Breaking the Wall

A.M. 12 miles total, some with the kids. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1.

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. All kids except Benjamin rested for the cross-country meet tonight. Benjamin ran 2 miles out with me, and 2 miles back, total of 4. I did total of 12. Picked up in the last 0.5 to about 5:40 pace, but it was a harder effort because it was uphill.

P.M. Cross-country meet at Kiwani's Park. 3 K distance. Benjamin won overall with  10:42. Grant Gardner was second with 10:49. They both improved from the last time when it was 10:54/11:04, but Benjamin stayed ahead. There was a rabbit that got Benjamin going at a good pace early for the first 1 K or so, and he pulled away from Grant. But then Benjamin felt the pace was too fast and eased off to rest. This was enough for Grant to catch up. Then Benjamin rested behind him for some time and turned it on with about 800 to go as he usually does. This was enough to create a 7 second gap, but not enough to break 10:30 which we hoped for. Still 10:42 is his cross-country 3 K PR and an improvement of 50 seconds compared to last year. It might actually be a course record in for youth in the recent years - at least I do not recall a faster time.

Joseph did quite well. His assignment was to break 14:00, win the Sub-bantams, and run in contact with John Hunter or Malcolm Stewart (top Bantam boys).  He was not in contact the entire race, and he was not even leading the Sub-bantam race with 300 to go, but in the last 300 he kicked, passed Jayden Fitzgerald (leading Sub-bantam boy), and dipped under 14:00 by 2 seconds - 13:58. He improved his 3 K time by 14 seconds since the last race. John was ahead of him by about 10 seconds, and Malcolm beat him by quite a bit with the time of 13:05. But those boys are at least 2 years older, so that's OK for now.

Jenny struggled today again, but less than in the 4 K, and ran a better time - 14:39 taking 3rd place in the Midget girls.   Jacob ran a solid race finishing with 15:19 and taking 3rd in Sub-bantams. Julia struggled again and ran 15:42, which gave her 4th place in the Bantam girls.

It was quite a challenge to keep track of all five kids in the same race. 

Afterwards Benjamin took William for 0.5 miles. 

A.M. 12 total. All of it with the kids. Joseph did 2, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 1, Benjamin 7. I did a pickup for 0.5 in 2:35 down the canyon after a VPB. Benjamin joined me for about a quarter after I had caught up.

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. Kids ran on their own. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1. I did a total of 13 with 3x1 mile down the Provo Canyon. The times were 4:56.0, 4:58.3, 4:58.5. The first half a second faster than last time, the second a second slower, and the last one 2.5 or so seconds slower. Not sure if it was due to less favorable winds or just due to the reduced fitness.

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. 12 total. 7 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia did 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1. I did a couple of pickups totaling about 1.25.

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. 20 mile run with Chad before General Conference. Started at 6:00 AM. George ran the first 4 miles with us, but then we sped up a bit and he could not keep up. The first half was 1:20:10. In the second half (down the canyon for the most of it) I paced Chad through the first 5 miles in 30:38, then sped up and tried to hit 5:40 average for the last 5 miles. Benjamin joined me in the last 3.5 which we covered in 19:42. My last 5 split was 28:16, 4 seconds under target. We calculated that Benjamin ran about 17:31 5 K split in the middle of that, which would make it a new 5 K PR for him. I got 58:54 for the last 10 miles. Chad got 1:02:10, which is a very good time for him.

Watched General Conference with the family after that. Did not realize Elder Perry was 90 years old. He is moving around quite well for that age. I find it significant that we have men in their 80s or even 90s who can speak to the whole Church and instruct us. History books are one thing. History gets written and re-written, and important details are lost as it is transferred from generation to generation. Even though I am only 39, I find that people of the younger generation have no concept of some things that I think everybody should understand perfectly without any special training or instruction. It really helps to have the continuity with people of age being in a prominent position and teaching us from their experience. While the experience of life is important, they do not speak from that alone. That experience is enlightened by inspiration that comes from the nature of their calling.

When you think of preserving that generation continuity, the father to son connection becomes of particular importance. One of the first things that angel Moroni said to Joseph Smith was the repetition of Malachi's words about the hearts of the children turning to the fathers and hearts of the fathers turning to the children lest the earth be smitten with a curse. This quote was on my mind as I reflected on the significance of running near the Logan temple with Benjamin at the end of the Top of Utah marathon a few weeks ago. Before I was a father, this was just another thing that angel Moroni had quoted from the scriptures. Now I am beginning to understand the depth of it and the power behind it.

