If it's spring, it must be triathlon season

Denise Hazlick Entertainment editor • Profile

Ah, at last it's April. The flowers are blooming, sending the fragrance of freshly born florals into the air. The days are getting warmer and brighter. The promise of spring brings a smile to the face, a lightness to the mood — the promise of ... promise.

But April also signals a far more important passage — from running season to full-on triathlon season. Let the bricks begin!

No, there is no masonry involved. A brick means moving from one discipline to the next with little or no break, such as from biking to running or from swimming to biking. Why is it called a brick? I haven't been able to find a definitive answer. However, when I first started doing these last year, it definitely felt like I was hauling 40 pounds of bricks on my backside when I started to run after a 10-mile bike ride. Heavy, man, real heavy.

Our training group had its first "tri workout" of the season this week. Yes, we have all been swimming and riding stationary bikes during the long winter, but not in a regimented manner. For most of our group, it's been catch as catch can. The return of the group workout changes that. From now until the end of September, we are multi-sport athletes again. You know you are a triathlete when you look forward to Saturday workouts.

I pulled up to our gathering point, new bike in tow, ready to roll. Because of the extremely wet weather we've been having, our fitness coach, Jeff, has instructed us to bring our bike trainers. Instead of riding the streets of Bellevue, Wash., we will be turning the parking lot of Sammamish High School into a mobile spinning class. Since it is just the first workout (and we have a fresh crop of new group members), Jeff takes it easy on us. We start with a 20-minute ride, at an easy pace. Napoleon (I've dubbed my new red-white-and-blue beauty Napoleon Dynamite) is humming. The soft whirl coming from the wheels is intoxicating. I drop into the aerobars, enjoying my buzz as I spin.

Check out my new ride
As we pedal away, the conversation begins. I'm the special girl today because everyone is admiring my new bike. You know you are a triathlete when you bask in the glow of your latest equipment purchase. However, I am also advised by no fewer than five people that I must, MUST go from cages (pedals with a toe slot) to clip-in pedals. Duly noted.

After 20 minutes, we dismount and head for the track where we do an easy four-lap run (1 mile). You can tell it's an easy workout because Ali, Laura and I are talking about athletic wear and wine tasting instead of split times and orthotics. By the time we head back to the bikes, we've decided that we all like the look of the new running skirts.

It's 10 more minutes on the bike, then back to the track for a lap. Then back to the bike. Then back to the track. We do this six times before Jeff calls it a workout. For some of my companions, it's been a fairly brisk workout, reawakening muscles that have been dormant for the winter.

But I have been doing bike-run-bike-run bricks since January, so I feel pretty strong. You know you are a triathlete when you think the perfect chaser to a brick workout is a 1500-meter swim. In fact, I can't help thinking back to a year ago, when I was still plodding around the track at 14.5-minute mile pace and struggled to trail far behind the pack. Now, I can keep up with most of the group on the track and on the bike. And now, just a year later, I'm training for Ironman. There are times when I can't believe it myself. You know you are a triathlete when ... when you do triathlons, of any distance.

The end goal is so huge and so intimidating that I prefer to just take it all one day at a time. Today's brick workout was fairly light, but the workouts will get longer and more intense as the weeks roll by. But it's a progression, a day-to-day advance toward the 140-mile destination. And even though I'm getting nowhere fast on my bike today, I am enjoying the ride, and the view, and the promise of ... promise.

MORE FROM ROAD TO IRONMAN

Road to Ironman Section Front

Taking a detour on the road to Ironman Time for long workouts on road to Ironman Twenty-six miles is a long, long way Balance is key in The Year of Denise If it's spring, it must be triathlon season Pushing through the pain Running to the beat Getting into the swim of it Lunging, stepping, bricking to recovery Bicycle, bicycle — I think I’ve found my ... Road to Ironman Section Front   Add Road to Ironman headlines to your news reader: