Breaking the Wall

A.M. Long run. 20.33 in 2:10:40. Ran the last 5.05 hard - 29:33, 5:51 avg. The run was full of adventures. First it rained. Then I saw the Provo City Half in progress. Then I met Steve Cuttitta and he ran with me for a couple of miles. We saw Jeff and I knew he was headed for something faster than 1:09:30 I was optimistically expecting in a solo run. He looked smooth at 11. He ended up with 1:08:56, new course record by almost 2 minutes, read his race report for details. The we saw the whole crowd.

On the way back I ran the tempo. The rain picked up. Now I was going in the same direction as the race. This was perhaps better than going the other way. Passed Marion with about 2 miles to go, recognized her by the jacket, she was moving OK, estimated she would finish around 2:15-2:20 (she ended up with 2:21)  but unfortunately did not have enough time to say hi. The tempo felt good, the form felt actually quite smooth, no fuel issues. I was seeing 86 quarters at times when I got a stretch with fewer people, and 88-89s when I had to weave through traffic. Slower on sections with turns and bridges. I tried to shift gears, though, but they were not shifting. Perhaps a combination of being alone and the rain.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:55. He made me run a quarter in 86. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:11. Jenny ran 2.5 in the morning with Sarah. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

Day of rest. Went to Jeff's daughter's blessing for the sacrament meeting, then to our ward for the other two meetings. The lessons were on the organization of the Church in Sunday School, and on diligence in the Elder's Quorum.

A.M. 10.08 with Jeff in 1:17:28. Started very slow, were trailing the 8:00 guy more than half way, then sped up some. Jeff's calves were sore from the half on Saturday. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:48. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:51. 2 with Benjamin in 15:49. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:49. Benjamin made me run the last 0.5 in 3:00.

Tried rollerblading for the second time in my life. First time was 13 years ago and I went only maybe 50 meters. So this was the first time that I rollerbladed for more than that. It was an interesting experience. I did better than I expected. I thought it would take me a while just to learn to stand, but I was able to do that right a way. And I was able to move right away as well. Then I decided to time myself. My first 100 meters was in 52 seconds, a glorious 14:00 mile pace! Then with some practice I learned to go sub-12:00.  After about 1.5 I was able to speed up to 9:30.

Of course, there was a reason to the madness. I was not going to become a roller-blading bum at the age of 37 all of a sudden just because. I have noticed a pattern that I have run well in the past when I cross-country skied with skating style. So I wondered if perhaps the skating motion helps balance out my hips. I did notice two things when rollerblading. First, the imbalance is more pronounced - my right hip feels a whole lot more out of whack when rollerblading than when running. Second, riding on rough asphalt make the leg vibrate, and it feels like standing on a vibration plate. This could help loosen up deep tight muscles and stretch out the ligaments and tendons.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. We caught up to a runner whose name was Chris and ran with him some. After dropping Jeff off I ran an 84 quarter at the end to finish the run before it started hailing. Total time for 10 was 1:18:55.

P.M. 2.75 with the running group. Benjamin and Jenny did 2.5 including 2 in 16:15. Julia ran 1.5. Joseph did 0.5 in 4:40. Jacob ran 0.25 in 2:40.

A.M. 10.1 in 1:11:45. Last 1 K in 3:45. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 1 mile on rollerblades in 9:46. It was not easy, probably around 7:00 running effort in cardio, but I could not go any faster. Odd feeling.  2 with Benjamin in 17:01. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:04. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:37. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:35.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10 in 1:15:28. Caught up to Sarah and Jenny at the end, and Jenny ran about 0.4 with me. Timed the last quarter, it was 1:39.

P.M. 2.5 miles with the kids running group, including 2x300 with Benjamin in 59.0 and 56.5 - Benjamin ran 2 in 16:15 total time, and a total of 2.5. Julia ran 1.5, including a mile in 8:39. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:24. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah. 

A.M. 10.28 in 1:08:28. Did a 1.5 pickup in 8:18. Felt good. Jeff had a calf strain, took a day off.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 16:19. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:37. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:28. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:41.

A.M, Ran with Jeff. Because of his calf strain we had a change of plans. We went out 3 miles so we would not be too far away from the house, then turned around, and on the way back kept going and went the other way on the trail to avoid a 180. We also kept the pace slow to avoid stirring the pot - a bit sub-8:00. We went a bit too far, and ended up with 10.43 in 1:20:39. Then Jeff stopped, and I ran the standard 10.18 course in 58:39 with a slight negative split (29:22, 29:17). So that gave me 2:19:18 for 20.63. The average pace for the last 10.18 was 5:46.

