Breaking the Wall

A.M. Timed Remembering Mark The Great 5 K Race. Ran it as well. 17:00, 4th place.

Susan asked me to put up the race on the featured section on the blog, and agreed to comply with the rules. I volunteered to measure and mark the course. Then she found out 26.2 was not going to time the race, nor would anybody else, so I volunteered to time it as well. There was a problem, though, as my little hack I made for my race could not handle day of race registration. But I figured I wanted it to do it at some point anyway, so why not now for a good cause? So I spent most of my spare time in the last two weeks hacking away, and by last night had a timing system that could do on the spot registrations through a web browser via WiFi LAN, scan barcodes using my Flic Microvision scanner via Bluetooth,  edit the timing and the scans on the spot, and display live results through a web brower via WiFi LAN as well.

Nice system, but a couple of problems. With the coding finished only yesterday it had quirks. Fortunately not too many, and with a programmer on hand to deal with them it was usuable. Unfortunately Susan put a good chunk of data into RunnerCard program, and it crashed on her last night right before it was time to import the data into my hack. Fortunately Susan's husband Jared and I were able to recover that data and import it right before the race started. Unfortunately this left me no time for warmup before the race. So I had a glorious 0.3 or so mile warmup. But that was not that big of a deal because I learned that with a stress-sensitive nervous system when I am in charge of timing, my race goes down the toilet anyway, so it was going to be a practice of surviving neural fatigue.

At the start I told myself to be conservative, but still was not thinking straight and went through the mile in 5:11. That was idiotic! Would have been perfect off 8 hours of sleep, no stress, and a 3 mile warmup. Under the actual circumstances the right pace should have been 5:22, but I was too confused to find it. So I had an idea of what was going to happen next, and I was not surprised.

Leg power failure/neural fatigue. Here it comes. Now this is getting interesting. Jeff and Spencer Hansen were way ahead, I was still picking off high schoolers that were falling off Holden Adams and Garth Hatch (I think) pack, but I was not gaining on the pack. So I am essentially running with high schoolers and would like a high schooler to the finish as well. But for a very different reason. Neural fatigue in many ways behaves like a lack of aerobic fitness. You start out at a certain pace that you think you can maintain, and then you fade. The difference is that with neural fatigue you cannot surge at all and you have no kick. If the problem is aerobic you can make surges up to a minute, and you have a kick. And the HR patterns are different as well - in the neural cause HR peaks around 1.2 miles into the 5 K race and then drops some. In the aerobic case, it keeps drifting upward all the way to the finish until you start to vomit or dry heave.

So at the beginning of the second mile I moved into 5th place. 1.5 in 7:58 (2:47). Not good, but expected. Not as bad as it could have been. At least I am still doing 5:35 pace. 2 miles in 10:46 (2:48, 5:35). Expected. Caught up to Garth (I think that's who it was, tall guy with an interesting looking back kick, kind of Mike Evans style). He picked it up, and pulled me until I almost caught up to Holden. Then Holden heard us coming and hit the gas, as Garth dropped back very quickly. That's what I am talking about when I say neural fatigue/vs not enough oxygen. You can surge. I was actually expecting him to surge pretty hard, or at least have the ability, and he did not disappoint me.

Now when aerobically unconditioned, surging comes at a high price. Oxygen debt makes you vomit/dry heave, and Holden started doing that about a minute into his surge to prove my point. So I was able to gain on him and get within a second. However, slowing down allowed him to pay some of his debt off, and now he was able to run fast enough to hold me off. 16:25 at 3 miles (5:39), and 35 seconds (5:27 pace) for the "kick".

So I would have called this a textbook race at least for myself and the runners around me. Nothing out of the ordinary happened that did not have a good explanation.  Jeff ran a great race, though. End of 90 mile week, 10 mile warm-up, 16 miles the day before, and he runs 4:57 - 4:58 - 5:02 - 0:29 most of it alone on a loop course.

Handled the race timing afterwards, discovered a couple of system bugs, of course, worked around them. The most annoying part was that wireless reading from the scanner was dog slow. I was not noticing it with 20 bibs, but it got very painful with 400. At first I thought it was the interference from all the gadgets, but now I am inclined to think it is a bug. Need to investigate. Also a process glitch, not computer system related - did not account for the fact that some of the barcodes may not be scannable. So that created a bit of a mess, but we eventually worked around it. I have thought of a great solution for this for the future. Use Nokia 770 Tablet along with the scanner, and have it transmit everything to the laptop over WiFi, then you can enter unscannable barcodes manually without having to touch the keyboard on the laptop that is being used for timing. This also eliminates the need for the laptop to talk to the scanner at all, so you can be scanning further away from it.

Afterwards ran the course twice with Jeff in 46:58, and then ran some more to make the total of 10.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:30, 2 with Jenny in 18:11. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:06. Then 0.5 with Joseph in 5:13.

...

Day of rest. Went to church.

A.M.  10.1 with Jeff in 1:17:39. Did a new version of explosions. Instead of going all out from the start for 40 meters or so, I did 100 with the last 40 or so all out, and the first part just a nice coast to find a good form before starting to sprint. I liked it better this way, the all out part felt like I was going faster. The first explosion was a regular one, and then I got the idea. I timed the 100s. They were 16.8, 17.2, and 17.5. Not very meaningful, because who knows how fast I was going at the coast speed and how long, but at least it tells me once I started sprinting I was significantly faster than 4:40 pace. But I was still wondering how fast I was really going in the explosion part. So I decided to run an all out 100 after the fat mile.

We ran the fat mile in 5:37. No tricycle guy to chase today, but Jeff must have been thinking about him because our last two quarters were 83 and 80. Out of fat range. But the first two were OK. That 80 second quarter felt like I could race a half at that pace if only the muscles and the neural drive cooperated. HR was 157. Then we ran my all out 100. I had never done it in Five Fingers before. So I set my Five Fingers PR of 15.4. I think I can go faster - just need to not be afraid that they are going to fall off. My normal PR is 13.9, but that was on the track and after a couple months of hill sprints and 800 meter specific workouts. My shod PR on the trail is around 14.6. But it was good to know that I could hit a decent (by my standards) sprint speed mid-run in Five Fingers.

