Training 7/18-7/24- possible race

7/18- Planned rest day. Guarding against overtraining. Hoping to kick some serious butt at Johnny's workout tomorrow. A bit of a break from the heat the last couple of days but that won't last long. We've got about 5 more weeks of intense heat before it begins to go down.

7/19- Bad day all around. Johnny's workout started out fine (75-75-2:39) then hit the wall on the 1200 (4:24) and struggled in the 800 (2:57) and he would not even let me run the final quarter. Too much choline/inositol. I took another blow when I heard that a friend seems to be giving up on the hair test protocol and going back to anti-depressants.
Grade:C-/2 credits/distance=5.0

7/20- Trak Shak 7 in 55:21 (7:55 pace). The good news is that I hit the target pace. The bad news is that it was supposed to be effortless and it was far from it. I cut my dosage but it wasn't enough. I'm downgraded to doubtful on Retro. I will try to stick to 8 pills (2 grams/day) and my chemistry remains extremely unstable. 7=anxiety, easily tired. 9=lethargic, depressed.
Grade:C+/1 credit/distance=7.0

7/21- Par for the course, I cut the dosage too far and struggled with anxiety for most of the day. Literally overnight, I went from one extreme to the other. The workout was supposed to be a 3-4 mile junk run but I really needed a small test. I warmed up with a Mile in 7:16 but it didn't feel right. In fact, it required quite a bit of effort so I popped another pill and waited about 20 minutes for it to take effect. I warmed up with another Mile at about the same speed but it felt much easier. Then, I walked a lap and decided to test myself with a short progression style tempo. Finished 2.5 miles in 16:47 (6:43 pace). Splits were 7:03-6:43-3:01. I probably could have kept this up for another 2.5 but even that would leave me a full 90 seconds slower than last week's great effort. Clearly getting back on track and thanks to running, I knew that the lowered dosage was not enough. Forecast for Saturday is about normal for this time of year. High of 91 with a 40% chance of rain and 100% chance of high humidity. I remain listed as doubtful for this one but my status for next month's 5K has been upgraded to probable.
Grade:A-/2 credits/distance= 5.0

7/22- This was a planned rest day but I elected to try a junk run. I took the same dosage as yesterday but today it was too much. This is baffling. Warm up Mile in 7:19 then popped a pill and began feeling much worse. Maybe I should be happy that I seem to be trending down with the pills but I am not. Since this was a planned rest day, I will be very lenient and not grade this debacle. Tomorrow, I will not be so easy on myself. Status for tomorrow is now very doubtful and that's too bad because the weather is supposed to be decent (upper 80s in the evening with low rain chance).
Grade:Non-pass/0 credit/distance=2.0

7/23- Nothing should surprise me anymore but this recent turn of events does. I took ZERO pills for a full 24 hours and got progressively better as the day passed. I still chose not to race but if the event had been only 3 hours later, I would have done it and probably finished with a good time. It did rain at where I live but I'm not sure about the race site. It's possible that it was overcast with temps in the low 80s, which could be PR conditions. ARGH! Workout was 6 miles in 45:23 (7:34 pace). Not effortless but still quite comfortable. Very even splits as well and my shin splints have diminished considerably. If I wake up feeling good tomorrow, it will be the 3rd time in the last 12 months that I have "freed" from the dependence on pills (4th time overall). This time I am not excited about it. I have gotten my hopes up too many times only to come crashing down worse than before. God is able to heal me but until I see a good medical report, I will not believe that He has. Sorry if this disappoints my readers but it's how I feel. I cannot take another heartbreaking letdown and if you've experienced this, you'd understand. Still a bad day overall but a good workout. Possible time trial tomorrow.
Grade:A-/1 credit/distance=6.0

7/24- Forget what I posted about being freed from the pills. I woke up feeling a bit anxious so I know that I remain unbalanced. I admit that I am somewhat relieved that I will not be let down again like I was last Fall. Another bad day. 1 pill was not enough, 2 pills were too many. Maybe I just can't tolerate choline/inositol alone but if taken with B-vitamins as in Stress-Pak, I'll be okay. Maybe I can tolerate Thym-Adren and maybe not. In any event, I'll do another medical report in 2-3 weeks. I will keep hope alive until then. If my numbers are not near normal or at least quickly heading in the right direction, I don't see it ever happening. Workout was a weak tempo. 5 miles in 36:50 (7:22 pace) and I could barely hold 7 minute pace running all out. That is nearly a minute per mile slower than my best.
Grade:C/2 credits/distance=5.0

Weekly summary:
Once again, I have nothing more to say that I did not already post. This GPA should be even lower. Friday would have been an "F" if it had not been a planned rest day.
Distance=30.0/ GPA= 17.1/7= 2.44