Breaking the Wall

Driving back to Provo. Threw in some random miles during breaks. Could not feel the effects of the relay, but I hardly ever feel anything. I know I am tired when I am not able to run fast.

Time to start training for real. I've been in the maintenance mode since St. George. Today was the start. Well, the relay was the start, to a certain extent, but today was the official start of training for real. Got good sleep. Went to the Provo Canyon. Warmed up, then 5x400 alternating down and up. 72.7 down - 78.8 up - 71.3 down - 75.2 up - 72.7 down. Still not used to the pain of a good 400, but that's OK, it takes about 3 weeks for it to come. Jogged up to Nunn's Park, and ran the standard 3 mile tempo in 16:01. Mile splits - 5:19 - 5:21 - 5:21. For some reason the pace started feeling a lot harder and I started losing it after 1.5. But I pushed through it. There was a quarter in 1:22, afterwards, no slower than 1:21. There was a slight head/side wind, maybe it got stronger at that point. The heart rate did what it was supposed to - stay at 163. So that means the nervous system was working fine, I was able to push the heart. However, I was not quite happy with the pace, especially with slowing down, but I am just starting the misery drill, so it is OK for the start. I am possibly underestimating the effects of the head wind. And coming back from a lower elevation is probably also a factor. So probably nothing to worry about.

The tempo run felt miserable enough to where I thought perhaps the additional 400s would be counterproductive for a moment. Then I decided to just go ahead and do my best. I did another set of 5x400. 74.0 down - 77.2 up - 73.0 down - 76.2 up - 69.3 down. Pushed it on the last one, and got a taste of a real 400. The consistent difference of only 3 seconds between up and down shows there was a head wind when running down on that stretch. In still air the difference is 5 seconds. It was also on that stretch where the pace started feeling harder in the tempo run earlier.

Got 12.7 in the workout. Then ran with the kids in the afternoon.

I am now on "the day does not end until I've run 13" diet. Ran easy 10 miles in the morning mostly alone. Ted ran a bit with me, but he cut his run short - his legs are overtrained, and he felt he could use some rest before the race on Saturday. I was exceptionally sleepy, some from yesterday's workout, and some probably from Ragnar Del Sol. So I essentially slept through my run. Did not catch 8:00 mile guy until mile 6 or so. Averaged 7:50 pace and 112 heart rate. I think this is a record low for the heart rate in my recovery run since I started using Garmin 305. I am sure I've had it lower before as I've done recovery runs with slower training partners at 9:00 pace.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon, plus some more to bring the total to the minimum quota. The glut muscles are sore. I am very excited about that. It is very difficult for me to be sore there, and it always coincides with running well. 

Ran early in the morning with Ted. For a tune-up ran a 2 mile tempo on the Provo River Trail coming back from the lake. The first mile was 5:29 and it felt easy. However, the second mile was 5:40 and it felt hard. The second mile is a slight uphill, but the same effort should have given me about 5:35, not 5:40. A harder effort should have given me 5:30. The heart rate maxed at 162, but then dropped to 159. I interpret this as the nervous system being tired and not being willing to work. It is a very strange feeling. It is very easy to confuse it with just starting out too fast and/or being out of shape. Here is my take on what happens:

When you are starting out, the acidity of the muscle is low. So your regular threshold pace feels easy. Then the acidity of the muscle goes up as you keep going. About a mile or a mile and a half it reaches a critical level. When the nervous system is in top shape, it is able to fire the muscles in spite of the negative feedback it is receiving from the increased muscle acidity. But if the nervous system is tired for some reason, it cannot override the negative feedback. So the cardiovascular system could potentially deliver more oxygen and maintain the acidity in check at a steady, although higher level, but the nervous system says, no that is too much for me to deal with. So the heart is cruising along at a lower rate, the pace is slow, but it feels hard. I've had this happen to me so many times, but I think am just beginning to get a clue at what is actually going on. There are two things that I have found effective in the past - get more sleep, and do brutal quarters.

Ran with the kids in the evening, and added some more to make it 13 for the day.

Mini-taper before the Ogden Half-Marathon tomorrow. Ran 3.11 miles with Stuart. Then went for some more. Decided to do a 1.25 tempo for a tune-up/nervous system check. Ran it from the DI bridge to the Union Pacific bridge. Union Pacific, and the fact that it is going to Utah, has a special significance in my life. Back in 1991 I was learning English. My goal was to learn it so well that I could score very high on the verbal section of the SAT test. America for me was a land of opportunity and I wanted to make a statement that I belonged there. I read every book in English that I could get my hands on, which at that time was quite easy - there were not many English books around within my reach. It happened that I got my hands on a book that detailed the history of the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. I read it start to finish. It was a very tedious reading. But the text contained many uncommon words which were likely to appear on the SAT test. I looked up every one of them along with their synonyms and antonyms, and thoroughly studied usage examples to make sure I knew those words as well as regular common speech English words as if it were my native tongue. 

The railroad construction progressed through the United States, and eventually  Utah was mentioned. Along with that, the book mentioned a religious group that lived in Utah - the Mormons. I felt a desire to learn more about that group. That interested eventually led to my conversion and joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, of which I have now been a faithful member for almost 15 years.

And along with that, reading the railroad book along with my other efforts of similar nature to acquire proficiency in English also paid off. I scored 720 out of 800 on the verbal section of the SAT, which put me in the 99th percentile among mostly native speakers. This was a miracle of hard word magnified by the inspiration and the light of God. Three years earlier I had  no knowledge of English and started by looking up the word "WE" in a dictionary.