P.M. More General Conference. Amazingly in spite of arising early and running 20 miles I never felt tired. I was able to feel the Holy Ghost during the talks and it kept me awake and alert. This is significant for me. I've had many General Conference experiences when I would feel inspired by a few talks, but then my ability to handle inspiration would be gone and I would fall a sleep at least for a few minutes.  Ran 0.5 miles with William.

Day of rest. Watched General Conference.

A.M. 12 total. 7 with Benjamin. 2 with Joseph, 1 with Jacob. Jenny and Julia did 3, I ran some of it with them. Did a pickup for 0.75. 

P.M. 0.5 errand run, and 0.5 with William. 

A.M. Kids ran on their own. Benjamin 4, Jenny, Joseph, and Julia 1. Jacob rested. Cross-country meet tonight. I did a workout. 3x2000 in the canyon. First one up, the other two down. The times were 7:15.9, 6:28.5, 6:27.5. It felt harder than it should have and the form felt clumsy. Not that it is not always clumsy, but it was clumsier, I should say. I felt strength in the wrong muscles. I am suspecting I need to make a change in my strength training. So I decided no more running with dumbbells, and alter the back extension so that it works the part of the back that I feel matters for frame support when running.

P.M. Cross-country meet. 1500 meters. Benjamin won with 4:55 one more time using his patented long kick for the entire second half of the race. This is around 5:16 mile pace. I thought it was a good result for grass and hills. Joseph ran 6:45 winning Sub-bantams. Jenny did 6:49, 4th place in Midgets. Julia got third place in Bantams with 6:55. Jacob was third in Sub-bantams with 7:43. William ran 11:27 demonstrating great ability to focus and follow the course for a three year old.  Thinking on the results - Joseph was a bit slower than what he should have been, but not too much. Jenny is still struggling with muscle pain, so I am glad she was able to run a somewhat respectable time. Julia ran maybe 10 seconds slower than what I would have anticipated basing the calculations on track performances and Benjamin. Jacob just does not know how to run a short race. I told him - it is a short race, just go hard from the start. But he just ran it like he did the 3 K and the 4 K - same pace. Well, he is only 6 years old, still does not have a good sense of pace or distance. 

A.M. Ran with the kids for most of my run. Total of 12. 1 with Jacob, 2 with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph, 7 with Benjamin, 2 alone. 

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. Kids ran on their own. Benjamin 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1. I did 12x400 down the canyon. I modified the workout a little from the last time alternating recoveries between 100 meters and 200 meters. The target was 72. I planned to add more 200 meter recoveries if I found myself struggling to hit 72. But I ended up doing fine with the alternating 100/200 recovery regimen with the slowest repetition being 72.6, median of around 71.0-71.5 and with occasional high or even low 70s. The last one was 69.7. Overall I was happy with the workout. Total of 12 miles.

P.M. Sarah took William for 0.5. 

A.M. Ran with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin did 7, Jenny, Julia and Joseph 3, Jacob 1. I did a pickup after a VPN up the canyon for 0.5 in 2:47, and it felt good.

P.M. Julia took William for 0.5. 

A.M. Ran with the kids then ran some more to make it 20. Benjamin did 5, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1. Benjamin felt like he was getting a cold, so that's why only 5. He normally runs 7. I ran the last 13 miles alone, with the last 6.5 hard. Total time for 13 was 1:24:53 with the last 6.5 in 37:25  - 5:45 pace. For some reason it felt hard even though I felt strong. I think part of it was not having Benjamin in the last 3.5, but also some headwind. When I finished I felt like my heart was beating really fast. Not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing.  The last 100 meters is up 6% grade, so that is part of the reason. But in those tempos it is always up 6%.  Maybe the heart was still tired from the quarters on Thursday and 2000s on Tuesday. In any case, I'll see how I do in the workouts in the next couple of weeks before making any conclusions. It did feel good to run a 1:25 half equivalent on an out and back course jogging the first 6.5 miles of it, and I mean really jogging - I never cracked 7:00 in any of the miles.

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a fast and testimony meeting. Then I substituted in Sunbeams, the class that William attends. 

A.M. 12 total, most with the kids. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1. Did some pickups. 

