Training 1/22-1/28

1/22- AM. Day 2.  Gold's 4 in 31:51 (7:58 pace).  MINUS 27 from yesterday.  An improvement but I was hoping for better.  Jacked the glycine up to 2000, which may have been premature, but I'm sticking with it for the next few days.  Held the pace fairly well but had no higher gear.  HR-147, Cadence-178.  May be back this evening.

PM- 3 miles in 22:52 (7:37 pace).  Felt noticeably better than the morning.  No relapse.  Hope is still alive, just barely.  Added a half mile cool.  HR was up to 151.
Grade:C+/2 credit/distance=7.5

1/23- Day 3.  Gold's 5 in 37:18 (7:28 pace).  MINUS 9 with 2 extra miles after a double yesterday.  I'll take it but something still feels off.  I was pretty much wide open the last half and just could not pick up the pace even though I had plenty to give in terms of cardio.  Legs were dead.  Splits were 18:34-18:44 so I did hold the pace fairly well and never went above 7:35.  HR was up just 2 ticks to 153 with a perfect 180 cadence.  Feeling more and more let down as the evening progresses.  This feels like a PABA flare but there's no panic this time.  It's a one day blip due to withdrawal from those damn benzoates in Gatorade and beer.
Grade:B/1 credit/distance=5.5

1/24- Semi planned rest day.  I was correct about the PABA flare but probably overshot the dose.  I should not need it again.

PM- Made it through Day 4 but ironically, cheating would have helped in the short-term.  Again, this is the only relapse that I will tolerate because there is an explanation.  Absolutely no more.

1/25- Day 5.  AM- 2 miles at Gold's in 17:52 (8:56 pace) and it required full effort to keep the pace under 9.  No PABA.  As expected, it was a one day flare.  NO MORE!  I may be back out this evening.  HR-137. Cadence- 174

PM- 3 miles in 24:45 (8:15 pace).  MINUS 41.  Noticeably better in the afternoon after a foul smelling urination.  Even pace but again, this was about as fast as I could go right now.  HR came up 10 beats to 147 while the cadence remained 174.  I've learned that benzoates form the toxic compound benzene in the presence of Vitamin C.  That explains a few things.  More to come in a separate post.
Grade:D+/1 credit/distance=5.0

1/26- AM.  Day 6. Gold's 3 with some nice views of the sunrise.  Finished in 22:44 (7:35 pace).  MINUS 40.  Even pace but once again, I was going nearly all out but could not access higher gears.  Will I continue to improve or collapse again?  One more collapse and it's over.
That's it for today.  Interestingly, my HR actually dropped to 141 but the cadence was up to 182.
Grade:C+/1 credit/distance=3.0

1/27- Day 7.  5 miles in 36:50 (7:22 pace).  Solid performance.  MINUS 13 with 2 extra miles.  I bet this was worth at least a MINUS 23 for 3 miles.  1st half- 18:18, 2nd half-18:32.  HR was up to 155 with a 183 cadence.  Felt somewhat like myself but still not there yet.  There is a group run on the Mercedes course tomorrow.  I'll run weather permitting but it looks iffy.
Grade:B+/1 credit/distance=5.0

1/28- AM- Another embarrassing group run.  As usual, I felt and started off reasonably well then faded in Mile 2 and collapsed in Mile 3.  Finished 3 of the 13 scheduled miles in a time of 24:03 (8:01 pace) with splits of 7:29-7:51-8:43.  Got home and found the culprit, which to my relief was need for additional glycine.  Anything else would have been the death knell.

PM- 4x800 intervals at Gold's with glycine:
3000- 4:20 (8:40 pace)
4000- 3:43 (7:26 pace) MINUS 74
5000- 3:17 (6:34 pace) MINUS 52
8000- 3:13 (6:26 pace) MINUS 8
Reaction:
Though this is EXTREMELY MADDENING, it is NOT a relapse.  It is a glycine spike, which is probably temporary.  I was pleased that while I got no significant benefit above 5000, there is no sweet spot in which I need an exact dose or else.  With the PABA, I needed to hit it exactly with no deviation (up or down).  I'd probably do about the same on 10,000 glycine.  I predict that assuming I don't cheat, the spike will calm down within 7 days and I'll settle on 1000-3000.  I am likely out for the Mercedes half though I may run the 5K instead.
Grade:F+/2 credit/distance=5.0

Weekly summary:
Hanging on by a thread.
Distance= 31.0/GPA= 1.64
YTD: 107 miles.  0-3 with a 1.77