Breaking the Wall

A.M. 10 in 1:19:00. Met Jeff, Daniel, and Matt on the trail. 2 more with Benjamin in 15:18. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob.  Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

A.M. 10 with Jeff and some with Matt in 1:18:32. 2 with Benjamin in 15:03, last mile in 6:16. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Did a 0.25 pickup at 5:30 pace.

P.M. Decided to hold Jacob's hand to help him with steady pacing to see if he'd be able to keep up with Joseph and how Joseph would react to it. Benjamin was with Joseph to help us. Joseph tried several surges, but Jacob covered them all. So Joseph could not be lazy. We ended up with 4:03 for Joseph and 4:04 for Jacob with Jacob's splits being 2:07, 1:57.

A.M. 20.1 with Jeff in 2:18:35. We warmed up for 6.22 miles, then celebrated the re-opening of the closed portion of the trail with the tempo on Fast Running Blog 5 Miler course. The target was 5:44. I was feeling good, and told Jeff 5:40 would be OK. So we did that pace pretty much dead on for the first 2.5, and then sped up. We ended up with the following splits: 5:41 - 5:39 - (14:09 at the turnaround) - 5:36 - 5:24 - then 5:30 for me, 5:16 for Jeff. Total time for me 27:50, 5:34 avg,  second half in 13:41, 4 seconds ahead of the 5:30 guy. Last 3 miles at exactly 5:30 average. Then we jogged some, and then with 2 miles to go picked up the pace to slightly sub-6:00 to get the run over with and to get a fuel stimulus. First mile was 5:56, second 5:43, total time for 2 11:39. I felt those last 2 miles were perhaps the most productive part of the workout. I felt like I was at the end of a marathon, but at the same time I was not too weak to go. I felt that I was able to achieve very good fuel economy on that stretch.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:26. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:48. Joseph and Benjamin ran 4:25.

Day of rest. Went to church. Stayed for sacrament and Sunday school. Went home after the first two meetings so that Sarah could attend Relief Society. She was home with Julia, who had a fever. It was a fast Sunday. So the sacrament meeting consistent of testimonies. The lesson in Sunday school was appropriately on fasting.

Later at night I heard Jenny singing America The Beautiful in a beautiful voice. She was not performing, she was just singing because she felt so inclined. I thought : "We have a wonderful daughter!" Then I realized that we would not have had her had we chosen to have children by the standards of the world, and not by faith. She was born 18 months after Benjamin. We had a less comfortable life for the last 11 years since children started coming. But I cannot imagine which one of our children we would be willing to give up to have a more comfortable life.

A.M. 12 with Jeff in 1:26:20. Benjamin ran 2 with us in 14:26, last mile in 6:16. Matt joined us for 3 miles. We did a middle-distance workout: 500 in 1:20 (Jeff 1:19), then 200 meter jog in 1:14, then 300 in 52 (46 for Jeff). Then some jogging, and the last mile in 5:44.

The purpose of the workout was to get used to the 800 meter pain.

Jenny ran 2. Julia ran 1.05.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:28. Joseph ran 0.5 with Benjamin in 4:22.

A.M. 10 with Jeff in around 1:19. 2 more with Benjamin in 15:29. Jenny ran 2. Julia did 1.05.

P.M.  0.5 with Jacob. Joseph ran 0.5 with Benjamin.

A.M. 2 with Benjamin. 2 with Jenny. 2 with Julia. 6 alone. Total of 12.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:32. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph in 4:31.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10 in 1:18:07. Did pickups at 5:10 pace to evaluate form. 2 more with Benjamin in 16:29. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

A.M. Met Jeff and Daniel on the trail. 10 miles in 1:14:51. Did a "fat" mile in 5:38. 2 more with Benjamin in 15:42. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

P. M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph. I did 0.5 with Jacob.

A.M. 20.2 with Jeff in 2:19:07. Did some tempo running in the second half. From 11.4, 2.5 in 13:53 (5:41, 5:35, 5:14 pace for 0.5, 5:33 avg), then the last 3.87 in 22:24 (5:47 pace avg., last mile in 5:37). It started getting hot at the end, but I managed to survive. I fell back with a quarter to go, but then kick for the last 200 and caught up.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin in 4:28.  2 with Benjamin in 15:51.

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks were on studying the Gospel. The lesson in Sunday School was on sacrifice. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on the Atonement.

