Breaking the Wall

A.M. 5 with Daniel and Mary Ann in 40:06, 2 with Benjamin in 17:45, and 4 alone in 30:54. Did sprints on dry sections, about 0.5 total.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 11:43, 1.5 with Jenny in 13:12.

A.M. 5 with Daniel, Mary Ann, and little James (Ted's son), then on the second loop we picked up Angela Wagner about 0.3 into it, and James turned around at 5.5. So I finished the 10 with Mary Ann and Angela. Total time for 10 was 1:23:11. Did quick bursts of speed (30 meters or so) throughout the run on dry stretches.

Decided to try an experiment. Some background. From my training and performances I am suspecting that my limiting factor is the failure of the brain to recruit an adequate percentage of the muscle fibers. Some evidence for that - strong evidence: improvements in 400 and 200 workouts  coincide with improvements in the 10+ mile tempo runs, frequent failure to increase speed above pace at the end of a tempo run for as little as 50 meters,  esoteric workouts required to get muscle soreness in any degree, no soreness or fatigue after a perceived all-out race effort. Weaker evidence - poor performance in sprints - best 100 meters 13.9. A frequent argument I hear about my poor performance in sprints is that it is because of the lack of the slow twitch fibers. That is correct, and it does explain the failure to run 11.0 in 100 meters. But it does not explain the failure to break 13.0. Numerous examples of world class and even collegiate distance runners suggest that when the fibers recruit properly, a slow-twitch dominant male should be able to run 100 meters under 13.0.

 As a side note, I wish we had more published science dedicated to the matter above. We tell a guy - you are slow in a sprint because you are slow-twitch, that's OK, you can be good in the marathon, because that's where you need slow-twitch. So he starts running mega-mileage hoping to be good in a marathon. And he is OK, he runs 2:40, 2:30, maybe even 2:20. But he is still not that good. He cannot even break the womens world record. Why? Because we forgot to tell him that slow-twitch fibers are no good in any race unless you can recruit them. And in all honesty we do not have a clue how to improve recruitment by more than a small margin. But not many people care to find out because few people appreciate the significance of muscle fiber recruitment in a long race.

So in this search of better fiber recruitment the goal is to find something I can do daily to advance the cause. What the science does know is that exercises that recruit the maximum percentage of fibers can help improve the ability of the brain to recruit the fibers. I have tried some of that before. The challenge is what I've tried before cannot be done daily. I know that doing 4x100 all out two days in a row gives me neural fatigue. So here is a thought. Perhaps 15 seconds at maximum effort is too much for my weak brain. What about 3-5 seconds instead? Random sprints of 20-30 meters focusing on maximum acceleration during daily runs. Good time to do it because now it is about the only kind of speed you can do on the trail. We'll see what happens.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:49, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:22. Julia was sick, did not run.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, James, Mary Ann, Daniel, and Angela. Ran to the Boat Harbor 5 K course. Paced Angela and Mary Ann. The road was very slippery, but there was enough traction to go at a reasonable pace - maybe 20 seconds per mile slower than normal. Angela was doing a 15 minute tempo. Mary Ann was running the 5 K. Mary Ann fell back after about 0.3, Jeff and I stayed with Angela. Her first mile was 5:58. On the second mile the head wind picked up. Jeff and I did what we could to block it, but we are only that big. Second mile was 6:06. 15:00 into the tempo we stopped, briefly talked with Angela, and then ran back to meet Mary Ann and paced her to the end of the 5 K. Her time was 20:20.

I told Jeff if we lived in Ethiopia we could get paid for pacing fast women in their workouts. Of course, the supply and demand would make it difficult. There are only that many fast women that are fast enough to be able to pay, and there are a lot of capable and willing men.

Ran back to the house with the girls, then added another 11.5 with Jeff. The trail was very slippery at first, then got a bit better as the sun came out. Total time for 20 miles was 2:43:24. That was a very long run time-wise, but I started feeling energized towards the end.

P.M. Mary Ann came to our house, and ran with the kids while I worked on her computer. Julia ran a mile in 12:00, Benjamin did 2 in 17:54.

Day off. Went to church. Spent a good portion of the day reading President Kimball's biography.

A.M. 7F at the start. I think the global warming is like Santa - it happens for you if you believe it.

Ran with Daniel, Jeff, and Mary Ann. Daniel turned around at 3 miles. The rest of us ran full 10.1. My time was 1:19:46, Jeff and Mary Ann were a bit slower due to my VPB. Additionally we did short burts of speed on dry sections.

Afterwards took VanGoGo to Computune and ran back. Turns out my little detour into a snow drift a couple of weeks ago damaged VanGoGo's power steering pump.

Felt very good on the way from Computune. Did some pickups when it was dry. There was even a dry section that was long enough to run a 200, which I did in 39 with a tempo effort. Then I found an even longer section - 300 which I ran in 58 putting in a tempo effort. This was about 0.5-1% downhill, though. However, the temperature was 14F. I was not expecting sub-5:20 pace to feel so easy, natural, and enjoyable. This gives me the confidence that as crazy as my idea of daily micro-bursts of speed may sound, there may be something to it.

P.M. We got some serious snow. 1 with Benjamin and Julia in 13:30. 1.5 with Jenny in 16:37. About 0.4 into the run Jenny said - I bet you and I will be the only ones on the trail. About a minute later we saw Tyler and he joined us for about a mile.

I told Tyler - if dedication played a bigger role in being selected for the BYU team than your 3000 meter speed, you'd be on the team for sure. Unfortunately 3000 meters is short enough for natural Quality X to have quite a bit of the upper hand on dedication.

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff in 1:35:30, 9:27 average. I think that is a PR for me for how slow I've run for that long. And it was not that we were lazy - we actually put in a solid 7:00-7:20 effort most of the way, but the snow was deep, rough, and slippery. However, I remarked to Jeff that the pioneers would have loved to travel in those conditions (balmy 28 F), and especially at our speed. 6+ mph through the snow-covered plains of Nebraska and Wyoming would have been a dream for them.

A.M-2: Ran with Benjamin and Jenny to Computune to pick up VanGoGo. 2.25 miles in 23:21.

P.M. 1 mile with Julia in 13:05. The time speaks for itself - we did quite a bit of treading through the snow and slipping on ice.

A.M. Early morning run with Daniel and Mary Ann (they ran first 6). Both of them made it for the 5:15 AM start. I thought the roads would be better after a warmer night with some snow melting. However, that seemed to make things worse increasing the slippage. 8 miles at a blistering 9:43 pace in 1:17:47. Found Tyler on the trail with a mile to go, he ran with me.

Joke of the day, a follow-up to Mary Ann telling us how she met a guy with long hair at Walmart.

Teenage son: Dad, can I get a car?
Dad: Well, you need to cut your hair first.
Son: But Jesus and his apostles had long hair!
Dad: And on foot they went!

P.M. Honked at two runners - Thatcher and his training partner, possibly Neal. Maybe I should count this towards mileage. 1 with Julia in 11:26, 2 with Benjamin in 18:09, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:45. Road conditions have improved, but still a lot of slippage.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Jeff, and Mary Ann. Daniel went 3 with us then turned around. The rest of us ran 10.1 in 1:19:39. The trail was a lot better today as evidenced by the pace. Did some mini-sprints in the middle when the traction allowed.

A.M-2: Literally ran an errand - 0.6 miles.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 11:32. 2 with Benjamin in 17:30, Jenny ran 1.5 in 13:24.

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff and Mary Ann in 1:22:58. Daniel ran the first 3 with us. 2 more with Benjamin in 17:48. The trail was more slippery than yesterday, but not as bad as on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Our neighbor managed to get stuck on our street in spite of having 4x4. We were able to dig/push her out though. 

P.M-1. 2 miles cross-country skiing.

P.M-2. The roads and the trail cleared up some. 1 with Julia in 10:57. 1.5 with Jenny in 13:21.

A.M. Ran 7.2 miles with Jeff and some of it with Daniel setting up the course for Mary Ann's race. We reached an agreement so now the Fast Running Blog is the title sponsor of her races. Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann also got a strength workout hammering at the ice under the 800 N bridge. Jeff and I did an acceleration to determine the position of the 2 mile marker in the 5 K. We had 100 meter mark from the mile marker, but 2 mile marker is supposed to be  172 meters. So we figured if we got a split at 100 meters and then prorated the time we would place it within 3 meters, which is a reasonable accuracy considering that over 2 miles you could take a variety of tangents. So we ran pretty hard hitting 100 in 17 seconds and then continued at the same effort to 30 seconds.

Also met Nick during the run and invited him to the race.

A.M-2 Ran the race. Warmed up with Benjamin and Jenny - 1.4 miles. Jeff ran the 5 K, Nick ran the 10 K. I talked him into it saying - just run a nice marathon pace tempo at around 5:50 pace. Jeff wanted to run hard. Nick saw Jeff run hard and also decided to run hard. I saw Nick and Jeff run hard and decided to run with them for a mile thinking they would hit maybe 5:10-5:15, no faster. Good luck. First quarter in 73, minor snow/ice cover. Second quarter - fairly serious snow/ice cover, but 77 nevertheless. Third quarter - I was glad we cleared off under the bridge, at least we did not have to walk. But we did have to slow down still. Nevertheless, we managed 80. Third quarter - still some snow and ice, but mostly dry. 76 seconds. This gave us 5:06 for the mile. I did not know I could run a 5:06 mile on that type of surface with all the clothes, so I was pleasantly surprised. But it became necessary to back off so I did.

Next quarter was 87 seconds, moderate snow/ice cover, and I was pleased with that because I felt it was a nice recovery pace. However, the ice cover became fairly solid in the next mile, and I was afraid to run fast. Plus, the nervous stress from running a near all out first mile reduced my ability to focus. So I slowed down to 97 quarters for the next three. 2.5 K in 8:35, 2 miles in 11:23.

After that the snow/ice cover became lighter and I was able to speed up to sub-6:00 pace. 3 miles in 17:16. I was pleased with that. 5 K turnaround in 17:54 (2.5 in 9:19). Acceptable for the conditions.

On the way back I improved my ice cover handing and was able to speed up a bit. Next 2.5 K in 9:14. However, then I slowed down a lot in the next 500 meters on ice under the bridges. Last 1.25 was 7:13 with the splits by quarter of 87, 86, 90 (under the bridge), 88 (slippage), and 82.

The first/last mile had about 1% grade favorite the outgoing direction. However, with the dip under the bridge I think the downhill direction is about equivalent to flat and no dip.

Total time of 36:30 for the 10 K. Nick ran 33:18 with the splits of 16:28 and 16:50. Jeff ran the 5 K in 16:36. Daniel ran 19:24 in the 5 K.

Benjamin won the mens mile in 7:05. Jenny was the first woman in 8:05.

Jeff, Benjamin, Jenny and I ran back to the house for a cool down. Then I ran a mile with Julia in 10:55.

Day of rest.

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff and Mary Ann in 1:17:33. Much better traction. Did short explosive sprints.

A.M-2 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 18:28.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:34.

A.M. 10.1 with Mary Ann and Jeff in 1:16:29. Did explosive sprints.  Ran 0.5 in 2:54 to measure Mary Ann's HR. It was 176. 5:48 pace felt very good, almost conversationally easy.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:02. Benjamin ate something bad and threw up. Nevertheless he managed to run 2 miles in 17:53. Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:26. 

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff and Mary Ann in 1:15:53. Had a post-VPB tempo- 5/16 of a mile in 1:37, that is 5:10 pace. Felt very strong, it felt tempo, not 5 K pace. Experiences like this make me wonder if I am just one loose wire away from being able to race a half at 5:10 pace on a flat course at 4500 feet. But where is that loose wire and how do you connect it?

Did explosive sprints.

A.M-2. Went to Iain's lab to do force plate tests. Benjamin and I ran from the car and back, total of about 0.65. Jeff and Mary Ann did the tests as well.

P.M. 1.5 with Benjamin and Jenny in 13:00. 1 with Julia in 9:41.

A.M. Big group today. Chauncy, Mary Ann, Jeff, and Daniel. First 6 with everybody, then Chauncy and Daniel were done, and the rest of us ran 4 more. 10 miles in 1:19:58. Did explosive sprints.

Did some standing broad jumps and vertical jumps yesterday, and in the process observed something and had an idea. I noticed that how far or how high I was able to jump did not quite correlate with perceived exertion. The best jumps happened not when I tried the hardest, but when somehow I was able to properly channel my force.  That led me to an idea for Quality X. The hypothesis is that a good portion of Quality X comes in how well the firing of individual motor units is synchronized. So with that assumption we want to train this ability in hopes that it will improve the performance of a runner in all distances at the same time.

So here is a rough idea. We start with a standing broad jump. Any jump that provides immediate and precise feedback on the amount of power generated will work. But broad jump is the easiest in terms of practicality - you just need a solid surface to land on, and a measuring tape. Keep jumping for maximum distance. Pay attention to how you felt when you jumped further. Try to duplicate the feeling and measure the success by the length of the jump it produces.

Once you know the feeling, in the ideal world, find timing gates, and do 10 meter sprints from a running start. Try to duplicate the feeling that produced the best jumps. Perfect that feeling in the context of running. Again, measure the success by how fast you are able to run.

Next step. 200-400 meter repetitions. Again we try to experience the same feeling of smooth and focused power, but now over a longer distance. We measure the success by the interval times. Solid aerobic base will help prevent aerobic fatigue from being a factor in the interval performance thus allowing the interval times to become an accurate measure of how we are doing on Quality X.

Next step - take it to 800 meter - 1 mile repeats and try to experience the feeling. Solid aerobic base becomes even more important.

Finally, we take it to the tempo run. Now the aerobic base is even more important, so let's hope it's there. Once we can do it in a tempo run, we are ready to race better.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 18:00, 1 with Julia in 9:41.

A.M. 4 with Daniel, Jeff, and Mary Ann. Dropped Mary Ann off, another mile with Daniel, he then turned around. Another 5 with Jeff. We did explosive sprints and a 1 K pickup in 3:15 with 200 splits off 40,41,39,38,38. 5:20 pace felt sustainable, 5:04 felt manageable but not sustainable. Total time was 1:17:35.

A little later 2 with Benjamin in 17:23 - Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:07. 1 with Julia in 9:37.

P.M. Drive to St. George.

A.M. St. George Half Marathon. 1:14:26 officially, 1:14:29 on my watch. 5th place.

The course was great. It was measured properly for the first time in the history of the race since I can remember. The race director sent an email out saying it was certified. It was marked like a certified course as well - every mile and every 5 K, and every one of my splits made sense. From that I learned exactly how short the course was last year, and now everything falls into place. I thought it was rather odd that people ran so fast on the last year's course with as much as it rolls. I figure it was about 2:30 shorter last year, not 55 seconds we assumed from GPS readings. GPS consensus is not a substitute for course certification.

The race was a good opportunity to do a hard long tempo run in warmer weather on dry roads (although Hayden managed to take a spill on the icy bridge).

