IM Canada: Week 22 – Chen’s version (i.e., What? You said to taper…)

Posted by Chen

… So I did. Week 22 saw two rest days and many more than two adult beverages, thanks to a fun wedding in Chicago over the weekend. At least I can say that if anything goes wrong in Canada, it won’t be because I over trained during my taper. Interestingly, I’m actually notorious for running far too much in the weeks leading up to my marathons, so I’ll take this cutback as a personal victory.

Given this, I don’t have much to report on the training front this week. I had a decent swim on Thursday (see details below) and a lovely run along the waterfront in Chicago with Katie and Matt on Saturday. We were in town for a grad school friend’s wedding (hi Noah!!), and it was my first real visit to Chi-town. Though I’ve flown through it many times, and though my old company is headquartered in Evanston, I’d never actually made it to the city itself. And I must say – how amazing it is!

We ran along the river walk to get to Millennium Park to take our obligatory bean pictures, and then we continued to the water and ran south along the lake for a while before turning around. I loved seeing all of the outdoor bars and restaurants along the river walk, and I was really impressed with how well maintained and clean the running paths and public areas are. Chicago is definitely a city I’ll need to visit again, and hopefully for more than 16 waking hours!

Pre-wedding drinks and food in our hotel bar

Now that we’re in the middle of week 23, I’m already starting to freak out about travel and race logistics. Something tells me that prepping for this trip will be far more stressful than the race itself.

I picked a bad week to give up drinking.

IM Canada Week 22 Recap:

Monday: 

• Rest. After the peak week o’ craziness, this rest day came with no guilt whatsoever.

Tuesday: 

• PM: Running Bay Trail easy progression effort: 8 miles in 1:05:51 (~8:14 pace)

Wednesday: 

• PM: Stationary biking hill intervals: 17.88 miles in 65 minutes (16.5mph)
• Immediately followed by swimming 3000 yards (random swim and pull intervals, untimed)

Thursday: 

• PM: Swimming 4000 yards, including 4x300@6:00 (5:15, 5:14, 5:15, 5:13); 4x250@5:00 (4:21, 4:21, 4:25, 4:23); 4x200@4:00 (3:30, 3:28, 3:30, 3:31) with no rest between sets (overall average pace of 1:46/100yd)
• Immediately followed by stationary biking easy: 16.55 miles in 60 minutes (16.55mph)

Friday: 

• AM: Running mostly easy at Kezar track with 26x100m strides: 6 miles in 50:05 (~8:21 pace)

Saturday: 

• PM: Running in Chicago with Katie and Matt! 8.7 miles (Garmin was all wacky with the tall buildings, no accurate time)

Sunday: 

• Rest. After getting 3 hours of sleep and traveling back west, my body was just not having it. It's OK, body. Just a couple more weeks, and you'll be able to stop moving for a really, really long time.