Breaking the Wall

A.M. 4 alone, 6 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia. Total of 12. We got some snow, and it was slippery.

P.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph.  Had our friends as usual.

A.M. Lots of snow. Ran with Garry, Jeremy, and Benjamin for 7 miles, then 2 more with Jenny and Julia, and 3 more alone. Total of 12.

P.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph.Had the usual company of friends. 

A.M. Ran with Sergio. Had to cut the run short to 15.8 because we were going to a funeral of Sister Pauline Pace who taught me the Gospel in Russia with her husband. She died at the age of 92. It was a great privilege to know her and Elder Pace who has now been gone from this life for about 11 years. I am thankful for the sacrifice they were willing to make in their 70s to go on a mission and show me the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through their example. I could feel it, and I knew that it was not just from their personality, but there was some power beyond it that they possessed that came from their faith. I learned from them that service was not something you do when it is convenient, but you do it when the Lord asks. One of the hymns performed at the funeral was Be Still My Soul. It is interesting, perhaps more than just interesting, that this hymn drew my attention a week ago enough to write something about it in my blog.

Saw Mike Ramsdell at the funeral. We knew each other in Moscow. He was a branch presidency councilor in my branch. He asked me about my run this morning and laughed when I told him I had to cut it short to 15.8 miles.

As far as the run went, I did a warm-up with Sergio with a few pickups, then ran the 7.5 tempo with 2.5 down, 2.5 up, and 2.5 down.  The splits by half mile were: 2:46, 2:49, 2:48, 2:50. 2:48 (14:01), 3:02, 3:05, 3:11, 3:07, 3:10 (15:35), 2:49, 2:47, 2:47, 2:43, 2:40 (13:46), total time 43:22, 8 seconds faster than last week.

I felt sluggish in the first 2.5, then felt stuck in the uphill 2.5. There was headwind, maybe it was stronger than it appeared, but regardless I slowed down way too much on that uphill/headwind stretch. The quads are working too hard while all this is happening and I cannot find my rhythm. This slow down is still a concern and needs to be fixed. I should not be seeing 6:20 and slower pace in almost any wind on that grade - it is only 1-2 %. 

Then surprisingly I found another gear in the last 2.5. All of a sudden I started running 5:30 pace and it did not feel hard. 

Cooled down with Sergio, total of 15.8 miles. 

Kids ran on their own. Benjamin did 6, Joseph and Jacob 1 each, Jenny and Julia 2. 

Day of rest. Went to church. It was a Fast Sunday. So we had testimonies in the Sacrament meeting. Then we had a lesson on 2 Nephi 9 in Sunday school, and a lesson on prophets in the Elders' Quorum.

A.M. 7 with Benjamin and Jeremy, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 3 alone. Total of 12. Did a pickup for 600 in 1:55. Felt good. Today I decided to retire my old pair of Crocs which lasted 2220 miles and broke in a new one which is exactly the same type and even color as the old.

 P.M. 2 total. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Had the usual company.

A.M. Total of 12. 7 with Jeremy. 5 with Benjamin. Last 2 in 11:58, which is his new 2 mile record. Jenny and Julia ran 1 mile.

P.M. 1 with Jacob ans Joseph. Jenny and Julia did 1 helping pace friends. 

A.M. Ran with Benjamin and Jeremy. Did a 5 mile tempo - 2.5 up, 2.5 down. The wind was about 0.6 tail, then head, then backwards more or less after the turnaround. The splits reflected that: 3:34 for the first 1 K, 5:51 at the mile, then 6:09, half mile in 3:04, then half in 2:49, next mile in 5:26, got excited about running 5:20 for the last mile, but hit a wall of headwind instead and it was 5:34. At least it was not 5:45. Total time 28:53. Finished the cooldown with Benjamin and Jeremy - total of 7 for them, 8 for me. Then ran 1 with Joseph and Jacob, and 3 with Jenny and Julia.

P.M. Travel to Mountain View, CA to visit the Linkedin office.  

A.M. Ran in Mountain View on Steven's Creek trail. It was actually marked every quarter. I knew I should not be doing anything fast since I ran hard the day before and traveled on top of it, but it was too tempting. So I did 2 miles thinking I would just blast it at sea level, but no, I was dragging and it took some effort to run 11:27 on a stretch that appeared to be going downhill and had some minor headwind. I jogged some, and decided to run the same stretch backwards. This time I managed 10:50 with almost the same effort. That was odd. I tried the other direction one more time for half a mile and it was 2:46 (5:32 pace) with quite a bit of effort. That was certainly odd, but I suppose the fatigue from travel + hard run yesterday were showing. Total of 12 miles.

