Breaking the Wall

A.M. 10.1 mostly alone in 1:15:01. Caught up to Yvonne,  an old friend of ours from our BYU ward 12 years ago, slowed down to chat, we ran to our house so she could see Sarah and the kids. 

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:19, 2 with Benjamin in 17:15, Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 13:16 with us. Julia rode along for part of it on a bike.

A.M. Total of 10 miles. Ran the warm-up with Dustin and Derek. Then they turned around and ran back. I went a bit further, and then ran my 2.5 mile tempo.

Total time: 13:43.9

Course: From Utah Lake to Geneva Road.

Splits by quarter: 81, 82, 82, 82, 82, 82, 83, 83, 84, 82

Subjective: Probably the most even I've ever run this adjusted for the terrain. However, for the life of me could not go any faster. Felt that my power was coming from what I would describe as a compact stride.

This made me think of a Russian math joke. First, some definitions. A set is considered closed if every sequence in that set that converges to a limit contains that limit. A set is considered bounded, well, if it has boundaries specific to the nature of the beast. In a one-dimensional space (a line of real numbers) the boundaries would be a lower bound number and an upper bound number. In a two-dimensional space (XY plane) the boundaries would be a rectangle. In 3-D a rectangular parallelepiped. Speaking of the parallelepiped. In my informal polling, I discovered that most Americans do not know what it is. In Russia, this geometric object is sufficiently familiar to the general public that it is mentioned in a popular song. But we have digressed.   A set is called compact if it is both  closed and bounded. Now the joke.

A mathematician says to his girlfriend - "you are so compact". She asks what that means. "Well, you are so closed and bounded".

In running I would describe stride compactness as the amount of control you feel over your legs. The metaphor I like to use is if somebody stuck a pen in between your toes you'd be able to write small letters legibly  with your foot. The control over your legs and feet allows you to generate maximum push-off power with minimum effort.

Well, I felt while hitting the 82s that I was able to maintain some semblance of compactness in my stride. After that I began to lose it. I still managed to maintain the pace (adjusted for the terrain, the last mile had a small uphill), but it took a lot of effort.

I think next week I willl replace this tempo with 10x200.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:03, 2 with Benjamin in 16:35, Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 12:44.

A.M. Jeff must have slept in this morning. So I ran alone for a while.

Quiz: What are my chances of meeting a Russian speaking running partner at 6:00 AM in Provo on a December morning?

Answer: You might think they are pretty dismal. Provo is a small town in the depth's of a supposedly ignorant, non-diverse, narrow minded, prejudiced, bigotted, and you name it, state of Utah which somehow managed to place 5th among all of the states in a recent national health survey. Number one rating on low smoking rate, and number one on low cancer deaths. Only number three on low binge drinking, Latter-Day Saints need to do a better job on home teaching, activation, missionary work, and opening their mouth in general when they know they should even though the world might think they should not. Number three on low cardiovascular deaths. Not dismal, but we can do better than that. Need to do a better job  following the principles of the Word of Wisdom rather than just the letter. 4th place on low infant mortality. Not bad considering that our women have more children than anywhere else in the nation and that they push the envelope and will have a child against the odds more often than anywhere else. But with healthy diet and exercise we might be able to do even better and be number one.

7th place on the low prevalence of obesity. Good bye the myth that LDS people are fatter than the rest of the country. But they are still fat. 22.4 % with the BMI of more than 30. That means a guy my height (5-10) weighing over 208 lb. And no, we cannot blame this on those outside of the church :-)

8th place on low poor mental health days. Good bye the myth that LDS women with everything they have to do are any more depressed than the rest of the nation. But more sunshine in the soul would not hurt. We can be number one.

One place where we got unfairly hit in my opinion is the number of primary care doctors per person (45th), and the public health spending per person (32nd). Doesn't the scripture say the whole need no physician? The healthier we get, the fewer doctors we need, and the less money we need to spend on health care.

We also got slammed on the geographic disparity (45th) which measures how equal the counties are on the health parameters. I'll blame that on the fact that smoking and binge drinking are much higher in the Salt Lake County than in the Utah County and rural areas.

You can see the data at

http://www.americashealthrankings.org/2008/states/ut.html

Well, this morning the Russian speaking partner chances ended up being 100% (if something already happened, the chances are 100%, if it did not, then just 0%). Half way through the run I met Scott Hillman.

