Breaking the Wall

Law Days 5 K

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Location:

Orem,UT,United States

Member Since:

Jan 27, 1986

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

Best marathon: 2:23:57 (2007, St. George). Won the Top of Utah Marathon twice (2003,2004). Won the USATF LDR circuit in Utah in 2006.

Draper Days 5 K 15:37 (2004)

Did not know this until June 2012, but it turned out that I've been running with spina bifida occulta in L-4 vertebra my entire life, which explains the odd looking form, struggles with the top end speed, and the poor running economy (cannot break 16:00 in 5 K without pushing the VO2 max past 75).  

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for the US Olympic Trials. With the standard of 2:19 on courses with the elevation drop not exceeding 450 feet this is impossible unless I find an uncanny way to compensate for the L-4 defect with my muscles. But I believe in miracles.

Long-Term Running Goals:

2:08 in the marathon. Become a world-class marathoner. This is impossible unless I find a way to fill the hole in L-4 and make it act healthy either by growing the bone or by inserting something artificial that is as good as the bone without breaking anything important around it. Science does not know how to do that yet, so it will take a miracle. But I believe in miracles.

Personal:

I was born in 1973. Grew up in Moscow, Russia. Started running in 1984 and so far have never missed more than 3 consecutive days. Joined the LDS Church in 1992, and came to Provo, Utah in 1993 to attend BYU. Served an LDS mission from 1994-96 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Got married soon after I got back. My wife Sarah and I are parents of eleven children: Benjamin, Jenny, Julia, Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, Matthew,  Mary,  Bella.  and Leigha. We home school our children.

I am a software engineer/computer programmer/hacker whatever you want to call it, and I am currently working for RedX. Aside from the Fast Running Blog, I have another project to create a device that is a good friend for a fast runner. I called it Fast Running Friend.

Favorite Quote:

...if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie

 

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 2934.20
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles: 640.15
Bare Feet Lifetime Miles: 450.37
Nike Double Stroller Lifetime Miles: 124.59
Brown Crocs 4 Lifetime Miles: 1334.06
Amoji 1 Lifetime Miles: 732.60
Amoji 2 Lifetime Miles: 436.69
Amoji 3 Lifetime Miles: 380.67
Lopsie Sports Sandals Lifetime Miles: 818.02
Lopsie Sports Sandals 2 Lifetime Miles: 637.27
Iprome Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles: 346.18
Beslip Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles: 488.26
Joybees 1 Lifetime Miles: 1035.60
Madctoc Clogs Lifetime Miles: 698.29
Blue Crocs Lifetime Miles: 1164.32
Kimisant Black Clogs Lifetime Miles: 720.62
Black Crocs 2023 Lifetime Miles: 1743.12
White Slip Resistant Crocs Lifetime Miles: 759.93
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3825.24298.62130.70122.794377.35
Water Clogs Miles: 8.25Airwalk Clogs Miles: 54.00Water Clogs 2 Miles: 278.35Water Clogs 3 Miles: 506.42Eva Clogs Army Miles: 496.75Eva Clogs Black Miles: 311.90Eva Clugs Blue Miles: 33.21Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 451.80Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 323.93Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 1553.37Bare Feet Miles: 1.00Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 208.20
Night Sleep Time: 2476.33Nap Time: 73.50Total Sleep Time: 2549.83
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.250.000.500.2012.95

A.M. 10.2 in 1:11:59. If you told me I'd be able to run this fast after feeling the trail with my feet but without looking at my splits I would have laughed. But somehow low 7:00 and later even 6:40, occasionally sub-6:40 started happening in spite of the slippage. Did a pickup to test if my recent attempts to massage out the scar tissue and other garbage in the right pectineus muscle did any good. The form felt smoother, the right glut was engaging better, but no miracle smoothness yet. Not surprising, easy come, easy go, it will take a lot of learning and then a lot of work to apply that learning to undo the damage that was done 23 years ago.

I spent the last ten years trying to find the culprit that makes me run funny. I think I've finally found it. At least I feel like the pieces of the puzzle are securely together, and I have an explanation I am content with for everything that happened and everything I've felt over the course of my running career. The culprit is the damaged right pectineus. Everything else is a consequence. 

Jenny ran with Sarah. 

Drove to SLC later in the morning to visit with Sarah's family. On the way there around 106th South on I-15 all of a sudden Sarah starts telling me that somebody she does not recognize is trying to say hi to us. She rolled down the window and had a brief conversation with the driver of a mini-van. I looked briefly, but then turned my eyes towards the road. I have only one working eye, so I really cannot look aside too much or I'll crash the car. The van had Colorado license plates. From that and Sarah's description of the people in the van I figured it was Nan and Aaron. This turned out to be correct. Aaron posted a comment in my blog confirming the encounter. Small world.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:13. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 13:38.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:56.

Water Clogs Miles: 2.75Airwalk Clogs Miles: 10.20
Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From Nan Kennard on Fri, Jan 01, 2010 at 23:56:43 from 67.166.117.14

Yeah, what were the odds of that!?! We saw your logo on the back of the van and immediatly knew it was you. Happy New Year!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.955.000.000.0015.95

A.M. Ran 13.2 in 1:27:29 on the Uneventful Half course. The trail had good parts, and not so good. Still slippery almost everywhere to some extent. Did some pickups, some of them timed and measured. Of the ones timed and measured -  1.5 in 8:41, considered going 2.5, but the quads were tensing up, and I was approaching an area with more snow and ice, so I figured 1.5 was good. Then did about 0.7 hitting 1 K in 3:39 up a small grade and with some ice. Ran the last 1.5 in 8:59. Had some obstacles on that stretch. Two bridges where I had to slow down, on one I hit a 100 in 28 (7:32 pace), some snow drifts, and the last 0.14 on our street where I had to slow down to 6:40. Was pleasantly surprised when I saw with a quarter to go that I miscalculated my finish time projection, and that it was going to be a minute faster.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:42. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:30. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 3:00. 

 

Airwalk Clogs Miles: 13.20
Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From Eric Day on Sun, Jan 03, 2010 at 14:32:32 from 189.169.171.219

Feliz Año Nuevo, mis mejores deseos para ti y tu familia.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. This was the first Sunday of the month, so we had a Fast and Testimony meeting. We fast once a month, and then donate at least the amount we saved by not eating or possibly more as a fast offering. That money is used only for helping the poor. Tithing, which is 10% of our income, on the other hand, is used to support and expand church operations such as build and maintain chapels and temples. The clergy does not get paid.

The Elder's Quorum lesson was again on a General Conference talk. This time Elder Scott's from the October conference. He talked about how to hear the voice the Lord, and the blessings we receive when we intently listen and follow. 

Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.700.003.250.0012.95

A.M. 10.2 in 1:07:46. It was cold, 14 F, but I felt good and wanted to run fast. So after about 1.4 warm-up, I decided I would run fast until I was tired, hit too much snow/ice, or until I got to 2.5 miles of fast running. I was going to play it by ear on the pace, but I did want to monitor it.

I ended up doing 87-85-85-86(5:43)-84-84-86-85(5:39,11:22)-85-81 (14:08 for 2.5). All quarters 86 and slower were on the areas with more snow/ice. The road otherwise was decent, and I did not feel a whole lot of traction problems. However, when I pushed into the 84 quarter range (5:36 pace) I started feeling that the air I was breathing in was too cold. So I remembered a recent post on the blog about cold air at

http://fryrunner.fastrunningblog.com/blog-01-01-2010.html

That gave me some food for thought. I do not think it would be too inaccurate to say that for a runner to start feeling breathing problems in 14 F he needs to work as hard as I do at 5:40 pace. While that pace is sustainable for me for a while, it is very stressful. It would be a disaster for me to train at that pace all the time.

There is an adjustment that would need to be made in the comparison, though. The misery at 5:40 for me comes from the nervous system overload, and not so much from the aerobic stress. So perhaps a less aerobically developed runner would not overtrain as quickly breathing as hard as I do at that pace on his runs. But he would still overtrain unless he cuts his mileage a lot. And if he does, his aerobic development would not happen.

Jogged about half a mile to recover from the effort,  then gradually picked up the pace, and was running around 6:40 in about 2 miles without having to force it. That was a positive for me, good indication for the nervous system condition. Normally I want to run no faster than 7:30 for at least 4 miles after a similar effort. 

Was feeling energetic with 0.75 to go and decided to run it fast. Did 86-92-86 to finish the segment in 4:26. The reason for 92 was having to navigate around snow drifts on a slippery road. The last quarter also had some ice. 

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:01. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:51. A little dog helped us with the pace early on, and then Julia stayed excited and maintained a faster than normal pace for the rest of the run. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:45.

Water Clogs Miles: 2.75Airwalk Clogs Miles: 10.20
Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.200.750.000.0012.95

A.M. 10.2 with Jeff in 1:13:08. We started out slow as usual for this time of day, and dragged through the first 4 miles or so averaging slower than 8:00. Then we realized Jeff would be late for work, and picked up the pace eventually to sub-6:40. A couple of times we picked up to 6:00. First time to buy some time for my VPB, and second time at the end just because.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:23. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:06. We picked it up in the last quarter and ran it in 1:30. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:16. He was on the move today. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:35.

A couple of weeks ago I asked the children a test question. Do fast runners run Stomp-Stomp or Woosh-Woosh? They all independently gave the correct answer without having to think (Woosh-Woosh). Then I tested their non-running cousins to see if maybe the answer was too obvious for anybody, and they struggled to understand what I was talking about.

Water Clogs Miles: 2.75Airwalk Clogs Miles: 10.20
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.200.750.000.0012.95

A.M. 10.2 in 1:13:32. Ran the last 0.75 in 4:25.

P.M. Got my new Water Clogs. My Airwalk Clogs are actually in great shape after 700+ miles, except for slight wear patterns. I have been working on loosening up my right pectineus, and the recommendation in the Myofascial Release Manual was to get new shoes to facilitate the process of reprogramming the gait. So I plan to get a new pair of clogs every month or so for the next year. Fortunately you can get Water Clogs at Target online for $8.99. This time I got a smaller size so they would not fall off at higher speeds. 

 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:28. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:15. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:29. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:35. 

Airwalk Clogs Miles: 10.20Water Clogs 2 Miles: 2.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Dragonvulture on Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 18:35:24 from 65.44.116.4

Have you looked at "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" It has some info on treating the Pectineus yourself. I have recently been using the workbook as well as a co-worker to work through some nagging leg pains.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.251.250.000.0014.50

A.M. Ran 10.25 in 1:19:49. Met Jeff on the trail. After about 8 miles we did a 0.75 pickup in 4:21 up about 0.5-1% grade along the river from the 500 N bridge to 800 N bridge. There was hardly any snow on the trail.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin. We took advantage of decent weather and ran a mile time trial. The goal was to try to break 6:00. We went through the quarter in 1:29, then 1:51 at 500. Then Benjamin started to fade. I kept the 6:00 pace to encourage him, and went through 0.5 in 2:59. But he was falling behind, so I stopped and waited. We hit 0.75 in 4:46. I yelled at him not to give up and do a good job in the last quarter. He regrouped some and ran a 1:34 closing quarter to finish in 6:20.

I think the barrier for him is mental. He does not yet fully believe that he can maintain 6:00 pace for the whole mile, so when it start to hurt he starts sandbagging. We discussed ways to try to break it. One idea is to open with an 85 quarter, which will make it hurt so bad that slowing down to 90 will appear like a jog. He liked the idea, so we might try it in a week if the weather permits.

1.5 with Julia in 12:57. We saw the BYU team. I told them they were fast. She asked me if they could run a one minute mile. I explained to her that one minute mile cannot currently be done on foot by a human.

0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:52. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 14.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From seeaprilrun on Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 21:59:58 from 68.103.250.39

I totally agree with your assessment of Benjamin's mental hang up. I think the fast opening will work well for him.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.950.000.000.0012.95

A.M. 10.2 with Jeff in 1:13:41. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:17. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:14. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:25. That was a record for him.

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.95
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.855.000.000.0017.85

A.M. Long(er) run with Jeff. 15.1 in in 1:48:01. Did a tempo on the Fast Running Blog 5 Miler course. Total time 29:32. Splits - 5:53 - 5:56 - half in 14:49 - 5:58 - 5:56 - 5:49 - second half in 14:43. The original plan was to tempo for 10 miles, but Jeff was still sick. The trail was decent. Some snow/ice patches, but mostly clear. However, it was rather cold - 18 F. I tried taking my hat off once we started going fast, but it did not feel good, so I put it back on.  The pace felt OK, sustainable for 10 without a heroic effort. I think I am starting to get back into shape some.

Immediately afterwards ran with the kids. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35, 2 with Jenny and Benjamin in 16:59. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:02. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:35. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 17.85
Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church.  The talks in the Sacrament meeting were on being spiritually clean. I had some thoughts following those talks. At the start of 3 Nephi 11 when Christ appears to the Nephites they hear a voice three times before they can even understand what it is saying. The voice is described as a voice a perfect mildness. That kind of voice cannot be heard or understood in noisy surroundings. Spiritually noisy that is. Feelings of anger, envy, hatred, selfishness, lust, etc are a source of that noise. For that reason I refuse to listen to certain types of music or watch certain movies. Not just because the Church says you should not. I know what it does to my ability to hear that voice of perfect mildness. It is difficult enough already to hear it, I am struggling as it is. I do not need to surround myself with things that make it more difficult.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Papa Bravo on Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 16:42:46 from 151.151.73.166

Amen.

My wife and I were going to go watch a movie Friday and decided we would go out cross country skiing in the mountains instead and I am so glad I did. It felt so good to get away from the influences of the "world" and get out in the nature God made for us.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.604.251.000.0012.85

A.M. Ran with Jeff. 10.1 total. We did another tempo on the Fast Running Blog 5 Miler course. The way I saw it was to finish the 5 miles we did not finish on Saturday. My total time was 29:06. Jeff kicked and dropped me with 200 to go and his time was 29:03. The splits were 5:56 - 5:49 - 5:52 - 5:51 - 5:38. The last five quarters 85-87-84-83-84. 

The temperature was 16 F and it was foggy. The trail conditions were similar to Saturday - mostly dry, occasional snow/ice segments.

I was happy to see that my last 4 miles of the tempo were done in 23:10, which is only 5 seconds slower than my race time for 4 miles in November, but sure with a whole lot less effort even though my quads started feeling strained a bit between 3 and 4 miles, and then caved in the last 200. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:30. Last quarter in 91. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:16. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:39. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:33. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From MichelleL on Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 15:20:23 from 207.224.200.8

Nice job Sasha, esp last mile.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.350.000.000.5012.85

A.M. 10.1 alone (Jeff slept in) in 1:19:21. Did some 100 meter strides. Timed a 200 in 35.7. Felt strong, but clumsy. Legs felt like untrue wheels of a bike. Found Jenny and Sarah with about 0.4 to go. Jenny ran the last 0.4 with me. We timed a quarter in 1:46. Jenny ran a total of 2.5.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:53. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:07. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:35. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.950.000.000.0012.95

A.M. 10.2 with Jeff in 1:19:58. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:23. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:18. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:43. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:44. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.95
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.200.000.000.0012.20

A.M. 10.2 with Jeff in 1:19:56. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:27. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:04. Jacob and Joseph did not run due to sore throat and cough. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.20
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.200.000.000.2512.45

A.M. 10.2 with Jeff in 1:17:56. Did a quarter pickup in 71.6. It felt good, better than I expected. I was pleased with that. However, the form was still clumsy, still feeling like biking with untrue wheels. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. All kids except Jenny and William had coughs. So they ran less and slower. 1 with Julia in 9:14. 1 with Benjamin in 9:17. 0.25 with Joseph in 2:35. Jacob got another day of rest. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.45
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.450.000.001.2517.70

A.M. 15.2 with Jeff in 1:59:06. Did 5x400 with 400 recovery jog after about 2.4 warm-up. I was hoping to hit 72-73, but with Jeff's help it went a lot better. 71.0 - 70.1 - 67.8 - 68.7 - 70.5.

A thought on quarters or any intervals for that matter. The main purpose of those for a marathoner is to learn to run with good form. To accomplish that purpose we need to choose the pace carefully. The idea is to run fast enough so that anaerobic bear will ride you your back if you run with bad form, but slow enough that he will not ride on your back regardless of your form. So suppose with bad form the anaerobic bear starts feeling a whole lot heavier between 70 and 71. Or in other words if you hit that quarter in 70 with good form, you feel the comfort of 71. If you run it in 71 it is comfortable regardless of the form. If you run it in 69 it is uncomfortable regardless of the form.

So in that example - the problem with 71 is that you can keep running with bad form and you do not feel it. The problem with 69 is that it is so painful that even if you improve the form you do not notice a whole lot of difference. Another problem with 69 is that you start training anaerobic bear tolerance. Which means that the pace at which you feel the difference between a good and a bad form becomes faster without any improvement in long distance performance. This also has a side effect of faster fuel burn at any speed, which leads to a spectacular wall experience in the marathon. This is why it is so common to see a post-collegiate star that should be running no slower than 2:13 barely manage 2:30 or worse in his first marathon. Too much anaerobic tolerance from all the brutal track workouts in college (and likely post-college as well, since he is used to training that way), so the metabolism shifts, 5:00 is a jog for him, but all of a sudden he gets past 15 and he cannot do 6:00, then he gets past 20, and he cannot even do 6:30. This takes some time to overcome.

However, if you can just feel that balance of speed, you can achieve good results. The form will smooth out, and the performances in all distances from the mile to the marathon improve at the same time.

There is really no formula to calculate that speed even if you know your race performances because different people could have a different degree of anaerobic tolerance even if they have the exact same race times. You need to do it by feel. One way you would know you've done it right is that you'll notice that as the workout progresses your subsequent intervals keep getting faster and you cannot quite understand why because you are not working any harder. The form feels smoother, you start developing a greater measure of harmony and balance. You are able to enjoy the speed without paying too great of a price in terms of pain.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 16:52. Julia and Benjamin, still sick, ran only 1 mile with us in 9:23. Then Jenny closed with a 7:29. 0.25 with Joseph in 2:36. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:35. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 15.20
Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to Church. In addition to our regular meetings we had the State Priesthood meeting at 7:00 AM. Very appropriately, the opening hymn was Rise Up, O Men of God.

In the Sacrament meeting we had a talk on obedience with a lot of examples from the Old Testament. Old Testament is full of examples when seemingly small acts of disobedience to God's commandments resulted in severe punishments. Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt for looking back as they were fleeing Sodom. Achan was stoned for taking some of the riches of Jericho. The sins of Sabbath breaking and idol worship were punished by stoning as well.

I have wondered why the punishment had to be so severe. Perhaps because it was critical to the survival of Israel to learn that there is no such thing as a small rebellion against God. Failure to obey precisely has dire spiritual consequences. God has not changed. While similar sins today are not punished by being stoned, disobedience weakens our faith a lot. So we are still punished, but only by the natural consequences that come upon us as a result of our weakened faith instead. This will be worse than being stoned if we do not repent. Alma in chapter 12 talks about how when we stand before God and see our sins in plainness we would wish that the rocks could fall upon us to hide us from His presence.