I was happy that I was able to sustain the pace.  It felt not so sustainable early on, and I thought I would be slowing down in the second half, especially given that it has some uphill. Turns slow you down more when fatigued as well. But I was able to stay relaxed which allowed me to maintain power in the second half and run a negative split. I found that offering a prayer to clear your mind, and thinking about a peaceful church hymn helps a lot. I like this one:

Lord, accept our true devotion.
Let thy Spirit whisper peace.
Swell our hearts with fond emotion,
And our joy in thee increase.
Never leave us, never leave us.
Help us, Lord, to win the race.

because of "whisper peace" and "win the race".  Idle thoughts fatigue the nervous system. When peace is whispered, and the idle thoughts are gone, the neural output to the legs in the critical phase of the running stride increases and helps in the cause of winning the race.

I also noticed that I was not breathing very hard. My lungs definitely felt underworked. The limit was neuromuscular.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:13. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:45. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

Day of rest. Went to church. It was Mothers' Day. The talks in the sacrament meeting were on the role of mothers. It was my turn to teach in Sunday School, and in the Elder's Quorum as well. The lesson in Sunday School was on the church of Jesus Christ in our day. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on prayer.

A.M. Ran with Jeff. 10.18 in 1:18:01.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:53. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:53. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:32.

A.M. 10 in 1:16:27. Met Jeff on the trail. Did 600 in 1:53.7, and a mile in 5:18.1. Had some headwind in the mile. Tried to run an honest 5 K effort that I could sustain. Jeff skipped the fast stuff due to back and calf problems. 

P.M. 3.25 with the running group. Benjamin ran 3 including a 87 quarter, and a mile in 6:14 starting out fast (83), surviving in the middle at 6:44 pace, and then finishing in 89. I wanted him to experience life after an 85 quarter, but it accidentally ended up 83. The idea is that if he can see that he can live after an 85 he will learn to believe that 90 is sustainable. Or another approach,  blast it out in 85, then there is too much pain to mull over if he can hold 90s to the end, so no opportunity to panic.   Jenny ran 2.5, Julia ran 1.5, Joseph ran 0.5, and Jacob ran 0.25.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Jenny ran the first half of the run with Sarah, the last half with me, total of 2.5 including the last mile in 7:29. I ended up with 1:17:25 for 10.1.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:18, including a quarter in 83. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:51. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. Benjamin ran 0.25 with Jacob.

A.M. 10.38 in 1:09:46. Did a mile in 5:13.6 to feel the 5 K pace. 5:00 felt too hard. 5:16 felt OK. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Ran with the running kids group.  Ended up with 2.75 miles. Jacob ran 0.25 in 2:29. Joseph did 0.5 in 4:40. Julia did 1.5 including a mile in 8:39. Benjamin did 2.5 including 2 in 13:56 with the last 1.5 in 9:47 and last mile in 6:19.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 10.53 in 1:16:32. Did a couple of pickups. 600 in 1:46.3 - was supposed to be 5:00 pace (1:52, but Jeff was a bit feisty). Then that was supposed to be the end of it, but then we say a guy ahead of us and decided to chase him down. It was taking a while. At first we ran something like 6:00 pace but we were not closing the gap. Then we sped up to 5:15, and started closing it. We ran an extra quarter to ask the guy's name. He said Brad something, and even though we did not here the last name at first both of us guessed it right -  Osguthorpe. The moral of the story is if you are unusually fast and have shown it in races, never rob a bank, or if you do, do not escape on foot. You can wear a face mask, but they'll figure out who you are by your running speed and form. Not to mention that a guy than trains consistently usually has better things to do than rob banks. Although with today's economy and pathetic payback from running he might be tempted to do it.

So chasing Brad we ended up with about half a mile at 6:00 pace, and another half at 5:15. Then we turned around and he kept going. On the way back he caught up to us. When we caught him he was actually just warming up. Now he was doing a tempo run. We joined him for 1000 in 3:18 (5:17 pace) up about 1% grade.

P,M. Kids runs. Benjamin ran 2.5 in 18:56. Julia and Jenny did 2 in 17:14. Jacob did 0.25 in 2:41. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:53. I ended up with a total of 3.25 for the evening.

