training 11/22-28 (Thanksgiving)

11/22- Good start to the week. Went out for breakfast then drove back to the 'Ham, watched a little bit of football then headed out to Vestavia for my workout. 12 @7:45 followed by a water stop then a Mile in 6:17, which felt fast and controlled but not exhausting then went to church and have little down time the rest of the day. I was on pace for a 1:41:xx half marathon through 12, which would have been a PR last year and I had plenty left. I had just a bit of the wired/tired feeling so I will take small amounts of taurine. Again, a good workout.
Grade:A-/2 credits/distance=13.0

11/23- Lakeshore 10 in 78:45 (7:53 pace). A little faster than planned but I felt fine. My pace did slow a tad in the 2nd half but the effort was even (7:48 vs 7:57). I hope I can handle whatever Johnny throws at me tomorrow. 31 in 3 days but Wednesday will be a rest and Thursday-Saturday are all question marks. I hope I can hit at least 40 this week but I'll be lucky to hit 45.
Grade:A-/1 credit/distance=10.0

11/24- Johnny's speed session. A majority of the group was racing on Thursday so the group workout was light. Mine was not. 4x400 in 75, 800 in 2:43, 4x400 in 76 (last one was 69). I felt smooth and relaxed for the entire workout. Nobody was pushing me and I really could not see how fast I was going in the dark. Long cool down. Pleased with the workout.
Grade:A-/2 credits/distance=5.0

11/25- 3 mile recovery jog on the 'mill. AM was the only opportunity I had to run. Pace was about 8:35 but that's not important at all. If anything, it was a hair too fast. What is important is that I got a few miles in and should be ready to go tomorrow morning.
Grade:B-/1 credit/distance=3.0

11/26- Ran with an old HS teammate. Very slow pace but I had to slow down for him. Felt fine except for some normal soreness.
Grade:B/1 credit/distance=5.5

11/27- I am not feeling the best today but since I am out of my routine, I don't suppose that it is anything to be concerned about. The workout was 3.5 at tempo effort on a challenging course which included a 1/4 mile steep uphill near the start. There was another steep climb later but most of the first half was gradual uphill. It did make for a nice second half. Overall time was 27:37 (7:54 pace) with splits of 8:21-8:16-7:24-3:35. I've hit 40 even if I can't go tomorrow.
Grade:C+/1 credit/distance=3.5

11/28- AM-Jefferson/Peters trail. This time, the first half was mostly downhill which did not make for a nice 2nd half. I also had to fight a tough headwind going up the incline. Not pleasant. Still, I managed to keep every mile below 8:00. I ended up cutting the run a little short and finished with a 6:54 last mile. Finished with 7 @ 7:33. Average performance. I am pleased with the pace but not the distance. I'll need to jump on the 'mill this evening to hit 50.
PM- comfortable 3 on the 'mill @7:58 pace. The only real purpose of this run was to hit the mileage goal. This run was pretty much junk and probably made little difference.
Grade:B-/2 credits/distance=10.0
Weekly summary:
Pretty much a tale of 2 weeks. After a great start, I struggled a bit in the later stages as predicted because of the change in routine. I am now back in the 'Ham and with this mileage in spite of my busy schedule, I deserve this taper coming up.
Distance= 50.0/ GPA= 31.9/10= 3.19