19 - 1 week out from CIM
Today is November 26, 2023, and the countdown to the 2023 California International Marathon has fallen to single digits. In 7 days, I’ll be back on the starting line in Sacramento to race another 26.2 miles. It’ll be my fourth marathon and my third time running CIM.
From this blog’s point of view, I’ve kept the details of this training cycle close to my chest. The reality is more so that during these intended ~16 weeks of marathon training, I haven’t really been able to get my bearings in terms of getting on plan. The turbulence that I detailed in my last blog post has persisted through the past two months, and it’s been really hard to feel secure in my running. Consequently, blogging just hasn’t been super top of mind.
The word ‘inconsistency’ has become too familiar during this training cycle. A look back at the mileage for the past 12 weeks (above) yields no discernible trend or any semblance of a planned training block. Normally you’d expect to see a long, gradual build towards a peak, followed by a shorter, sharper decline in the weeks before race day. My average weekly mileage looks to be in the mid- to high-30’s. A little hard to stomach given that my adjusted training plan prescribed mileage in the upper 40’s to low 50’s. Pre-adjustment (if summer training had gone “well”) would have had me sustaining 60+ mile training weeks. Lots of comparison going on here, but it’s hard not to when each day comes with a ‘planned’ and ‘actual’ number.
My own recollection of this period is also a foggy slurry that’s hard to distill neatly enough to note here. Emotional stress comes to mind. I know that during the weeks represented in the graph above, there were bouts of waning/flickering motivation and a sustained spike in activation energy that I’d need to just get out of bed and lace up my shoes. It’s been interesting treading that space. Uncomfortable, of course, but I’m coming around more and more to accepting how I feel on those low motivation days, as well as how my running might change based on those feelings.
For now, I’ll chalk up the cause of all the emo stress to ~life things~ —family, relationship, work, reestablishing a sense of home. The waves seemed to keep piling on without enough of a break for me to come up for air. The good thing now is I’m feeling and recognizing the effects. My therapist and I are working on building resilience.
Anyway, I didn’t come to the keyboard today to be all gloom. Just wanted to give context on the training season. We’ll call all of that the Background of this post. What I really want to highlight here are the wins I’ve gotten to collect amidst the muckiness.
11/5 - 20 mile Long Run in Austin
A more advanced marathon training plan will typically have a couple 20-mile runs built in. I had just one that I got to run while visiting Austin. Overall, a great run. In my plan it was written as an easy (conversational effort) long run to practice my fueling strategy. With how shaky training had been going, I took it as a test to see if I’d even survive the distance. Austin’s Lady Bird Lake gave the perfect environment for this. The riverfront trails and bridges gave me a seven-mile loop to lap, and the great weather brought out a steady parade of walkers, runners, and cyclists. This, along with the riverfront views and the city backdrop, gave me plenty of stimulation to keep through the nearly three-hour effort.
Throughout this 20-miler, I found myself on a mental journey that I’ve encountered almost exclusively on these very long runs. As I approach these runs, the sheer distance still gives me an uneasy, sorta queasy hesitance. The very first steps of the run then thread together into a three-hour commitment, provided nothing goes terribly wrong. I didn’t have any exact paces to hit, but the insecurities I developed from my inconsistent training put me in a mindset to prove something. So I started out hot, not realizing I was going faster than my race pace. After the first few miles, my mind began to really absorb what I was in.
With 17 miles to go, it’s hard to sustain feelings of being rushed. The sheer distance that was initially so daunting became the thing to temper any ill feelings I carried in. Distance and time will whittle away at any nervousness or blind excitement. Or maybe it’s more so just me shutting up and submitting to the circumstance. As steps accumulated to miles, my early anxieties became hushed. I eased up, my mind quieted, and then there was just a singular job to do: finish off the run. Once I was in this space, my mind was more open to take in what was around me. Faces on the trail started to become familiar, as did the path. And eventually the minutes and miles ticked enough that I found myself at my finish line for the day. My pace had slowed through the run, but I had the affirmation that I was looking for. I could survive 20 miles! Nice.
The biggest highlight, though, was meeting this guy! John. He calls himself a joggler. The first time I noticed him juggling while jogging, my face absolutely lit up. He reciprocated a wide smile. I passed him another time and we exchanged cheers again. Finally, just as I was finishing my run I came up behind him, and we got to exchange some words. He and his daughter are training to run the Austin Marathon while juggling! Crazy. He shared that I was the most enthusiastic person he came across on the trails that day, and that my smile had carried him a few miles :’)
Overall, great run. I got good work in, got validation that I could run the distance, and I came out with good mems and a friend!
11/12 - Santa Clarita Half Marathon
Just one week later, I lined up at the Santa Clarita Half Marathon. I actually just signed up for this event three days prior after seeing a friend share that she was running it. I was eager to get a tune-up race prior to CIM to practice being in a race environment. I think these tune-up races are the best way to simulate all of the things that happen on race day: sleep and wake routines, warm-up regimen, running with a crowd, race-day mishaps, race mindset, all that. I think the most striking the thing on this race day was feeling again the mindset I have on race mornings. It’s more a feeling of quiet resolve. It’s like I wake up knowing very clearly what my job is, and I flow through a sequence of events that takes me from imbibing my morning nutrition and hydration to getting to the race venue to warming up and finally to the starting line. It’s a resolute calm that I can’t get anywhere else.
I ended up running a slight PR of 1:36:00 (7:19/mi pace), nabbing 10th place overall and 4th in my age group! I did more of a write-up on an instagram post, so I’ll link that below.
11/20 - 16 mi Tempo Run
Last big win was getting this workout in. This was my second-to-last big workout before CIM, and seeing the number 16 on my training plan gave me the familiar pre-long run heebie-jeebies. My recollection of long tempo workouts earlier in the training cycle is stained with instances of retching/coughing fits where I’d have to take a break for a few minutes to collect my breath. Not the most confidence-inducing history, so I was very pleased to churn this one out on a Monday morning before work! I treated it as another dry run of my race kit and fueling, and I was able to conjure up that race morning resolve that I mentioned in the previous section.
I chose to run the tempo by running laps around the UCLA perimeter to incorporate some hill work. Although it’s a net downhill, the CIM course is deceptively hilly with rolling hills before a finishing descent. I remember at CIM last year, the hills worked my quads into a trembling, spasming mess that threatened to cramp through the last several miles. This training run gave me great practice in maintaining race effort through those hills. Typically I’d run a tempo on a flat route to more strictly monitor my pacing, but this one was focused on just the effort since pace will fluctuate with the grades of the hills. Each mile was a grind, but I developed comfort in knowing that each uphill section came with a downhill. That’ll be the takeaway I carry into CIM.
Wrapping Up
With how this training cycle has gone, it’s felt too natural to default to moods of pessimism and regret when reflecting on my training. I’m glad I took this time to reflect on some of the quality work that I actually was able to get in. I checked off a longer long run, a practice race, and some good hill work! Really, those are the primary components to prepping for CIM, and they give me some security that I’ve built/maintained enough fitness that I’ll be able to race the distance. With just a week til the race, my focus is now on getting good rest and nutrition, so I can show up to the starting line healthy. From there, the main goal of the race is the same as any other: show up as I am, and race the best that I can on that day!
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