Training 2/25-3/3

2/25- AM- Gold's 3 in 27:49 (9:16 pace).  A step backwards from yesterday afternoon.  Not pleased about that but it's still a lot better than I was 24 hours ago.  Negative split again.  1st half- 14:05, 2nd half- 13:44.  I'll be back out this evening.

PM- Very interesting.  This is the 2nd straight day that I felt MUCH better in the afternoon and evening.  Lakeshore 5 this time and my time is all the way down to 42:40 (8:32 pace) with another negative split (21:28-21:12). Less than 36 hours ago, I was barely under 54 so this is more than ELEVEN minutes faster.  Not sure why this is happening but I hope to figure it out because the race is in the morning on Saturday.  I won't be surprised if there is another step backward tomorrow morning.   Although the paces are painfully slow, I am getting the mileage.
Distance=8.0

2/26- AM- Repeated yesterday's Gold's 3 and my time is down to 24:48 (8:16 pace).  No real drop off from yesterday's evening session.  In fact, I may have been a hair faster if I had to go 2 more miles.  I will try taking Maca and CBS NOS in divided doses.

PM- Jemison Trail.  4.5 miles in 36:24 (8:05 pace) plus a half mile cool.  Except for an 8:33 mile on the tough hilly part, I was sub-8 overall.  Once again, I felt an uptick in energy after noon but this time it was not a night and day difference in the workout (no pun intended).  I will try the divided doses tonight but I don't think it will make much difference.  For now, I believe I am on the right track but another relapse could be right around the corner.
Distance=8.0

2/27- Mileage is starting to get to me now, which is not a surprise.  2 mile recovery jog in the morning.  Untimed but it was very slow.  Went to Nashville for prolotherapy and to get my knee checked out.  Turns out the IT band is okay but the ACL and MCL are weak.  Good call to get that fixed now or else it could cause SEVERE problems down the road.
Distance=2.0

2/28- Planned rest day.  Finished February with 109 miles. YTD-189.  At this pace, I will finish just under 1200 on the year but I expect to finish above that.

3/1- Easy 3 at Gold's.  Time was meaningless today but it was 25:58 (8:39 pace) plus a cool.  Knee is still a bit tender from the prolo and it may hold me back tomorrow as well.  Oh well.  Still a good call to get this done now.  The news of ACL issues was scary.  On track to match or exceed last week's mileage total.  Learned that DIM is still needed.  I thought perhaps I could quit it now that I'm on stand alone MACA.  Not so fast.
Distance=3.5

3/2- Wine 10K in 51:33 (8:18 pace).  Hoped for a sub-50 but this was not a disaster.  The knee was still a bit tender and probably slowed me down a little but the biggest factor was lack of fitness and the toxic metal elimination.  I usually do better in the afternoon and evening so I may have had a shot if this had been in the evening.  Splits: 7:58-8:10-8:18-8:26-8:40-8:40-1:21. Added a 3/4 mile warm up so the mileage this week is looking good.  HR was a mere 129.  That's MUCH too low.
Distance=7.0

3/3- Easy 5 plus a cool with Greene on the Brookwood Trak Shak loop.  Finished in 43:35 (8:43 pace).  That's satisfactory.  Started off at 8:50 pace then dropped to 8:33 by the end so the negative split trend continues in workouts but it didn't happen on race day.  HR was up to 149 today.  Finished before the storm.

Distance=5.5

Weekly summary:

I want to maintain the mileage in the mid-30s up through April.  I think 40 is do-able now but I don't want to push it.  This is my highest total of the year.  Except for a 2 day blip, I've made it 3 weeks without adjusting my formula and topped 30 miles for the 3rd straight week.

Distance=34.0- YTD= 205