Breaking the Wall

A.M. 10.38 in 1:14:49. Ran the last quarter in 89. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. Julia ran 2 with Sarah.

P.M. Ran with the kids group. Did a total of 2.5 with two quick quarters in 86 and 88. Benjamin ran 2.5 as well including 2 in 15:48 with the two fast quarters  as well. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:17. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah.

A.M. 10.1 in 1:18:41. Met Jeff on the trail.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:03. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:32. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:36.

A.M. Ran with Steve Ashbaker and Jeff. Jeff and I did 20.36 in 2:18:37. Steve ran the first 10 with us. We coasted at a little slower than 7:00 average with occasional drifts into 6:40 for most of the run, and then ran the last 3.04 in 17:35 with the last mile in 5:27 - quarters of 85, 83, 83, and 76. I was happy to survive 76 at the end of a 20 mile run.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Sat on the backup for the General Conference translation, so Benjamin and Julia ran on their own around the block (2.1 in 18:03). Joseph and Jacob ran their usual distances with Sarah.

Day of rest. Listen to General Conference. Heard a lot of good stuff, now it is time to do it. I particularly liked Elder Christopherson's talk on scriptures. What I got out of it is that the people like William Tyndale knew enough to sacrifice their lives to make the scriptures available, I could perhaps exercise my faith and learn a portion of what they knew. Their is value and power in the scriptures that we just do not understand. 

I also liked President Uchtdorf's  talk on patience in the Priesthood session. Back in the 60s an experiment was conducted that tested the patience of four year old children. They were given a marshmallow and told if they could wait 15 minutes to eat it, they would get another. Only 30% of them made it to 15 minutes. The children were followed throughout their lives and it turned out that those who demonstrated patience at the age of four were more likely to get good grades, make more money, have more stable relationships, and avoid depression than the ones in the other group.

A.M. 10.18 with Jeff in 1:19:56. Did an experimental mile in 5:20.8 to test Jeff's sense of pace. He thought it was around 5:32. Jenny ran 2 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:20. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:21. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:08. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:46. 

A.M. 10.38 in 1:16:58.

P.M. 2 with Jenny and Julia in 17:48. Benjamin ran ahead and finished around 17:20. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:30. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

A.M. 10.18 in 1:13:50. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:53. Last 0.2 at around 5:20 pace.  Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:24. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:28. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:29.

A.M. 10.2 in 1:18:53. Met Jeff on the trail. We did an experiment. Without telling Jeff I ran on and off squeezing the big toe and the one next to it on the right and alternated that with normal form during short pickups. The only thing I told Jeff was "form one" and "form two".  I showed him "form one" and "form two" once to see if he would notice a difference. He did.  Then we did a sequence of four pickups with Jeff setting the pace and me randomly choosing either "form one" or "form two".  At the end of the pickups I asked Jeff to identify the form types for each pickup, and he got all four correct. So that provided some evidence that indeed there is a difference. Without being told which form was normal, he pointed out that he liked "form two" better, which was the one with the squeezed toes.

Now, before anybody gets too excited about squeezing the toes to get a better form. I suspect this works only for me and only on the right side. The reason is that it just happens to give me a cue to reduce wobbling on the right side. I hope to learn to avoid wobbling eventually without that cue.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Ran about 2.8 with the kids running group. Benjamin did 2 in 16:55. Julia ran 1.5 with a mile in 8:35. Jacob did 0.25 in 2:45. Joseph ran 0.5 in around 4:30.

A.M. 10.28 in 1:09:50. Last 0.5 in 2:47. Practiced the toe squeeze and was trying to learn better cues.. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:02. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:12. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:30. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

A.M. 21.1 in 2:32:17 with Steve Ashbaker. Jeff ran around 15 with us. He had an issue with his hips. We did a couple of pickups. About 6 miles into it I paced a mile in 5:24 without splits thinking it was 5:38. Steve paced a mile in 6:01 thinking it was 5:48 around 17 miles into it. His sense of pace which is usually near perfect was messed up because we were too far into the run. Then we did a wild half mile that was supposed to be at 5:40 pace, but we opened with an 84 quarter, and then Steve got feisty and made me run 77, so 2:41 for the half mile. Then we ran the last 1.25 in 7:25 to test fuel reserves.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Benjamin was sick and did not run. 1.5 with Julia in 13:24.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:21. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Day of rest. Went to church. It was a Fast Sunday. So we had the fast and testimony meeting, and then the usual classes. The stars aligned again for the third time this year for me to teach both Sunday school and the Elders Quorum. The Sunday school lesson was on the organization of the priesthood, and the Elders Quorum lesson was on the Holy Ghost. One scripture really stood out to me: "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 12:3).