Total of 10 miles in 1:21:33. Too early and too much talking in Russian.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:27, 1 with Julia in 9:50.

A.M. Ran with Derek and MaryAnn. For the sake of protecting MaryAnn's privacy will not mention her last name. Yeah, right :-) If you are a female, and you can hit a 70 second quarter in a workout, do not do it after you've robbed a bank. This will most certainly lead to a positive identification.

So we did a warm-up, then a speed workout on the trail. 2x400 69.3 - 69.8 with 200 recovery. MaryAnn was about a second back on the first, and ran 72 on the second. Then 8x200 with 200 recovery for all except the last. 32.9 - 33.1 - 32.8 - 33.1 - 32.8 - 33.3 - 31.6 - 31.4. Derek was feeling tight so he skipped the 200s. MaryAnn did them in around 34. On the 5th one I told her to back off and coast so she'd be recovered enough to give me trouble in the next two. On the 6th I had her run with me until she could not then coast to the finish. She made it to about 130 meters. But the holy fear of being chicked made me go 1.3 seconds faster.

On the last one we took 400 rest to make MaryAnn faster. She was able to stay with me for the whole interval and finished maybe only a step or two behind. Again the holy fear of being chicked played a role. I ran 1.7 seconds faster than the fastest previous time in that direction.

And I discovered something. The mechanism of running faster. I reach my top power and MaryAnn is still with me. I need to drop her, but I do not have any more raw power left. In fact, it feels like I am not going to be able to sustain the power I am exerting right now. But I do not want to get chicked. Amazingly, I am able to find another gear. Not through more power, but by using that power more efficiently. I have tried to find that gear on all the previous repetitions telling myself, come on, go faster, she is only a few steps behind you, you'll get chicked, etc. But it did not work. Deep down I knew she was far enough behind, and there was nothing I could consciously do about it. The fear had to be real for it work.

Cooled down, total distance for the run was 10.1.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:50 - Joseph rode in the stroller and ran portions. 2 with Benjamin in 17:04, Jenny ran 1.5 in 13:16 with us.

A.M. 10 miles alone in 1:11:34. It was cold, so we got some inversion/air pollution. Could tell that Utah ranks only 25th on the lack of air pollution. My plan on improving that. Get as many people as you can running regularly, and especially during winter. If we can do a good job, it could get the public thinking about what we can do to improve our furnaces, and eventually we will have a solution.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:39, 2 with Benjamin in 16:44, Jenny ran 1.5 in 12:44.

A.M. Ran with Jeff. We did a 2 mile warm-up, ran our standard 15 mile tempo, and then 3.1 for a cool down. Total of 20.1 miles.

Tempo - total time 1:26:52.0. New  course record by 18 seconds.

Splits by mile: 5:51 - 5:50 - 5:52 - 5:49 - 5:54 - 5:46 - 5:49 - 5:47 - 5:52 - 5:48 - 5:46 - 5:45 - 5:43 - 5:45 - 5:35.

By 2.5 segment: 14:39 - 14:37 - 14:30 - 14:32 - 14:24 - 14:10

By 5 mile segment: 29:16 - 29:02 - 28:34

By half: 43:46 - 43:06

Analysis: The plan was to go 5:50 pace without major speeding even if I felt good for the first 10 miles, and then do the best I can after that. Jeff was under the constraint of not being allowed to drop me. The reason was to make sure Jeff would not run himself into the ground. He still has a discrepancy between fuel storage/muscle resilience and a neural drive favoring the neural drive, or in more plain terms he can run hard for 15 miles but he pays for it for a week afterward. 

6:00 pace felt hard from the gun, but then I got warmed up. We did quite a bit of surging into the 86 quarter zone, then overcorrecting to an 89 or sometimes even 90, then repeating the cycle. Which I think was not necessarily bad since it happens a lot in tactical races and it is good to be ready for it.

Part of the reason we surged so much I think was that 5:50 pace felt not much harder than 5:40, but 6:00 felt much more relaxing. So once we'd realize we earned some relaxation points instead of taking a short nap (an 88 quarter), we would go to a spa (90 quarter), and then it was time to pay the bills.

The good news is that as the run progressed the pace did not feel harder. I did not have to draft behind Jeff through most of the run except a couple of surges and the last 0.5 which we did in 2:44 (83,81).

