Training 10/26-10/31 (race week)

10/26- I know I said there would be no more training updates but I DON'T WANT TO RETIRE!  I miss it already and I still have 1 race to go.  I'll still jog casually as long as I can.
It was more testing today at Gold's:

In a very pleasant surprise, I found that I was able to tolerate low dose FOS.  The blahs of the past weekend were replaced by over-stimulation.  ADHS helped a little but it was not effective enough.
Trial 1: 1 mile stop and go in 7:08 (2:20-2:25-2:23).  Extra ADHS and extra FOS were tolerated but I still felt very overstimulated and it would have been a Mendoza line performance over 3 miles.  Still, it was good news that I was not significantly worse after a 2nd FOS (I dare not go higher).  Then, it was the moment of truth:  How would I respond to Thym-Adren?

Began on low dose, which was clearly not enough but I did improve to a 6:54 on a non-stop Mile at tempo effort.  I then tried the full dose (6 pills) and was afraid that I over-did it and still believe that I did so.  Nevertheless, it was a pretty solid effort over 3 miles.  The time was 21:22 (7:07 pace) with splits of 7:05-7:13-7:04.  This formula would NOT have worked even yesterday.  Perhaps my tolerance to Thym-Adren + FOS will improve in time but for now, I'm going conservative with those pills.  More importantly, I have another faint glimmer of hope.
Distance=5.0

10/27- Easy 7 at Gold's in 54:52 (7:50 pace).  Good preparation for the race.  Passed 6 miles in 47:30 (7:55 avg) with every mile at or below 8:00.  Felt comfortable aside from a few aches and pains in the foot and groin but the pace felt fine.  Picked up the pace after 6.5 and ran the next quarter mile in 1:52 then came home with a 93 second quarter despite tight turns.  Can I hold this pace for another 6 miles on fresh legs?  The fact that I had something left suggests that the answer is yes.  The would bring me home in 1:43 and change.  I still plan to go out ultra conservative and shoot for a negative split, which I have done a few times in a half (Memphis, Mercedes, Tulsa).

Pills:  Stuck with 2 FOS but cut the Thym-Adren from 6 pills to 4.  VERY encouraging that I can still have a decent workout even if my dose is slightly off and 1 pill does NOT make a huge difference!
Distance=7.0

10/28- Trak Shak 3 in the daylight for the last time this year.  My gut tells me it will NOT be the last time ever.  Finished the distance in 21:36 at tempo effort (7:12 pace).  Not a bad performance but I was hoping to handle 5 at that pace.  Splits were 6:57-7:12-7:30 so I faded but didn't collapse.  Overall time was not significantly worse than Monday but if you base it solely on how I felt, it was.  4 Thym-Adren pills won't be enough.  It's got to be 6+ at least for the time being.
Distance=3.0

10/29- 2.5 mile prep run on Lakeshore.  Finished in 18:57 (7:35 pace) but was not pleased with how I felt.  Significant fade but not a collapse and I would have come in under the Mendoza line if I had gone another half mile.  I took mega Thym-Adren today and apparently it was too much.  Not pleased that I remain sensitive to this stuff.  It will be 6 pills race morning.

10/30- Planned rest day.  Drive to Greenville.

10/31- Spinx Run Fest in 1:56:19 officially.  A 10 minute improvement over last month in PA but it hurt like hell.  No more halves until further notice.

11/1- Planned rest day but did do some experimentation.
Stuff that I could not tolerate before and still can't:
B-12 and ACE nucleotide product.  The latter was dumped down the drain.
Stuff that I could not tolerate before and NOW I CAN:
Sparga (Excellent news) and Whole Food C.