Training 1/9-1/15

1/9- Easy 7.5 in 57:05 (7:37 pace). A little slower than my recent paces but I'm fine with that. After all, I'm only 2 days removed from a monster workout. Don't get me wrong. I did not feel fresh by any stretch but the soreness was manageable. Fast start but settled into 7:40 pace in Mile 3 and it stuck there. Added a half mile cool. Solid performance. Only 1 full week until the taper.
Grade:B+/1 credit/distance=8.0

1/10- Just as I wrote earlier, as the volume increases, paces will slow automatically. I've now done 43.5 in only 4 days. That's too much for me. I'm so glad that the taper is almost here. Planned on 9 or 10 but ended up cutting it short to 8 in 61:44 (7:43 pace) plus the usual tribute. I have residual soreness and a bit of tiredness in my body as whole. Need a good rest.
Grade:B/1 credit/distance=8.5

1/11- Planned rest day to get my implant at long last. Hoping to do a tempo tomorrow. It may have been a mistake to do this before the race. If I had known it would go like this, I would have put it off another month. First, I didn't get the new tooth. It was just another surgical procedure to get me prepared for it. The dentist, not the surgeon will have to do that. More concerning is that I was prescribed antibiotics, perhaps unnecessarily. That can mess up my body chemistry and cause nasty diarrhea similar to the nightmare that I had in the Fall of '09. I'm in the best shape of my life. Please, let's not have another race sabotaged.

1/12- Planned workout was a 6 mile tempo with a fast finish. I came through 1/2 Mile in 3:10 feeling strong so I threw caution to the wind and decided to go for it. I finished the full 10K in 40:14 PR (6:28 pace). 1st half 20:05, 2nd half, 20:09. The former is my best time of the year at 5K. Just 2.5 ticks per mile shy of THE goal and that's the closest I've ever come at any distance. Needed a 78 final quarter. I may have coaxed an 85 if need be but I knew I could not do it and finished with a modest 92. I'm in the best shape of my life.
I may not have even have been at full strength either. This was Day 2 of the antibiotics. I must be cautious from here on out. Yes, I have to take them or there is a risk of an infection that may not be contained to the mouth. I can take less than the suggested dosage. I'm already getting some stomach discomfort. Worse yet, this antibiotic carries a risk, albeit small, of Achilles tendon ruptures. That, my friends, would royally suck! Please pray that I will be protected from that outcome. Easy the next two days and my long run will not be nearly as hard as last week.
Grade:A/3 credits/distance=7.0

1/13- Back to the norm. Finished 6.5 miles in 48:39 (7:29 pace) indoors (cold and windy) plus a half mile cool. Day 3 on antibiotics and I'm doing well thanks to the probiotic use. Only 4 days of that stuff to go. More good news is that the class of antibiotics that I am taking do NOT belong to the family that has been linked to tendon ruptures. Pace felt relaxed and even. Never below 7:24 or above 7:33. I was a full minute slower than my 10K time trial pace on an easy day while covering just about the same distance. That sounds pretty reasonable to me. A guy at the gym told me that slow running lowers testosterone but speed work raises it. I believe it.
I've covered 57.5 miles in the last 7 days. That's approaching the danger zone so my long run will not be as long or hard. Shooting for 16ish tomorrow.
Grade:A-/1 credit/distance=7.0

1/14- Missed the run with the Gnomes so I opted for a daylight run in Homewood from the Trak Shak. I wanted to get the hills out of the way first so I went with the 7 and 9 er route with a time of 1:56:55 (7:18 pace) with a 6:30 closing mile. That's a 3:10:xx marathon pace. Can I hold that for another 10 miles? No. In another 3 years? Maybe. Even small hills will really hurt you after Mile 16. Not as hard as last week's run but not far off either. Very strong.
My 10K time trial projects to a 1:29:30 half and Self Coached Runner predicts a 19:07 5K.
Grade:A/2 credits/distance=16.0

1/15- SENSATIONAL! Easy 5 in 35:49 (7:10 pace) in the ZONE. I felt no pain today whatsoever. I planned to run 6.5 today but chose to play it safe because the pace was so fast. I plan to do a MLR in the daylight tomorrow for MLK day so it was probably a good call to cut it short. Added a half mile cool at the end and even that was run at a decent pace. I've never gotten an A+ on an easy run before but today, it is appropriate.
Grade:A+/1 credit/distance=5.5

Weekly summary:
I am in the best shape of my life. It feels like there's another gear available to me that I could not access before. That 10K was done only 26 hours after receiving oral sedation at the oral surgeon. Barring a really bad day, sub-90 is as good as mine in 2 weeks. Taper will start in the middle of next week. GPA was 4.0 over the final 7 credits.
Distance=52.0/ GPA= 34.3/9= 3.81