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. Did a workout. 2x3 miles. First one up on the usual course, the second one down. On the up one I thought for sure I would be over 6:00 on the last mile after running the first one in 5:54 with significant effort followed by 5:59, and two less than spectacular quarters in 92. But then I stopped the bleeding somewhat with a 91 quarter, and then shifted gears and ran the last one which gives you a short break from the uphill in 85, so 6:00 for the last mile and 17:53.9 for 3. Then I had a rather long break - about 1.4 miles of jogging + a bathroom visit, this was not a VPB, there is an actual bathroom at Nunn's, and I headed for the last one. I set a goal to beat Benjamin's record of 16:26, which is easy for me fresh, but after running the first one uphill hard this was going to be a challenge. My first mile was 5:24, then 5:28, and in the last mile I shifted gears and ran 5:16,which gave me 16:08 for 3 miles. Total mileage was 12. Benjamin ran 3. Everybody else rested for the cross-country race in the evening.

P.M. Cross-country meet. It was windy so the times were slower. Not sure exactly how much, but I am estimating somewhere around 15-20 seconds. Maybe more. Benjamin ran 10:55 taking second place after Thomas Heaps who ran 10:45. Good for him to learn humility and also for us to discover something to work on. He got gapped early in the race, but then the gap did not grow. We had a conversation about it. He said he just could not go with the pace. I argued that he could. My argument was that Thomas did not run 9:50, or even 10:20 if we gave him a generous allowance for the wind. So Benjamin given his 4:55 1500 performance could have stayed with him at least to half-way if he just ran without thinking how much longer he had left. We are going to work more on faith running. I am thinking a 3 mile tempo run down the canyon where I hit 5:20 as close as I can, and his job is to run with the pace "till the standard bearer fainteth".

Joseph got beat in Sub-bantams for the first time this year as well.  I told him to attach himself to John Hunter, Iain Hunter's son. John is a Bantam, but still I wanted Joseph to be in contact with him so he would be safe from his Sub-Bantam competition which I suspected might be closer to Joseph that he thought. But Joseph was doing his own thing running most of the race alone a few seconds behind John. All of that after a lengthy pre-race instruction about the benefits of drafting in windy conditions. Well, kids sometimes do their own thing, and then find out why it was a bad idea, which is what happened to Joseph. He got caught in the final stretch by Ammon Blackburn, his nemesis from the last year, who Joseph has been beating this year without problems, but Ammon got into better shape for this race. Joseph fought, but he turned on his kick too late, and even though he leaned, Ammon ended up winning the visual pseudo-photofinish. They both got 14:27, but Ammon was declared the winner. I told Joseph we were going to work on learning to main contact regardless of how fast he thinks his competitor is running.

 Jenny and Julia had good races. Jenny got 14:51, and Julia broke 15:00 in cross-country 3 K for the first time with 14:53. Jacob, the obedient child, reaped the fruit of his obedience. I told him to go with Joseph and stay in contact until he absolutely could not. The idea was to knock him out of the rut of just running a somewhat comfortable pace regardless of the distance. He was rewarded with a fast time - 15:11, and third place in the sub-Bantam's only 45 seconds behind the winner in spite of being 2 years younger. His official time was 15:16, but it is a mistake - I timed him at 15:11.

Later I ran 0.5 with William. 

A.M. Total of 12. 7 with Benjamin. 1 with Jacob. 2 with Joseph, 2 with Jenny, and Julia. 

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

A.M. 12 total. 0.5 with William in 4:36, 1 with Jacob, 2 with Joseph, Jenny and Julia did 3, Benjamin 7. I did some pickups including 1000 in 3:10 down the canyon with Benjamin.

A.M. 12 total. All with the kids. Joseph did 2, Jacob 1, Jenny and Julia 3, Benjamin 7. William was sick and did not run. I did some pickups.

A.M. 20 mile run. Ran with the kids first. Jacob did 1, Joseph 2, Jenny and Julia 3. Then I ran with Benjamin. He did 7. We did 1.5 down the canyon to teach him how to deal with a competitor that is running strong and pushing the pace into the miserable range. The target was 5:20 pace, so 8:00 for 1.5, but he was acting edgy on my shoulder so I thought he wanted to go faster. So we did 79, 77, 78, 79 - 5:13 for the mile. At that point he began to beg for mercy saying: "Daddy, please do not speed up". I told Sarah about this later, she said - "isn't that cute that you have a boy that can run a 5:13 mile and keep going that still calls you Daddy?". I was going to tell him that he could not ask his competitors to do that in a race, but the pace was hard for me as well, I could not say that much. So I eased off to a 1:02 300 (did not mean to ease off that much), and then we kicked, sort of, and finished in 7:52.7. This was a good learing experience for Benjamin.

