CIM Training: Weeks 1-12.5 (and I did something really stupid)

Posted by Chen

I started this post exactly a month ago and was just waiting to finish out my 8th week of CIM training before I posted it to the interwebs. Little did I know that I would soon be hit with a cold/cough that would have me bailing on my long run that weekend and would subsequently knock me on my @$$ for the following two weeks.

That incident actually sums up my training cycle quite nicely – two steps forward; seemingly twenty-six point two steps back. Allow me to explain.

I went into this training cycle coming off a personal worst marathon and more low-mileage summer weeks than I care to count. And when I say low, I mean I routinely took 3-4 rest days a week and saw lots of weekly totals in the teens. In reality, I was relatively stressed about the new job, and running just fell by the wayside for the first time in a long time (read: years). But that’s a horribly weak excuse, so it really boils down to me being lazy as hell.

It was unsettling for running not to be a core component of my life, and it honestly felt like I lost part of my identity for a while there, as cheesy and as over-dramatic as that sounds. So when it came time to put together a training plan, I was ready. In retrospect, maybe too ready.

In my eagerness to get things started, I naively thought I could jump back into my normal routine from week 1, resulting in several depressing and somewhat alarming weeks of training. I was so worn out from the higher-than-lately mileage in those first few weeks that I actually considered going to the doctor to get my blood work done because I thought something might be legitimately wrong with me (I work in hematology oncology, so you can imagine the worst case scenarios circulating through my noggin). Really – I thought about that every day for about 2-3 weeks.

Then I realized: No, Chen. You’re not dying. You’re just ridiculously out of shape, and you have no reason to expect otherwise. 

It wasn’t until weeks 4 and 5 that I finally felt things starting to click. My easy runs were actually feeling easy, and my long runs were back to my usual paces. Tempo runs were starting to feel more like just a hard effort, and less like inhumane torture. And perhaps most importantly, I started to look forward to my runs, rather than dreading how tired they might make me feel.

And then the aforementioned sickness hit, leading to two weeks of poop. Yes, I was able to run, but none of my runs felt good, and I had to rework my training plan in order to account for my lower mileage. It was discouraging, and I started to let go of my sub-3:30 goal and started to focus on literally finishing the race.

Luckily, by week 10, I had recovered just in time to run the Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon at goal marathon pace (averaged 7:54 pace), followed the next day by a 20 mile long run. If you’re wondering why I chose to run 20 miles the day after a half, it was because I knew there was no way I’d be running 20 the following weekend since…

Week 11 ended in New Orleans for a wedding, and everyone knows that if you’re at a wedding, you’re definitely drunk, and if you’re at a wedding in NOLA, you’re barely classifiable as human. For future reference, 4 days in NOLA is 2-3 days too many.

Last week (week 12) was arguably my best yet: over 65 miles for the week, including a 12x400m track workout, an 11 miler with 7 at goal pace, and a 24 miler at 8:24 pace. I like to refer to that 24 miler as my magical run, magical not only because of the pace I was able to hold relatively easily, but more so because Matt (fellow blog author) and I randomly arrived at the exact same spot along Lake Merced at the exact same time, totally unplanned, and coming from two different cities. MIND. BLOWN.

For those who care about data, here’s a slightly more detailed look at the past 12 full weeks:

At this point, 37 miles stand between me and my three-week taper. And of course, as I sit here writing this post, I’m feeling feverish and achy. This training cycle really wouldn’t be complete without another few steps back, right? ;-) That said, I’m refusing to believe that I’m actually getting sick and that I will wake up tomorrow morning feeling downright sprightly. Wish me luck.

Oh, and that stupid thing I did?

If you’re keeping track, you’ll know that I’ve completed exactly zero triathlons to-date. I’m just going to ignore the fact that I’m signed up until 2015.