2 more with Benjamin afterwards barefoot in 15:56. Had a little accident about a mile into it. Stubbed my big toe on asphalt. That actually does not hurt any more than having your finger pricked for a blood test, but it sure is messy. My right foot was covered in blood almost entirelly, and the left one was sprinkled. Made me think of animal sacrifice in ancient Israel. At first I was concerned, thought maybe I should cover it with a leaf to avoid blood loss, but then once we stopped and I got a good look, I figured it would be fine. So we ran back, Benjamin caught the 8:00 guy with the last mile in 7:31.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:01. 2 with Jenny in 19:30. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 14:34.

A.M. Did some sort of a redemption run after the Saturdays fiasco. Yes, I know I had every reason not to run well on Saturday, but I wanted to make sure it was a true neural fatigue no-warm up cocktail bummer rather than an indication of a more serious problem. So I told Jeff to pace me at 79 per quarter (5:16 pace) to failure, do not try to make up with a 78 if he accidentally hit an 80, do not hit any 78s. Jeff has to be given explicit instructions just like the Lamanites in Alma 23:2 regarding Nephite missionaries: "he sent a decree among them, that they should not lay their hands on them to bind them, or to cast them into prison; neither should they spit upon them, nor smite them, nor cast them out of their synagogues, nor scourge them; neither should they cast stones at them" - everything that he could be tempted to do to run me into the ground needs to be spelled out to him or else I am in deep trouble. But once he receives the instructions he follows them with the exactness of the sons of Helaman.

After failure the plan was to run my best to the finish and still try to get Five Fingers PR for the 5 mile tempo of 27:25.

So it went like this (yes I am a geek and I remember every quarter): 79, 81, 79, 78.5 (5:18.5), 78.5, 79, 79, 80 (5:16.5, 10:35), 79, 83 (13:17), 84, 84 (5:30,16:05), 86, 88, 85, 83.5 (5:42.5), 83.5, 83, 82, 80 (5:29). Total time 27:16.7, new Five Finger PR for the course, and only 28 seconds slower than shod best. 5K split around 16:41, 19 seconds faster than in Saturday race. Average HR 161, max 169 reached in the last quarter. After prior to 79 pace failure it was 165. Then it dropped to 162 as I slowed down to 84s. Did not see what it was at 88, but once we were doing 83s it got up to around 164. Around 3 miles legs started caving badly However, 86/88 quarter combination was enough to allow me to regroup and pick it back up to a respectable pace.

This workout eliminated some creeping doubts about getting old and worn down, etc. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of the nervous system to stress is still a concern. I really did not do that much before the race to stress it, most people would have handled that type of "stress" just fine. Part of the problem is that just about the only symptom of stress is that I run badly. So I just have to say - I know this is stress - I do not really feel it otherwise until I start to run hard.

Finished 10 miles with Jeff, and then added 2 more with Benjamin in 16:. He ran a quarter PR in 81 with the splits of 22 - 21 - 19 - 19. Due to the fatigue from the tempo I mispaced him again, but he recovered with a strong kick.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 17:23. Julia was not feeling well today, so we put her in the stroller after the first mile in 9:48. Jenny at that point was 8 seconds ahead with Jeff. Jeff ran with us to 1.5, helped me push the stroller, then went on grass for 2 miles and ran to our house. Jenny's closing mile was 7:43, she wanted to earn a prize. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:17.

A.M. Early morning run (5:15 AM) because I went to the temple this morning. Due to the early hour both Jeff and I were dragging. Did not catch the 8:00 guy until the fat mile about 6.5 into the run. The fat mile started out sluggish as well with two 91 second quarters, but then we woke up and ran 85 and 84 to finish in 5:51. Total time for 10.1 was 1:17:45.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:57, 2 with Jenny in 18:51. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:03. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:03.

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff in 1:13:58. Did quarters in the middle. Due to the lack of time decided to slow down the quarters and speed up the recovery. So the target was 72 on the repeat, 60 on the 200 recovery (8:00 pace). I timed the recoveries. It went like this:

73.3 - 52.1 -  70.9 - 55.9 - 72.1 - 57.8 - 73.1 - 57.1 - 73.4. It was very tough. The recoveries were faster than target by enough to make it hurt. The leaves and twigs on the road did not make it easier for holey Five Fingers in the last two quarters, that was part of the reason they were slower. And of course the brisk recoveries were getting to me by that point. The total time including recoveries was 9:45.7 for 1.75, or in other words 5:34.7 average. What is interesting that this regimen gave near zero chance for HR to recover. It would rise to 165 during the repeat, and then would register a 157 average during the recovery segement. I believe it did drop to around 150 before the start of the next repeat. The max registered at 169, probably during the last repeat.

Then on the way back we did one more "seal the death" quarter in 67.5. Jeff was actually around 66 on that one, he dropped me in the last 100.

Then we somewhat leasurely continued jogging to the house. Lori, who we see frequently on the trail, but usually runs in the opposite direction, got out on the trail just at the perfect time to join us. So we ran with her for about a mile. Then Jeff looked at his watch and realized he was late for work. So we took off and ran the last 0.65 hard. I timed the last 1000 - it was 3:23, about 5:25 pace.

Then 2 more with Benjamin barefoot in 17:30 pushing William in the double stroller.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:16. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:54. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:16.

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff in 1:09:46. Looks like I picked up a small bug. My eyes have been hurting on Wednesday, and some yesterday. So something was going on, but it did not show until today. To make things worse, I took a long time getting dressed, so we had to hurry through the run to get Jeff to work on time. First I noticed that I was breathing way too hard at pedestrian paces (7:30), but I chalked it off to not being warmed up. Then I tried the explosions, the new version where I run 100 coasting the first 60 meters or so, and then sprinting the rest, and they were not very energetic: 18.8 - 18.3 - 18.2 -17.8. Then we discovered my HR was consistently 3 beats higher than Jeff's, or in other words 10 beats higher than what it should be. This would have been the time to turn around, jog back home at 8:00 pace or slower, and get back in bed.

