Breaking the Wall

A.M. Happy New Year to everyone. My New Years resolution is the same as always. Do my best every single day of the year, and start working on my shortcomings immediately as soon as I know what it is I should do better without waiting for the next year to start. I suppose you can say in the Spirit of the later part of Alma 34 which admonishes us to not procrastinate the day of your repentance. 

It was 5F at the start of the run, very slipper, and on top of that the trail is closed at the intersection with I-15 and I really did not feel like visiting Geneva road today to cross it. I felt tempted to run just 10 and call it a day, but I knew better than that. So I did the full 20 as planned. Benjamin was kind enough to run 4 with me instead of his usual 3, and he even kept up a good pace - 30:43 for 4 miles in spite of the slippage. Jenny and Julia ran 2, Joseph did 1, and Jacob did 0.5. I managed to run the last 10 miles at sub-7:00 average. 

Day of rest. Went to church. We have a new schedule - some of the meetings are combined with the Spanish branch. The lesson in Sunday school was on our heavenly family. The lesson in the Elders' Quorum was on adversity. Then we had a Fast and Testimony meeting.

A.M. Ran a total of 12. 8 alone, the rest with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny 1 (leg pain from the fall last week), Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. One more day of winter is behind us, glad to have it in the books.

A.M. Mike is back from Washington. It was nice to run with somebody again for more than a few miles. Total of 12. We did 0.5 pickup which we managed to do in 2:32 in spite of the ice. It felt good. Ran with the kids after running with Mike. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 0.5, and Joseph 1.

A.M. Went to the temple in the morning, so had to get up earlier to run. Mike was nice enough to get up earlier as well. We did 10.  Jenny and Julia ran 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

P M. Ran 3 with Benjamin.

A.M. 12 total. Some with Mike, some with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Ran a total of 10.5. Had to cut my run short due to being called into an emergency with a big customer.  Did a pickup for 0.75 in 4:13. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. Finally got off the emergency and finished the remaining 1.5 of my run.

A.M. 20 with Mike, part of it with the kids. Did a pickup for 1.25 in 6:59. Mike was struggling - something is wrong. We ran into John Kotter and Taylor Farnsworth and joined them for part of the run. I told John he had at least a 2;13 marathon in him, if not 2:10. He thought he only had 2:20. I explained some things, among them the concept of virtual leggedness, which I have made up, or at least I have made up the term for it. Virtual leggedness is the total leg power output when running at a constant speed divided by the power output of the strongest leg. Thus, a person with one leg has the virtual leggedness (VL) of 1, a perfectly symmetric runner has the VL of 2, a perfectly symmetric four legged animal will have it at 4, and your average runner will have it somewhere between 1 and 2, but much closer to 2. Maybe 1.9 or so. The closer to 2 the better for a human. VL is an important contributor to quality X. To measure VL ideally you need a treadmill with built-in force plates. In lieu of that, it can be estimated by running on a hard surface where it is possible to leave visible footprints without affecting your form, and then comparing the stride lengths of the right and left pushoff.

A runner with a higher VL will not only outsprint a runner with lower VL given the same muscular strength relative to body weight, but also will win in the marathon given the same mile speed and the same aerobic/metabolic capacities. To understand this idea, the following exaggerated illustration can be helpful. Time yourself hopping 50 meters on one leg. Then time yourself hopping for half a mile on one leg. Compare the times to what you can do in 100 meters sprinting, and in an all out mile. You will likely get your 100 meter running time in the 50 meter one leg hop, but you will be quite far off your running mile PR in the half mile hop if you are able to finish at all.

Day of rest. Went to church. The Sunday School lesson was on the role of Jesus Christ in the Plan of Salvation. The lesson on the Elders' Quorum was on repentance. Sacrament meeting talks were on tithing. I really liked them. One speaker mentioned two examples. In one of them a man came to President Hinckley for a temple recommend interview back when President Hinckley was a stake president. The man was not paying his tithing and thought he could afford it because he was behind on his bills. President Hinckley was inspired to tell him that he will not be able to get out of debt until he started paying his tithing. A year later the man came again and thanked President Hinckley for the advice. He was now able to pay his bills. Paying tithing brought extra strength into his life and allowed him to focus on the essentials and budget better. Another story was about a young man that died in a car accident two days before he was supposed to go on a mission. His parents donated the money he had saved to the general missionary fund with a note explaining that they knew that their son would have wanted no other use for that money except allow another missionary to serve in his instead. The story was special to me because when I served a mission, it was partially financed by the general fund. When I came to America, I wanted to save for my mission, but the visa restrictions did not allow me to work. My stake president asked me if I wanted to go on a mission. I shared with him my predicament, and he made the arrangements for me to go, for which I am very thankful.

A.M. Total of 12.4, 4 of it with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny 1.5, Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.25.