On the other hand, obedience results in stronger faith, and it is something we are going to need in the last days very much. Even more after this life is over. Our faith, the strength of our spirit, is the only form of wealth we get to carry out of this world.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.950.000.000.0011.95

A.M. 10.2 with Jeff in 1:26:58. Hardly any snow on the ground, but very slippery due to ice. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 1 with Benjamin and Julia in 9:19. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:58. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:58.

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 11.95
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.850.000.000.9013.75

A.M. Ran with Jeff. Met him on the trail. 11 miles in 1:29:19. Slippery, but with some dry stretches. Did a couple of pickups, all around 5:20 pace. 400 in 79, 700 in 2:21, another 400 in 81.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 

P.M. All kids are now back to full health. 2 with Benjamin in 16:58. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:00. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:30. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:55. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 13.75
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 7.50Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.850.000.000.0012.85

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 10.1 in 1:21:40. At the start the trail was OK, but then got slippery later on. 

Came to check my e-mail this morning. Oops. Last night I was making changes in the blog, and forgot to test everything before making them live. So this morning my mailbox was full of error reports. I have fixed it now, I think. Sorry about that.

At least it is nice to know that the blog is being used.

As a side effect, there is a non-working feature - graph view. You can pretend to use it. Hopefully in the next couple of days it will become a working feature. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:02. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:57. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:23. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:44. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From Jon on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 11:01:45 from 138.64.8.51

Yup, the FRB is definitely being used. Thanks for fixing everything.

From Eric Day on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 11:03:12 from 200.52.201.209

Thanks Sasha !

About the graph, tried it, not much to see on my side...looking forward to 'working feature'

From ddcanops on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 15:57:57 from 74.13.24.77

Sasha...

Just wanted to say...how impressed I am with your training...very disciplined !!

From Marathon Dreamer on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 20:41:00 from 200.52.168.2

Hey Sasha - I am new to this blog. Still trying to learn the ins and outs of it. I thought that I sent you a message, but I am not sure if it went through... please check your inbox. Thanks a bunch!!

From Bonnie on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 21:02:44 from 64.119.33.134

a "virtual feature"? Thank you Sasha! Congratulations on your new baby!

From Mike Clarke on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 23:56:13 from 68.218.22.217

Sasha,

when people are leaving comments I am not receiving an email confirmation. Burt sent me a private message and I didn't receive that either. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I entered my email and then checked enable email confirmation, any ideas? Thanks Mike

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 12:28:18 from 192.168.1.1

Mike - double-check your e-mail address as well as spam filter settings.

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 21:06:53 from 192.168.1.1

Marathon Dreamer - I will post a comment on your blog entry where you asked the questions.

From Kam on Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 23:39:26 from 174.23.203.84

Sasha,

I like the virtual features as well as the working ones. Thanks for putting the work in so that so many of us can enjoy tracking workouts.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.902.200.000.0013.10

A.M. 10.35 in 1:19:54. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran the last 1.96 in 11:45. The speed was affected by three slippery tunnels where I had to go slower than 8:00, a rough road stretch, 5 turns, a snow-drift jump, headwind and wet road. I figure the effort was worth around 5:40-5:45 pace. About 0.37 away from the house I passed a car that was backing out of the driveway. It did not catch me for another 200 meters. It felt good to hold off a car, even if it was for only 200 meters.

P.M.  2 with Benjamin in 16:36, last quarter in 89. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:20. 0.5 with Joseph in 3:51, splits of 2:01 and 1:50. That is his new record for the distance. I asked him afterwards if it was hard. He said no. I never thought of Joseph as having a running talent when he was younger due to his shuffling stride. But running every day is fixing the problem. Jenny also shuffled a lot when she was 3 and 4, but by about the age of 6 she developed a smooth form. Ted once took her for a run and commented that she looked like a miniature elite runner.

That makes me wonder if the Kenyan "talent" comes mostly from running naturally and a lot at a young age. I believe the genes are only a rough outline of what you are going to be. That is a human and not a dog. The color of your skin, the shape of your face, etc. That type of stuff you cannot change.

But when it comes to athletic performance deep down we have all kinds of genes that could give us all kinds of talent. The question is which ones will get expressed and how much, and this is controlled to a great extent by what our mother does when she is pregnant and what we do at a young age.

Ran 0.25 with Jacob in 2:51. It was very windy, and I was concerned about how well he'd handle it, but he toughed it out.

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 13.10
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.750.000.000.4013.15

A.M. Ran alone. 10.4 in 1:18:06. Did a couple of pickups. 200 up a small grade (0.5%) in 38, and 400 in 79. During the pickups the form felt better than I expected from the perception at easy pace.

P.M. Hailstorm/snow. 2 with Benjamin in 17:17. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:28. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. He liked the storm more than any of the children. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:43. Jacob wore a Russian fur hat.

The "virtual" graph feature is now somewhat functional. Buggy, but should work fine on normal templates if you have run in every one of the zones over the month. Otherwise you get the gist but looks a little funny. If you have non-running or really odd template you will see some interesting things. I'll fix the bugs over the next week.   Yes, and apparently I did not break the data entry, since I can type in this one.

 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 13.15
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.700.000.000.2517.95

A.M. Ran with Jeff. Lots of snow, but runnable. Decent traction. Ran 15.2 in 1:57:12. Just for kicks we did a hard quarter on snow. 80 seconds with about a 70 second effort.

Had a discussion on muscle spindles, and the effect of hypersensitive spindles in hip flexors on running economy. My suspicion is that a hip flexor is the worst place for a runner to have a hypersensitive spindle because it will make the hip flexor contract to resist the stretch during the later phases of the ground contact as the body moves forward and the hip is extended. Such an inopportune hip flexor contraction will then having a braking effect on the forward motion. There is really no other joint I can think of where excessive stretch reflex is so undesirable when running.

The reason we got so technical in the discussion is that I've read some research showing that a trigger point is a bundle of hypersensitive spindle tissue, I do have some nasty trigger point in my right hip flexors, and my range of motion in the right hip extension when running is noticeably worse than on the left side. To make things more interesting, stretching the hip flexors has never done anything for my running speed. I can improve the static range of motion, but the stretch reflex resistance is still there.

So I have a thought on the importance of flexibility for a runner. A number of studies demonstrated that faster runners are not that flexible. Yet it is fairly obvious that if you have zero flexibility you will not run at all. So what's up? I've wondered about it for a while and never had anything meaningful to say except the obvious "you just have to have a balance". Now I think I finally have something worth sharing.

The flexibility in and of itself is not important. What is important is to have low antagonist muscle resistance in the critical range of motion in critical motions in critical joints. The only critical joint/motion I can think of the is the hip joint and the motion of extension. You do need to have a reasonable range of motion, enough to run, but that is good enough. You do not need a gymnast's range of motion or anywhere close.  In some joints/motions the high antagonist resistance may actually be good. E.g. knee flexion and dorsi-flexion. Not so high that you get injured, but as high as you can get away with. So that means it is good for the quads and the calves to be a little tight.

But when it comes to the hip joint, things are a little different because resistance to hip extension is a braking agent. Normal running range of motion is not too difficult to achieve. But we do not want just the range of motion. Improving the range of motion does us zero good if we did not reduce the stretch reflex of the hip flexors in the normal running range of motion. And stretching in some cases (maybe more often than in "some cases") can make it worse by irritating the spindle tissue and thus increasing the stretch reflex. The fix in this case would be to work on the trigger points in the hip flexors to eliminate them and restore the muscles to their normal state.

The above, of course, is all just theory now. I'll have a chance to test it this year.

P.M.  2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:19. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:26. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:25.

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 17.95
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had good talks and lessons. The talks in the Sacrament meeting were on missionary work. The lesson in Sunday School was on agency. One brother shared a funny missionary story. They visited a man who claimed affiliation with the Southern Baptist Church. The discussion turned to the doctrine of salvation by grace and the role of works. The LDS missionaries stated that faith without works was dead. The man said it was false, grace alone was sufficient with no works required. The missionaries showed him a passage in his Bible (James 1:17-20) that backed up their point. The man got angry and ripped that page out of his Bible.

Interestingly enough, the lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on anger. The teacher shared an experience he had trying to control his anger when his computer got infected with a virus when his wife clicked on a box that said the computer was infected and offered to download and run a "cleaning tool", which "cleaning tool" was in fact a virus. One brother, a black convert from New York, raised his hand and said - "That's nothing, a friend of mine had a similar problem with his computer, and he got so angry that he smashed his $1000 laptop in pieces!"

Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From Kory on Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 18:47:38 from 134.50.89.92

Sasha - it's amazing how we can little things bother us. If we give it to God then our burden is light. Good teaching.

From jtshad on Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 15:48:42 from 204.134.132.225

I think you mean to reference James 2:17-20 for your scripture on works and faith. However, Ephesians 2:8-9 states the following: "8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it." The scriptures also say in 1 Corithians 13:2 that "if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." So too, your faith is demonstrated by your love which is also reflected in your deeds. So we can take from this that your deeds are manifestations of the faith and love you have in Christ, but as James states in that same passage "I show my faith through my good deeds", therefore deeds are not a requirement for salvation but a choice you make in love to demonstrate your faith. It also shows that the depth of the scriptures is sometimes beyond our full understanding, but it we are agreeing that doing good for the world and loving others is what we are called to do, we are on the right track.

From Kory on Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 17:29:44 from 134.50.89.92

Great comments Jeff and scriptures. We need not to think "carnally minded" but "spiritually minded" this helps having faith in God if your thinking of heavenly things.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 17:36:50 from 192.168.1.1

Jeff - correct. Works are a practical measurement of your faith. The presence of works does not guarantee that you have the faith, but their absence shows the lack of faith. In the end, of course, it is the faith that saves us. But not just the profession of faith.

Faith and works are in a mutual supportive feedback relationship. Faith pushes one to do good. Doing good in turn nourishes your faith. On the other hand, failure to follow your faith and do good leads to the faith becoming weaker.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.950.250.000.7512.95

A.M. 10.2 in 1:18:33. The trail was covered with snow for the most part, but there were some clear patches. Did pickups where I could, total of about 0.75 of them at around 4:50 pace.

On the biomechanics battle front over the course of the last week was able to work out the trigger points in what I think is pectineus (I am still quite a newbie when it comes to identifying muscles by feel), and discovered a nasty trigger point in a larger and lower hip adductor.  Have been working on it. Need to have the faith and the patience.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:44. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:28. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:33. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:29.

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.95
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.750.000.000.0017.75

A.M. Ran with Jeff. Met him on the trail. It snowed a lot, so the pace was very slow. On the way back to the house saw a runner, turned around and ran with him. His name is Kevin Ellsworth, and it turned out that he actually was a Lost Sheep. Ended up with around 15 miles in 2:07.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:57. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:46. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:36, 0.25 with Jacob in 2:28.

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 17.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.700.200.000.0012.90

A.M. Jeff and I were both asleep. Met him on the trail. 10.15 in 1:22:01. Did a little pickup at the end at 5:50 pace to wake up.

Found a lose bull on the trail. He broke through the fence and got out. He did not try to attack us, but we turned around early and then added on just to be safe. This is the first time in 25 years that I can remember I have ever modified my running course due to a threat from an animal.

P.M. Ran 2 in 18:37. First 0.5 with Benjamin and Jenny. Then Julia joined us but she had scraped some skin off her foot in a playing accident, and could not go very fast. So I told Benjamin and Jenny to pick it up. Benjamin took off with 0.75 to go, Jenny with 0.3 to go. Benjamin ran 17:11, Jenny 18:00. I stayed with Julia. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.90
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.100.000.500.0012.60

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10.1 in 1:18:58. We did a 0.5 pickup up about 0.5% grade in 2:43 (84,79). It felt easier than I expected. The magic right adductor (adductor brevis, adductor longus, portion of adductor magnus?) seems to be making small progress, but is still "trigger-pointy" and the form still feels ugly.  I have been scraping it and finally got some red spots to come up, which is encouraging. 

So far I've had success removing trigger points and improving the range of motion without stretching in the upper back and in the pectineus. No improvement in the form, though, still ugly. However, what is important is that I am learning how to fix muscles. One step at a time, lots of trial, lots of error, finally success.

I should know something about trial and error. Dealing with errors is the life of a computer programmer. Most of the time you test your work you get an error. Then you fix it, and run into another. A programmer without errors in his life is like fish out of water. Good programmers learn to love errors. If they do not, their job satisfaction greatly decreases, and they get "promoted" into management. I had a co-worker once that often answered the phone with "What's the error?", and would comment after a successful run of ping: "Host is alive error".

So errors are good. Lots of error, then finally success. You appreciate it more. 

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:46. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:05. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:37. Spaced out Jacob's run because he was asleep at the time when I ran with the other kids, and I forgot to go with him later. 

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.60
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.150.200.000.5012.85

A.M. 10.1 in 1:17:59. Met Jeff on the trail. We moved a bit quicker today, but still pretty slow. Did a form evaluation pickup for about 0.2 at around 5:50 pace. According to Jeff the form looked stiff at first, but then better later on. We also did a 0.5 pickup up about 0.5% grade in 2:33.9 even splitting it. It felt better than I thought it would. The plan was only 5:30 pace.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:49. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:58. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:15. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:15, his new record.

Water Clogs 2 Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.700.000.001.2517.95

A.M. 15.2 with Jeff in 1:51:14. Did a ladder in the middle. 800 in 2:20.1 (68,72), 1000 jog, 600 in 1:45.5, 800 jog, 400 67.6, 600 jog, 200 30.8. The jogging was done at around 9:30 pace.

The temperature was 18 F, and I was wearing  tights, jacket, hat and gloves. Not the best conditions for this type of workout by far. I was surprised that I was able to hit those times. Given the conditions and my lack of middle-distance training in the last 8 months I optimistically hoped for 2:24 - 1:48 - 70 - 32. So when Jeff opened with a 33 200 in the 800 repeat I warned him. It took him a while to settle down (thus 2:20 split), but I handled it OK. Did not feel a huge anaerobic bear, and did not want to feel it because I still had the rest of the workout in front of me. So I was content to hit the second quarter at target pace.

I was also happy with how the rest of the work went. The times demonstrated that the 2:20 800 opener did not quite put me at my limit. This is significant. My all time 800 PR is 2:12 on the track in perfect conditions at the age of 18 after six months of focused middle-distance training. So to run 2:20 in 18 F in winter gear on the road with no middle-distance conditioning except 5x400 two weeks ago in the last 8 months and live to do the rest of the workout respectably means something good had happened.  

What is interesting is that I never felt my legs powered hard enough to merit going this fast. The form felt loosened up, there was less resistance, but I did not have more power. 

I am very encouraged by this development. I have spent the last 10 years looking for a structural improvement, and have never had a workout or a race where I could even suspect a measure of success from my structural efforts. "Structural" = "not related to leg power or endurance", e.g. improving posture, flexiblity, re-activating a deactivated muscle, etc. Improvements came mostly from the increased aerobic power and better health. I ran more miles, I ran more of them at race pace, I did brutal workouts, I cleaned up my already clean diet, I slept more. It helped me achieve a measure of success, but I was up against a wall because I had reached the limit of those methods, or at least was very close.

I knew that if I were to reach my goals, I needed to find a structural breakthrough. I had hopes that the medical profession would have the answers, but not before long it became clear to me that if it did the answer was hidden far away, each step in the search cost money and time, and I did not have either one to look for the answer using this route. So my only hope was, to quote a Primary song our children sing in church,  "search, ponder, and pray".

Finally after 10 years of discouraging struggles today I saw a dim glimmer of light from the depths of the dark and never ending tunnel that winds around being good but not that good of a runner in hopelessly perpetual circles. Finally something I did in the structural department produced the results that I consider positive, pointing at the possibility that I may be going in the right direction. It was the trigger point massage and scraping of the Magic Adductor. Medically I still do not quite know what I am doing. In fact, I cannot even tell which adductor my Magic Adductor is, Longus, Brevis, or Magnus, or if it is a combination of those. I have been going by feel asking the Lord every day to give me inspiration and then paying close attention to the body signals as I would go through the trouble area. 

It was an exciting moment for me today. It was nice to receive a small assurance that I am somewhat close to the right track. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:29. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:31. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:51. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:49. 

 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 2.75
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Lybi on Mon, Feb 01, 2010 at 01:36:15 from 68.3.191.246

Yea Sasha! Good for you. You always go and find your own answer, like you have to invent everything. Hard work! But effective.

From flatlander on Mon, Feb 01, 2010 at 10:39:55 from 75.233.104.15

Sasha, congratulations on this potential breakthrough, and thanks for sharing it. You may have found something that others might be able to benefit from as well.

From MichelleL on Mon, Feb 01, 2010 at 23:09:14 from 71.213.96.30

Very nice, Sasha. Hopefully it will continue to work for you.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church.  The talks in the Sacrament meeting were on prayer. In Sunday school the lesson was on creation. Because it was fifth Sunday we had a combined meeting of priesthood and relief society. The subject was prayer and fasting.

My mother has sent me some family history information, so I was studying my family tree. As I looked at it I realized that most branches have died out. Russia has had some turbulent times in the 20th century - two regular wars with major action on its territory, a civil war, Stalin's purges. The blockade of Leningrad alone had a death toll of September 11th on a daily basis in a city that had the population about 10% the size of New York. It lasted 900 days. However, what caused the most devastating effect on my family tree was not the violent calamity. The destruction came from people either not getting married at all, or marrying and having no more than two children who in turn did not feel the importance of having children.

I call that "ideological genocide". Instead of killing people with weapons you simply convince them that it is not worth the sacrifice to have children. There is no drama, no outrage, no revulsion. It happens slowly, but surely, and the damage is much more severe. I remembered a quote from the Proclamation on The Family: "we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets

Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From TylerS on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 at 17:41:02 from 68.28.42.232

Sasha I am reading a book called "The Train to Petrovek" It is about a U.S. spy that was sent to Russia to capture a guy by the name of Kokosha? He and 4 others were involved in stealing money from the US government while building the US embassy. He had quite the experience there and nearly got killed doing so. He is from Utah and grew up in Bear River, Ut. He talks a lot about Russia, and how tough life there can be. He even talked about a young boy Named Sasha that helped him get into a McDonalds there, because the line was so long. I thought of you but I am sure that it wasn't you. It is a great book and I am really enjoying reading about Russia. If you want to borrow it I would love to lend it to you. He is also LDS and actually met the first missionaries while in Russia.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 at 17:51:19 from 192.168.1.1

Tyler - I assume you meant "The Train To Potevka". I have read the book. Sasha in the book is not me, but I do know the author quite well. He was a councilor in my branch presidency and worked at a business center in a hotel as a cover up. Everybody, of course, knew him as a US businessman. Thinking back, I do recall that his occasional "attempts" at Russian sounded a whole lot better than what you would expect from an average American businessman.

From Ashbaker on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 at 20:46:54 from 64.134.238.12

Yes, Sasha I agree somewhat with what you are saying. However with the overall attack on middle class America in the form of higher taxes, dollar devaluation, stagnant wages, and job exportation to other countries, raising a family isn't what it used to be! Example; My father was the sole wage earner for most years while I was growing up. That just isn't possible anymore in most cases. My wife and I both work long hours to support our small family and we barely get by nowdays. I constantly worry whether or not we will have enough to retire on.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 at 22:27:07 from 192.168.1.1

Steve:

I completely agree. The economy has changed. With better technology you should expect it to become easier to feed a family. But that is only true if the improvements in technology are not being negated by a reduction in common sense.

