Training 3/19-3/25

Several questions will be answered this week:
1) Will I improve on the reduced glycine dose in spite of cheating on the preservatives?
2) Can I get away with cheating on the preservatives now that I am off probiotics?  If not, I must face another PABA flare.  I hope I can tolerate it now.  I won't do it regularly but if I am on vacation, it would be nice to have a couple beers for more than 2 days per week without a bad reaction.
3) Will the glycine spike again after I stop cheating?  It did go down after a non-cheat day.
My predictions:
#1- Probably,  #2- 50/50, #3- Doubtful
-Rumpshaker is listed as Doubtful so that means the 1st quarter of the year has been a total loss and I will shut it down if I don't start to improve VERY SOON!

3/19- AM- Cut the glycine dose from 3000 to 1000.  1 Mile at Gold's in 8:45.  It was a struggle but a significant improvement over yesterday's 10:00+ showing.  Drank a Kickstart (contains preservatives) and actually managed to do a hair better with an 8:34.  Not a significant improvement but I didn't expect one.  The good news is that it didn't hurt me.  My prediction appears to be accurate on #1.  Staying on low dose glycine is a MUST!  If I have to stop it, the extreme sensitivity to Whole Food C will kick in with a VENGEANCE!  I intend to be back out this evening.

PM- The answer to question #1 is a DEFINITE YES!  In spite of more cheating this afternoon, I improved to 23:21 for 3 miles (7:47 pace).  MINUS 47 over triple the distance.  The improvement is attributed to clearing of the excess glycine.  The cheating will stop tomorrow and I will face an adrenal spike.  If I face a PABA flare, it will happen on Thursday or Friday.  I figure if I make it a week without a glycine spike, it's stable at 1000.  I can't afford to see it go lower.
Distance=5.0

3/20- AM-  Only had time for a 2 mile quickie but finished in a solid 14:30 (7:15 pace).  The planned 3 miler would have been around 7:25 pace, which is a solid improvement but the adrenal spike is just around the corner.

PM- Planned rest.  Adrenal spike did hit as expected.  My fault for cheating on the caffeine but I was just too frustrated last weekend.  I will work it out so a possible PABA flare won't happen until next week.
Distance=2.0

3/21- Adrenal spike hit hard and was not much better today.  Determined to finish 3 miles no matter how ugly it got.  Finished in 25:52 (8:37 pace).  I should be better tomorrow.
Distance=3.0

3/22- Unplanned rest day.  This is the last day on preservatives and I reached the tipping point today.  MUCH WORSE after drinking a bottle of Gatorade.  Since stopping the probiotics, my tolerance may have ticked up a bit but it is NOT unlimited.  I will probably face a PABA flare on Sunday/Monday so I'm going to say screw it until then.

3/23- Elective rest day.  Feeling slightly better but not good enough for even a semi-quality workout.  I will run little to nothing this weekend.

3/24- 1 mile junk run on Wisteria and felt awful.  Another interesting observation:  If I stop caffeine after 3 days on it, my adrenals will spike.  I already knew that.  What I didn't know is that going back on it will NOT calm things down again.  Bracing myself for the PABA flare that is expected to hit tomorrow evening.  Another lost weekend.  Retirement is coming if I am not better next week.

3/25- AM- The PABA flare hit earlier than expected.  I was awful upon rising this morning so I took the PABA at slightly less than 100 mg.  Vestavia 2 mile in 22:34 (11:17 pace).  'Nuff said.

PM- Repeated the Vestavia 2 mile and my time is down to 18:46 (9:23 pace).  MINUS 1m 54sec so that's off the scale if 99 is the max.  LONG WAY to go.

Weekly summary:
-15 miles on the week.  I will shut down the updates if I relapse again next week. 
Answers to the questions:
#1- YES
#2- NO (perhaps I can handle benzoates more than 2x per week but NOT daily)
#3- TBD but I bet NO and I hope it's NO.