Training 10/15-10/21

10/15- Strong MLR on Lakeshore.  If I want to go more than 6 miles, it's got to be either here, indoors or the track because it was pitch black when I was done.  Finished 10 miles in 73:55 (7:23 pace).  Very relaxed and steady pace.  1st half: 36:53, 2nd half, 37:02.  I get a better grade because of the even pace and relaxed effort.  Added a half mile warm and cool.
Grade:A/2 credits/distance=11.0

10/16- Well, it finally caught up to me today.  I wanted to test my foot out on a light interval session so I went to Johnny's workout and got soundly beaten by Ed.  Workout was a 2 mile warm up followed by 4x400 and 3x800.  I DNFed the 4th 400 because of diarrhea and ended up at 78/80/78 and 2:50/2:56/2:50 with some pain in the right foot.  The left was okay. My normal target is 75/2:45. I've not done an interval workout in almost 3 months so I'm not sure if I was rusty or beaten up by having done 35 miles in the past 3 days.  Probably a combination of both.  I would have done okay in an easy 6 but in a quality session, I struggled.  Fortunately, I have 2 relatively easy days ahead then a rest on Friday.
Grade:C+/2 credits/distance=6.0

10/17- Easy Trak Shak 5.5 in 40:32 (7:22 pace).  Again, I was out too fast and slowed down at the end but that was by design.  Bad traffic, dogs, digging up sidewalk.  Not a particularly enjoyable run but a pretty solid performance.  1/2 mile cool.  Still sore in the right heel.
Grade:B+/1 credit/distance=6.0

10/18- Lakeshore 6.5 with Ed.  Part of me wanted to smack him but part of me was loving it.  Finished in 44:45 (6:53 pace).  I had plenty left for more at the end too.  Put me out there fully rested and I do think I could do double this distance at this pace.  If I'm not back in sub-90 shape for the half mary, I am darn close.   The foot did not hurt at all during the run but I could feel it when I got home.  1/2 mile warm and cool.
Grade:A+/1 credit/distance=7.5

10/19- Planned rest day.  I may try to run with the big boys tomorrow (sub-3 marathoners).

10/20- Slept in and ran solo.  Not a bad call because it's so dark in the morning now.  Trak Shak 8 and 8 route, which is probably the toughest 16 mile route in Birmingham.  Finished it in 1:58:41 (7:25 pace).  That's the moving pace.  I still had too many traffic stops.  A lot of people find Lakeshore boring but I prefer it because there are no cars and only 1 intersection.  Right foot remains sore and I didn't really feel my best out there today but this is still strong.  I was pretty excited when I broke 60 on this course the first time back in 2010.  Now, I can do it twice and a single loop is pretty routine.  1st loop was a 59:15, 2nd loop was 59:26 but I had to work hard for the 2nd one.
Grade:A-/2 credits/distance=16.0

10/21- Interesting.  Too much caffeine yesterday.  I feel like it helped me recover from yesterday and I was almost euphoric when I started but it wore off after 3 miles and I struggled late.  I still finished 6 miles in 43:55 (7:19 pace) which is very strong after yesterday's effort but I don't get an "A" because of the way I felt in the 2nd half.  I was working for a 7:30ish in Mile 6.  Splits were 21:40-22:15.  1/2 mile cool.
Grade:B+/1 credit/distance=6.5

Weekly summary:
  Strong week overall.  This extends my winning streak to 3 weeks.  Weak interval session but I did have a strong long run and a good quasi tempo.  I can't shake the right foot pain and I'll need another shot of prolo. Fortunately, it's localized, not widespread like before.  I plan to scale back a bit next week then it will be very little before Vulcan.  YTD: 1640/ GPA= 3.04.  10 weeks to go on the year and I need to average 36 MPW with a 2.85 GPA the rest of the way.  That's do-able but not automatic especially with tapers and holidays ahead. 
Distance= 53.0/ GPA= 30.9/9= 3.43