So I ran the tempo to the historic bridge, historic for me in 6:47 at a steady pace. The course rolled downward. I wanted to know exactly how much the downhill helped. So shortly after I finished I turned around and ran a quarter backwards putting in the same effort. Got 1:25. Going out it was 1:22. Applying the 2:1 rule for uphill downhill, we take the 3 second difference and split it at the ratio of 2:1. This gives us a 2 second slowdown for the uphill, and a 1 second speedup for the downhill. Thus the flat equivalent of this tempo run is 1:23 quarter, or 5:32 pace on that stretch.

Did some more easy running. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Total of 10 miles.

Ogden Striders Half-Marathon. 1:14:29, 6th place. Knowing from the tempo runs earlier in the week that the nervous system was not functioning well, I made a plan to hang on with the leaders while it was still working, and then do my best after that. I thought I'd be able to make it to mile 5. The first mile felt comfortable (5:23). I'll give my splits from Garmin 305 - race mile markers were not reliable.

Towards the end of the second mile I had a frivolous feeling that I did not want to run with the pace. I tried to dismiss it, but I think I am beginning to understand what it means - neural fatigue. I have experienced it before - the breathing is OK, legs feel fine, then at first you feel you do not want to run with the pack, you fight it, and then you cannot - it is almost like you are under a spell that you can do nothing about. Second mile had more downhill, and we did it in 5:10. When we reached 2.5 I began to experience the spell. Breathing is fine. Heart rate is hovering around 163-165, a little high, but nothing I could not normally hold for at least 5 miles. But for some reason I just cannot go. I backed off, but still hit the mile in 5:19. Paul, Bob, Steve Ashbaker, Joe Wilson, and Neal Gassmann went ahead. 15:51 at 3 miles.

Ken Richardson passed me shortly, and he was gone moving away from me quickly. I considering latching on, and trying to hang in there, but I do not think I could have done it even if they told me the race ended at 4 miles. Next mile in 5:40. Heart rate goes down to 158-160.  Next mile in 5:37, HR at 158, followed by a 5:38 (HR 157). 27:08 at 5 miles.

Sarah and the kids sang me the  BINGO song to get me going, it helped  bit. Now the downhill is over, next mile in 5:44, HR 158, followed by 5:48, HR dropping to 156.  More BINGO singing, and now I am able to push it a bit,  5:49 mile with some rolling  hills, HR going up to 160, and I am starting to close on Ken.  Another mile in 5:49, HR at 160.  Next mile in 5:56, with a bathroom stop, number two. I figured I lost about 5 seconds on it. 56:03 at 10 miles. HR dropped to 157. Now a new excitement develops. Ken is coming to me. He beat me in all other races by a few seconds, and I am determined to not let it happen again. Heart rate goes up to 160, next mile in 5:54, and it did have some uphill. I passed Ken, now need to make him not want to follow me because he has a better kick.  Another mile in 5:56, uphill, HR dropping to 157.  And one more in 5:56 with HR going up to 159. Kick, a slight downhill, Garmin says I did 5:35 pace, HR going down to 158. Not much of a kick, but I just could not shift gears. 1:14:29  at the finish.

Paul, Bob, and Steve ran incredibly well beating Joe and Neal who also ran well but with no breakthroughs.

Cooled down with Ted. Ran with the kids in the afternoon.

Post-race analysis - the problem appears to be of neurological nature. I need to get more sleep. It will take some time to bring it back to order. Also, tempo runs and 400 meter repeats will train it to respond properly at fast pace so it will not quit.

Easy run with Ted, and then with Stuart early in the morning. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. 

Speed workout in the Provo Canyon. Same as last week. Warm up, then 5x400 alternating up and down. 72.0 down - 76.7 up - 72.3 down - 74.4 up - 73.3 down. Cross wind the entire time, became more of a headwind for going down on the last two. Then jogged up to Nunn's Park and started the standard 3 mile tempo down to the mouth of the Canyon. Head/cross wind almost all the way. First mile 5:26, HR jumps up to 158 quickly. That is a good sign. If HR is slow to respond, you are running anaerobically for too long. Next mile in 5:23, HR makes it to 161. It is interesting that gusts of wind make it drop to 158, and one strong gust managed to drop it to 156. You would think the extra resistance should raise it, but I think what happens is that a gust knocks you out of rhythm, you lose concentration and stop pushing as hard.

Finally a clear spot on the first quarter on the last mile. No headwind for the whole quarter for the first time. Hit it in 1:18. Heart rate goes up to 163! I feel like I am getting into good rhythm, setting my sights on showing the 5:20 guy who's the boss.  However, more headwind followed, I barely manged 5:20 for the last mile. Total time 16:09. Although it was 8 seconds slower than last week, there was quite a bit more headwind this time. I felt more in control, though, and was consistently speeding up in spite of having the gusts of headwind periodically knock me out of rhythm. The effort also felt easier.

Then jogged back and did 5x400 one more time. Unlike last week when I seriously considered not doing the last set, I did not have such thoughts. 73.3 down - 77.4 up - 73.7 down - 76.0 up - 66.9 down. Pushed the last one.

Running at 4:50 pace or faster feels like I am riding a bike with a bent wheel. I do not feel it as much at slower speeds, but at faster speeds there is a wheel feeling, and you get to feel the quality of your wheel more acutely. For me that wheel is not as bad as it is for some people, probably average for a 2:40 marathoner, which is much better than what it is for the average runner, but the deformities make a difference between being a good local runner and being able to run professionally. This needs to be fixed.

