Training 3/25-3/31

3/25- Temps in the 40s with blustery conditions so I stayed inside.  I went with the conservative option today: 1-1 ratio of Cal/Mag, no C, Fructosin and 4 Thym-Adren.  Overall, I finished 6 miles in 44:10 (7:22 pace).  Felt good for the first 2 miles then it got harder in Mile 3.  Passed 5 miles in 37:14 (7:27 pace) then turned it up a notch for a 6:56 last mile.  It's another workout that will do just fine for a planned easy day but I would have struggled in a quality session.  As for the Cal/Mag, the exact doses were 500 mg. of each.  A 5:3 ratio or a 5:7 ratio would have sucked!  Just another day in the life of Crazy J.  As for the Thym-Adren, it felt like 4 was not quite enough.  If I can get by with 5, I probably will not need C but if I need 6, it is likely that I will.
Grade:B/1 credit/distance=6.5

3/26- Tempo fail!  I was doing well through 2 miles in 12:40 then died in Mile 3 AGAIN!  I get credit for passing 5K in 20:07 (6:27 pace) but quit after that. Today's formula was 6 Thym-Adren but I made a questionable choice of OJ (about 125 mg of C) for breakfast.  I feared that I would need at least some C on that dose.  I went home and popped some more pills including more C and ended up MUCH WORSE and slow jogged another 1.9 miles.  I am disgusted now but will try again tomorrow with no Vitamin C in any form. After further review, I am counting it as a tempo and it's only based on the 5K in 20:07.  No mercy tomorrow.  I will try to run on 5 then see if the 6th makes me better or worse.
Grade:C/2 credit/distance=5.0

3/27- 5 pills clearly not enough so I went with 6 before the run.  Fast finish Trak Shak 5 in 35:35 (7:07 pace).  Ran it with Kile and he provided good motivation.  He opened up a 10 second gap on me and I closed it by running better than 6:30 in the last mile.  I pulled even within a half mile but did not race him to the finish. Again, it was a decent workout but I am not race sharp.  I will attempt to cut the Cal/Mag entirely and I need to call the doctor and see if he has any ideas about why magnesium seems to make things worse. Rumpshaker decision will be made tomorrow.
Grade:B/1 credit/distance=5.0

Update: My research has shown that taking B-Vitamins supposedly enhances magnesium absorption.  That's worth trying down the road but not so close to a possible race.  If I do Rumpshaker, I just want to run "well" and feel decent.  If I'm 19:40ish, that would be satisfactory. With 5 losses in 8 weeks and 3 unimpressive wins, I'm afraid I've lost too much fitness to have a shot at a PR.

3/28- Update: I took no calcium or magnesium this morning and soon my body rudely informed me that Vitamin C was necessary without the magnesium.  I thought I was going back to 8 Thym-Adren just like before but that proved to be too much.  I must stick with 6 of those suckers per day until further notice.  Already hurting, I went home for lunch to experiment.  I took a 1:1 Cal/Mag ratio and felt MUCH WORSE so I disgustedly went to the Vitamin shop and picked up some B-complex to test my theory.  I began feeling somewhat better soon afterwards.  I may have found something with the B-complex + magnesium. I'm not sure if the C was hurting me or not after all.

Rumpshaker decision:  I would really like to try but a bad race would be a big time downer consider what happened last year (tied my HS PR).  Barring a miracle turnaround tomorrow, I am a no-go.

PM- Tried a junk run on Wisteria after work and it sucked.  I only ran a half mile easy and the pace was near 8:00.  I'm not sold on the magnesium+B complex so I'm going with no magnesium until St. Louis next weekend.  I will go there barring injury or illness.  This counts as a rest day
Grade:F/0 credit/distance=0.5

3/29- Went without any Cal/Mag and tried to run.  I knew within a tenth of mile that it would suck.  I popped some Mag + B complex and felt no better.  Overall stats were 3 miles on Lakeshore in a time of 25:30 (8:30 pace).  No go decision was correct.  At least I saved $30 by not signing up early. The only thing that I can think of going forward is to go with the magnesium+ B-6 only and cut the Vitamin C. DISGUSTING!
Grade:F/1 credit/distance=3.0

3/30- Not much better.  Trak Shak 5 in 39:26 (7:53 pace).  Splits were 7:24-7:20-7:37-8:12-8:52.
An improvement over yesterday but only marginally so.  Instead of fading in Mile 2, I was doing okay through 3.  If I had done Rumpshaker, it would have been a high 22, maybe even a 23.  Formula was B-6, 6 Thym-Adren, 1:1 Cal/Mag.  Something must be tweaked again.  I tried a 7th Thym-Adren and got worse.  Why do I need to cut it again?  There is a reasonable explanation.  Now that magnesium is being properly absorbed, the high Na/Mg ratio is coming down and fewer pills are required.  I do not feel comfortable going below 3 pills however.  I'm going to lose for the 6th time in 9 weeks and there will be a penalty for lack of quality sessions this week.

PM- 2 mile junk run on Wisteria.  Pace was almost surely over 9:00, possibly 10:00 but I didn't care.
Grade:D+/1 credit/distance=7.0

3/31- Continued gradual improvement.  Trak Shak 5 in 38:30 (7:42 pace) with only a slight fade at the end.  This one was cut short due to the rain so I drove back home to find the gym open.  Ran 3 more in 23:30 (7:50 pace) with a nice rebound after a slow start.  Overall time was 62-flat for 8 miles (7:45 pace).  I credit cutting the Thym-Adren down to 5 pills but it clearly was too conservative.  I need 4 or less, which is beginning to make me feel uneasy.
Grade:C/1 credit/distance=8.0
*Penalty- Failure to complete a run of 11 miles or longer.    1 credit with an "F" grade.

Weekly summary:
End of lousy first quarter.  6th loss in the last 9 weeks.  The marginal improvements over the weekend could be a sign of breaking out of this awful slump.
Distance=35.0/GPA= 13.3/8= 1.66 (year low)
YTD: 501 miles, Record: 7-6. GPA= 35.50/13= 2.72