So with the above perspective, the "ideological genocide" over a period of a century is a whole lot more dangerous than any natural or man-made violent calamity we have seen so far. If our government was smart, it would focus on supporting the family ahead of any other priority.

Another way to look at it. Compare the level of technology to your position on the freeway (mile marker), how hard people work to your velocity, and the strength of the family structure to your acceleration. You could be in a good position and moving forward at a good speed, but if your acceleration is negative, sooner or later you will start going backwards, and your rate of digression will be hopelessly increasing.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.950.001.000.0012.95

A.M. 10.2 with Jeff in 1:18:13. Did a pickup for a mile in 5:34. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:54. Julia ran 1.5 in 12:52. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:46. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:36.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.95
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.800.750.250.0014.80

A.M. 10.3 in 1:22:50. Met Jeff on the trail. After a while we found Kevin and he joined us for a bit. To our disappointment another part of the trail is under construction. They are building a bridge at Lakeshore drive (mile marker 1 of the Fast Running Blog 5 Miler). Fortunately there is a reasonable detour that goes right past Luz's house. However that does mess up our tempo runs. But I hope they will be done with it before we really get into them. On the positive side, when the Lord pours out more blessings on us than we can receive in our current house and it is time to move, that bridge will expand our options.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 

P.M. Took Benjamin for a 6:00 pace to failure workout. Cold air made him fail earlier than I hoped. He did 88, then another 100 in 22, then 23, 25, kicked in 22 - 3:00 at 0.5 but then felt too tired to go more. To not let him get off the hook I challenged him to run a fast 100 after a 200 jog. He did 20.1. Then he jogged 100, and I challenged him again to run a 200. He ran 44.3. Then I challenged him to run another 100. 20.1 again. Then we had a quarter left to make it to the mile. I added up his splits and realized he needed only a 96 quarter to have his total time for the mile be 6:00. So I challenged him again to run a quarter as fast as he could. He grumbled and said he absolutely could not do 90. I told him I did not care, I just wanted to see what his best was, even if it was 1:40. He ran 87.3. Thus we got 5:51 for the mile in fragments of 800 - 100 - 200 - 100 and 400. 

Then we got in the car and he said - "I am so exhausted I do not think I could run a 100 in 25!" I figured the opportunity to teach him to sense the limits of his body correctly was too good to pass up, so I called his bluff. We got out and he ran 100 in 19.1.  We ended up with a total of 2.25 miles.

1.5 with Julia in 12:56. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:46. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:35. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 14.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.900.000.000.0012.90

A.M. Temple day. Ran earlier than usual. 10.15 in 1:17:55.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 16:46. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:56. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:34. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:36. With 100 to go I challenged Jacob to beat the 2:40 guy. Then we walk into the house and he tells Sarah: "Mommy, I beat somebody. I beat a guy I do not know!" Different kids react differently to the invisible virtual nemesis. Joseph kept asking me why we could not see the 6:00 (5:30, 5:00 as he got faster in his half mile run) guy that we were trying to beat. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.90
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.090.250.001.8113.15

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. We did a speed workout of sorts. 1.062 mile down 0.5-1% grade but with a bridge in the middle in 5:36 (probably 5:16 at the mile). We only wanted to go a mile but we missed the mark. Then after some jogging the same mile backwards (uphill). Around 0.7 the stress of the pace created a need for a VPB, so I slowed down to avoid the disaster and told Jeff to finish the interval while I took care of the business. My split at 0.75 was 4:06, his was 4:03. Then I coasted through the last quarter in 90. I did not realize it was that slow, but I guess running in the dark alone I miscalculated the effort. Jeff finished the mile in 5:23. Total time for 10.4 was 1:19:56.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:41. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:51. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:30. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:54. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.15
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.950.800.001.2014.95

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 10.2 in 1:19:22. Did some pickups (100s, 200s, 400s) totaling a mile at around 5:05 pace.

P.M. Worked on breaking the 6:00 barrier with Benjamin. The plan was go 6:00 pace to failure, then kick, when the kick becomes slower than 6:24 pace stop. Benjamin made it to 1000 in 3:43 (2 seconds ahead of schedule), but then he panicked and said he could not go anymore without failing to break 6:24 pace over 100 meters first. That was revealing and helped me understand why he is struggling with a sub-6:00 mile. Fast pace produces a certain measure of emotional stress and he does not yet know how to handle this type of emotion. He is only 10 and his emotions have not yet matured, but I would imagine many adults have a hard time running fast for the exact same reason.

So the hypothesis is that interval training can be used to treat a certain type of deep emotional problems. Fast pace will very predictably cause some type of emotional blow-up if there is an underlying weakness. The individual can be prepared and know exactly where that blow-up would happen and can be prepared to make an effort to control it. Thus he will develop a skill that he can use when that blow-up rears up its ugly head in other situations.

Since it was obvious that Benjamin's failure was of emotional nature, I told him he had to finish the mile in segments.  So after jogging 600 I told him to try to run 2:17 for the remaining 600. He made it to 300 in 1:06, continued for another 50 meters, and then bailed out. I had him jog back 50 meters, and told him to bust out the gate and blast the first 100 as fast as he could and then hang on to dear life for the remaining 200. I was thinking he would end up with something like 1:03, be he surprised me and ran 59 (5:15 pace) with the splits of 18-20-21. That gave us 5:48 total for the mile in three segments of 1000 - 300 - 300. 

This is the furtherest Benjamin has run at sub-6:00 continuously, and also the fastest segmented mile he has run in a workout. The good news is that he consciously understands the problem, and with each try is more and more prepared to deal with the beast.

Our total distance  was 2 miles.

2 with Julia and Jenny. We stayed together until about 0.3 to go.  Then Jenny took off. I stayed with Julia for about 200 meters, and then went after Jenny so I would get her time. Barely caught her before the finish, our time was 16:58. Julia finished in 17:27.

0.5 with Joseph in 4:39. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:49. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 14.95
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Marathon Dreamer on Sat, Feb 06, 2010 at 10:28:06 from 200.52.168.2

Awesome!!!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.505.750.001.0018.25

A.M. 15.5 in 1:53:56 with Jeff. Michelle joined us for 13 miles. We paced her through a 5 mile tempo run on the Provo River Trail. Had to change the course due to construction, and ended up with 3 180 turns.

The target was 31:00, 6:12 or 93 quarter pace. Michelle ran 30:56 with the following splits (by quarter): 95 - 90 - 93 - 93 (6:11) - 93 - 93 - 96 - 94 (6:16, 12:27) - 93 - 93 - 93 - 93 (6:12,18:39) - 93 - 89 - 93 - 94 (6:10, 24:49) - 92 - 94 - 93 - 88 (6:07,30:56).

Jeff and I immediately continued with the quarters of 80 - 82 - 81 - 76 (Jeff was a step or two ahead and got 75), with 5:19 for the last mile and 36:15 for 6 miles. The we jogged back to Michelle, ran some with her, dropped her off at the house, then ran some more finishing the last 0.75 in 4:25 (5:53 pace).

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Julia in 17:28. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:37. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:28. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 18.25
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From MichelleL on Sun, Feb 07, 2010 at 00:41:44 from 207.224.206.124

Thank you again so much for pacing. It is very generous of you and Jeff.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. It was a Fast Sunday, so we had a Fast and Testimony meeting. In Sunday school the lesson was on the fall of Adam. In the Elder's Quorum the lesson was on keeping your covenants.

I have noticed a trend just in the last 10 years that the legal agreements have been getting longer and more difficult to read. The older generation seems to remember a time when many business deals were done with no written agreement at all. That is one consequence of raising people who do not feel it is important to keep their promises. The lawyers get richer while less real work gets done.

Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Comments
From richborget on Tue, Feb 09, 2010 at 07:43:16 from 71.199.13.128

sasha i will try to be there this morning.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.550.000.000.5013.05

A.M. 10.3 with Jeff in 1:17:12. Did 4x200 pickups in the middle - 35.5, 33.9, 34.7, and 31.9.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:25. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:11. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:26. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.05
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.500.000.0014.50

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10.25 in 1:21:48.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin, 0.5 in 3:00. 1.5 with Julia in 12:47. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:41. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:36. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 14.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.811.001.000.0017.81

A.M. 10 in 1:18:49. Met Jeff on the trail. We also found a new friend. His name is Brian Brockbank. He ran with us for a few miles. After dropping everybody off did a fun pickup. Decided to run for as long as I felt like at a pace that I enjoyed. It ended up being a mile in 5:37.5. I would have gone further, but it was time to get off the trail, and I did not feel like running a weird distance.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 

A.M-2. Did another attempt with Benjamin to break  6:00 in the mile. We thought of some ideas of how to help him overcome the mental block he hits around half way through. We decided if Jenny met him at 0.5 and raced him for a quarter he would certainly make it to 0.75, and then he can smell the barn and kick. So we warmed up 1.2 and started. He was doing great through 500 (1:51), then something happened and he said he had no energy. So we stopped at 600, and jogged back to try again. This time he made it to 600 in 2:14, one second ahead of pace, but then panicked and stopped without any effort to try to hold the pace any further.

Then it was clear. There was something in his brain that was programmed for self-defeat. The moment he realized the success was inevitable he could not handle it. A week ago nobody was waiting for him, and he made it to 1000 2 seconds ahead of pace, then quit without trying to hold on. Yesterday with Jenny waiting for him at 1200 (0.75) he quit at 800 (0.5) while right on pace. We bring Jenny to 800, and now he quits at 600. I asked him why, and he admitted that he realizes he would not quit while racing Jenny, and if he hits 1200 on pace he would not quit at all, and he just cannot handle it.

So to make a dent in his mental block I told him to try again and this time run (given the fatigue from the previous to tries) run as slow as he felt he would need to up to 800, then race Jenny to 1200. So he did 1:35, 1:49, 1:31 - 4:55 racing Jenny. She held on up to about 300.  

So we ended up the whole deal with a total of 3.56 miles. We will try again on Saturday. Hopefully the lessons learned would help us.

P.M. 1.5 with Julia in 13:33. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:28. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 17.81
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Dragonvulture on Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 23:47:13 from 75.169.145.245

What time and where do you usually run in the AM?

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 12:54:47 from 192.168.1.1

Hmm.... Dragonvulture wants to know where and when I run. I wonder for what purpose :-)

We run on the Provo River Trail Tue-Fri at 6:00 AM, Mon and Sat around 7:00-7:30. Do you want to join us?

From Dragonvulture on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 13:11:25 from 65.44.116.4

If you wouldn't mind having someone else come tag along on occasion. Always looking for people to run with. Where do you start running from?

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 13:18:48 from 192.168.1.1

Dragonvulture - that would be great. 5:55 AM Friday (tomorrow) at 339 N 1120 W in Provo. Saturday has not yet been decided, probably 7:30 AM.

From ChrisM on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 13:24:13 from 86.151.220.223

Sasha, do you find your pace is slower when you run that early compared to later on in the day? I notice some difference although not sure how much is down to perceived effort

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 14:45:12 from 192.168.1.1

Chris:

The dark slows me down about 10 seconds a mile in race pace workouts, and 30 seconds a mile on an easy run.

From Nevels on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 16:17:15 from 131.204.15.93

This brings up an interesting question in my mind (somewhat akin to the training at altitude conundrum): Is it sufficient to train at a certain perceived effort, or does one really need to hit certain paces?

My assumption would be a certain mix of the two, but I could also see a benefit to running at the time at which you plan to race, which could be in the early morning or night, partially warranting training at odd times of day. Just a random thought...

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 16:46:50 from 192.168.1.1

For aerobic development you do not need to be very precise with pace/effort. Just hit it somewhere in the range where it is sustainable for as long as you need to without overloading the nervous system or causing an injury overtime, but at the time fast enough to where it is faster than virtual walking. For me, that is anywhere from 6:40 to 9:00.

For speed workouts it is very different. You need to be a whole lot more precise, but perceived effort still plays a critical role for a runner that knows his body. There are factors that would be impossible to account for mathematically - variations in wind, temperature, humidity, and the fitness on the day of the workout.

From Nevels on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 16:58:36 from 131.204.15.93

I agree completely, which is one of my arguments against my getting a Garmin (or other GPS/pace tracking device). I've simply often been vexed by the problem of whether early morning workouts were beneficial or detrimental to my training, given that if I performed the same workout in the same environmental conditions, simply later in the day, I would undoubtedly be faster than if it were run early in the morning...

(these are carryover thoughts from early morning high school track workouts and their afternoon counterparts...)

From Dragonvulture on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 17:10:25 from 65.44.116.4

Sasha, I plan on being there tomorrow morning, look forward to the run.

Nevels, I'm fairly new to running, really started a year ago, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but having the garmin with the heart rate monitor on does help a lot in seeing improvements in aerobic activity. When you see your heart rate not going up as much over time while running the same distance at the same speed, you can easily see where your body is becoming more efficient in your running. There are of course variables to heart rate, diet, hydration, etc., but tracked over time you get a good indication of your actual effort over given distance and you can see when you are slacking off, or when you need to slack off. For instance, my first half I did last August, my heart rate was around 180 for the entire race, which I didn't know at the time, but do now, is probably not the best place to keep your heart rate for that long of a time. I was the guy who got to the end of the race, made it about one foot past the finish and laid on the ground for about 10-15 minutes. I couldn't even make it to the guy cutting the tags off the shoes. Maybe less than a week or two later I ran farther, faster, with much less effort and no long lasting side effects like I had from the race. And I love to connect all the dots from my GPS on google earth.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.050.000.000.0013.05

A.M. Jeff slept in. 10.3 in 1:22:53, some of it with Brian. Turns out that I had been to Brian's house before. I served in his area (Little Cottonwood Stake in Murray) in 1995 during my mission .  Brian was 8 years old then.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:51. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:44. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:31.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.05
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.550.000.500.0013.05

A.M. Dan (Dragon Vulture) joined me today at the house. We met Jeff on the trail. Then we found Brian and he joined us as well. We were being lazy today, 10.3 in 1:25:16, and that with no snow! A lot of talking in the dark. We did a short pickup to test Dan's HR - 0.5 in 2:51. His HR was 154 at the start off 8:00 pace, and got up to 184 towards the end.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia in 17:10.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:27. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:50. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Fast Running Mommy on Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 20:54:49 from 192.168.1.1

thanks for fixing my computer...I love you

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.240.751.063.5020.55

A.M. 16.3 with Jeff and Dan (Dan ran 15.2, we jogged back to him after pickups). The plan was 2x1.5 at 5:20 pace, and then with a mile or two to go run 5:50 pace to test fuel levels and sneak in a fuel stimulus. Thing went better than planned, in fact too good in the first repeat thanks to Jeff's eagerness.

The first 1.5 was done in the dark (we started early because I had to go to a baptism). I wore my HRM for the first time in a while. The splits were 80,80,79,79,78,77 - 7:53. HR maxed out at 165. It felt hard from the start, but did not get much harder, and I was able to hold the pace. I do not care how hard it feels if I can hold the pace as it is getting faster. Dan ran 9:53.

I warned Jeff before the second one not to speed as doing this workout at pace was challenging enough for me already, and we hit the first one 7 seconds ahead of pace.  Now we had some light, and after the first interval I had all kinds of enzymes keeping my HR a little higher. That actually made the pace feel easier. It went like this: 79,80,82,78,80,78 - 7:57. HR maxed out at 172.  I watched the HRM readings in awe wondering why I was not yet having an out-of-body experience, but it was appropriate for the pace, so I can believe it. I think higher HR made the fast pace easier. Dan ran this interval in 9:23.

We jogged back to Dan, finish the interval with him, and then jogged some more at around 7:40 pace until we had 1.5625 left. Then Jeff and I started our fuel stimulus pickup. It started at 5:50, but Jeff kept turning up the heat, and I felt good enough to respond. So we ended up running the stretch in 8:40 (5:32.8 average pace) with the last two quarters in 80 and 77 (5:14 average pace in the last 0.5 in spite of 5 turns). My HR hit 168. I did not know it could go that high at the end of long run. I usually struggle to push it over 160.

Afterwards we jogged back to Dan and finished the run with him.

I did notice that the turns made my form a whole lot uglier. It felt like some nerve was getting pinched and the knee would lock up some. I felt a whole lot better when we were on a straight and level road. I had not noticed a similar issue before. I would say in the past it felt equally awkward the entire way, while today it felt as awkward on the turns, but less awkward on a straight road.

I was very happy with how the workout went.  It gave me some evidence that I might be on the right track with my trigger point massage and scraping.  

A.M.-2 Did another attempt with Benjamin to crack 6:00. We are trying twice a week to see if he can do it before he turns 11. He did not make it, so we have one more try left on Tuesday.

This time  we brought Julia with us. Benjamin ran to 600 just with me, then Julia ran 200, Jenny joined us at 800, Julia bailed about 30 meters later (she was only supposed to go 100, everything extra was a bonus). Benjamin's splits (by 200) were 45, 45, 44, 43.5 up to that point. Around 900 (3:21, 22.5) fresh Jenny started to gap him. He hit 100 around 3:45, then gave it a push to 1100 (4:08) to close the gap, and then hit his patented panic attack about 50 meters later.

Benjamin has a little problem with error handling. When things do not go exactly like he expects it, he panics. I told him afterwards that the correct way to handle the error was to keep on pushing, reel Jenny in as she would not have continued at 6:00 pace for much longer herself,  then use the thrill of passing to hit the mile in 6:03 or so, which would have been a 4 second PR. Who knows, maybe a super-kick with 200 to go may have even recovered the damage of drifting from 1100 to 1400. But he was mentally not ready for this.

However, according to Benjamin, we made another dent in his mental block. This is the furtherest he's ever gone at 6:00 pace. If only he learned how to be rational under stress he would have it. Even though he is little, I believe learning to be rational under stress is such a vital life skill that it should be taught with particular emphasis especially in childhood. What you learn as a child, good or bad, is easy to keep and hard to unlearn. It is perhaps a blessing that this 6:00 mile is so hard for him. If it was easy to accomplish with talent and work alone, he would not have had a chance to challenge the beast of panic head on.

Jenny was rewarded with a quarter PR of 92.5. We jogged back to Julia, then ran a cool down mile in 8:55. Thus Julia ended up with 1.5 for the day, and Jenny did a total 4 as she ran 2.5 with Sarah earlier. Benjamin and I ended up with 2.5 for this run.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph and Benjamin in 4:33. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah. She dropped off Jacob and went for another 1.25. I dropped Joseph off,  Chased Sarah down, and ran the rest of it with her. Her time for the mile with me was 11:04.

 

 

 

 

 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 20.55
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Ashbaker on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 14:03:58 from 174.52.96.106

Hmm.. Tough workout. Well done though. Who does your trigger point massage and how much do they charge?

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 15:10:47 from 192.168.1.1

Steve - I do it myself, free of charge.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The Sacrament meeting talks were on the meaning of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Sunday School lesson was on the Holy Ghost. The Elder's Quorum lesson was on the role of Christ in the Plan of Salvation, and I had the privilege of teaching it.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.450.000.001.5012.95

A.M. 10.2 with Jeff in 1:19:36. We did a max HR test. 1.5 with the first mile aiming for 5:20, then for Jeff 72 quarter followed by 100% effort in the last quarter, for me hang on with Jeff to failure, then run best pace to the finish. Part of it was I wanted to measure our max HR values, but also I wanted to see how I would handle 4:48 pace off a mile at 5:20, and how Jeff would handle it as well.

