Breaking the Wall

Day of rest.Went to church. The talks in the Sacrament meeting were on setting goals. Then the lesson in Sunday school was on the purpose of the Book of Mormon. This year the topic is the Book of Mormon in the entire church. Last year it was New Testament, but I missed most of those classes due to serving as the ward mission leader and spending the time in the investigator and new member class. The lesson in the Elders' quorum was on President Monson's message in the Ensign. He talked about using faith in Christ to maintain a positive outlook on life, and having the courage to try again. Very relevant for me.

A.M. Did 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 6 with Benjamin and 2 myself. I took Benjamin for 3 out, then he waited for me to go a mile out and back, and rejoined me. I decided to do a pickup for a mile down the canyon, and ran it in 5:22. It did not feel too easy or too hard. Then at the very end I had Benjamin pace me through the first 200 of the uphill quarter, and did it in 75. A small improvement. Total of 12 miles.

A.M. Did 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, 2 with Jenny and Julia, then took Benjamin with him doing 6 while I did 8. Increased the length of my strength building baby step to 1.25 miles and ran it up the canyon in 7:23.4. Felt good, but decided not to push it further and save the strength for the downhill run. On the way down I was expecting between 10:38 and 10:42, and thought that I might even regress to something like 10:48-10:50 and was willing to take that in stride but I was pleasantly surprised. The quarter splits were 79, 78, 76, 79 (5:12), 79.5, 80, 78.5, 76 (5:14) with 10:26.2 total. Benjamin pulled me through the last 500 meters. The pace felt good, I felt in control. The form felt good as well. This was a surprise - my best run for 3 miles last summer was 15:33 (5:11 pace). That was in shorts, and with the first mile being a bit steeper, which made it a nice 5:07. So my last 2 in that run ended up being 10:26, just like today, and from what I remember I put in more effort into it. This run today shows the fitness is close to that level. I was expecting the progress in the recovery from sickness to plateau some after 10:44 last Tuesday, but it continued. Well, I must have done something right. Total of 12 miles.

A.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, 2 with Jenny and Julia, then 8 more with 6 of it with Benjamin on the usual route. Total of 12.

A.M. Total of 12. 2 with Julia, 1 with Jacob and Jenny, 1 with Joseph. Then 8 more with Benjamin doing 6 the usual way. I did 6x400 on the way back. First 5 down the Provo Canyon with 200 recovery. The splits were 72.6 - 71.4 - 70.4 - 70.3 - 70.5. Then the last one was with full recovery and on the standard uphill stretch by the house. I hit my fastest time on it so far - 74.4. Starting to feel more power in the legs.

A.M. Total of 12. 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, 8 more with Benjamin joining me for 6 the usual way. 

A.M. Too much snow for tempo work today. 7-8 years ago I would have pushed it through regardless. But I am smarter now, I think. Tempo runs are effective not so much because they give you strength or endurance, but because they teach you to be efficient at race pace in a race-specific environment. A tempo on snow teaches you to be efficient on snow. I usually do not race on snow, and when the unfortunate circumstance of that does comes around I do not care to get an edge in that situation anyway. So running on snow is valuable to me only for general aerobic and strength conditioning, and I decided to use it as just that. Ran total of 18. First 10 in 1:11:33. Then 1 with Jacob in 8:49, 1 with Joseph in 8:26, and 6 with Benjamin in 46:37. Jenny and Julia did 2 in the Jacob/Joseph pair run.  Benjamin ended a record mileage week of 36 miles. 

Day of rest. Went to a confirmation in my old ward with Benjamin, then took everybody to our regular set of church meetings. Got called as a Ward Mission Leader. Had good lessons in Sunday school and in the Elders' quorum. The Sunday school lesson talked about Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel. I remembered that it was the discussion of those three that finally helped Benjamin find in himself what it took to break the 6:00 mile for the first time. One brother in his 80s commented that he considered it a "compliment" to get a wayward child. Means the Lord chose your family to give that spirit the best chance. Then in the Elders quorum we talked about George Albert Smith. He was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1903. Back then they often just announced your calling over the pulpit without talking to you first with the assumption that you were faithful enough to accept, and General Conference sessions could take place on a work day. So he was at work and could not attend when his calling was announced. He came home, and there were people gathered around his house to congratulate him on being called as an apostle. 

