Crushing a brick

Today's first workout: a brick consisting of (1) a 1:20 ride including 6 x 8 min at 160 bpm and (2) a 0:40 run with the first 18 minutes at ~160 bpm. I averaged 6:16/mile at 162 bpm for the first 18 min of the run, though the first 18 minutes of the run were slightly uphill at about a 1% gradient on average. Also, if I don't take my HR into consideration until it reached a steady state my average HR would be more like 165 bpm. A HR of 165 bpm means I was going about HIM pace, perhaps a tad slower. Regardless of this over-analysis, a solid workout.

Oh, and I'd like to add one other comment regarding my weekly volume (~20 hours/wk) for any neophytes that may read my blog. The workouts I typically post are generally some of the harder ones that I do. A few of my workouts each week are extremely easy, yet still count toward my total volume. For example, yesterday and the day before I rode for an hour per day in addition to some other workouts. Both of these rides were recovery rides with an average HR of under 115 bpm. Don't think that you need to put in 20 hours per week of HR>140 bpm or anything like that. Go easy when you're tired, and work harder when feeling rested (or at least not too fatigued).

I should go through my workouts for the past few weeks and look at how many hours of intensity I'm doing. "Intensity" isn't a very exact term, but I'll consider it to include time at 150 bpm or greater on the bike and at 160 bpm or greater while running. My goal is to be in the 4-5 hour range this week, increasing to about 8 hours per week before tapering for Cali 70.3. Of those 8 hours, perhaps 1 hour will be running, 4.5 hours will be biking, and 2.5 hours will be swimming.