But I was still operating off inertia and not listening to my body. So we kept on going at around 6:40 pace, and then ran the "fat" mile. First quarter in 81 blew the fat aspect, and also just about killed me. We eased off to 86, and 87, but then ran the last quarter in 82 to finish the mile in 5:36, and that was another moment of truth - legs were caving going that slow for that short. I should have called 911 at this point, but I did not have a cellphone, and I lacked the judgment to slow down and jog in alone at 8:00 pace to contain the damage. So instead I kept going with Jeff at sub-7:00 pace to the end.

Got home, ran another 2 with Benjamin in 17:00. Afterwards legs were shaky. Showered, ate breakfast, read the scriptures, and jumped in bed hoping to repair the damage. On the positive side of things after a 2 hour nap at least the eyes are not hurting. So there is a hope that I might be in race condition tomorrow. Otherwise I'll be smart and pace Ben Crozier instead.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:51. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:06. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:56.

Provo River Half Marathon - 1:13:34.7, 4th place.

At the start of the race I was still feeling sick. But not sick enough to pace Ben Crozier. So I decided to start with a moderate effort and try to maintain it if I felt healthy, and jog in otherwise. We did a nice 2.5 mile warm-up, and even found a non-virtual bathroom about a mile away from the start for a bonus.

The night before inspired by Clyde's suggestion to use a tire repair kit for Five Fingers we stopped by at Home Depot and bought some gasket rubber along with superglue. Total cost of $5.98 with tax. Sarah used that to patch the holes in the bottoms, and it worked great. I think with this hack Five Fingers can go to 3000+ miles. I think if all runners were like me Vibram would be selling Five Fingers with a hole repair kit. And McDonalds and Microsoft would go out of business. If I succeed in replicating myself in sufficient numbers the news headlines will say "Sasha Ruins US Economy!"

I told Jeff with my health issues he might not want to run with me for any portion of the race, but he said that given no prize of significance he was in no hurry to start running hard at the end of another long week. So the start was very leisurely. I found my HR at around 146 after about a mile, and not straining myself too hard. Rich Borget went with us for about a mile then dropped back. Then Jeff started stepping on the gas a bit, and I realized for the sake of preserving my health I needed to drop back.

About 2 miles later Justin Park and Eric Harris caught up to me, and we formed a group for a while. We could still see Jeff, so that gives you an idea of how leisurely he was going. At this point we were on the Provo River Trail, and finally I had a chance to access the pace off the quarter marks. I was pleasantly surprised to find it still in the 5:30 range. HR was around 155. Half-way through the hill around mile 7 Justin pushed it, Eric went after him, but I felt it was a bit out of range for me in my current condition, so I held back. Gauged my pace on the uphill off the marks - it was around 6:05, was happy with that considering the day.

Once the uphill ended (about a mile), I had a hard time shifting gears, so I was stuck around 5:40. It went on like this for a while, and then 5:40 began to deteriorate into the 5:50 range. The body began to demand a chance to heal and legs started to cave. HR maxed out at 159 on the uphill, and the stabilized at around 151-152. Once the pace started to slow into the 5:50 range, HR dropped to 149.

Surprisingly Justin and Eric were not moving away from me at a particularly fast rate. I though, if I could just run three normal miles (5:20), I'd get them. But that was of course wishful thinking. If I did have anything close to three normal miles in me I would not have let them drop me in the first place.

On the positive side of things I felt at peace with my body responses. Possibly the first time in my life racing in this condition. I knew what the body was capable of, what was healthy for it, and did not try to make it run faster than it should have been that day. Even though the sickness meant getting beat by people that normally would not have much of a chance. I think it works both ways when a faster runner who is sick gets beat by a slower runner or maybe is still ahead but close enough to stir the appetite. The faster one gets a lesson in humility. The slower one gets a confidence boost. I remember being really excited to be closing on Craig Lawson at the end of 5 K and getting beat by only 8 seconds one time when he had an ear infection.

Another positive aspect was the form. I felt the Five Fingers were finally starting to make a headway in fixing the form. It felt smooth. Not a lot of power due to sickness, but there was efficiency. Which I feel had kept me from going over 1:15 today.

Throughout the race due to the lack of accurate mile markers I had only an approximate idea about what time I was headed for, but I did not care that much. I just wanted to get to the finish. I was happy to see that it was a somewhat respectable time. As a bonus, a Five Finger PR. I had never raced a half in Five Fingers, but I did hit 1:15:04 split in the Utah Valley Marathon. So now I have an official Five Finger PR for the half.

Jeff did very well. In spite of his jogging in the first 4 miles, and in spite of not having anybody to push him, once he started pushing himself he was hitting solid 5:00 pace down the Provo Canyon, and ended up with 1:07:53. I think with a little bit of work he can hit the Trial Qualifier through the half. That would be cool. Hey, wimps run the full marathon to qualify. Real men run the half. Supermen run the 10,000!

Eric ended up second with 1:12:32, and Justin 3rd with 1:12:37.

Met a lot of bloggers at the finish.  They had some solid performances. Dustin managed a 1:18 in spite of his belly. When I saw him at the turnaround, and got an idea of how fast he was going I said wow, he has some serious Quality X to run so fast with this kind of belly and so little training. Rich ran 1:21, a new PR.

Jeff and I ran a cool down. I went only 2.5, Jeff ran 6.

Kids ran with Sarah in the evening as a precaution for me not to get more sick. Benjamin, and Julia ran 1.5, Jenny ran 2, Joseph ran 0.5. Benjamin was also not feeling well, he and I might have picked up the same thing.

Then Tim and Lindsey Dunkley came over for a visit with their kids. We had a good chat.

