training 8/23-8/29

8/23- Because my unbalanced body refused to cooperate with me yesterday, I wanted to bounce back with something hard today. My body had other ideas. My breathing was labored during the warm up and after striding a 200 in 42, I knew that I would not even come close to my target time in the 800 so I ended up going 4 miles easy in 30:13 (7:34 pace). Even pace and I never felt terribly uncomfortable but if this had been a race or time trial, it would have been a weak performance. This was more than 60 seconds slower than my race pace at this distance and I couldn't have gone too much faster. Probably about a high 21 5K and about a 2:45 800 but that's still a nice improvement over yesterday's debacle.
Grade:C+/1 credit/distance=4.5
8/24- Bad day all around. Shortly after waking up, my body rudely reminded me that it was short on chromium so I took 1 friggin' pill and it took me too far in the opposite direction. By the end of the day, I was struggling to stay awake at work. I did a 1/2 mile warm up when I got home and struggled to a 4:05. Running almost all out, I could only run marathon pace for a 1/2 mile. Why bother even trying to do the real workout? This is worse than an F.
Grade:F-/1 credit/distance=0.5
8/25- Took 1/2 pill today and had an immediate negative reaction but this time got better by the afternoon. Showed up at Johnny's workout not expecting much but did better than expected. 4x800 in 2:44, 400 in 64, 200 in 30. plus cool down.
Grade: B/ 2 credits/distance=3.5
8/26- Weak. Sore muscles and shortness of breath. That's a double whammy. Good news is that I managed to finish the workout. Trak Shak 5 @ 7:40 average. First 1.5 or so was slow then I picked up the pace to the tempo range but it was too hard and I backed off to my easy pace. I was spent after the workout. This was a downer. Hopefully I can regroup tomorrow.
Grade: C/1 credit/distance=5.0
8/27- Another all around bad day. Took manganese in an effort to knock out the groin soreness and no chromium. I don't know yet if it was the manganese or the lack of chromium. 2 miles in 16:12. That's 4 minutes short of my split in last month's 5K. No further comments are needed except for the fact that this is my 3rd F in 6 days.
Grade:F/1 credit/distance=2.0
8/28- Up and down day today. Took low dose chromium last evening which actually made things worse. Still felt pretty crappy when I woke up but got better as day progressed and by the afternoon, I was ready to go. Vestavia 800 in 2:24. That ties my best of the decade and I'm willing to accept it as my best time of the year. Good start but slacked in 2nd 200 before getting back on track (73-71). 2 mile cool down and felt fine after the workout. After dinner (BBQ), my condition began to deteriorate again. I think that I am low on taurine. I made it through the day without chromium or manganese. That's a good sign.
Grade:B-/3 credits/distance=3.0
8/29-AM-This is nuts. Woke up with terrible leg pains then took taurine and 30 minutes later, I was ready to roll. Group run with Scott, John and Cary. It was a fast finish 9+ miler. My average pace was just below 8 but I ran the last 3/8 of a mile at 6:09 pace including a closing kick at 4:36 (world record marathon pace).
PM- 2 miles easy running.
Grade:B/2 credits/distance=12.0
Weekly summary:
Another bad week overall but I have shown signs of breaking out of this slump. My last 2 workouts were average or better and I still hit 30 on the week despite missing 2 days due to flare ups. I am done with this phase of training! Time to build up the mileage.
Distance= 30.0 GPA=24.1/11=2.19