A.M. 2F temperature, but it was not too bad. Mike and I did a couple of pickups. First 800 in 2:38, then 100 meter jog to get through the underpass and 1200 in 4:04. There was more snow on the second interval, so that slowed us down. I expected to feel a whole lot worse at those speeds in such temperature, but I guess I am getting used to it. Total of 12. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. 

A.M. Did 800 in 2:37 + 1200 in 3:55 with Mike with full rest today. Total of 12. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Ran with Mike. Did 800 in 2:34 + 1200 in 3:55 with 100 meter jog in between. Total of 12, including the run with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Another month and a half of winter remaining.

A.M. Ran with Mike and with the kids. Did a 0.5 pickup in 2:57, but the effort was harder due to snow/ice. Total of 12, including the kids runs. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. 20 miles with Mike. We did a 5 mile tempo  in 29:26. The last 600 was quick - 2:01. The trail was a bit slippery, but not too bad.

P.M. Ran with the kids. Total of 4. Benjamin did 3 in 22:32 with the last two quarters in 90 and 84. He was on the move. Jenny and Julia did 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Day of rest. Went to church. The lesson in Sunday school was on agency, or in other words, ability to choose. It had an interesting analogy.  On a beach there can be a sign that warns us about the dangers of a whirlpool. It may seem restrictive, but in truth it just tells us how to be more free. There are many things we can do, but once we ignore the sigh and find ourselves in the whirlpool all of sudden our choices are very limited. So are the commandments of God. They restrict us temporarily, and only if we choose to obey them, but as the time goes on our freedom expands. Failure to keep them makes it look like freedom for a short while, but then we find ourselves in bondage.

The lesson in the Elder's quorum was on keeping the Sabbath day holy. We had a good discussion. The talks in the Sacrament meeting were on Christ as our Savior.

I read an article by Elder Oaks that mentioned that only 14% of Americans got anywhere close to correctly identifying the fundamental belief of the LDS church that Christianity was restored in its true form after long years of apostasy. This to go along with only half being able to name even one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). But in any case, I figured I should add my contribution to correcting this lack of understanding of our faith, and will write some about it.

We believe that when Christ was on the earth He established His church, which taught correct principles. The writings of those prophets and apostles are found in the New Testament, and contained the pure doctrine of Christ in their original form. Over the years those teachings were diluted with philosophies of men. Even the Bible suffered a measure of corruption. This led to the rise of many churches which taught and continue to teach a measure of the truth mixed with some misunderstandings. This was not going to last forever, and eventually the time came for the truth to be restored. God called a prophet in our day just like He did in the times of Noah, Moses, Samuel, and Isaiah. This prophet was Joseph Smith. The true teachings of Christ were restored, along with the Priesthood authority to perform ordinances such as baptism. These teachings and authority are found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Low sleep time due to a night time job with a customer. Had some fun waking up at 2:30 AM to switch a pair of MySQL servers to be managed by MMM during a low-activity window. But it pays the bills, actually quite well.

A.M. Ran alone, then with the kids. Total of 12. Did a pickup for 0.5 in 2:36, it felt better than I expected - I did not expect much, but then felt a hunch that I needed to move my legs a bit and they moved OK. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Ran alone, then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Long run alone. 20 miles. I prayed last night that I'd find somebody to run with for part of it. The prayer did not get answered until around mile 15 when I ran into the BYU guys. That cheered me up because I began to wonder if the Lord perhaps considered my request frivolous and wanted me to just tough it out alone. But his tender mercies shone on me today after some work.

From 7 to 12 I did a tempo on the standard 5 mile course. The goal was to get some fuel stimulus and evaluate the damage from the sleep disruptions last week. I was able to keep sub-6:00 quite comfortably when I had good traction, but I did not always have it. The splits were 5:51, 5:54, 6:05, 5:52, 5:40 - total of 29;22. The cause of the slowdown that culminated in the 6:05 was the loss of traction.

P.M. Ran with the kids. Total of 3 for me. Benjamin and Jenny did 3, Julia and Jacob 0.5, Joseph 1. Julia fell earlier while climbing on something and could not go fast or far, so I sent her to run with Jacob.

Day of rest. Went to church. Had a long day in church - we went to Sunday school and Priesthood/Primary/Relief Society in our ward, and then drove to Sarah's parent's ward and attended all of the meetings there. Sarah's parents happened to have moved into my old mission area, so some people remembered me from 15 years ago. After all these years I was remembered as the missionary that liked bananas. I still like them, but not nearly as much as I did back then. During dinner appointments I would leave the beef and the cake alone, and go after bananas. If it was hot - it usually was in the summer, and I was hungry, I could eat 10 at once if the family had that many, but they usually had only 5.

