To Brick or not to Brick?

An interesting article from Chris Carmichael came out the other day suggesting that triathletes should reconsider the role of brick training. In it, he clarifies that the main purpose of running off the bike is to train the brain to hold back - to avoid that all too familiar early blow-up! It is those first few hundred metres where all the learning and adaptions occur. So, he says there is no need to run past a couple of kms on a brick sesison.

I know many coaches and triathletes do it differently - many people talk about bricks being an opportunity to get your body used to running on fatigued legs and will run up to 8km, after an 80km ride.

So who's right? Or is it just horses for courses?