Breaking the Wall

A.M. Started with Jeremy and Ariel. Ariel is from Uruguay so we spoke Spanish the entire time. He speaks English fine, in fact his wife does not even speak Spanish, but his presence gives me and Jeremy and extra boost to work on our Spanish. Based on my observations the day before, I decided to try this workout: 400 fast - 100 recovery - 400 fast - 100 recovery - 500 fast - 100 recovery - 500 fast going out of the canyon because I noticed it is easier for me to hit a higher HR on a mild downhill and without the headwind.  I did 75, 73, 1:33, 1:31 - recoveries were around 8:00 except before the last one when I was going around 10:00 pace.  HR was 157 at the highest. I was not happy about that, but no matter how hard I tried, it was not going higher.

After finishing a bit more than 6 with them I did 6x100 hill repeats starting out at 18.8 and finishing in 17.5. Then I ran 6 with Benjamin. I did a half mile interval on the way back again down the canyon in 2:25.3 with the max HR of 159. I am happy that I could hit 4:50 pace and after half a mile HR was still only 159. It actually got there by 600 and then was staying steady. That is actually a very good result as far as the economy is concerned. What I am not happy about is that I could not go any faster.

Total of 13 miles for the run. 

P.M. 2 with Joseph, Jacob did 1 of them. 

A.M. Started with 6.7 with Jeremy and Ariel. I wanted to know if Ariel could run a 6:15 mile. So we did a fast mile coming back down the canyon. We opened with a 92 quarter. I sensed that Ariel could go faster and upped the pace a bit with the next quarter in 90. The next quarter was 87. Then I saw that Jeremy could break his mile record and challenged him to kick. We finished in 5:53 with the last quarter in 84, which is his new record. Ariel finished in 5:56 with the last quarter in 87. So that is encouraging, he has more speed than I thought.

Then I ran another 6.5 with Benjamin, total of 13.2.

P.M. 2 with Joseph, Jacob did 1 of them. 

A.M. Started with Ariel and Jeremy. Repeated my workout from Tuesday. did 2x400 71.8, 72.3, then 2x500 1:32.3, 1:30.0 with 100 recovery. HR maxed out at 159 on those. Then back to the house, 6x100 hill sprints 18.8, 18.2, 17.8, 17.6, 17.3, 17.2. Then 6 more with Benjamin with a half mile interval in 2:22.7. Benjamin ran the first quarter with me in 71. HR maxed out at 162. The overall feeling was that I could push more air through the lungs and more blood through the legs.

P.M. 2 miles with Joseph, Jacob did 1. 

A.M. Ran with 6.5 Jeremy, did 1000 pickup in 3:18.  Then another 6.5 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia did 2.

P.M. 2 with Joseph. Jacob did 1. 

A.M. 20 mile run. Chad ran the first 9 with me then turned around. On the way back I did the 10 mile tempo. It was windy, the wind was blowing into the canyon again. I think it was stronger than last week - HR was notably higher, while the pace on certain stretches was much faster, while on others only marginally faster, and there was a mile stretch right when I came out of the Vivian Park where I could not even break 6:00. Total time was 58:23, HR hovered around 148-152, maxed out at the end at 160 on the uphill by the house. The 3 mile tempo stretch was 17:26.  Chad waited for me at the 16 mile mark, then tried to join me for part of the tempo, but his stomach was not cooperating so he only lasted about half mile.

Benjamin did 6, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 1.

P.M. 2 miles with Joseph. 

Day of rest. Went to church. It was a Fast and Testimony meeting. Joseph and Julia bore their testimonies without any prodding from us or any help at the pulpit. Our family policy is that if a kid is going to bear his testimony in public, it needs to be his own. Then we had a lesson on King Benjamin's sermon in Sunday School, and on Elder Oaks' talk about sacrifice in the Elder's Quorum.

A.M. Ran with 7 Jeremy and Ariel. Did a pickup for 0.4 at 5:15 pace. Then 6 more with Benjamin. Total of 13. Jenny and Julia did 2.