P.M. Flew home. 

A.M. Ran with Benjamin, Jeremy, and Gary. Was feeling the fatigue from travel. Tried a couple of quarters into a headwind - 82, and 81, felt tired, sensed the struggle was more than from just the headwind, decided it was not a good day for quarters. Then paced Benjamin and Gary through a 3.5 mile tempo in 21:38 - 6:11 pace. Our estimated 5 K split was 19:03, so Benjamin got a PR. Slower tempo pace actually did not feel too bad. Total of 7 with them, then 2 with Jenny and Julia, and 3 more alone.

P.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Usual company of kids. 

A.M. 10 miles before the chess tournament. Ran the last 3.5 in 20:57, 5:59 average. Felt sleepy, and it felt harder than it should have, but that was expected given the lack of sleep this week.

The tournament was Utah Elementary championship. I took Joseph, Julia, and Jenny to play. Benjamin came along to support his siblings and to play chess with whoever happened to be around. That is an exciting possibility, because Kayden Troff and his brothers and friends usually happen to be around. Kayden is 14 years old, is a national master, and on the verge of becoming an international master.

I promised the kids that if they came back from the tournament with a greater than zero score they would each be getting an electronic gadget of some kind depending on the age and the performance. So for the last two months they practiced every day and improved quite a bit. I knew they would score above zero, but they did better than I expected. Joseph won 3 games, drew one (his opponent managed to stalemate him), and lost two, so 3.5 points and 22 place in the 1st grade out of 66. First graders are fun to watch, they play very animated. The tournament director has to be called quite often to resolve disputes. However, the overall experience is a testimony to how much we underestimate the attention span potential of a 7 year old kid. They are engaged in an intense analytic activity for a period of 6 hours with only short breaks in between, and they think it is fun.

Jenny won 4 games, and lost 2, 4 points, 28th place in 5th grade out of 110. Julia won 5 out of 6 and lost one, 5 points,  6th place out of 110 in 3rd grade. She should have been 4th as she beat the girl that was awarded 4th in a dramatic game where she at one point was a full rook down but then sent her queen on a rampage sending the opponent's king out of for a walk, then she grabbed a couple of pawns, managed to win the lost rook back, forced a queen trade, then won on pawns. But the tie break system backfired because Julia coming into the tournament unrated was getting weaker opponents in the early games, so she ended up placing lower even though she won the face-off and otherwise scored the same number of points.

After the tournament I ran 1 mile with Joseph and Julia. Later I ran a mile with Benjamin, and 1 more with Sarah giving me total of 13 for the day. Benjamin ended up with 6, Jenny ran a mile. 

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a departing missionary speak. He is going to Fresno. The we had a lesson on Isaiah quote chunk in 2 Nephi in Sunday school, and a lesson the priesthood in the Elders' Quorum. Stephen has been faithfully attending the Sunday School and the Elders' Quorum instead of nursery due to his persistent refusal to go into the nursery. He behaves very well in class, so I have had little motivation to get him to stay in nursery. Sarah nevertheless thinks that he should not be a nursery dropout. I keep telling her I never went to nursery, but I did OK - went on a mission, married in the temple, still married, active in the Church, and am able to support a family.

A.M. Ran with Benjamin and Jeremy. 7 miles. Did a pickup for 0.3, timed a quarter in 77 going down the canyon. It felt good. Then we did a pickup for 2 miles in around 12:40. Then I added 3 more alone,  and 2 with Jenny and Julia.

P.M. 2 miles total. 1 with Jacob and Joseph, 1 alone. Had the usual company.

A.M. Started with 6 with Benjamin.  Jacob Tobler joined us for the first 1.5 miles. Then added 4, 2 of it with Jeremy, 2 back tempo in 11:44. Felt good. Then 2 more with Julia. Jenny ran 1, and then 1 in the afternoon.

P.M. Total of 3. Jacob and Joseph did 1. Jenny 1 as well.

