Training 10/24-10/30

10/24- The Stress Pak should have cleared my system by now but there is still significant soreness in the groin and quads. This worries me. I will have to go to prolotherapy again before my race but I hope I can put it off until the taper. Dr. Johnson says my best hope is to get a treatment each month for 5-6 months. That will cost a lot of money but if it must be done, it must be done. I still maintain that I would not have this issue if not for the chemical imbalances but I expect my next medical report to be a lot better. I am open to taking a few months off down the road if it's necessary to fully heal. Symptoms fit the description of Gilmore's groin, which mimics a hernia but there's not actually one present. Prolotherapy is an alternative to surgery to fix this problem. Today's workout was 10 miles on Lakeshore in 78:44 (7:52 pace). Aside from the sore groin, I felt pretty decent out there. Relaxed steady pace and never put forth much effort. I planned on running Johnny's workout tomorrow but I may be relegated to all LSD this week. We'll see how it feels tomorrow then I'll reassess it.
Grade:B/2 credits/distance=10.0

10/25- Worst day in more than a month. I felt like my groin was improving with stretching and easy runs but I took a step backwards today. Not surprisingly, I was crap in a speed workout. I only did 4x800 in 2:59 on South Lakeshore. On a good day, I can do 6 of them in 2:45-2:50. Then I hoped to do a 5 mile cool down at a low 8 pace. I felt decent at first but my groin gave out on me. I only did 2.5 in a depressing 21:45 (8:42 pace) and I was running 9:30 when I finished. Today sucked. I will call Dr. Johnson tomorrow. If I can't get an appointment by Veteran's Day, I am out for Arkansas.
Grade:D+/2 credits/distance=5.5

10/26- Another depressing performance. Half assed attempt at a tempo at the Shak. Finish time of 37:39 for 4.9 miles (7:41 pace) does not look too bad on the surface but if you look at the splits, it's horrible. Started off at a strong 6:30 then slowed to a 6:53 and it was all downhill from there. Mile 3 was 7:51 then I just slow jogged the remainder in 8:30-8:45 pace. I felt fine except for the extreme soreness in the groin. This feels very much like a sports hernia. Forget about any speed but I can slow jog and be okay. The good news is that I have my prolotherapy appointment on the afternoon of 11/1. I wanted to run 50 this week and I'll be lucky to do 40.
Grade:D+/1 credit/distance=5.5

10/27- Terrible day all around. I had to wait almost 4 hours to renew my car tag. I attempted to run at Veteran's Park and did one lap around the lake at junk pace and realized that I was doing more harm than good and quit. Thoughts ran through my head about being out for several months but it has now become clear that just as usual, the pills are largely to blame. I popped a 3rd Thym-Adren after I got home and had a swift negative reaction. Perhaps the groin issue would not even be there at all if the dosage was right. Why didn't I try to cut the dosage on Monday and prevent further damage? Dumb. I'm not ready to declare myself in the clear just yet. I'm still questionable for Arkansas and still need prolotherapy. Perhaps I did over reach a bit with my training but it's highly doubtful that it was the cause of all of this. I will not give up this fight now or ever. I will try again tomorrow.
Grade:Failure/0 credit/distance=1.0

10/28- Thanks for all the page views. I reduced my dosage and as I predicted, the symptoms have improved. The pain in the groin is still there but it's not debilitating.
AM- 2 miles indoors @ 6:47 pace. Mediocre performance but that's light years ahead of yesterday. I will run again this afternoon and the grade will be based on both workouts.
PM- 4 miles indoors in 27:09 (6:47 pace) again. I was shooting for goal half mary pace and did a hair better than that. I can still feel the pain in the groin but it's manageable now. Energy was pretty good but I was not 100% by any stretch. The Nike Zoom XC shoes are no good. Shoe review post will be coming soon.
Grade:B/1 credit/distance=6.0

10/29- Run with the Gnomes. I was a bit more sensible with the pace this time. I covered 17 miles in 2:08:48 (7:35 pace) but I did have a couple of extended stops. I had some left at the end this time but I could feel the groin and quads especially in the last 3 miles. Once again, the pain is noticeable but not debilitating when my dosage is right. Speaking of which, I may be stuck in the middle there. 3 is not quite enough but 4 is too many. I hope to settle on 3 soon. Still no need for manganese or chromium. YES! Pretty strong run today. I only need 5 tomorrow to reach 50 miles on the week and I may go a little beyond that. Shoe choice today was the Brooks Pure Cadence. Good call.
Grade:A-/2 credits/distance=17.0

10/30- Oak Mountain run with Lee. Donated the Zoom XCs and wore the Lunar Elites. Slight Garmin malfunction early. It recorded 6.07 @ 7:37 but the actual distance and pace was about 6.15 @ 7:30 then later added a cool down. 379 ft. of elevation gain and loss. Very good out there. Very little pain in the groin and this one did not even leave me hurting in the least.
Grade:A/1 credit/distance=7.0

Weekly summary:
The difference in how I feel on 4 pills vs 3 is like night and day. It's very unusual to be so sensitive and it's making me feel uneasy. At least the downward trend is gradual and this beats the hell out of the instability that I had over the summer. After a terrible start to the week, I rebounded with a strong weekend but it was not enough to continue the streak of 4 straight weeks above a 3.0 but I was very pleased with my mileage.
Distance=52.0/GPA= 24.3/9= 2.70