The snow started coming down, and looked like it was about to dampen our plans. But with 34 F it was melting fast and the road was still runnable. So we went ahead. 

Jeff was a bit too excited, and blasted out the first 200 in 36 even after I had warned him the pace was too fast. But after that we more or less settled into pace to the first mile. The splits were 76, 80, 79,79 (5:14). My HRM was not working for the first 0.75 but then started working and registered 168 at the end of the mile. Jeff's HR was around 172-173. Then we sped up. I lasted for 200 meters before I eased off back to 5:20 pace. My HR went up to 173, but once the legs gave out it dropped to 171. 5:20 pace seemed manageable, but for the life of me I could not go any faster at that point. I was probably still tired from Saturday. Plus, opening with a 5:14 in the snow did some damage. I ended up running 75, 80 to finish 1.5 in 7:49.  

Jeff had a similar experience, except in a higher plane. He did 72 and it was manageable, then he picked it up to 68 and felt that he was working hard, but not getting much for it. His HR hit 186, which is not very high for him. He felt limited by leg power as well. Probably fatigue from Saturday was a factor.

We dragged through most of the remainder of the run at slower than 8:00 pace, which is a sign that we both fatigued from the combination of Saturday and today.  Then we livened up a bit in the last mile and ran it in 6:59 to beat the 1:20:00 guy. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:20. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:08. Jenny ran in the AM with Sarah (2.5). 0.5 with Joseph in 3:47. That is his new record. His splits were 1:59-1:48. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:48. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.95
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.050.500.300.0014.85

A.M. 10.1 in 1:18:59. Found Jeff on the trail. I felt like I had made some progress in the loosening up of the right hip flexors, so we did a couple of pickups at around 5:30 pace to evaluate my form. Jeff gave me a 7 on the scale of 1 to 10. In the past, he rated me between 4 and 6. For a comparison I asked him to rate other runners who he's seen enough. Tyler got 8.5, Kyle Perry 9, Josh Rohatinsky 10, Josh McAdams 9, and Jeff gave himself an 8 based on what he's seen in videos.

I ran the last 1.5 at sub-6:40 pace, and it felt nice and smooth, although still far from perfect. The left knee flexion as the foot leaves the ground and floats up on the left side feels almost poetic compared to how it feels on the right. 

A.M-2. Took Benjamin for the final chance to break 6:00 before he turns 11. Jenny and Julia helped. He was not handling the pressure well and made two false starts each time making it to the quarter (first time in 91, second in 92) before freaking out. I told him we could not end it like this and he had to finish the mile at whatever pace he had in him. He ran 6:19.9 with the splits of 92, 96, 97, and . Julia ran 300 from 600 to 900 in 1:11. Jenny ran 400 from 800 to 1200 in 1:37.  

Afterwards we ran to Julia. Jenny sat in the car, Benjamin, Julia and I ran a mile in 8:49. So Benjamin and I ended up with 4 miles, Jenny got 0.5 + 2.5 - total of 3 for the day, Julia got her usual 1.5.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph and Benjamin in 4:32.  0.25 with Jacob in 2:52.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 14.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Dragonvulture on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 13:24:20 from 65.44.116.4

Hi, you running at 6 tomorrow?

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 15:11:24 from 192.168.1.1

Yes, feel free to come.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.900.000.000.2513.15

A.M. Ran with Dan, Brian, and Jeff. All 10.4 with Dan in 1:19:28. Found Jeff and Brian on the trail. I had a VPB, then caught up with an 80 second quarter. Jeff gave Dan 7 on form. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:45.  Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:36. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:20. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:45.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.15
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.200.000.000.7512.95

A.M. 10.2 in 1:16:35. Did a couple of pickups. 200 in 40, and 1000 in 3:19.8.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:50. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:20. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:00. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:50. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.95
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.300.000.000.7513.05

A.M. 10.3 in 1:13:26. Did a 0.75 pickup in 3:58.7.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:13. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:02. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:45. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:55.  

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.05
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.252.004.001.5022.75

A.M. 20 with Jeff in 2:17:23. Did some speed in the middle. First a 6 mile tempo on the 1.5 stretch, so 3 180 degree turns. Total time for me 34:14. Splits: 5:53 - 5:45 (11:38) - 5:47 (17:25) - 5:40 (23:05) - 5:33 (28:38) - 5:36 (34:14). Jeff and I ran together for the first 4.5 miles, then he picked it up and hit a quarter in 77, which did me in. I tried to follow, but manged only 80. Then I recovered with 84, 85, 85, 85 and was able to kick in 81. It would have been 80, but there were two dogs in the way, and I lost concentration trying to get around them. Last 1.5 in 8:20. Jeff did it in 7:46.

I was happy that I ran the last 5 in 28:21, and the last 4 in 22:36. The last 4 were 29 seconds faster than my race time at Thanksgiving. A poor comparison, given that I ran that race sick and recovering from injury, and got embarrassingly chicked, but still a sign that I am recovering.  Reminds me how the Soviet propaganda like to compare everything with the year 1913, even in the late 70s and early 80s.

I was rather spent after this tempo and was not sure what kind of condition I would be towards the end of the run especially given that this was my first 20 mile run since St. George. We went for a long jog. After a couple of miles we were recovered from the tempo, and 7:00-7:10 pace started feeling natural. We stopped talking so that the pace would drift up so we could be done with the run quicker.  With 1.5 to go we did the fuel stimulus pickup. The target pace was 5:50, and I really meant 5:50 because we were going 20 miles, and we had already got our fast running in. So I hoped that Jeff's horses would not be neighing, but I was wrong. We started out at slower than 6:00, then it became 5:50, then 5:40, to make the long story short, the last mile was 5:29 with the last three quarters in 81, 81, and 82, and 8:24 (5:36 pace) for the last 1.5. I even moved out by Jeff's side in the last quarter to encourage him to go faster.

This was a surprise and a mystery. Why couldn't I do 81s at least for the last half mile of our tempo earlier some 12 miles ago? Do a couple of miles at 5:40 really do me in so bad? Does not having somebody to draft behind make such a difference? Maybe the air was too cold? Maybe the road was too slippery (it did snow some)?

In any case, I was happy that I had been able to maintain a decent fuel shape without long runs.  Maybe there is something to gluten free diet after all. I have not had any wheat (except for sacrament bread) since Top of Utah last year.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:46. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:00.  Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:25. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:58.

 

 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From neumannator on Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 19:11:33 from 71.213.68.26

No bread? And all this time i thought that bread was the staff of life and wheat was "for man". To every man his own. I won't start worrying unless you start opting out on water except on Sundays. Good luck with your training. Looks like you still got "stuff" when it comes to running.

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 21:14:26 from 192.168.1.1

I did an experiment to see if cutting out gluten would improve fuel storage just in case I might have some clinically insignificant but running performance significant gluten intolerance. I slow down at the end of a marathon way worse than most people who have trained as much as I have in their lifetime, so something is up, and I wanted to at least eliminate gluten intolerance possibility. I want it bad enough that I am willing to make any sacrifice that does not get in the way of higher priorities.

So far the results of the experiment are inconclusive. Due to my foot issues I have not been training as hard since St. George. But today and last Saturday were encouraging, especially today because it was at the end of 20, and the performance was better than at the end of a 6 mile tempo earlier today.

From seeaprilrun on Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 22:25:58 from 68.103.250.39

Glad to see the 20-miler went well. Are you going to run a spring marathon?

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 22:41:07 from 192.168.1.1

My first race will be the Utah Valley Marathon in June. This will give me a chance to test the gluten intolerance theory for real.

From allie on Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 17:01:47 from 98.202.24.36

i have also been doing some experimenting with my diet and i have found significant improvements in the way that i feel by eliminating both dairy and gluten. but as you said, i won't know if this has been beneficial until i actually race. just curious, what gluten free foods have you found that fill you up the way bread and other wheat products do? (without too much extra $$$)

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 14:26:31 from 192.168.1.1

Allie:

I buy oats, peanuts, almonds and dates in bulk from Azurestandard.Com, and then fresh or frozen berries and soy milk from Costco. I make various mixes of that, all raw, and this takes care of my breakfast and lunch. For dinner I eat whatever Sarah makes, usually mashed potatoes, buckwheat, or rice and beans, sometimes turkey, fish, or chicken. I also snack on bananas, apples, and oranges when we can buy them for cheap.

From allie on Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 14:50:30 from 98.202.24.36

thanks for the info, sasha. it sounds almost identical to what i have been eating, but since i haven't been buying in bulk it has been quite expensive. i have seen GF oats for $6.99, but they come in the same size package as regular oats that you can get for $1.99 or less. needless to stay those prices are not sustainable for my budget. i will have to check out azurestandard.com. thanks.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. It was a busy day. Sarah and I spoke in the Sacrament meeting on receiving and following council. Then I taught a lesson in Sunday school on prayer.

We discovered that Iain Hunter's wife's grandmother is in our ward. She told me she liked my talk because she could hear it. I have a loud voice and wake up sleeping babies. 

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Comments
From Paul on Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 16:20:15 from 65.103.252.214

Is there a Russian word for "man with very loud voice"?

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.571.250.001.7514.57

A.M. 12 with Jeff in 1:30:06. We did a 3 mile fartlek to give me a relatively light push in the 5:20 pace department alternating 80 and 90 quarters except for the penultimate when we did 80 instead of 90, and then on the last one Jeff kicked to get a workout.

My splits: 88 - 79 - 91 - 80 (5:37) - 91 - 80 - 89 - 79 (5:39) - 89 - 79 - 80 - 82. Total time 16:47.9.  Jeff kicked in 69.

I was happy with how the workout went except for the last quarter in 82. My legs were not moving. Part of the problem was losing contact after a strenuous effort. Part of it, I suppose, was fatigue from Saturday. Part of it was 21 F temperature. And I suppose a big part, bigger than any of the above, was just plain lack of fitness. 

During the warm-up we ran past an idling school bus. We could smell it very well as it prepared to take students to school to learn about global warming.

P.M.  2 with Benjamin in 16:34. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:54. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:30. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:46. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 14.57
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.550.000.000.3012.85

A.M. 10.1 in 1:18:12. Met Jeff and Brian on the trail. Did a post-VPB 500 up a small grade in 1:41.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:48. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:53.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:29. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.550.250.000.0012.80

A.M. 10.05 in 1:17:59. Met Jeff on the trail. In the last mile played a silly game. I saw that I needed to run it in 6:15 to finish in 1:18. Yes, we were dragging as usual, so I was at only slightly sub-8:00 average. So I said, no I do not feel like running 6:15, I am too lazy. But then I ran the next quarter in 1:37.  Then I said, OK, I'll run as slow as it takes to make it. I dragged it out to the last quarter, which I had to run in 91. I ran it in 90, so that gave me 0.25 of marathon pace.

That is indeed a silly game, like a cat playing with a mouse until it decides to kill it. But I suppose years of running create a feline personality. That is perhaps necessary to avoid overtraining and maximize recovery while still eliciting an adequate training stimulus. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 15:59. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:03. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:29. He keeps hitting the same time. I give him updates through the run which time he is headed for, and he keeps adjusting his speed. A good way to learn pacing, I suppose. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:50. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.850.200.000.0013.05

A.M. Jeff had a Lehi's dream this morning, so I ran alone. 10.3 in 1:16:48. I dragged along at around 7:50 pace when it was dark, and then it gradually became 7:10. Then I saw tracks on the snow. Yesterday I was a feline. Today I decided to be a canine. Changing animals. I look at the stride length and pattern, as well as the direction, and made a guess the tracks belonged to Kirk, a BYU Arabic professor that runs around that time of day. I figured he could be close enough for me to be able to catch him, and picked up the pace to something around 6:20 for a mile or so. I wished I were a dog. Then I'd be able to tell how far away he was by the smell, and also I'd be running faster.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:51. He decided to catch the 17:00 guy with 300 to go, so I got about 0.2 of marathon pace. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:08. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:29, third time in a row, and 0.25 with Jacob in 2:47. 

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.05
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.750.000.000.1012.85

A.M. 10.1 in 1:18:20. Found Jeff, and then Brian on the trail. After dropping them off ran back to the house a little quicker. I passed Sarah, Jenny and Sarah's running partner Mary (Jenny ran 2.5 with them) going towards me. I asked Sarah afterwards how fast she thought I was going. She guessed about 7:30 because I looked completely lazy. I was actually going 6:30, so that is somewhat encouraging. 

P.M. 2 in 16:00, most of it with Benjamin. He ran 16:08. I decided to return him the favor he did me yesterday by saying that 16:00 guy was catchable with a quarter to go. Except yesterday it was the 17:00 guy and we had to run only 7:00 pace to catch him. Today we had to run 5:50 pace. Benjamin said he was not interested.  With about 0.1 to go I said I was, and ran about 4:40 pace to the finish. Thus I ended up 8 seconds ahead. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:48. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:52.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From steve ash on Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 18:03:56 from 174.52.96.106

Sorry to hear that. Did you eat something different? I know that your diet is pretty strict usually.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.9012.000.000.0022.90

A.M. Ran with Jeff. 20.4 in 2:04:59, 6:07.6 avg. Had some serious digestive system issues - nausea, bloated stomach, diarrhea with lots of liquid stool . I had originally planned to do a brisk 20 with the last 5 hard, but was not sure how much of it was going to happen with those problems. So I decided to just run brisk at whatever pace was happening naturally until I felt it was not healthy to run.

I felt it was not healthy to run from the very start at any pace.  However, as I increased the pace I did not feel much worse, so after a couple of miles we settled into 6:10-6:15 groove and were coasting along. I was feeling that great, but it was not getting worse, so I just kept going. It was nice to run in shorts.

We hit the first 5.1 in 32:44 (6:25 pace), then came back in 31:16 (6:08 avg), then did turned around again and ran 30:47 (6:02). Then I told Jeff I wanted to try sub-6:00 but no faster than 5:50 and see if I can make it to the end. Jeff overdid it a bit. I managed 5:45 pace with him for the next 2.3 miles, and other than the stomach it actually felt good. But the stomach was not doing well at all as the nausea increased. So I told Jeff to go, and coasted to the finish trying to maintain 6:00 pace but slipping in places where the road was not ideal. I ended up with 6:11 last mile and 30:12 for the last 5.1, which is actually decent - 5:55 average.

Jeff finished in 2:03:11 (28:24, 5:34 average). The last 1.3 at 5:20 pace really helped his cause.

I was pleased to observe that in spite of the stomach problems and the slowing pace in the last  couple of miles I never felt fuel-deficient and the form felt quite smooth.

Afterwards I was not feeling too bad at first, and followed through with the plans to go to a science/engineering activity with the family at the Thanksgiving point. But this was probably a mistake. I started feeling bad there, was counting miles on the way back almost the same way I count miles at the end of a hard run, and then threw up as soon as I got home.  

P.M. Felt a little better, good enough to run with the kids. Did 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 16:50. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:45. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:58. Jacob ran 0.25 with Benjamin in 3:14.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 22.90
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Comments
From steve ash on Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 18:09:12 from 174.52.96.106

Sorry, I entered my comment into the wrong entry. Lack of sleep maybe.. Did you eat something different? I know your diet is usually pretty strict.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a ward conference. The bishop and the state president spoke on being spiritually prepared. Then we had Sunday school less on prophets, and the Elders Quorum lesson on moral discipline based on Elder Christopherson's talk in the last General Conference.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.950.000.000.0012.95

A.M. Ran with Jeff. 10.2 in 1:17:38. The stomach felt good, but I felt a little weak from Saturday's adventures. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:50. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:44. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:00. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:47.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.95
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.5013.00

A.M. Found Jeff on the trail. 10.25 in 1:20:00. We did 4x200. The plan was 34, but I knew it would be closer to 32 as Jeff is an overachiever, but that was OK with me since I wanted to test the effectiveness of my massage and scraping.

The temperature was 27 degrees, and I was wearing pants and a jacket. The first one did not go so well as it was dark, my pants were falling down, my clogs felt loose, and I was not mentally ready to be going that fast. Jeff did around 30, I ended up with 32.3. 

On the second one I was physically and mentally ready to go hard. I tucked in my jacket into the pants to keep them from falling down, I focused on staying with Jeff, and I was mentally ready to move my feet in a way that would not invite the clogs to fall off. A slight dorsi-flexion  of the foot  through most of the off-the-ground phase does the job. It might even be good for the form as it allows a more explosive plantar-flexion once you hit the ground. Some world-class distance runners run like this during the kick and possibly the whole way, but it becomes more apparent during the kick.

However, on the second one we missed the mark and went too far. Jeff had me gapped by about 3 meters when we realized we had been running for 35 seconds and turned off the engines.  But even with jogging our 300 split was 57 seconds.

The third one went very well. The sun had come up. I was able to stay within 3 meters of Jeff and finished in 29.7. I was very excited about that. But then on the fourth I stayed within a meter and managed 29.5!

For me this is a very significant development. My 200 meter PR is 27.5 on the track in spikes at the age of 17 when I was doing weights, bounding, and form drills. The trail even in perfect conditions is probably at least a good second slower than the track. Pants, jacket, and below freezing temperatures slow you down some as well. I checked the blog and it appears that 29.5 is an all-time PR for the trail. Previous PR was 30.7.

So I am definitely seeing a top-end speed improvement. This is exciting. You can get into better shape by running more miles and run a better 5 K, but you cannot run a better 200 through any form of "cheating". By "cheating" I mean materializing the existing Quality X through some form of training into a better performance vs actually increasing Quality X. You can also "cheat" by sprint-specific training, but I have not done any of that recently except the occasional test efforts themselves, which would not be enough to have any training effect. So I would say this workout provided more evidence that my massage and scraping has been effective.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:44. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:40. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:36. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:47.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From seeaprilrun on Wed, Mar 03, 2010 at 18:44:37 from 205.172.12.229

Congrats on the breakthrough!

From runnerchic on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 at 12:49:32 from 64.122.118.34

Great job! It feels good to have a break through, doesn't it!

Can you give me some advice? I am working my way up to the 10 mile a day mark. I think I may be running too many miles too quick. I feel a cold coming on today and each time I run my legs feel a little tight. I think I am getting enough sleep and my pace is fairly slow. I am a little afraid to pick up the pace because I don't want to re-injure my hip until I have a good base. Should I push through the tightness or back off on the mileage?

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 at 13:33:54 from 192.168.1.1

runnerchic - your daily mileage has been fluctuating a lot. Try something like 5-6 miles at 9:30 pace for five days with the long run of 12. You also seem to have wild energy level fluctuations. To deal with that, assume that a high is really not that much of a high, and a low is not that much of a low either. On a high, hold back a bit, maybe more than a bit. On a low, give yourself a modest kick in the rear, but not too much.

The principle involved is to even things out. If you looked at an oscillograph you would see that a sound wave that is musical is very smooth, a near-perfect sine wave. If it has lots of random spikes, it becomes very unpleasant noise. So we want your training to become musical in that sense, no abrupt spikes or drops.

From runnerchic on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 at 13:45:31 from 64.122.118.34

Yes, my energy levels fluctuate a lot. I will take your advice. I have signed up for the Utah Valley Marathon, June 12th. Do you think I can work up to the 10 daily mile mark by then or is that too unrealistic?

