Getting that responsiveness back ...

Hey guys, in the last couple years I have noticed a growing lack of responsiveness from my 01 v-10 along with more pinging than when new. It all seemed to start about the time I noticed 'may contain up to 10% ethanol' at the pump and when I started doing 1-2 short trips (4 miles) per night. My daytime commute is 40 miles of highway so I would think the short trips wouldn't have any effect. Anyway, it got to the point the truck would ping on about every brand of 87 I could find and I could really feel it in the seat of the pants going up a hill almost like I was pulling my pal's 6k lb boat. Before this lethargy it had felt like I could pull a wheelie in overdrive on those same hills. Up until that point the fuel injectors had never been cleaned (63k). After reading a few articles and recommendations I decided to give the Chevron Techron concentrate a shot before going to the dealer for the $179 injector cleaning. After 2 tanks I can definitely tell the difference. Very little ping and better responsiveness. It still doesn't quite have that initial instant response it used to have though. I know at 63k it might diminish a little but I'm thinking there's still another outstanding piece to the puzzle. A friend of mine just replaced the IAC on his 2001. His was pinging a lot and was starting to do the idle ups/downs. After replacement he filled it up with the cheapest 87 octane he could find and he said it ran like a complete champ - no pinging, responsiveness was back, etc. The same gas before would cause it to ping incessantly. I have considered trying to clean the IAC as mine does not idle well after after moving the truck around in the driveway or garage, shutting it down, then starting it again.

Have you all experienced any lackluster performance from your trucks and if so what have you done to bring them back to peak performance ? I'd like to one day light mine up with a power programmer III but figure getting it running as well as possible before hand would be best.

Thanks for your thoughts