Fitness Adventures: The Brooklyn Bun

This morning I had my first official bike & run event in one of my favorite places in Brooklyn - beautiful Prospect Park (the same park where I had my first official running event, and where my first official half marathon is kicking off next month!). It was the first ever Brooklyn Bun (bike & run) billed as a 20k bike ride and 5k run, but it was a little more than that since the loop in Prospect Park is 3.3 miles (not 3.1). It was AWESOME!!!

Here's how my day went-

I woke up at 4:34. Yes, 4:34 am. I had a rough sleep, too - I kept having nightmares that I was at the event and forgot to start my heart rate monitor (the things I worry about in my sleep!). Because of that, I ended up waking up 10 minutes before my alarm. Considering I was late to my last event in Central Park, I didn't want to take a chance on sleeping through my alarm (actually, I had 4 alarms set), so I got up and got ready.

(Oh, Sarah had once asked me what I eat before my events. I figured I would answer here in case anyone else is wondering: I eat the same weekend breakfast I eat every Saturday and Sunday: High fiber vegan pumpkin pancakes and coffee with soy milk + a fruit + water.)

Weather wise, I was so relieved it had stopped raining by the time I woke up - it rained all day yesterday and was just freezing and so windy. It was awful biking weather (I biked to Park Slope to pick up my bib for the event. That 13 miles round trip was one of the worst biking experiences of my life). Today we had sun, and it was around 50 degrees, but it was still pretty windy which made parts of the event very challenging but still better than doing it in the rain!

I actually wore the shirt they gave us (something I rarely ever do). It was one of those nice long sleeve but thin polyester type shirts. It was really nice and super comfortable - a nearly perfect fit (I just knotted it at the waist, of course)-

Ready and about to leave the apartment

These photos were taken on my bike ride from my apartment to the event:

I love this building on North 14th

another great building on the corner of Wythe & Metropolitan in Williamsburg

I like this piece on Wythe (Williamsburg Bridge in the distance)

Turning off DeKalb onto Vanderbilt - I love these spring trees. They're only in bloom for about 2 weeks every April

Passing a church on Vanderbilt @ Lafayette

Grand Army Plaza

Riding on the very controversial Prospect Park West bike lane to reach the corner of the park where the race was starting.

Prospect Park West bike lane.

Amazing homes on Prospect Park West

I love those roofs!

I made it to the park (I wasn't late!) and ran into my friend Jill (you'll see her later). I grabbed some water and got lined up to begin.

Made it to the start, waiting to begin

About to cross the starting line - I was literally the last person to start.

Riding

I love this park

Now, even though I have had a few runs through Prospect Park so far, none of them have been full loops. I kept telling Trixie "I know there's a huge hill in this park and we haven't run it". I knew that from previous bike rides through the park. Since this event course was the full loop, we hit that hill I had been talking about (it's the one by the "Nellie's Lawn" section of the park). While googling it to give you an idea how bad it is, I found a Facebook page for it entitled: I have a love/hate relationship with the uphill in Prospect Park. 

I'm going to quote the creator of the page because he summed up this hill nicely:

"Biking, walking, running or rollerblading, that uphill near the eastern parkway entrance in Prospect Park is a bitch. Your heart sinks once you see the road turning upwards, that f*cking hill at the end of your run. You pass by Nellie's lawn, you see approaching runners who have taken the easy way out, going down that damn uphill. But you keep going, every step you're closer to Grand Army Plaza. You see a sign that leads cars to Eastern Parkway and you know that you're almost done and you wanna f*cking stomp on that damn uphill.
Seconds later, you look behind you and you have slaughtered the uphill. You spit on the cement and yell "Bam! I f*cking bitch slapped you, uphill!!!"
While you dred that uphill everytime you get to it, you love the feeling of defeating it.
so f*ck you, uphill, but we still love you"

EXACTLY!!!

On my first lap uphill on my bike I thought "I can't believe I have to do this three more times on my bike... and then I have to run it!" It was too daunting to even think about so I didn't let myself dwell on that or get freaked out. I just took it one pedal at a time until I reached the top. It's hard to photograph a hill to give you the perspective but here is an idea:

about to conquer that huge hill in Prospect Park

Hill!