From runnerchic on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 at 13:46:02 from 64.122.118.34

Oh, one other thing, when do I start adding hill and speek work?

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 at 13:54:49 from 192.168.1.1

It depends on how your body responds. Do not be in a rush to add mileage. You do not get ready for a marathon like some (unfortunately too many) students study for a test. School tests are often designed so that a night or two of cramming can get you an A. Marathons are different animals, they test what you really have. So the focus should not be so much on your race date, as on your long-term fitness progression.

I would not worry about hills or speed work for another year.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.050.000.000.0013.05

A.M. 10.3 in 1:18:43. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:17. Julia ran the first 1.5 in  12:12. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:45. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:14.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.05
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.800.001.000.0015.80

A.M. 10.3 in 1:15:50. Saw Kirk on the trail and ran an 81 quarter to catch him. Ran with him a bit, and then did 0.75 in 3:59.7 to feel 5:20 pace. The right clog developed its first hole at a little over 400 miles.

P.M. 3.25 with Benjamin including 2 miles in 15:17 with the last mile in 6:48. 1.5 with Julia in 12:42. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.



Water Clogs 3 Miles: 15.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.750.000.000.0012.75

A.M. 10 in 1:18:43. It was snowing. Met Jeff on the trail. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 16:51. Julia ran 1.5 in 12:44 with us. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:33. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:39.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.763.420.500.0018.68

A.M. 16.18 with Jeff in 1:44:01 (6:25.7 avg). I decided the detour was adding only 0.04 each way instead of 0.05 because we hit 1 mile + detour in 5:57 while consistently hitting 86 quarters in the measured area.

This was a recovery long run, if there is such a thing. Part of the reason was that Benjamin and I were going to the chess camp later today. Part of the reason was to avoid overtraining from the hard 20 in the last 2 weeks, with the one last week done on a sick stomach. So the plan was to maintain about 6:40 average, and then run a bit quicker in the last couple of miles.

We pretty much followed the plan, except we got a little anxious to be done and hit the gas with 3.91 to go covering the distance in 22:31 (5:45.5 average). In the way of Soviet era style 1913 comparison bragging, this was slightly faster than my average race pace in the Thanksgiving 4 miler. The quarters varied from 86 to 89 in the first 1.5 miles (8:48 at 1.5), then they became a steady 86 until we got to the bridges and the uphill afterwards in the last mile. We put in the same effort but it produced only 88 and 89. Then Jeff shifted gears (I responded) and we did 81 and 79 for the last two quarters. Last mile was 5:37.

It was a lot easier to run fast with a properly functioning stomach. 5:56 pace felt like a jog. 5:44 felt comfortable. 5:20 was bearable even with the turns, at least for half a mile. I was happy that Jeff did not drop me in the last mile.

About 7.8 into the run we caught up to Luz. I saw the opportunity to help her break the mental block and challenged her to run with us until she could not. She managed about 0.2 at 6:40 pace. Some of what I consider to be my most significant growing experiences happened when I ran with guys that are much faster than me without them slowing down for me. There is some form of communication that takes place when you do that. You learn something very valuable that is difficult to describe even if that one race ends up slower because you were not fit to run that pace yet and it broke you down.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:40. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:55. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:29. Jacob had a sore knee and did not run.


Water Clogs 3 Miles: 18.68
Night Sleep Time: 7.83Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.83
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. It was a Fast Sunday. We had a Fast and Testimony meeting. Then a Sunday school class - the lesson was on scriptures, followed by the lesson in the Elder's Quorum which was on the talk by Elder Oaks on reverence while partaking of the Sacrament. 

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.310.000.000.6212.93

A.M. Ran 10.18 with Jeff in 1:22:14. Did 5x200 with full rest in the middle. My splits were 30.9 - 30.0 - 30.8 - 29.6 - 29.6. I felt very tense in the first two, then loosened up, but not 100%. Felt tension in the shoulders in the 4th repeat. Had Jeff massage them out, and it did help. It was gone in the last one, which I think helped me keep the pace in spite of the fatigue in the muscles. 30.8 felt easy, but 29.6 was all I could do.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:13. Julia ran 1.5 in 13:03.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:39. He was bumming around and being lazy at the start. I told him to get on the ball. He said he did not have to if he did not want to. I explained to him about choice and consequences like this: "You do not have to do anything if you do not want to. But you cannot choose what happens later. If you do not work, you will not learn to work. You'll grow up to be a bum. You will not be able to provide for your family. Nobody will want to marry you except a girl that is a bum herself." When he heard about the eternal consequences of being married to a bum he immediately sped up and ran with an honest effort to the finish. I hope he will remember this.

0.25 with Jacob in 2:32.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.73
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.750.000.000.0012.75

A.M. 10 in 1:19:41. Met Jeff on the trail. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:53. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:17.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:29. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:35.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 12.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.530.000.000.0013.53

A.M. Jeff had another Lehi's dream experience, so I ran alone. 10.28 in 1:14:58. Hamstrings still stale from the 200s on Monday. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:48. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:06.  0.25 with Jacob in 2:45. Joseph asked to run the whole mile today, so we did. This was his first timed mile. He did 8:48 with the splits of 2:18, 2:16, 2:09, and 2:05, and was chatting the entire time. Joseph is an interesting kid. He often acts  lazy. But sometimes he decides to work.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.53
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From Scott Ensign on Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 16:38:28 from 129.123.3.31

sounds like a great group of kids you have.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.150.000.000.2013.35

A.M. Ran with Jeff. Met him on the trail. 10.1 in 1:17:44. Did a pickup to catch another guy whose name was also Jeff. Ran 300 in 58 (5:10 pace).

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:17. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:18. 1 with Joseph in 9:27. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:52.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 13.35
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.350.000.000.5512.90

A.M. 10.15 in 1:17:43. Some of it with Brian. Did a 900 pickup in 2:58 (5:17 pace) to shake out the legs. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M.  Retired my Water Clogs at 506 miles, and replaced them with Eva Clogs bought at Walmart for $7.   2 with Benjamin in 17:27. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:31. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:48. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:58.

Water Clogs 3 Miles: 10.15Eva Clogs Army Miles: 2.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.5018.360.000.0022.86

A.M.20.36 with Jeff in my new Eva Clogs in 2:01:25. Yes, that's right, 5:57.8 average for the whole business. Only half-intentional. I was in a hurry to get to a baptism this morning, so I told Jeff let's go as fast as is reasonable with the idea that we would bum around at 6:20 pace for the first 5, then speed up to 6:10, then 6:00, and then 5:50 for the last 5. But 2 miles into it the pace hit 6:00 and never really got slower after that except a couple of miles at the end.

So we hit the first 5.09 in 31:18 (6:09 avg), then the next 5.09 in 30:18 (5:57). Then Jeff got really excited about breaking 2 hours for the entire run and started throwing occasional 83 quarters (5:32 pace). I would reign him in with a warning, he would slow down to 86-87 (5:44-5:48 pace). On the detour in the unmarked territory he was like a sports car driver on a freeway in the middle of Nevada with no police officers in sight. I did not have a number to scare him with, so my warnings only slowed him down there to around 5:38 average. We ended up with 29:12 for the next 5.09 stretch (5:44 avg).

This looked too good to be true. Jeff had run 10 miles the night before, and now he was being feisty in the later parts of an aggressively paced 20 miler. But I figured I did not want to hold Jeff back, so I told him to bring me to 4 miles to go mark, and then see if he could run 5:20 pace to the finish. We hit the next 1.05 in 5:58 (5:41 pace), and then Jeff went for it.

The remaining 4 miles was a lesson for both of us. Jeff learned more about fuel fatigue, while I learned more about neural fatigue. It was good to have those two types side by side so we can understand the difference better. In Jeff's case a surge to 5:20 quickly faded, all of a sudden he was struggling with 5:40 pace at first, a mile later with 6:00, then he could not do even 6:00, and the last mile was a disastrous 6:51. I almost caught him.

On my side, as soon as I lost contact I slowed down to 6:00, half a mile later it became 6:05, then 6:08, then with a couple of turns 6:15. However, because the fatigue was in the nervous system, the easing off of the pace allowed me to regroup and finish with a 5:58 last mile, which was slightly uphill, and had bridges and sharp turns. Seeing Jeff gradually come back gave me a boost. The last 5.09 was covered in 30:37 (6:01 avg).

Immediately after the run Jeff was dizzy and hungry, while I was actually too wired up to eat, and not dizzy at all.

Now here is the big question. I know what to do for fuel - just run more miles, and run as much as you can at marathon pace. But what do you do if the limiting factor is in the nervous system? More miles, more miles at marathon pace is often the wrong answer. More sleep is a better answer, but not quite the whole deal. Better form might be the answer, more particularly fixing the rhythm issues. Poor rhythm puts more stress on the nervous system. Then you can approach the issue from the aspect of raw power. Train at sub-5:00, and even hit sub-4:30 pace for short segments. But I think the main culprit is the poor rhythm, which is rooted in what I call "the structure". So we go back to targeted and intelligent massage that would hopefully fix "the structure".

Aside from the small lapse in the final miles I was happy with how this run went. I have not done too many 20 miles in my life in training on a course without a drop averaging sub-6:00.  It shows that I am in somewhat respectable shape.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:57. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:45. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:00. Benjamin ran 0.25 with Jacob.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 22.86
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. In Sacrament the talks were on the Atonement of Christ. Good talks. Taught in Sunday School - the lesson was on the life of Christ to go along with the talks. It just happened that I was teaching in the Elder's Quorum as well (second time this year) on creation.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.730.200.000.0012.93

A.M. 10.18 in 1:19:39 with Jeff. We were both tired from the 20 miler on Saturday + daylight savings and opened with a glorious 9:12 mile. I this is the slowest start in non-adverse conditions since a long time ago. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. We actually caught them at the very end of the run, and I was able to time their last 100 meters. They were going around 10:40 pace.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:29. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:48. Benjamin picked it up in the last 300 to 5:50 pace. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:55. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:12. I think that is his record, if not, then only a second off.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.950.000.000.0012.95

A.M. 10.2 in 1:19:56. Met Jeff on the trail. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:16. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:17. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:39.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.95
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.130.000.302.0014.43

A.M. Jeff and Kimia were blessed with a baby girl last night, so I ran alone this morning. Did 10.18 in 1:15:53 with 4x800 in the middle with essentially full rest in 2:30.7, 2:31.7, 2:31.1, and 2:30.8. It was a bit colder when I started, so I wore pants. Later I wished I had been in shorts. In the first two I was fading in the last 200. Then I came up with a plan to avoid fading. Increase the effort at 300, and increase it even more at 600. That worked. I ran a slight negative split in the last 2. However I was not happy with how hard it was to maintain such a slow pace for so short.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin including a fartlek mile in 6:26.9 alternating 100 in 21 and 29 for the first 1000, then a steady pace to the finish (last quarter in 92). Hopefully this gave him some confidence that if he can fartlek through a 6:26 mile with this much pace variation, he can run it steady in 6:00.  1.5 with Julia in 12:57. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 14.43
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.930.000.001.0012.93

A.M. 10.18 in 1:13:56. I was wondering what I could have done in shorts yesterday. So I decided to wear shorts today and try one test 800 to see how it would feel. It was interesting. I opened with a 77, but then was able to give myself a kick in the behind and close in 73 finishing in 2:30.8. Then I decided to do one more, and this time ran 2:30.0 with even splits. So about the same as yesterday in pants. Interesting results. Possible explanations - pants do not slow you do as much as I think, at least when the temperatures are around 35, I was tired from yesterday, or I just ran with less effort today. The less effort explanation holds some credence as evidenced by fading yesterday in the last 200, but closing strong today.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:51. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:05.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:30.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.753.000.000.0018.75

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 16 because tomorrow is Benjamin's chess tournament, and I will only be able to run 10. Total time was 1:58:47 as we had a very sluggish start. Picked it up in the last 3.04 and ran it in 18:03, slightly sub-6:00 average. It felt harder than what it should have. Probably due to the 800s while still not fully recovered from the 20 miler on Saturday. I think the lack of soreness in the muscles makes me greatly underestimate the stress of running 5:58 average for 20 miles and how long it takes to recover from it. I should probably keep my hard running in those 20 milers to 10 miles, definitely no more than 15.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 16:50. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:51. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:22. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:26.  

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 18.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From steve ash on Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 00:42:12 from 174.52.96.106

You guys have had some good workouts lately though. I'll have to come down soon for one of your 20 mile burn sessions again.

From Colby Park on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 09:22:25 from 98.88.73.232

Hey Sasha, this is Colby. i don't know if you remember me running with you and Ted last year. Sorry to bother but I was curious if you could answer a couple running questions. I am looking into doing barefeet running, or starting with the 5 fingers. Any tips on getting started and easing into it?

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 13:24:26 from 192.168.1.1

Colby - my thoughts on Five Fingers are that they are overpriced, and are inferior to clogs. For true barefoot running they are inferior to bare feet on grass. For asphalt they do not provide enough cushioning. With clogs you can get the barefoot grass feel on asphalt. They are not much more durable than clogs - maybe 700 miles to the first hole vs 500 in clogs. But a pair of clogs can be bought under $10, while Five Fingers are at least $70.

From Colby Park on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 16:55:28 from 98.88.73.232

Do you have a suggestion on how to slowly implement barefoot running, or running in clogs? How many miles a day and how many weeks until feet are accustomed to it? I know everybody's feet are different, but is there a general guideline?

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 17:09:36 from 192.168.1.1

Colby:

No general guidelines except listen to your body and be very careful. Maybe start with a mile a day, and increase every three weeks by a mile if everything is good.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.143.040.000.0012.18

A.M. Benjamin's chess tournament (Utah Elementary State Championship) . Spent all day there. Benjamin played 6 games, won the first 4, then lost the last 2, and took 12th place out of 92 players in the 5th grade. 

P.M. I sure thought I'd be feeling terrible after a busy day, and running late at night with a full stomach. Started with 2 with Benjamin in 17:49. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:27.  Jenny ran 2 with Sarah. Joseph and Jacob ran with Sarah as well. 

After that it was already 8:30, and I needed to finish the run, take a shower, and read the scriptures with Sarah before 10:00pm. So I ran brisk. Figured 6:40 was the slowest I could go and still get 10 in, so I did just that. I was expecting not to feel well, but quite on the contrary I was feeling great. I wondered if it was the adrenaline from the chess tournament, and it would end after about 4 miles, but it did not. I just kept cruising along at around 6:30-6:35 pace. With about 3 miles to go decided to shift gears to test the waters with the idea that if 6:00 pace felt hard I would back off immediately and run the slowest it takes to get home before curfew. In spite of the dark sub-6:00 pace felt very comfortable, so I just kept going. The tunnels and turns slowed me down more than normal in the dark, and then I had an interesting incident. Two guys with skateboards were under a bridge. As I was approaching them one of them asked me if I had seen anybody. I said no, and then immediately ran into the other that I did not see. So I lost a couple of seconds on that, but was able to get back into the rhythm. In spite of the obstacles my last mile was still a decent 5:48, and the total time for the last 3.04 was 17:54. Total time for 10.18 was 1:04:37.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.18
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in the sacrament meeting were on missionary work. Then they asked me to substitute in the Primary for the remainder of the meetings. The lesson was on Abraham and Isaac.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Comments
From Kim on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 14:58:29 from 67.199.180.90

Way to sub in the Primary! I am the Primary President in our ward and we love dads like you!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.450.001.000.3014.75

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ended up with a total of 12 in 1:34:05. Did a couple of pickups. A mile that was supposed to be fat, but ended up a bit quicker in 5:33 with quarters of 85,85,83, and 80. Then we were messing around with the stride rate count. I came up with a new method of counting stride rate, more accurate that what I've used in the past. You time 180 steps then divide 180 by the time in seconds and multiply the result by 60. The reason this is more accurate is if you try to count how many steps you can take in 20 seconds you start your 20 seconds half way through a step and you end it half way as well. The time for 180 steps can be measured much more accurately. So on Saturday at 6:30 pace the stride rate was 177. Today at 8:00 pace it was 166. Then I wanted to know what Jeff's was at 5:00. So we did a pickup. First 200 in 34, but Jeff lost count. Then we used my method and ran for 54 seconds at around 4:40 pace. Jeff's stride rate was 200. I messed up my count, but I really did not care that much as I already know it is around 200-205 at those speeds. However, this was a good illustration as to why Jeff cannot sustain this for a half. It is very very difficult to sustain a stride rate above 190 for the half.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:10. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:02. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:37. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:52.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 14.75
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Seth on Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 16:21:56 from 199.188.28.8

Thanks so much for this post! I noticed I fatigue pretty fast on most of my tempo runs, and knew it was because of my form, but not sure exactly what the deal was. I'm usually right around the 180 per minute rate for my regular runs, and now I know I was subconsciously bumping up my stride rate during tempos, which was wasting a lot of energy. I just did a tempo remembering to keep the correct stride rate, but focusing more on power, and it seemed to work great! I'll have to keep experimenting with this, but I think I'm on the right track. Thanks again!

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 11:38:23 from 192.168.1.1

Seth - I believe forcing the stride rate to something unnatural is wrong. Instead you should focus on running smooth and relaxed. A good way to test if your form adjustment does you any good is see if you are able to run the same pace at a lower heart rate in the same workout.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.430.000.001.2512.68

A.M. 10.18 with Jeff in 1:14:41. We did a couple of pickups. First, a mile that was supposed to be "fat", but Jeff accidentally opened with a 75 and I did not stop him even though I knew we were going too fast. So he saw the split and eased off to 78, and then fell asleep to 81 with the help of some mild headwind. Then I realized that it would be nice to crack 5:10, so I told Jeff I wanted to do that. We ran the next 200 in 38, followed by 35 (quarter in 73), and finished the mile in 5:07.3. I was happy with how easy it felt given that last week I struggled with 4x800 in 2:30.

Then Jeff wanted to feel faster pace, so we ran a quarter in 65.6. To put things in perspective. This is on pace for 27:20 10 K. Fast, but Bekele would lap you in his world record run. I wonder how many runners really comprehend that you could be running 4:22 pace for 6 miles and get lapped! And neither one of us can hold this pace for even a mile.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Sarah and I started a training group for kids. Primarily directed at the home schooled kids, but we take everybody, actually both kids and adults. We had our first run today. About 20 kids ran.  It was a little chaotic as we did not quite know how to deal with so many kids of different ages and abilities, but we managed. Nobody got lost. I ended up running 0.5 with Joseph in 4:27, then 2 in 16:58 shepherding a group that started big, but then thinned out. Benjamin ran 2 in 16:35. Julia ran 1.5 in 12:48. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.68
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.480.750.000.0015.23

A.M. 10.48 in 1:16:54. Triggered a deer repelling device while running past a house in the detour section of the trail, and thought about deer, the sunrise, and the length of the run. My mind is very good at associating context, so I started singing "Doe, a deer, a female deer, Ray, a drop of golden sun. Me, a name I call myself, Far, a long long way to run".