Day of rest. Went to Church. Had a good experience in the Spanish branch. I love hearing testimonies in Spanish. You get to see a special new dimension, a new perspective. Even though it is a little blurry to me still due to my deficiency with the language. Then went to the English ward with the family. Then a missionary correlation meeting. Toward the end of the meeting I had a special prompting of the Spirit. It said - if you do not close your eyes now and get some rest you will be doing missionary work in the spirit world without a physical body until the resurrection. So I obeyed the prompting and really enjoyed it.

Took another nap in the afternoon to try to heal the body from the sickness. Talked to Ben Crozier. He told me his weight was not coming down very fast. I asked him if he was eating the Good Conscience Diet, which is "if you know it is not good, do not eat it". He admited he could do better. I told him that was the key to his improvement. He said he fully believed. I told him he needed to do more than fully believe, and referred him to an imaginary General Authority - a hybrid of Spencer W. Kimball and J. Golden Kimball. Spencer W. Kimball used to say "Do It!". J. Golden Kimball was known for adding emphasis with a strong word on occasion. I told him he needed to follow the advice of the hybrid Elder Kimball.

A.M. Decided to take a bum day to let the body heal. Slept in. Ran 4 with Sarah. She did it in 38:29. I had a 44 second VPB and then caught up, so 37:45. Then 2 with Benjamin in 17:31. Feeling better, but still there is lingering weakness that I do not want to aggravate.

P.M. Felt better. Ran 2 with Jenny in 17:53, 1.5 with Julia in 13:28, and 0.5 with Joseph in 4:54. He repeated his record.

A.M. Slept it in again to speed up the healing. The plan today was 2x2.5 mile tempo at around 6:00 pace in the middle of my regular 10.1. So 1.37 into the run I started the tempo. Ran at a fairly steady pace and finished 2.5 in 14:43 (5:53 average).  On the positive side HR behaved - was never above 152, and even dropped to 149 in the last half mile. This is almost normal, maybe even just plain normal if we account for the warm temperatures. However, I could feel a mild side ache on the right. I know what that means. The body says it is still healing from the illness. Also, while I did not mind the pace I did not feel exceptionally energetic and anxious to run fast. So I decided to forgo the second tempo, and just jog to the finish. Total of 10.1 in 1:14:32.

Then 2 more with Benjamin in 17:22.

Kept thinking about the plantar flexion thrust. That's when you flex your calf while on the ground, it raises you up on your toes, and also propels you forward. Haile seems to be running off that thrust quite a bit. I am interested in it because my quads fatigue quickly, but my calves are always fresh, which means they are bumming it. If I could learn how to use them properly for forward propulsion, this could make quite a bit of a difference. I have the oxygen, plenty of it, some could go to the quad, and some could go to the calf. Maybe I could even learn to push my HR to 178 with this calf recruitment.

In the past I felt I could not do it well because of landing crooked. Now after a couple of months of no shod running the landing crookedness is becoming less problematic. But I am still struggling with the thrust. Now the problem is the ankle joint. It feels too weak for full power calf action, I am afraid to injure it. It is good that I have enough neurologically subconscious common sense to know better than go wild with the plantar flexion. But it is bad that the ankle join is weak. It is probably a matter of time before it gets stronger. Maybe 4 months, maybe a year, maybe even two years. I need to be patient.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:52. Julia ran 1.5 in 13:54. Then 0.5 with Joseph in 4:36. He smashed his record of 4:54. So much for the Jo-Jo little leg shuffle. Julia ran the first quarter with us, then picked it up and finished in 4:24. So her total time for 2 miles ended up being 18:18, faster than Jenny's.

A.M. Started with 2 miles with Benjamin in 16:50 pushing William in the stroller. Then Sarah was all worked up because the kids were awake and took Joseph for a run with her while she pushed William and Jacob before I realized what was up. Sometimes women do not think straight. Once I did realized that Sarah was planning on pushing more weight than she could handle for 2 miles I jogged to rescue her from the streak of wild thinking and found her about 0.1 away from the house already coming back from Joseph's run. I took the stroller and Joseph, and ran back to the house while she did the rest of her run.

Then I went on my regular run. It was nice and cool when I ran with Benjamin, but by the time I started it got warmer. So I mentally adjusted my HR expectations for what was healthy, and was actually curious what it would hit in warmer temperatures at faster speeds. What I have noticed in the past is that when it is warmer or I am dehydrated the HR is signficantly higher at slower speeds, but only a little bit higher once I speed up.

The plan was again 2x2.5 at a brisk pace. I am trying an experiment this week (and will probably do it every other week or so). I need to find an effective neuromuscular stimulus. Obviously the faster you run, the longer you do it for, and the more frequently you do it, the more stimulus you get. The question is how much is too much. The answer is not easy.  I cannot push the heart to its true limit. My muscles are never sore. My bones never hurt. The limit is more subtle. It is somewhere in the nervous system, or maybe neuroendocrinal system, or in other words either the nerves or the glands or both are the limiting factor. How in the world do you train a gland? Especially if you do not know what that gland is. And glands are funny things. They do not hurt like muscles. You push a muscle too hard and it immediately starts whining at you. The gland  has a tendency towards passive-aggressive behavior, it will remember everything you've done wrong at some random time in the future and get you for it when you least expect it.

But going off intuition I decided to try something like this. 2x2.5 at a bit sub-6:00 pace daily for a week. Alternate with week of normal hard/easy sequence. Adjust by feel as necessary. Adjust by feel here is the key. It is like solving an equation using a numerical method. Where you start does not matter that much as long as it is somewhere close to reasonable. What is important is that you evaluate correctly after every iteration where you should go next to approach the solution.

So I warmed up and then ran 2.5 in 14:37. The pace fluctuated some. I would get excited and speed up to 5:45. Then I would space out and slow down to 5:55. HR at the end climbed to 155 with the last two quarters in 86 (5:44 pace). Some mucus but no side ache. Felt more energetic than yesterday. Took it as a sign that the body was healed enough to run one more of those. So I did it on the way back, same stretch. This time I felt more motivated to push, so I did. I had a song going through my head. It was a sacrament hymn. I was not driven by its rhythm, but rather by the depth of the message. I ended up with 14:32. The pace was more steady, but again there were surges and lapses. HR got up to 156 in the last mile, and went up as high as 160 in the last quarter done in 86. That quarter is uphill, though, and usually produces higher heart rates for the same pace.