After we finished, we parted ways - he ran home, and I ran for more miles up the canyon. On the way back I ran a 5 mile tempo. I thought it would be easy to maintain 5:40 given how easy the 7:52 1.5 came to me. But it was not so. The first 0.5 or so was easy, and after that it got progressively harder. I still managed sub-5:40 pace going out of the canyon for 3 miles, but once I hit the uphill at the end I was barely breaking 6:00. My time for 5 miles was 28:44 - 5:44.8 average.  I felt that the heart was tired and underperformed, so I took measures when I got home - a nap, also got some avocados and almonds at Costco.

Day of rest. Went to church.

A.M. Total of 12 miles. Most of it with the kids. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5.

A.M. Total of 12. 2 with Joseph. Jenny and Julia did 3. Jenny ran 1 of it with Jacob. I ran 7 with Benjamin. We did a 2 mile tempo run down the canyon. His assignment was to follow me as I tried to pace it at 5:20 per mile as closely as possible. I monitored the splits every 100 meters and was never more than 1 second off the schedule until we kicked. The splits were 79, 80, 80, 81 (5:20), then the next 800 in 2:41, 80, 76. There was a headwind, that is why I slipped into 81s and could not follow it with immediate 79 to recover. I tried pretty hard, but the gears were not moving. However, when it was time to kick I shifted to 76 without problems. Our total time for 2 miles was 10:37.3.

Sarah's/Matthew's fundal height measured low (27 instead of expected 30) at the midwife's appointment on Monday, so we did the ultrasound today to make sure nothing was wrong. All of the measurements and visual results were perfect. The due date is December 29th.

P.M. Sarah ran 0.5 with William and another mile on her own. 

A.M. 12.5 miles total. Jenny and Julia did 3, Jacob 1, Joseph 2, Benjamin 7., William 0.5.

A.M. Total of 12.5. Most of it with the kids. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5.

A.M. Ran with the kids for most of my run. Total of 12.5. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5.

A.M. Total of 20. Started with Chad. He ran 12. After the first 8 we picked up Benjamin. Chad went out 2, then came back. Benjamin and I did a tempo run. It was supposed to be 3.5, but it ended up being around 3.6 because we had to take a detour to get around the finish line of some half marathon that blocked the trail. Our time was 21:00 which is 5:50 average. Then I ran with the kids. Jacob did 1, Joseph 2. Jenny and Julia 3 by themselves. Then at the very end of 20 I did 2x2000 on rolling hills near my house. That course is quite slow. I did the first one in 7:10, and the second in 7:09 going in the opposite direction putting in an effort that I think would have given me 6:40 down the canyon, so maybe 6:50-6:55 on the track.

P.M. 0.5 with William. 

Day of rest. Went to church. We had another missionary farewell in the Sacrament meeting. The talks were on sharing the Gospel. Then we had a lesson on Christ's sermon to the Nephites when he appeared to them, which begins with the repetition of the Sermon on the Mount with a few important changes, and then more things are taught. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on Elder Nelson's talk Ask The Missionaries. That talk was the first time that I heard an apostle address people outside of the Church directly for the entire time in General Conference. Times are changing indeed.

A.M. Total of 12.5. Most of it with the kids. Benjamin did 7, Julia and Jenny 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5.

A.M. Total of 13.5. Ran with the kids. Benjamin did 8, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5. Did a speed workout. Now I have a kid that can do a good portion of it with me. I did 3x1 mile, first one up the canyon, the other two down. Benjamin did 1000s with me. The first one was 5:38.3 - Benjamin's 1000 was 3:27. The wind really picked up in the last 600, I was headed for about 5:33 or so. In the second one I ran 5:03.3 - Benjamin did 3:09. In the last one Benjamin took the lead after 600 and that helped a lot with the pace. His 1000 was 3:06 and I ran 4:59.1 for the mile.

A.M. Total of 12. Most with the kids. Benjamin did 7, Jenny and Julia 3, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5.