P.M. 2 with Benjamin including a workout. We ran 1 mile in a 300-100 fartlek  for the first 0.75, then he gave the best he had for the last quarter. The splits were 67-28-66-30-67-26 with 4:44 at 0.75, and then the last quarter in 91. Total time 6:15.4. I think we've made some progress in overcoming his mental block against sustained 6:00 pace. Later 2 with Jenny in 16:29. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:31. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:37. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:28.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 15.23
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Chris Bramwell on Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 00:22:36 from 76.27.93.224

I run by that house with the deer alarm almost every day...if it is windy then it goes off non-stop and you can hear it from almost 200 meters away. I don't know how the neighbors can stand it.

From runningafterbabies on Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 23:30:13 from 67.177.9.74

Is the detour pretty self explanatory? We just turned around where the trail ended. I was afraid I'd get lost in the neighborhood.

From Chris Bramwell on Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 10:44:53 from 128.187.0.164

Yea, definitely self explanatory. You just run on the road next to the trail for about .5 miles then jump right back on on the trail at the 1.5 mile marker. The detour adds about 20 seconds on @7:10 pace, don't know the distance.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.451.000.000.1013.55

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10.2  in 1:18:59. Did a fat mile in 5:45 with a 180 turn in the middle. Yes, the trail is ripped up at a bad place for us, so we could not do it without a 180 or bridges, and we chose 180. Two geeks as we are, we discussed the effects of a 180 turn for the rest of the run.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Ran with the kids running group. Ran to and back from the park with William in the stroller, that gave me 0.75. Then did 0.5 with Joseph and others in 4:42, and 2 in 16:23 with Julia running 1.5 in 12:33. Benjamin did 2 miles in 15:41 with the last quarter in 89. Then he ran 100 in 17.7, two older kids did in in 15.4 and 15.7. Then I took two older kids for a world record marathon pace demonstration, and we ran 100 in 17.9 (4:46.4 pace) which is slightly slower (would give you 2:05:09), but close enough. I think our society in general would do better in a number of ways if more people knew exactly how fast the world record marathon pace is, not just looking at the numbers and saying "Wow!", but actually trying it for as long as they can hold it while thinking that somebody runs all 26 miles like that.

I ended up with 3.35 for the run.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.55
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Scott Ensign on Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 00:06:57 from 65.100.218.130

I think we should see how long we could run at Usain Bolt's 100 meter pace :-)

From Marathon Dreamer on Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 02:02:22 from 200.52.168.2

Inspiring and amazing!!!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.631.500.000.0014.13

A.M. Both Jeff and I slept in. So I ran alone. 10.18 in 1:12:39 with 1.5 in the middle in 8:42. It felt harder than it should have.

P.M. 3.2 with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia in 27:06 to Walgreens to get them new clogs and back. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:35.

Sarah had the ultrasound today. This is going to be a boy. We decided to name him Stephen.  There were two Stephens in my family who died at the age of 3 back in the 1920s in the Soviet Union. A disciple of Christ by the same name was one of the few people in the recorded history of mankind to have seen God the Father and the Son (the story is Acts 7 in the New Testament). We also hope that our Steve will have the talent and the work ethic of three great British Steves: Steve Cram, Steve Ovett, and Steve Jones. If you run and do not know how they are, I would encourage some search-engine aided enlightenment. And of course, we are not forgetting our long time family friend Steve Ashbaker.  

Sarah went to the Pennies by the Inch dinner yesterday and heard a story about a blind man who worked menial jobs all his life, saved $1 million and donated all of it to Pennies by the Inch in his will. I found that story fascinating and did a bit of math. Suppose somebody with low income wants to do a similar feat. Let's say he is able to save $200 a month over 40 years. Let's say he does not want to play any games with the stock market and risky investments and just uses CDs and money market. With the current economy he will be lucky to get 3% interest this way. At 3% interest he will have about $185,000 when he retires. He will not be donating $1 million to any causes when he dies. At 10% interest he will have about $1.2 million.

The question I have is why we clamor for lower interest rates. What do we accomplish with that? We in essence rob the folks that have been working hard and saving their entire life to enable those who currently have a source of income to buy a house that is two times the size they need for four times its worth. Do we really understand that?

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 14.13
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Rob Murphy on Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 16:08:37 from 98.202.182.29

Absolutely right Sasha. Interest is simply the price of money. Low interest rates = cheap money! You don't want them at 18%, but neither should we want less than 1% either.

From SlowJoe on Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 16:18:15 from 184.79.24.255

Your point about interest rates is correct but has even futher-reaching consequences. Although they're supposed to encourage lending and growth and help to grow the economy in times of recession, we're also expanding the money supply to unheard of levels. The cost will be nasty inflation in a few years. Then it will be too late for the Fed to control it with interest rates alone. But they will not raise them now with high unemployment and likely pressure from the current administration. This same situation happened in the Nixon era right before inflation spun out of control in the 70s.

From neumannator on Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 17:00:47 from 71.213.64.28

Americas economy is so dependent on debt. Excessive debt at all levels got us this economic mess but yet the people in charge think that spending even more money that we don't have will get us out. I am no rocket scientist, but realistically we are headed for trouble. America hasn't seen inflation like you or I did in Russia in the early 90's.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.350.009.000.0024.35

A.M. When my alarm went off this morning at 6:20 I seriously was annoyed because I thought it was Sunday. I was looking forward to a day of rest. Yet, when I woke up more fully I realized I had a 20 mile run ahead of me. I thought it was not a good sign that I felt this way, and wondered if maybe there some some lingering fatigue, but from the way the run went I have to say it was more in the area of imagination. Sometimes I feel tired for no other reason than having too many memories.

We did 20.1 in 2:19:48 with 3x3 miles in the middle on our much valued 1.5 mile stretch of the trail from the bridge construction to the end. The target was 5:40 pace. I admonished Jeff not to overachieve and he tried as hard as he could. We started after a 4 mile warm up and did 1.5 recovery jog in between at a bit slower than 8:00 pace. The first one was 16:44.0 with the splits of 5:38, 5:33, 5:33. Second, 16:41.3 (5:33, 5:35, 5:33). On the last one I told Jeff to pace perfectly at 84 per quarter, time every 100 if he had to, then after 2 miles 81, 81, 80, in the last one pace me for 78 but then with 200 to go hit the gas and try to run 30. We ended up doing 5:34, 5:36 (I did have to verbally adjust the pace a few times), then 78, 81, 80, 79 (5:18, 16:28) for me. Jeff dropped me with 500 to go and ended up running 37,30 in the last quarter with the last mile in 5:06 and total time of 16:16.

Overall I was pleased with the workout. I thought 5:40 pace would challenging enough but I was able to average 5:32.6. In spite of going faster than planned I was able to run relaxed and I proved that it was true relaxation, not an illusion of relaxation, with the last mile in 5:18. I was able to maintain the pace after losing contact with Jeff. Before the last repeat I admonished Jeff not to do a 78 quarter immediately after the 2 mile mark thinking it would ruin my last mile and I would fade to 5:25.  He did it anyway. If I had not reigned him in after the first 0.1 it would have been  74. But I did not fade, and instead was able to find a relaxed groove around 5:20 pace that I was able to maintain to the finish. And it felt good to be headed for a very low 17:00 5 K in the last repeat in the middle of a long run off a conservative start.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:41. 1.5 with Julia in 12:58. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:47. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:46.

 

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 24.35
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From steve ash on Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 01:52:32 from 174.52.96.106

How did I miss your previous announcement? I just read that and thought man I must have been super tired or something. Anyhow congratulations!

Cool name..

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The Sacrament meeting talks were on resurrection. The lesson in Sunday school was on priesthood. The lesson in the Elder Quorum was on Elder Uchtdorf's talk in the last General Conference "Two Principles for Any Economy". Those principles are work and learn. If only everybody would listen to the Lord's prophets we would have been out of the economic crisis a long time ago. In fact, we would never have been in one in the first place.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.930.000.000.0012.93

A.M. Easy recovery run with Jeff. 10.18 in 1:17:50. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M.  2 with Benjamin in 17:31. Julia ran 1.5 in 13:02. 0.5 with Joseph in the direction of the library. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:56.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From Chris Bramwell on Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 15:37:22 from 76.27.93.224

What time do you guys usually run and where do you usually meet up? I would love to join you guys on a recovery day in the morning. My email is christopherbramwell@gmail.com

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 16:49:37 from 192.168.1.1

Chris:

Mondays and Saturdays we meet at my house at 339 N 1120 W in Provo sometimes at 7 and sometimes at 7:30 AM. Tue-Fri we run towards each other on the trail starting from our houses around 6:05 AM. So the "bus schedule" for me is Riverside Park 6:09 AM, 800 N Bridge 6:12 AM, Fire Station 6:16 AM. Sometimes I do not make it to the Fire Station because I meet Jeff earlier, but I almost always make it to the 800 N Bridge. Feel free to find us using those timings. We love to have training partners.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.381.000.500.0013.88

A.M. 10.38 in 1;14:58. Did 1.5 in the middle in 8:39.8. Felt OK. Started with a 5:51 mile while somewhat trying to run 5:48 pace. Got a little mad at the 5:48 guy because he took advantage of the wind to gap me. So decided to show him who is the boss and ran the last 2 quarters in 84 each to beat him.

P.M. Ran with our running group. Ended up with a total of  3.5 miles. Benjamin ran a total of 2.5 with 2 miles in 15:54. Jenny did a total of 2.5 with 2 miles in around 16:15. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:38. Jacob did 0.25 with Sarah. Julia ran 0.5 fairly quick, around 4:10 or so, and then a mile in 8:50.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.88
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.100.001.000.0016.10

A.M. 10.25 in 1:18:58. Met Jeff on the trail. An interesting thing happened. Right as I walked out of my house around 6:05 AM I saw another runner and invited him to join me. His name was Dax. As I talked to him it turned out that he served his mission in Madagaskar. Then I realized something interesting. Over the last 10 years I have approached a good number of potential training partners while running. Out of those I get a near 100% return missionary rate. This is higher than what I got from talking to men ages 21 and over inside the church! Go figure. You would expect that even if Provo were 100% LDS, with the 50% inactivity rate the missionary probability of a man inside the church would be higher than the missionary probability of a random man running. How do you explain that?

Did a mile pickup in 5:30.8 starting from the DI bridge. Felt smooth, but not motivated to go any faster. Felt like 5:30 pace was a fine balance of fast and relaxed.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 3.6 with Benjamin to chess club and back in 28:05. 1.5 with Julia in 13:19. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:36.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 16.10
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Matt on Thu, Apr 01, 2010 at 00:20:12 from 76.23.0.103

Runners are the kind of people who get things done. People that get things done aren't necessarily runners.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.130.750.000.0012.88

A.M. 10.38 in 1:14:49. Ran the last quarter in 89. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah. Julia ran 2 with Sarah.

P.M. Ran with the kids group. Did a total of 2.5 with two quick quarters in 86 and 88. Benjamin ran 2.5 as well including 2 in 15:48 with the two fast quarters  as well. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:17. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.88
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.850.000.000.0012.85

A.M. 10.1 in 1:18:41. Met Jeff on the trail.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:03. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:32. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:36.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 7.50Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
18.362.000.750.2521.36

A.M. Ran with Steve Ashbaker and Jeff. Jeff and I did 20.36 in 2:18:37. Steve ran the first 10 with us. We coasted at a little slower than 7:00 average with occasional drifts into 6:40 for most of the run, and then ran the last 3.04 in 17:35 with the last mile in 5:27 - quarters of 85, 83, 83, and 76. I was happy to survive 76 at the end of a 20 mile run.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Sat on the backup for the General Conference translation, so Benjamin and Julia ran on their own around the block (2.1 in 18:03). Joseph and Jacob ran their usual distances with Sarah.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 20.36
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Listen to General Conference. Heard a lot of good stuff, now it is time to do it. I particularly liked Elder Christopherson's talk on scriptures. What I got out of it is that the people like William Tyndale knew enough to sacrifice their lives to make the scriptures available, I could perhaps exercise my faith and learn a portion of what they knew. Their is value and power in the scriptures that we just do not understand. 

I also liked President Uchtdorf's  talk on patience in the Priesthood session. Back in the 60s an experiment was conducted that tested the patience of four year old children. They were given a marshmallow and told if they could wait 15 minutes to eat it, they would get another. Only 30% of them made it to 15 minutes. The children were followed throughout their lives and it turned out that those who demonstrated patience at the age of four were more likely to get good grades, make more money, have more stable relationships, and avoid depression than the ones in the other group.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Faceless Ghost on Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 16:06:36 from 208.110.141.218

I enjoyed Uchtdorf's talk, too. I suspect the kids who waited for the marshmallow had the right personalities for running, cycling or swimming.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.930.000.001.0012.93

A.M. 10.18 with Jeff in 1:19:56. Did an experimental mile in 5:20.8 to test Jeff's sense of pace. He thought it was around 5:32. Jenny ran 2 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:20. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:21. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:08. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:46. 

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.130.000.000.0013.13

A.M. 10.38 in 1:16:58.

P.M. 2 with Jenny and Julia in 17:48. Benjamin ran ahead and finished around 17:20. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:30. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.13
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.730.000.000.2012.93

A.M. 10.18 in 1:13:50. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:53. Last 0.2 at around 5:20 pace.  Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:24. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:28. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:29.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.300.200.000.5013.00

A.M. 10.2 in 1:18:53. Met Jeff on the trail. We did an experiment. Without telling Jeff I ran on and off squeezing the big toe and the one next to it on the right and alternated that with normal form during short pickups. The only thing I told Jeff was "form one" and "form two".  I showed him "form one" and "form two" once to see if he would notice a difference. He did.  Then we did a sequence of four pickups with Jeff setting the pace and me randomly choosing either "form one" or "form two".  At the end of the pickups I asked Jeff to identify the form types for each pickup, and he got all four correct. So that provided some evidence that indeed there is a difference. Without being told which form was normal, he pointed out that he liked "form two" better, which was the one with the squeezed toes.

Now, before anybody gets too excited about squeezing the toes to get a better form. I suspect this works only for me and only on the right side. The reason is that it just happens to give me a cue to reduce wobbling on the right side. I hope to learn to avoid wobbling eventually without that cue.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Ran about 2.8 with the kids running group. Benjamin did 2 in 16:55. Julia ran 1.5 with a mile in 8:35. Jacob did 0.25 in 2:45. Joseph ran 0.5 in around 4:30.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.530.000.500.0013.03

A.M. 10.28 in 1:09:50. Last 0.5 in 2:47. Practiced the toe squeeze and was trying to learn better cues.. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:02. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:12. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:30. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.03
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
20.102.251.250.2523.85

A.M. 21.1 in 2:32:17 with Steve Ashbaker. Jeff ran around 15 with us. He had an issue with his hips. We did a couple of pickups. About 6 miles into it I paced a mile in 5:24 without splits thinking it was 5:38. Steve paced a mile in 6:01 thinking it was 5:48 around 17 miles into it. His sense of pace which is usually near perfect was messed up because we were too far into the run. Then we did a wild half mile that was supposed to be at 5:40 pace, but we opened with an 84 quarter, and then Steve got feisty and made me run 77, so 2:41 for the half mile. Then we ran the last 1.25 in 7:25 to test fuel reserves.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Benjamin was sick and did not run. 1.5 with Julia in 13:24.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:21. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 23.85
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. It was a Fast Sunday. So we had the fast and testimony meeting, and then the usual classes. The stars aligned again for the third time this year for me to teach both Sunday school and the Elders Quorum. The Sunday school lesson was on the organization of the priesthood, and the Elders Quorum lesson was on the Holy Ghost. One scripture really stood out to me: "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.671.000.250.2513.17

A.M. Ran 10.42 with Jeff in 1:18:37. A little longer than usual because I started out in pants, but then quickly realized it was too warm, so we ran back for me to change. Did a 1.5 pickup in 8:24 with the first mile almost perfectly evenly paced in 5:44, then a quarter in 84 followed by 76. I was just following Jeff. Early on it felt like a slightly aggressive marathon pace. I would have definitely joined a pack at that effort in a race. Then the pace started getting progressively faster, and I thought "Hmm... it would be difficult to hold this in a marathon". Then I timed a 200 and realized we were going 5:12. It is a good sign, though, that at 5:12 at altitude with no downhill I was at least thinking about the marathon for a brief moment.

Jenny ran 3 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:53. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:19. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:21. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:33.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.17
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.131.000.000.0013.13

A.M. 10.38 in 1:12:45. The weather was bad but aside from being wet and frozen I felt great. I picked it up to 89 in the last quarter.

P.M. Ran with the kids running group. Ended up with 2.5 miles. Benjamin did 2.5 including 2 in 15:29 with the last mile in 6:36 with 600 in 2:10 and 500 in 1:48 in the middle. Jenny ran 2.5. 17:15 for 2 miles + 0.5 in 4:04 with Joseph. Julia ran 1.5. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.13
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.750.000.000.0012.75

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10 miles in 1:18:37.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny. Julia ran 1.5 with us. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.681.501.500.0012.68

A.M. 10.18 with Jeff in 1:14:42. Did 2x1.5 in the middle. First in 8:32.4, second in 8:17.8.  Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Ran with the kids group. Ended up with 2.5 miles. Benjamin did 2.5 total with 2 in 14:27. Julia ran 1.5. Joseph did 0.5 in 4:04. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.68
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.231.000.000.0013.23

A.M. 10.48 in 1:14:52. Did a mile in 5:50 in the middle.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jeff in 16:42. Julia ran 1.5. We forgot that Jenny did not run with Sarah in the morning, so she slipped through the cracks and missed her run. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:26. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.23
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.634.751.750.0023.13

A.M. 20.36 in 2:18:52. Did 4 x 1.5 in the middle. 8:37.8, 8:36.9, 8:30.2, 8:17.7. Felt good in the first 3, and decided to see what I had left in the last one. It started 16.5 miles into the run, so I was expecting fuel/nervous system fatigue at that point. Had a side ache, could not figure out if it was fuel related, then realized it was probably just some pressure on the diaphragm. The plan was to run 84 quarters in the first mile, then 80, and then maybe 78 if I could. I ended up with 84, 84, 83, 86, 80, and 80. That one in 86 was odd. The one in 83 felt good, so I thought the next one would be at least 84 with the same effort, but I guess I started going into the "zone" right around that point. I realized that and adjusted my effort to hit 80s. Was happy that I was still able to pull off two 80s after starting to go into the "zone".

With a quarter to go I wanted to measure my "zone depth" and picked up the pace. Was able to run 90 without too much effort, so I was happy about that.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:51. Jenny and Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:06. Benjamin needs to learn more respect for his dad. He made me run an 88 quarter with a stroller at the end of a 23 mile day + Elder's Quorum move + two sessions of the Stake Conference + wearing street clothes + going off a 180 turn, which is a real speed killer if you are pushing a stroller. But I survived, caught up to him, and was ready to go faster after 200 meters. 0.5 with Joseph in 4;26. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:36.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 23.13
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. We had a Stake Conference. The talks were on missionary work focusing on Alma 26. This is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. It teaches about the fruits of faith. I love to learn from Ammon how to be a great missionary.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.441.000.250.2515.94

A.M. This morning I was reading in 3 Nephi 12 where resurrected Christ repeats the Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites. Then Jeff asked me in the middle of the run to go another 3 miles. I remembered the scripture from the Sermon on the Mount "if any shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain", and decided to follow the instruction. So we ended up with the Uneventful Half instead of our regular 10.18. Except due to the construction it was a bit longer, 13.19, which we did in a glorious time of 1:43:54. Hey, at least we broke 8:00 average!