13.5 for the workout with the cool down. Ran some more with the kids in the evening. 

Easy recovery run with Ted in the morning. Was feeling sleepy. 7:37 pace for 10 miles, average heart rate 116.

Ran with the kids in the evening. Took Benjamin and Jenny to the Team Provo Practice. Benjamin ran all the way, Jenny ran the first mile. On the way back, pushed them in the stroller. They sang BINGO, and got me to speed up to 6:40 pace at the end. 

Slept in this morning to have the nervous system ready for the tempo run. Ran later in the morning. Found Karl Jarvis on the trail. We used to train together a lot, but then his schedule change to where we could not do it any more. Turns out we live only a mile away from each other. Ran with him for a while. Got a nice 5.4 mile warm-up for the tempo. Then ran the standard 5 mile tempo from Geneva Road to the Utah Lake Park and back.

First mile 5:30, second 5:32. So far so good, feels easy, very steady pace, HR at 159. 13:49 at the turnaround (2:47). Had a glitch recovering from 180 turn, next 200 in 45, then 43, 1:28 for the quarter. Next quarter in 1:25, 5:40 for the mile, 16:42 at 3 miles. Then 1:26, followed by 1:24, and again, 1:26 and 1:24. 5:40 for the mile, 22:22 at 4 miles. HR climbed to a steady 162. The pace now feels harder, although it is slower. Next quarter uphill is 1:26 followed by a 1:24. I cannot seem to break the pattern. Leftover from the quarter repeats maybe? I push, and then I want a break. Then 200 in 40 seconds, I got excited. But then slowed down to 43, (1:23 for the quarter), followed by the last quarter in 1:25. I think it would have been 1:24, but with 100 to go I saw a dog without a leash or visible owner, it looked like a playful dog, and it looked very interested in playing with me. So I lost concentration and slowed down a bit. After I finished, the dog started playing with me, but I was not in the mood. 28:00 for the run, best time of the year so far. Last mile in 5:38, which I consider a 5:31 equivalent going the other way, or flat. HR climbed to 167 at the end. I might have been getting slightly dehydrated, or perhaps the surge to 40 seconds for 200 m after 4.5 raised the HR. What is odd is that the surge did not hurt as much as it should have, but at the same time, the last quarter was slow, and it felt the same as the surge. There were small random and rather mild bursts of wind. Maybe they were stronger than they felt. I wonder if that what caused the odd fluctuations of the pace on the second half.

Ran a cool down, 12.25 for the run. Ran with the kids in the evening.

Easy run with Ted in the morning. Did some tempo pace pick ups. Ran a quarter in 1:19, then another in 1:23, and then 0.75 up a slight grade for the last 0.3 in 4:14. Did not get enough sleep at night, but made up in the afternoon. Right now sleep is one of the most critical elements of my training. Demetrio Cabanillas Jr. once told me about a sleep study where they paid subjects to sleep. That is the kind of study I would love to participate in!

Ran with the kids in the afternoon and in the evening. Total of 13 miles for the day. 

Got very good sleep the night before. Did not get out of bed until my body told me it did not need any more sleep, which happened at 7:00 am, 8 hours of sleep total. Started the day by running with Benjamin to the Team Provo practice. Saw ROTC cadets there. They were doing a 3200 meter run. A couple of them wanted to be paced for 14:00. I led them pretty much on pace. Only one was able to keep it. With the kick it ended up being 13:44. Then Benjamin wanted to run 100 meters. He was pretty tired from everything, but still managed 19.8. On the way back, I pushed Benjamin in the stroller. By the time we got home I had 6 miles on the odometer for the day done in a one hour period.

After a two hour break which included a play practice for our Stake Conference tomorrow and calling the ward leadership to remind them of the afternoon meeting, I continued the run. Ate a banana and drank a 17oz glass of water immediately before the run. Jogged 1.9 to warm up, then ran my standard 10 mile tempo. First mile in 5:54, then 5:50, 2:52 for the next half, 14:36 at the turnaround. On the way back held a steady 5:48 pace. HR finally stabilized at 151 until mile 4. Then there was a slight uphill section, and it went up to 154. 29:08 at 5 miles, 14:32 for the 2.5, and 5:49 for the uphill mile.

Picked it up a bit on the next 2.5 stretch. Next two miles 5:42 and 5:43. HR stabilized at 157. Then 0.5 in 2:53, 14:18 for the 2.5 and 43:26 at the turnaround. Decided to push the pace hard on the last 2.5. Two bikers, a young couple on a date, passed me and made an encouraging comment. I asked them to pace me. They agreed. They wanted to chat, but I told them I'd chat in 2 miles. I started seeing 1:24 quarters, with occasional 1:25s. Steady 5:38 pace until the mile to go. With 0.75 to go I started pressing harder. I saw the heart rate climb to 166, but it felt sustainable. This could be partially due to the warmer weather, but also to an increased level of fitness. Ended up with the last mile in 5:33, last 2.5 in 14:00, last 5 miles in 28:18, and 57:26 for 10 miles, fastest time for the year.

Cooled down with the bikers. Their names are Steve and Rachael. I guess if our Steve (Ashbaker) is not available to pace me, I'll find some Steve to do it even if he has to be on a bike. Having the Steve and Rachael at the end was very helpful. I am not used to people leisurely chatting around me when I am pushing the pace, but it was very nice. It got my mind off the pain, and I ran sort of in a trance.

