Training 3/28-4/3

3/28- Easy 7 indoors in 53:13 (7:36 pace). Pretty solid performance. That's still a little faster than my normal easy pace but I intended to push it a bit. 7:30 was too much of a struggle so I backed off. Weight is down 2 and now stands at 155. I do NOT want to lose any more. 155-160 is my target range. I am still unsure of how much power I'll have in a hard workout. I hope to do Johnny's workout tomorrow if the weather cooperates. March is normally the wettest month here but this is wetter than usual.
Grade:A-/1 credit/distance=7.0

3/29- Did something I've never done in training before which was an interval workout on a road rather than a track. Soccer game at Vestavia so I headed to South Lakeshore, which is actually a fairly common training ground for intervals. It's a straight stretch of road with minimal traffic but it does have a slight slope to it. My workout was 6x800 with a 2:30 rest. I averaged 2:54 (5:48 pace) with a range of 2:50-2:56. I was surprised by how even my times were given the slope. In fact, I was actually slightly faster on the incline than the decline probably because I had a slight headwind going down and a tailwind going up. Not a bad workout but I "used to could" do this workout at 2:45 so that's 18 seconds slow per mile. 3 mile cool down in which I felt some foot pain that seemed to stem from the nerve. That could be the magnesium inhibiting calcium so I'm cutting that from 2 to 1. Not a big deal yet. Jury's still out on the new formula.
Grade:B-/2 credits/distance=6.0

3/30- Trak Shak 8 mile hilly loop. This time, the Garmin measured it at 8.10 with a time of 55:28 (6:51 pace). Slightly slower than last week's magic but I've proven that it was no fluke. That's 1 second under 1:30 half mary pace. The power is back on and I am more confident in my plan. The foot was okay. I'm sticking with the magnesium but at a lower dosage. Please God, no more chromium dependency! As long as I can tolerate the ADHS, I predict that I will be balanced. Weather was only in the low-mid 50s with wind and drizzle. IT'S RAW, MAN! With a wet shirt and cold wind, it was freezing out there. Fortunately, I had a jacket.
Grade:A/2 credits/distance=8.5

3/31- Planned rest day. I've done a fast MLR, a short GMP (goal marathon pace), an interval and a long tempo since the disappointing 5K. My body is tired and worn out but the muscles are not especially sore. For the first quarter and its ups and downs, I scored 2 PRs, ran an even 500 miles and had a cumulative GPA of 2.91, which was skewed by a bad first 2 weeks.

4/1- Mild disappointment today. Oak Mountain 400 in 64.6. Best time of the year by a healthy margin but that's a full 3 seconds down on last year's best and in the 400, that's a lot. I need 1.2 seconds per 100 to reach my goal. That's daunting. That said, I did not have my best stuff out there. There was no spring in my step and I faced a BRUTAL headwind in the homestretch. In still air, I could have run in the 63s but even that is a long way from a sub-60. Have I lost sprint speed in the last 2 years? I would not think that being 30 instead of 28 would make any difference. It is clear that I need more sprint training. Perhaps, I was not fully fresh even after one day off. Finished the day with a 5 mile jog at the Shak with Chilton at 8:30 pace. Sore muscles have kicked in today.
Grade:C/2 credits/distance=6.5

4/2- Groin was sore today. That's not good. I have 2 more bizzare dreams to report. The first involved urinating in front of a gas station that had an open bathroom. The second involved getting busted for DUI and becoming friends with the arresting officer. I wasn't expecting much in my workout today but did surprisingly well. Trak Shak 8 mile loop twice with a time of 2:07:10 (7:57 pace). 1st loop was just under 64 and the second was just over 63 with a last quarter mile near 5K pace. This was my longest run of the year. Pretty solid performance. Probably good for 7:45-7:50 on Lakeshore. 54 miles in the last 7 days, which is pushing my upper limit. Easy tomorrow.
Grade:B+/2 credits/distance=16.0

4/3- Still a bit of groin soreness but no worse after yesterday. I really don't want to have to go back for more prolotherapy. Uneventful easy 6 in 46:42 (7:47 pace). Did what I set out to do today and nothing more. Tacked on a cool down mile at junk pace. Weight is still 155.
Grade:B/1 credit/distance=7.0

Weekly summary:
Pretty good week overall. I do think that I forced a bit too much quality and if I do want to train for a 59.9, I need to be fresher for the short intervals. Next week probably will not be as intense or as long in terms of distance. The groin/hip area had better improve soon.
Distance=51.0/GPA= 30.7/10= 3.07