A.M. 13.1 with Jeff in 1:37:22. Benjamin ran the first 3 with us in 23:45. Afterwards we did 2x1.5. The target was 5:20 as precisely as possible. The first one was 7:57.8, the second 7:54.8. The first mile was 5:19 in both, but the second had a stronger finish. I felt sluggish, but managed to do the pace.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin.

A.M. 10 miles in 1:16:43. Met Jeff on the trail. Afterwards 2 with Benjamin in 15:57.

P.M. Benjamin and Jenny took Joseph and Jacob for 0.5.

A.M. Today I proved that I am only 18 years old biologically in spite of being 37 chronologically. Jeff and I did another time trial. He ran 1000 and I did the last 800 with him. I repeated my record of 2:12 from the time I was 18. More precisely, the time today was 2:12.3, and I do not recall the tenths of a second on my 18 year old time, and am not even sure if I ever knew them.

We did it on the BYU track. It was somewhat windy, too windy for records, but being tucked behind Jeff helped a lot. The splits were 32, 32, 34, 34. I was able to stay with Jeff until the last 70 meters, and he put about a second gap on me. My legs worked a whole lot better in the second lap than in the last time trial two weeks ago. The first lap felt more or less the same. Total distance for the run was 10 miles as usual. Then I added 2 more with Benjamin in 16:29.

Tonight we will have my 18th birthday celebration dinner. I do, however, have a few things that do not go with being 18. Where did the six children and a pregnant wife come from? OK, an 18 year old could have six children, but not from the same woman, and not with the oldest being 11. Another thing that is odd is that when I tell jokes I have to give a rather lengthy history lesson so that people that are chronologically 18 would understand them.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin took Jacob and Joseph separately for 0.5 mile run each.

A.M. 9.88 in 1:14:55. Met Jeff on the trail. We did a "fat" mile in 5:32.8. I got confused and ended up running 200 meters short of 10 miles, but I did not realize it until a day later.

2 more with Benjamin in 15:47. We did 500 in 1:38. Jenny and Julia ran 2. 0.35 with Sarah in 3:27.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:29. Benjamin did 0.5 with Joseph in 4:24.

A.M. 10.12 with Jeff. Did a "fat" mile in 5:22.6. So it was not really fat. 3 more with Benjamin in 23:22. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph and Jacob for 0.5 each.

A.M. 20.2 with Jeff in 2:15:00. He was a bit faster because he dropped me with 1.25 to go. We ran the last 5.05 fast. I got 28:57, 5:44 average. The temperatures got into the 80s at the end. Shade was manageable, but we slowed down by 10 seconds a mile out in the sun.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 3 with Benjamin at around 8:00 pace. Then 0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in the sacrament meeting were on maintaining hope in times of adversity. This is a repeated theme, I recall hearing talks on a similar topic a couple of months ago. But it is a very relevant topic as the times are hard, and people are struggling in different ways.

The lesson in Sunday school was on work, and the Elder's Quorum lesson was on the priesthood.

A.M. Total of 13 miles in 1:42:43. All with Jeff. Benjamin joined us for 3 in 23:26. Jeff and I did a wild workout. 3x300 fast + 100 all out with full rest between 300s and 300 jog before the 100. The first one was 46.4 for me, Jeff was around 45.8. Second, I got 45.0, Jeff was around 44.0. On the third one we hit 200 in 32, and then sprinted wild for the last 100, except there were some ladies that stood over our mark, and we were too worried about running into them, so we missed the mark. But I figure it would have been around 47 for me, and 45 for Jeff. We jogged 300 (or actually a bit less), and then did 100 all out. I got 15.1, Jeff 13.4.

The purpose of the workout was for Jeff to get used to the idea that 60 second quarter is his target 800 meter race pace. For me, it was just to learn to relax while sprinting. A wild workout for marathoners, but I do believe 800 meter speed is as much of a foundation of your marathon success as is aerobic endurance. Not to be misunderstood, a guy that cannot break 3:00 in the marathon should not worry about his 800 meter speed, he should just run base mileage. Maybe a woman that runs 3:05 marathon should, if she struggles cracking 2:50 in the 800, but 99% of the runners are not yet limited by their 800 meter speed because they have not yet trained enough. But somebody who runs high mileage consistently will eventually get to the point where his marathon performance would be limited by his 800 meter speed.