A.M. Ran 10.42 with Jeff in 1:18:37. A little longer than usual because I started out in pants, but then quickly realized it was too warm, so we ran back for me to change. Did a 1.5 pickup in 8:24 with the first mile almost perfectly evenly paced in 5:44, then a quarter in 84 followed by 76. I was just following Jeff. Early on it felt like a slightly aggressive marathon pace. I would have definitely joined a pack at that effort in a race. Then the pace started getting progressively faster, and I thought "Hmm... it would be difficult to hold this in a marathon". Then I timed a 200 and realized we were going 5:12. It is a good sign, though, that at 5:12 at altitude with no downhill I was at least thinking about the marathon for a brief moment.

Jenny ran 3 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:53. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:19. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:21. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:33.

A.M. 10.38 in 1:12:45. The weather was bad but aside from being wet and frozen I felt great. I picked it up to 89 in the last quarter.

P.M. Ran with the kids running group. Ended up with 2.5 miles. Benjamin did 2.5 including 2 in 15:29 with the last mile in 6:36 with 600 in 2:10 and 500 in 1:48 in the middle. Jenny ran 2.5. 17:15 for 2 miles + 0.5 in 4:04 with Joseph. Julia ran 1.5. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10 miles in 1:18:37.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny. Julia ran 1.5 with us. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

A.M. 10.18 with Jeff in 1:14:42. Did 2x1.5 in the middle. First in 8:32.4, second in 8:17.8.  Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Ran with the kids group. Ended up with 2.5 miles. Benjamin did 2.5 total with 2 in 14:27. Julia ran 1.5. Joseph did 0.5 in 4:04. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah.

A.M. 10.48 in 1:14:52. Did a mile in 5:50 in the middle.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jeff in 16:42. Julia ran 1.5. We forgot that Jenny did not run with Sarah in the morning, so she slipped through the cracks and missed her run. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:26. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

A.M. 20.36 in 2:18:52. Did 4 x 1.5 in the middle. 8:37.8, 8:36.9, 8:30.2, 8:17.7. Felt good in the first 3, and decided to see what I had left in the last one. It started 16.5 miles into the run, so I was expecting fuel/nervous system fatigue at that point. Had a side ache, could not figure out if it was fuel related, then realized it was probably just some pressure on the diaphragm. The plan was to run 84 quarters in the first mile, then 80, and then maybe 78 if I could. I ended up with 84, 84, 83, 86, 80, and 80. That one in 86 was odd. The one in 83 felt good, so I thought the next one would be at least 84 with the same effort, but I guess I started going into the "zone" right around that point. I realized that and adjusted my effort to hit 80s. Was happy that I was still able to pull off two 80s after starting to go into the "zone".

With a quarter to go I wanted to measure my "zone depth" and picked up the pace. Was able to run 90 without too much effort, so I was happy about that.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:51. Jenny and Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:06. Benjamin needs to learn more respect for his dad. He made me run an 88 quarter with a stroller at the end of a 23 mile day + Elder's Quorum move + two sessions of the Stake Conference + wearing street clothes + going off a 180 turn, which is a real speed killer if you are pushing a stroller. But I survived, caught up to him, and was ready to go faster after 200 meters. 0.5 with Joseph in 4;26. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:36.

Day of rest. We had a Stake Conference. The talks were on missionary work focusing on Alma 26. This is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. It teaches about the fruits of faith. I love to learn from Ammon how to be a great missionary.

A.M. This morning I was reading in 3 Nephi 12 where resurrected Christ repeats the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites. Then Jeff asked me in the middle of the run to go another 3 miles. I remembered the scripture from the Sermon on the Mount "if any shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain", and decided to follow the instruction. So we ended up with the Uneventful Half instead of our regular 10.18. Except due to the construction it was a bit longer, 13.19, which we did in a glorious time of 1:43:54. Hey, at least we broke 8:00 average!

We did 1.5 in the middle. Jeff asked me how fast, I said marathon pace. Then after the first 100 I informed him we were on pace for 2:11. So he eased off to a real marathon pace, but then we picked it up again after the first mile in 5:42 and ran a quarter in 83, then 200 in 38 and the last 200 in 35 to finish the segment in 8:18.5. So we did hit marathon world record pace in the last 200.

We met Scott Hilman and he ran about 2.5 miles with us.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:23. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:22. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:54. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

A.M. 10.38 in 1:18:38. Did a mile in 5:47.7. Felt tired, thought I'd be off pace in the fast mile, but I was on pace in spite of the fatigue.

P.M. 2.75 with the running group, including 2x600 in 2:12 each. Benjamin ended up with 2.5 including 2 in 15:27 with the last mile in 6:39 done in the 2x600 in 2:12 fartlek. Jenny ran 2.5. Julia ran 1.5. Joseph did 0.5 in 4:16. Jacob ran 0.25 in 2:38.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10.1 in 1:19:13. Did pickups. 1000 down a slight grade in 3:20.8, 800 flat in 2:33.6, 1000 up a slight grade in 3:16.6. Total of 1.75 of pickups.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:07. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:19. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:36. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

A.M. 10.1 in 1:15:01. Met Jeff on the trail. It rained/snowed and was quite unpleasant. So we ran a bit quicker to get it over with. I ran the last 0.7 at 6:00 pace just for fun.

