training 4/26-5/2

4/26- left Nashville, toured the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg. Got back to B'ham around 6, took a nap and some SBF and hit the 'mill for 3 @ 7:30 then bumped up the pace to 11.0 mph for the last .1 mile. Felt much better.
Grade:B/1 credit/distance=3.0

4/27- Lakeshore run. 4 @ 7:40. Short rest then ran the last mile in an even 6:00. Still did not have top form. Well behind where I was 2 weeks ago. Took some extra taurine and it got worse. Must get better soon or I am out of the UAB 10K
Grade:C+/1 credit/distance=5.0

4/28- Trak Shak 3 @ 6:46. Fairly steady pace and no finishing kick. Nearly all out effort and managed only weak tempo pace. I have not felt good in a hard workout in more than a week. I am starting to get angry. SBF is not the answer and I have stopped it.
Grade:C-/2 credit/distance=3.0

4/29- Again, woke up feeling lousy. I ended up doing a warm up today on Lakeshore. The chromium and manganese made little difference so I had to go to the desperation route of raw bovine adrenal glandular. It's raw, man! 1/2 mile warm up in 3:36, 1/2 mile fast and controlled in 2:47. Calf stiffness won't go way but the heaviness in my legs did diminish. I will leave work as if I'm racing tomorrow, head to the start line at least 2 hours early then warm up and make a game time decision. If the race had been today, my decision would have been "no go" but that can change in 24 hours. PR is 41:43, PW is 43:42.
Grade:B-/1 credit/distance=1.0

4/30- No go decision and it proved to be a good call. Vestavia Mile in a pathetic 6:52 while going all out. Took some taurine and felt somewhat better immediately. 10 minutes later, I was down to 6:28. I think that the reverse osmosis water that I have been drinking is the cause of this slump. Hopefully, this is where the healing begins. I felt a difference after drinking some acidic water early in the afternoon. P.S. The race course was flat and fast so it's a shame I missed it. I will be going to Mobile in November for my 10K PR attempt.
Grade:D/2 credits/distance=2.5

5/1- Improvement over yesterday but still had to cut the long run short. Ended up running 7 in 54:57 (7:51 pace). First 5 were at a solid 7:35 then hit the wall and slipped to 8:30s on the final 2. That's still baaaaauhhd.
Grade:C-/2 credits/distance=7.0
P.M. Finally an encouraging workout. Vestavia Mile in 5:53.9 with a 79 last lap. Best time of the year for the Mile but still 31 seconds down on last year's time and 38 away from my goal. The important number is 59 seconds better than yesterday's first attempt. This run was only 4 hours after hitting the wall in my AM 7 miler. Yes, I took some pills before this run and they worked. My summer racing season will be good.
Grade:C+/2 credits/distance=2.0

5/2- AM- 4x200 all out with full recoveries. That's the plan to get under 60 in the 400. Times were 29.6, 28.9, 29.4, 29.4 in breezy conditions. That's a 3:55 pace per mile or 29.3 per 200. Hey, I ran faster than my age. LOL. I want to build to 6 reps at around 29-flat with a best of 28.5. If I can do that, the 59.9 is as good as mine. Right now, I'd guess that I'd run 62 or 63. Only downside was that my ankle was a bit sore. I may need some prolotherapy.
Grade:B/2 credits/distance=1.0
PM- Mountain Brook 4 is very humid conditions. Had to run at noon to beat the storm. Time was 29:54 (7:29 pace). That sounds pretty fast for an easy run but it wasn't that good. I wanted to run 5 but I was fading in the 2nd half and felt overstimulated.
Grade:B-/1 credit/distance=4.0

Weekly summary:
The only positive is that I've reached the end of a disastrous Spring racing season. At least the first 2 days of May look more promising.
Distance= 28.5/ GPA= 30.1/14= 2.15