What is interesting is that on Thursday I ran a 5 mile tempo putting in a threshold effort in 28:00, which is only 18 seconds faster than the last 5 miles of the 10 mile tempo today, and I did not shift into threshold pain gear until the last 2.5. It is also interesting that the last 2.5 was 11 seconds faster than the last 2.5 of the tempo on Thursday in spite of the fact that this 2.5 stretch was from mile 15.5 to mile 18 for the day, and more precisely for the first 4 hours of the day. Part of it certainly is the gain in cardiovascular and muscular fitness, but I wonder if a part is biomechanical. I got up on my toes more on the last 2.5 and it came naturally. The form felt more smooth and relaxed once I started going faster. The uphill or 180 turns did not seem to knock me out of rhythm as much as they usually do. Of course, all of that could be the result of increased neurological strength gained from the sleep.

Arthur Lydiard used to say that miles makes champions. That is not quite right. Beds make champions, not miles. Miles only prepare the champions for the bed to do the job. Miles make only tired and overtrained runners without proper sleep.

Got up early in the morning, woke up Benjamin, put him in the stroller, and ran to the BYU Football Stadium. The BYU ROTC were doing a 2 mile time trial around the big parking lot. Benjamin wanted to race the cadets. Some of them are out of his reach (11 minutes), while others run 14 minutes or slower. The course turned out to be a little longer, 2.10 on my Garmin 305, Ted said it was closer to 2.05, and adjusted the times of the cadets by 15 seconds. Benjamin ended up running 14:43, 14:28 with the adjustment, and beat a few cadets, about 25% by my count. It was raining, and somewhat windy. The course also has some up and down, maybe 0.5% grade. So I was very happy with Benjamin's accomplishment. Many cadets were surprised to see an 8 year old kid running with them and holding his ground.

Pushed Benjamin back in the stroller. It started raining. Dropped him off at home, and went for some more to make a total of 10. It started raining harder, and I was soaked. Then a little bit of hail. To give me a taste of Boston, I suppose. Whenever it hails, I think of Helaman 5:12 in the Book of Mormon, which in summary says if we build on the foundation of Jesus Christ, the hailstorms of life will not bring us down.

Had an interesting dream about Craig Lawson. Some of you may remember him. He ran for BYU, with 28:35 PR in the 10,000. Then he ran some afterwards, was in the 2000 marathon Trials, finished 13th with 2:19 in very hot conditions. He, Dennis Simonaitis, Brandon Rhoads, and Larry Smithee ruled the roads in Utah races around that time. Then as it often happens, life got too busy. He disappeared from the running scene. So in the dream he decided to start running competitively again. I told him he had a 2:10 potential, and he was very happy because somehow he knew I would never say somebody has a potential when I do not clearly see it. When I woke up I agreed with my dream assessment. Craig indeed does have a 2:10 potential if he had not yet irrepairably messed up his spine from the extra weight and hours of sitting. It is rather unfortunate that we value a decent but in the big scheme of things average and replaceable accountant, programmer, or salesman much more than we value a superb, one of a kind runner. I find it rather ironic that a society that fails to invest in things of spiritual nature such as art, music, or sports, ends up chasing the material things and never finds them. Yet a nation that invests into those finer matters does a lot better materially.

Watched the Boston Marathon, or rather, followed it on the Internet. Was very impressed with how Clyde and Dave ran in terrible conditions(2:37 and 2:40). Congratulations to both of them. It did not come without some serious blood. Look at their blogs, all the training they've done. Both had to be treated for hypothermia after they've finished. We had two more bloggers that broke 3:00 - Kenny B (2:49), and Kory (2:57). Andy B had a good race too - a PR effort, missed PR by 6 seconds (3:06:06). Again not without blood, look at their blogs. So far the biggest success of the bloggers has been the 1-2-3 punch in the Ogden Half Marathon against some serious competition and with exceptional times. Now Clyde broke the top 100 in Boston for us. I hope the day will come when we can do 1-2-3 punch in Boston. Right now it is a dream. Martin Luther King had a dream, it appeared impossible but it became reality. I've had dreams that appeared impossible but became reality. I have a dream. Today Clyde, Dave, Kenny, Kory, and Andy brought it one step closer.

Added another 3.4 in the evening pushing Jacob in the stroller and with Benjamin on a bike.

Ran in the Provo Canyon. Speed work. Warmed up, then 5x400 alternating up and down with 200 recovery. Headwind when going down as usual this time of day (late morning). 71.3 down - 77.3 up - 73.3 down - 75.2 up - 72.3 down. That shows a solid headwind. Still air difference between up and down should be 5 seconds. This did not come as a surprise. I noticed during the warm up that I was running 7:12 pace downhill and the HR of 127. Usually it is around 6:50 with the same effort and HR over there.

Jogged up to Nunn's park and ran the standard 3 mile tempo down. Mile splits - 5:24 - 5:24 - 5:21, 16:09. HR gradually made its way to 162-164. I kicked the last 100 meters, it went up to 169. Solid headwind virtually with no breaks. Not a single quarter faster than 1:20 except the last one (1:18). However, not a single quarter over 1:21 either possibly with the exception of the first (there is no mark there, but it actually uphill for the first 0.15).

Jogged back to the place where I did the 400s earlier and repeated 5x400. 72.9 down - 76.4 up - 73.9 down - 75.9 up - 67.5 down. The last one shows that I am lacking anaerobic ability. When I have it in full force, I am only able to speed up by 2 seconds on the last one. I could also tell I was losing steam after the first 200.

