Breaking the Wall

December 21, 2024

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Location:

Orem,UT,United States

Member Since:

Jan 27, 1986

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

Best marathon: 2:23:57 (2007, St. George). Won the Top of Utah Marathon twice (2003,2004). Won the USATF LDR circuit in Utah in 2006.

Draper Days 5 K 15:37 (2004)

Did not know this until June 2012, but it turned out that I've been running with spina bifida occulta in L-4 vertebra my entire life, which explains the odd looking form, struggles with the top end speed, and the poor running economy (cannot break 16:00 in 5 K without pushing the VO2 max past 75).

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for the US Olympic Trials. With the standard of 2:19 on courses with the elevation drop not exceeding 450 feet this is impossible unless I find an uncanny way to compensate for the L-4 defect with my muscles. But I believe in miracles.

Long-Term Running Goals:

2:08 in the marathon. Become a world-class marathoner. This is impossible unless I find a way to fill the hole in L-4 and make it act healthy either by growing the bone or by inserting something artificial that is as good as the bone without breaking anything important around it. Science does not know how to do that yet, so it will take a miracle. But I believe in miracles.

Personal:

I was born in 1973. Grew up in Moscow, Russia. Started running in 1984 and so far have never missed more than 3 consecutive days. Joined the LDS Church in 1992, and came to Provo, Utah in 1993 to attend BYU. Served an LDS mission from 1994-96 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Got married soon after I got back. My wife Sarah and I are parents of eleven children: Benjamin, Jenny, Julia, Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, Matthew, Mary, Bella. and Leigha. We home school our children.

I am a software engineer/computer programmer/hacker whatever you want to call it, and I am currently working for RedX. Aside from the Fast Running Blog, I have another project to create a device that is a good friend for a fast runner. I called it Fast Running Friend.

Favorite Quote:

...if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	3010.45
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles:						640.15
Bare Feet Lifetime Miles:						450.37
Nike Double Stroller Lifetime Miles:						124.59
Brown Crocs 4 Lifetime Miles:						1334.06
Amoji 1 Lifetime Miles:						732.60
Amoji 2 Lifetime Miles:						436.69
Amoji 3 Lifetime Miles:						380.67
Lopsie Sports Sandals Lifetime Miles:						818.02
Lopsie Sports Sandals 2 Lifetime Miles:						637.27
Iprome Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles:						346.18
Beslip Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles:						488.26
Joybees 1 Lifetime Miles:						1035.60
Madctoc Clogs Lifetime Miles:						698.29
Blue Crocs Lifetime Miles:						1164.32
Kimisant Black Clogs Lifetime Miles:						720.62
Black Crocs 2023 Lifetime Miles:						1743.12
White Slip Resistant Crocs Lifetime Miles:						759.93

Sun, Jun 06, 2010

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a fast and testimony meeting, then a lesson on the gift of the Holy Ghost in Sunday School, followed by a lesson from an Ensign article on not being in a hurry. Ironically the teacher went into overtime and was just about to start discussing the point "Do not be in a hurry to be done" when he was reminded that the meeting should have ended 10 minutes ago. In spite of the irony the lesson was good, though. There is a difference between being urgent and being in a hurry. When you are in a hurry you move faster than you should. It takes humility to accept the correct pace.

At dinner time I overestimated the recovery of my stomach and ate more than I should have. This resulted in throwing up later. But I started feeling better towards late evening and was hungry again.

We also went on an evening walk on the Provo River Trail and I brought along my new toy - a digital level that we bought at Home Depot for $40 on Saturday. We measured a whole bunch of grades. I began to understand why the trail is so slow in spite of not having any notable hills. On parts that you would think are flat the grade keeps fairly uniformly fluctuating from -2.0% to +2.0%. A good rule of thumb is to compensate for a given distance at a given grade uphill you need to run the same distance at double the grade downhill. This works quite well for grades up to 5%. So if we integrate, running on the trail with no elevation gain is like running up a 0.5% steady grade.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00	Nap Time: 1.00	Total Sleep Time: 9.00

Comments

From Rob Murphy on Wed, Jun 09, 2010 at 08:04:02 from 98.202.182.29

A very timely comment considering the death this week of legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. One of his favorite maxims was "be quick, but don't hurry".

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