Training 11/7-11/13

11/7- Easy 7 in 52:21 (7:29 pace). Nothing overly exciting to report. Felt strong despite a trace of soreness in my knee. I think the Kinvaras are about shot and the Lunar Elites are not far off so I'll switch to Brooks Cadence for easy runs. A bit fast for an easy run but it did feel easy. That's okay because my mileage will be a bit lower this week. Even pace. No major complaints about this workout. I hope I'll be up for Johnny's tomorrow.
Grade:A-/1 credit/distance=7.0

11/8- Johnny's workout as planned. 6x400 followed by a Mile on a nice 60 degree evening. Not a bad workout but I was hoping for a little better. 400s were right on time at 75. I was hoping for a Mile in 5:40 but had to settle for a 5:50. Felt good to run at 5:00 pace for the first time in a while. I could feel that my condition was beginning to deteriorate towards the end. The race is 11 days away and there could be some more drama with the pills. If it happens, I want it to be now, not next week. I went with 1.5 in the morning then nothing until evening. I may have to tweak this further. Even 1/4 pill could potentially make a difference. The medical report will be mailed in about 2-3 weeks. The results? We'll see.
Grade:B/2 credits/distance=5.0

11/9- Dreamed that I visited a friend's house and was greeted by a talking dog who threatened me and eventually cussed at me. Easy 5 at the Trak Shak. My IT band hurt during the day and I was worried about it but once I warmed up, I was fine and it felt no worse after the run. Finished with a time of 38:03 (7:37 pace) but the final 3 averaged 7:45. Average performance overall. Ho-hum affair but I survived. If I can survive this week, I can feel good about my situation.
Grade:B-/1 credit/distance=6.0

11/10- Scheduled day of rest. I expect that my body will demand a rest and I dare not disobey.

11/11- Celebrated the day off work in my own style. The Gnomes wanted to run in the cold and dark but I chose to take advantage of the opportunity to run in the daylight. I took a ride down to Oak Mountain Park and ran 11 miles on a beautiful Fall day in Alabama. Sunny skies with temps near 60 and peak foliage. Very hilly out and back route and finished with a time of 82:30 (7:30 pace) on a route that included nearly 700 ft. of elevation gain and loss. Every mile was below 7:45 despite the fact that 2 of them had 152 ft of uphill with 0 downhill. That's an average uphill grade of nearly 3%. IT band is still a bit sore. I'm beginning to think that the orthotics will not work in the Cadence shoes. I can still use them as part of a rotation but I may need a new long training shoe. Newton Gravity? In any event, it was a strong MLR. I've got another double digit run tomorrow but it will be run with the slower Gnomes. Paid tribute to the Armed Forces with a 1 mile cool down at Veteran's Park on the way home.
Grade:A-/2 credits/distance=12.0

11/12- Run with the Gnomes. With the time change, it's daylight now at 6 AM now. Not a bad run but I was not pleased that I faded near the end. Finished at 13.5 in 1:45:46 (7:50 pace) but the final 4 averaged over 8 minute pace. Yesterday did take something out of me but I may need to tweak something with my formula. Average performance overall. All I need is a basic easy run tomorrow, which will be the official start of the taper. I'm sure looking forward to it.
Grade:B-/2 credits/distance=13.5

11/13- Intense runner's high after yesterday and I'm trying to keep it going. Basic easy run on Lakeshore plus one extension. Finished at 6.5 miles in 50:05 (7:43 pace). Solid performance. Not too exciting but that's fine for a run of the mill affair. Slowed just a tad in the last 2 miles but I was fine with the overall time and pleased that I showed restraint in not going for the sub-50 at the end. There's another 50 that's more important.
Grade:B+/1 credit/distance=6.5

Weekly summary:
Another good week overall. Nothing was as great as last week's long run but I rated every workout as "average" or better. Nothing less than a B minus. That'll work for me. Third straight 50 mile week and my year to date total is 1,850. I have a taper and a slack week ahead but will still finish well over 2,000.
Distance=50.0/ GPA= 28.5/9= 3.17