A.M. 2 with Jenny and Julia, 8 with Benjamin going 6 the usual way, 2 alone. Did 0.25 pickup to catch Benjamin after a VPB in 86 up the canyon. On the way down ran a mile in 5:21. The road had some snow on it, especially in the first half, which I ran in 2:44. Second half was 2:37.

P.M. 1 with Jacob, and 1 with Joseph. Another Jacob who is in our ward, is 11 years old, and wants to run the Utah Valley Half Marathon came to train with us and ran 2 miles. I will call him from now the older Jacob.

A.M. Tempo workout today. Extended my baby uphill strength training step to 1.5 miles. Ran it in 8:58.0. First 0.5 I did not have the headwind, and coasted through it in 2:51. Then the headwind hit, and I slowed down to 6:07 pace. I do not think the headwind was necessarily too bad, although it was a factor. I experienced a loss of strength as well that was not wind-related, I think. All of a sudden I felt like I was jogging, but I could not go any faster. And I could not breath the air quite right, I felt l that whatever I was breathing was not making it to the muscles. Maybe a side effect of mild dehydration - I had a minor diarrhea yesterday. Also the temperature was around 20 F, which makes it difficult to breathe, but I do not think it was just the temperature - I had a funny feeling coming from the heart yesterday at the end of the PM run when the temperature was 36F. It was no big deal, but I could feel that the heart was doing something sub-optimal, and it was still doing it today. I had the same feeling during the 2 mile tempo coming back as well. The first mile was 5:20, which was not bad considering that parts of it were on snow, but the second mile was weak - I did three quarters in 82 each, and then ran 78 as Benjamin pulled me in the last quarter, but that 78 required a heroic effort. Total time was 10:44.5. Benjamin did a total of 6.

2 with Jenny and Julia, 2 more alone, total of 12.

P.M. 2 with the older Jacob, my Jacob did 1, Joseph did 1 after that.

A.M. Total of 12. Some with the the kids. Benjamin did 6, Jenny and Julia 2.

P.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph.

A.M. Total of 12. Benjamin did 6, Jenny and Julia 2. I did a tempo run to check if Tuesday was just a temporary problem, or maybe something else was going on. Ran down the Provo Canyon. It was cold, there were patches of snow, but there was a nice tailwind. I got 10:30.3 for 2 miles with the splits of 81, 78, 77, 79 (5:15), 80, 79, 79, 77 (5:15). Benjamin was concerned about his ankle, so he did not help me in the last quarter. I think with his help I might have run a couple of seconds faster. So I suppose Tuesday was just a fluke, possibly diarrhea related.

P.M. 1 with Joseph and the older Jacob. My son Jacob fell on the stairs and cut his tongue. So he did not run today so as to not raise the blood pressure and flow without need.

A.M. Total of 12. 6 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia. Did a post-VPB pickup for a mile uphill, the wind was quite solid, but I managed 5:56.

P.M. 1 with the older Jacob and my son Jacob, 1 with Joseph.

A.M. Total of 20.2. Ran a good part of it with Chad. Did a 6 mile tempo run with Chad joining me for portions of it. 2 down the canyon, then 2 back up, and 2 more down. Paced Chad through the first 1.5, the mile split was 5:44, missed 1.5, though. Second mile was 5:36, (11:20), then turned around, and had a hard time with the headwind. Thought maybe I was out of shape. Struggled through the next 2 miles in 6:26 each (24:13 at 4). Thought that the last two would not be very good, I'd be lucky to go 5:50. But I was able to shift gears and get going. First quarter was 90, but after that it was quite solid. 5:38 for the 5th mile, and then the last mile with the quarters of 82, 82, 80, 79 - 5:32, and 35:13 for the total time. Odd. The wind did not feel that strong, I've been able to hit 6:00 pace into something similar lately, I thought. After the first 12.2 ran 1 with the Jacobs, my son Jacob got 8:39, a new mile PR, 1 with Joseph, and 6 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Benjamin and I got caught by two BYU guys and we joined them. They provided a nice wild shield. They were going around 7:00 at first, then picked it up to 6:15. We ran a quarter in 93 with them and a little more to our turnaround. It sure felt easier behind them than in the tempo run, even though that was faster and mile 17 for me.

