Brick run 20km bicycle 5km run

I did it. Smiling after more than

2 hours of cycling and running  

I decided after my 10km run last week that I am capable of doing more. So today I decided to do a 2/3 sprint triathlon consisting of a 20km bicycle ride and a 5km run. I've never really ridden the bike at such a distance as my focus for the moment is running. But today seems like a great day to set more milestones so right in the middle of the day with the sun high up in the sky I began my little expedition.

I chose to ride my Roo D3 Dahon Folding Bike. Although I do have a road race bike, A Helios Polygon, I'm having difficulty with the clip pedals as I'm still mastering getting my shoe cleats off of it. Also, I am planning to ride around the park and going on a road race bike seems to be a bit of an overkill. The folding bike is much more fun as well.

All smiles before I started

I decided after my 10km run last week that I am capable of doing more. So today I decided to do a 2/3 sprint triathlon consisting of a 20km bicycle ride and a 5km run. I've never really ridden the bike at such a distance as my focus for the moment is running. But today seems like a great day to set more milestones so right in the middle of the day with the sun high up in the sky I began my little expedition.

20km on the bike

I decided after my 10km run last week that I am capable of doing more. So today I decided to do a 2/3 sprint triathlon consisting of a 20km bicycle ride and a 5km run. I've never really ridden the bike at such a distance as my focus for the moment is running. But today seems like a great day to set more milestones so right in the middle of the day with the sun high up in the sky I began my little expedition.

The ride itself was quite smooth other than the fact that I didn't bring anything to drink with me and my throat was so der. Must make sure I bring a bottle next time. Despite that I had a marvelous time riding a gazillion laps (I lost count and had to rely on my speedometer). My heart rate averaged at 69% MHR. I managed a time of 77 mins 40 secs.

I went after completing the 20km and managed a transition time of 2 mins 23 secs which basically consisted of parking the bike, taking helmet off, managed a sip of water and then taking off for the run after putting on my water belt.

Running with my Nike Free

Nothing unusual about the run other than I had difficulty in keeping my heart rate at 70ish% MHR. I could only managed an average of 77%. I think it's because my body was heating up. It was about 35 deg celcius today and I've never ran in that kind of heat. Still, it was also a marvelous experience and I cruised in at 54 mins 36 secs.

That would make it a total of 132 mins 16 secs. An awfully slow time but pace is not important to me at this stage of my training. It's all about endurance and how long I can sustain a particular speed. Still, it'll be interesting to see what times I will get when I lose more weight and my cycling and running improves. Once I start interval training as well as running at a higher percentage MHR, I know the times will start reducing dramatically. Right now, it's all about getting the distance and duration in.

Just for a bit of fun I decided to video both my bike and my run using my iPhone and managed a quick edit in iMovie. Have a look and hope you have fun.


One of the things I learn today was to make sure to have a lot of fun even when it gets painful.

I know I am one step closer to achieving what I set out to achieve. If you have dreams, go for it and have fun along the journey. If I can achieve mine, you can achieve yours too.....