Splits by the mile according to the race mile markers except the first, which I got off Dave's GPS because we were on the wrong side of the road at mile 1:

5:40, 5:35, 5:20, 5:20, 5:44, 5:34,5:41,5:37,5:55,5:41,5:55,5:57, 6:30 for the last 1.11, 5:51 pace.

By 5 K: 17:10, 17:14, 17:51,18:16, last 1.0975 K in 3:58, on pace for 18:04 5 K.

By 10 K: 34:24, 36:07

Warmed up with Jeff.

Good group at the start. Pretty soon the group dwindled to Jeff, Dave, Hayden, Paul, Kyle Moffet, and a guy I did not recongize. Jeff controlled the pace start to finish, the rest of us hoped for mercy. We got lots in the first mile, less in the second, even less with each subsequent mile, and none after 8.

Interestingly enough, the contact with Jeff was being lost in the reverse order of placing with the exception of Hayden who lost it for reasons not related to fitness. And he fixed the order quickly, in less than a mile. Which was another confirmation of my hypothesis - for distances up to the half marathon if runner A and runner B have equal aerobic conditioning and both are racing anywhere close to 100%, both are running without a pack, and if runner A gaps runner B as early as 30% of the race distance, runner A will beat runner B. This might be true for the marathon as well if both runners are fit to run 2:09 or faster.

Or in other words, at a high level of aerobic fitness it becomes physically next to impossible to run the first 30% of your race too fast.

I lost contact with the pack around 4.5 on an uphill. But I was happy about my 5 K split, and a mid-race 2 miler in 10:40. I was also happy about 5 miles in 27:39, and 10 K in 34:24 on rolling hills. I did pay for it later with neural fatigue. Not very severe at first, but it kept getting worse, and the Bloomington loop set the seal on it to the point that I ran a 5:57 mile honestly trying.

I saw that Dave Holt was struggling and tried to reel him it. The problem was I was struggling just as much. His stride looked like he and I had the exact same problem - loss of zip in the legs. Which I explain as the brain being weaker than the lungs and heart. Not to be confused with the lack of willpower.

I made it to the finish saved by the chute from Kyle's powerful kick. Final times (official): Jeff 1:10:59, Paul 1:11:31, Hayden 1:12:41, Kyle 1:14:34 (I think).

Found Jeff, and we went to pace Mary Ann. She surprised me. I was expecting 1:24 at the very best. She ended up with 1:20:41 - a 3 minute PR with the last PR being from Hobble Creek. This is more like an 8 minute PR for her. Living up to her last name she showered her competition with a load of hammers. I think she is beginning to realize that 2:34 marathon for her is not as crazy as it sounds. Another confirmation of my hypothesis - a runner with initial world-class Quality X, even aerobically underdeveloped, is much more easily shaped into a world-class marathoner than a runner without initial world-class Quality X.

Then took Benjamin and Jenny and ran a mile out with them in the opposite direction of the racing skipping the final loop of the course. Found a runner named Jill from Spanish Fork, and pace her to the finish including the loop. Benjamin and Jenny were having so much fun with pacing that they agreed to run the loop even though it was beyond their call-of-duty mileage. Jill finished in 1:53:04.

P.M. 1 mile with Julia in 10:08.

Day of rest. Did not miss the 7 AM Stake Priesthood Meeting like I did the last few times, and was blessed for it - good talks.

A.M. 10.1 miles. Started with Chauncy, Daniel, Mary Ann and Jeff. Daniel and Chauncy ran 3 then turned around. Mary Ann and Jeff ran the whole 10.1. Did explosive sprints, felt a new sense of smoothness. However, did not feel the same smoothness during the post-VPB pickup. Possibly because of the cold air - it was hard to breathe. Felt it again when sprinting.

Total time - 1:16:06.

Hypothesis - for a distance runner a standing broad jump could be a fairly accurate measure of Quality X. Reasoning behind the madness - he does not have much fast twitch fiber volume, so the contribution of slow-twitch fibers will be significant. Thus broad jump performance will highly correlate to the ability to recruit slow twitch fibers. Which, given enough fuel and oxygen support, directly determines the performances in longer distances including the marathon.

The nice thing about the broad jump vs all out sprint is that it is non-invasive. You can do 5-10 jumps every day with no harm. So anyway, I decided to start testing myself on a broad jump regularly. 80 inches today.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:40, 2 with Benjamin in 17:20, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:28.

A.M. 10.1 miles in 1:17:07. Daniel went 3 and turned around. Jeff and Mary Ann ran full distance. Did explosive sprints.

We also did a stair sprint test before the run. The goal is to run up the stairs from our basement as fast as possible but stepping on every step. This is supposed to measure how well the brain coordinates the contract/relax muscle cycles or whatever that is really called in physiology. Results: Jeff - 2.9, Mary Ann - 3.1, Daniel and I got both 3.6.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:28, 2 with Benjamin in 16:54, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:00.

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff and Mary Ann in 1:17:05. Daniel ran the first 3 with us, then turned around. Did explosive sprints, felt smooth.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:23, 2 with Benjamin in 16:42, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:03. Standing broad jump - 83 inches. Improvement from Monday.

I have a "crazy" idea. I love shocking ideas that challenge stereotypes, and make the crowd want to mock them. The reason I do is often when the crowds gets too worked up in the mockery they are proved wrong and you experience the exhilaration of a bull fighter that just stepped out of the way of a speeding bull to see the irate beast slam into a fence with full force.

So here is the "crazy" idea. If you run 90 miles a week, and marathon is your best distance, standing broad jump can very accurately predict your performance on every distance up to half-marathon, and barring fuel disasters can predict your marathon as well. In case of a fuel disaster add 10 minutes to the marathon time. But up to the half I expect the margin of error to be no more than 3%. Again, in case somebody missed it - this applies to athletes whose best event is the marathon and who run 90 miles a week or more. We are not predicting a 1:55 marathon for a thrower or power-lifter that jumps 10 feet, nor are we predicting a 2:05 marathon for a 20 miles a week high school runner that jumps 9 feet. But we might predict a sub-4:00 mile for the high schooler, though.

If the above is true, there are some interesting implications. Once you get to 90 miles a week, you should continue to run the miles, but otherwise focus on whatever it takes to improve your jump. You might have to do weights, hill sprints, intervals, or just get whipped with a twig, but the way to tell if it is effective is if it improves your jump under those conditions.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Mary Ann, and Jeff. Daniel turned around at 3 miles as usual. Our time was 1:16:45. Did explosive sprints. Did not feel smooth today.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:15. Then ran with Benjamin and Jenny. We had an accident. Benjamin fell down and hurt his knee. We stood for a while trying to ice/massage it, but he still could not run on it. So Jenny and I finished 1.5 in 12:58 going back and forth on the trail, and then ran back to meet Benjamin. I ran about 200 meters carrying him on my shoulders, but he did not like all the shaking. Then we walked about a quarter, and Benjamin decided to try running. He limped a quarter in 2:12. Hopefully nothing serious with his knee.

A.M. 10 miles with Jeff and Mary Ann in 1:19:59. Chauncy and Daniel joined us for the first 6. We had a singing contest. Daniel was the judge. At 6:00 pace on the first verse of Come Come Ye Saints the scores were: Jeff 8, Chauncy 6.5, myself 4.5, Mary Ann 4.5. At 8:00 pace on the first verse of There Is Sunshine In My Soul Today: Jeff 9, Chauncy 9, myself 5, Mary Ann scored 4 because she could not stop  laughing. I suppose she got too much sunshine in the soul. Which was helpful on a day like this - it rained the entire way and I earned the title of mokraya kuritsa (wet chicken) when I got home.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:23, 2 with Benjamin in 17:16, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:00.

A.M. Ran with  Jeff, Daniel, Mary Ann, and Matt Anderson. Daniel turned around after 3, Mary Ann and Matt ran the first 10.1. Matt had run to the house from BYU and then ran back. With Matt around I took advantage of the opportunity to share my collection of math jokes. We did the first 10.1 in 1:15:22. The trail was mostly in tempo runnable condition so Jeff and I did a tempo for the remainder of the run. We just repeated our first half, except faster. The target was 1:00:00 for 10.1. Jeff acted like he had more ambitious plans, and I went along with them to the best of my ability. Our miles splits were:

 5:48, 5:52, 5:42, 5:55, 6:23 for the next 1.05 (6:05 pace, hit some serious snow), turnaround split of 29:40, then coming back 1.05 in 6:09 (5:51 pace), 5:43, 5:45, 5:52, 6:05, second half in 29:04, a slight negative split in spite of loosing steam in the last mile.

Total time for 10.1 was 59:14, 5:51.88 average. Jeff took off with 0.75 to go and finished 32 seconds faster. My legs started caving in at that point. I could still go 6:00 pace when it was flat and I did not have to worry about the footing, but uphill, bridges, snow or puddles that would not have phased me in the early section of the tempo turned out to be too much. Jeff on the other hand handled it a lot better.

Total time for 20.2 was 1:14:36.

I was curious to get some more insight on this feeling of legs caving it and I fell for the temptation to do some power tests after the run. Fortunately I did not get injured. Unfortunately I waited too long to do them, or maybe not so unfortunately. I did them about 30-40 minutes after finishing the run. With Benjamin's help I got into a chess game right after the run and did not eat anything. I normally do not do that. But I figured it was perhaps good that I did not for the scientific research purposes. Any recovery that would have happened after the run would not have been from increases in available glycogen or blood sugar. So the results:

Upstairs sprint - 3.4. That is normal, actually near record. The record is 3.3. Standing broad jump was 75 inches. The record on that surface is 83 inches. I felt most of the explosive power was back, although some was missing. I definitely was not there in the last 100 meters of the tempo. Not sure what to think of it.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:30, 2 with Benjamin in 16:43, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 12:35.

Day of rest. Got some solid sleep. Went to church. Joseph had a lesson on choice and consequences. On the way to church he stepped into every puddle of water he could find. Then his feet were wet. He did not like that. Sarah went home and got him a pair of dry socks. I explained to him why his socks got wet emphasizing that you cannot choose to play in the puddles and to have dry socks at the same time. On the way back his socks stayed dry.

In the evening he read some short words - cat, bat, rat, mat, fat. Looks like he is going to be an early reader.

A.M. Big group today. Ran with Jeff, Mary Ann, Daniel, Chauncy, and Matt Anderson. The trail was slippery, so we did not go very fast. We went to Daniel and Chauncy's turnaround (3 miles), then back, then Daniel and Chauncy got off the trail with 0.46 to go, and the rest of us continued. Matt turned off to BYU about a half mile later. Jeff and Mary Ann finished 10 miles with me in 1:21:58.   Then ran with Benjamin and Jenny. Benjamin and I ran 2 miles in 19:49, Jenny ran the first 1.5 with us in 15:42.

Benjamin and I started trigonometry. We are currently working on having him pass the pre-test for BYU Math 112. During breakfast I reminded him about the factorial function, had him play around with the calculator to appreciate how fast it grows, then explained the series for the sine, cosine, and the exponential function. He was excited about the pattern. Then I decided the most natural way to teach him the derivation of the sine and cosine of the sum would be by using the Euler's formula exp(i*x) = cos(x)+i*sin(x), so we went through that decorating the white board in the play room with geek writing.

Afterwards I contemplated how nicely everything happens to work out in the world of numbers. It is not just pretty. Even though math comes from an imagination of man, there appears to be some underlying internal beauty that goes beyond man's ability to create it. How odd. Man invents a set of simple and fairly obvious rules that roughly model the world around him, and then it turns out that  those simple and obvious rules define a  beautiful world with numerous laws of its own that manage to exist in perfect harmony with each other. A mathematician begins to discover those laws rather than create them even though he starts in a world of his own imagination. The fact that this is even possible to me is plain evidence that God created our world. If He had not, math would not work. The patterns would not be there to begin with. And if we were not His children, we would not have been able to spot and abstract those patterns.

P.M. 1 mile with Julia in 10:23.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Matt, Jeff, and Mary Ann. Took Daniel to 3.5 turnaround, then ran back with him until it was time to get off the trail. Matt went further with us, then turned to BYU with a mile to go.  The rest of us finished 10 miles in 1:15:02. Paced Mary Ann through 1 K in 3:37. Did explosive sprints.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:30. Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:26. 1 with Julia in 9:36.

A.M. Same group as yesterday, and same course - 10 miles. A little bit faster. 1:13:01. Did a VPB tempo alternating between 5:20 pace on clear sections and 6:00 on snow/ice. Then Mary Ann was a bit feisty and I suggested we should take the sting out of her. So we ran .5 in 2:47. Did some explosive sprinting.

Afterwards 2 with Benjamin in 17:40, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:24. 1 with Julia in 9:38.

A.M. Ran with Jeff and Mary Ann. Daniel picked a bad day to not show up. He and his home teaching companion are coming over tonight. He'd better get his run done before then.

We ran 10.1 in 1:13:28. Did a fast 1 K in the middle. I wanted Jeff to run 3:05, but figured in order for that to happen I needed to tell him 3:10. We did the first quarter in 75 and that felt good. Then Jeff picked it up - 1:52 at 600. To make the matters worse, there were a couple of snow drifts in the last quarter and one of them had the nerve to cover the 800 mark. Going through the snow drifts I lost contact with Jeff, but he did not get too far away. Jeff got a high 3:03, I finished in 3:05.8. I was happy with that - it felt hard, but not too miserable, and the conditions were far from ideal - 18 F, lots of clothes, and the snow drifts. Probably worth a good 2:58 in shorts in 60 F on a clear road. Mary Ann was not supposed to run fast, but she did anyway - 3:28.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:57. 2 with Benjamin in 16:45. Jenny ran 1.5 in 12:54. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:49.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Mary Ann, Bryce and Jeff. Daniel went 7, Bryce about 8, the rest of us 10. Total time was 1:18:01.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:50. 2 with Benjamin in 17:00. Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:00.

A.M. Raced SLC Track Club 5 K 16:21.7, 5th place.

Warmed up with Jeff and Mary Ann on the race course at a little bit slower than 8:00 pace. Did the rest of the ritual, then the race started. Today was the debut of the new race singlet.

About 30 degrees, a little bit of a cross wind, but not too bad, clear skies, perfectly dry road. On the scale of 1 to 10 the condtions were at about 9.5 for this time of the year in that location (out in open space in the middle of nowhere about 10 miles west of the Salt Lake Airport).

Lot of trouble at the start, some of it home grown. Recongized immediately - Hobbie, Jeff, Seth, BJ,  Augustus Gray, and Fritz. In addition there were two disguised trouble-makers - Jason Shoenfeld and Andrew Hansen.

 Hobbie decided Jeff needed a new pair of shoes, so he ran the race with a 30 lb weight jacket. Hobbie just loves to be a lab rat. Thanks to him we found out today how much 21% of extra weight can slow you down in a 5 K. For the impatient, the answer is about 13%, or about 2 minutes for somebody who can run around 15 minutes.

