Training 9/29-10/5

9/29- AM- Quickie.  1 mile at Gold's and struggled to a 7:47 finish.  I've cut the taurine down to 1000 mg and it's still too much.  Cutting it down to 500 now.

PM- Worse.  Another 1 mile at Gold's in 8:27.  I have a feeling that I may have to discontinue taurine altogether.  At the very least, I will be taking a break from it and am also cutting the Cal/Mag down to 500.  I'm going to the lab tomorrow.  If my Mag RBC is over 6.0, I don't need more than 500 and should not need the taurine.  I'm counting this as my rest day but if I was graded, it would have been an "F".
Distance=2.0

9/30- AM- Not feeling much better this morning.  I've been off taurine and caffeine for 24 hours now.  I need to stay off for 3.5 days before trying taurine again.  If I get a bad reaction after that point, I know I need to discontinue it.  Went to the lab this morning and did the whole copper panel (ceruloplasmin, zinc, copper, Mag RBC).

PM- Gold's 5 in 39:18 (7:52 pace).  Lame workout.  I was working hard all the way and could not even manage to hit my usual easy pace.  To my credit, I did manage a negative split and hit 7:30 in Mile 5.  I'm not even trying taurine until Thursday night at which time, I should have the lab results back.  I should know the answer by Friday morning.
Grade:C/1 credit/distance=5.0

10/1- Encouraging.  Took my morning Mag dose and tightened up badly but took 500 mg of Tauring and got somewhat better.  I was afraid to take any more.  Gnome run on Lakeshore.  Cut it short but finished a decent standard issue run.  5 miles in 37:50 (7:34 pace) with a significant negative split.  Did 7:20s over the last 3 but was still working too hard.

PM- Coach advised against doubles but I really needed to test myself.  A 2nd Cal/Mag pill tighten me up badly.  A 2nd taurine pill was not a miracle but it was a net positive effect.  Did 3 miles at the Shak at a pace in the 7:20s.  GPS cut off after 2 miles in 14:38 but was slipping a bit.  Only my 2nd full day off caffeine and I have been progressing steadily.
Grade:B-/1 credit/distance=8.0

10/2- Got some not so good news on the blood test so I panicked and took some SBF, which was a bad call.  Again, taurine negated most of the ill-effects but it was still not very good.  3 miles at tempo effort and my time was 21:43 (7:14 pace).  Managed only marathon pace and was more than a minute per mile off my PR.  Grading is harder on a tempo day.
Grade:C+/1 credit/distance=3.0

10/3- Improvement.  3 miles in 19:54 (6:38 pace).  Still weak.  Felt better after I finished the high copper protein bar so I picked up a bottle of copper at the health foods store at lunch.  It was not an instant disaster but over the last hour at the office, I could not do anything and was struggling just to stay awake.

PM- Got home and popped a Thym-Adren to even out the ratio and felt slightly better.  Taurine helped further so I decided to do a small test on Wisteria.  I struggled to a 7:47 finish for 1 Mile.  What to make of this debacle?  The 5:1 zinc/copper ratio will not work for me, at least not right now.  I could try 7.5:1 or another form of copper but it's possible that I just can't take copper in single mineral form.  Taurine may help but won't negate all of the ill-effects.
Grade:C+/2 credits/distance=4.0

10/4- It's official.  Copper in single mineral form is a disaster for me.  All I can do now is copper rich foods and possibly Vitamin A and/or be more aggressive in my never ending quest to balance my oxidation rate.  Did not even attempt the group run and don't feel up to doing anything today.

PM- Forced myself to do a junk run on Wisteria.  It was awful but I covered 2 miles at glacial pace.  I did not time it but would not be surprised if it was over 20 minutes.
Grade:F/1 credit/distance=2.0

10/5-AM- Lakeshore 3 in 27:29 (9:10 pace).  Splits were 8:28-9:08-9:53.  Added a half mile cool.  This was done after being off copper for 26 hours.  No further comments needed.

PM- Improvement.  10 laps at Spain Park in a time of 19:09 (7:40 pace).  I was a full kilometer behind my recent 5K PR.  Pathetic!  The bright spot was a strong negative split (9:59-9:10) and I dipped to 1:43 on the last lap (6:52 pace).  I should be able to handle a standard issue workout by tomorrow.
Grade:E/2 credits/distance=6.0

Weekly summary:
Not one but two collapses in the same week.  I have not won more than 3 in a row since January of last year.  I know that taurine works ONLY if I strictly limit caffeine.  Copper does not work at all as a single mineral supplement.  I must rely on Vitamin A and copper rich foods to bring up  ceruloplasmin and am not real confident it will be enough.  Choline/Inositol is an option if ADHS + Cal/Mag is not enough. In about 6-8 weeks, I might finally know how this will all play out.
Distance=30.0/ GPA=12.6/8= 1.58
YTD: 1,358 miles.  Record: 18-20 with a 2.69 GPA.