Breaking the Wall

December 30, 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:	72.31	Year:	3105.12
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

Mon, Apr 30, 2012

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.80	0.00	0.00	1.20	14.00

A.M Ran 6 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia did the first 2 with us. Then did a blood circulation declogging workout. The working theory is that the reason I have a hard time hitting decent HR and particularly struggle with that when the weather is a bit colder is that there is some kind of congestion in the circulatory system. My plan to test the theory - increase intake of fiber, take Dr. Christopher's Blood Circulation formula, and do workouts that maximize HR and keep it high for as long as possible. The thought is that there is some gunk that does not get washed off the walls of the pipe unless you have a particularly strong flow. So I wanted to do an experiment to see what would max out the HR. I heard of some research that showed you get good results with 30 seconds fast/30 seconds slow. So I tried a variant of that - 200 meters fast, 100 meters slow. It did not seem to work too well, 200 of fast running was not enough for me to get the HR too high - I hit around 156 eventually. Fast was 40 seconds into the headwind/uphill, and 36 downhill/with tail wind. Slow was about 8:00 pace, or 30 seconds for 100 meters. Then I tried a 600 after about 300 of rest due to the marks being painted over. Well, I got to rest 300 and figured I needed to go 600 to make up. This time I managed to hit 164 after hitting the quarter in 70, but then I could not hold the HR and it dropped to 162 with the pace dropping to 37 for the last 200, and I ended up with 1:47.8 for 600.

P.M. 2 with Joseph, Jacob did 1 with us.

Green Crocs 3 Miles: 14.00

Night Sleep Time: 8.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 8.00

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