P.M. 2 miles with Joseph in 15:54 on our tough course, his new record. Jacob did 1 in 7:51. I held his hand because he could not do that pace on his own, and I did not want to slow Joseph down as he was on pace for the record.

A.M. Ran first with Ariel, then with Benjamin. Total of 14 miles. Did a workout to push the HR - 400 in 71.8, 100 recovery at about 8:00 pace, 400 in 72.3, 100 recovery at about 8:00 pace, 600 in 1:52.8, then about a quarter recovery at about 10:00 pace, and 600 in 1:48.5. Then hill sprints at the house 6x100 starting at 18.8 and finishing at 17.4, then ran 6 with Benjamin - did 1000 in 3:00.6. The first 600 were with Benjamin in 1:49.5, and I was already feeling not quite up to the task of running 3:00 for 1000. But I regrouped and gave it a push and was able to close the second on the 3:00 guy. HR hit 167. I was happy about that.

P.M. 2 with Joseph. Jacob did 1. 

A.M. 7 with Ariel and Jeremy. We did 1.5 fast down the canyon. The target was 6:00 pace. They both were holding the pace quite well and ended up running 8:49, 11 seconds faster. The goal is to teach their legs the idea that 6:00 pace is a normal distance race pace, not something reserved for a short speed workout or out of science fiction. Then added 3 more at home. Benjamin did not run this morning because he was taking an AP Calculus BC test. We decided to throw him in the water and see how well he can swim - so give him the hardest math test we knew of that scored something of value. The goal is to score 5 and get credit for BYU Math 112 and 113. From what he described, it sounded like he might have actually gotten it, but we'll have to wait until July to get the results. If not, he is only 13 years old, we will try again next year. This test costs $87. A BYU course costs $600 so it is worth trying it again to get the $1200 worth of credits.

Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles, including 1 with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin and I did 1 with Mandy, 2 with Joseph, and 3 by ourselves - total of 6. 

A.M. Ran with Jeremy and Ariel. Did a speed workout. First 800 into the headwind in 2:42.8, then turned around, 4x400 with 100 recovery at about 8:00 pace. Started at 72, then faded to 73.8 on the last one. Jogged a quarter mile at about 10:00 pace, then did 600 in 1:45.5. Hill sprints, 6x100 starting at 18.2 and finishing at 17.3. Then 6 more including 4 with Benjamin and 2 with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph. Benjamin did total of 6, Jacob 1, I ended up with 14.

P.M. Benjamin and I went to the chess tournament. A rare occasion for me - I won both games I played, one against a 1200 player, the other against 1700. Benjamin won one against a 1300 player  and lost one to a 2000 guy. Two weeks ago I managed to draw against a 1980 guy. It seems like in both of those games there was a common pattern - first I lost a rook on a blunder, and then my king got chased and ended up on the other side of the board. This is usually a recipe for disaster, but somehow I managed to get 1.5 points out of 2 in those two games. So as I joke I can now say that if you want to do well against a higher rated opponent, you need to first drop your rook, and then you need to let him chase your king around. 

A.M. Ran with Jeremy and Ariel, then with Benjamin, Jacob, Jenny, Joseph, and Julia. Total of 13 miles. Benjamin did 6, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, Jacob 1. 

A.M. Long run. First 9 miles with Ariel at about 8:00 pace. Then one more jogging mile, and then 10 back down the Provo Canyon and back to the house in 57:13. Felt sluggish but could hold the pace. The 3 mile stretch from Nunns to the mouth of the canyon was 16:52. HR hovered around 150 and visited 155 range when the pace became sub-5:40. Around 18.8 mark there was an interesting incident that might have messed up the last mile. There was a lady with a little dog, actually a notorious theme in the Russian literature, Chekhov has a short story about a lady with a little dog, and this theme is talked about enough for me to be aware of a proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra (polynomial of degree N over complex field has N roots) that is named "a lady with a dog". Anyway, all those thoughts came together when with a little bit more than a mile to go with about 8.8 miles of hard running behind me and in a state of fatigue all of a sudden I saw a lady with a dog, and the leash blocked my path. I made an awkward attempt to steeple-chase over the leash, and thanks to its low height I was able to clear it - hurdles are definitely not my strength - but it knocked me out of rhythm. I was still able to maintain 5:50 on the flat and 6:00 on the hills going back to the house, but not enough juice to go under 57:00.