Then cooled down to the car. It started to get warm, and I could tell I was dehydrating a bit. HR went up to 138 at about 7:20 pace uphill. Normally it should have been around 128.  Total of 14.8 for the workout.

Ran with the kids in the evening.

Easy run with Ted at 4:50 AM. 10.05 miles at 7:44 pace, average HR 113, new record. On the first quarter which we did in 2:18 it did not crack 100 - only 98, but the pace felt fast. I take it as an indicator of aerobic fitness gain, if 9:00 pace feels fast in the first few minutes of the run while the heart rate is low. The engine is taking its time to warm up, the stronger the engine, the longer it needs. Added another 3.5 in the afternoon running with the kids and some more.

Tempo run this morning. Got decent sleep, went to bed at 11, got up at 6. It was cold, around 35 degrees, but warmer than last winter. No significant wind. Ran the standard 5 mile tempo from Geneva Road to the trail entrance by the Utah Lake Park and back.

First mile, 5:32. Second 5:31 (11:03), then 2:47 for the next 0.5, 13:50 at the turnaround. The pace felt very comfortable, however I knew that any faster would be exceptionally uncomfortable. HR took forever to get going, but finally stabilized at 158 by 1.5 miles.

2:50 for the next 0.5 with the first quarter after 180 turn in 1:26. The first 100 of it was 23 seconds,  so 2 second loss. 5:37 for the mile, 16:40 at 3. Next mile in 5:35. HR climbed to 160, and now the pace is starting to feel harder, although it is still the same pace, even a bit slower, but coming back is a very slight uphill, so 3 seconds per mile is about the correct amount of difference. The breathing became harder too. The sour feeling in the quad appeared but I was able to run through it this time.

Quarters for the last mile - 1:25 (uphill), 1:24, 1:23, 1:20. HR maxed out at 169 at the end. Total time 27:47.8, best time for the season. Last mile in 5:32, last 2.5 in 13:57, I would call this a true even split, perhaps even negative if you throw in the 2 seconds lost on the 180 turn.

Did a long cool down, total of 13.1 for the run. Ted did the easy running with me, he was planning on joining me for the tempo, but got sick. Ran with the kids in the afternoon, total of 14.9. I am running the Salt Lake Half, not the full marathon. Will do it completely untapered. It is fun to race a half at the end of a 90 mile week, I've done this before. You hurt from the start, as opposed to from mile 3, so you actually get better pacing.

I was very happy with this tempo, most particularly about being able to hold the pace as the quads start feeling sour. 

I am perplexed as to why HR takes so long to get going in a tempo run. It took a good 4 mile stretch before it got to where it was supposed to be. My average HR for the run was actually 153! This has been a pattern regardless of the weather. So here is what I am wondering about. If I am running 5:32 pace, and the HR eventually stabilizes at 162 then if it is let's say 153, and assuming I do not severely dehydrate in 4 miles of tempo running in 35 degrees (reasonable assumption), and the stroke volume does not drop as the tempo run progresses (reasonable assumption?), and the biomechanical efficiency does not change that much (reasonable assumption?), then at 153 HR my cardiac output is significantly lower than what is necessary for a steady state that happens at 162. But the energy for the pace has to come from somewhere, so that in essence means I am running anaerobically for the first 4 miles of this run. Could it be that HR response to lactic acid build up, and unless you have a certain lactic acid concentration, it will not increase?

Easy run with Ted in the morning. A little faster today, supersonic speeds compared to Wednesday, 7:18 pace. Ran with the kids in the afternoon, and a little more in Salt Lake to the expo and back. I will probably have 74 miles on the odometer for the week when I start the half-marathon tomorrow. Added a mile with Sarah late at night.

A very long day. It started with racing the Salt Lake Half-Marathon. Ran it in 1:13:25. Got beat by Mbarak Hussein (1:05:17), Simon Sawe(1:05:33), and BJ Christensen (1:10:59). Not quite sure what to think of it. I am inclined to believe this is a better performance than two weeks ago in Ogden. I held by heart rate in the higher ranges for longer, although it still was not what I wanted it to be. Went out with the leaders from the gun. The marathon and the half started at the same time. At first it was more like the jail break in the Russian movie Gentlemen of Fortune. The police put in an infiltrator and organize a break for the three inmates of interest. The fourth one joins them. They ask him why he ran. He answers: "Everybody ran, so I did run too". Then I began to think about the reasons to continue to run fast. Enjoy the company of great runners while I can. Some TV time for the Wasatch Running Center. So I figured I'd hang in there for a while. We did the first mile in 5:03, probably 1-2 % down. I was in a pack with Mbarak Hussein, Simon Sawe, BJ Christensen, and Dave Danley who was running the marathon. I told Dave we were going 5:00 pace several times, but he kept going. We backed off a bit from the Kenyans and BJ. Second mile in 5:23, some down and some up. Next mile uphill in 5:47. My heart rate was hovering around 164, and I felt the pace was very aggressive. But I wanted to push it for as long as we were with the marathoners to make things a bit nicer for Steve Ashbaker. The more people are out front, the faster the marathon lead pack will go. And the faster it goes, the more casualties for him to devours in the last miles. I knew I could relax for a mile, clean up the lactic acid, and then pick it back up and still run a decent, even if less than perfect race.

