IM Canada: Week 10 – Chen’s version (i.e., the unintentional cutback week)

Posted by Chen

Sorry for the delay, folks – I was traveling all last week to London (for work) and Holden Beach, NC (for a good college friend’s wedding). Since I’m still catching up from a week away from the office, I don’t have time for a lengthy post, but what I will say is that IM training while traveling is… an adventure.

I’m actually pretty happy with what I was able to fit in, but when all was said and done, last week was essentially a cutback week. A really light cutback week. Four runs; 2 easy bikes; no swims. But when you consider that I instead spent my time checking out one of the prettiest cities I’ve ever been to and reconnecting with my closest college friends, I’m A-OK with my choices.

This week is a new week, and it has already seen some pretty solid workouts. And it will conclude with our very first century ride on Sunday! Recap to come, but in the meantime, I leave you with a pictorial summary of my travels:

London

Took this picture of a random building while I was walking home from a work dinner the first night. But look! The British flag!

Quintessential phone booth seen on my morning run around Hyde Park on Tuesday. One of my favorite pictures ever taken.

I took a walking tour of the area on Wednesday afternoon. Trafalgar Square was stop #1.

Stop #2: The River Thames

Stop #3: Tower Bridge. Turns out I always thought this was the London Bridge. Incorrect. The London Bridge is actually pretty boring looking.

Stop #4: The Mall. It was unusually warm and sunny that evening, and seemingly all of London was outside either in parks or in outdoor pubs with drinks in hand. Well played, London. Well played.

Stop #5: The Eye

Stop #6: Buckingham Palace. Yeah, I'd live here.

Holden Beach, NC

The college boys playing football while the girls chilled in the ocean. Literally. It was really cold.

View of our beach house while walking back from the ocean. Each house had its own private walkway out.

The reception area for the wedding. And yes, people did end up in the pool by the end of the night, but only intentionally.

A (small) part of the awesome crew. Love these guys!

IM Canada Week 10 Recap:

Monday: 

• PM: Easy stationary ride (at an LA Fitness in London – who knew LA Fitness was international??): 15.5 miles (17.3mph)

Tuesday: 

• AM: Easy run around Hyde Park: 6 miles (~8:31 pace). This was a hybrid of running and being an obnoxious tourist, as I was stopping seemingly every five feet to capture the next “OMG I NEED A PICTURE OF THAT” scene.

Wednesday: 

• PM: Easy stationary ride (again at the Piccadilly LA Fitness): 18.6 miles (16.6mph)
• (I also walked over 6 miles in flats that weren’t yet broken in, so I figure that has to count for SOME kind of training :-P)

Thursday: 

• AM: Easy run around Hyde Park: 5.55 miles (~8:45 pace). My legs were SUPER heavy the whole time, and I was definitely feeling the effects of travel / jetlag / minimal sleep.

Friday: 

• PM: Long run in Holden Beach, NC: 16 miles (~9:01 pace). This was one of the hardest runs I’ve had in a long time. It was hot; it was humid, and I was moderately hungover (thanks, college friends). I thought the flat road and beach house scenery would be quaint and charming, and it really was… for about 2 miles. That got real old real quick-like, and soon I was looking at my watch every 0.1 miles wishing I were done. At some point, it started down pouring, which was a welcome relief from the heat and humidity, but it turned the path I was running on into a straight up river. That combined with the fact that I only had 16 ounces of water on me for the whole run made me call it quits at mile 16 instead of 20. Still glad I toughed it out for as long as I did, though, because it’s runs like this that I’ll have to pull from when I’m grunting through the marathon in Canada.

Saturday: 

• PM: Group run in Holden Beach, NC! 5 miles (~8:25 pace). My college friends and I somehow manage to do some kind of group workout at every gathering, no matter what our hangover level. These are always my favorite.

Sunday:

• Rest (unplanned). I had originally planned to ride the trainer upon returning home from SF, but I somehow got a really gnarly calf cramp as I was getting off the plane at SFO. Not wanting to be the one who held up the deplaning efforts, I continued to walk really quickly down the jet bridge. This resulted in the calf cramp not going away all night (and a bruise the next morning!), and I couldn’t even walk without limping, so I finally conceded to the hectic week and took a rest day. You win this one, life…