Brick Session

Monday Brick: Melanie McQuaid’s Pace-Development Brick

A brick session is a great way to develop your body for the rigours of transitioning from one discipline to the next. This version is great for short-course athletes to develop a qwik transition and get used to running fast off the bike.

Each week I will post Monday’s Brick session that you can do to enhance your triathlon performance. For a full understanding of my Level’s intensity system, please read my previous articles about intensity for cycling and running.

This workout came from an article by Melanie McQuaid of MelRad Coaching on traithlonmagazine.ca. You can read the original article here.

Melanie McQuaid’s Pace-Development Brick

  • Bike
    • 20min WU Level II;
  • Run
    • 10min Level II (including 6x 100m stride outs);
  • Bike
    • 3x 5min Level IV, 2min Level II RI;
  • Run
    • 2x 600m Level V, 400m Level II RI;
    • 10min CD Level II;
  • 10min Stretching

Start this Brick session by cycling for a ten-minute warm-up (WU) at Level II, then transition to the run for a further four minutes at Level II. This is followed by a set of six, 100m stride outs over the next six minutes. Start each stride out every minute. Take a Rest Interval (RI) jogging at Level II between stride outs. E.G. start each stride out on the fourth minute, fifth minute, etc… until you start the sixth rep at the start of the ninth minute, jogging through to the end of the tenth minute running.

Transition back to the bike and complete three, five-minute reps at Level IV. Ride at Level II between reps for a two-minute Rest Interval (RI).

Transition back to the run and complete two, 600m reps at Level V. Jog at Level II for 400m after each rep.

Finish the workout with a Cool Down (CD) of ten minutes of running at Level II.

Finish with 10 minutes of stretching to assist with the recovery.

Read more about the benefits of brick sessions here:

I am the Head Coach and Director of Qwik Kiwi – Endurance Sports Consultant.

I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes in achieving their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729.

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