There was some headwind but not as much as last week. Overall I am happy with the workout as I was able to run faster and at a higher HR.

Benjamin did 6, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, Jacob 1. 

Day of rest. Went to church. It was the Mother's Day, so the talks in the Sacrament meeting were on motherhood. Then we had a lesson on Zeniff and king Limhi in Sunday School, and on prayer in the Elder's Quorum.

A.M. Ran with Jeremy and Ariel, then with the kids. Benjamin did 6, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, Jacob 1. I ran total of 13 miles.

A.M. Ran with Jeremy and Ariel, did 3x400 with 100 recovery in 71.8, 72.3, 72.8 then long recovery, 600 in 1:45.2, got home did 6x100 hill sprints ranging from 18.2 to 17.2, then ran with the kids. Jenny, Julia, and Joseph did 2, Jacob 1, Benjamin 6. I did total of 14 miles.

A.M. Ran with Jeremy and Ariel. We did a 2 mile tempo down the canyon. The target was 6:00 pace. We went through the first mile in 5:55. Ariel faded after the first 0.75 or so. Jeremy also had a hard time in the second mile and ran it in 6:12, total time 12:07. It is interesting that they both did fine at 5:53 pace for 1.5, but when we make it 2 all of a sudden we are in a different psychological territory. We will try again next week and see if we can break this mental block.

Then I came home and ran with Benjamin. We jogged 2 miles and then ran 2 miles hard coming back. Our time was 11:36.6. It is not an easy course, I had to work to keep up. Benjamin was pushing the pace most of the time except for about 500 meters after 1.5. This is a breakthrough for Benjamin. I estimate he should be running a track 5 K in a low 18:00 or a little under. He will run the Utah Valley 10 K. The goal is to hold 6:00 pace all the way.

Then ran with the other kids. Total distances were - Benjamin -6, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, Jacob 1. I ran a total of 13.

A.M. Ran with Jeremy and Ariel. Did a speed workout. Modified it a bit. Started with 2x400 into the canyon with 100 recovery in 78.5 and 78.1, 200 recovery, 200 in 37.3. The 200 was unplanned, I just had to catch up to Ariel and Jeremy. Then a long rest, and 2x400 out of the canyon with 100 recovery in 70.2 and 71.5. Then a long rest, and 600 in 1:41.1. On that one Jeremy and Ariel ran the first 200 with me in 33. HR was 163 in the 600. I felt awkward, like I was swimming and barely staying afloat, but nevertheless it was the fastest 600 this year. I felt like I could have gone longer, but not faster. That was 7 miles total.

Then got home and did 6x100 hill sprints on my regular stretch. The splits were 17.8, 17.5, 17.2, 17.1, 16.6, 17.1. I really focused on the 16.6 and it paid off, but then I think I was too tired both physically and mentally. Then ran with the kids. Joseph wanted to do a time trial, so we drove to the Provo Canyon as doing it on our course near the house would have produced slower times. I wanted him to experience breaking 7:00. We did the mile down the canyon. He started out conservatively and complained that his pants were falling down. I told him to let the pants take care of themselves and just run since they had not fallen down yet, and if they do, so be it, he is only seven. So his first quarter was 1:48, then as his faith in the stability of the pants increased he sped up to 1:46. At this point I was not sure if it was just the pants or he was not feeling good because he kept falling behind and was not giving me five when I asked him, so I thought that there was no chance of him breaking 7:00. But then he sped up to 1:45 in the next quarter, and the 7:00 target became reachable with a strong kick. He found it and closed with 1:40 finishing in 6:59. Thus he became the fifth sub-7:00 miler in our family, and the first one to do it at the age of 7.