During the Priesthood opening exercises we sat down to sing the opening hymn, when to my great surprise I saw a hymn book in Russian. I looked at it again, sure enough it was in Russian. It happened to belong to an elder who served in the Ukraine some time ago. So he and I sang the opening hymn in Russian.

A.M. Ran 8 alone, then 4 more with the kids. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Usual run - 8 + 4 with the kids. Except I decided to introduce something new, somewhat inspired by the training method of one Japanese runner who ran 2:34 marathon at the age of 61. He does fairly light 5x1000 twice a day every single day. So I thought about how this could work, and if something similar could work for me. It is quite unconventional, but there are some strong benefits in this approach. The intervals are long enough to make you breathe and practice your form, but short enough and slow enough (if you do not treat them like a true interval) that the nervous system does not get a chance to get overworked. So you can do something like this on an easy day without overworking yourself (I hope). Yet you get some solid mileage at anywhere between marathon and half-marathon race pace on a daily basis..

So I did 800 pickup at a nice relaxed pace but with a bit of a push to get myself breathing and the legs moving. Then I did another, and a few more. Ended up with 5 of those with the times of 2:56, 2:57, 2:56, 2:52, and 2:41. Benjamin and Jenny - 3, Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Total of 12. Did 5x800 - 2:51, 2:55, 2:59, 2:52, 2:39. Some of it was slippery. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Total of 12 including the run with the kids. 5x800 : 2:51, 2:55, 2:52, 2:42, 2:40. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Did a total of 12 including kids runs. Ran a mile in 5:51. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Joseph - 1, Jacob - 0.5. I fell yesterday, and today started to feel the consequences. Maybe it was a combination of the fall and running fast breathing in cold dirty air. I started feeling pain while inhaling or moving my arms around in a certain way. So at the start of the run I did not feel like running fast at all. However, in the last mile I started feeling better and picked it up to 5:51.

A.M. Went to Benjamin's chess tournament in West Jordan. He ended up tying for the first in the 6th grade with 4.5 points out of 5 winning 4 games and drawing the last one against the co-winner. I was particularly impressed with his 4th and 5th games. In the 4th one due to fatigue he made a number of bad mistakes and found himself a rook down, and an exposed king on a voyage through the board. Miraculously, his opponent overlooked a mate in two several times, and then missed the chance to win Benjamin's queen. Finally, the checks stopped for one move and that was enough for Benjamin to force a queen trade, win a bishop, threaten to queen a pawn which won his rook back, and that was enough to win the game. In the last game, I watched in horror as Benjamin hung his queen on a tactic, which his opponent fortunately did not see until he had already made his move. They exchanged a few more blunders as well as brilliant tactics, with the end result of Benjamin playing the end game with a knight against a rook. Benjamin put up an excellent defense - no blunders that either I or his opponent could catch. He offered his opponent a draw, which was refused perhaps unwisely, as Benjamin almost ended up winning on time. His opponent timely took his protected knight with 1 second left on his clock, which resulted in an automatic draw due to insufficient material to mate. The spectators applauded once the game was over.

What I was impressed was Benjamin's ability to put his earlier mistakes aside and in spite of the disappointment play the position at the best of his ability without complaining about it or wasting energy wishing that it were different.

P.M. Ran a total of 15. I am writing it down as easy, because the pace was not cardiovascularly strenuous, but it was not easy due to the chest problem. Every step hurt. I thought of stopping after 2 miles, but then decided to tough it out. I was able to maintain sub-6:40 for the first 11.5 that I did by myself. Then I did 3 with Benjamin and Jenny (Joseph ran the first mile with us), and then 0.5 with Jacob. Julia was sick and did not run.

Day of rest. Went to church. The Sunday school lesson was on the Fall of Adam and Eve. Then I substituted at the nursery. The talks in the Sacrament meeting were on tithing again, and I was glad to hear it in spite of the repetition. Tithing helps develop faith in a unique way. Another thought about tithing. People often question the need for priesthood authority and organized religion on the basis that you can just talk to God without a mediator. While this is true, an important question remains. It is clear from Malachi 3 that tithing is a very important commandment. But who do you pay it to? Who is authorized to receive it, and how can you know that he is?

A.M. 10 by myself, 2 with Jenny, everybody else was sick. I got a new job moving from Percona to Linkedin, but not really moving anywhere as I still work out of my house. I will be doing custom MySQL development. Most people will find what triggered the move rather odd. Percona insisted that I go to Cancun for 7 days for a company meeting. I was willing to go for 3 days figuring I like my colleagues, but not enough to leave my family for 7 days to hang out with them. Percona insisted that I stay for full 7. At the same time, my friend who is now at Linkedin has been asking me to help him find somebody to work on a MySQL project. So I figured, maybe it is time to move jobs.  Yes, I know, most people will actually look for ways to stay longer at a job that gives them essentially a free vacation in Cancun, but not me.