Monday, July 30, 2012

Training 7/30-8/5

7/30- Planned rest day.  I have "manageable soreness" today which means that all I could handle would be an easy 6ish.  I hope to take an honest shot at 400 tomorrow or Wednesday morning and I can come back and double in the afternoon.  I'll predict a time around 62.5.  In lighter news, I had another funny dream last night.  My debit card number became visible on my pants pocket and instead of throwing the pants in the trash, I took out the debit card and left it laying around in a public place.  I do not have any idea where that one came from.

7/31- AM.  Rough night last night.  I barely slept at all because of severe storms.  It was still raining at 6:00 so I postponed the 400 time trial until tomorrow.  Bad news is that I've relapsed.  I had to take a pill last night so that ends the streak at 33 days.  More on that later.  I will run easy this evening.

PM- ABYSMAL!  I was not expecting an "A" or even a "B" performance after what happened last night but I certainly was not expecting this either.  Very uncomfortable 2.5 miles in 19:55 (7:58 pace) and I had to push just to get that sub-8.  Sore in the groin, arch, heel and Achilles so I shut it down before I made things worse.  Very concerned about the heel pain.  I do expect to be better tomorrow but won't be up for a 400.  I took 1 pill last night and it was about 1/2 pill too many.  This is what happens when I am out of balance and why it's so important to get off the pills.  I've had 2 relatively easy days followed by a rest day so I should have been fresh yet this happens.  Another quit attempt is on and I'll call this Day 1.
Grade:F/1 credit/distance=3.0

8/1- AM- All I had time for was a quickie Mile at the gym on my way to work.  Even a small trace of improvement would lift my spirits a bit.  I got it today with a time of 6:35.9, while wearing the slow shoes. 1st half: 3:22, 2nd half: 3:13.  Only the heel was sore today.  If the foot is not better within 2 weeks, I'm going for prolo.  No grade on this workout.  I'll run at the Shak tonight and hope for 5@ sub-8, which won't be easy in the heat.  The average temps begin to go down after next week.

UPDATE: I've learned that plantar fasciitis is indeed related to blood sugar (Cal/Mag) imbalances.  I'm doing just about everything I can to control that problem by keeping my sugar intake to a minimum.  I really think my best hope is the Chia bars.  Something clearly happened when I tried it the first time. Toxins, or something else was clearing my body (via #1) almost on the hour then when it was time to run, I breezed through 5 @ 7:19 at 90+ temps without even trying.  The next day, I ran 5@ 6:23 without it but it was probably still in my system.  More on chia to come, hopefully in a Rave post.

PM- Trak Shak 5 in 97 degree weather.  Got through 5 miles in 38:37 (7:43 pace).  Bad splits (18:55/19:43) but that's not unexpected.  Most of the fade came in Mile 4.  At any rate, it's an improvement over yesterday.  Got the sub-8 and that's probably the equivalent of a 7:30 indoors.  Effort was moderate if not tempo.
Grade:C/1 credit/distance=6.0

8/2- Indoor 8 in 59:16 (7:24 pace).  Pretty solid effort.  Pretty even pace.  No arch pain but the heels hurt a tad at times and my groin started bothering me around Mile 7.  Paid tribute to the man formerly known as Ochocinco on my cool down.  Chia arrived today.  More on that later.
Grade:B+/2 credit/distance=8.5

8/3- WORSE THAN ABYSMAL!  I was too sore last night.  The workout really should not have been that tough (8@ GMP + 10) and woke up feeling worse.  Apparently, I need to add Powerade Zero and Propel to the banned list of drinks.  I've crossed the "line" that I wrote of earlier and it could be 5-7 days until I recover.  The so called "workout" was 2 miles at junk pace but it was about as fast as I could go.  My time was 16:44 (8:22 pace) with splits of 8:10-8:34.  Tomorrow won't be much better.  I don't think chia is the problem.  It's the Powerade.  It's got no sugar but probably nutra sweet or aspartame and it's highly acidic.  WATER is all I can drink.
Grade:F/1 credits/distance=2.5

8/4- AM- I got about what I expected today.  It was after only 12 hours but I managed to increase my distance to 5 miles (Saulter-Trak Shak route) while keeping the average pace the same.  Time was 41:52 (8:22 pace) with a 1st half in 20:30 and a 2nd half in 21:22.  That's still BAAAAAD!  I get a passing grade only because it's a noticeable improvement over yesterday.

PM- Impromptu gym run.  Finished 3 miles at tempo effort in 21:55 (7:18 pace).  I'm now within a minute per mile of my average and improving rapidly.  I wore the fast shoes today and the foot feels about the same no matter what I wear.  It's the blood sugar that's causing the PF.  This run brings my daily total up to 8 with a time of 63:48 (7:58 pace), which is enough to lift my grade a bit.
Grade:C-/2 credits/distance=8.0

8/5- Today was the first day since the relapse that I felt somewhat normal.  I slept soundly and dreamed about driving a car in Texas with defective brakes.  I know that one came from car commercials on TV with curvy mountain roads.  The workout was 6 miles at goal marathon pace with a half mile pick up and a cool down.  Finished the 6 in 43:36 (7:16 pace), which was on target with an even pace but there was not much left after that.  Managed just a 3:21 for the last 800, which is only a hair faster than half mary pace.  Good pace overall but I had to put out more effort than I should have.  Probably could have done 1:35-1:36ish for a half mary race.
Grade:B/ 1 credit/distance=7.0

Weekly summary:
Nothing over 8 miles and nothing faster than marathon pace.  BAD! 2nd worst week of the year.  Only the flu was worse.  I can't drink anything but water and that's all there is to it.  I never thought Powerade Zero would cause a problem but it's clear that it has.  I probably need 2-3 more days to fully recover and even after that, I'm still on the edge.  Fears of full blown diabetes are creeping in.
Distance=35.0/ GPA= 15/8= 1.88

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