A.M. Started with Benjamin and Jeremy. They ended up with 7. I did the 5 mile tempo in the canyon. There was significant wind blowing out of the canyon, but not the worst. The splits by 0.5 were: 2:54, 2:57, 3:03, 3:00, 3:05, then after 180 turn, 2:47, 2:45, 2:44, 2:44, 2:38. Total time 28:37. Tried to focus on less effort in the quad, and more effort in glut/hamstring. It was odd. Without the quad effort I felt like I was slacking, but could not use the extra energy to go faster, like I did not know what to do with the hamstrings and gluts. But I figured it is better feel like you are slacking than like you are working if you are going the same pace anyway.

P.M. 3 miles total. 1 of it with Jacob and Joseph.

A.M. 7 with Jeremy, then 5 more with Benjamin. Jenny did 1, Julia 2. Total of 12.

P.M. Went to the Utah State Junior High Chess Championship with Benjamin. Joseph came along for the ride and to cheer. Ran 1 mile with Joseph from where we parked to where the games were happening. Then ran back to get the car - total of 2 miles.  Benjamin ended the day with 2.5 points out of 3. His draw was against a girl. So he could not hear the end of teasing when he got home about drawing a girl from his sisters - "She was so good looking you decided to draw her. You should pay attention to the game, not draw girls while you are playing!". His friend David got 2 points of out 3. Next round tomorrow.  Jenny and Julia ran a mile with Jacob.

A.M. Ran early due to Benjamin's chess tournament. Started with 7 with the last 3.5 at a tempo pace in 20:31. Then ran 5 more with Benjamin. Total of 12. Jenny and Julia did 1.

A.M2 - 1 mile from where I parked the car to the game venue. 

P.M.  - 0.75 back to the car. Found a short cut. Benjamin started the day on a sour note by making a blunder and losing his first game. However, he made up by winning the remaining three, and scoring 5.5 out of 7 in the tournament, which got him 2nd place in 7th grade. His friend David won 3 more games as well, and finished in 5th place in the 8th grade with the score of 5 out 7.

A.M. Ran with Chad, Jeremy, and Jeremy's brother Josh joined us for a little bit. Chad and I paced Jeremy through the Uneventful Provo River Half Marathon, meaning a time-trial on the Provo River Half course. I did a couple of VPB-forced pickups, and then a 3 mile tempo in 16:10 on my standard stretch from Nunns park to the mouth of the canyon. The splits were 5:23, 5:24, 5:23. Jeremy got 1:30:28 in the time trial. Chad and I ran some more to make it total of 20 for me. Benjamin ran 6, Jenny, Joseph, and Julia 1.

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

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a sister that just returned from a mission speak to us. She was originally from Guatemala but came to the US at the age of 10. She said she remembered poverty and third-world living conditions. The talk was on the Atonement of Christ. Then the lesson in Sunday School was on on 2 Nephi 26-27 where Isaiah is quoted and explained. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on sustaining our leaders.

A.M. The winter came back for a brief (hopefully) visit. I ran 7 with Benjamin, then added 3 myself, and 2 with Jenny and Julia.

P.M. 3 total. 1 with Jacob and Joseph. 

A.M. 7 with Jeremy, 2 with Julia, 3 alone. Jenny did 1 mile. Benjamin had sprained his foot, so he took a day off.

P.M. 1 with Jacob and Joseph, 2 more alone, total of 3. 

A.M. Ran mostly alone. Benjamin did the first 0.5 mile with me then turned around and wobbled back, totaling 1 mile for the day. I did a different workout than before this time breaking up the tempo into two parts. First 2 mile up into a significant but not completely disastrous headwind in 11:56.7 with the splits of 5:57, 5:59. Then a mile uphill jog to recover, and 3 miles back down from Nunn's park to the mouth of the canyon in 15:49.2 with the splits of 5:13, 5:21, 5:15. I was pleased with the result, as I was expecting something in the range of low 16:00 maybe no more than 3 seconds under through a gutsy effort. Then I came home and ran with Jenny and Julia. Jenny did 1, Julia 2. I ended up with 12.5.

P.M. 3 miles total. 1 with Joseph and Jacob. 

A.M. All the morning run kids were out of commission today. Benjamin has a sprained foot, Jenny has some foot problem as well, Julia was rollerblading and hurt her knee. Jenny tried to run, and managed to do 1 mile. So I did that with her, and then 11 more alone. I actually got going on the way back down the canyon and was hitting a fairly consistent 6:24 pace, which was still in the range of easy, but I did some math and realized that this is on pace for about 2:48 marathon. So it was encouraging to be on pace for 2:48 and think of it as a jog. Of course, I would much rather actually run 2:20 and think of it as a long grueling sprint. There is little glory in imagining that the moderately fast but not record setting pace is easier on you than it really is. But I got into the rhythm, and I did not have anybody to talk to, so I just cruised along to get the run over with.

