Riding with a purpose and random thoughts of bricks

This weekend I will ride in the MS 150 Ride in Mount Vernon, WA. It's a beautiful ride, for a beautiful cause. DONATE!

According to TrainingPeaks, I am to do a brick tomorrow. What is a brick? It's a new term that I have learned since starting training. It is where you do two sports, back to back. A swim followed by a bike, a bike followed by a run, or some combination of the three. Tomorrow, I ride for 75 miles, and then get to run. I get to run. Yeah. Me. I get to run...after riding 75 miles. Le sigh. This is my fate.

Actually, running is getting a bit easier. The bricks from bike to run are hard, but I've been told that the more I do them, the easier they get. Going from swim to bike is weird. My heart rate is up, but my legs are 'cold' so my body gets a bit confused, but they are easier than bike to run. The first bike to run I did, I understood immediately why they call them a brick. Imagine that your legs are.....well, two bricks. They are heavy, awkward, and really don't want to do much for about 15 minutes.

Given that my legs generally don't like to do much running in the first place, you can imagine the conversation going on inside my body:
My legs, "WTF?"
Me, "Run dammit"
"No"
"Please?"
"But...but...but...it huuuuurts!"
"Shut up"
"And I'm tiiiiiiiiired!"
"Come on"
"I'm going to make you look like an idiot! You're going to trip...right....NOW! and then stumble...NOW!"
"This is supposed to be good for us. Just do it"
"Good? Good? Who in the hell have you been listening to? Clearly, they need their head examined!"
"I'll give you ice cream if you just do this for me"
"No"
"Ice cream and chocolate"
silence
"Ice cream and chocolate and...and...and..."
"And???"
"and....cookies!"
"What kind?"
"Of, for fuck's sake, just shut up, stop arguing and run"

This goes on for about 15-20 minutes when they finally start to realize that I'm not stopping. And then I trick them! I don't give them treats!