We did 1.5 in the middle. Jeff asked me how fast, I said marathon pace. Then after the first 100 I informed him we were on pace for 2:11. So he eased off to a real marathon pace, but then we picked it up again after the first mile in 5:42 and ran a quarter in 83, then 200 in 38 and the last 200 in 35 to finish the segment in 8:18.5. So we did hit marathon world record pace in the last 200.

We met Scott Hilman and he ran about 2.5 miles with us.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:23. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:22. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:54. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 15.94
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From steve ash on Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 20:20:07 from 144.35.254.5

Hey Sasha, What are planning on doing for a workout this Saturday?

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 12:46:31 from 192.168.1.1

20 mile run with a 4 mile time trial after a short warm-up. The goal is to run 5:30 pace for the first 3, then see what I have left in the last mile if anything at all. This is more for self-confidence than for training. I need to regain faith in my ability to run 5:30 pace sustained. For training maybe the last couple of miles at 6:00 pace at the end of the whole run.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.381.750.000.0013.13

A.M. 10.38 in 1:18:38. Did a mile in 5:47.7. Felt tired, thought I'd be off pace in the fast mile, but I was on pace in spite of the fatigue.

P.M. 2.75 with the running group, including 2x600 in 2:12 each. Benjamin ended up with 2.5 including 2 in 15:27 with the last mile in 6:39 done in the 2x600 in 2:12 fartlek. Jenny ran 2.5. Julia ran 1.5. Joseph did 0.5 in 4:16. Jacob ran 0.25 in 2:38.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 10.38Eva Clogs Black Miles: 2.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.100.000.001.7512.85

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10.1 in 1:19:13. Did pickups. 1000 down a slight grade in 3:20.8, 800 flat in 2:33.6, 1000 up a slight grade in 3:16.6. Total of 1.75 of pickups.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:07. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:19. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:36. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.900.700.000.0012.60

A.M. 10.1 in 1:15:01. Met Jeff on the trail. It rained/snowed and was quite unpleasant. So we ran a bit quicker to get it over with. I ran the last 0.7 at 6:00 pace just for fun.

P.M. 2.5 with the kids running group. Benjamin did 2.5 including 2 in 15:43. Jenny ran a total of 2.5. Julia did 1.5. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:16. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.60
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From runnerjeffaz on Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 23:43:22 from 68.228.204.202

I've come to enjoy your blog site, thanks for the basic advise on running fast marathons, I am starting a fall training program where I hope to run 2:45 by changing my training regiment to more adhere to 6x a week running and gradually raising the mileage. Early on things feel great, I'll keep an eye on the fast guys blogs for ideas. Jeff

From Kam on Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 12:10:54 from 68.66.163.179

It takes a special kind of person to run at a 6 minute pace "just for fun". You rock, Sasha.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.750.000.000.0012.75

A.M. Met Jeff and Chris Bramwell on the trail. Ended up with 10 miles in 1:18:53. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:23. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:07.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:28. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.901.004.001.2521.15

A.M. Ran 20.4 with Jeff in 2:24:42. Did the planned 4 mile time trial. Everything went pretty much as planned. Jeff paced me with near perfection with the splits of 5:29 - 5:31 - 5:29 in the first three miles. There was only one glitch. He spaced it a bit in the third mile, so we ended up running an 81 quarter to catch up right before the 180 turn at the 3 mile mark. Then the plan was 80 - 80 - then see what happens. Jeffs erred a bit and hit 79, which would have been OK without 180 and 81 preceding quarter, but with those it was a bit too much for me. So that reduced the "see what happens" in the last 0.5 to "see if I can maintain the pace". Then we did 80, 81. After that Jeff picked it up and ran 72, while I still managed 79. This gave me 5:19 for the last mile and 21:48.3 for the whole distance. I was happy about the result for several reasons:

  • I was wearing pants, so maybe 3 seconds a mile loss.
  • Two 180 degree turns, so maybe 7 seconds total loss.
  • Even without the turns the trail for some reason (possibly more than one) naturally loses 5 seconds a mile compared to flat road races.
  • My last 5 K was 16:54. Last year I've had a good number of races where I could not crack 17:00.
  • My last mile was 11 seconds faster than the first three.
  • I beat my Thanksgiving time by 1:16 on a slower course.

Afterwards we jogged some, then ran 2 with Benjamin in 15:38 with the last quarter in 87. Then we did 2x1 mile on the trail, first in 5:37.8 and second in 5:28.8.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 21.15
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The sacrament talks were on following the prophet. The Sunday school lesson was on covenants. The lesson in the Elder's quorum was on service.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.440.001.250.2515.94

A.M. Uneventful half course (with the detour, so 13.19) with Jeff in 1:38:54. Did a 1.5 pickup in 8:16.3. First 1.25 in 7:02 at a fairly even pace, then the last quarter in 74. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:27. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:19.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:28. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:46.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 15.94
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.350.000.002.5012.85

A.M. 10.1 in 1:14:39. Met Jeff on the trail. We did 10x400 with random rests varying from a 200 meter jog at 8:00 pace to as long as 0.75. The reason for the randomness was being in odd places on the trail, and we did not always have a nice quarter without bridges or sharp turns. The target was 75 seconds. The purpose of the workout was to learn to run 5:00 pace relaxed. We did err a couple of times, but otherwise stayed fairly close to target. The splits were: 77.3, 73.5, 74.0, 73.8, 72.3, 69.7, 75.8, 75.6, 73.3, 72.0. During the cool down after I had dropped Jeff off I met a guy named Jason and we ran together some. In line with the Provo young man running tradition he ended up being fluent in a foreign language, which was Spanish this time. He had served a mission in Buenos Aires in Argentina. 

P.M. 2.75 with the running group. Benjamin and Jenny did 2.5, including 2 in 16:36. Julia ran 1.5. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:22. Jacob ran 0.25 in 2:41.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.030.000.000.0013.03

A.M. Jeff did not make it this morning, but Jason was there. Ran with Jason a bit. Did 10.28 in 1:16:41. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:30. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:22.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:36. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 13.03
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.500.001.5013.25

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10 in 1:13:44. Did 2x1200 in 3:59.3 and 3:58.7. The first one was a slight uphill (last 0.75 of the Fast Running Blog 5 miler course). The second was from Union Pacific bridge to 820 N, which is more uphill. This was Jeff's race pace practice for this Saturday.

P.M. Ran with the kids running group. Ended up with a total of 3.25. Benjamin ran 2 including a mile in 6:12. Jenny did a total of 4 including a mile in 7:10. Julia ran 2. Joseph ran 0.5 in 3:58.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 13.25
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.350.000.250.2512.85

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 10.1 in 1:19:23. We did a quarter pickup in 78. The weather was bad enough for us to discuss global warming for a few miles. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jared. Benjamin ran 16:46 with the last quarter in 90. Jared started falling back in the last 0.5, so I waited at the 1.75 mark to make sure Jared would follow the course, then chased Benjamin down and ended up with an 83 quarter. I was also carrying Jared's jacket, but it surprisingly did not seem to make a whole lot of difference. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:09. 0.5 with Joseph and Jordan. Joseph ran 4:56, Jordan fell back a bit at the end and finished in 5:01. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.775.300.000.0023.07

A.M. Long run. 20.33 in 2:10:40. Ran the last 5.05 hard - 29:33, 5:51 avg. The run was full of adventures. First it rained. Then I saw the Provo City Half in progress. Then I met Steve Cuttitta and he ran with me for a couple of miles. We saw Jeff and I knew he was headed for something faster than 1:09:30 I was optimistically expecting in a solo run. He looked smooth at 11. He ended up with 1:08:56, new course record by almost 2 minutes, read his race report for details. The we saw the whole crowd.

On the way back I ran the tempo. The rain picked up. Now I was going in the same direction as the race. This was perhaps better than going the other way. Passed Marion with about 2 miles to go, recognized her by the jacket, she was moving OK, estimated she would finish around 2:15-2:20 (she ended up with 2:21)  but unfortunately did not have enough time to say hi. The tempo felt good, the form felt actually quite smooth, no fuel issues. I was seeing 86 quarters at times when I got a stretch with fewer people, and 88-89s when I had to weave through traffic. Slower on sections with turns and bridges. I tried to shift gears, though, but they were not shifting. Perhaps a combination of being alone and the rain.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:55. He made me run a quarter in 86. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:11. Jenny ran 2.5 in the morning with Sarah. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.


Eva Clogs Black Miles: 23.08
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to Jeff's daughter's blessing for the sacrament meeting, then to our ward for the other two meetings. The lessons were on the organization of the Church in Sunday School, and on diligence in the Elder's Quorum.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.330.500.000.0012.83

A.M. 10.08 with Jeff in 1:17:28. Started very slow, were trailing the 8:00 guy more than half way, then sped up some. Jeff's calves were sore from the half on Saturday. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:48. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:51. 2 with Benjamin in 15:49. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:49. Benjamin made me run the last 0.5 in 3:00.

Tried rollerblading for the second time in my life. First time was 13 years ago and I went only maybe 50 meters. So this was the first time that I rollerbladed for more than that. It was an interesting experience. I did better than I expected. I thought it would take me a while just to learn to stand, but I was able to do that right a way. And I was able to move right away as well. Then I decided to time myself. My first 100 meters was in 52 seconds, a glorious 14:00 mile pace! Then with some practice I learned to go sub-12:00.  After about 1.5 I was able to speed up to 9:30.

Of course, there was a reason to the madness. I was not going to become a roller-blading bum at the age of 37 all of a sudden just because. I have noticed a pattern that I have run well in the past when I cross-country skied with skating style. So I wondered if perhaps the skating motion helps balance out my hips. I did notice two things when rollerblading. First, the imbalance is more pronounced - my right hip feels a whole lot more out of whack when rollerblading than when running. Second, riding on rough asphalt make the leg vibrate, and it feels like standing on a vibration plate. This could help loosen up deep tight muscles and stretch out the ligaments and tendons.

 

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.83
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.250.0012.75

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. We caught up to a runner whose name was Chris and ran with him some. After dropping Jeff off I ran an 84 quarter at the end to finish the run before it started hailing. Total time for 10 was 1:18:55.

P.M. 2.75 with the running group. Benjamin and Jenny did 2.5 including 2 in 16:15. Julia ran 1.5. Joseph did 0.5 in 4:40. Jacob ran 0.25 in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.230.620.000.0012.85

A.M. 10.1 in 1:11:45. Last 1 K in 3:45. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 1 mile on rollerblades in 9:46. It was not easy, probably around 7:00 running effort in cardio, but I could not go any faster. Odd feeling.  2 with Benjamin in 17:01. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:04. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:37. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:35.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.350.000.000.4012.75

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10 in 1:15:28. Caught up to Sarah and Jenny at the end, and Jenny ran about 0.4 with me. Timed the last quarter, it was 1:39.

P.M. 2.5 miles with the kids running group, including 2x300 with Benjamin in 59.0 and 56.5 - Benjamin ran 2 in 16:15 total time, and a total of 2.5. Julia ran 1.5, including a mile in 8:39. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:24. Jacob ran 0.25 with Sarah. 

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.530.001.500.0013.03

A.M. 10.28 in 1:08:28. Did a 1.5 pickup in 8:18. Felt good. Jeff had a calf strain, took a day off.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 16:19. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:37. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:28. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:41.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.75
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.1810.180.000.0023.36

A.M, Ran with Jeff. Because of his calf strain we had a change of plans. We went out 3 miles so we would not be too far away from the house, then turned around, and on the way back kept going and went the other way on the trail to avoid a 180. We also kept the pace slow to avoid stirring the pot - a bit sub-8:00. We went a bit too far, and ended up with 10.43 in 1:20:39. Then Jeff stopped, and I ran the standard 10.18 course in 58:39 with a slight negative split (29:22, 29:17). So that gave me 2:19:18 for 20.63. The average pace for the last 10.18 was 5:46.

I was happy that I was able to sustain the pace.  It felt not so sustainable early on, and I thought I would be slowing down in the second half, especially given that it has some uphill. Turns slow you down more when fatigued as well. But I was able to stay relaxed which allowed me to maintain power in the second half and run a negative split. I found that offering a prayer to clear your mind, and thinking about a peaceful church hymn helps a lot. I like this one:

Lord, accept our true devotion.
Let thy Spirit whisper peace.
Swell our hearts with fond emotion,
And our joy in thee increase.
Never leave us, never leave us.
Help us, Lord, to win the race.

because of "whisper peace" and "win the race".  Idle thoughts fatigue the nervous system. When peace is whispered, and the idle thoughts are gone, the neural output to the legs in the critical phase of the running stride increases and helps in the cause of winning the race.

I also noticed that I was not breathing very hard. My lungs definitely felt underworked. The limit was neuromuscular.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:13. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:45. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

 

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 23.36
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Burt on Sat, May 08, 2010 at 19:32:05 from 98.177.220.145

I'll have to sing a hymn next time. But that's the advice my stake president gave me before I left on mission for when I saw attractive girls.

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, May 08, 2010 at 20:10:54 from 192.168.1.1

I have a missionary story about that. It happened to one of my companions in Salt Lake City. He and his companion at that time were riding bikes and stopped at an intersection. Right next to them was a police officer in a car. At the same time two immodestly dressed girls were crossing the street. The police officer announced through his loud speaker: "Elders, sing a hymn!"

Unchaste thoughts belong to the idle group, but definitely not the only kind of idle thought. When you are running hard, you need to purge your mind of all forms of garbage so that you can focus 100% on running well. Running at your limit is a great way to learn to understand how damaging those idle thoughts are and how much power can come from pure thought.

From Burt on Sat, May 08, 2010 at 20:56:52 from 98.177.220.145

Sounds like unrighteous dominion of the police loud speaker.

You're right about clearing your mind of the garbage. I also remember not being able to run well shortly after my dad died. Whenever my thoughts were turned to him I was done.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. It was Mothers' Day. The talks in the sacrament meeting were on the role of mothers. It was my turn to teach in Sunday School, and in the Elder's Quorum as well. The lesson in Sunday School was on the church of Jesus Christ in our day. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on prayer.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Rye on Mon, May 10, 2010 at 23:36:23 from 97.121.2.11

Just a quick thought of a proud parent. Easter sunday my son spoke before he left for his mission in Lansing Michigan. This past Mothers Day my daughter spoke before she leaves for Washington DC South. Just had to brag!!!!

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, May 12, 2010 at 12:02:09 from 192.168.1.1

Rye - very good to have a double. Double missionary force, double the work, double the blessings. If they worked and saved up, maybe not even the double strain on the budget.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.930.000.000.0012.93

A.M. Ran with Jeff. 10.18 in 1:18:01.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:53. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:53. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:32.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.100.500.251.4013.25

A.M. 10 in 1:16:27. Met Jeff on the trail. Did 600 in 1:53.7, and a mile in 5:18.1. Had some headwind in the mile. Tried to run an honest 5 K effort that I could sustain. Jeff skipped the fast stuff due to back and calf problems. 

P.M. 3.25 with the running group. Benjamin ran 3 including a 87 quarter, and a mile in 6:14 starting out fast (83), surviving in the middle at 6:44 pace, and then finishing in 89. I wanted him to experience life after an 85 quarter, but it accidentally ended up 83. The idea is that if he can see that he can live after an 85 he will learn to believe that 90 is sustainable. Or another approach,  blast it out in 85, then there is too much pain to mull over if he can hold 90s to the end, so no opportunity to panic.   Jenny ran 2.5, Julia ran 1.5, Joseph ran 0.5, and Jacob ran 0.25.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 13.25
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.350.000.250.0012.60

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Jenny ran the first half of the run with Sarah, the last half with me, total of 2.5 including the last mile in 7:29. I ended up with 1:17:25 for 10.1.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:18, including a quarter in 83. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 12:51. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. Benjamin ran 0.25 with Jacob.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 12.60
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.130.000.001.0013.13

A.M. 10.38 in 1:09:46. Did a mile in 5:13.6 to feel the 5 K pace. 5:00 felt too hard. 5:16 felt OK. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Ran with the running kids group.  Ended up with 2.75 miles. Jacob ran 0.25 in 2:29. Joseph did 0.5 in 4:40. Julia did 1.5 including a mile in 8:39. Benjamin did 2.5 including 2 in 13:56 with the last 1.5 in 9:47 and last mile in 6:19.

Eva Clogs Black Miles: 10.38Eva Clugs Blue Miles: 2.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.780.500.001.5013.78

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 10.53 in 1:16:32. Did a couple of pickups. 600 in 1:46.3 - was supposed to be 5:00 pace (1:52, but Jeff was a bit feisty). Then that was supposed to be the end of it, but then we say a guy ahead of us and decided to chase him down. It was taking a while. At first we ran something like 6:00 pace but we were not closing the gap. Then we sped up to 5:15, and started closing it. We ran an extra quarter to ask the guy's name. He said Brad something, and even though we did not here the last name at first both of us guessed it right -  Osguthorpe. The moral of the story is if you are unusually fast and have shown it in races, never rob a bank, or if you do, do not escape on foot. You can wear a face mask, but they'll figure out who you are by your running speed and form. Not to mention that a guy than trains consistently usually has better things to do than rob banks. Although with today's economy and pathetic payback from running he might be tempted to do it.

So chasing Brad we ended up with about half a mile at 6:00 pace, and another half at 5:15. Then we turned around and he kept going. On the way back he caught up to us. When we caught him he was actually just warming up. Now he was doing a tempo run. We joined him for 1000 in 3:18 (5:17 pace) up about 1% grade.

P,M. Kids runs. Benjamin ran 2.5 in 18:56. Julia and Jenny did 2 in 17:14. Jacob did 0.25 in 2:41. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:53. I ended up with a total of 3.25 for the evening.



Eva Clugs Blue Miles: 13.78
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Race: Law Days 5 K (3.107 Miles) 00:16:27, Place overall: 6
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.400.250.003.1018.75

A.M. Law Days 5 K. It used to be a rather non-eventful run as far as competition is concerned. Until law firms got somewhat serious about recruiting top local runners for their speed teams. Chad's law firm, Curtis, Manning, and Bradshaw put together two teams this year. Things were serious enough to where I did not make the A team and had to be sent to B. For a good reason. Our A team had Jeff, Paul, and Josh Stephen for men, Lindsey Dunkley and Emily Bates.  They were well matched by Olsen Shaner - Teren, Nate Hornok, Albert Wint, Sue Nielsen, and Devra Vierkant. 

I warmed up with Jeff and Paul. We ran the course in 22:13. The course had been changed, and looked good. The kilometer marks were present and all reasonable. The hills have been shortened, and the course appeared definitely faster than it used to be. The weather was perfect.

I set five goals at the start of the race, and am happy to report that I met all of them. They were to break 17:00 equivalent of the old course, not to get chicked (Lindsey),  not to get lawyered (Andrew Hansen) , be the first fluent Russian speaker across the finish line (in other words beat Albert), and be within reasonable distance from Josh.

I realized in my pre-race pickups that I was not ready to run a 5 K like a 5 K and decided to think of it as a 10-15 K race figuring that the excitement of the race plus knowing in the back of my mind that I was going only 5 K would fix the pace in the right direction naturally.