Jogged home and finished 10.1 in 1:09:48.

P.M. 2 with Jenny pushing William in the stroller in 17:50. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 13;58 with us.

A.M. Had an odd night. For some reason had a problem going into deep sleep. Could be several reasons. Congested nose from the cold, warmer temperatures in the house, late nap the day before, or the effects of running fast two days in a row. Nevertheless, I woke up on my own. Come to think of it I was feeling very similar to the morning of St. Jude Marathon in 2007. So maybe 2:30:32 was a bummer race after all. If so, it would be quite encouraging.

Decided to run just one 2.5 tempo today to let the body heal better. Felt odd. Rather sluggish in the warmup. Then once I started running fast I liked it. But I did not like the gas mask suffocation feeling that came from the congestion once I started going fast. It was cooler in the morning, but that gas mask I think drove my HR up a bit. Ended up doing 14:34 with the peak HR of 157. Towards the end it was fairly stable at 156 at 5:48 pace. This is about 4 bpm higher than normal, I'll blame it on the congestion.

There was also a feeling of mild fatigue from the leftovers of the cold. When I finished the tempo I was very unmotivated to run. The loss of drive seemed to be coming from the nose congestion. So I dragged at almost 9:00 pace for a while. About 5 miles into the run I just felt like I wanted to lay down on the ground and take a nap.  I would have done it except I knew of the abundance of insects in that area,  and also that I needed to get home in a timely manner to start the day. But then as I went along the motivation began to return so I gradually sped up to around 7:10 in the last couple of miles. Total time for 10.1 was 1:14:47.

Then ran 2 more with Benjamin in 16:15. Paced him through a quarter in 76 mid-run, that is 5:04 pace, mind you. I had to work, especially with a congested nose and giving splits every 100 meters. Which were: 18 - 19.5 - 19.5 - 19. I am excited about this. He is only 10.5. I ran 500 in 1:45 at 11.5, and then 300 in 58. In the last year his quarter speed just took off. A year ago he was barely breaking 90. I have a feeling 3 years down the road he'd be doing "Daddy, give me five" during my mile time trial.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:23. 2 with Jenny in 19:05. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:14.

A.M. Decided to have another bum day to give the body a chance to deal a fatal blow to the illness. Slept in. Ran 5 miles pushing William in the double stroller. Some of it with Sarah. Felt good, but still decided to continue to bum it for the most part. For a quick evaluation and also to catch up to Sarah ran a mile (the last one of the Fast Running Blog 5 miler course, so mild uphill) in 5:58. HR at that pace climbed to 157 starting out at 134. I was going around 7:00 to get it to 134. Normally without the stroller I would need to go around 6:30 to get 134, and maybe 5:30 to have 157 by the end of the mile. 5:30 would eventually take me to 161. So I figure the stroller was worth maybe 25-30 seconds a mile. William did like sub-6:00 pace enough to fall asleep. The stroller starts making a humming nose when you go faster, nice for putting babies to sleep. Total time for 5 miles was 39:47.

Then 2 more with Benjamin in 16:53.

P.M. 1.5 with Julia and Jared in 13:28. Jenny was sick, did not run. 0.5 with Joseph and Benjamin in 5:15 (William in the stroller). 2 more with William in the stroller and nobody else in 15:41.

A.M. Had some doubts about whether it would be good for my health to run my planned 20 miler, but a prayer removed the doubts. I noticed HR was a little high, but at the same time I was willing to move quicker than slow dragging death from the start, which was a good sign. Forgot to have a drink before the start, but then stopped at Walgreens 1.55 into the run to go to the bathroom and got some water out of the fountain. That did not seem to do much for the elevated HR. But I was feeling decent otherwise and I know that I do have a few heart beats to spare so I was not worried about it.

First mile was 7:54, which is quick for me for the first mile. Then a bit slower than 7:00 the rest of the way. The route was from the house to Bridal Veil Falls and back. Uphill going out, downhill coming back. HR was 134 at 7:12, 139 at 6:40 up 1-1.5% grade. Yes, I am a geek and I was taking splits every 100 meters during the easy part of a 20 mile run. I know this is high for me, just not sure exactly how high because I do not run that route often enough.

The trail was full of runners and bikers. That made the run more interesting during the easy part, but the hard part was a mix. On one hand it was nice to get occasional cheers and have targets to catch. On the other hand at times I felt like I was driving an ambulance in heavy traffic.

Reached the first 10 miles in 1:12:24, and then started running hard. For some reason I had a very hard time finding the rhythm and maintaining it. Did a mile in 5:59, then 5:45, 5:50, and then lost concentration and started going around 6:00. I even thought maybe this was a sign of a problem, and perhaps I should abandon the tempo, but then I thought - 20 miles is 20 miles, it is going to be hard regardless, and the choice is between another 40 minutes of running vs another 50 minutes of running. I decided to choose 40 minutes.

For some reason rocks, twigs, bumps, and turns were really throwing me off. Yes, stepping on a twig is a distraction when wearing Five Fingers. Maybe I am just spoiled by running with Jeff all the time. With him I do not have a choice - find your rhythm after a setback or get dropped. So I am expecting that when he is not around.

The encouraging sign was that HR was dropping to 147 from a more normal 151-152 when I lost concentration and slowed down to slower than 6:00. I interpreted it as that my health was fine and it was OK to push, or at least maintain the effort.

Then I really lost the rhythm around 16 miles into the run. There were some rocks on the road, not as bad as the last time Jeff and I ran that route (4th of July), but still enough to contribute to the confusion. The headwind did not help either along with some uphill. So I ended up slowing down to around 6:20 and then had a hard time shifting gears. The turns and the bridges later on did not help the cause. The 6:00 guy caught me and left me in the dust.