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in the Sacrament meeting were on faith. One brother told about his grandson who is a baby. He said he never cries, just has the faith that his parents will take care of him eventually. Afterwards a member of the bishopric asked me if Stephen has that faith. I told him not yet. He said his grandson needs to work on it too. The Sunday school lesson was on the vision of the tree of life in the Book of Mormon. 

A.M. Ran with Benjamin and Jeremy, our new training partner who we met in our ward. He owns Cafe Fresh and a number of other health-food businesses. We ran 6 miles together. It was early in the morning, so inevitably I had to do a VPB then run to catch up. Ran 82 quarter into the canyon and it felt easy. When we turned around, I found out why. There was significant wind blowing into the canyon, which is rare for the early morning. Then I added 4 more, including  circular strides. I got the idea when Joseph asked me to show him cross-country skiing videos. We stumbled upon a technique training video that suggested the strength imbalance can be corrected by skating in circules in the direction that opposes the imbalance. I figured since my imbalance was developed by running on the track in the standard counter-clockwise direction, I should try doing a few strides in the clockwise direction. So I did 6 strides, the diameter of the circle was about 20-25 meters. Will call that a quarter. Then 2 more with Jenny and Julia, total of 12.

P.M. 1 with Joseph and the older Jacob, 1 with my son Jacob. The older Jacob's brother Nate ran the first and the last quarter or so with us. 

A.M. 6 with Benjamin and Jeremy. It was 7F, quite cold, but not competely miserable yet. Did a post-VPB 0.5 down the canyon with mild tailwind in 2:38. Then 4 more with circular strides in the middle, and 2 more with Jenny and Julia. Total of 12.

P.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Nate ran the first 500 and the last quarter with us. 

A.M. Benjamin had a sore throat so I had him rest. Ran with Jeremy. I did a tempo run of 4 miles with the first 2 up the canyon, then turnaround and the same 2 miles back down. The wind was quite mild, and it showed in the splits:

87, 88, 86, 89 (5:50), 88, 92, 92, 90 (6:02, 11:52), 87, 84. 82. 83 (5:36, 17:28), 83, 83, 83, 79 (5:28, 22:56.5). Jeremy joined me for the last 600, but fell back with about 200 to go. But it was still very helpful to have him around for that quarter, helped me shift  the gears. 

I was happy with the way my muscles worked and the way the form felt, but was not happy with the cardiovascular performance. The heart was not quite giving what it should have, and the breathing felt labored after the first quarter. But the muscles and the form made up.  Maybe it is time for some hawthorn berry tea, garlic, and cayenne pepper.

Then added 4 more with circular strides, ran into Sarah and ran with her for a little bit, and then 2 more with Julia. Jenny's calf was hurting, so she ran only 1. 

P.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. 

A.M. Total of 12. 6 with Jeremy. 2 with Jenny and Julia. Did a pickup for a quarter in 79 going down the canyon. Circular strides.

P.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Benjamin did both of them. He is still recovering from the cold.  

A.M. 12 total. 6 with Jeremy. Did 4x400. First one uphill in 77.9. The headwind was not bad, but I was asleep on this one. Then two more downhill - 69.9 and 68.4. Those went better, I felt the form smoothing out. Jeremy did the first 100 and the first 200 respectively.  The last one was by the house with about 130 downhill and the rest up a steep 6% or so grade. Jeremy did the downhill part with me. I felt good on this one and managed 73.7. Then ran some more, including circular strides and 2 with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia.

P.M. Had quite a group of kids for the runs. Ran the first mile with the little Jacob, big Jacob, his little brother Ben, and Benjamin. The second mile was with Benjamin, and Joseph. Total of 2. 