P.M. 2.5 with the kids running group. Benjamin did 2.5 including 2 in 15:43. Jenny ran a total of 2.5. Julia did 1.5. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:16. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah.

A.M. Met Jeff and Chris Bramwell on the trail. Ended up with 10 miles in 1:18:53. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:23. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:07.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:28. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

A.M. Ran 20.4 with Jeff in 2:24:42. Did the planned 4 mile time trial. Everything went pretty much as planned. Jeff paced me with near perfection with the splits of 5:29 - 5:31 - 5:29 in the first three miles. There was only one glitch. He spaced it a bit in the third mile, so we ended up running an 81 quarter to catch up right before the 180 turn at the 3 mile mark. Then the plan was 80 - 80 - then see what happens. Jeffs erred a bit and hit 79, which would have been OK without 180 and 81 preceding quarter, but with those it was a bit too much for me. So that reduced the "see what happens" in the last 0.5 to "see if I can maintain the pace". Then we did 80, 81. After that Jeff picked it up and ran 72, while I still managed 79. This gave me 5:19 for the last mile and 21:48.3 for the whole distance. I was happy about the result for several reasons:

• I was wearing pants, so maybe 3 seconds a mile loss.
• Two 180 degree turns, so maybe 7 seconds total loss.
• Even without the turns the trail for some reason (possibly more than one) naturally loses 5 seconds a mile compared to flat road races.
• My last 5 K was 16:54. Last year I've had a good number of races where I could not crack 17:00.
• My last mile was 11 seconds faster than the first three.
• I beat my Thanksgiving time by 1:16 on a slower course.

Afterwards we jogged some, then ran 2 with Benjamin in 15:38 with the last quarter in 87. Then we did 2x1 mile on the trail, first in 5:37.8 and second in 5:28.8.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

Day of rest. Went to church. The sacrament talks were on following the prophet. The Sunday school lesson was on covenants. The lesson in the Elder's quorum was on service.

A.M. Uneventful half course (with the detour, so 13.19) with Jeff in 1:38:54. Did a 1.5 pickup in 8:16.3. First 1.25 in 7:02 at a fairly even pace, then the last quarter in 74. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:27. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:19.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:28. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:46.

A.M. 10.1 in 1:14:39. Met Jeff on the trail. We did 10x400 with random rests varying from a 200 meter jog at 8:00 pace to as long as 0.75. The reason for the randomness was being in odd places on the trail, and we did not always have a nice quarter without bridges or sharp turns. The target was 75 seconds. The purpose of the workout was to learn to run 5:00 pace relaxed. We did err a couple of times, but otherwise stayed fairly close to target. The splits were: 77.3, 73.5, 74.0, 73.8, 72.3, 69.7, 75.8, 75.6, 73.3, 72.0. During the cool down after I had dropped Jeff off I met a guy named Jason and we ran together some. In line with the Provo young man running tradition he ended up being fluent in a foreign language, which was Spanish this time. He had served a mission in Buenos Aires in Argentina. 

P.M. 2.75 with the running group. Benjamin and Jenny did 2.5, including 2 in 16:36. Julia ran 1.5. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:22. Jacob ran 0.25 in 2:41.

A.M. Jeff did not make it this morning, but Jason was there. Ran with Jason a bit. Did 10.28 in 1:16:41. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:30. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:22.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:36. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10 in 1:13:44. Did 2x1200 in 3:59.3 and 3:58.7. The first one was a slight uphill (last 0.75 of the Fast Running Blog 5 miler course). The second was from Union Pacific bridge to 820 N, which is more uphill. This was Jeff's race pace practice for this Saturday.

P.M. Ran with the kids running group. Ended up with a total of 3.25. Benjamin ran 2 including a mile in 6:12. Jenny did a total of 4 including a mile in 7:10. Julia ran 2. Joseph ran 0.5 in 3:58.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 10.1 in 1:19:23. We did a quarter pickup in 78. The weather was bad enough for us to discuss global warming for a few miles. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jared. Benjamin ran 16:46 with the last quarter in 90. Jared started falling back in the last 0.5, so I waited at the 1.75 mark to make sure Jared would follow the course, then chased Benjamin down and ended up with an 83 quarter. I was also carrying Jared's jacket, but it surprisingly did not seem to make a whole lot of difference. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:09. 0.5 with Joseph and Jordan. Joseph ran 4:56, Jordan fell back a bit at the end and finished in 5:01. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.