A.M. Law Days 5 K. It used to be a rather non-eventful run as far as competition is concerned. Until law firms got somewhat serious about recruiting top local runners for their speed teams. Chad's law firm, Curtis, Manning, and Bradshaw put together two teams this year. Things were serious enough to where I did not make the A team and had to be sent to B. For a good reason. Our A team had Jeff, Paul, and Josh Stephen for men, Lindsey Dunkley and Emily Bates.  They were well matched by Olsen Shaner - Teren, Nate Hornok, Albert Wint, Sue Nielsen, and Devra Vierkant. 

I warmed up with Jeff and Paul. We ran the course in 22:13. The course had been changed, and looked good. The kilometer marks were present and all reasonable. The hills have been shortened, and the course appeared definitely faster than it used to be. The weather was perfect.

I set five goals at the start of the race, and am happy to report that I met all of them. They were to break 17:00 equivalent of the old course, not to get chicked (Lindsey),  not to get lawyered (Andrew Hansen) , be the first fluent Russian speaker across the finish line (in other words beat Albert), and be within reasonable distance from Josh.

I realized in my pre-race pickups that I was not ready to run a 5 K like a 5 K and decided to think of it as a 10-15 K race figuring that the excitement of the race plus knowing in the back of my mind that I was going only 5 K would fix the pace in the right direction naturally.

1 K 3:19 - Uphill, sharp turns. At the start I figured Lindsey will naturally hit the right pace for the first quarter, so I just ran right next to her. If it was a male competitor I would just draft, but I wanted to be a gentleman. Plus she is so small that unless you are 5'2 you do not get a whole lot of benefit of drafting behind her.  Then Andrew made a move, and I just got on his tail. I fell back a bit trying to relax, but then Andrew slowed down a bit and I reeled him back in,

2 K 6:49 (3:30) - Most uphill of the race. Andrew went into a gutter at around 1.3 K mark. I did not want to go there with him. That encouraged me to make the passing move. He wanted to stay in the gutter. He was apparently struggling some. He could have latched on and kept me from dropping him, but he would have had to come out of the cutter to keep meaningful contact.  Took a split at the mile. It was 5:21. Timed Albert, it was 5:14.

3 K 10:05 (3:16) - Downhill with some uphill. Surged to close the gap with Albert, then rested behind him until the start of the hill (around 2.6 K), then sensed he was losing it a bit and made a passing move.

4 K 13:20 (3:15) - Downhill, but lots of turns. Had to ask volunteers where to go a couple of times. Josh is starting to come back.

5 K 16:27 (3:07) - downhill, steeper. Decided the best way to hold off the people behind me is to focus on closing the gap with Josh. It worked.

Jeff had a great race and was still with Teren in the kick, then just lost the kick finish second. This is a breakthrough race for him.

Final times (unofficial): Teren 14:52, Jeff 14:55, Paul 15:17, Nate 15:20, Josh 16:13, me 16:27, Andrew 16:31, Albert 16:33, Lindsey 16:39.

I think our A team won.

There is a suspicion the course was a bit short. Albert's GPS showed it as 3.03. I would be willing to believe that the GPS was off but the times while right for a normal course are a bit too fast for so much uphill and turns. But I would say it is roughly comparable to something like Heart of Holladay or Murray Fun Days.

Did a long cool down with Jeff afterwards, ended up with 16 miles, and then went to the zoo with the family. Saw Paul, Stacy and their son Seth there.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:40. Last quarter in 87. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles with Sarah. I rollerbladed along.

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks were on living the gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson in Sunday School was on faith. The lesson in the Elders Quorum was on prophets.

A.M. Easy 10.18 with Jeff in 1:19:47. Chatted about the Saturday's race. Jeff has grown into a monster over the last three years.  Three years ago BYU did not want him. Now he has a very realistic shot at making the Trials without having to run the full marathon (via 1:05 half). That is what we do on Fast Running Blog. We breed monsters!   

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:50. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:05. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah in the morning. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:47. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 10 in 1:16:27 with 3x1200 on the trail with 200 recovery. 3:57.8, 4:02.0, 3:51.2. I think this is a perfect 5 K training workout. Maybe do the 4th one once you plateau with 3. I felt HR was going into 170 range on the last one. If you just bust out a fast 1200 HR might not go up and you will be running anaerobically. This is OK for the mile, but not for the 5 K. In the 5 K you want your HR elevated for the longest extent possible (not due to the lack of aerobic fitness, though).  While in the half and longer you are playing the game of getting the most out of one heart beat, in the 5 K that is not enough. You need to get the heart to beat fast as well.