Finally with 1.5 to go I said I've had enough of this 6:20 jogging and gave it a more serious push. After about half a mile I was able to get up to 6:00. And then the momentum carried me and I was going 5:40 before I knew it. So I ended up running the last 0.75 in 4:16 (85,86,85 - 5:41 average).  Almost got the 6:00 guy for the last 10, but ran out of road - 1:00:07, total time for 20 was 2:12:31.

Afterwards I was coughing a lot. When the respiratory system is not 100% it might still do OK when you are going, but it really freaks out when you stop.

P.M. 1.53 with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia to Walgreens to buy Benjamin Crocs. 14:16. Sarah picked up Jenny and Julia. Jenny did not run more because she was recovering from her stomach  troubles yesterday. The Crocs were not wide enough, so Benjamin and I ran back empty-handed in 11:39. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:13.

Day of rest. Went to church. The Sacrament meeting talks were on covenants. The lesson in Sunday school was on eternal marriage.

A.M. Started with Jeff, his brother Andrew, and his dad Don. Stopped at Walgreens to go to the bathroom, Jeff and Andrew stopped with me, Don went ahead because he was going to turn around pretty soon anyway. We ran about 4.2 to the hill on 800 South in Orem and did some hill sprints. The hill is officially (according to the Course Tool) 12% grade, but for some reason it did not look like it. We eyeballed the distance, did a timed gauging stride, and decided to go from one wooden pole to the next. I do not care about the distance to be exact such as 200 feet or 60 meters, I am perfectly happy running 64 or 56 meter intervals or even 20*PI meter intervals. But it does need to be the same distance, and I should be able to run that exact same distance on that same hill when I come back a week later to monitor my progress.

We jogged some unknown distance in between until we were ready to go again and it kept changing as the workout progressed. My times were 10.7 - 10.5 - 10.0 - 10.1 - 9.9 - 9.9.  Jeff and Andrew got up to around 8.3.

Then we ran a cool down to make the total of around 10. I added 2 more with Benjamin in 16:34.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:55. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:14. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:13. Pushed William in the stroller.

A.M.  Jeff had early work, and I felt like I needed some rest. Plus we picked up my mother at the airport late last night. So I slept in and then went for a run. The plan was 2x2 miles in 11:00 each. During the warm-up I ran into Josh Peavler who just finished running for Timpview High and we ran together until it was time for me to start the workout. I ran the first 1000 with the splits of 81, 82, and 42, and could tell something was not right. I was choking in mucus again. I had not been seeing very much of it at slower speeds, but at 5:30 the congestion was a problem. The pace did not feel like it should either, so there was something going on. HR got up to 159 by 0.5, that is about 5 beats too high as well. Did not feel motivated to run faster or in control of the pace, even though the pace should have been very manageable. Decided to scrap the workout and just jog. Ran most of the rest of the run with Josh - total of 10 miles.

Then added 2 more with Benjamin with a fast 500 in the middle. He did it pretty much exactly according to plan - 20 - 21 - 19 - 20 - 20 - total of 1:40, 5:20 pace average. Then we also did a small pickup at the end of the run. Total time was 15:27 with the last mile in 7:05, which included the recovery from the 500 pickup. I think he is ready for a sub-6:00 mile attempt.

Incidentally, what gave me the push to join a running team in 1984 in Moscow was winning a school 500 meter race in 1:45 at the age of 11.5. Now Benjamin has that time beat by 5 seconds being a year younger.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 17:59. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:58. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:43. Pushed William in the stroller for the Jenny/Julia run. Jenny gave me a surprise in the last quarter - 1:43. She dropped me during a 180 turn and picked up the pace. With combination of the stroller, running barefoot on asphalt, dodging a couple of cars, and a fairly quick pace it took me a good 0.1 to catch her.

A.M. Ran with Jeff and his brother Andrew. Tried 2x2 miles again to get a workout and to test the health. It went better this time. Andrew ran the warmup and the first mile of the first repeat. First repeat was 11:00.1 as planned with the splits of 5:33 and 5:27. HR maxed out at 165 when I briefly surged to sub-5:20 around 1.7 into the repeat, but then quickly dropped to 161-162 and stayed there for the last quarter which was covered in 82. Quarter splits were 83 - 85 (Jeff was talking to Andrew teaching him how to relax) - 82 - 83 - 81 - 82 - 82 - 82. I noticed that while HR was OK, and legs felt reasonable, the respiratory rate was high, I was huffing and puffing as if we were running 5:15. I attributed that to reduced lung capacity from the illness.

Normally in the past at this point I would have said - great, let's do another repeat. However, I am trying a change of attitude. I realized that I have been running harder than optimal in my workouts. It is easy for me to do. My legs hardly ever hurt. My cardio is always up to task. The limiting factor is the nervous system. So the natural tendency is to max out the nervous system in an attempt to give the muscles and the cardio a challenge. Also to hit a faster time.

But the nervous system is a funny beast. It is not easy to tell you are taxining it. And the plenalty is high. It really does not like to be red-lined. It works like a photocop. You do not notice anything, no flashing lights behind you. And then a week later you get a ticket in the mail. Except this kind of ticket comes with no explanatory note. It says says - pay $200 or else and does not tell you what you did wrong.

So I asked myself an honest question. How much further do you think you could have gone at that pace today without slowing down? And an honest answer was - no more than 3.5. So based on that I said, next repeat - just a mile. So we jogged  0.5 and then ran 5:28.4 with the splits of 81 - 83 - 83 - 81. I felt decent, even considered going to 2000, but said to myself - Discipline! Do not get too excited. The pace feels harder than it should, something is still not quite right.

Then we jogged to the house to make it 10 total for the run. The total time was 1:12:20.

Then 2 more with Benjamin in 17:24.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:48. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 14:37. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:15.

