Breaking the Wall

December 30, 2024

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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
Tue, Sep 27, 2016
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.760.000.002.4812.24

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-09-27 07:56:08
Workout Totals: Distance12.242Time1:34:26.50Pace7:42.87
Today the kids ran a little bit in the morning, I ran a total of 8. Benjamin only 2, still has that cold. Then in the evening we raced 4 K cross-country at the Kiwani's Park. Times:

Benjamin 14:02 (started out a bit slower, then pushed in the last mile, but did not have much juice)
me 15:02
Joseph 16:27
Jacob 16:50
Jenny 18:34
William 19:57
Stephen 24:46

Julia was still not feeling well, so she just paced Stephen. Not sure how accurate the course was, for some reason everybody got slow times. In any case, if we are to say that my 15:02 is worth 17:20 5 K in Draper Days, then we end up with the following conversions ( Perl script included):

perl -ne 'if(/(\w+) (\d+)\:(\d+)/) {$t=($2*60+$3)/(15*60+2)*(17*60+20); $s = $t % 60; $m = int($t/60); printf("$1 %02d:%02d\n", $m, $s); }' /tmp/data.txt
Benjamin 16:10
me 17:20
Joseph 18:58
Jacob 19:24
Jenny 21:24
William 23:00
Stephen 28:33

If we say my effort was worth 17:10, then:

Benjamin 16:01
me 17:10
Joseph 18:47
Jacob 19:13
Jenny 21:12
William 22:46
Stephen 28:16

We had two very talented runners in the race - Creed and Davin Thompson, both 13 years old. Training background according to their mother Jenni just playing soccer. But in spite of the lack of experience and training they paced themselves very well. As usual there was a pack of kids starting out faster than me that I passed after about half a mile into the race. Thompson brothers were not in that pack - they were behind me. They trailed me for the entire race being maybe 5 seconds back. Then in the last quarter they pulled up and passed me. I thought they were both gone, but I was able to pass one of them on the home stretch. Very different - usually if a kid is not ahead of me half way through a race he does not end up ahead at the finish. At the same time if a kid is a head of me with 100 to go, he usually gets further ahead. Not this time.

I wonder how fast Davin and Creed can get with proper consistent training and good recovery. They just ran an equivalent of about 17:20 honest road course in Utah 5 K at the age of 13 with no consistent regimen. I told their mother assuming good training I was definitely expecting to see them in the trials in the marathon, with a very good possibility of being in contention for the team. Of course, lots of things can go wrong between 13 and adult, but assuming a good training/recovery regimen with a healthy mental approach, I do not think I am too far off. That said, good training/recovery is the one thing that too frequently does not happen, but I certainly hope it will be different in their case.
Leg 1:Distance2.040Time16:39.70Pace8:10.05
With Benjamin and Grant.
Leg 2:Distance0.500Time4:43.70Pace9:27.40
With Jacob and Matthew.
Leg 3:Distance1.500Time11:50.60Pace7:53.73
With Jacob.
Leg 4:Distance2.040Time16:51.90Pace8:16.03
With Joseph.
Leg 5:Distance2.040Time13:42.90Pace6:43.38
Alone.
Leg 6:Distance0.732Time5:51.40Pace8:00.05
Warm-up before cross-country.
Leg 7:Distance3.390Time24:46.30Pace7:18.44
The race.
Split 1:Distance2.480Time15:02.40Pace6:03.87
Cumilative:Distance2.480Time15:02.40Pace6:03.87
My time.
Split 2:Distance0.000Time1:25.00Pace0:00.00
Cumilative:Distance2.480Time16:27.40Pace6:38.15
Joseph
Split 3:Distance0.000Time0:23.10Pace0:00.00
Cumilative:Distance2.480Time16:50.50Pace6:47.46
Jacob
Split 4:Distance0.200Time1:43.70Pace8:38.50
Cumilative:Distance2.680Time18:34.20Pace6:55.75
Jenny
Split 5:Distance0.160Time1:23.10Pace8:39.38
Cumilative:Distance2.840Time19:57.30Pace7:01.58
William
Split 6:Distance0.550Time4:49.00Pace8:45.45
Cumilative:Distance3.390Time24:46.30Pace7:18.44
Stephen
 

Khaki Crocs 1 Miles: 12.24
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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