IM Canada: Week 15 – Chen’s version (i.e., Mountains 2 Beach Marathon Race Report)

Posted by Chen

Sorry I’m posting this a full week late; my month of travel craziness continues!

Week 15 was a bit reminiscent of the struggles encountered in Week 13, as I started out with two rest days thanks to being sick, and work continued to give me hell once I was back in the office. I could whine about it, but then I’d just bore you guys, so I’ll just say that the week was a bit of a cluster that made me feel like a super crazy person at many points, but I guess I’m also getting used to the crazy. So… yay?

On a much brighter note, the week ended with a lovely long weekend down in the Ventura / Santa Barbara area, and the brightest note of all was that Paige and I got to reunite with Sandi and her mom for the Mountains 2 Beach marathon (in case you’re new here, Sandi and Will moved to the east coast a couple months ago, and we miss them lots).

After an early morning endurance swim Saturday morning, Paige and I started the long drive down to Ventura. I used to make the drive down to SB all the time, and it would always take me about 5 hours (which was quite long enough for me), but thanks to Memorial Day weekend traffic and the fact that I’m pretty sure the Bay is considerably more crowded now than it was in 2010 when I used to make the trek, we didn’t make it down there until dinner time.

After a quick pit stop at our crappy motel (which managed to lose my reservation that I made months ago; rawr), we met up with Sandi and her mom and drove 10 miles south to the Olive Garden.

That’s right, folks. History repeated itself. And it was awesome. I heart you, unlimited salad and breadsticks.

After getting back to our motel and planning out some spectating logistics, we headed to bed for an early 3am wake-up call.

The (only) nice thing about our crappy motel was that it was situated two blocks away from where the busses would pick us up at 4am, which is why we stayed there in the first place. Everything with the shuttles went smoothly, and we arrived at the start in Ojai with over an hour and a half to spare before the 6am start.

Last year, I spent my time sitting in the cold on the concrete ground, wishing I’d worn more throwaway clothes. This year, I came prepared with a hoody, sweatpants, and a fleece blanket, but it turned out we wouldn’t really need layers since we luckily nabbed a spot in an open post office where dozens of runners were huddling for warmth.

We found a spot on the ground and chatted a bit here or there, but we mostly listened to the buzz of other runners talking about their race plans. We would have chatted about our race plans too; that is, if we had any. After two bathroom stops, we finally checked our gear and lined up at the start.

My only goal for this race was to not do anything stupid. I was going to run by feel and keep it easy, so I had assumed Sandi would be ahead of me the whole time. In the end, though, we stuck together the entire time, and I’m really glad we did. It was so nice to be running together again!

I recapped this race last year, so I won’t go into too many details about the course (if you don’t want to read my old post, I’ll just tell you that it’s mostly downhill or flat, except for a long, gradual incline along miles 6 and 7).

Our splits during the first half mostly ranged from 8:20-8:30, and I was happy that the pace felt pretty easy. Although it was forecasted to be a pretty warm day, the clouds came out to play for a while, and the bike trail was also shaded, so temps felt pretty comfortable for most of the race. Sandi and I chatted on and off throughout this part, and overall I was feeling good.

I even stumbled upon someone I’ve been following on Instagram for the past 6 months (Hi, Jen!), and it was really nice to finally meet her in person.

After the halfway point, we (unintentionally) dropped into the 8:10-8:20 range, and things still felt mostly comfortable. Perhaps not surprisingly, my cardio state felt great throughout the entire race, but my low-volume running made itself evident once again (just as it had during Oakland a couple months ago), and I started to feel what I call “rookie pains.” Nothing concerning; just the typical soreness and fatigue that comes with repetitive pounding that you’re not used to.

I would say the first 10 miles felt easy; the next 10 felt moderate, and then by the time we hit the beach area where things flattened out, the last 6.2 felt pretty uncomfortable. I never felt like I would crash, but my legs were just tired and ready for beer. It was also very sunny and hot by this point, so Sandi and I just put our heads down and steadily made our way to the finish.

We crossed the line in 3:39:55, which in retrospect was a little aggressive for a training run, but I was happy with how the effort felt overall.

We spent the rest of the day in Santa Barbara, eating on a lovely deck outside on the pier and wine tasting throughout the downtown area (what used to be a relatively empty warehouse area has now blossomed into 20+ wineries / distilleries / breweries! Lucky ducks).

Looking forward to our next race weekend with Sandi in the fall!

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go recap Week 16 :-).

So happy to be running with Sandi again!

Delicious lobster tacos consumed post-race in the sun on a lovely roof deck on the pier

Beach in Goleta the next day

IM Canada Week 15 Recap:

Monday: 

• Rest. Still sick with a fever and sinus issues.

Tuesday: 

• Rest. Still sick, but on the upswing.

Wednesday: 

• PM: Swimming 3200 yards, including 2 x (500 swim, 500 pull, 500 paddles) (average pace of 1:49/100yds)
• Immediately followed by stationary bike ride with resistance intervals: 25.55 miles 1:31:00 (16.8mph)

Thursday: 

• PM: Hilly easy run in Golden Gate Park: 8.7 miles 1:17:05 (~8:52 pace)
• Immediately followed by trainer ride with fast spin intervals: 14 miles 53:35 (15.7mph)

Friday: 

• PM: Trainer ride very easy with fast finish: 14.15 miles 1:00:00 (14.15mph)

Saturday: 

• AM: Swimming 4300 yards, including 2 x (500 swim, 500 pull, 500 paddles, 500 kick)

Sunday: 

• AM: Mountains 2 Beach Marathon with Sandi! 3:39:55