Had to do a VPB stop at mile 7.

Compared to the previous course PR which I set drafting behind Nick for 12.5 miles, we trailed that schedule the entire time and did not pass virtual me until the last mile. However, it was Abraham sacrificing the ram caught in the thicket - virtual me ran 15:12 for the last 2.5 so even though we were still behind at 14, we ended up 18 seconds ahead at the finish.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:56, Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 12:34. Benjamin was excited about playing with Jared, so he ran 6:44 pace in the last 0.5 to get the run finished quicker. 1 with Julia in 9:47.

Day of rest. Went to church. Had the privilege to bless my son William. We do not baptize children until they are 8 (age of accountability), but we give them a special blessing soon after they are born.

Julia gave a talk in Primary. Usually if the child is not a fluent reader or if he is just too nervous a parent goes up to help. But I was holding William and Sarah had not yet come in, so I had an idea - send Jenny to help Julia instead. That's part of what the families are all about - older children helping their younger siblings. Julia ended up needing help with only a couple of words.

A.M. Ran 7.5 with Derek, Dustin, and Mary Ann, and then 2.5 alone. Total time for 10 was 1:11:07.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:08, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:03. 1 with Julia in 10:07. It is getting colder.

A.M. Derek and Dustin did not show up, so it was just me and Mary Ann. She had a tight hamstring, so I did my workout alone. We warmed up 3 miles.

The plan was 10x200. I did 4 alternating directions; 33.3, 34.1, 32.9, 33.3. Then I decided to do a couple of quarters to see what would happen. 70.3 (high 33 split half way), and 72.6 (35). Was fading badly for some reason especially at the end of the last one, the legs felt heavy, like at the end of all out 800 meters. However, my breathing recovered to normal in 20 seconds after each interval.

Did another 2x200: 34.4, and 35.1. Same problem as in the last quarter.

One difference today is that it was 27 degrees. Here is what's odd. If it is just a cold muscle problem, wouldn't you think that you'd have problems in the first few repetitions, and then they would go away as they warm up, and you will not be fading as much in a longer repetition? It was exactly the opposite today.

But at the same time it does not surprise me. I know from experience that starting out fast is a lot more forgivable in 60 degrees than in 25. I still have no clue why.

Finished the run, then added another 2.25 running back from Computune. The Fast Running Van had a break fluid leak. Total distance 10.37 for the workout.

P.M. 2.25 with Benjamin and Jenny to Computune in 20:03. 1 with Julia pushing Jacob and Joseph in 9:58. Joseph got out a few times and ran for portions of it.

A.M. Jeff must have slept in this morning. Ran 8.1 with Mary Ann, and then 2 more alone. Total time 1:22:00.

Went with the missionaries to visit a Mexican family in the afternoon. I do not think most people realize how much the church is doing to reach out to the Latinos.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:54, 2 with Benjamin in 17:29, Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 13:09.

A.M. Ran with Dustin and Mary Ann. Decided to wear tights to see if they will make a difference in the speed workout. Warmed up for 3 miles. Mary Ann had a tight hamstring, so she just jogged. Dustin did the workout with me.

Workout on the trail, usual spot.

We started with 3x400: 68.4, 70.7, 69.8. Took 400 recovery.  Dustin was a step ahead on the first one, even on the second, and a step behind on the third. Then 4x200: 32.1, 32.0, 31.6, 31.0. 200 recovery. Dustin was a step ahead on all.

The workout went a lot better than on Tuesday. What was different: Dustin's presence, wearing tights, and hanging upside down on the inversion table before the run.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:21, 2 with Benjamin in 17:07. Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 13:09.

Read on the news in a headline that the total amount of American debt was down for the first time since 1952. The headline made it sound like Americans were starting to be serious about getting out of debt. Decided to read the article to see what was up and was laughing for the rest of the day, and still laughing. The cause of the reduced debt was an increase in foreclosures. Mind-boggling, but true nevertheless. When you lose a house, you also lose the debt.

Along the same lines, there is an ad as you drive east on Center street in Orem from the I-15 exit. It says: "Live debt free! 801-BANKRUPT".  And recently I got the following in the mail, kept me laughing for a few days, and I am still not over it: "Title loans. Any make, year, or model. Go from 0 to $5000 in 20 seconds!" I could not believe it. Somebody is spending time and money to advertise something as idiotic as going into $5K of debt in 20 seconds, that fast!