BJ, Seth, and Jeff pulled ahead from the start. I sat in a pack with Augustus, Jason, Hobbie, and Andrew. The course was marked to near perfection. First quarter in 75, 2:32 at half mile, 3:11 at 1 K. Around this point we lost Hobbie and Augustus. Both were a surprise, I was expecting both of them to run at least 16:30. I tucked behind Jason. It felt good to be behind him, perhaps too good, but I have learned something over the years of racing. If you are drafting, do not pass until it feels dog slow. The same pace immediately behind another runner would require 5 seconds per mile harder effort upfront. If you are not ready to work 10 seconds per mile harder then better stay put. So I stayed behind Jason faithfully.

5:13 at the mile, 6:31 at 2 K. Still close enough to watch the race for first, in part thanks to a course with great visibility. BJ, Seth, and Jeff hit the mile in 4:59, BJ got dropped somehwere around 2 K, Seth and Jeff hit the turnaround in 7:50, Seth is trying to drop Jeff. 8:12 for Jason and me at the turnaround, Andrew a few steps behind. Met Mary Ann 8:32 into the race, figured she was about 40 seconds behind and would end up about 1:20 behind, but due to the race effort was not quite able to appreciate how fast she was going to run.

Andrew made a surge and passed us. The pace picked up. But soon Andrew ran out of juice and fell back. Jason is now gradually turning up the heat trying to lose me. I really liked it when were running 5:20 pace, but 5:15 feels so much harder. I am sure glad Jason is doing the work.

Too focused on racing, missed the 3 K mark. 10:36 at 2 miles, 5:23. 11:10 with a mile to go, 13:10 at 4 K. Still close enough to watch the race for first. Looks like Jeff survived Seth's surge and with a surge of his own persuaded Seth that he was the one who needed the shoes. That's the nature of racing. Many good runners, but only one pair of shoes.

13:49 with half mile to go. Looks like we will be under 16:30, maybe even under 16:25 with luck. I am wondering if I can outkick Jason, and if BJ is weak enough for us to eat him up. That would be quite a meal, he is about 6-6. Trying to not think about the fact that there is nothing good for third, and trying to also not think about the upcoming post-race tempo, just telling myself to run my guts out regardless. 15:07 with a quarter to go. Still with Jason. 15:50 at 3 miles. He seems to be struggling a bit, maybe a mental trick will work. I attempt to pass him decisively, and it works to a point, looks like he is hesitant to kick. The problem was that the pace was already so fast that I did not have much more acceleration in me. So he was able to respond and outsprint me to the finish. 16:20.6 for Jason, 16:21.7 for me.

Jeff won with 15:35.8, then Seth 15:53.0, and BJ 16:11.8. Andrew finished in 16:32.4, then Augustus 16:55.8, Hobbie 16:56.2, and Fritz 17:09.4.

Mary Ann won the race with 17:50.4, which is only 15 seconds slower than her sea-level track PR. Second place was last years St. George winner Christina Gingras with 18:34.8. Women's field was fairly strong today with the top ten under 20:00.

Jeff and I waited for Mary Ann to finish, and then 30 seconds later (18:20 into the race) started a post-race 10 K tempo. There is a saying in Russian that you are not supposed to swing your fists after the brawl is over. Well, we did anyway. Since we were not sure if the 10 K course marks from the last year would still be visible we ran the 5 K race course twice. Jason joined us.

At first we were mentally warn out from the race, and we also wanted to get to know Jason better, so we were chatting a lot. That gave us a rather odd pace - 3:57 for the first 1 K, 6:19 for the first mile, 6:14 for the second mile. After that I said in order to call it a tempo we need to pick it up, so we did. 19:03 at the 5 K (37:23 10 K from the start of the race), and then Jeff really got into it and started pushing the pace. We did the next mile in 5:47, and the 2.5 K stretch in 8:58. Then I realized it would be bad to get chicked by Mary Ann in the last 5 K and started supporting Jeff more in the pace effort. The second mile of the "don't get chicked" 5 K was 5:42. Jeff asked me how I was feeling, I told him in a manageable level of pain. He took it as a cue to speed up even more and rewarded me with a 5:34 mile. Towards the end the pace became 5:20. Jason fell back a bit in the last quarter. Total time for the "don't get chicked" 5 K was 17:37, our male dignity saved by 13 seconds. Total time for the 10 K tempo was 36:40. 55:00 from the start of the 5 K race to the finish of the tempo. Excluding the 1:59 stop that gives me 53:01 15 K.

Jogged 2 miles with Jeff while Mary Ann was getting her prize shoes at the Salt Lake Running Company.

In the evening ran with the kids. 1 mile with Julia in 9:50. 2 with Benjamin in 17:08. Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:08. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:45. 200 with Jacob in 1:59.

Day of rest. Had Stake Conference today. Got a new Stake President, the old one is going on a mission. Had a member of the Quorum of the Seventy Elder Mask. He happens to be a grandson of Andres Gonzalez who was the first LDS missionary from Mexico back in 1910. Elder Mask told us about how his grandfather got called to go on a mission soon after he got married. He had to walk 24 days to get to the mission field. During the mission he and his companion were about to be executed by a firing squad, but they managed to talk their way out of it by bearing their testimony and telling the soldiers they had an important message for the new president of the federal government. They got to see the president, and they got along with him well enough to be able to ensure the safety of the missionaries in Mexico.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Matt, and Mary Ann. Jeff slept in, will run in the afternoon. We ran 7 together, then dropped off Daniel, ran another mile and then Matt needed to turn towards BYU. So I stayed on the trail, and Matt and Mary Ann ran towards BYU with the expectation to flirt. Total of 10 miles in 1:16:39. Interestingly enough, add another hour and you get Hobbie's marathon PR.

Did explosive sprints. I think they have done some magic in the last month. On December 31 I raced a 5 K in 17:03 on a course and under the conditions very similar to the one last Saturday. The only  difference I would consider material is that I ran the first one alone and the one last Saturday drafting. But I do not think I could draft up 42 seconds. Maybe 20. The other 20 I think are a legitimate improvement in fitness.

The feeling in the 5 K on Saturday was also very different compared to the 5 K a month ago and the half-marathon two weeks ago. I felt some power in the legs, they were not caving. That is why I think I was able to negative split the race. I have never been able to negative split a 5 K before, the race is just so fast that my legs get too tired to run the last mile any faster than the average pace.

That gets me thinking. In 2005 I worked a lot on explosive power. Then I did an 800 meter time trial (in 2:14), and I was able to even split it. Makes me wonder if the explosive power for a distance runner correlates with the ability to finish strong, and I am not talking about the kick, but the entire second half of the race.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:44. Then ran with Benjamin and Jenny. We did a warm-up of 0.5 in 4:22, then ran fast. Jenny went the first quarter with us, Benjamin and I ran 0.5 hard then jogged and waited for Jenny. Then we jogged to the finish of Jenny's 1.5 - her time was 12:58. Benjamin and I finished his 2 miles, his total time was 15:57. Jenny's quarter was around 1:41, Benjamin's half mile was 3:11.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Jeff, and Mary Ann. 10 miles in 1:14:31. Did explosions, and picked it up a bit in the last quarter to 5:50 pace. We dropped off Daniel at 6.5. Soon after we ran into Tommy Gruenewald, a BYU runner. He joined us for about a mile. He was wearing sweat pants and a ski jacket, and did not look like a guy that could run 8:21 3000 at all judging by his clothes. I love it when fast runners dress down. One time Bill Rogers hammered out a 20 mile race at around 5:00 per mile wearing jeans and tennis shoes, I think. It was back in the day when sponsorships were hard to find, and he was too poor to afford more traditional running apparel.

This also reminds me of an experience of my own. On July 24th, 2003 I was headed to the start of the Deseret News Marathon. Half way through I realized that I had left my racing flats at the house. The only shoes I had were a 13 oz pair that I got from a gift certificate to the Riverwoods Mall won in the 10 miler two years earlier. Those were the closest to running shoes you could find at that store. I tried running in them, but pretty soon they were relegated to the walking shoe status due to their heavy weight and general awkwardness. I was not even thinking of running a race in them as a possibility.  So I tried to call a couple of friends to see if I could borrow their racing flats, but nobody was awake at that early hour. I said a silent prayer, and in response heard a gentle answer:

Run in the shoes you have, it is not the shoe that makes the runner.

So I did. I ended up with 2:34:48, which was a course PR by 2:27, and the second fastest marathon I had run to that point. It was a PR equivalent considering the nature of the course.

I learned something. What matters the most in running is the fitness. Fitness, unlike beauty, is not skin-deep. It is in the muscles, the heart, the lungs, the bones, the nerves, the brain, the liver, the glands, and other numerous organs, most of which are internal. It cannot be bought, it has to be earned.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:09. 2 with Benjamin in 17:14. Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:24.

A.M. Ran early with Jeff. 10.1 in  1:22:09. Did the explosions. Talked about computers. It was a surreal feeling - I felt like I was sitting down at a desk explaining something. Well given a slower than 8:00 average on a course with near perfect traction my perception was perhaps not too far away from reality.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:44 including 0.5 in 3:04. 1.5 with Jenny in 13:11. Julia ran a mile with us in 9:13.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Dropped off Daniel and Mary Ann around 6.5. Mary Ann ran less today because she wanted to run a race at UVU later. Jeff and I finished 10 in 1:17:56. We did explosions, and I also did a 0.3 post VPB tempo at 5:30 pace.

Jeff and I discussed the importance of maximum leg power in the ability to negative split. My theory. Suppose you have two runners one named Powerhouse and the other Aerobic Animal. The Powerhouse is so strong he can run the same pace as the Aerobic Animal applying only 70% of his maximum force while the Aerobic Animal has to apply 80% of his maximum force. Both run at the same VO2 at that pace. The Powerhouse cannot go faster aerobically because he cannot bring in more oxygen. The Aerobic Animal cannot go faster aerobically because of neuro-muscular issues.

My prediction is that during the first half of a long race (5 K or longer), the Powerhouse and the Aerobic Animal will run alongside with equal degree of comfort. Then the Powerhouse will gradually pull away in the second half. Why? The Aerobic Animal will get tired for running at 80% of his maximum force for neuro-muscular reasons, and would have to slow down.  The Powerhouse was running only at 70%, he might not have any more oxygen, but he can keep the pace, and then even increase it in the last 2 minutes since he can afford to go into oxygen debt at that point, and his muscles can use that debt.

Ran 2 miles with Benjamin in 17:27 after finishing with Jeff.

P.M. 1.5 with Jenny in 13:07. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 9:09.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Matt, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Usual route and drop off points. Did a 0.4 post-VPB tempo at 5:20 pace. Did explosions. It rained, I was soaked when I came home. Total time for 10 miles was 1:16:11.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:27. 1.5 with Jenny in 13:26. Julia ran 1 mile with us in 9:20. 

A.M. Ran 10.1 with Jeff in 1:22:39. Daniel ran the first 2 miles with us, then turned around. Helped Mary Ann set up the race course. The trail was very slippery, but then the ice melted when we were coming back. 2 more with Sarah at home in 21:25. Then ran to the start of the race, about 1.2 miles. 

In the 10 K I hoped to relax and coast through it in about 36:00 or a little under if I felt like closing strong. However, the 5 K started at a faster pace than I anticipated, and I did not want to get dropped by the 5 K runners. So I figured, let's have some fun. After the half in 2:39 we still had a pack. Then it was just Bryce. I figured I'd run 5:20 to the 5 K turnaround, then take it easy. Bryce fell back. I hit 1.5 miles in 8:00, 8:18 at 2.5 K, and took my foot off the gas pedal immediately.

Then I noticed that Bryce did not turn around and was in the 10 K. So I realized I would have to run pretty hard the whole way. I did a couple of 87 quarters to rest, then sped up to 86. That felt hard, but doable. Ran like that pretty much the rest of the race, sped up a little bit in the last mile to dip under 35:00. The first 5 K was 17:13 (8:55), then 26:11 at 7.5 K (8:58), and 8:44 for the last 2.5 K. Second 5 K in 17:42. Bryce finished in 36:45.

Ran back to the house with Daniel.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:25. 1.5 with Jenny in 13:40. Julia ran a mile with us in 9:39.

Day of rest. Went to church.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Matt, and Mary Ann. Usual deal, except Daniel is now up to 8 miles. And he ran a 17:44 5 K earlier thanks to the increase in mileage. That is his 5 K PR since I've known him.

After Daniel got off the trail I ran some more with Matt and Mary Ann. Then Matt and Mary Ann ran in the direction of BYU, and I stayed on the trail. Due to the extra mile on Daniel's part I miscalculated the turnaround and went about 0.1 further, which is OK. 

Did explosions as usual. Finished with 1:18:53 for 10.1.

Then added 2 miles with Benjamin in 16:38. Did an explosive game with him as well. He was the antelope and I was the cheetah. Once in a while I'd give him a 2-3 second warning to run away from the cheetah. Then I'd sprint until I caught him.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:57. Jenny ran 2 miles with Sarah in 19:26.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Pretty much the same run as yesterday except it was too slippery for the explosions. 10 miles in 1:18:30. Afterwards a mile with Julia in 10:27.

P.M. 2.4 with Benjamin and Jenny. Benjamin actually ran only 2. Jenny ran the whole 2.4.

A.M. Big group today. Chauncy, Mary Ann, Jeff, Daniel, and Matt. Our usual route. Total of 10 miles in 1:18:30. Did explosions. Then 2 with Benjamin in 17:20.

P.M.  2 with Jenny in 19:30. Julia ran a mile with us in 9:14. Jenny was not feeling well, so Julia actually dropped Jenny, and then I waited for Jenny at the mile.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Jeff is learning Linux so we had an on-the-run computer class. 10.15 miles in 1:20:40. Later ran 2 with Benjamin in 15:52. Too slippery to do explosions, but Benjamin managed to run the last mile in 7:21 anyway.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:42. Jenny ran 2 miles with Sarah.

A.M. Ran 10 miles with the usual crowd in 1:20:40. Then 2 more with Benjamin in 17:26.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 19:09. Julia had a fever, did not run.

A.M. Ran the SLC Track Club 10 K. 37:46, 5th place. I've run in training in worse conditions (for speed), but never in a race. The entire course was covered with snow. On the way out I could run more or less normal pace. But then on the way back we got a strong headwind, and on top of that, the road became more slippery.

I  also  had a cold, but no fever. Not sure how much it affected me. Probably 20-30 seconds.

Went through the first mile in 5:27 in a pack with Jeff, Seth, Brian Summers, and James Moore from the blog. At that point we did have some traction as evidenced by the time. Then around 1.25 the pace felt too fast, and I decided to back off. In restrospect this was a mistake. The lack of traction eventually became my number one limiting factor. So the right way to run would have been to run my guts out from the start, and then do my best once the slippage became the main problem. This would have been effective because the fatigue from the early aggressive pace would not have been sufficient to make it impossible to run the fastest the friction would permit.

Unfortunately today I became painfully aware of the formula F = k*P, where F is the maximum achievable friction force, P is the ground contact force, and k is the friction coefficient that is dependent only on the properties of the surfaces in contact. With that in mind my strength became my weakness. A runner needs to put a decent amount of P into the ground to get a forward propulsion force. Over the years I happen to have learned how to get a decent amount of forward propulsion  with a very low value of P. This is very good. It helps me do well in long races and not get injured. However, today was a bad day for low values of P. k started out small and kept getting smaller. Eventually the forward propulsion force began to be limited by friction.

