Training 5/18-5/24

Did very little running last week but made an important discovery.  I took a trip to North Florida last weekend and stayed mostly clean with the diet.  I did have one beer for dinner on Friday then one mixed drink with lunch on Saturday with no caffeine.  That is HARDLY a binge but I could NOT tolerate it.  Water only until further notice with no cheat days at all?  I don't think I can do that and if I can't tolerate just 2 indiscretions per week, that's a big problem.  The culprit is NOT CoQ10 after all.  It is ATP.  Indeed I have read that caffeine interferes with adenosine receptors and I'm betting that sugar and alcohol do as well.  That's okay.  I don't need to take ATP every day.  I only need enough to transport B-12.  Occasional use (once per week) will do me fine.

5/17- Very good news.  Without ATP, caffeine was tolerated and CoQ10 actually made things better.  Even better, I had no significant difference between 2 pills and 4.  I was 2 seconds slower per lap on extra so that's just statistical noise.

5/18-AM- Opener in 59.4 (5:56 pace).  Very impressive opener.  With 2 CoQ10, I was down to 50-flat (5:00 pace) then added a cool.  That's my fastest time on that loop by nearly 2 seconds and it was done WITH caffeine.  I'm sure it's not good for me but even if I had a daily habit, it should not hurt me NEARLY AS BADLY as it has before.  I'm quite sure that if I popped just one ATP pill, it would have been a disaster.  Still a little concerned that the gap (56 seconds) is still significant but I'm quite sure that I would have been no better or worse if I had taken extra.

PM- Lakeshore 2.5 in 19:36 (7:51 pace).  Not a bad showing.  Felt comfortable most of the way though my legs were a little heavy.  Started a little fast then backed off on the back half to 8:00 pace.
Distance=3.0

5/19- No AM workout but I could tell without running that just 1 CoQ10 pill would NOT be enough.  Not pleased about being so dependent on this or any other pill.  Gotta hope that will eventually fade.  Then again, at least I don't need mega doses.  The eventual workout was 3 miles at Montreat in a time of 23:22 (7:47 pace) with relatively even splits.  Don't think the pace ever went above 8.  Half mile longer on a route that was a bit tougher than Lakeshore.  I'll take it.  Not a significant difference versus yesterday but the sum of small gains is the goal.  Legs were still heavy and breathing was labored at times.
Distance=3.0

UPDATE:
The South Dakota race scheduled for July was CANCELED due to Corona.  I've had enough of this.  I was willing to go along with the lockdown for 2-4 weeks but it's past time to open up.  My next race option is not until September in Minnesota.

5/20- CRASH!  Lithium was the culprit this time.  Since it is related to ATP, it's not a big surprise.  I should not need that stuff at all going forward because it is an ingredient in ADHS (adrenal modulator).  I may take it once per week to be safe however.  Forced myself to jog 1 mile but that pace was likely over 12 minutes.  I expect a nice rebound tomorrow.
Distance=1.0

5/21- 3 miles on Lakeshore in 28-flat (9:20 pace).  Big improvement over yesterday.  I was only doing 9:40 pace for the first half but managed a 9:00 flat on the back half with an 8:46 in Mile 3.  Nothing to celebrate but I should be back to the Mendoza line by tomorrow.
Distance=3.0

5/22- Repeated the Lakeshore 3 and my time is down to 25:36 (8:32 pace).  1st half- 12:52, 2nd half- 12:44.  I'll take it.  MINUS 52 overnight.
Distance=3.0

Impromptu trip to the Coast.
Only 1 additional junk mile.
- 13 miles on the week.