After the hill, it levels off for a little while and then there's yes, another uphill! This was a very challenging course! (Note: we went counterclockwise around the loop. If we had gone clockwise, we would have gone down these hills.)

Back at the starting line, finished my first bike lap:

1st bike lap complete

What a beautiful morning!

I love this park

2nd lap completed!

3rd lap done!

Final lap through the park on my bike...

Riding

This was my last lap on my bike up the big hill in the park. I was watching how happy this dog was to be jogging up the hill and told myself that when I had to run up the hill I would think of that dog, who was obviously unaffected by the incline and just enjoying the day and the adventure.

By this time, people started filling the park.

In just under 70 minutes, I completed the 4th cycling lap. And tThat's pretty fast for me, in fact probably my fastest biking ever at 11.3 miles per hour! The thing is I've obviously done further cycling than 13 miles but on bike tours there is a lot of stopping due to cyclist traffic or cars/traffic lights. And of course when I do my own random street riding, there is even more stopping. This was the first time I had the opportunity to just ride as hard and fast as I can. I'm pretty impressed with that time!

I parked my bike in the transition area, stopped my HRM, took off my helmet, grabbed some water. Then I restarted the HRM for the run, queued up the Girl Talk on my iPod and began the running portion of the event (1 loop around the park). Here are photos from the running portion:

I love that heart!

And it was time to run up that big hill. I took my time and thought about how happy that dog was. It helped!

blurry but so pretty

What a relief to see this sign for the 5th and final time today! (This is at the top of that brutal hill!)

Running (yes, I removed my shirt a while ago)

Done!

Crossing the finish line for the 5th and final time today

Yay! Jill stuck around (she finished about 20 minutes before me)

I left the park and rode back to Greenpoint. These photos are from that portion of my day:

Riding back along the PPW bike lane

approaching Grand Army Plaza from the Prospect Park West bike lane

Grand Army Plaza - view as you exit Prospect Park

I really like this building

Happy Restaurant - I thought that was cute

I made it back to Greenpoint and stopped at Boneshakers for brunch-

Vegan Brownie & Coffee

Vegan French Toast w bananas & maple syrup

Back at home, I uploaded the photos and downloaded all of today's stats into my spreadsheet-


Bike ride to Prospect Park for the event:

• Total Time: 48 minutes 
• Minutes in Cardio Zone: 39 minutes
• Percentage of Time in Cardio Zone: 81.25%
• Average Heart Rate: 132
• High Heart Rate: 148
• Total Calories Burned: 326
• Total Miles: 6.2

Bike portion of the Brooklyn Bun (4 loops around Prospect Park):

• Total Time: 70 minutes (1 hours, 10 minutes)
• Minutes in Cardio Zone: 68 minutes
• Percentage of Time in Cardio Zone: 97.14%
• Average Heart Rate: 142
• High Heart Rate: 165
• Total Calories Burned: 540
• Total Miles: 13.2

Run portion of the Brooklyn Bun (1 loop around Prospect Park):

• Total Time: 37 minutes
• Minutes in Cardio Zone: 37 minutes
• Percentage of Time in Cardio Zone: 100%
• Average Heart Rate: 150
• High Heart Rate: 176
• Total Calories Burned: 282
• Total Miles: 3.3
• Pace: 11'13"

Bike ride home from Prospect Park (plus a stop at Boneshakers for brunch):

• Total Time: 58 minutes
• Minutes in Cardio Zone: 48 minutes
• Percentage of Time in Cardio Zone: 82.76%
• Average Heart Rate: 132
• High Heart Rate: 150
• Total Calories Burned: 393
• Total Miles: 9 

Totals for all of the above:

• Time: 213 (3 hours, 33 minutes)
• Calories: 1541
• Miles Biked: 28.4
• Miles Ran: 3.3

As for the event itself, I completed both portions in 107 minutes, which was within my personal goal of 120 minutes. Yay!

When I got home, I actually did something I never, ever do - I napped for about an hour! Not sure if it was the activity or all the carbs I consumed. Maybe both :) Anyway, I really enjoyed this event. It was so much fun and I would love to do another bike and run! Thank you to all the people involved in putting this event together and making it run so smoothly. I really had a fantastic time and think it was well organized.


(The entire Flickr set can be seen here)