IM Canada: Basebuilding Week 5 – Chen’s version (i.e., Do we really have to start training now?)

Posted by Chen

A few days late, but work has been a bit nuts this week. My last week of basebuilding was pretty uneventful, which is how I wanted it to be, so, um… score! 

On the swimming front, I got my 100 times down to 1:38, which was pretty exciting (sub-1:40 is not a world I ever thought I’d enter). Granted, I had to rest for a minute after each of those, because oxygen.  Need… oxygen.

On the biking front, I only did two indoor rides with fast spin and resistance intervals, and I skipped a long ride all together, which I’ll admit was a nice break. Biking still isn't my favorite thing in the world, but I'm working on it.

Perhaps most notable was my long run on Sunday morning, which, if you live in the Bay Area, you’ll know was done in pouring rain and gusty winds. Literally any other time during the weekend would have been a much better time to go for a run, but I had promised a couple of my former coworkers that we would run at 9:30am that morning, and I was determined to keep that promise.

Knowing I had to hit 20 miles for the day, I arrived early to get 10 miles in before meeting up with Steve and James. The whole time I was running, with the random downpours and windy nonsense that was going on around me, I was thinking to myself “They’re totally going to bail. They’re going to group text while I’m out here with no phone, and I’m going to end up all by myself. I’m sad and lonely and cold just thinking about it.”

Sure enough, I arrived at our meeting spot at 9:30am on the dot, and they were nowhere to be found. Steve is an incredibly punctual person, so when 9:35am came around, I was seriously debating whether I should ask his doorman to give Steve a call so I could figure out if I should just keep running solo.

Luckily, just as those thoughts processed through my head, James came along to save the day. He had figured out that I never responded to any texts because I was already out there running like a crazy person, so he joined me for 7 soaking miles before I finished up with 3.1 solo to round out the 20.1. Steve later told us that we were tougher than him. And by that, he meant to say 'you both have terrible judgment and I'm questioning my friendships with you'. And obviously, after I finished up the run and got home, a beautiful rainbow came out and the rest of the day was completely dry. Awesomesauce.

You win this one, Mother Nature...

Basebuilding Week 5 Recap:

Monday: 

• Rest (I’m good at cutting back. Also, I had thoroughly exhausted myself from the previous week’s training and thought I might be getting the flu. Turns out those all-over body aches were just an IM training battle wound).

Tuesday: 

• PM: Trainer ride 60 minutes with fast spin intervals

Wednesday: 

• AM: Swimming 3250 yards, including 5x100 in 1:42, 1:39, 1:38, 1:38, 1:38 (!!!)
• PM: Tempo run at the track – 8.1 miles total with 5 tempo at 7:31, 7:30, 7:24, 7:19, 7:13

Thursday: 

• AM: Swimming 3600 yards including a swim/pull ladder given to me by Rachel (2x500 swim, pull; 2x400 swim, pull, etc. down to 2x100 swim, pull) – loved this workout! Also love my new pull buoy! Because it matches my bike, duh.

Friday: 

• AM: Swimming 2000 yards alternating 200 swim, 200 pull. 
• Immediately followed by 65 minutes on the stationary bike with resistance intervals

Saturday: 

• AM: Running easy through Golden Gate Park – 8.1 miles (~8:36 pace)
• PM: Swimming 3200 yards, including a continuous 1000 yard pull

Sunday: 

• AM: Long run: 20.1 miles (~8:48 pace)

To commemorate my last Friday of freedom before real training began, I drank a glass of wine the size of my face. Additional glasses may or may not have been consumed.

I am now partway through Week 1 of training, although I don’t actually have an official training plan yet. I’ve been making it up day by day (turns out it’s really easy to nail your training plan when you fill out the ‘plan’ and ‘actual’ cells in Excel on the same day :P), but hopefully I’ll get my act together soon.

As a teaser for my next post, I just swam 1.25 miles (44 laps, or 2200 yards) continuously this morning! No stopping! All flip turns! WHAT!