I was have a conversation about religion with a friend in 2002. He asked me: "So what is your prophet telling you to do now?".  The first thing that came to my mind was to get out of debt. My friend was rather skeptical and wondered what was so special about that. Valueable advice often comes in the form of an invitation to wash yourself in the Jordan river seven times. We are tempted to disregard it as being too simple. Yet this inspired simplicity can make a big difference, and I have seen it so in this case.

A.M. Total of 10 in 1:18:29. First 4 with Daniel and Mary Ann. Wore Five Fingers. Feet felt fine. They are OK if there is not a lot of moisture even if it is cold. The left one is finally starting to develop a hole. The right one has had two holes for about 600 miles already. But my feet are getting used to it.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:00. 2 with Benjamin in 17:00, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 12:55.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Daniel and Mary Ann did the warm-up (2 miles), and ran the first mile of the tempo. Mary Ann additionally did another 0.75 or so of the tempo starting at our 2.75 mark. Jeff ran everything with me.

Tempo. 15 miles, 1:26:59, same course - 3 times the standard 5 mile tempo from Geneva Road to the Utah Lake and back. So 6 times on the same 2.5 stretch alternating directions, 5 180 turns, tedious, but I like being able to compare the splits.

Conditions - the road traction was ideal, but it was windy. So some miles were slower than the effort we put into them.

Splits: 5:50, 5:55, 5:52, 5:54, 6:01, 5:54, 5:52, 5:46, 5:43, 5:52, 5:42, 5:40, 5:42, 5:42, 5:34. 

By 2.5: 14:44 - 14:48 - 14:39 - 14:28 - 14:17 - 14:03

By 5: 29:32 - 29:07 - 28:20

By 7.5: 44:11 - 42:48

Details: First mile felt great. Then we started dealing with the wind. Decided to ignore the splits and just go by the effort of the consensus. Meaning that both Jeff and I agreed we were putting in an honest 5:50 effort. The effort was producing splits about 10 seconds per mile slower than what we felt we deserved. Finally I got tired of this and suggested we trade quarters. Up to that point we'd been running side by side. This led to a pace increase. The surging to pass also agitated Jeff enough to where he started to want to run faster, and it was wearing me out. Sensing this I decided it was time to start drafting.

The last 5 miles I was following Jeff hanging on to dear life as he tried to bring us under 1:27:00. 5:40 pace for me at the end of a 15 mile tempo is hard even in ideal conditions, and with the wind gusts it was particularly tough. I moaned the last 3 miles. Moaning helps me deal with the pain and exert more effort. With 1.25 to go Jeff gapped me and then challenged to give him five. I made an effort to humble myself and feel Christ-like love in my heart. It was not easy. I think I learned something. You cannot learn this just sitting in Sunday School or reading the scriptures. But at the same time I do not think you will learn it as well if you had not been taught this in Sunday School or from the scriptures. You need the right balance of theory and practice to learn effectively.

Jeff had just raised the bar on me after I had reached what I thought was my limit. I had to humble myself, not let my pride turn my focus to the pain, but rather hush that pride and believe that I could go faster. Truly believe, not just in my mind, but in the very depth of my heart.

So I made an effort to believe in my ability to run the last mile in 5:35 as much as Jeff believed it. It is easy for him, he is not getting my pain signals. But it is good that he is not. This allows him to believe naturally and lead the way. We grow when we lay our pride aside and allow those who are stronger to show us what we need to do.

The last three quarters were 85, 83, 84, and 81, and we reached a time I thought was impossible in those windy conditions. This seems to be a common theme in those tempo runs lately.

When we finished I felt nauseous and would have thrown up had there been anything in my stomach. After about a minute of my attempting to vomit we ran a 3 mile cool down. Total of 20 miles for the run.

P.M. Snow on the roads. 0.34 with Joseph while pushing Jacob in the stroller in 4:11. 200 with Jacob in 1:47. 1 with Julia in 9:51. 2 with Benjamin in 17:50. Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 13:27.

Day of rest. Went to church. Went home teaching in the evening. It was cold. I missed Al Gore, thought he could warm up the air with his talks about global warming.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Dustin, and Mary Ann. Daniel went 4, Dustin 8, Mary Ann 7. I did 10 in 1:14:51. Mary Ann was late, but then she drove around and found us. This was a great investigative feat. I think she could land a job with FBI.