P.M. 1 with Joseph and Jacob. 3 with Julia going with me on a bike. 4 total. 

A.M. 12 total. 2 with Jenny and Julia. 10 with Benjamin on a bike. Did a 2 mile tempo in 10:35 down the canyon. Wanted to just shake my legs, but ended up pushing harder than I anticipated having been lured by hitting slightly sub-5:20 pace from the start, and not wanting to let go of it.

P.M. 1 with Jacob and Joseph, 2 more alone. Total of 3. 

A.M. 20 miles alone in 2:07:58. Ran on a new course. 10 miles from the house to somewhere in the middle of the South Fork, and then back. With a small variation, basically the Provo River 10 miler course out and back with the difference that on the way back the first downhill mile is removed, and then at the end you have an uphill mile to the house. So maybe 20-30 seconds slower than Provo River 10 miler on the way back. On the way up did a 2 mile tempo in 12:01 into a headwind. Then on the way back I realized that I picked the wrong time to run this course because around 10-11 AM the wind often changes directions, and it did today. So I ran back into a headwind as well. The time was 58:13. I was expecting fuel problems due to the fact that I had not done 12 miles total of tempo in a while, but I did not get any. Instead, I felt that my heart was weak.

Jenny and Julia ran 2. Benjamin took Joseph for 1 mile, and then Jacob for 1 mile in the evening. 

Day of rest. Went to church. We had another departing missionary speak. This is quite a difference from our old ward where we might see this maybe once every two years or so. The Sunday School lesson was on the last words of Nephi, so 2 Nephi 31-33. At the start of the lesson I was actively participating and making comments. However, towards the end my body decided to remind me that I had a sleep deficit after running 96 miles with increased intensity last week. So I drifted away and continued to learn via Lehi's dream. This gave me the needed boost for the Elder's Quorum where the lesson was on Elder Bednar's talk on family history. I was able to stay awake, pay attention, and actively participate in the lesson.

Took a long nap when I got home. Vigorous exercise is a very effective treatment against insomnia. I would highly recommend it. 

A.M. 7 with Jeremy. Benjamin did 3. I ran another 1.4 going back to Sarah and returning with her,  then drove the Fast Running Van to Computune to get the alternator changed, and ran back the long way which was about 4 miles. So 12.4 total. Did a few random pickups - one post-VPB, one to get back to Sarah faster.

P.M. 1 with Jacob and Joseph, 2 more alone, total of 3.  Jenny and Julia ran 2.

A.M. Ran 2 with Julia. Then 3 with Benjamin, Jenny did 1. Then worked on leg strength with hill sprints. Finally measured the marked supposedly 100 meter stretch. It ended up being 334 feet the way I run it, so 5 feet longer. So I suppose it was measured on the very innermost curve. I had already measured the incline with an electronic level earlier - it was 6%. So I did the first one in 18.0, then 17.7. The conversion factor to the true 100 meters is about 0.3 for 18.0, actually very convenient, subtract the factor of 1:60. I was doing great on the third one but apparently overdid it as my left hamstring cramped up. I slowed down and finished the interval in 17.6. Then tried one more, but could only do 19.3. So I called it a day as far as the speed was concerned and jogged. It was painful, but I could run a bit sub-8:00. Ran enough to make the total 12 miles.

P.M. Ran 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, and 3 to Computune to retrieve the van. The hamstring felt a bit better, but was still hurting. 

A.M. This was an interesting night. Stephen woke up and cried, so I decided to calm him down by sleeping on the floor right next to him. That worked. He likes company. While on the floor I dreamed that William woke up, and in my dream I entertained him by running a file system check utility on a computer. Then I woke up from that dream, and moved back into my bed. This time I dreamed that James and Allie were getting married. Its been a while since I've checked anybody's blogs, maybe they are getting married after all.

Ran with Jeremy and Benjamin. The hamstring was still fussing, so I ran mostly easy. However, I could not resist the temptation when Jeremy told me he had done three quarters in around 90 the day before. So I told him, just run a quarter like you did the day before and let's time it. I was expecting a 90, so I figured it would not be too bad for my hamstring. He did 82 uphill. Then we did one more downhill. It was 74. My hamstring really did not like the 74 but I toughed it out.  