A.M. Started with Jeff, his brother Andrew and his father Don. Dragged through the first mile in 9:20. Then sped up to 7:30 as Jeff needed to get to work. Don stayed with us up to almost 2 miles, then fell back. It was his sea-level 5 K race pace, and we were at 4500 feet. Andrew turned around at 3. We picked it up some more. It took a long time to catch the 8:00 guy, we passed him around 3.5. Then we kept the pace quick as we needed to finish 10.1 in 1:14. The fat mile helped the cause, we ran it in 5:46. Even though we did not do it quite right to be fat - opened with an 84 quarter, then got back to our senses. HR maxed out at 155, but was fairly stable around 152, which is normal. I felt decent. I even considered suggesting to Jeff that we just keep going at that pace all the way home, but decided to err on the side of caution. It was very tempting, though, to think that we'd be done with our run 3 minutes earlier.

Then in the last couple of miles I must have been getting dehydrated as HR climbed into 132 range at 7:00 pace, and then in the last quarter it was as high as 135 even though we were only going 6:48 pace. So in other words 5 beats too high. But other than the measurement I could not tell anything was different. Earlier in the run HR was normal at those speeds.Total time for 10.1 was 1:12:58.

Then 2 more with Benjamin in 17:19.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 19:12. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:23. 0.5 with Joseph in 0.5.

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff and Andrew in 1:12:47. Don ran the first 0.8 with us until we sped up. Fat mile in 5:45.

Then 2 more with Benjamin in 16:50.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 16:36 pushing William. First mile was 9:19, second 7:17. Julia rode a mile on her bike. She had a blister on her foot that she said was hurting too much to run. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:29.

A.M. Jeff and I paced Ben Crozier through the Uneventful Half in 1:32:45. At first we were going sub-7:00, then Ben started to fade, so we gradually slowed down all the way to 7:40 pace on the uphill section. Then in the last mile he recovered and sped up to 6:40.

Then we turned around and started the tempo. I did notice something wrong during the Uneventful Half. For some reason HR was too high. I thought I was dehydrated. Due to the cardio power to muscle power discrepancy (the cardio is much stronger), I can be lightly dehydrated and not notice it other than HR being a bit high. 

Then there was another sign of trouble. I was not feeling bad, legs actually felt strong, the fuel seemed OK, the head was working, so no blood sugar problems, but for some odd reason 6:00 pace was barely manageable. It took me 5.5 miles into the tempo to understand what was wrong. Last Monday after the hill sprints in Five Fingers on aslphalt the top of my right foot was irritated. Since then I felt uncomfortable in the first mile or so of my runs, but then the increased circulation would remove most of the discomort. Most, but not all. There was a problem. I was dealing with it by slightly altering the form, which was killing the economy.

Around 4.4 into the tempo Jeff was neighing to go after the bikers, and he could no longer control himself, and just went. I coasted at a bit slower than 6:00, then finally at 5.5 I understood the problem and took measures slowing down to a jog. 5.5 time was 33:00, exactly 6:00 pace.

During the cool down I noticed that I felt a whole lot more comfortable on grass than I did on aslphat. Bad sign. Total time for 20.11 miles was 2:18:36.

So from now on I need to take some measures. No more Five Fingers or barefoot on asphalt. Yes, I can, but I need to practice what I preach: "Just because you can does not mean you should!" I do not want to go back to a whole lot of shod running, though, so I am going to measure out a big grass loop and do a good portion of my mileage there. Need to figure out what to do for the shoes on the road - how to get the right amount of cushioning without messing up the form. So far Crocs sound promising, but they last only 500 miles, and they do have issues on turns. Maybe with some clever modifications they could be OK.

P.M. The foot was still sore, so I decided to ride the bike for the kids' run.  Benjamin ran 2 in 15:55, Julia 1.5 in 14:52, Jenny 2 in 18:18. Joseph ran 0.5 with Sarah in 5:02.

Day of rest. Went to Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication.

A.M. Ran 2.04 to Grandview in Crocs, then 5.7 with Jeff on grass barefoot, then 2.04 back. Total distance was 9.78, total time 1:18:31. The foot really liked the grass. 

On the way back the foot was feeling tender, so I decided to ride the bike again for Benjamin's run. He ran 2 miles in 16:53.

P.M. Josse came and scraped my foot. It was very effective. The foot really likes the increased blood flow.

Ran 0.5 with Joseph in 5:27, and about 2 with Jenny and Julia in 19:58. 0.5 to the grass field, then 10 minutes around the field, then 0.5 back. Ran barefoot when on grass, in Crocs on pavement.

A.M. Largely a repeat of yesterday. Ran 2.04 to the grass field at Grandview in Crocs, then 5.78 barefoot, including 0.77 in 4:48 (6:12 pace). The foot again liked the grass.  Then 2.04 back. Total time was 1:19:58 for 10.02.

2 miles on a bike with Benjamin running. He did 2 miles in 16:16.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in Crocs in 5:26. 2 with Jenny on grass at Grandview in 19:27. Julia ran 1.56 with us in 15:18.

A.M. Decided to try a normal shoe for the non-grass running. The foot felt slightly better in it than in a Croc, but it did not seem to make a whole lot of difference.  Ran 2.04 to Grandview, saw Ted and his cadets on the way.  Took the shoes off, Jeff had his on.

Did another lap around the field with Jeff at an easy pace(0.386 miles), and then we started a tempo. We had no definite plan how fast or how long, just stay on the safe side of the hard-retard line. We did the first lap in 2:21 (6:05 pace), then sped up to around 2:15 per lap (5:49 pace), and then started seeing 2:12 laps (5:41 pace). After 10 laps I said one more, which we did in by my watch 2:05 (5:23 pace), 2:07 by Jeff's (5:28) - a matter of looking at it at a different time.

Total time for 11 laps (4.248 miles) was  24:34, 5:47 average. I think this is the fastest I've ever run on grass barefoot for that long.