Pushed hard on the downhill down 21st south, hit the mile in 5:05. After that, we split from the marathoners and the mile markers were fuzzy. I had an idea of how fast I was going from the Garmin. But I was not so much concerned about the pace reading as I was about the heart rate reading. Garmin may be off on the length of splits, and there could be subtle factors such as a slight grade or slight but steady head or tail wind. But I know that if I can sustain my heart rate above 160, I'll be running well. I went in spurts. Sometimes I would get into good rhythm, Garmin would start giving consistent splits of 1:22 per quarter, and HR would be at 161. Other times, I would see it drop to 157 and the splits go down to slower than 1:25. Interestingly enough, running at HR of 161 was a lot more pleasant than at 157.

This observation, as well as a number of others in training led me to formulate a theory that Steve Ashbaker suggested I post in the blog. When running 15 K -  half marathon type of race, what we would call anaerobic threshold pace, the traditional exercise physiology states that you reach a steady state when you are breaking down lactic acid at the same rate you are producing it. But I suspect in reality things are a lot more complicated. The lactic acid levels are in a state of constant flux. They go up and down. When they go up, two things can happen. If the muscles and the nervous system are not conditioned for the lactic acid tolerance, they will shut down before the heart and the lungs can respond by delivering extra oxygen to clean up the lactic acid. If the muscles and the nervous system are properly conditioned, though, the muscles will work through it for a while, and in time the heart and the lungs will start working at a higher capacity making the faster pace sustainable. This explains why doing brutally fast 400s with 200 meter recovery on top of regular aerobic training make a difference of 10-15 seconds per mile in my half-marathon pace, and 5-7 seconds per mile in my marathon pace. The 200 recovery is a great form of aerobic training - you learn to clean up anaerobic byproducts very well.

I got to 10 miles in 53:30. Kept on going, ran the last 5 K in 17:55. They were a couple of guys from Westminister college on my tail. I knew they were somewhere there and could be dangerously close. So I pressed hard enough to make them not want to catch me.

Ate a banana, and ran back to find Steve. Followed the course and got to the start of the 5K. Figured I needed to seriously refuel to be prepared for the pacing job. Was very pleased to see Hobie Call in second place. He was two minutes behind Lemo, and pressing hard. Hobbie ended up finishing second, and missed the qualifier again by a minute. I think he can get it at Grandma's. Then there was another Kenyan, then Nick McCoombs, Dave Danley, Steve Tanui, and now here comes our Steve. A little later than I expected him, but very strong. I drank 4 cups of Gatorade to have the energy for pacing him, and I needed every ounce of it. He was going faster than me in the half. He got my HR to 161, and it hurt. A grimace started showing on my face. We flew past Steve Tanui. Steve (Ashbaker) was very excited about passing a Kenyan. He has never had the experience. He asked me if the Kenyan was just messing around. I told him no, he is just done. Now he needed to pass just one more guy to be in the money. Dave Danley was the next victim. I know the feeling, I've been on both sides of the deal. For some reason, I like to compare it to Abraham finding a ram in the thicket to offer a sacrifice. All of a sudden, there comes a dead runner out of nowhere, and you know he will not fight you. You also know you are in the money once you pass him. You begin to rejoice. I also know what it feels like to be the ram.

Steve had about a mile left. I told him since he was in the money, he should now do it by himself to avoid possible, although very unlikely complaints about receiving assistance from a pacer. I slowed down and ran with Dave to the end.

Congratulations to Steve on a new PR (2:36:31), great last 5 K (17:45), and 5th place in a tough company.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Also for our date Sarah and I did her long run, which was 6 miles. So that gave me 29 miles for the day, and 101 miles for the week. 

Easy run with Ted in the morning. Supersonic speeds of 7:12. Daylight makes it faster. Felt energized, tried to talk Ted into picking it up on the last mile, managed to convince him to go fast on the last 0.5. Timed the last quarter, it was 1:26. I was pleased with the fact that HR went up to 151 very quickly, I started breathing right away, but the pace did not feel hard.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon, and some more with Benjamin and Jenny in the stroller. Talked to a guy named Jason on the trail for about a mile. He is training for a marathon in Rexburg, ID in July. With Benamin and Jenny in the stroller it was about 100lb + the weight of the stroller.  On the last quarter they sang me the BINGO song and got me going. I hit it in 1:34. Not sure what it translates into stroller-less, I would guess around 1:24. The inflation of the tires makes a big difference.

Saw Dr. Jex. He took an X-ray of my lower back in the running position with the knee lifted up. I wanted him to check if I lose the lumbar curve when I lift up my knee. Sure enough, I do, it goes down from 35 degrees to 13. This explains why I do not lift up my knees very much. However, it is not yet clear what the root cause of this would be, or how we should go about fixing it. He also gave me a special cylinder for mid-back exercises.

Then went to the Provo Canyon for some serious painful work. Started with a warm-up followed by a prayer asking for the courage and humility to accept the pain. Then 5x400 alternating down and up. 70.6 down - 76.7 up - 70.1 down - 75.8 up - 69.1 down. I think that was close to still air.

Then a jog up to Nunn's Park, and the standard 3 mile tempo down in 15:53. Splits - 5:21 - 5:16 - 5:16. The head wind has picked up, but it was not as bad as last week, I think. Regardless, this is the fastest time of the year. It was quite painful, but I was holding the pace. The last two miles felt like a very long quarter. I think taking the headwind into account, this is probably worth 2:26:30 in St. George.

Then a jog back to the place of quarters. The place of pain that leads to success. Again, the same 5x400. The head wind now got stronger and it showed in the splits. 72.2 down - 75.0 up - 71.9 down - 74.8 up - 66.3 down. Pushed hard on the last one, but I think if there was somebody to push me it could have been faster.