My second mile was 5:39, and I was actually quite happy. The pack was about 10 seconds away. 5:48 for the third mile, not stellar, but respectable for the conditions. 17:34 at the 5 K, 17:06 for the leaders, they are still together.

And then the surprise came. Quite a headwind. However, I would have taken double that any day if only I could have decent traction. My next mile was 6:32. I would have normally blamed this on the misplaced mile markers. But I knew they were in the right place because I had checked them going the other way. So I doublechecked the math instead. I never make time calculation mistakes during a race, calculating a split is second nature to me, as easy as noticing the color of the shirt of my competors. But the split was so off the wall today that I had to double check, and sure enough it was right.

Mile 5 - a glorious split of 6:34. Beautiful. Minus the cold, I am feeling great, though. OK, last mile, lets see if I can reel somebody it. Not with a 6:28 mile, though. I do not know how Jeff and Seth maganged to run it in 5:35. Their values of P must be quite a bit higher than mine, that makes sense given Seth's great performance on Ragnar.

Glorious closing 5 K of 20:12. After opening in 17:34 that did not hurt too bad I never thought I'd be closing that slow in the most pessimistic analysis. Live and Learn.

Seth won with 35:12, then Jeff 35:14, James 35:35 (I think), and Brian 36:30.

Mary Ann ran a very solid 38:53 going through the 5 K in 18:36. Second 5 K was rather bogus for everybody due to the traction and the headwind. But the first one shows she is capable of sub-36:00 on that course in good conditions.

Cooled down 2 miles.

P.M. Just to be cautions and not make the cold worse I did not run. The kids ran with Sarah.

Our family has been hit with a cold. Stayed in bed most of the day. Made it to the sacrament meeting in another ward, so that I could stay home with the sick kids during our block while Sarah went to church. She felt good enough to go.

Started feeling better in the evening after some salt water gargling, garlic chewing, and horseradish sniffing and swallowing. Remembered a Russian saying that horseradish is no sweeter than radish. I'll tell you that for sure.

Benjamin is growing up to be my son. I convinced him to try my horseradish treatment before he went to bed. His immediate comment was that there would be no way in the world he would do it again, but then in the next instant he opened the fridge, pulled out a piece of garlic and started sucking on it. I suppose garlic tastes like candy after horseradish.

A.M. Felt better this morning, but still not 100%. Thought 4 miles would be a good idea. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Felt better than I expected, but decided to err on the side of caution anyway. Total time was 34:33. 

In the morning the fever was still around 100, so I rested. It dropped to 98.9, and I felt like I wanted jog a little bit to breathe some fresh air. Ran 0.5 with Julia in 5:07, and then 3 alone in 21:29.

Felt solid in the morning even though an earache kept me up most of the night. Had the blood coming out of my nose, there was some kind of bleeding going on as well. Felt thirsty all night, had to get up to go to the bathroom, but then was so thirsty I had to drink, but then that would lead to another bathroom trip. Why can't the body just use the water I give it, or at least not dump it so fast?

Figured since there was some serious dehyrdation going on I'd better take a bottle with me on a run. Was not sure if I was going 2 miles or more. Surprisingly felt good the whole way. Used the bottle only once. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, Chauncy and Mary Ann.

Felt good after the run too, and got too excited. Did too many things, and the fever was back by the evening. So the kids had to run by themselves around the block. Benjamin and Julia ran 1.05 in 12:13.

The first part of the night was rough. Kept going to the bathroom, felt thirsty, drank, the cycle repeats. Fortunately the earache subsided and I was able to sleep in between bathroom trips. Decided to start the day easy, sleep in, and not run in the morning.

Felt better in the evening, not 100%, but good enough to run the kid's pace for a little bit. And I had been inside for long enough to want some fresh air. So I ran a mile with Julia in 10:07, another with Jenny in 10:29, and one more with Benjamin in 9:07.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Matt, and Mary Ann. The night before was the best I've had this week. I was able to sleep through the ear infection pain since it is reduced, and did not get up to go to the bathroom as much. Did not talk much during the run because talking made me cough. Ran with a bottle just in case but did not use. Noticed an increase in aerobic capacity compared to Wednesday. On Wednesday I was huffing and puffing at 6:20 pace during the post-VPB tempo. Today I averaged 5:52 pace for 600 meters, around 5:40 towards the end, and I did not feel as challenged in the way of breathing. Probably has something to do with all the bleeding on Wednesday that has mostly stopped by now.

10.1 miles total in 1:14:23.

A.M. The ear infection has subsided some, but is still there. Decided to just go ahead and run through it. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. The plan was to pace Mary Ann through a long tempo at 6:20 pace until failure or until 20 miles was reached. This is a solid pace for a girl - 2:46:03 marathon, an OTQ. And we are also doing it at altitude on an out-and-back course.

To avoid overstressing the body I went only 6.25 with them. Daniel stopped at the same place as well. Our split was  39:13, which is 6:16 average. Then Daniel and I ran back to the house.

Mary Ann made it to 15 miles on pace with one stop at 10 to eat some snow. We will work on better hydration techiniques.

P.M. 1 mile with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia in 9:58.

Day of rest. Ear infection still there. Attacking it with garlic in the ear. This seems to relieve the pain enough to be able to function. The pressure is also gradually reducing.

Went to church. Taught a lesson on adversity in the Elder's Quorum. No, it was not planned that way by the leadership - the lesson schedule was prepared a long time in advance.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Matt, and Mary Ann. Still have the ear infection, although it is slowly improving. At least I can run through it. 10.1 miles in 1:14:13. Did some post-VPB tempos. A quarter in 82, and another quarter in 86. Those felt hard. The body produced a lot of mucus during the run. When I finished, my last words were: "7 tomorrow, Jeff, Hello world" and I went off to cough. In  full sentences, "We'll meet again at 7:00 AM tomorrow, and Jeff, remember your programming assignment to write  the Hello World  in several different languages."

P.M. 1 mile with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia in 9:41. Actually Benjamin, Jenny, and I turned around a bit later and then caught Julia, so we went about 1.1 in that amount of time.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. 10.1 in 1:12:57. Daniel turned around at 4. Still have the ear infection, but felt better. Ran 1:43 for 500 during the post VPB tempo. Did explosions for the first time since getting sick.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:50. 1 with Jenny and Julia in 9:52.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Daniel turned around at 4. Did a post-VPB tempo - 500 in 1:43. That is an improvement. Did explosive sprints. 10.1 in 1:17:16.

P.M-1. About 0.5 from parking the car.

P.M-2. 2 with Benjamin in 15:32. 1 with Jenny and Julia in 9:42. 0.2 with Joseph.

A.M. Same run as yesterday, same partners. Again, could not do it without a VPB. Ran 500 in 1:38 (5:13 pace) to catch up. Felt better, although still not 100%. Did explosions. 10.1 miles in 1:16:47.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Mary Ann and Susan. 10.1 miles in 1:21:47. Post-VPB tempo - 600 meters in 1:57, 5:12 pace. Felt better than yesterday. I've been getting stronger every day. However, I am still not that certain what is going to happen in the 15 K. There is a big difference between feeling good at 5:12 pace for 600 meters and feeling good at 5:25 pace for 9 miles. I guess we'll see.

Did explosions.

P.M. Had a funny indicent. This lady with odd colored hair in running apparel shows up by our house right when Benjamin and I are getting ready for a run. She acts like I am supposed to know her. I am thinking she is in our ward, but I cannot think of anybody in our ward that looks like that. Then she asks me if she could use our bathroom, and this finally helps me connect the dots and figure out that this is Michelle. I have forgotten that she dyed her hair.

She ran a bit less than a mile with us and then turned off to her car. Benjamin and I finished 2 miles in 14:45. Then I ran another mile with Jenny and Julia in 9:15.

A.M. Ran the SLC Track Club 15 K in 54:39. Did not realize how much the ear infection had knocked me out. Was also surprised by the pattern of slowdown.Life is full of surprises, I suppose.

Warmed up with Jeff and Steve for about 3.4. Did one stride for 0.1, and then the race started.

We had a nice group in the first mile - in addition to myself Jeff, James Moore (Fiddy), Seth, Steve, Fritz, and Bryce. First mile was 5:35 and it interesting. Definitely sustainable, but with a twist. Perhaps the twist was what made it unsustainable. The breathing made my ear feel like it was being hosed down with water. This is not necessarily an unpleasant feeling, but it is distracting when you are trying to run hard. I managed to run the next mile in 5:33. By that time the pack split and Bryce and I got dropped.

I got behind Bryce and felt good. I thought I'd be able to stay behind him for a while, and then pull away. We made it to 3 miles in 16:52. Now that was interesting - 5:44 mile and it did not feel any slower than the second mile. I had started to feel the legs caving a bit. 17:29 at the 5 K. Pretty soon even that slow pace was not sustainable. I slowed down to 6:00 mile for mile 4, 22:52 at 4 miles. At this point I began to have second thoughts about entering the race and the effect of running so hard on my health. But by that point I was almost exactly half way out and the only way to get back was to run. I considered slowing down and waiting for Mary Ann to catch up, but then I was not sure with the way the things were going if I'd even be able to keep up.

26:53 at the turnaround, 28:56 at 5 miles, 6:04. My fears of the worst started to leave. I knew that my health was good enough to keep running, and I began to feel the strength in the body telling me that if I kept running to the finish my health would not be damaged. Next mile in 5:55, 36:07 at the 10 K. My spirits cheered up a bit. 5 K in 18:38 at a fairly even pace. I knew I could run around 6:00 pace to the finish. Normally this would be little consolation. But after experiencing the fear that I might not make it to the finish at all, I was thankful for this measure of strength.

I was happy about hitting a 10 K in 36:07 en route in this condition. With that, however, I realized that had the race been only 10 K I would not have run it much faster. For some odd reason I was stuck in 6:00 gear and could not go any faster. I could not understand why, either. Nothing really hurt. I was not breathing very hard anymore. Perhaps the body decided to control the breathing to avoid the ear discomfort.

So I coasted at that pace to the finish. Last 5 K in 18:32. Jeff met me with about a quarter to go, and I actually was conversational enough to ask him who had won. My last quarter was 1:29. I tried to kick but could not.  Yet I felt I could have gone further. Odd. Do not know how to explain it. Maybe some governor in the ear. Could a minor irritation or compression of the vestibular nerve act as this kind of governor? Is it possible to have vestibular nerve irritation with no obvious balance function disruptions?

So this race was definitely a learning experience.

Seth won with 49:04, then Jeff 49:12, Fritz a high 51, great performance, then Steve 52:10, James 52:26. Bryce was not officially in the race. His time was 53:00. Mary Ann ran 55:42 well ahead of the competition.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:40, 1 with Jenny and Julia in 10:16, 0.34 with Joseph in 3:48.

Day of rest. Went to church.

A.M. 10.1 in 1:14:00. Ran with Jeff, Mary Ann, Daniel, and Matt. Did explosions. Also ran 200 in 39 and a quarter in 79 catching up.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:16, 2 with Jenny in 18:33. Julia ran the first mile with Jenny in 8:56.

A.M. Warm day. Ran in shorts and Five Fingers. Usual company - Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. In light of Jeff's difficulty in going under 5:10 we introduced a mild injection of speed. We do have to be careful - Jeff gets injured very easily. However, on the positive side of things, since he's done very little speed work lately, even a very mild injection of speed would serve as a stimulus. 

So he did 5x400 with full rest in 70. I was not sure if I was healthy enough for that (yes, that's pretty bad, but you have to live with the reality), so I decided to do 200s with him. Mary Ann and Daniel skipped the speed due to the fear of being injured. My 200s were 34, 35, 35, 36. On the last one I felt good and decided to go the full 400 about 100 into the interval. I was happy that I was able to run 71 and it felt good. Total time for 10.1 was 1:19:51.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:23, 2 with Jenny in 17:58, Julia ran the first mile in 9:11.

A.M. Ran early with Jeff and Mary Ann. Instructed Jeff on PHP programming for most of the run. 1:22:44 for 10.1.

P.M. Pushed William in the single stroller. 2 with Benjamin in  16:52. 2 with Jenny in 17:22. Julia ran the first mile with us in 8:57.

A.M. Ran with the usual group. Continued the micro-injection of speed experiment. Jeff's assignment was 1 mile in 5:00. Due to poor health I ran only the first half (2:28). It felt hard, but I was thankful that I could run sub-5:00 pace for at least half a mile and live. So I must not be doing too bad. Jeff finished the mile in 4:58. Mary Ann skipped the speed due to a tender achilles. Total time for 10.1 was 1:18:15.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:53. 2 with Jenny in 19:00. Julia threw up last night and felt tired today so she ran only 0.5 with us (5:10).

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Mary Ann, Daniel, and Matt. Usual sequence of events. Did explosions. The total time for 10.1 was 1:19:22. Ear still congested. I have considered using an antibiotic, but decided against it. Let the illness run its course, let the body learn how to fight it. I have read a number of posts on health forums of people having much worse symptoms for months in spite of using antibiotics and their doctor having no clue how to make it better. In my case I can run, I can work, and aside from feeling like my left ear is underwater all the time and running a bit slower, yes a bit slower, 15 K in 54:39 vs 50:43 is only a bit slower, it could have been 1:15 or worse, I can still average 5:51 for 15 K, aside from those two there are no other symptoms. So I'll keep on treating it with natural remedies, and just be patient.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:58, 2 with Jenny in 18:51. Julia ran the first mile with us in 9:02. 0.34 with Joseph in 3:45. Jacob also wanted to run today. I took him for 200 meters in 1:43.

A.M. Had to get my run done early because Sarah was going to Salt Lake for Benjamin's singing concert and for a home schooling conference. Ran alone at 5:00 AM. It was dark. I thought I'd be dragging. But my legs were actually quite energetic. I started at 8:00 pace, then sped up to 7:20, then 7:00, then I decided to go after the 7:00 guy and sped up to 6:40. Did explosions in the middle. Then decided to run the last 2 miles at 6:00 pace. Once I sped up the legs felt not too weak, but I had a hard time at faster speeds because the increased breathing was bothering my ear. I did manage to hit the last 2 miles in exactly 12:00, although I did have to run the last quarter in 85. On the positive side of things, I could run a quarter in 85 at the end once I focused in spite of the darkness. Last week my last quarter of the 15 K was 89 in broad daylight. Total time for 10.1 was 1:09:05.

Had some struggles with the new Fast Running Blog/St. George Running Center server. I am planning to host it at my house again to save money and to avoid being dependent on a data center in Michigan. Solved the problems and in the process discovered a New Definition of Happiness.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:40, 2 with Jenny in 18:05. Julia ran the first mile with us in 9:12. 200 with Jacob in 1:31. Almost fast enough to count towards mileage.

Day of rest. Went to church. Kids are getting older, becoming more self-sufficient.

