Breaking the Wall

December 21, 2024

15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

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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to Ukraine's Armed Forces

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

Fri, Dec 14, 2007

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
20.35	0.00	0.00	0.00	20.35

A.M. Ran with Ted at 6:30 AM. Uneventful 15.1. Very slippery roads, record for this year so far. We had a great debate going on a variety of topics. Ted knows he needs to hit controversial issues to keep the pace slow on uneventful days, such as stating that I have as much slow twitch fiber ratio as Alberto Salazar. When we convert 10% of the US population to competitive running, perhaps we can start a Ted and Sasha Uneventful 15.1 Talk Show. Total time was 1:53:21, 7:30.4 avg.

P.M. 1.05 with Julia in 11:09, 1.5 with Jenny and Jared - they whooped the 9:00 guy coming from behind - Jenny got 13:17, Jared 13:21. I think we should have named Jenny Catherine after Catherine Ndereba - she runs just like her on a good day. A bit slow to start, then getting progressively faster, and closing furiously. Then 2 miles with Benjamin. He started at a bit faster than 9:00, then fairly quickly progressed to 8:00. I told him that the 8:00 guy was getting concerned. He said he was not chasing him. I told him the 8:00 guy was concerned anyway. He eventually eased into 7:20 pace, and thoroughly whooped the 8:00 with 15:49 for the whole run. Added another 0.7 in 5:00 afterwards.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

Comments

From MIke B on Sat, Dec 15, 2007 at 07:18:33

Sasha, it appears that you are recovering well from St. Jude. You're a machine! I do have a question, I see in your blog that there have been VPB taken. What is a VPB?

Also, you mentioned that you put over 3k on your shoes before retiring them, which I find incredible. You have been injury free. Do you run on soft surfaces, etc. Thanks!

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Dec 15, 2007 at 15:38:33

Mike - VPB stands for Virtual Private Bathroom (in comparison with Virtual Private Network). I do put 3,000 miles on a pair of shoes running mostly on asphalt. No injuries ever that put me out for more than a day to the point of not being able to run, and no mileage missed due to injury of any kind since 2005. The cause of that one was sprinting uphill on a skewed surface, then running 20 miles with a 12 mile tempo two days later, then helping a friend move that same day without taking a nap first. Problem - pinched nerve in the lower back. Prior to that, last mileage missed injury was in 1996, the cause was running repeats on an indoor track in spikes immediately after running in 25 degrees outside. Problem - knee pain. I have never been injured from running on level surface straight in 23 years of running.

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