2.7 mile cool down. Total of 15.2 for the workout. Came home, the weight was down to 141lb, this means I need to eat and drink a lot.

Then I thought about all the things I had to do. I remembered a comment made by one Russian coach who coached high school runners. "Those teachers, they just do not get it. The guy has just finished a 20 K run, and they expect something from him. He cannot do it, he is as if had just  had 100 grams of vodka!"  The fatigue of a workout has an interesting effect on you. I think it is very good. It helps you lay aside the matters that are not important and pay more attention to the things that really matter. In the New Testament there is a story of Mary and Martha. Mary is listening to Christ, while Martha is busy serving guests. Martha gets upset because Mary is not helping her, yet Christ says that Mary has chosen the better part. Sometimes we fill up our lives with stuff, mostly not that important in the eternal scheme of things, and forget to take the time to choose the better part. I think the fatigue of a workout, combined with the experience of overcoming pain prior, has a tendency to take us from the Martha territory into Mary's territory and take the time to choose the better part.

Ran with the kids in the evening. Total of 17.1 miles for the day.
 

Ted was out of town, but I still had to run early to make it to the temple. Had a little bit of an upset stomach, but not too bad compared to the rest of the family.  Set two records this morning. Average HR was 105. And I made 5 bathroom stop. So the records were related. However, HR was still low, around 110-112 most of the way. I ran 1:17:37 for 10.05. Aside from the stomach issues, felt good.

Ran to Team Provo practice and pushed the stroller most of the way. Total of 14.2 miles. 

Ran the standard 5 mile tempo this morning. Did not realize I would feel the consequences of the stomach problems yesterday. I was able to eat simple foods and drink liquids, but I was not nearly as hungry as I should have been. It did show in the tempo run. First mile in 5:30, things are going well. Next 0.5 in 2:44, now I am a second ahead of the 5:30 guy. HR gets up to 160 like it should. Then the next quarter in 1:23 followed by 1:24, HR dropping. Maybe just lost the focus. Pressed harder, HR stuck at 158, next two quarters 1:24 and 1:26, 13:51 at the turn-around. Now something is definitely wrong, but I can still hang in there and run a bit under 28:00, I thought. Next quarter in 1:27, that is actually not too bad for the 180 turn recovery, but then the next two are trouble - 1:25 with HR dropping down to 156 in spite of the increased mental effort (5:42 for the mile), followed by 1:27. OK, odd problem, this usually happens around mile 15 in the marathon except it does not feel the same way because the muscles are feeling tired and the joints start to hurt, but this time the muscles and joints are just fine, but there is still very little glycogen in the legs. I've had this experience a couple of times before. Last year, shortly before DesNews marathon after three weeks of no less than 15 miles a day with at least 6 at sub-6:00 pace this happened in a 10 mile tempo run. And in October of 2004 I tried a tempo run after getting a similar ingestion bug and not eating very much for a day.

Next two quarters in 1:30, HR goes down to 152. But it feels hard, I am putting out my top tempo muscular effort. If I did not look at the watch, I would have said I was still running at 5:30 pace! Then 1:28, 4th mile in 5:55. Next quarter uphill in 1:31 followed by 1:30. With 600 to go I started feeling stronger and was I able to pick it up to 5:30 pace again. HR got up to 160, and I ran the last 600 in 2:03 at a steady pace. 28:27 for the whole run, 5:49 for the last mile. The weirdest tempo run I've had in a while. I thought of cutting it short a few times, but decided to finish it for scientific as well as mental purposes.

The cool down was also unusual. A tempo run would normally put my HR even at the cooldown pace (8:00 mile) to at least 127. Today HR stayed at 118. I considered cutting the mileage today given the upcoming 30 K on Saturday and the glycogen depletion caused by the stomach problems on top of high mileage, but decided to stick with the program. Cooled down until I was at 13 miles for the run. Came home, and still was not hungry, bad sign. Drank some raspberry tea, that got things going. Was able to eat three normal size meals afterwards, and now feeling hungry as I am typing this.

I did much better than Sarah in the stomach area, though. She was throwing up last night. So were Joseph and Jacob. Benjamin did not throw up, but was not able to eat much.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Then went to the USATF meeting after dinner with Benjamin and Jenny. Benjamin gave me our mile splits as we drove, a new way to entertain an 8 year old (as well as a 34 year old) while driving.

I have always been curious about the negative feedback mechanisms that kick in once the muscular glycogen is low. I know that some people have them more developed than others. I remember in the Top of Utah Marathon 2005 at mile 17 I was running low on fuel. The pack made a surge, and Demetrio Cabanillas Jr not only went with them but he actually was a very active participant in that surge. Had they told me the race ended at 18 I would not have been able to stay with them. Then he came back to me at 21 even though I had already slowed down to a 7:00 mile premature cool down. He obviously had a lot less glycogen left at 17, but he did not have my negative feedback mechanisms to stop him in the surge. I often start my marathons aggressively, and hardly ever run an even or negative split. It is not uncommon for me to hit a half in a time that would be under a minute slower than I would have raced it all out. However, I do not recall running slower than 7:10 pace at the end of a marathon in the last 6 years. I think my negative feedback when glycogen is low is very strong, perhaps maybe even so strong that it inhibits my shorter races. But it saves my rear end when I make bad pacing decisions in the marathon.

Easy run with Ted in the morning. Started out at 8:00, then gradually progressed to 7:00. HR was consistently 124 at 7:00 pace, that is about 4 beats per minute low for me. Ran with the kids in the evening, and added some more, still with the kids, but the non-running ones this time, and they were in the stroller. In fact all of the evening running was done with a double stroller. 30 K race tomorrow, it is going to be very interesting.