Had an interesting moment in the Elder's Quorum. A discussion started of which one of us was the oldest. Two elders were trying to figure out which one of them was older, and both were around 31. Then I asked if anybody could beat 35. I got a few surprised looks, and nobody confessed to be older than that.

Also, somehow I lost weight, don't know if it is good or bad. In the morning before breakfast and without going on a run I weighed 140 lb. By the evening I was at 148 lb, yes I do eat a lot. Then Monday morning I was down to 144 and after the run was again back to 140 lb. So that is a loss of about 5 lb on average compared to three months ago. Not sure what happened and not sure if it is good or bad.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Mary Ann, Daniel, and Matt. 10.1 in 1:21:27. Mary Ann was having what appeared to be blood sugar problems, so we ran a bit slower. Did explosions.

P.M. We got some surprise snow. Ran 2 miles with Benjamin in 17:28, then 2 with Jenny in 20:19, Julia ran the first mile with us in 10:13.

A.M. Jeff slept in. Ran first 8 with Daniel and Mary Ann, then the remaining 2 alone. It was very slippery. Mary Ann and I tried doing quarters, but after the first one in 82 decided it was too slippery to get anything out of it, and postponed speed until tomorrow. Was able to do explosions. Did a pickup of 600 meters on a dryer section of the trail in 2:04. Felt a lot stronger than on Saturday. No ear pain from harder breathing, and the will to win, or "the killer instinct" as Mike Kirk calls it, is returning. The ear is still congested, though.

Running without the will to win is hard. I learned something in the last race, I should say I learned it better, because I already knew. The will to win is 90% if not more physical. Spiritually you could be willing to die to win, but if the physical will to win is not there, you will coast through the race, finish not so tired, but for the life of you would not be able to go faster. On the other hand, you can come to a race wanting to just jog it, but if your body is brimming with the physical will to win, you will run yourself into the ground against your spiritual will, and you will run a good time.

On another subject, the infamous Reset Button was recently mentioned in the news. It was given by Hillary Clinton to the Russian foreign minister to symbolize a fresh start in the relationships between Russia and the US. The button had the word Reset written in Russian and in English In the true spirit of American Superficiality (TM) the State Department made two grave errors. One - the Russian word was written with the Latin alphabet. Bad move. Russians are every protective about their alphabet and their language in general. I remember learning a poem as kid in reference to the Second World War: Our people will not allow our sweet-scented Russian bread to be called by a German word brot. The thought of that alone would have been enough to give millions of Russians the strength and the courage to fight the fiercest battles.

As if that were not enough they got the word for Reset wrong by leaving out an important suffix. That changed the meaning of the word signficantly. Instead of Reset, it became Overload. Based on that description I would expect the button to trip the circuit and shut everything down in case of a dire overload emergency. When a Russian kid makes a serious spelling or language error, the teacher or his parents often sarcastically award him the title of a grammar scholar. I remember receiving that title from my mom on numerous occasions. One Russian newspaper very rightfully so called the creators of the infamous button American Grammar Scholars.

The embarrassment could have been easily avoided had the button design been previously shown to one native Russian. But apparently that was too much work for the State Department.

I find the incident symbolic of a lot of things, too many to mention. It reflects a general level of not being on the ball, out of touch with reality, looking for a quick fix, and failing to slow down and understand how something really works. The current recession is a fallout from that mentality. I expect it to last as long as the mentality itself, which will be longer than a couple of years.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:58. 2 with Jenny in 19:00, Julia ran the first mile in 9:44 with us.

A.M. Ran with the usual gang. We had a late start, and I needed to be back early enough because we were headed to the Draper Temple Open House. So we just ran 10.1 brisk, more of a tempo pace for Mary Ann. We started with a 7:30 mile, then progressed to about 6:30-6:40 pace with occasional bursts to 6:25. Then I took a VPB and caught up hitting a quarter in 81. I was happy about that. Mary Ann started struggling with about 2 miles to go. With 1.5 left she decided to back off and jog in, and Jeff and I went ahead. We picked it up to 6:00 pace, and then did 87 and 80 for the last two quarters, which gave us 5:47 for the last mile. I was happy I was able to do it because I could not do it last Saturday.

Total time for 10.1 was 1:05:56.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:06 including explosions. His explosions were my explosions as well because I was pushing William in a stroller. He ran the last mile quick as well - 6:44. So that made it a brisk day for me. Then 2 with Jenny in 18:30, Julia ran the first mile with us in 9:20.

Analysed recent Mary Ann's crashes, and then it dawned on me - no fuel, she has not been eating enough. Asked her in detail about what she's been eating, sure enough, I was right. So we had her over for dinner and I used the opportunity to teach her how to eat. I loaded her plate with a large serving of mashed potatoes and told her to eat all of it. She did after some encouragement. Then I realized why girls get injured so much when they try high mileage. At 30 mpw a girl can survive off a mouse/bird diet. At 70 mpw she is going to have all kinds of problems if she does not start eating more - persistent fuel shortage, sore muscles, stress fractures, and who knows what else. Girls are often hesitant to eat like pigs, especially in our culture of slim models and the fear of being called fat, so often they do not even though they very much should.

For a guy it is a bit different. His base metabolism is high enough so he is already eating OK even if he runs only 30 mpw. He can up it to 70 with a lot fewer problems without a change in eating habits. Although, of course, he still should start eating more, it is just not as drastic of a change as it is for a girl. Plus the culture does not tell him he needs to eat less, so there is no pressure that way.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, Mary Ann, and Steve Ashbaker. We did our speed micro-injection. Jeff did 5x400. Mary Ann's assignment was 5:20 pace until failure. Steve and I paced her. She did OK for the first 0.5 (2:41), then fell off pace, and we stopped at 1000. I missed the mark, so we do not have the time. But it was probably 3:23 for myself and Steve, and about 3:25 for Mary Ann. Then I did 3 quarters with Jeff in 67, 68, and 71. 67 was hard, 68 not so hard, and 71 almost enjoyable. I felt a lot stronger than last week. I was happy that I could run 67 in winter clothes and not feel I was putting my body over the edge.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 19:20. Julia ran the first mile in 9:50. Then 2 with Benjamin in 17:17. We did a couple of explosions when he'd get a head start and I'd chase him, and then ran 100 in 19.6.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Matt, and Mary Ann. Jeff was in a hurry, so we made sure the pace stayed faster than 7:30. Spent most of the time discussing the merge sort algorithm with Jeff. It was an adjustment for me to focus on the pace so it does not slip to 8:00 while in the middle of deep thoughts. Did explosions. Total time for 10.1 was 1:14:11.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:42. Did explosion chases with him. Then 2 more with Jenny in 17:59. Julia ran the first mile with us in 9:27.

A.M. Long run with Jeff. First long run since Feb 7th, and first since getting sick. Was not sure how I was going to handle it. Was not sure if it would be healthy to go full 20. Was not sure how much of it should be tempo. For Jeff it was supposed to be a relaxing long run if there is such a thing. With those constraints we decided to do a short warm-up, then a 10 mile tempo, if I finished the tempo, then jog the rest of the long run, otherwise, Jeff would jog with me home, and then run the balance of the tempo at the end afterwards.

I did OK during the tempo. I made it through 10 miles. Total time was 57:48. Splits:

miles: 5:47, 5:49, 5:49, 5:50, 5:53, 5:49,5:47,5:48,5:39,5:37

2.5 segments: 14:31,14:37,14:31,14:09

5 mile segments: 29:08 - 28:40

Did not think we'd break 58:00 until about 3 miles to go. Then thought maybe. Then Jeff hit a half mile in 2:47 from 8.5 to 9 and I knew it was a done deal, although done with quite a bit of pain. My legs held better than I thought they would, but in the last quarter 5:20 pace followed by a little bit of an uphill turned out to be too much, they caved, and I slowed down to 5:52 pace in the last 200 meters. In spite of that failure, I still credit leg strength from the explosions and speed micro-injections for surviving this tempo.

I was happy about the progress. I calculated my last 15 K of the tempo was 53:53 compared to 54:39 in a race two weeks ago. Also, last week running 10 miles at an easy pace I had a hard time running 12:00 for the last two miles. This week my last two miles were 11:16 off a tempo pace. Ear still congested, but it was not bothering me nearly as much as it was last week at tempo speeds.

Then we ran the balance of the 20 miler, which was a bit less than 9 miles. We started at a bit slower than 8:00 to rest from the tempo, then picked it up to about 7:20-7:30. At around 16 miles total I started feeling hungry, and also uncertain about my ability to make it to the finish. Low blood sugar sometimes causes panic, and I was feeling a bit of it. I calmed myself down by thinking about how running in the zone is similar to fasting and could be good for cancer prevention. We also picked up the pace to about 7:05. My reasoning was run brisk while you can, you'll be closer to home when you bonk. Then at 18 I noticed that I was not feeling any worse than I was at 16, and decided to pick it up even more. So we speed up to about 6:40, and I did not feel any worse. I told Jeff I wanted to run the last half at 6:00 to prove a point to myself. We ran it at 5:50 pace.

This gave me 2:12:05 for 20.1 for this run, 6:34 average.

P.M. Pushed William in the stroller. 2 with Benjamin in 16:37. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:40. 2 with Jenny in 18:39. Julia ran the first mile with us in 9:30.

Day of rest. Went to church. 

Started the day at 143 lb, ended at 150 lb. Did not feel bloated at the end of the day, in fact felt like I could have eaten more. I should create a Fast Running Blog Weight Gain Special program to compete with Weight Watchers.

A.M. Ran 10.1 in 1:15:07 with Jeff, Mary Ann, and Matt. Had a couple of VPB tempos, probably associated with yesterday's weight gain. Felt good, ran 500 in 1:37, and a quarter in 78. 5:12 pace. Also did explosive sprints. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:24, 2 with Jenny in 18:41. Julia ran the first mile in 9:37.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Did the speed micro-injection workout. For Jeff, the target was 4:40 pace until failure or the mile. For Mary Ann, 5:20 until failure or the mile. I decided to be a bum and pace Mary Ann, but nevertheless still finish the mile on pace if she did not make it. Jeff fell asleep in the second quarter (72) but otherwise hit perfect 70s and ended up with a 4:42 mile. Mary Ann made it to 1000. My split was 3:21, she was about 1 second behind. Afterwards I did not worry about her and got back up to pace, and a bit faster to make up for the slow down. Last quarter in 78, mile time was 5:19. Incidentally the fastest mile since I got sick. The last quarter felt a bit hard, legs started to feel heavier than I thought they would based on the VPB pickups yesterday. Mary Ann slowed down to a bit sub-6:00 and finished the mile in 5:35.

A few miles later Mary Ann began to wonder if the reason she was struggling was that it was the first interval, and she was not quite in the groove. I did not think it was the case, and suggested a test to prove it. 5:20 pace again until failure. We made it to 600 meters, I hit it right on (2:00), she was about a second or two behind. Then we got down to the root of the problem - asthma. Understanding the problem in this case is a lot easier than fixing it, though.

Total time for 10.1 was 1:22:11.

I like those workouts when you maintain your target pace until failure or reaching a reasonable overload protection distance. They provide more insight into why you cannot run the time you want to run than either racing, regular interval workouts, or tempo runs. They also teach you to run your target pace vs a slower pace, thus you can override a mental block.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:11. 2 with Jenny in 17:53. Julia ran the first mile with us in 9:27. 200 with Jacob in 1:26 - new record. This is now fast enough to count for mileage for me.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, Mary Ann, and her friend Elana. Elana ran 4 miles with us then we ran 6 more. Daniel turned around 2 miles into it. I did two post-VPB quarters, each in 79. Also, explosive sprints. Total time for 10 miles was 1:22:57.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:02. Did explosive sprints with him. They are sprints for me as well because I let him go and then catch him, so I have to run full speed. Besides that, he probably could run a low 17 in an all-out 100 anyway, so if I just stayed with him with no chase it would still be fast for me. Then 2 with Jenny in 18:48, Julia ran the first mile with us in 9:49. Ran into Matt K, he joined us for a half a mile.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Again, speed micro-injection. Jeff repeated his 4:42 mile with the exact same splits as on Tuesday, but did not feel inclined to go to 1.25. I paced Mary Ann again through the 5:20 until failure or to 1.25. Mary Ann fell back a bit around 0.75, then closed the gap with a kick by around 0.9, then she wanted to kick to the end, but I told her to go to 1.25 instead. She went through the mile in 5:19, and fell back after that. I wasted the second she gained on yelling at her to close the gap, then got back to pace and finished 1.25 in 6:40, 5:20 pace on the dot. She coasted through the last quarter in 87 and finished in 6:46. That is significant progress, though, compared to the last three attempts. Eventual goal is for Jeff to hold even 4:40 pace for 2 miles, and for Mary Ann 5:20 pace for the same distance. 

My thoughts on 5 K training. Once you can run 12 quarters with 90 second rest significantly faster than your dream target 5 K race pace, the traditional VO2 Max training (12x400, 6x800, 3x1600) is not very productive. The only exception would be 3x1600 with 1 minute rest at dream pace. The interval should be at least 2000. Otherwise, you learn to run the first mile of the 5 K at dream pace, but you fade in the second. You can cheat in the first mile by running anaerobically. You cannot cheat the same way in the second. Once you can run a mile at 5 K dream pace and live (400, 800, 1200, and 1600 get you there), the next step is to work on the second mile. So you need to learn to run 2000 at dream pace and live, then 2400, then 2800, then 2 miles. Once you can run 2 miles at dream pace in training and live, the race day magic can carry you to the end of the 5 K on race day at that pace.

It is very important to keep the pace even on those long survival intervals, not die in the last quarter, not buy yourself a cushion in the first, and not rely on the kick to catch up to pace in the last quarter after fading in the one before it. The reason is we need to maximize aerobic involvement and minimize anaerobic cheating, because we cannot use much anaerobic power after the first mile.

On the way back I ran a post-VPB 79 second quarter. Total time for 10.1 was 1:19:37.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:02. 2 with Jenny in 17:58. Julia ran the first mile in 9:27.

A.M. Easy run with Jeff, Matt, and Mary Ann. 10.1 in 1:15:47.Did explosive sprints. Also ran my unplanned tempo - 600 meters in 2:00.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:53. 2 with Jenny in 17:58. Julia ran with Sarah.

A.M. Long run with Jeff. He was not feeling fully recovered, so we did a mild version of the workout. Well, mild for him, not so mild for me, especially still not being 100% recovered from the ear infection.

We ran our 10.1 course twice. Started with a short warm-up that quickly progressed into the brisk pace (6:25). We kept winding it up but were careful not to break 6:10 by much, and sub-6:00 was the forbidden zone for a while. It was still conversational, at least Jeff was trying to carry a conversation, and I provided two sentence answers when motivated. Our first 10.1 was 1:03:54, 6:19.6 average. Then we ran the next mile in 6:07, followed by 6:02, and I said, let's just run 6:00 to the end. Jeff is an overachiever, so I knew it ment we'd be doing some 5:50s, but I felt good enough, and I wanted to test the trouble waters anyway. I tucked behind him and tried to relax.