A.M. 20 miles. Started with Gary and Jeremy. Had a VPB, followed by 500 uphill in 1:44. It felt so easy that I thought I would have no problems going sub-6:00 uphill in the tempo. After 4.5 mile warmup started the tempo, the same as last week. Gary and Jeremy helped me some by joining me for a quarter on every 2 mile stretch. First mile was 5:24, then I relaxed a bit trying to prepare for the uphill and did 5:33 (10:57). When I turned around, there was a surprise. The headwind picked up and it started to rain. So I struggled through the next mile in 6:08 (17:05). Then it was rather odd. I could not feel the headwind anymore, and in all honesty thought I was going around 6:00 or maybe a bit under. But the watch showed different. My next two quarters were 95 and 97. This completely puzzled me. How in the world is this possible? I began thinking all kinds of thoughts - maybe I am just out of shape, getting old, losing strength, etc. Then, all of a sudden, I regained the speed some for no apparent reason - 93, followed by 91 (6:16, 23:21, 12:24 for the two miles uphill) which would have been 90 or 89 if I did not have to break to do a 180 on a wet road. I am wondering if maybe the rain was pounding so hard that I could not feel the wind that came with it, and thus had no idea how strong the gusts were. After turning around I felt I was regaining speed better than last week. My first quarter was 88, then 84, 82, and 83, so 5:37 for the mile (28:58 at 5). I was a bit hestiant to give it a really good push because the road became quite slick from the rain. Also I started to get wet and cold, and that made things difficult. Did 4:07 in the next 0.75, and then tried to kick but could only do 80, so 5:27 for the last mile, 34:25 for 6, and 11:04 for the last 2.

So that was the first half of the run, but the worst part of it was still ahead.  Rejoined with Gary and Jeremy, we ran back to the house, and then ran with the kids. Jenny and Julia did 2, Joseph did 1, the two Jacobs 1. Took Benjamin for 4, and at that point still had 2 left. I really felt like going home away from the rain, but decided to run 2 tempo miles instead. This was quite an adventure as those were hilly wet miles. I call it 2, but it is actually more like 2.04. They are hilly, but I thought I'd be able to run 6:00 pace still. It turned out that I was too cold, too wet, and the road was too slick for that. I only managed 12:56 for that segement. When I got home, I decided to weigh my clothes. 4 lb, so about 3 lb of water.

Day of rest. Went to church. Had a return missionary and his family talk in the Sacrament meeting. He just got back from the Phillipines. The lesson in Sunday school was Nephi's vision. Then in the Elders Quorum we discussed President Uchtdorf's talk "You Matter To Him". Had a nap in the afternoon.

A.M. Total of 10. Ran 6 with Jeremy - Bejamin joined us for 4, 2 with Jenny and Julia, and 2 alone. Did circular strides. My Crocs are at almost 1700 miles and they still do not have a hole.  That is definitely a record. I do not have an explanation as to why. It is the exact same model as the one that only made it to a bit over 1200 miles.

P.M. 2 miles. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. We had some neighborhood kids running various distances.  Benjamin did 2 miles as well, and Julia did 1.

A.M. 12 total. 6 with Jeremy. 4 with Benjamin. 2 with Jenny and Julia. Did circular strides. Wanted to do a tempo run, but there was too much snow, decided to wait until some of it melts.

P.M. 2 miles. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Had company from the neighborhood kids. 

A.M. Total of 12. Started with Jeremy and Benjamin. They did 6. I did a tempo after a warm-up. 4 miles total, 2 up the canyon, 2 back down. There was some adversity - strong wind blowing out of the canyon, some snow/ice on the trail, and overall slippery condition of the trail. My splits were 6:10, 6:11, 5:39. 5:24 - total time 23:24. I had a hard time shifting gears in the third mile because the trail was slippery and I was afraid to turn on the engine full blast. The concern is not only the mechanical aspect of maintaining balance at a higher speed, but also the loss of coordination that is inevitable as you push harder. The more toll the pace is taking you, the less brain power you have to think about avoiding icy spots. However, that helped save some energy for the last mile, and I ran it stronger with the last quarter in 77. Did circular strides, and 2 with Jenny and Julia.

P.M. 2 total. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, neighborhood kids joined us. 

