first post in my new Tri training blog. A little background. I am currently training for the Duke Liver Center Half Ironman triathlon on September 16th. I have been at it for a while now, but just decided to start posting workout thoughts as well as race reports. My old blog on yahoo 360 has all my old race reports. I probably won't move them over, but if you are interested... it is here.
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-qSUFvzojfq82KlTVknbvcw--?cq=1

Today's workout: 40 mile bike 6 mile run. Sounds like fun?

Day started off ok at 5 AM, got up and had my normal breakfast of Grapenuts, raisins and added a banana to get some extra calories for the day ahead. First problem. Out of milk. So I used my wife's fat free half and half with some water added. Boy was that yummy. Had to get going by 6:15 as I was meeting a friend of mine for the run part of my brick at 8:30 and needed to bike to her house and drop off my run stuff before heading out on the bike.
The bike was boring since I was by myself and doing a route that I had done many times in the past as part of my White lake Half IM training. But the good news is after killing myself on the bike for the past month or so, I seem to be making some improvements. Here are my HR stats from a ride I did in March for this route compared to the one I did today.

March 31st ride August 18 ride same course
Ave speed 18 mph Ave speed 18.1
Ave hr 140 Ave hr 134
Max hr 165 Max hr 155
Time in HR Zone 4 – 33 Time in HR Zone 4 – 03 – 30 minutes less woo hoo
Time in HR Zone 3 – 1:16 Time in HR Zone 3 – 1:24
Time in HR Zone 2 - 15 Time in HR Zone 2 – 34

I didn't really look at my old times, I was just trying to stay comfortable in zone 3. So now I feel much better about my training progress. The heat and humidity lately have really gotten my down. This morning though it was 70 and less humid.

The run also was better than I thought. I had my buddy Erin to run with so it went by quicker and I felt really good the whole time. Took a few walk breaks up the hills so the heart rate wouldn't explode, but other than that kept the pace just a little slower than my goal race pace.

I have been inspired by some of the blogs I have been reading lately so I will try to post more often and not just race reports.