Jacob ran with Jenny and Julia at a slower pace to where we finished, and then we all ran back together. Jacob ended up running a good time for 2 miles in his debut - 17:42, and it was an out and back course. Not bad for a 5 year old. He does have more in him, I believe. Benjamin ran an out and back 5 K in 27:25 at the age of 5 which is 8:49 average when his mile PR was 8:21, maybe he could have done 8:10. Jacob has already run 8:00.6 mile on the track. I think Jacob is faster, but less mature, so he cannot yet push himself as hard as Benjamin did at his age.

So Jenny, Julia, Joseph, and Jacob ran 2 miles, Benjamin did 6, and I ended up with 13. 

A.M. Easy run with Jeremy and Ariel, then ran with the kids. Benjamin did 6, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, and Jacob 1. I did a pickup for about 0.7 to catch up to the kids because I started late. Total of 12 miles.

A.M. Ran with Ariel. He did the first 8 miles with me, then turned around. I finished the first 10 in 1:17:05 and then ran the same stretch back fast on my usual Saturday course - from the house to a few meters past mile marker 2 of the Provo River Half Marathon and then back. It was more or less a repeat of last week. I hit all my checkpoints within 5 seconds of last week splits, including the 3 mile tempo stretch in 16:57 ( 16:52 last week), which put me 3 seconds behind last week's time at 8 miles with the split of 45:24. But I was stronger in the last two miles - maybe it was from holding back a bit, maybe because this time I did not have to steeple-chase over the lady's little dog and the leash, maybe I was just stronger. Once thing I noticed is that I today I was holding a steady 5:40 over mile 9, while I was a bit slower last week even before the dog steeple-chase incident. Also I had a feeling that if you just gave me a straight flat road with no wind and with somebody to follow, I could run 5:40 pace for a while even in the zone. So I finished the last 10 miles in 57:03. No HR data today as my battery on the HRM strap died.

Day of rest. Went to church. We had another missionary couple from our ward speak. They will be living in their home but serving full time at the Missionary Training Center in Provo. What I really like about our ward is that we have a large number of missionaries - both young and old. There is something special about a senior couple going on a mission. Sarah and I are planning on that once we grow up. It will not happen for another 18 years, though, unless they change the rules as we are expecting our eighth child.

The lesson in Sunday School was on Abinadi. Whenever I read that part of the Book of Mormon I am always amazed at Abinadi's calm and thoroughness in teaching as he speaks to king Noah and his wicked priests as they are getting ready to burn him to death. When we read the story somewhat superficially at first we just see the courage and conviction of Abinadi as he refuses to recant his words under the threat of death. That is what I got out of it after reading it for about maybe the first 20 times. But then I began to see more - Abinadi gives a very thorough explanation of how the law of Moses points to the Atonement of Christ as he quotes and explains the prophesies of Isaiah. There is a certain special rhythm, for lack of a better word, to his discourse. It sounds like inspiring music to me as it lays out the Plan of Salvation before the reader.

Then the lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on scripture study. 

A.M. Ran with Ariel, then with the kids. Total of 12 miles. Benjamin did 6, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, Jacob 1, and William 0.3. 

A.M. Ran with Ariel first. Did a workout - 2x400 up 76.0, 77.0 with 100 recovery at 9:00 pace, then 2:30 rest, 2x400 down with 100 recovery at 9:00 pace in 71.4, 71.9, then long rest and 600 in 1:42.7. Got home, did 6x100 uphill starting at 18.2 and finishing at 17.4. Then ran with the kids. Benjamin did 6, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.3. Total of 13 miles.

P.M. We had a convert baptism in our ward.  A newlywed sister from Korea got baptized by her husband, who is also Korean, but has lived in the US for some time. Her father-in-law is good friends with Elder Choi of the Seventy, some may remember his talk I Love Loud Boys. He came to the baptism, spoke, and performed the confirmation. I am sure glad that Elder Choi loves loud boys. While our bishop was speaking about how Alma baptized in the waters of Mormon, my 7-year-old son Joseph exclaimed - "And he baptized 204 people!". When the bishop complimented him on learning well in Primary, Joseph responded: "I did not learn that in Primary, I read it myself!" Joseph reads his scriptures every day.