We cruised at around 5:53-5:58 pace up until mile 16, and then Jeff pushed it to 5:47. That felt like it was too much, even though we had only 3 miles left. My legs started caving a bit. So we took it easy in the next 3 quarters (90,91,91) and it did not feel easy at all. I started wondering how much more I was going to slow down. Then Jeff saw a biker in front of us and got excited about passing her. That gave us an 88 quarter up a slight grade, and I survived it. This gave me confidence that I could do 90s to the end, at least on flat quarters. The exhilaration of passing somebody on a bike that did not seem to be totally out of shape or loafing gave me some energy.

From that point we were doing 89 second quarters, and I felt thankful for every one of them. Then with a mile to go with hit some rollers under the bridges, and that was too much. I told Jeff to go ahead. Nevertheless, I made it through the next two quarters without an exceptional embarrassment - 93, and a 92. That is about what I did a couple of months ago before I got sick in a similar run, except we loafed through the first half in 1:15, and then ran a bit faster in the second half than today. Then once it flattened out I was able to pick it up to 90, and saw that an 86 would give me 2:04:00 for 20.2, and an 85 would give me 6:00 for the last mile, which will be 6 seconds faster than 2 months ago, and will allow me to say that I stayed true to the 6:00 or faster split goal for the last 8 miles. So I worked as hard as I could, and managed to squeeze an 85 quarter out of my tired legs.

Total time for 20.2 was 2:03:59, 6:08 average. Last 10.1 was 1:00:05,  5:57 average.

A.M-2. Set up Mary Ann's course, did about 0.6 of running with Benjamin, and then paced Jenny through the mile in 7:30. Julia ran 8:23. Benjamin missed the start of his 5 K and threw a fit. We put him in the mile, but he was still upset after the quarter and threw another fit, and refused to run further. He will be doing some attitude adjustment work for the next while. Thanks to Benjamin Jenny ended up chicking the field. Small field, but it still feels good.

P.M. Benjamin's attitude adjustment run. After his fit he was in major trouble. He lost his friend's playing privileges and had to gradually earn them back. Step one was to run 1 mile hard without fits, complaining, or any other form of negative talk. He ran splits of 1:46, 1:41, 1:39, 1:38 for the total of 6:44. No complaining, good attitude. This earned most of his privileges back, but not playing with Jared, his most wanted privilege. I felt he needed an experience that would teach him the consequences of bad decisions last longer than a day.

Day of rest. Went to church. Watched the Draper Temple Dedication.

A.M. Ran with Matt, Michelle, Mary Ann, Jeff, and Carolyn from Colorado. Did explosive sprints, and a quarter in 78 as well for standard reasons. Carolyn was conversational at a slightly slower than 8 pace. Very interesting. She just raced a half averaging a slower pace. With half mile to go I wanted to test Carolyn's speed and level of freshness and told her to run fast. She did two quarters of 1:39 and 1:43, 3:22 for the last half mile. With proper training I think she could run a 20:00 5 K.

Then we added 2 more miles. My total time for 10 was 1:19:06.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 19:36. Julia ran 1 mile with us in 9:46. Then Benjamin wanted to gain his Jared playing privileges back. I told him he needed to run 2 miles under 14:00 or finish his 2 mile run with a sub-6:40 mile. He chose to go for under 14:00. Good attitude rules apply, no negative talk. He did great in spite of the wind. Quarter splits of 1:42, 1:44, 1:42, 1:46 (6:54), 1:40, 1:41, 1:40, 1:37, total time of 13:32, new PR. Incidentally, he also broke 6:40 with his last mile in 6:38. That got him all of his privileges back. 

A.M. Ran with Jeff and Mary Ann. Josse and Carolyn came as well, but they ran without us because Jeff slept in and was late. Mary Ann and I waited for Jeff.

Did a new variation of our workout. Wanted to see how Jeff handles 4:40 pace off tempoing at 5:20 for a bit over a mile. Also, wanted to experience some pain trying to hold 4:40 pace myself in those circumstances.

So we paced Mary Ann at 5:20 pace to failure. She started falling back after 0.75. I yelled at her, this slowed us down to an 83 quarter, so we were 5:23 at the mile, she was a second or so behind. Then Jeff and I sped up to 5:20 pace, while Mary Ann finished 1.25 in 6:47. Our split at 1.25 was 6:43. Then was the moment of ultimate pain for me. I felt I reached the limit of my leg strength. I stayed with Jeff for about 300 meters, and stopped at 1.5 with the quarter split of 71, and total time of 7:54. Jeff had a hard time with 4:40 pace himself, and slowed down to 75s finishing 2 miles in 10:23. That is interesting. I am thinking neuromuscular failure. Aerobic would have produced 70, 73, 77, not 70, 75, 75. A high end failure, not many people would think of slowing down to 5:00 at altitude in winter clothes as a failure, but for our goals it is a failure nevertheless.

Then we ran into some horses on the trail. They had escaped from the farm. Police was trying to round them up. On the way back the police was gone, so I assume everything went well.

Total distance was 11.35 miles.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:47, Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 14:12. 2 with Benjamin in 17:15.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Matt, and Mary Ann. Carolyn and Josse came, but started ahead of us not waiting for Mary Ann since they were going to run a little slower anyway. Did explosive sprints. Also ran my catch-up tempo 600 in 1:59.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:49. Julia ran 1.5 in 14:22 with us. 2 with Benjamin in 15:18.

A.M. Ran 10.1 with Jeff and Mary Ann in 1:21:26. It was colder and snowing at times.We tried a couple of quarters. I did 67 and 72. Jeff did 66 and 65. Decided it was too cold and windy for more.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 19:48. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:45. 2 with Benjamin in 16:32.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Mary Ann, Matt, and Carolyn. Jeff slept in, so we met him near DI. Carolyn was going to drive back tomorrow so she wanted to do a long run. We warmed up 1.5 to DI at around 9:00 pace, then I wanted to see how Carolyn would handle 8:00 pace. After a mile in 7:57 she picked it up to around 7:40-7:45 range. She was breathing hard but was maintaining the pace. I figured 8 miles would be good, with a surprise to follow. So she finished 8 miles 1:02:13, average of  7:46.6. Then she jogged a mile in 9:12 and a little more at about 9:00 pace. As soon as the 8:00 girl caught us I told Carolyn to go after her and PR in the half. She ended up running 1:45:20 for the half, a 4 minute PR on a slower course beating her Moab time 6 days ago.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in  15:36. 2 with Jenny in 18:00. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:42.

A.M. Long run with Jeff. He had diarrhea since Tuesday. That was perhaps good. Otherwise, he would have to run 5:40 pace for 20 miles to cause glycogen depletion. So you could not do the depletion without the muscle tightness. This way, there was no tightness, and we could study how he runs without much glycogen, learn what to do when you bonk, and build some confidence that we would not see a repeat of St. George even in a bad case scenario.

So we warmed up a mile in 6:39, and then I suggested we run 6:00 pace until something bad happens. Jeff thought it was interesting that I was so sure something bad was going to happen. Towards the end of 10.1 Jeff was not feeling good - fuzzy head, using more effort than normal for the pace. We got to 10.1 which happened to be at the house in 1:01:03, 6:02.7 average. He was just about done with running fast, but I suggested we get some fuel in, and see how much longer he could go after that. For the fuel we used a drink made of evaporated cane juice with EmergenC for flavor and electrolytes. I fueled myself just in case the drink would work on Jeff better than I thought, because it could have meant 5:40 pace for the last 6 miles.

Then figuring it would take a couple of miles for it to kick in we decided to go another 3 miles at 6:00 pace and decide what to next after that. Like magic, 2 miles into it the pace picked up to 5:50 and Jeff asked me about the possibility of planting bottles in the Salt Lake marathon. That was a good sign. Then 3.5 miles into the tempo Jeff says, this stuff does not last long. I told him that's why they have aid stations every two miles. He also asked me about how long you could go off ingested carbs once you hit the wall. My answer was that you could go for a long time, but not very fast. I've been able to speed up to 6:25 after slowing down to 7:10 in TOU 2005. This does not work, though, if the body is not healthy enough at the moment to ingest carbs while running.

Jeff said he wanted to turnaround at the 4 mile mark, but keep tempoing, so we did. Then 15.1 into the run he thought he was done. I suggested we go another 0.5, he agreed, he is a very easy going guy when it comes to matters of pain. Then I suggested we go another 0.5 so our total tempo mileage would go over 15, and he fell for it. "...and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever" (2 Nephi 26:22).

So 16.1 into the whole run we eased off to a little sub-7:00. With 1 K to go I suggested  we speed up again, and we did running it in 3:47. Jeff was done, I turned around and ran another 2 tempo miles to finish the 20.1. First one was a slight uphill in 6:05. Then coming back I ran 5:47. Total time for 20.1 was 2:02:07, 6:04 average. The tempo 15.1 was 1:30:18, 5:58.8 average.

P.M. Jenny's mile time trial. Benjamin helped too. We warmed up 600 in 3:27. Then I set the pace, and Jenny broke 7:00 with the splits of 1:42, 1:42, 1:44, and 1:44 - 6:52 total time, and became the fourth sub-7:00 miler in the family. For her effort she earned a bike and a Palm Pilot. Then we cooled down 1000. Benjamin was itching to go after about 550 so I let him. Then I realized I wanted to time him, so  at about 680 I went after him and ran the last 300 in 58. Could not catch him, it was too late, and he was going too fast, but his time for 1000 was 4:44, mine 4:46. Jenny finished the cooldown in 5:22. Hard to believe this is now her cooldown pace. The later ran 1.5 with Julia in 15:05.

Day of rest. Went to church. Spoke in the Sacrament meeting on missionary work. This gave me a chance to notice that  speaking at the pulpit is a lot easier than taking care of the kids. 6:00 pace feels like a break after 5:00.

Ate a lot of mashed potatoes for dinner. Have noticed in the past that I feel an infux of energy from mashed potatoes when training hard. Makes sense. Starch is very easy to absorb, and it is not sweet, so it is easy to eat a lot of it.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Mary Ann, and Jeff. It was slippery, so we ran slow. 1:22:17 for 10.1. There were a couple of dry stretches, did explosions there.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 19:41. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 15:03. 2 miles in 16:39 with Benjamin.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. We did our usual Tuesday magic, except with a new twist. An interval of unknown length. For the first 1.25 Jeff and I act as Mary Ann's treadmill trying to hit 5:20 pace on the dot. If she falls behind, she is off the treadmill. Then this time Jeff's target was 4:48 pace to failure after that instead of 4:40. For me, try to stay with Jeff to failure.

We did 1.25 in 6:40 with near perfect pacing. The only quarter split that was off was 0.5, we were 1 second ahead. Otherwise, I checked the split at every 1/16th mark and we never varied by more than 1 second. Mary Ann fell off the treadmill at 0.75, but still finished 1.25 in 6:46.

Then Jeff was my treadmill. We did the next quarter in 73, and I fell off 100 meters later finishing 1.5625 miles in 8:12. Jeff, being the fastest, did not have a virtual pacing treadmill. He did  three 74 quarters after that. Amazing. He can hold 78s at the end of a 20 miler for 3 miles, but cannot hold 73s even for a mile after running 5:20 pace for as little as 1.25. Yet he can hold 70s for 1 mile without a 1.25 tempo prior to it. Next thing we'll try is 5:20 pace for 1.25 then 0.5 all out.

Then Mary Ann caught up to me, and we could not find Jeff for a while. When we finally did, I quoted a scripture out of the Book of Mormon: "..so speedy was the flight of Kishkumen that no man could overtake him" (Helaman 1:10).

Then Mary Ann said she felt she wanted to run fast. So we paced her through a mile in 5:57, and then later she still was not done, so we ran the last 0.75 in 4:29.

Total distance was 11.35.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 17:48, Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:26, last 0.5 in 3:55, almost half mile PR for her. Then 2 with Benjamin in 17:28.

A.M. 10.1 alone easy early in the morning in 1:19:39. Did explosions.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:41. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:11. Then 2 with Benjamin in 15:48.

A.M. Ran a little later in the morning because Jeff and Kimia went to the temple on an early assignment. Ran with Jeff and Mary Ann. Benjamin and Jenny joined us on bikes for a part of it. Sarah was supposed to pick them up fairly early, but due to a miscommunication  they ended up staying with us longer, and we also ended up running longer, total of 12.75.

We warmed up 2.62, then Jeff and I did The Interval. I think I'll call it that for lack of a better name. I am starting to think that perhaps doing several aerobically targed intervals is a waste of distance. I will argue that the aerobic system is not fully engaged for about the first 5 minutes of the interval if the rest is more than a 200 meter jog. Here is why. I will use an example for simplicity of illustration. Suppose I am to run a mile interval in 5:10 at a steady pace. At the start my HR is around 100. After the first quarter it is maybe 150. At half mile it will climb to 160. Then close to the end of the interval it may get up to 165. If I keep going it will stabilize around 168.

So my aerobic requirements to sustain 5:10 pace require an HR of 168. It means, in other words, that in order to run 5:10 I need at least as much energy as my heart can give at that rate. So if I run 5:10 pace at a lower heart rate, then I need to make up for the balance of energy that is not coming from the heart. By definition that is anaerobic energy. I could actually care less if it is aerobic or anaerobic after all. I should be using different terms. Sustainable and unsustainable. For the first five minutes of any interval I will be practicing using unsustainable energy.

So I need to keep it longer. And if I stop, then I will have to waste another 5 minutes of the next interval in the unsustainable energy development zone. That is 5 minutes of high intensity running that stresses out the nervous system without developing long race specific sustainable energy adaptations. So then just run all of it at once.

So we did The Interval. A little different today. I wanted to measure how fast Jeff could run half a mile off 5:20 pace. We did 1.25 in 6:40 evenly paced, no more than 1 second off at any point. Having a mark every 100 meters really helps. Benjamin rode along with us for that part. Then Jeff just floored it and I tried to hang on. I fell back a bit before the quarter and finished it in 66 seconds, 7:46 for 1.5. I was happy with that. Jeff finished the last half mile in 2:10. I was pleasantly surprised. Definitely some food for thought.

I jogged until Benjamin caught up to me, then I felt very good after 200 meters of jogging, so to reduce Jeff's wait I picked up in the next 200 and ran it in 41 seconds. We ran a long and adventurous cool down, ran into Adam in the process, borrowed his cell phone, eventually reached Sarah, and she picked up Benjamin and Jenny, then we ran home.

More thoughts on The Interval. The original purpose was to teach Jeff to run his dream 5 K pace starting immediately with a high HR. But I think it has a pleasant side effect. You are running 5:20 pace thinking all the time that it is going to get faster. So subconsciously you try to conserve. But the triangle marks on the trail force you to keep the pace regardless. So you have only one choice - learn to run it more economically. I wonder if that is what happened to us, now 5:20 pace is easy enough for Jeff to run a half mile in 2:10, and for me to run a quarter in 66 after 1.25. If so, this idea deserves quite a bit of attention. The number one reason to do tempo runs is to learn to run economically at race pace. We do not do those for aerobic development. They are too short. The focus is neurological adaptations.