HR was 154 at 5:50 pace, 157 at 5:40. What's odd is that it did not spike once we sped up to under 5:30 at the end, it was only 158. So I suspect we are dealing with something very interesting. I felt that the faster we went the more efficient I got. I really liked the last lap. It felt very smooth. The form felt perfect, the right glut was engaging like in my best races, and possibly even better. I believe that is why I was able to run so much faster without a significant increase in HR.

Jogged 3 more laps barefoot, put shoes on, and jogged back home. Total distance was 10.26, time 1:14:57.

Then to avoid crossing the notorious hard-retard line rode the bike while Benjamin ran. He did 2 miles in 16:04 with the last 0.75 in 4:48.

Noticed positive symptoms of increased testosterone in the last few days. Increased appetite, muscles feel snappier, etc. Not sure where this came from.

P.M. Ran 2.05 with Jenny in 21:10 at Amelia Earhart's Elementary field during Benjamin's soccer practice. Julia ran 1.54 with us in 16:03. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:18.

A.M. Ran 2.04 to Grandview in shoes, then 6.3 there barefoot, part of it with Jeff, then back 2.04 in shoes. The foot liked the cold grass and was feeling progressively better. It also felt decent on the way back on pavement, best ever since the start of the week.I was able to speed up to 6:49 in the last mile, which is super-sonic speed for pavement for this week.Total time for 10.38 was 1:21:46.

Nevertheless, I decided to stay on the side of caution and ride the bike for Benjamin's run. He ran 2 miles in 17:34.

P.M. 20 minutes with Jenny on grass during Benjamin's soccer game. Julia ran the first 15 minutes with us. Will approximate this as 2 miles. The game ended in a draw - 2-2. Later 0.5 with Joseph in 5:16.

A.M. 2.04 to Grandview, 6 miles on grass barefoot, 2.04 back. Jeff must have slept in, he was not there. To my dismay they aerated the field, every single bit of it. So it took me a while to get used to it. I started out at 10:00 pace, then finally figured out how to maneuver past the little pieces of dirt, and was able to speed up to 7:00. On the way back wearing shoes on pavement felt better than yesterday. Ran the last mile in 6:41. Total time for 10.08 was 1:20:51.

Then rode 2 miles alongside Benjamin to avoid unnecessary risks. He ran 17:34, exact same time as yesterday.

P.M. Ran 0.5 with Jenny then Julia joined us for the next 1.5. Julia's time for 1.5 was 13:28. Jenny pulled ahead a bit at the end and finished 2 miles in 17:56. I stayed with Julia. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:20.

A.M. Ran 2.04 to Grandview, met Jeff there. We ran 21 laps around the field (8.11 miles). Last 8 laps (3.09) fast - 18:24 for me (5:57 average), 17;49 for Jeff. Then jogged back to the house. Total time for 12.19 was 1:32:46. For some reason the pace felt harder than on Wednesday. Possibly because I had a hard time with the aerated chunks of dirt in the way that were not there Wednesday.

The foot did not like the fast pace. Running home on pavement did not feel good afterwards.

P.M. Still had some energy left from the short run in the morning, and also felt the legs were getting a bit flabby. So decided to give them a non-impact workout. Rode the bike about 3 miles to our old house at 551 S 1350 E. Averaged around 15 mph through traffic including stops. Then did 6 loops about 670 meters (0.42 miles) long. The first half of the loop was a 5% climb, and the rest of it 5% drop. There was a yield sign and a turn at the bottom of the hill, so you had to brake before you got going again. I did this loop the following way: 20 seconds or so maximum effort up the hill. Then honest but not maximum effort to make it to the top of this hill without slowing down to a crawl and falling off the bike. Then pedal a little bit on the downhill until pedalling did no good, which did not require a whole lot of pedalling since my bike cannot shift into the higher gears. Then brake at the yield sign, turn, moderately try to gain some momentum before the hill, turn, and go full power up the hill again.

So it took me 10:01 to do 6 of those loops this way, which averages about 15 mph. The bike weights 30 lb, the gears do not shift well. In fact I would not dare shift them at any point on the loop. Now, I am quite clueless when it comes to biking, so I do not know what that effort was worth exactly. But I have a feeling it was respectable and this is making me wonder if perhaps Ted is right when he says I could be a better biker than a runner if I focused on biking.

Then 3 miles back to the house.

Ran 2 with Jenny in 18:40. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:01. Benjamin ran 2 going ahead and then trying to catch us in 15:31. Added 0.5 more with Joseph in 5:18. The foot was almost 100% - for the first time since last week I felt it was not affecting the form on pavement.

Day of rest. Went to church.

A.M. Did an odd workout. On Saturday during Benjamin's soccer game I noticed that the Foot Printers Field was not aerated. So that gave me an idea to run there. Jeff, Benjamin, and I drove out there. Then we measured a loop. On the first measurement it was 1626 feet. On the second measurement after the run, when we followed the path that we actually ran, it was 1633 feet. So I'll go with 1633 feet.

Benjamin ran the first 2.5 laps with us, then we sped up. He ended up doing 7 laps (2.15 miles) in 18:50 (8:42 average). We gradually kept speeding up until I saw my HR was 145 and our laps were in the 2:05 range (6:45 pace). I figured it was time for a mini-tempo, so I conservatively told Jeff to get my HR to 152 knowing that he has an overachiever tendencies. We ran the next 8 laps (2.47 miles) in 14:42 (5:56 pace). It felt hard. HR quickly made its way to 158, then spent a good portion of the second half of the tempo at 161, and hit 164 in the last lap, which we did in 1:46 (5:43 pace). Jeff's HR was also high - 176 when mine was 161, and 181 when mine was 164. 

So something was odd today. I asked Jeff how hard he was working, he thought about 5:20-5:25 effort. Slower pace also felt noticeably harder, and the HR showed. So either both of us got out of shape fast, or there is something about that grass that we do not quite understand.

Ran the cool down. Total of 33 laps (10.2) in 1:14:14.

P.M. Wore Crocs. 2 with Jenny in 17:59. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 14:21. Then 0.5 with Joseph in 5:01. The foot felt good enough to try running 10 miles on pavement.