With the temperatures of 21 F at the start I missed Al Gore and the global warming convention again. I think they should have had it in Utah instead of Poland. Or even better, somewhere in the US Northeast, maybe Maine.

Dustin looked at my hip imbalance and suggested some exercises. He thinks my right hip rotators are weak/deactivated. His suggestion was to work on the hip rotators on both sides with the 2:1 right/left repetition ratio. I am excited - something new to try.

During the run I presented an argument that Mary Ann could possibly have a 2:30 marathon in her. Both Dustin and Mary Ann herself were skeptical. I presented my reasoning: my PRs up to 800 meters are slightly slower than hers (59.5 vs 58.0 quarter, 2:12 vs 2:11 800),  when I ran 40 miles a week I ran 4:26 in the 1500 vs her 4:29, and 16:38 5 K vs her 17:30. My mileage even then was more consistent than hers ever.  So who knows what might happen at 80 miles a week over 5 years. Here is the funny part. Dustin says - well, you are still 20 seconds faster than her in the 1500. I am puzzled. He says - your 4:26 is for the mile, right? No, Dustin, for 1500! If I could run 4:26 for the mile I would have had no worries about the new OTQ 2:19 standard!

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:16, 2 with Benjamin in 16:58, Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 13:03.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Jeff and I went 10, Daniel 4, Mary Ann 7. Lots of snow on the road. Slow run. I fell twice. Total time was 1:24:46.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:46, 2 with Benjamin in 17:50, Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 13:31.

A.M. Started with 2 miles with Benjamin in 16:23. Continued with Chauncy and Mary Ann. Dropped Mary Ann off after 7 miles. Ran another 1.5 with Chauncy. Chauncy served a mission in Russia, so he got some practice in the language today. Total time for 10.5 was 1:20:36.

Roads are still slippery.

Mary Ann has finally been converted to the "true religion". She is now on the blog.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:25. 1.5 with Jenny in 13:22. Slippery roads.

A.M. Snowed in today. Tuesday was nothing compared to today. But I know it could be worse.

Ran 7 miles with Chauncy and Mary Ann, then added 3 alone. Total time for 10 was 1:26:35. Effort-wise I did about 7:30 per mile, but it produced 8:40. Saw Sarah Jarvis (a triathlete) pushing her two kids in the double stroller. Knew it was her from far away even though I could not recongize the face or the stride. Nobody else would run with a double stroller in this kind of weather.

When I got home Julia wanted to go for a run. I wondered if she'd able to break 12:00 on those roads. She did - 11:46 for the mile.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 19:44. Jenny ran 1.5 in 15:02. Not enough traction to go faster.

A.M. 7 with Daniel and Mary Ann. 3 more by myself. 1:24:38 for 10. Broke 8:00 average in the last 3 miles, but had to hit 5:30 pace when I had traction. There were not many of those parts.

Added another mile with Julia in 11:25.

Ran into Marion and her husband Dave at Costco.

P.M. 2 miles cross-country skiing at Jolley Ranch in the Hobble Creek Canyon with Benjamin. Everybody else was sledding.

2 miles with Benjamin in 18:59, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 14:28.

A.M. 5 miles with Daniel and Mary Ann in 44:46. 3 more miles alone in 26:34. 2 miles with Benjamin in 18:19. 1 with Julia in 11:26. 1.5 with Jenny in 14:52. Total of 12.5 miles. Still slippery, 8:00 mile is a dream pace.

P.M. Ran Mary Ann's 5 K.  Won it in 17:01. We had a small group. Ted came to help with the race. The course had a net downhill of 57 feet, but the last mile was uphill and into a small headwind - started at the Rock Canyon Park and finished close to the north end of the Timpview drive. I have plotted a rough version - $Provo Christmas Run. After the crazy grade correction the Course Tool says the effort was worth about 5:24 flat pace, which I am willing to believe. It was cold, there were occasional patches of snow on the road, there was about a 5-10 mph headwind on Timpview, and I ran alone start to finish. Chauncy was second in 18:19. The warm up was very short, about 0.2 miles, the cool down was about 1.5 miles or so.