A.M. Ran with Jeremy and Ariel. We did a 2 mile time trial/6:00 pace "till the standard bearer fainteth". I learned a few things from last week and tried to do a better job pacing holding it back in the first 0.5. I also learned Ariel's patterns of losing contact better, and yelled "Da me cinco!" (Give me five) when I sensed he was about to lose contact in the next 5 seconds. In the past I asked him for a low five after he had lost the contact, but that did not work for him. I needed to ask while he was still in contact as a matter of prevention. This would give him an immediate goal to focus on instead of thinking negatively that he could not keep the pace. Right before the end of the first mile, which we did in 6:00 he said he could not go anymore. I told him he was not allowed to quit, and to give me five. He did. He ended up running the second mile in 5:58 for the total of 11:58 for 2 miles. Jeremy pulled ahead in the last quarter and finished in 11:53. So there is a lesson to learn from that. It is possible for the mind to perceive that you are not able to keep the pace any longer and believe that this is true enough to vocally protest at the point when in truth you are able to run twice the distance even speeding up slightly in the second half.

This is not to say that you can think and visualize yourself into running beyond the body's true limit. Your body has a real physical limit on any given day. The only way to raise it is to improve your health, training and recovery. But you will never find out what that limit is if you allow your mind to set limits on your body. Just go until you cannot, and then keep going at the same pace one more step at a time. One more step, one more step. 

After that I ran with the kids. Benjamin did 6, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, Jacob 1, and William 0.3. Total of 13.5 for me. 

A.M. Ran with Jeremy and Ariel. Did my regular workout. 2x400 with 100 recovery up in 77 and 78, then long rest, 2x400 down with 100 recovery in 70.6 an 69.4, then long rest and 600 in 1:42.0 with Jeremy and Ariel joining me for the first 200. HR hit 170. I think this routine has been effective for kicking the low HR problem whatever its cause was. I was concerned enough about it to get a blood test done, which, no surprise, revealed nothing. Got home, did 6x100 uphill ranging from 17.9 to 17.2 at the end. Ran more with the kids. Benjamin did 6, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, Jacob 1, and William 0.3. Total of 13.5.

A.M. Ran with Ariel for the first 6.5 miles. Then with the kids. Benjamin did 6, Julia and Joseph 2, Jacob and Jenny 1, William 0.3. Benjamin and I saw Jeremy shortly before our turnaround and chased him down running a mile in 5:35. Total of 12.5 miles for me.

A.M. Long run. 20 miles total. Started with Ariel, he ran 3.25 miles with me then turned around as he had to be done early. I got through the first 10 miles in 1:15:25, then turned around and ran my usual 10 mile tempo. There was more headwind today than last week, I think, judging from the splits. At times I would hit splits that were much faster over relatively short segments, and then at other times go the same or slower which seemed to coincide with gusts of wind. I ended up hitting the 3 mile tempo stretch in 16:58, but the first mile of it was 5:34 and then the wind slowed me down. My split at 8 miles was 45:16. Benjamin came to rescue me in the last mile. It helped a lot to have him around on those hills. I ended up with 56:57 for 10 miles. HR hit 162 on the last hill. Most of the time through the last 5 miles it was around 153.

Jenny and Jacob did 1, Benjamin 6, Julia and Joseph 2. 

A.M-2: 0.3 with William. 

Day of rest. Went to church as usual. We had talks on the Atonement in the Sacrament meeting. Then a lesson on the remaining part of Abinadi's testimony in Sunday School, and a lesson on Elder Holland's talk Laborer's in the Vineyard. 

A.M. Ran alone first, ran into Matt Harmer and joined him for a bit. Then got home, ran with Benjamin but he could only go a mile barely as he tensed his neck while sleeping and could not move much without pain. Amazing what a tense neck can do. Then did 2 with Joseph which included a trip to the track at Orem High. He did a 400 meter time trial in 93.0. His first 200 was 43, then he did not quite know how to run the last 200. We'll work on it, but 93.0 is still a good quarter for a 7 year old.

Then ran with the other kids. Jenny and Jacob did 1, Julia 2. I ended up with a total of 12.3.