P.M. 0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

A.M. 10 with Jeff. Met a new running partner. His name is Ryan. He is visiting Provo on vacation. We ran 600 in 1:54 to catch up to him.

Then we also ran into three BYU students and started talking. They asked me where I was from. I thought it would be fun to have them guess. They guessed Finland. I told them right next to Finland, and we had an important historical figure that hid in Finland before he came out and caused trouble. They still had no idea. I gave them a hint that the trouble happened in 1917. One of them guessed Norway! Then I said - our country had missiles in Cuba aimed at the United States. They got it then.

2 more with Benjamin in 16:49.

P.M. 0.5 with Benjamin, Jacob, and Joseph in 4:08.

A.M. 10 miles. Met Jeff and Ryan on the trail. Did a post-VPB 600in 2:12, and then later on 0.5 in 2:39 catching up to the BYU running camp group. Felt good. Total time was around 1:16:00.

Another 2.75 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob, Benjamin, and Joseph in 3:56. This is Jacob's record. He gave himself a nice present for his 4th birthday.

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10 miles in 1:18:50. 2 more with Benjamin in 16:49. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin in 4:28.

A.M. 10 with Jeff in 1:15:53. Did 0.5 in 2:03 and 1000 in 3:20. 2 more with Benjamin in 17:49.

P.M. Benjamin took Jacob and Joseph for their runs separately, 0.5 each. Joseph got 4:27, Jacob  4:29.

A.M. Ran Desnews 10 K in 32:31. Exact same time as last year. First mile felt good, and then the legs started to give out. Mile by mile:

Mile 1 - 4:48. Got out of the crowd, then worked my way up to Lindsey Dunkley and James Moore, and ran with them. Felt comfortable, wondered if maybe too comfortable.

Mile 2 -  4:54 (9:42). Running with James and Linsey. Felt good enough to talk, invited Lindsey to draft, she tried, but said she felt better side by side. Saw the split, and knew something was up. That effort should have produced another 4:48, not 4:54.

Mile 3 - 5:19 (15:01). Legs were not moving, but this is not unexpected. Eventual women's winner from Ethiopia came by, Linsey went after her, my legs were not responding, we gapped James, but then I fell back, and he caught up to me.

Mile 4 - 5:24 (20:25). Sitting on James hanging on for dear life. Thinking that I'd be lucky to run 32:45, and being over 33:00 is a possibility. Telling myself to keep fighting, not to quit.

Mile 5 - around 5:25. A high school runner from Davis caught up, I was able to latch on on a downhill. I noticed that I was not breathing very hard, so I knew what was up. The nervous system had quit. When it does you are hosed, there is not much you can do. However, it is possible to gain 5 seconds a mile by refocusing and making bold moves. If you can tell yourself, latch on and run a quarter at a faster pace, and you actually manage to do it, the next quarter will not be slower from the surge as you are not going into oxygen debt. We dropped James, the high school runner started to let up, which was a blessing, then he let up too much, and I attempted to pass, but not really. I knew that I could barely manage his pace if I were in front, so all I wanted is give him an adrenaline rush (high schoolers have plenty of adrenaline) so he would go the right pace. It worked, he picked up, and I latched back on. I hoped we would catch Lindsey and I would avoid the embarrassment of being double-chicked, but at the same time I knew that the only way this was possible with how I was feeling is if she had fallen apart, and that would not be good. So I just focused on running my best.

Mile 6 - around 5:30 (31:20). With about 0.7 to go my high schooler smelled the barn and shifted gears. I did not have another gear. Another runner approached from behind. I caught a ride for 100 meters or so, but then I did not have it.

Kick - 1:11 (5:32 pace).  That was all I had. I wanted to beat my last year's time, and was trying, but legs were dead.

Lindsey ran a great race - 32:19, 2nd woman, improved by 18 seconds from last year. Dave Holt got 32:11 (gun time).  Daniel got 32:48, James 32:54.  Jeff ran 29:33, good enough for 12th place. It was a fast race, the winner ran 27:18 with 4 people under 28:00. Miles Batty did 28:15. Seth Pilkington 28:59. Teren - 29:27, I think. John Kotter around 29:30, Brad Osguthorpe 29:31, and Paul Petersen did 29:39. Total of 14 people under 30:00.