So maybe something like this for a tempo run. A mile and a quarter half-marathon pace, then a quarter really fast, then a quarter at marathon pace to recover, then back to half marathon pace for a mile, another quarter hard, then a quarter at marathon pace to recover, then keep repeating the cycle until you cannot do the hard quarter more than 5 seconds faster than the half-marathon pace. This way you learn to be economical at long race paces, get some speed in the legs, learn to surge, and learn to kick. It needs to be continuous, though. Jogging in between is good for a top-end leg power workout, but not for building long race stamina.

A 200 meter jog in between long intervals in essence is a lip service to the gods of interval training,  or another words an attempt to sit on two chairs at once. It will work for building 5 K and longer race stamina better than a longer jog, but the most effective is to do one long interval with strategically varying pace, the pace never being slower than marathon race pace.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:46, Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:14. 2 with Benjamin in 17:41.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Mary Ann, Matt, and Ben Crozier. Needless to say we had live entertainment the entire run. Matt went his own way at around 6.25, dropped Ben and Mary Ann off at 7.75, then Jeff and I finished 10. With a quarter to go I saw that 6:00 would give me 1:20:00, so we ran that and finished in 1:20:00.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:54, Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:18, then 2 with Benjamin in 17:12.

A.M. Provo City Half, 1:15:29, 5th place.

Warmed up 3.3 to the race, some of it with Seth Wold. He was running the 5 K, but that did not make things much easier in the half.

Coming into the race I expected to have very minimal chances for prize money. On one hand I am still not 100% recovered from the ear infection. On the other hand the economic decline is pushing more runners to race for money, so the races are more competitive.

Some race directors use the phrase "a chance to win" in reference to prize money. I just have to take a jab at that, too tempting to pass it by. Read my lips, there is no chance unless you are very very fit. And once you are, it is not a chance, it is a certainty. The race is 95% decided before it starts. This should be obvious, but many people still do not quite get it.

When a runner is perpetually out of shape, he once in a while experiences "miraculous" breakthroughs, gets 10-20 minute PRs, and beats people that he could never beat. Because of those experiences he thinks he might have a chance. But a consistent runner knows better, or at least should know better. If you've seen no signs of better fitness in training, it is very unlikely that they will magically appear in a race. If they do, usually no miracle happened. The runner or his coach just do not quite know how to read the training.

I say "usually" because I believe Moroni 7:35 "...has the day of miracles ceased?" Miracles do happen today. I have seen a few. But they do not happen on a whim. God has to have a purpose to make it happen. We have to have the faith to back up the purpose. We have to understand the purpose and be sufficiently humble in asking for it. When it comes to running, it would serve us well to understand the natural laws behind running fast and follow them first before asking for a miracle that will allow us to run faster than what we have currently earned through training. Even when the result fits with His plan, God rarely intervenes with His powers until we have exhausted our abilities.

So at the start we had Jeff, Nick, and Shin, plus there was a rumor of Mike Vick, so I was not wrong in my expectations. They say there is more than one way to skin a cat. Today I was going to be the cat to be skinned, and I had a choice on the method. I could run evenly paced, run 1:14, and get nothing. Or I could go out hard until failure, then coast in, run 1:15, and still get nothing. I chose the latter because I wanted a better view of the leaders.

The weather was not great, but could have been worse. My slowest mile was 6:02 into a headwind. Not sure how this compares with last year. Headwind is very deceptive. Hard gusts are fairly harmless compared to a fairly mild but steady blowing. Direct headwind is much worse than cross-wind, but it is hard to tell which one you are getting and when. The only way to judge the conditions is empirically by comparing performances, but we do have a curve ball there. Jeff is in better shape and ran tactically, Nick has not run a long race in a while, Shin ran a marathon 2 weeks ago, Mike has not run a long race in a while, and started late in this race, who knows what kind of shape I am in, and Mary Ann is in better shape.  The only thing I can say that the conditions did not make the race faster.

Iain Hunter came to be a volunteer rabbit for the first few miles. The first mile marker came in 5:00, and the consensus was that it was short. Iain's GPS said 5:09, Mary Ann's GPS said the mile marker was 7 seconds too short. I can believe 5:07-5:09 based on the effort. 2 miles came in 10:22, and the marker was painted on the road, so I believe it. At that point, we had Iain pacing, then Nick, Jeff, and Shin. I thought the finish order would be Jeff, Nick, Shin, and me. I was not aware that Mike was actually in the race.

12:00 into the race my legs started getting tired even though my breathing was fine, the realization of the misery of running hard 10 miles after racing a 5 K began to enter my mind, and I decided 10:22 for 2 miles was good for today. So I backed off. So did Iain. I asked him to pace me, and he did. 3 miles in 15:59, 15:53 for the leaders. They backed off as well as the headwind began to pick up.

At this point I was done with the speed portion of my workout and now I had three purposes of running further: a) flash the blog shirt at the finish b) get in a long tempo and c) retrieve my clothes that were in Seth's car.

Iain bailed out at 4 miles (22:41), then I coasted through a mile in 5:59 into a headwind, 27:40 at 4. Then 5.5 the rumor of Mike materialized. Turned out he had started late. I decided one more interval would be good to do my legs in. So I followed him. He was going about 5:20 into a headwind. I made it with him to 6 miles in 33:21 and my legs said, no, time for a break. So I slowed down to 6:00. Mike just kept going. At this point I knew the correct finish order: Jeff, Nick, Mike, Shin, then me. Poor Shin, I thought, hard race, no money. But he is OK, he owns a company in Orem, he can handle that.

The rest of the race was rather uneventful. I did a 6:02 mile into a strong headwind, and after that ran slightly sub-6:00. Tried to pick up at the end, but the legs were tired from the "intervals" earlier.

Jeff gave Nick a surprise in the last mile. Surprise for Nick, that is, but we already knew that Jeff had that surprise in him from his training. 5:03 turning it on only about a quarter into it. 20 second gap in less than one mile. Jeff, as humble as he is, asked me if that mile was maybe short. I told him, no, the marks were painted, I ran it in 5:51, Nick ran it around 5:20, it was correct.

1:10:38 for Jeff, new course record, $350 cash plus a watch of supposedly high value, but in practice difficult to sell, maybe that is why it is being given as a prize, the jewelry store gets some advertising in exchange for unwanted merchandise. Plus a dinner for two for the course record, an impromptu bonus from the race director. Not bad for running the race tactically as proven in the last mile. Then Nick 1:10:58 ($100), Mike 1:12:04($50) gun time, who knows what would have happened had he started on time, but starting on time is part of the race rules. Then Shin 1:13:00 ($0), and me 1:15:29 ($0).

1:19:51 for Mary Ann, new course record by almost 2 minutes, she lived up to her last name again pouring a shower of hammers on her competition and winning the race by almost 12 minutes.

Both Jeff and Mary Ann PR'ed in the cash department winning more than they ever have in one race, and both needed that PR in this economy.

Even though I got outclassed from the money, I feel happy because Jeff and Mary Ann did so well. This year I am learning how to be equally happy about the success of my training partners as if it were my own.

We hurried to get Jeff's award, then found Seth, got my clothes out of his car, then cooled down 1.3 to my house barely in time for the General Conference.

P.M. Busy afternoon and evening, went to the Conference Center to do the backup for the Russian translation. Then Priesthood session in the evening. So kids ran around the block, Benjamin 2.1 in 15:42, Jenny ran 2 miles with Sarah,  Julia 1.05 miles.

Day of rest. Watched General Conference. Really liked the talk by President Uchtdorf.

A.M. Easy run with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. 10.1 in 1:20:52. Did explosions.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:36, Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:21. 2 with Benjamin in 16:43. Then later during the family home evening played freeze tag with the kids, and chased Benjamin in a 200 as well. It was supposed to be a 100, so I gave him 1 second head start because I wanted to be there to time his PR if he got one. But the mark at the 100 was missing, so we went to 200. He did it in 38.8.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Mary Ann, Jeff, and Ben Crozier. Jeff slept in, so we met him on the trail. Ben was doing a goofy workout from Runner's World, and was too stubborn be talked into doing something more appropriate for his current condition. The workout was 9 quarters targeting a mysterious HR of 180 (how in the world do you hit any target HR in a quarter when it keeps climbing from start to finish?). I figured I'd keep him company to show where quarters start and end, take his splits, and gather up material for further discussion on the need for solid aerobic base before doing speed work. In the mean time, I could  shake out my legs a bit.

Ben did the quarters ranging from 85 to 93 depending on the terrain and his focus. I had to hold him back in the first 100, and then he faded in most of them in the last 100, except for the one when he really focused and hit an 85. So some clear indicators that quarters would be the wrong workout to do, leg power is way ahead of aerobic support, aerobic support development is primarily a function of the mileage, and is very little affected by how fast you are going once you reach a reasonable level of intensity (around 60%-70% of max HR). I just talked to him on the phone, his stubborness now has decreased.

Then Jeff and I ran The Interval. The plan today was for Jeff, 1.25 at 5:20, then 73 quarters to failure or to 2.5 total distance. For me, same, except once 73 quarter pace failure occurred, keep best pace to 2.5. Why? I feel something special happening to the muscles if I keep running hard after the pace failure.

We made it to 1.25 on schedule as usual, although a bit more erratically than normal - at one point we were 2 seconds ahead, and in a few spots 1 second behind. 5:20 pace felt hard at first, but then easier. Part of it was probably from erratic pacing, and I can really feel the difference between 5:12 and 5:20. Then I made it with Jeff through 600 in 1:50, and backed off. The failure was caused by legs caving as usual, except I was able to make it further than before. My 200 splits after that were 43, 43, 42, 42, 42, 40, 40. Total time for 2.5 was 13:22.7.

Towards the end I felt I was at the limit of my leg power, but was still going strong. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I thought for sure I'd slow down to slower than 6:00 for at least a quarter to recover, but I only needed an 86 (5:44 pace), and then I started to get progressively stronger.

Jeff did 72.5, 72.5, 76, 78, called that the final failure, then once I caught up to him he finished 2.5 with me. At first I thought this was residual fatigue from the half, which did not quite add up with how he was feeling right after the half. Then after some discussion we realized there was a bigger problem. Kimia's sister and her family has been visiting with them and that added some extra running around and threw off his sleeping schedule. Again we go back to the wisdom of classical Kenyan recovery - rest in bed, do not move if you do not have to, when you have to get milk  walk to the store at zombie pace. Shut your body down as much as you can. Strive for zombie status to the extent your circumstances permit. One reason Kenyans are fast is that they know how to be lazy.

Afterwards ran the cool down with Mary Ann, total distance was 10.2.

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann in 1:20:50. Did explosive sprints. Wore Five Fingers. Set a PR - no blister afterwards in spite of a fairly sizable hole. Five Fingers are great for anti-blister training. With proper approach it is possible to develop callouses such that you will never get another blister wearing racing flats. I think I am already there.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:38, 2 with Jenny in 19:21, Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:36.

A.M. 10.1 with Jeff and Mary Ann in 1:17:37.  Daniel slept in and ran later. Explosive sprints. Nature-forced 0.25 tempo pickup in 88 to catch up as well. Raining today, and Jeff was in a hurry to get to work. We were thinking about a 2 mile tempo at Jeff's marathon race pace, but decided to do it tomorrow.

I have good news and even better news. The good news is that I am done with my taxes. The better news is that I am getting a fairly big refund.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 17:41, Julia ran the first 1.5 in 13:31. 2 with Benjamin in 16:51.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Jeff and I did a bit of speed. Jeff ran only 2 miles at his marathon pace. I ran a little longer - 2.5. We went through the first mile in 5:29 followed by 5:30. Then I made an effort to pick it up, but not much happened. I did a quarter in 78 and my legs felt tired. I slowed down to 80 on the next one. 13:37.7 for 2.5. I felt like a couple of fast diagnostic/nervous system rebooting quarters. Did them in 73.4 and 72.8. In both I was slowing down a lot in the last 100 even though I did not feel I was breathing too hard. Some food for thought. Symptoms of insufficient sleep (good possibility, I did not feel like getting out of bed this morning, which indicates my body wanted for one reason or another more sleep than I was giving it), and/or low glycogen/blood sugar. When it is low, there is a negative feedback system that if it kicks in it can make you feel it even in a quarter repeat.

Total distance for the run was 10.2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:50, 2 with Jenny in 18:41. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:09. 1 mile setting up the race course.

A.M. Ran with Jeff and Mary Ann. Warmed up 1.3. Then paced Mary Ann through a long tempo on the 10 K race course. 6:20 pace to failure or to 30 K. Splits by 5 K:

20:03 - (slow start, we gave her an easy warm-up mile) - 19:47 (lost some time on the bottle pickup) - 19:53 (lost some time on the bottle, Mary Ann still does not know how to drink while running fast, also towards the end she started slowing down to 6:30, so I told her to stop at 15 K and jog back). Afterwards, I picked up the pace. 18:47 (that was all I could do) - 18:38 (figured out how to relax better) - 19:11 (fuel shortage/neural fatigue coming out).

Total time of 1:56:19 for 30 K,  6:14 average.

A couple of observatons. A whole lot of difference in the perceived muscular effort between 6:00 pace and anything faster between 15 K and 25 K. In the last 5 K that threshold moved to around 6:10. That threshold kept fluctuating, and did not always change in the slower direction as the run progressed. It had a lot to do with the art of relaxing.

Also, my first 15 K was done in 59:43, while the second in 56:36. I could not have gone any faster in the second. But I am very certain that if I had run the first one in 56:36, my second one would have been quite a bit faster than 59:43. Very possibly another 56:36.

So from that some ideas. We take a runner and have him race an all out marathon. Give enough time for recovery ,  and while in the same shape, he run a half 5-10 minutes slower than one half of his marathon time, and then a half all out. We call that "tired half" PR. Now Sasha Science Marathon Pacing theory. A marathon is properly paced when the first half is run at the fastest possible pace that still allows you to be within one minute of the tired half PR in the second half. Of course we assume equal terrain and condition for both halves which is never the case in any Utah marathon except maybe Ogden on a cool day.

This does can often mean a positive split depending on the runner. I suspect for a properly trained athlete the range is from 1 minute negative split to 5 minute positive split. For a less fit runner it could be as much as 10-15 minute positive split.

Afterwards paced Benjamin through a 5 K in 21:31. He took thrid place overall. Jenny won the mile with 8:00, Julia was second in 8:23. Jacob ran the 200 race in 1:34. Joseph did it in 1:22.

Day of rest. Went to church.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Today was the VPB day of the year. It began with a dream I had about running with a large group and trying to find a good VPB spot. Then about 0.8 miles into the run I had to stop. Again half a mile later. While catching the group I had to stop again. This reminded me of a misconfigured Apache web server error message when you go to a non-existent URL.  "Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request." It tries to find the file, does not find it, then it tries to serve the error page but it cannot find the error page either.

So finally I got going, ran 0.75 in 4:05 and caught the group. Only to stop 200 meters later. This time I decided to be smarter and run fast in increments to avoid shaking things up. Caught the group in about half a mile,  and then stopped a quarter later, finally for the last time.