A.M. Total of 12. 6 with Jeremy. 4 with Benjamin. 2 with Jenny and Julia. Had a bathroom stop, but it was not a VPB - there was actually a real port-a-potty on the trail. This took longer, so I had to run longer to catch up, about 0.7 or so. Timed 1000 in 3:44. The first quarter of it was 93. The wind was blowing pretty hard then calmed down some once I got into the canyon. Did circular strides.

P.M. 2 total. Jacob did 1, Joseph 1, Benjamin 2. Had neighborhood kids join us. 

A.M. Ran with Benjamin, Jeremy, and Gary. I did 5x400, two up the canyon, and three down with fairly short recoveries that were slightly longer than 200 jog because I would jog back some to make sure I still had partners for the next repeat. Benjamin, Gary and Jeremy did parts. Benjamin stayed with me on the last one. The times were 74.8, 73.3, 71.3, 71.9, 71.6. The wind was blowing into the canyon, so that helped the uphill times, and hurt the downhill times. The road was covered with tiny icy spots, and I felt it hurt the traction some. But obviously not so bad that I could not hit 73.3 going up.

After finishing 6 miles with the team, ran 4 more including a circular mini-tempo. I decided that due to the nature of the circle I was not powering hard enough to really need rest in between the strides. So I decided to just go about 0.5 in circles in the clockwise (opposite of the normal track) direction. I did not get a vertigo.

P.M. 2 total. Jacob did 1, Joseph 1. Had neighborhood kids join us. 

A.M. Long run. Total of 20.2. Started with Gary and Chad. After a 4.5 mile warmup I did a 6 mile tempo with 2 down the canyon, 2 back up, and 2 more down. Gary and Chad joined me for portitions of the tempo.  It was cold - 18F at the start, and the wind was strong and blowing out of the canyon. My splits were 5:35, 5:34, 6:24, 6:16, 5:41, 5:26 - total time 34:56. Chad made it to a little bit past the mile on the first one, while Gary went about 500. On the way back they helped me a little bit with the wind block, but the first quarter after the turnaround was quite horrible - 98 seconds. Then with their help I was able to run 2:22 in the next 600, still not a stellar pace, but at least not quite as disasterous. Once in the canyon the wind abated enough to allow me to run around 6:16 pace without a wind block. Was struggling to shift gears again as usual after the uphill, but then with some encouragement from the tail wind was able to do it with 0.75 to go. Last quarter was 78. Then ran home, picked up the kids. Jenny and Julia ran 2 on their own. Benjamin ran 6. Joseph and Jacob did 1 each. Jacob set a new record for our mile course - 8:36, which is quite impressive for the day. I was alone for the last 2.04 miles, and decided to repeat the last weeks tempo. Last week it was raining, I was cold, and my clothes were soaked. I'd have to say after today's experience that 26 F and some snow on the ground is not nearly as miserable and slow as having 4lb of wet clothes and running on a wet road. I was able to run 12:27 for the distance, compared to 12:52 last week. I think I am going to make that tempo at the end of a long run a regular practice. It is a great preparation for the last 2 miles of TOU, the elevation profile, the turns, and the fatigue are quite similar, perhaps the elevation profile is actually worse as there is hardly one flat spot on it. I think if I can learn to run it in 11:30 in ideal conditions at the end of 20 with some fast running done already, I would be ready for 2:28 in TOU.

Day of rest. Went to church as usual. We had a Stake Conference. Heard good talks on home teaching, missionary work, the Proclamation on the Family, patriarchial blessings, and the Plan of Salvation. 

A.M. Total of 12 miles. 6 with Jeremy and Benjamin, 4 alone, 2 with Jenny and Julia. Did the circular 0.5 mile tempo.

P.M. 2 total. 1 with Joseph, 1 with Jacob. Had the Tobler family join us for a run, then dinner and family home evening. 

A.M. 6 with Jeremy, 4 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia. Did a circular tempo pickup, plus a couple more that were straight. Benjamin joined me on the straight ones. 

P.M. 1 with Joseph, 1 with Jacob. Had some extra kids on the run as usual. Benjamin did 2 miles.