Then 3.25 more with Julia in 29:25  to Walgreens and back to get new clogs.

P.M. Ran with the kids running group. It was a special day. I have been giving Benjamin workouts to get him to believe that he could break 6:00. I carefully planned this one to make it happen right in the workout. I told him, open with an 85, then 90, then whatever you want, I do not care if it is 8:00 pace, then 90.  He was freaking out and telling me he could not do it, and that he would not even try. I gave him a talk about Laman and Lemuel, threatened him that he would have to take two piano lessons a week instead of one, and then told him to pray for humility. He finally did and was ready to go. I told him if he opened with 85, and got to half mile in under 3:00 I did not care if he jogged to the end from there, but only with one condition - he had to be able to be happy with himself.  Of course, I knew that if he opened with 85, he would get to half mile in at least 2:55, and once he is there he would not be happy with himself if he had not tried to hold the pace. He seemed to understand that as well and deep down was fighting the idea.

So from the start he busted out of the gate. After I had slowed him down, the first 100 was 18. I congratulated him for being on pace for 4:48, and he backed off to what was right. 84 at the quarter, 2:07 at 600, 2:51 (87) at the half. This was a 1 second half mile PR. Then he started freaking out and slowed down to a jog. But that was OK, it was part of my "devious" plan. I knew you could jog only that slow after running fast. His next 100 was 28, so he was still ahead of the 6:00 guy. After hearing the split he began to believe that he could break his mile record of 6:07 and sped up to a 24 quarter. He was still 2 seconds ahead of 6:00 pace, and had only 600 to go. He ran the next 200 more or less off inertia in 46 hitting 0.75 in 4:29 and then it dawned on him that he only needed a 91 to hit 6:00. So pretty much maintain the pace, and it is in the bag. He got excited and sped up. His last quarter was 84, and he finished the mile in 5:53.9 thus becoming the second member in our family sub-6:00 club!

So his progression is as follows - sub-8:00 at the age of 5, a month before his 6th birthday. Sub-7:00 at the age of 8 a couple of months after his 8th birthday. Now sub-6:00 at the age of 11 three months after his 11th birthday. Now we are hoping for sub-5:00 at 14 and sub-4:00 at 17, of course. In reality, sub-5:00 will probably happen at late 12/early 13, and sub-4:00 may never happen, but I'll be OK with that as long as he can run 4:10. You can run 2:05 marathon off as slow as 4:10 mile with proper endurance training.

Benjamin ran a total of 3. Jenny ran 2.5. Joseph ran 0.5.

A.M. 10.38 in 1:18:57. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M.  2 with Benjamin in 16:00. Last 200 in 39. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:28.

A.M. 10 in 1:18:12. Met Jeff on the trail. We did a 200 stride in 40. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

P.M. Ran with the kids running group. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:17. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:32.  2 with Benjamin in 15:20 including a 600 in 2:03.0 and a 200 in 39.9.  His next challenges are to beat my 11 year old records: 1000 in 3:24.6, 300 in 51.3, and 2000 in 7:57. The 2000 is weak as I ran it with only maybe a month of training fading a lot in the second kilometer. Benjamin almost got it last week without trying to break any records closing his 2 mile run in 8:03 for the last 2 K. 300 would be tough, but I figure if he can hit a 56 at the end of a fartlek, he might be able to run 51 fresh. He is pretty close to taking down the 1000 record given that he can hold the pace through 600 in a fartlek already.

A.M. 10.28 in 1:12:23. Last 1 K in 3:31. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:50. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

A.M. 20 with Jeff in 2:18:04. Ran to Bridal Veil Falls and back. Did a workout in the middle. 3 miles up the Provo Canyon from the mouth to Nunns Park in 17:28 (5:53 - 5:49 - 5:46). Got a slight tail wind. Then the same stretch back, now with a slight headwind in 15:55 (5:28 - 5:19 - 5:08). We bummed it in the first quarter (88 downhill), then got down to business. Then the last 1.5 at my honest marathon pace effort more or less. At least the first mile of it (5:44), then we did 84, 80 to finish the interval in 8:28.