Went the shortest way to mile 20 and paced Rob Rohde to the finish. He ran strong, 41:37 for the last 10 K with around 2:51:40 finish time. I think he made top 10. Jeff paced Steve Ashbaker for the last 10 K in 39:52 with around 2:44 finish time.

There are some good and bad things about this performance. The nervous system malfunction is a concern. I thought I had gotten this under control. Apparently not. On the positive side, I held it together somewhat even with the malfunction.

I am excited about Jeff's breakthrough, or more precisely solidifying his breakthrough from Law Days 5 K. It was great that he finished only 3 seconds behind Teren there, but there were still some lingering doubts as to whether Teren was in good shape, or if he was running all out given that all he had to do was beat Jeff. Now Jeff finished in a decent position in a stacked race with  gaps that prove his performance at Law Days 5 K was not a fluke. He is however moving to Las Vegas to attend UNLV graduate program, so I need to find a new training partner. I have been spoiled in the last couple of years. Any time I wanted to run a workout, I could tell Jeff to pace me, and he could pull me at any pace I wanted for as long as I wanted, sometimes faster than I wanted for longer than I wanted as well. And, of course, he was always there for easy runs too, I rarely had to run alone. He will be difficult to replace, but I do have ambitious plans for cloning Jeffs from the BYU Cross Country tryout trash can. May Daniel could become the next Jeff.

Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles in the morning.

P.M. Found brand name Crocs at Big Lots for $10. Got two pairs, we'll see what kind of longevity they have. They do have a thicker sole.

Mark Palamar (the Mark of the blog) and his family came over to visit. He ran DesNews in 3:10;57. His wife Jenny did 3:58. They had two children with them - Andy and Tom. We went for a run/bike ride. I ran 2 with Andy in 18:06. Mark and Tom rode along. Benjamin ran ahead - 15:32 for 2 miles. Then I ran another 0.5 with Benjamin, Jacob, and Joseph.

Day of rest. Went to church. Had good talks in the sacrament meeting. The subject was being worthy to receive the Holy Ghost. One speaker quoted Harold B. Lee who compared our ability to receive the Holy Ghost to a tube radio. Yes, the technology has greatly changed from the 50s, but the essence of the Spirit has not. So the analogy still works well even today. If all of the tubes in a radio work, the sound is great.If one fails, the sound is worse, but still audible. If two fail, you can barely hear anything. If three fail, the radio still looks the same on the outside, but you can hear nothing at all. So it is with us. If we keep all of the commandments, the Spirit flows unrestrained. If we start neglecting a few, the flow is diminished. If we neglect more, the flow becomes a trickle. At some point it stops altogether except for the occasional prodding to repentance. We may look the same on the outside, but on the inside we have lost contact with the Lord and are in deep trouble often without quite realizing it.

The lesson in Sunday school was on service. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on diligence.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Benjamin, and Daniel.  Jeff and I ended up with 12.3. Benjamin did 2. Daniel ran around 10. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Benjamin, Jacob, and Joseph. The time was 4:12 for Jacob, 4:10 for Joseph.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Benjamin, and Daniel. Benjamin did 2 miles. Daniel around 10. Jeff and I did 12. Picked up for 600 meters in 1:54.9.

A.M. 13 with Jeff, Benjamin joined us for the first 2. Jeff and I did a fat mile in 5:31.3. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph and Jacob for 0.5.

A.M. 12.5 with Jeff including 2 with Benjamin.

P.M. 0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

A.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:41. Then 10 more alone. Did 2000 in 6:53 and 1.5 in 8:15. Wanted to go further, but felt too tense after a mile of fast running. Nervous system is tired, need more sleep. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M.  0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

A.M. 20 mile run in 2:18:06. Nervous system worked better today. Early in the run after a 2 mile warm up ran a 2 mile tempo in 10:49.5. The splits were very consistent - all quarters in 81 except slipping to 82 in the last one. The legs started to feel fatigued in the last quarter, but it was a whole lot better than the day before when I could not hold 82s after 1.25. Then I jogged until it was 4.28 to go and ran the last 4.28 hard. It got hot by then. My first quarter was 1:32, and it felt hard. I began to wonder if I'd be able to hold 6:00. But then I pressed a bit, and got into a good rhythm. Somehow I was holding pace in spite of the thirst, the heat, the turns, and the bridges. I managed 25:30 for the segment, which is 5:57 average.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin. 0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.