This was quite remarkable. A couple of months ago Jeremy was getting dropped while trying to run a downhill quarter in 80. Hardly any speedwork, just base, and now he is able to hit 74 without being pushed. I asked him what he thought his split was, and even after having run 82 earlier uphill, and knowing the time of that interval he guessed 80. This goes to show how much aerobic endurance is a factor in a race so short as a quarter mile. Granted, this is not a true quarter as we are doing it mid-run, so it is perhaps more indicative of 800 meter run performance, but still. No speed work at all, and we have an improvement in the middle distance speed. This also goes to show the futility of doing speed work without proper aerobic base.  The lack of aerobic fitness will keep the sustainable speed at bay so there is no speed stimulus, and the shortness of the intervals will preclude the development of endurance. In other words, in order of Jeremy to work on speed, he needs to be hitting quarters in at least 74. But when he is out of shape aerobically, you cannot expect him to run even one that fast.

Benjamin ran 4. I got back home, ran 2 with Julia (Jenny did 1.5), and then 3 more. The hamstring was chiding me for the 74 quarter the entire time, but was manageable.

P.M. 3 miles alone. Benjamin ran 0.4 with Joseph and Jacob. 

A.M. Ran 8 miles alone in 55:56, then 4 more with Benjamin in 23:40. His foot is feeling better. Julia ran 2, Jenny did 1.5. Total of 12 miles for me.

P.M. 1 with Jacob and Joseph. Jacob set a new mile record in 8:27. Our course is a bit longer than a mile, I think, I still have not gotten around to wheeling it, and it is out and back with some serious grades - 6% in some places. So this was very solid, I think he can hit sub-8:00 on the track. 

A.M. Ran with Jeremy, then with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2. I did a total of 12.4. Did a pickup to catch up to Jeremy because I went a bit further out with the idea that the pickup would be 1.5. I hit 1.5 in 7:51 (5:14 average) down the canyon, but I was still not caught up, so I went a bit further, probably to 1.6. Then I did another pickup for about 0.6 at 5:40 pace or so.

P.M. 1 with Jacob and Joseph. 

A.M. Ran with Jeremy for the first 10 miles at about 8:00 pace uphill to about 1 mile mark of the Provo River 10 miler. Did one post-VPB pickup. Then ran a tempo on the way back. Felt cautious in the first three miles or so and hit almost identical splits on ad hoc markers compared to last week. My body was for some reason reluctant to go faster, even though I was not breathing very hard. I decided to put in a bit more mental effort into the pace, and found another gear. The pace got into 5:30 - 5:35 range, it took concentration to maintain it, but my heart felt strong, and I did not feel like I was low on fuel. Around mile 17 into the run I passed the BYU guys who were going about 6:10 or so. I asked them to pull me at 5:40 for 1.5 miles. Some of them made excuses that the pace was faster than what they were planning on doing. Others did not respond. I continued running alone. That was disappointing, I could have used their help. I did not understand that at all. 5:40 pace for them is a brisk jog, they race 10,000 meters at 4:50 or so. It is good even for a middle distance guy to do at least a little bit of marathon pace zone running in the middle of a long run even the day after a hard track workout, and is more than just good for a 10,000 meter guy.  Was everybody so tired from the Friday workout that not one person had the ability to spontaneously go 5:40 mid-run for a little bit? If so 6:10 was way too fast for a recovery run then. This is hard for me to understand. I have gone many times back to pace the people I knew and the people I didn't immediately after a hard race, and sometimes the pace surprised me and required significant effort, but it was still good because it challenged me to work past the point where I thought I was done while helping somebody else. I believe in reaching out to people in every reasonable way that presents itself, and when you do your body and your mind become stronger. 

Nevertheless, I was able to do OK without company. My last uphill mile was 5:53, and the total time for the last 10 miles was 56:43, which was 1:30 faster than last week, all over the last 7 miles. 

Benjamin ran 5 miles, Jenny and Julia 1, Joseph and Jacob ran 1 with Sarah.

After the run watched the General Conference. Some talks that stood out to me in the Saturday sessions. Elder Packer's mention that it is better to not be able to have children than to have the ability and not have them by choice. Elder Holland's message to the men of the Church "arise from the dust and be men", and Elder Bednar's account of his father who was not a member of the Church at the time yet attended every meeting saying: "Why is it that those who believe they hold the restored priesthood need to be coaxed to do their duty?" Overall I felt nourished by the talks and the hymns, and felt it was very well worth the 6 hours that it took even after a hard run.