A.M. Ran alone. Did a slightly modified version of my Tue/Thu workout. 5x400 down with 100 recovery with the times in the 72.6 - 74.0 range. Then long rest, and 600 in 1:41.9. Then got home and did 6x100 hill sprints starting at 18.2 and ending at 17.2. Then ran with the kids.

Benjamin's neck was still not allowing him to run, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph did 2, Jacob did 1, William 0.3. I did a tempo pickup for 0.6. Total of 13.5 for me.

P.M. 1 with Benjamin. He tried running with a neck brace and it worked somewhat. I had a thought that he should try running a little faster, and it seemed to help - his form loosened up at least and he looked more normal. 

A.M. Ran with Ariel. Paced him through a 2.5 mile time trial down the canyon. The target was 6:00 pace, so 15:00. He did 5:58, 6:00, and 2:56 for the last half - total of 14:54. This time he did not need very much "Da me cinco", and was able to focus on his own and maintain contact. This is great improvement for him. When he was 23 he ran the half in 1:09. He is 49 now. Physiologically there should be a 1:15 half in him still, or at least 1:18. But the problem is that when its been so long you forget how to run fast for a long time and start thinking of 6:00 as a sprint, 7:00 as 5 K pace, etc. Perhaps the reason why someone who used to be fast can return to being fast much easier than someone who has never experienced is that he expects a faster pace to be normal, and does not think of it as something outrageous. The same idea helped me learn Spanish - being fluent in English and in Russian I was just expecting to be able to say whatever I needed to and understand everything said to me regardless of the language, and when that ability was not there it bothered me enough that I would do what it took to fix the problem, while perhaps if I just expected Spanish to be a foreign language I would have just given up and never bothered to learn.

Got home ran with the kids. Benjamin did 2, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.3. Visiting cousins ran various distances. Total of 12.5 for me. 

A.M. Ran with Jeremy and Ariel. Did a workout. 5x400 with 100 recovery starting at 74.0 and finishing at 71.4 down the canyon. Held together better that on Tuesday - kept speeding up in spite of short recoveries. Then a long recovery, and 600 in 1:40.1. Ariel did the first 200, Jeremy did the first 300. The splits were 34 and 51. Then I was able to speed up closing the last 300 in 49. I was happy about that. 

Then 6x100 uphill at the house. I did the first three in 18.0, 18.2,  17.7 and felt like I had put quite a bit of effort into them. Then Joseph came and raced me. He was far behind (around 24 seconds), but just knowing there was somebody behind made me run it in 17.3. Then his cousin Nicholas came. Nicholas is 15, and I knew from running with him that there was a possibility that he could outrun me in 100 meters. With Nicholas racing me, even though he fell behind right away, and I knew he would not be getting faster as the hill got steeper, I ran scared and hit 16.5 - my best time on this stretch so far ever. Nicholas ran 18.7.  This was quite remarkable to me. Every single time I do this workout I try to figure out a way to make myself run faster. I try to focus, etc. All of this got me 16.6 twice in the entire history of this workout, and most of the time I do not even break 17.0. A 15 year old kid shows up and runs 2 seconds behind me, and all of a sudden I am able to run 16.5. In the last one, now we had Nicholas and his older brother Zachary. This time I knew that Nicholas could not outrun me, and I also knew that Zachary was not that much faster than Nicholas if at all. I still ran scared because I heard their steps, but I was not as scared as the first time, so I ran 16.8. They got something around 18.5.

Ran some more with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.3. Total of 13.5 miles for me.

 Discussed the subject of internal and external motivation using my hill sprint example with my brother in law who teaches math education at the University of Nebraska. We both agreed that this was a good example that you cannot rely on internal motivation alone effectively. Even though I am mature in age (39 years), and just about as motivated internally to run as anyone could be (I have never missed more than 3 consecutive days of training in more than 27 years, I walk around and think what I need to do to get faster), the mere presence of a rather weak competition gives me significant improvement in performance. Yet the going theory in the educational circles is that competition is bad, and teachers who attempt to introduce it experience a lot of resistance. Perhaps that is the answer to our problems with education