Then it was Jeff's turn. He found a geo-cache during his stop. No need for a GPS, VPB does it. Now, combining the two acronyms and geocaching, true story, one time I lost a cell phone during a VPB and used a GPS to find it.

Total time for 10.1 was 1:16:50.

And, of course, we could not do without a picture. A few days ago we ran out of toilet paper, so Benjamin and I ran to get it with Jacob in the stroller:

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:47. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:06. 2 with Benjamin in 16:41.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, Mary Ann, and her friend Cindy. Cindy ran 2 miles with us and turned around. Jeff and I ran a mild version of The Interval. He got it easy because he is tapering for the marathon. I figured I should take it easy as well because of yesterday's stomach problems, and a feeling in the body that too much stress would not be good for it. But I felt I could handle a little bit. Mary Ann was excused from The Interval altogether due to leg tightness and the residual fatigue from Saturday.

The plan was  to run 1.25 starting  at 80 per quarter and gradually speeding up after 1000. That is, for Jeff. For me, try to hang on with him to failure, then finish with a measure of dignity. So we did 80 - 78 - 77 - then on this quarter I lost contact with Jeff but still did 73, and then struggled through the last one in 78, but was still happy with the result - 6:26.0.  Jeff finished in 6:16.

We jogged back a bit to Daniel and Mary Ann, joined them, then chased down a girl ahead of us, and she joined us. Her name was Kristy. She ran with us for a few miles. I like tests, and meeting a new person provided an opportunity for one. So I asked her how old she thought I was and how many children she thought I had. At first she was surprised that I had children, but even with that hint, she gave the correct age of 28 and the correct number of children (2) for year 2001. Then we recounted Jeff's incident of being asked to home coming by a high school girl. Running can help you stay young.

Dropped Jeff off at 8.1 miles then ran 2 more with Daniel and Mary Ann. Total distance was 10.1.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:16. Julia ran the first 1.5 miles in 13:45. 2 with Benjamin in 15:27. He ran the last mile in 6:36.

A.M. What an eventful week! Monday was the VPB day. Tuesday was the Meet New People day. Today was the Police Day. Ben Crozier called at 6:48 AM to report that he got pulled over by a state trooper and he was not sure if he was going to be able to make it to run with us. I called him back half an hour later and he did not answer his cell phone. We assumed he got arrested and so we went without him.

Ran with Cindy, Jeff, Mary Ann, Daniel, and Matt. Cindy turned around at 2 miles. Then we all turned around at 3 because Jeff was gonig only 6. I did a quarter in 82  post-VPB. Dropped Jeff off at 6 and called Ben again because I wanted to know how big his ticket was. Turned out his car got impounded for expired registration, and the trooper left him on the road in the rain in shorts. So he ran to the Provo City Office building and tried to plead his case. Needless to say unsuccessfully. So we told him to run from there to our house while Daniel, Mary Ann and I went for another 2 miles. I did explosive sprints.

Then we came back, dropped off Daniel, and picked up Ben. Ben warmed up 0.5, ran a 3 mile tempo in 22:00, then cooled down 0.5. I ran with him. Mary Ann turned around a mile into it to make it 10. I ended up with 12 for the run. Afterwards I gave Ben a ride home.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 19:27. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:42. 2 with Benjamin in 16:55.

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Jeff, and Mary Ann. We got some snow. The trail had a few fallen branches and trees. Jeff did only 4 because he is running the marathon. Daniel and Mary Ann did 8. I ran 10. Total time was 1:25:41.

P.M. Went to SLC with the family to pick up the race packet, go to the Church Art and History Musium, and visit the NPS store. Ran about 0.5 retrieving the car from a remote parking spot. Later ran 2 with Benjamin in 16:41, and 2 with Jenny in 18:41. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:30.

A.M. 8 with Daniel in 1:05:03, then 2 more with Benjamin in 15:31.

P.M. 2 with Jenny, Julia ran the first 1.5. Do not remember the times, but it was around 9:30 pace average.

A.M. SLC Half, 1:11:23, 6th place.

Ran a warm-up with Jeff. Ran into Julie Thomas. Found out she has 6 kids now. So that raises the fertility rate of the top 3 in St. George last year to 3 children per woman (assuming Christina does not have children),  which is 1.1 higher than the national rate, and 0.8 higher than the Utah rate. To make Julie's accomplishment more remarkable, she raced St. George with her baby being only 6 months old. 150 years ago tough women crossed the plains while bearing children. 150 years later their equally tough descendants run fast marathons in between bearing children.

The plan was to hang out with Jeff, Seth, and the Kenyans regardless of the pace, and then do the best I could once the marathon and the half split. So I was up for a surprise. I could be running a survival race, or a negative split race, or anything in between. And in all honesty I did not care, when there is no chance for prize money I am happy to be a participating spectator and do not mind running a minute slower by running somebody else's race.

Today, however, being a participating spectator helped me run better. Details to follow, mile by mile:

Mile 1: 5:21. Teren and Alexander Thomas in the lead of the half far ahead, Nate Hornok trying to hang on with them, James Moore (Fiddy) out there between them and us. I am with the lead pack of marathoners which includes Jeff, Seth, evenutal winner Joseph Mutinda (2:13:19 PR on March 1, 2009), Moses Kororia (28:05 10 K, 1:01:49 half in Nairobi, 2:12:04 PR in Dallas in 2006, since then not so hot in the marathon (2:15-2:17), which I suppose why he was here instead of Country Music), and Ezekiel Ruto, the Top of Utah winner of last year. BJ Cristenson, who was supposedly out of shape (is he ever really in shape?) and told us he was going to run 1:15, and Jason Shoenfield. I believe we saw Fritz there for a little bit as well. Others in the pack I did not recongize.

This mile was downhill, but even still it felt so easy that even with the downhill adjustment I questioned its length. However, there was a red mark on the road, and Seth's Garmin beeped right there. So I was willing to believe it was right.

Mile 2 - 5:33 (10:54). A little down and about the same amount up. Felt harder, believable, but still not straining myself.

Mile 3 - 5:23 (16:17). Downhill. Felt too easy, like I was slacking. Started feeling antsy to go, but decided to stay true to the original plan.

Mile 4 - 5:15 (21:32). Downhill. This was the most educational mile of the race. I pulled alongside Moses and a thought occurred to me to try to follow his rhythm stride for stride. I tried and succeeded, it felt right, and the pace started to feel a lot easier. I have had those experiences before, and consider them significant. They do not happen very often. It is possible to borrow somebody's better rhythm. You need to be going the right pace, and you need to have the right rhythm instructor. Two requirements - he needs to have a good rhythm period, and that rhythm also must be within the optimal range for your body type. Chances of it happening are very rare, but I've raced enough to have it happen. So far the following runners in addition to Moses have been able to feed me the rhythm: Craig Lawson, Nick McCombs, and  Hobbie Call. Now that I am thinking of this I could possibly add Mike Dudley and Lewis Jones. There may have been more cases when I was not aware. I'll discuss the concept of rhythm on the forum later.

Mile 5 - 5:32 (27:04). Slight uphill. During this mile the half and the full split. I ended up with BJ and Jason. Jason and I contended for the coveted spot right behind BJ. If you've ever seen BJ you would know why. 6'6 tall and a solid frame to support the height. Felt a lot harder. I tried to remember the rhythm I had borrowed from Moses earlier.

Mile 6 - 5:15 (32:19). Appeared flat. Even though BJ pushed the pace, and the mark was painted on the road, I was quite sure the mile was short. I was expecting the next one to be long. Around this time we caught James.

Mile 7 - 5:11 (37:30). Slight downhill. Also painted on the road. I suppose mile 6 was not short after all. That cheered me up quite a bit, which I needed because BJ kept pressing the pace, and I was hanging on for dear life.

Mile 8 - 5:16 (42:46). Slight downhill. Eventful mile. First Jason fell back as BJ kept pressing the pace. I stayed with BJ but quickly got miserable enough to drop back as well. Jason caught me but I was able to latch on. A little bit of downhill relieved my leg strain and I was able to relax and find a good rhythm again.

Mile 9 - 5:21 (48:07). Very slight down if any. Still with Jason, and BJ is not moving away from us. In fact, maybe we even closed a second or two. Feeling a good rhythm.

Mile 10 -  5:34 (53:41). Flat. Jason surged and dropped me. Lost the rhythm, trying to survive. Legs are starting to cave.

Mile 11 - 5:37 (59:18). Slight down. Trying to find the rhythm, legs caving, but still strong in the 5:40 range.

Miles 12 and 13: 11:35, probably around 6:00 for 12 (uphill), and 5:35 for 13 (up for about 0.1 then down). I am basing the breakdown off James' split of 5:59 for mile 12 along with him saying he was keeping the distance neither gaining or falling back. When I realized how far uphill we had to go, I started doing disaster calculations of what time 19:00 for the last 5 K would give me. 1:12:41, still respectable. Fortunately it was not that bad, last 5 K was 17:42, almost as fast as I was racing flat 5 Ks at the beginning of the year, at least in the same minutes. Felt stronger on the uphill than I anticipated I would when I saw it at mile 11. There was a surprise of a different kind. There was a wall of 5 K walkers, that was expected. What I did not expect is a wall of slow moving bikers from the bike tour. Then on the downhill the bikers started passing me back.

Kick: 30 seconds. Was surprised that I had some kick in me.

Finish: Alexander Thomas 1:06:22, Teren  1:07:09, Nate 1:09:15, BJ 1:10:38, Jason 1:10:43, me 1:11:23, James 1:11:37.

Afterwards ran with James back to Jeff. Did not quite make it to Liberty Park before we saw Joseph Mutinda. We stopped immediately and timed him at the spot a little after mile 23. 2:01:23. I figured he was headed for around 2:17 and commented that the economy must be really bad if $2500 with a possibility of not being paid for a year produces 2:17 on this course. Moses Kororia 2:03:05, Seth 2:07:23, Ezekiel Ruto 2:07:55. Finally Jeff 2:13:05. We ran with him back to the end. He was out of fuel badly. He does not run well on fats. So only about 7:30 pace on fats, that is what kills him. When he runs 5:30, there is pleny of leg power, and there is plenty of aerobic support, but he is burning carbs like a semi because his fat base pace is only 7:30. One advantage of bonking in the marathon is that you find out your fat base pace. For a comparison, mine is 7:00. On the positive side, in St. George his fat base pace was 8:15, so there is a substantial improvement.

So Jeff finished in 5th with 2:35:07, $100, first marathon prize money (not counting St. George age division appearance fees), first W-9, first running-related media experience. His interview was hillarious - he showed KSL his check which he said he was in a hurry to cash.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:50, Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:35.

Day of rest. Went to church.

A.M. Ran with Ted, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Ted ran 6. Daniel ran 8. Mary Ann ran 10, but only the first mile with us. Total time 1:12:57.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:55. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:37.

A.M. Ran with Ted, Jeff, and Daniel. They ran easy. I did The Interval. Decided 2 miles would be good with the first 1.25 in 6:40 and then try to keep a faster pace. Cut it short if not feeling good, was not expecting to feel that good today. However, I ended up feeling better than I thought. So I ran the first 1.25 on target, then 77, 79, 78. 10:34.2 for 2 miles, last mile in 5:14. Then I started jogging back. Did not see them. Figured they had turned around, decided to try to catch them. Ran a mile in 5:21, my legs were getting tired, and they were still not in sight. Figured they turned around early. So just jogged back to the house. Found them, turned out they just ran faster than I expected them. Ran the last 3.25 with Daniel.

Was not completely unhappy with how 5:20 pace felt today, was happy with the intensity of breathing and the heart involvement, this means the nervous system did well.  But I was not quite satisfied. Too tense, hard to find the rhythm. Maybe what I should do is practice running a slower pace and learn a good rhythm. Then try to speed up to 5:20 without losing the rhythm. Then if I feel it is going away, slow down and try to regain it. That's an idea for Thursday workout - good rhythm tempo run. No time goals, 6:00 pace is good if it is the fastest pace that can be done with good rhythm.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:07. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:44. Then Jenny ran the last 0.5 in 3:23. 2 with Benjamin in 16:45 with a 1:25 quarter in the middle.

A.M. Ran with Ted, Jeff, and Daniel. Towards the end of 6 miles ran into Ben Crozier. Ran more with him and Daniel. Ben did 2x1 mile first on a slight uphill in 6:53, then coming back after some rest in 6:30. Then ran the cooldown with Ben to his car and back. Total distance was 11.1, time 1:27:36.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 19:15, Julia ran the first 1.5 in 14:45. 2 with Benjamin in 16:11. 200 with Jacob in 1:29. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:37.

A.M. Warmed up with Ted and Jeff, then ran on my own. Did The Good Rhythm Tempo. The idea is to run relaxed, focus on the rhythm and feeling smooth, observe the pace, but not try to hit any particular targets. If running sub-6:00 creates a strain, then we run 6:00 and no faster.

Distance: 5 miles on my standard course. Splits: 5:45, 5:43, 5:44 (14:19 at 2.5), 5:44, 5:28. Total time 28:24.6.

Subjective/Descriptive: Felt relaxed at 5:44 pace, barely breathing, but felt that going faster would create a muscular strain that would make it difficult to practice efficient rhythm. In the last mile decided to press harder. Thought that as much as my legs fought going faster than 5:44 that I should expect about 5:35 out of the last mile given that it is 5-7 seconds slower than flat. I was surprised with a 5:28. Was breathing a lot harder and had to focus a lot more, but at least I had the ability. Felt that after practicing good rhythm for 4 miles at a slower pace/lower muscular effort the faster pace/higher muscular effort was not breaking my rhythm too bad. In fact, I felt that I owed that 7 second gain to the rhythm.

Thoughts: I have said before that I felt the lactate level is as much of a red herring as the intensity of breathing. To say you slowed down because the lactate levels were too high makes as much sense as to say you slowed down because you were breathing too hard, or even more plainly - because you reached the pace that you could not sustain. Which in essence says nothing - could not run fast because could not run fast. Rhythm is a different story. I am willing to believe that a runner could slow down a lot because he lost his rhythm. In other words, he started working against himself expending more effort while running slower.

Once the aerobic capacity is present, the focus should be on rhythm. You need to do whatever it takes to learn a good rhythm, know the best rhythm for your body and the race you are running, be able to kick into it from the gun, be able to find it quickly after a surge, a water stop, or a hill. Have an uphill rhythm, a downhill rhythm, a flat rhythm, a headwind rhythm, a tailwind rhythm, and a roller rhythm at your fingertips. Good rhythm means the muscles that should relax do relax when they should, and the ones that should contract contract when they should. It is all about timing. Ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta. It gives maximum forward thrust with minimum energy expenditure. In a marathon good rhythm could make a quite a difference - pushing the wall away by 3 miles can easily produce a 5 minute improvement or more. Rhythm is critical.

Afterwards ran 2 with Jenny in 17:47, 1.5 with Julia in 15:26, and 2 with Benjamin in 16:59.