A plug for Mary Ann's races. This is exactly what I wanted for the Fast Running Blog racing circuit. Bare essentials for a low entry fee. No nonsense, let's have a race. The Fast Running Blog is seriously considering becoming a title sponsor for those races. But in any case, I would like to encourage everybody to support Mary Ann in her efforts. The next race is on December 31, 2008 at 2:00 pm in Provo. This time it will be on the Provo River Trail starting at the Geneva Road parking lot. The tentative plan for the course is out-and-back on the Provo River Trail following most of my standard 3 mile tempo.

P.M-2: 1 mile running errands.

Day off. Went to Church. Maurine (Tarzan) came over to pick up Sarah's pants and to visit with us in the afternoon.

A.M. 5 with Daniel and Mary Ann in 40:56. Then 2 with Benjamin and Mary Ann in 17:53. 4 more alone in 33:57. Still slippery. Less slippery at the start, more later on. 3 VPBs, one more non-virtual. And no, I do not consider this a health abnormality, I felt fine except in moments of urgency.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 11:54, 1.5 with Jenny in 15:51. 0.5 running errands. 

A.M. Still slippery. 5 miles with Daniel and Mary Ann in 46:07. 2 more with Benjamin and Mary Ann in 17:54. 4 alone in 34:32.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 11:31, 1.5 with Jenny in 14:58.

A.M. Still slippery. 5 with Daniel and Mary Ann in 44:47. 5 more with Chauncy and Mary Ann in 43:55.

Interesting dreams. I dreamt that Jacob was 10 years old and I was trying to catch up to him. I was pushing as hard as I could but could not close the gap. Jacob so far has shown more running talent and motivation than any other kid in our family at his age. He is 2. So this dream may very well come true and not because I get slow.

Sarah had a dream that a drunk defecated on our front porch. I hope her dream does not come true literally. However, according to a Russian tradition, her dream means we are going to get a significant amount of money from an unexpected source. I hope that part will come true.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 11:14, 2 with Benjamin in 18:58, Jenny ran 1.5 in 14:25. Slippery.

A.M. Merry Christmas to everyone. We got a Merry Christmas from Provo City as well - they have finished the construction project on the trail and everything is back to normal. Not counting the slippery roads, of course. Now the fish are happy and so are the runners. Both can travel through their natural habitat.

Ran 5 with Daniel, 5 more alone. Total of 10 miles in 1:27:31. I could go 8:00 on better parts, but there were parts where 10:00 pace was all I could do.

Soon after I finished, 2 with Benjamin in 19:33, Jenny did 1.5 in 15:03, then 1 mile with Julia in 11:34.

A.M. 10 miles in 1:26:22. First 5 with Daniel. Still slippery. Did some sprints in the middle whenever I had traction. Cheating like this allowed me to run the last 2.5 at sub-8:00 average.

P.M. Cross-country skiing with Benjamin in at the Jolley Ranch in the Hobble Creek Canyon. 2 miles. I did laps, and so did he, so we could be together while going our own speeds.  On the way back I managed to drive VanGoGo into a snow drift. The snow stuck to some parts inside that affected steering and breaking. So I thought I was stuck pretty bad, when in fact I just did not think to turn the wheel hard enough. With some guidance from people that were kind enough to stop and help I was able to steer it out. However, steering and breaking was very difficult the entire way home. I tried to clear out the snow, was able to make things better, but it is pretty deep. The breaks seem to work fine, but steering is still difficult. Will hope the snow melts over the weekend.

P.M.-2 1 with Julia in 11:11, 2 with Benjamin in 17:31, Jenny ran 1.5 in 13:25.

A.M. 17 miles in 2:23:14, first 5 with Daniel. The road kept getting more and more slippery as the temperatures rose. So I decided to try something new - spikes. For a while it was better. I was able to average 7:00 pace on my magic 2.5 mile stretch. But then I went on a less traveled portion of the trail going along the lake, and it was very bumpy. Plus the rising temperatures kept increasing the slippage. So I slowed down to around 9:00-9:30 pace. When I got out I sped up to around 9:00. The last mile was 7:51 - hard packed snow helped. I learned that good traction is only a part of being able to go fast. Little snow bumps on the road can be a very serious factor in slowing you down.

The long run was not that long distance-wise, but I think effort-wise it was just right - I was out there for about as long as it takes me to run a good marathon putting in a decent effort.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 11:43, 2 with Benjamin in 19:01, Jenny ran 1.5 in 14:37.

Day of rest. Went to Church. Our home teachers came for a visit. We had a good time.