Added a new feature to the blog. You can now change the logging template. There are some limitations - it has to be already there among the pre-existing ones (I still have to create them manually), and you can only change to the one that has compatible set of fields with what you currently have. And of course, being in beta it may give you a surprise. Send me an e-mail if it does.

Striders 30 K in Ogden, 3rd place. Actual finish time was 1:50:38, but I took the wrong turn on the last mile and ended up adding an extra 0.24 that also added a downhill followed by a steeper uphill than the original course to make up. Fortunately, my Course Tool helped estimate the difference. It said at 5:50 flat pace equivalent, the wrong way would have taken 1:38 longer. The race directors apparently overheard me talking about the wrong turn and adjusted my time. At least, I had 1:50:38 on watch, and my official finish time was 1:48:37. This is actually a very good guess at what I would have run without the wrong turn. The detour alone cost me 1:38 physically. Half way through it I realized I was off the course, and I was not sure how much I was adding. I saw a big hill to make things worse. I lost the focus because the goals I've set for myself earlier now had to be readjusted. The natural tendency in that situation is to ease off to a comfortable pace at least for a while. Had I been on the normal course, I would have seen my split at 18 miles and would have shifted gears to get a solid sub-1:49:00. Nevertheless, the mishap did not change the placing - Paul and Steve were too far ahead, and Ken Richardson was too far behind.

Coming into the race, I was just planning on a long tempo on tired legs. Stomach flu on Wednesday while doing high mileage did not help with glycogen stores. Or maybe it did, after all. I did not back off on the miles on Friday, but I was panic-carboloading Thursday night and all day Friday. Ted brought me some Hornet Juice, which makes you burn more fat during the run. I think that definitely helped.

Paul and Bob took off, Steve and I followed them, and quickly caught them about 0.5 into the race. Then we ran like friend on a long run for a while, very conversational, telling stories, etc. I was not much of a conversation partner, but I did chip in when I could. I was amazed at how conversational the other three were at sub-5:50 pace on rolling hills at 5000 feet. I felt sluggish in the first three miles, then started feeling better, and after 5 I started feeling really good, although not as good as Bob, Paul, and Steve. Mile splits were (going by the markers) 5:50 - 5:54 - 5:46 - 5:42 - 5:43. We were rolling a bit down, but still we were rolling. 28:55 at 5 miles. At 6 miles I missed the Gatorade from the hand of the volunteer, and stopped to get it being very concerned about bonking later on. Then I was able to close the gap. During the early miles, HR was around 154. When closing the gap, HR hit 163, and it felt sustainable for a while, although not the whole race.

Then we started a gradual ascent at about 1% grade. There was a 5:50 mile at HR of 158, and then on the mile from 8 to 9 the effort picked up. Were still on the climb, and the split was 5:41. My HR hit 161, and I started to hurt. I started feeling more confident in my glycogen stores and decided to skip the next water stop, just to try to hang on at fast pace longer, then maybe they will end the surge, and I might have company for another couple of miles. But they were running very strong not letting up at all. I got dropped at 9.25, and eased off to a nice marathon pace effort. HR was at 155. 57:52 at 10 miles. Now we are on the Ogden Marathon course and going in right direction. Next mile in 5:40, downhill, but into a bit of a headwind. Another mile in 5:43. This is good, I am almost going the same pace I did in the half-marathon, and I am further along into the race than I was back then. And it hurts a lot less in spite of the mileage.

The downhill quickly ended, now the nasty rolling hills, and this time we are rolling up. Still doing slightly sub-6:00 miles, that is very good this late on those hills. 13 mile split was 1:15:14, that makes 1:15:53 half. I was very happy about that half. Three weeks earlier I raced a half that dropped quite a bit  of elevation (I think about 600 ft) in 1:14:29. This one maybe dropped 50-100 feet net, but the rolling and climbing was much more serious than in the half earlier. And this is en-route in a 30 K!

1:27:08 at 15 miles. Very encouraging, still going sub-6:00. Next mile in 5:55, followed by 6:07 on a more steady uphill. Nothing to complain about. And then somehow I ended up following the Ogden Marathon course instead of going straight to the Red Moose Lodge. Then I see a downhill. I do not remember that downhill being at the end of the half. Bad sign. Then I see the road ahead of me that I know leads to Ogden. Downtown Ogden is 12.5 miles a way. I was planning on a 30 K tempo today, not a 30 mile tempo! Fortunately, I saw a turn-off to the Red Moose Lodge, and now I new where I was. So I ran to the finish the best way I knew. Backed off just in case.

At the finish, I found out that Bob's calf decided to give me $50. He cramped up and was forced to stop at 16 miles. So I ended up 3rd, and that also gave me 3rd in the whole series. Paul and Steve ran amazingly well, especially Steve coming back from running a marathon a week earlier. 1:45:18 for Paul, and 1:45:33 for Steve. Just think about it - 3x10 K back to back each in a bit over 35:00 on average at 5000 feet on rolling hills and no elevation drop a week after a marathon!

Ran with the kids in the evening. Another high mileage week. 

Easy run with Ted in the morning. Standard 10.05. Started out slow, then gradually sped up. Did a pick-up for 0.5 mile in 2:44 in the middle. Ran with the kids in the evening. HR a little higher today probably due to warmer weather. Saw it above 130 at 7:00 pace a few times at the end.