Felt cruising at 5:20 pace downhill, very comfortable feeling. Not quite the marathon pace, but I think slower than the half. Also felt very comfortable at 5:44 pace in the last 1.5 segment. Did not feel so good at 5:08 pace downhill. Part of it is that by that time the downhill decreases and we were running into a headwind. Part of it is that we had to dodge a group of walkers and Jeff hit the gas, which gave us 78 before the end of the second mile followed by 75 while weaving through traffic. This put some stress on my nervous system and I suppose I was still feeling it in the next three quarters at a brisk pace. And part of it is that it was 5:08 and I am not yet fit to run this for a long time.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:56. Pushed William in the stroller. Benjamin has developed a habit of making me work on a Saturday night when I am tired from my long run. He made me run 88 at the end of it this time. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:33. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:37.

Day of rest. Went to church. Good talks in sacrament on sharing the Gospel. Then a lesson on repentance in Sunday school. Applying this to marathons, while 2:40 is a good time, you can still repent of it by running 2:20. In other words repentance = improvement. Substituted in Primary during the Elders Quorum.

Hobie Call and his wife Irene  came over for dinner with their five children. We had a good visit.

A.M. Bum recovery run. Met Jeff on the trail. Did 11.4 in 1:32:17. Glorious 8:05 average. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:56. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:17. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

A.M. 10.28 in 1:14:57.

P.M. Ran with the running group. Ended up with 2.75 miles. Benjamin ran 2.5 including 2 in 15:09 with 600 in 2:00.1 and 200 in 39.1. Jenny ran 2.5 including 2 in 16:53. Julia ran 1.5. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:05. Jacob did 0.25 in 2:38. I was pleased with Benjamin's 600 at 5:20 pace. He is going to run 800 in a track meet on Saturday. We will see if he can crack 2:40.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10.1 in 1:19:58. It was a social day. First we ran with Otello from the Spanish branch in our stake for a bit. Then Adrianne Hunter (Iain Hunter's wife) caught up to us. She was going 7:20 and was still conversational. We sped up and ran with her, then slowed back down to 8:00 once she turned.  Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

A.M. 10.5 in 1:15:48. Met Jeff on the trail. We ran an impromptu tempo to catch a runner in front of us, but after running for as long as we were willing to we still had not caught him and never saw him afterwards. We ended up with 2.25 miles in 12:20. The first quarter was 86, second 85, after that we started running quicker - about 5:25 pace.

On the way back to the house I ran into Jenny and Julia and ran the last mile with them in 8:29 while they ran 2 miles.

P.M. Ran with the running group. Ended up with 2.75 miles. Benjamin did 2.5 miles. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:26. Jacob ran 0.25 in 2:29.

A.M. 10.28 in 1:16:27. Met Jeff on the trail.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia in 17:58. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:36. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

A.M. 20.38 with Jeff (until the last mile when he dropped me). Total time was 2:10:22. The goal was to get a quick 20 in without having to get up too early before Benjamin's track meet with minimum damage and maximum training effect. So figured 6:40 pace for 15 miles, then 5:45 - 6:00 to the finish. Which is pretty much what we did, except Jeff threw in a couple of surges to sub 5:30 pace in the middle of the last 5 miles, and then dropped me in the last mile running a 5:14 on an uphill mile with turns and bridges.  I managed a 5:43. Total time for the last 5.09 was 29:20, 5:46 pace.

Benjamin ran the 800. I hoped he would break 2:40 or at least be close, but he blew it with the opening 100 in 17. He still won the race in 2:52 with the splits of 37 - 46 - 47 - 42. We are going to practice pacing with me running far enough behind to where I am not controlling it. He does not yet know how to pace himself when he is racing other kids.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

Day of rest. Went to church. Good talks in the sacrament meeting on finding peace in troubled times. The lesson in Sunday school was on baptism. It was fifth Sunday, so we had a combined meeting with a presentation on missionary work.

A.M. 12.18 with Jeff in 1:30:40. Benjamin ran the first 2 miles with us in 14:51. The last quarter was 89. We did a 1.5 pickup in the middle. The plan was 86 - 85 - 84 - 83 - 82, then speed up to to 82 pace, and then run the last 100 in 15. Overall we maintained the target pace, but it was rather erratic. So instead of a progression run we ended up with a weird fartlek of sorts: 86 - 83 - 87 - 82 , then 300 in 60, and the last 100 15.5 for me, 14.5 for Jeff. Total time was 8:18.

Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:42. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:37.