A.M. 10 miles in 1:24:06. First 5 with Daniel. Still slippery, but there are a few clear patches. Did sprints there. Finally broke 8:30 average for this run. Progress...

P.M. Measured the 5 K course with the help of Benjamin and Jenny for the race on the 31st, and also for the tempo runs. It is a very good out and back flat course mostly on Boat Harbor Drive, which is a paved farm road that does get frequently plowed but does not have much traffic.

Ran 2.05 on the course with Benjamin and Jenny in 18:26.

Later, 1 mile with Julia in 11:46.

Had friends over and had Family Home Evening with them. 12 children, 4 adults, oldest child was 10. Managed it just fine, no behavior problems. Nobody had to do push-ups, squats, or go to the corner. In fact, even no verbal warnings.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Mary Ann, Michelle, and Tyler S. Non-English language fluency of the group: Icelandic, French, Spanish, and Russian.

The workout was 3x5 K on the Provo New Year Run course that I measured yesterday. Lots of recovery in between due to the need for VPBs and the closest opportunity about 600 meters away from the workout headquarters (start/finish of the repeat). Only Michelle managed to do the workout in its entirety.

First one was 18:58. Mary Ann stayed with us through the first mile, Tyler made it to 2 miles, but finished OK in 19:08. Perfect even split by half.

Second was 18:47. Negative split by one second.

Third - 18:43 with a negative split of one second. We hit the first mile in 6:00. Then Michelle was struggling so I eased off the pressure. With a mile to go I challenged her to break 6:00 in the last mile. She did a steady 91 second quarter pace for the next three quarters. Then I accelerated, opened a gap, and challenged her to give me five. She did it quicker than I thought, and  I realized I had to accelerate quickly to make sure she kept the momentum after she had caught up. We hit 3 miles in 18:09, I figured Michelle would have a kick, so I accelerated pretty hard and got ready to play the give me five, but Michelle stayed right on my tail the entire time. Our last quarter was 84, and our last 0.107 was 34 seconds, 5:18 pace. What's odd is when I tried to go 6:00 (90 quarter) with about 1 K to go I was opening a gap so I had to ease off to 91, but Michelle was able to shift gears and run as fast as sub-5:20 when it came time to kick. Which makes me think she should be able to do this workout at 5:45 pace after some aerobic, neurological, and psychological conditioning.

I figure given the conditions and how I felt the workout was marathon pace effort for me. At least even in shorts and warm weather I am happy when I can break 19:00 in the last 5 K of a marathon.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:46, Jenny ran 1.5 in 13:27. Julia did not run - not feeling well. Getting better, but we decided to give her a day off just to be sure.

A.M. 8 miles in 1:03:51. Broke 8:00 average! The trail is much better. Ran the first 3 with Daniel and Mary Ann.

P.M. Ran Mary Ann's 5K. We had a bigger crowd. 17 people in the 5 K and 8 in the kids race. First, Joseph took 4th overall and won the age division in the 200 with a new PR - 59 seconds. Then we ran the 5 K.

Since it was I who measured  the course, I had the comfort of knowing it was accurate. With the exception of a little bit of back support from Adam in the first 200 meters I ran the race alone. The road conditions were good, no slippage. It was cold, around 30 degrees, and there was a little bit of wind, which was head most of the first half, and tail most of the second. My splits were 5:24 - 5:38 - 5:30 with a kick in 31. First half in 8:29, second in 8:34. Last quarter in 78. Total time 17:03. Wanted to break 17:00, but lacked the juice. Legs did not feel a whole lot of power. Not a surprise - I was expecting it.  I ran long and brisk the day before, and had not done any 5 K speed for several weeks. So I was happy that it was at least a low-17:00 on an honest out-and-back course, and that I managed a not too positive of a split.

Daniel was second with 18:37, then Chauncy 18:48, and Adam Rogia in 19:06. Adam has lost some weight (I did not have a clue he had 15 lb that he could lose, but I guess it was well hidden), and this is a major improvement for him.

Paced Benjamin after I finished. He ran 22:41. I think the cold tricked him into going slower because once I got to him he was able to speed up to a 1:36 quarter at the end. Then took Jenny with me and we went to pace Maurine. Maurine ran a PR of 27:54. Then ran another mile with Jenny and Chauncy, and one more with Julia. Julia's time was 10:16.