January Highlights and Training

Not a good month for training but I did have several non-running highlights:
-Miami/Keys Trip which was a bucket list item.  I've now gone as far south as you can go in the Continental US.  Hawaii is a couple degrees further south in latitude.

After an extremely nerve-wracking loan process, I finally closed on a new condo. I'm moving about 1-2 miles north but the address in the next town (Vestavia Hills) I still have my lease at the apartment until February 16 so I've got 3 weeks to tie up the loose ends.  I've already begun moving small items such as books and music plus I threw away some old clothes that I have not worn in years.

I will hire a mover for the big stuff but I plan on chucking my old mattress and couch so it won't be too much.  Aside from a futon, a table and a large storage bin, I can move the rest of it myself.  I will have to go to the post office and make a change of address and transfer the billing for Alabama Power.  That should not be too much of a hassle.  I can sleep on the futon or even an air mattress until I get a proper bed.

I've also decided on a car.  I'll trade in the beat up 2007 Kia Rio for a '15 Toyota Corolla.  I'll have to call up the insurance company to get that squared away.  I had an '05 Corolla before the Kia and got 160K miles out of it.  I sold it to a co-worker who then gave it to her teenage daughter at Christmas 2013.  As far as I know, she still has it.  A Toyota can run well up to 250K.

As far as the running, I've had an extremely frustrating 3 phase pattern.  I solve a MAJOR problem, which is followed by an ABSOLUTELY NASTY detox reaction.  The detox is quite literally a pain in the ass.  I've nearly doubled over in pain just from walking down a hill.  Who knows what sort of toxins are being eliminated?  My hair test normally shows low toxic metals but that is not always a good thing.  Quite often, the toxins that are unable to be eliminated are stored in the organs and thus do not show up on a hair test because they don't reach the tissues.  When they do, that's when the detox starts.  I believe the ridges on my thumbnails are a sign of organ damage.  When the nails grow out and the ridges no longer appear on the bottoms, that's a tell tale sign that I am getting better.  That hasn't happened yet but it's still early.

  When the detox symptoms begin to fade, my adrenals spike and I cannot even function without Thym-Adren (adrenal suppressant).  My doctor says that's a common occurrence when you solve a MAJOR issue.   Eventually, the adrenal spike calms down and I am forced off the adrenal suppressants and back on the modulator (ADHS).  That's understandable because long-term high level use of an adrenal suppressant will make a person with balanced adrenals feel very sluggish.  Fortunately, if I only take 1 such pill, I'll only get nicked a little bit.  Nothing severe.  4 or more?  Yes, I can expect  a strong negative reaction even if taken for a short time.

Last year, this pattern occurred with the Sarcosine and the DIM.  It's already happened twice this year with the increased need for methylation and the Maca. Last year, I could only tolerate 250 mg of DMG and needed nucleotide support to even manage that much while TMG was not tolerated at all.

NOW:
I don't need the nucleotide support at all and TMG is equally effective as DMG.  Both are well tolerated and I NEED 1000 mg. The transition was ugly but I believe that part is behind me.

DIM:
This one is still a bit thorny.  There are 2 versions that I have taken.  One is supposedly for both genders while another is male specific.  Not surprisingly, I've had more success with the male specific formula.  The formulations are a bit different.  In addition to the DIM, the gender neutral product contains a small amount of Vitamin E and a proprietary blend of cruciferous vegetables.  The male specific formula contains no Vitamin E and only broccoli extract but contains Maca.

I found that while the gender neutral version is helpful, it will not be enough to prevent SEVERE reactions to sugared drinks, alcohol, protein or molybdenum.  Avoid those items and I'll be okay?  Maybe but the fact that I have such a strong reaction (9 min vs 6:xx min pace) after just 3 days of cheating is clearly abnormal and suggests something deeper is wrong.  You can expect that a daily habit might cost you 10-15 seconds per mile  but certainly not more than that.  I found that my tolerance for alcohol and Coke greatly improved when on the male specific formula but still had trouble with moly and protein.  I tried out some extra Maca and cruciferous vegetables but expecting the latter to be a non-factor.  I was correct.   

Maca:
Jury is still out here.  I felt okay after taking the first dose but within 100 meters of running, I knew something was wrong.  I surmised that it was detox and I was correct.  I was noticeably better each of the next 2 days in spite of doing everything WRONG with the diet.  That's right, even caffeine, protein and molybdenum TOGETHER were tolerated.  In fact, I was actually slightly better after taking the moly.  Then, WHAM!  The adrenal spike hit.  Yesterday afternoon was so bad that I had to crash in bed shortly after I got home from work.  Today was a little better only because I took Thym-Adren.  I predict that before the end of the week, the adrenal spike will calm down.  Will it be clear sailing from here?  I don't think I am overly sensitive to anything but of course, I've been burned MANY times before.

Training:
Not surprisingly with all of this crap going on, it was not a good month.  I did manage 24 training sessions in the first 29 days but 11 of those 24 were junk runs.  Total mileage so far is 75 but it may hit 80 before the month is out.  My longest run of the entire month was a mere 7 miles.  Only 1 session could be classified as quality, which was a 3 mile tempo in 21:56 (7:19 pace) though I did have a pair of 4 milers under 31 minutes.  Aside from that, it was pretty much crap.  Obviously, I am not in condition to run the half at Mercedes though I may run the 5K just for fun.  The next half on my radar is at the end of March in Wilmington, Delaware that will include a brief tour of Philadelphia.