Breaking the Wall

December 21, 2024

15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

Orem,UT,United States

Member Since:

Jan 27, 1986

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

Best marathon: 2:23:57 (2007, St. George). Won the Top of Utah Marathon twice (2003,2004). Won the USATF LDR circuit in Utah in 2006.

Draper Days 5 K 15:37 (2004)

Did not know this until June 2012, but it turned out that I've been running with spina bifida occulta in L-4 vertebra my entire life, which explains the odd looking form, struggles with the top end speed, and the poor running economy (cannot break 16:00 in 5 K without pushing the VO2 max past 75).

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for the US Olympic Trials. With the standard of 2:19 on courses with the elevation drop not exceeding 450 feet this is impossible unless I find an uncanny way to compensate for the L-4 defect with my muscles. But I believe in miracles.

Long-Term Running Goals:

2:08 in the marathon. Become a world-class marathoner. This is impossible unless I find a way to fill the hole in L-4 and make it act healthy either by growing the bone or by inserting something artificial that is as good as the bone without breaking anything important around it. Science does not know how to do that yet, so it will take a miracle. But I believe in miracles.

Personal:

I was born in 1973. Grew up in Moscow, Russia. Started running in 1984 and so far have never missed more than 3 consecutive days. Joined the LDS Church in 1992, and came to Provo, Utah in 1993 to attend BYU. Served an LDS mission from 1994-96 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Got married soon after I got back. My wife Sarah and I are parents of eleven children: Benjamin, Jenny, Julia, Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, Matthew, Mary, Bella. and Leigha. We home school our children.

I am a software engineer/computer programmer/hacker whatever you want to call it, and I am currently working for RedX. Aside from the Fast Running Blog, I have another project to create a device that is a good friend for a fast runner. I called it Fast Running Friend.

Favorite Quote:

...if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	3010.45
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles:						640.15
Bare Feet Lifetime Miles:						450.37
Nike Double Stroller Lifetime Miles:						124.59
Brown Crocs 4 Lifetime Miles:						1334.06
Amoji 1 Lifetime Miles:						732.60
Amoji 2 Lifetime Miles:						436.69
Amoji 3 Lifetime Miles:						380.67
Lopsie Sports Sandals Lifetime Miles:						818.02
Lopsie Sports Sandals 2 Lifetime Miles:						637.27
Iprome Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles:						346.18
Beslip Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles:						488.26
Joybees 1 Lifetime Miles:						1035.60
Madctoc Clogs Lifetime Miles:						698.29
Blue Crocs Lifetime Miles:						1164.32
Kimisant Black Clogs Lifetime Miles:						720.62
Black Crocs 2023 Lifetime Miles:						1743.12
White Slip Resistant Crocs Lifetime Miles:						759.93

Wed, Apr 02, 2008

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
20.13	0.00	0.00	0.00	20.13

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff in 1:17:43. Discussed the effect of high mileage on all out speed and high school performances. Supposedly science says that if you do high mileage, the midgrade fibers become more slow-twitch oriented, and that kills your explosive power. If that is true, I must not have any of those because I've never gained all out speed by reducing mileage, or lost it by increasing it. Nor have I ever seen a reasonably well documented case when this has actually happened to somebody. If anybody has one, feel free to share.

Crocs - 272.88 miles.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:41, 1.5 with Jenny in 12:41, 5.53 alone in 41:33, and 2 with Benjamin in 15:30.

Crocs - 282.91 miles.

Night Sleep Time: 6.75	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 6.75

Comments

From josse on Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 15:04:56

Only 10 this morning, are you cutting back for the race?

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 15:05:40

No, it is the temple day. I only had time for 10. Will do 10 more in the evening.

From cgbooth23 on Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 15:52:08

Are you doing striders on Saturday? If so look forward to meeting you, I am running and also live on the route, towards the end in Eden!

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 16:00:10

I am running the Provo City Half, but I will be there for the Ogden Marathon.

From wheakory on Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 16:21:47

Sasha, are you also running the Salt Lake Marathon?

I've read that the more high mileage runs with less quality explosive runs will cause you to loose or not use the fast twitch fiber muscles.

Now the question is how much do you need to use them to keep the fast twitch fibers active, and keep them at the same performance level or obtain a higher level?

From Adam RW on Wed, Apr 02, 2008 at 21:39:03

I'll have to look it up. But in the meantime York High School would be the argument against this. When I was in high school they were in the area and most of their runners were running in the 90-110 mpw range and they beat everyone. I don't think many did much after high school but for the short term it worked for them.

"The most successful American high school cross country coach is Joe Newton from York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois. His teams have won 26 Illinois state titles in 50 years. York was also the first winner of the Nike Team National Cross Country meet in 2004." from Wikipedia

From Lulu on Thu, Apr 03, 2008 at 12:54:21

Ok Sasha, I went back through your blog and figured out why you are running in Crocs (or Walmart's version of Crocs). Have you tried Nike Free shoes? (This is a retorical question as I know that if you can get Walmart Crocs for $5 you wouldn't bother with $85 shoes). The Frees are supposed to be for near-barefoot running. I have run in those before and found that for the first few years, they don't cause any injury, but eventually it did catch up with me. My current peroneus issues may be from running in the Frees. My arch on the outside of my right foot is non-existant now and the left is on its way. Just something for you to consider. I will follow your experiment.

From Jon on Thu, Apr 03, 2008 at 17:55:07

Sasha, the big question is if you are going to race Saturday in crocs...

From josse on Thu, Apr 03, 2008 at 18:24:38

Lulu-I think Sasha could run on his hands and not get injured.

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Apr 03, 2008 at 22:21:20

Just to be safe I'll run in my racing flats. However, if somebody offered me an incentive I would race in Crocs. I think speed-wise they are comparable to racing flats.

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