1 K 3:19 - Uphill, sharp turns. At the start I figured Lindsey will naturally hit the right pace for the first quarter, so I just ran right next to her. If it was a male competitor I would just draft, but I wanted to be a gentleman. Plus she is so small that unless you are 5'2 you do not get a whole lot of benefit of drafting behind her.  Then Andrew made a move, and I just got on his tail. I fell back a bit trying to relax, but then Andrew slowed down a bit and I reeled him back in,

2 K 6:49 (3:30) - Most uphill of the race. Andrew went into a gutter at around 1.3 K mark. I did not want to go there with him. That encouraged me to make the passing move. He wanted to stay in the gutter. He was apparently struggling some. He could have latched on and kept me from dropping him, but he would have had to come out of the cutter to keep meaningful contact.  Took a split at the mile. It was 5:21. Timed Albert, it was 5:14.

3 K 10:05 (3:16) - Downhill with some uphill. Surged to close the gap with Albert, then rested behind him until the start of the hill (around 2.6 K), then sensed he was losing it a bit and made a passing move.

4 K 13:20 (3:15) - Downhill, but lots of turns. Had to ask volunteers where to go a couple of times. Josh is starting to come back.

5 K 16:27 (3:07) - downhill, steeper. Decided the best way to hold off the people behind me is to focus on closing the gap with Josh. It worked.

Jeff had a great race and was still with Teren in the kick, then just lost the kick finish second. This is a breakthrough race for him.

Final times (unofficial): Teren 14:52, Jeff 14:55, Paul 15:17, Nate 15:20, Josh 16:13, me 16:27, Andrew 16:31, Albert 16:33, Lindsey 16:39.

I think our A team won.

There is a suspicion the course was a bit short. Albert's GPS showed it as 3.03. I would be willing to believe that the GPS was off but the times while right for a normal course are a bit too fast for so much uphill and turns. But I would say it is roughly comparable to something like Heart of Holladay or Murray Fun Days.

Did a long cool down with Jeff afterwards, ended up with 16 miles, and then went to the zoo with the family. Saw Paul, Stacy and their son Seth there.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:40. Last quarter in 87. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles with Sarah. I rollerbladed along.



Eva Clogs Black Miles: 16.00Eva Clugs Blue Miles: 3.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Tom on Sat, May 15, 2010 at 23:57:23 from 74.211.9.52

Nice job Sasha. It's always nice when you can hit all your goals.

From Burt on Sun, May 16, 2010 at 00:53:00 from 98.177.220.145

Way to meet your goals. Wow, Lindsay is fast!

From Walter on Sun, May 16, 2010 at 01:27:23 from 24.10.169.110

Man that was a fast race! Way to run there! Sounds like a fun time you all had.

From Lindsey Dunkley on Sun, May 16, 2010 at 02:21:44 from 75.169.155.111

Great job today! Thanks for inviting me, it was a fun race...definitely competitive. Funny that your goal was to not get beat by me, mine was to chick you :) I was close, but just couldn't quite pull it off. Seriously though, thanks and good job!

From Burt on Sun, May 16, 2010 at 02:26:31 from 98.177.220.145

Sorry for spelling your name wrong LinsdEy.

From Paul on Sun, May 16, 2010 at 15:24:58 from 174.27.230.30

Good job. I can't believe you saw all those km markers. Was this a clog PR?

From Seth on Mon, May 17, 2010 at 12:21:29 from 199.188.28.8

Great run, that's some speed for the end of an 85 mile week!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks were on living the gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson in Sunday School was on faith. The lesson in the Elders Quorum was on prophets.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Burt on Tue, May 18, 2010 at 14:20:05 from 206.19.214.144

You guys are a week behind us. Our lesson was on the scriptures. The cool thing was, we had a change in high priest group leadership this Sunday since I'm moving out of the ward, and the group leader is too sick to continue on. The counselor from the stake presidency did the setting aparts and then gave a quick talk on the importance of studying the scriptures, not knowing beforehand that that was the topic for the lesson. We quickly said closing prayer after he left.

So, here's my request. I can't seem to ignore my Hot Discussion long enough to not have someone come along and comment on it. Feel free to remove it at any time.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.930.000.000.0012.93

A.M. Easy 10.18 with Jeff in 1:19:47. Chatted about the Saturday's race. Jeff has grown into a monster over the last three years.  Three years ago BYU did not want him. Now he has a very realistic shot at making the Trials without having to run the full marathon (via 1:05 half). That is what we do on Fast Running Blog. We breed monsters!   

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:50. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:05. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah in the morning. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:47. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

Eva Clugs Blue Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Paul on Tue, May 18, 2010 at 14:32:43 from 65.103.252.214

Just curious as to where Jeff would go for a half. UVM is not eligible, nor is any other decent half around here.

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, May 19, 2010 at 12:32:32 from 192.168.1.1

There is something somewhere on June 26th that Jeff discovered in some calendar. We are considering sending him there if he runs really well at Utah Valley and is able to hold 5:10 pace for 3 miles next Tuesday without much struggle. Otherwise, forget it and just focus on the marathon.

From jeffmc on Sun, May 23, 2010 at 21:28:25 from 76.27.88.14

So, I have been looking more for good half marathons that are on Saturdays. The only races that I can find where there will be enough competition (and flat enough) to pull me through a sub 1:05 are in California in Jan. in Washington DC a couple months after or at the Indianapolis mini (assuming no wind at all races). The California race would be the most difficult as there are only 1-2 guys per year under 1:06, and there are some rollers here and there. The US half marathon championships would also be an option, but I do not know if it is Saturday or Sunday this year/next.

From Paul on Sun, May 23, 2010 at 21:53:53 from 174.27.230.30

Jeff - in 2011, the US Champs are at Houston, which is a Sunday race. The 2010 race already took place in January. But in 2012 and 2013, they will be at Grandma's Marathon, which is on Saturday.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.001.002.2515.25

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 10 in 1:16:27 with 3x1200 on the trail with 200 recovery. 3:57.8, 4:02.0, 3:51.2. I think this is a perfect 5 K training workout. Maybe do the 4th one once you plateau with 3. I felt HR was going into 170 range on the last one. If you just bust out a fast 1200 HR might not go up and you will be running anaerobically. This is OK for the mile, but not for the 5 K. In the 5 K you want your HR elevated for the longest extent possible (not due to the lack of aerobic fitness, though).  While in the half and longer you are playing the game of getting the most out of one heart beat, in the 5 K that is not enough. You need to get the heart to beat fast as well.

Then 3.25 more with Julia in 29:25  to Walgreens and back to get new clogs.

P.M. Ran with the kids running group. It was a special day. I have been giving Benjamin workouts to get him to believe that he could break 6:00. I carefully planned this one to make it happen right in the workout. I told him, open with an 85, then 90, then whatever you want, I do not care if it is 8:00 pace, then 90.  He was freaking out and telling me he could not do it, and that he would not even try. I gave him a talk about Laman and Lemuel, threatened him that he would have to take two piano lessons a week instead of one, and then told him to pray for humility. He finally did and was ready to go. I told him if he opened with 85, and got to half mile in under 3:00 I did not care if he jogged to the end from there, but only with one condition - he had to be able to be happy with himself.  Of course, I knew that if he opened with 85, he would get to half mile in at least 2:55, and once he is there he would not be happy with himself if he had not tried to hold the pace. He seemed to understand that as well and deep down was fighting the idea.

So from the start he busted out of the gate. After I had slowed him down, the first 100 was 18. I congratulated him for being on pace for 4:48, and he backed off to what was right. 84 at the quarter, 2:07 at 600, 2:51 (87) at the half. This was a 1 second half mile PR. Then he started freaking out and slowed down to a jog. But that was OK, it was part of my "devious" plan. I knew you could jog only that slow after running fast. His next 100 was 28, so he was still ahead of the 6:00 guy. After hearing the split he began to believe that he could break his mile record of 6:07 and sped up to a 24 quarter. He was still 2 seconds ahead of 6:00 pace, and had only 600 to go. He ran the next 200 more or less off inertia in 46 hitting 0.75 in 4:29 and then it dawned on him that he only needed a 91 to hit 6:00. So pretty much maintain the pace, and it is in the bag. He got excited and sped up. His last quarter was 84, and he finished the mile in 5:53.9 thus becoming the second member in our family sub-6:00 club!

So his progression is as follows - sub-8:00 at the age of 5, a month before his 6th birthday. Sub-7:00 at the age of 8 a couple of months after his 8th birthday. Now sub-6:00 at the age of 11 three months after his 11th birthday. Now we are hoping for sub-5:00 at 14 and sub-4:00 at 17, of course. In reality, sub-5:00 will probably happen at late 12/early 13, and sub-4:00 may never happen, but I'll be OK with that as long as he can run 4:10. You can run 2:05 marathon off as slow as 4:10 mile with proper endurance training.

Benjamin ran a total of 3. Jenny ran 2.5. Joseph ran 0.5.


Eva Clogs Black Miles: 6.35
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Maurine/Miles on Wed, May 19, 2010 at 13:59:55 from 63.255.172.2

Tell Benjamin congratulations! Very impressive.

From seeaprilrun on Wed, May 19, 2010 at 22:45:17 from 72.205.226.44

Congrats to Benjamin! What a smart devious plan!

From Benjamin on Thu, May 20, 2010 at 12:23:06 from 192.168.1.1

It hurt.

From Huans32 on Thu, May 20, 2010 at 16:01:58 from 138.64.8.52

Wow. Awesome job to Benjamin. That is great.

From allie on Thu, May 20, 2010 at 18:37:34 from 67.177.0.102

congrats on the breakthrough, benjamin!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.830.000.000.1012.93

A.M. 10.38 in 1:18:57. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M.  2 with Benjamin in 16:00. Last 200 in 39. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:28.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.150.000.400.2012.75

A.M. 10 in 1:18:12. Met Jeff on the trail. We did a 200 stride in 40. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

P.M. Ran with the kids running group. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:17. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:32.  2 with Benjamin in 15:20 including a 600 in 2:03.0 and a 200 in 39.9.  His next challenges are to beat my 11 year old records: 1000 in 3:24.6, 300 in 51.3, and 2000 in 7:57. The 2000 is weak as I ran it with only maybe a month of training fading a lot in the second kilometer. Benjamin almost got it last week without trying to break any records closing his 2 mile run in 8:03 for the last 2 K. 300 would be tough, but I figure if he can hit a 56 at the end of a fartlek, he might be able to run 51 fresh. He is pretty close to taking down the 1000 record given that he can hold the pace through 600 in a fartlek already.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.410.000.620.0013.03

A.M. 10.28 in 1:12:23. Last 1 K in 3:31. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:50. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 13.03
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.253.003.001.5022.75

A.M. 20 with Jeff in 2:18:04. Ran to Bridal Veil Falls and back. Did a workout in the middle. 3 miles up the Provo Canyon from the mouth to Nunns Park in 17:28 (5:53 - 5:49 - 5:46). Got a slight tail wind. Then the same stretch back, now with a slight headwind in 15:55 (5:28 - 5:19 - 5:08). We bummed it in the first quarter (88 downhill), then got down to business. Then the last 1.5 at my honest marathon pace effort more or less. At least the first mile of it (5:44), then we did 84, 80 to finish the interval in 8:28.

Felt cruising at 5:20 pace downhill, very comfortable feeling. Not quite the marathon pace, but I think slower than the half. Also felt very comfortable at 5:44 pace in the last 1.5 segment. Did not feel so good at 5:08 pace downhill. Part of it is that by that time the downhill decreases and we were running into a headwind. Part of it is that we had to dodge a group of walkers and Jeff hit the gas, which gave us 78 before the end of the second mile followed by 75 while weaving through traffic. This put some stress on my nervous system and I suppose I was still feeling it in the next three quarters at a brisk pace. And part of it is that it was 5:08 and I am not yet fit to run this for a long time.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:56. Pushed William in the stroller. Benjamin has developed a habit of making me work on a Saturday night when I am tired from my long run. He made me run 88 at the end of it this time. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:33. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:37.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 22.75
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Good talks in sacrament on sharing the Gospel. Then a lesson on repentance in Sunday school. Applying this to marathons, while 2:40 is a good time, you can still repent of it by running 2:20. In other words repentance = improvement. Substituted in Primary during the Elders Quorum.

Hobie Call and his wife Irene  came over for dinner with their five children. We had a good visit.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.150.000.000.0014.15

A.M. Bum recovery run. Met Jeff on the trail. Did 11.4 in 1:32:17. Glorious 8:05 average. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:56. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:17. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 14.15
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.530.000.000.5013.03

A.M. 10.28 in 1:14:57.

P.M. Ran with the running group. Ended up with 2.75 miles. Benjamin ran 2.5 including 2 in 15:09 with 600 in 2:00.1 and 200 in 39.1. Jenny ran 2.5 including 2 in 16:53. Julia ran 1.5. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:05. Jacob did 0.25 in 2:38. I was pleased with Benjamin's 600 at 5:20 pace. He is going to run 800 in a track meet on Saturday. We will see if he can crack 2:40.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 13.03
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.850.000.000.0012.85

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10.1 in 1:19:58. It was a social day. First we ran with Otello from the Spanish branch in our stake for a bit. Then Adrianne Hunter (Iain Hunter's wife) caught up to us. She was going 7:20 and was still conversational. We sped up and ran with her, then slowed back down to 8:00 once she turned.  Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

 

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Rob Murphy on Fri, May 28, 2010 at 13:08:56 from 205.127.70.66

Sasha, there's a "new kid on the block" named Speedy Sasha.Bet you wish you had claimed that one?

Seriously, thanks for this blog. The public nature of it and the fact that I know some really knowledgeable people are looking at my training really forces me to reflect on what I do in a new way. It has made a big difference in my running. After you turn forty you will realize how important it is to incorporate new elements into your training. Running becomes a more cerebral, reflective activity. This blog has been that "new element" for me this year.

I guess I'll see you on the 12th.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.501.750.0013.25

A.M. 10.5 in 1:15:48. Met Jeff on the trail. We ran an impromptu tempo to catch a runner in front of us, but after running for as long as we were willing to we still had not caught him and never saw him afterwards. We ended up with 2.25 miles in 12:20. The first quarter was 86, second 85, after that we started running quicker - about 5:25 pace.

On the way back to the house I ran into Jenny and Julia and ran the last mile with them in 8:29 while they ran 2 miles.

P.M. Ran with the running group. Ended up with 2.75 miles. Benjamin did 2.5 miles. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:26. Jacob ran 0.25 in 2:29.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 13.25
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.930.000.000.0012.93

A.M. 10.28 in 1:16:27. Met Jeff on the trail.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia in 17:58. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:36. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.043.591.500.0021.13

A.M. 20.38 with Jeff (until the last mile when he dropped me). Total time was 2:10:22. The goal was to get a quick 20 in without having to get up too early before Benjamin's track meet with minimum damage and maximum training effect. So figured 6:40 pace for 15 miles, then 5:45 - 6:00 to the finish. Which is pretty much what we did, except Jeff threw in a couple of surges to sub 5:30 pace in the middle of the last 5 miles, and then dropped me in the last mile running a 5:14 on an uphill mile with turns and bridges.  I managed a 5:43. Total time for the last 5.09 was 29:20, 5:46 pace.

Benjamin ran the 800. I hoped he would break 2:40 or at least be close, but he blew it with the opening 100 in 17. He still won the race in 2:52 with the splits of 37 - 46 - 47 - 42. We are going to practice pacing with me running far enough behind to where I am not controlling it. He does not yet know how to pace himself when he is racing other kids.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 21.13
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Kory on Sun, May 30, 2010 at 01:45:04 from 24.116.159.75

Nice run. The Clogs you wear do you find it difficult to get a good stride going when you first started using them? Do they alter your running form at all?

Good experiment would be on a 20 miler or shorter. Run the first half in clogs and the second half in your normal running shoes to see if you feel a stride/form difference or performance difference overall between the two types of shoes.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Good talks in the sacrament meeting on finding peace in troubled times. The lesson in Sunday school was on baptism. It was fifth Sunday, so we had a combined meeting with a presentation on missionary work.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.181.000.500.2512.93

A.M. 12.18 with Jeff in 1:30:40. Benjamin ran the first 2 miles with us in 14:51. The last quarter was 89. We did a 1.5 pickup in the middle. The plan was 86 - 85 - 84 - 83 - 82, then speed up to to 82 pace, and then run the last 100 in 15. Overall we maintained the target pace, but it was rather erratic. So instead of a progression run we ended up with a weird fartlek of sorts: 86 - 83 - 87 - 82 , then 300 in 60, and the last 100 15.5 for me, 14.5 for Jeff. Total time was 8:18.

Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:42. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:37.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.450.000.500.3012.25

A.M. Ran 10 miles. Met Jeff on the trail. We went to the BYU track to do a time trial. Jeff did 400, I ran the last 200 with him. He ended up with 57.2, I ran 28.9. I was actually able to pass Jeff and finish a step or two ahead. I did have a concern that if he were running really well and hit a 27 or even a low 28 in the last 200 I might get dropped. That would have been embarrassing, but fortunately for me Jeff was tired this morning from the 20 on Saturday and 15 on Monday. New 200 meter PR for clogs, though.

I was happy with the result. I was expecting something like 29.5 - 30.0 given the lack of recent sprint training and the lack of proper warm-up as well.

P.M. Ran with the kids training group. Ended up with 2.25 miles. Jacob did 0.25 in 2:23. Joseph 0.5 in 4:10. Jenny ran 2.5. Julia did 1.5. I paced Benjamin through 800 in 2:44, a new PR with the splits of 41.5 - 41.5. - 42 - 39.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.25
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Kory on Wed, Jun 02, 2010 at 16:12:14 from 134.50.89.33

This Clogs shoes your wearing is this for experimental purposes? Do you plan on using the Five Fingers again?

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Jun 02, 2010 at 23:06:58 from 192.168.1.1

Kory: I am pretty much decided on clogs. I will be using them for everything except DesNews marathon. Five Fingers are too thin and too expensive. Clogs last just as long, provide more cushioning, while still allowing the foot to feel free.

From Kory on Thu, Jun 03, 2010 at 12:18:46 from 134.50.89.55

I really think thats great you have the ability to perform well in them and the cost really does benefit you. I'm tired myself of the high shoe prices and different gadgets and features in shoes. Just make a simple shoe and keep it that way.

I get frustrated because you can't find the old models that were great that you want to use and buy forever.

Sasha keep up the great running and has always your very inspiring.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.750.500.000.0011.25

A.M. 10 with Jeff in 1:09:58. Did a couple of pickups at 5:50 pace. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin was sick (stomach flu), so he just ran 1.25, including 0.5 with Joseph in 4:31, and 0.25 with Jacob in 2:21, and then additionally 0.5 in 3:58.  I ran the same distance.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 11.25
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.850.000.000.0012.85

A.M. 10.1 in 1:18:58. Met Jeff on the trail. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:51. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:39. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:26.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.350.000.000.0012.35

A.M. 10.1 in 1:18:58. Met Jeff on the trail.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia. Joseph ran 0.9 with us. 0.25 with Jacob.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.35
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.680.750.500.0012.93

A.M. Was originally planning on 15, but had some indigestion and decided to cut it short. Ran 10.18 with Jeff in 1:17:20. Last 1.25 in 7:08.  Jenny and Julia ran 2 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 14:58. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:31.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a fast and testimony meeting, then a lesson on the gift of the Holy Ghost in Sunday School, followed by a lesson from an Ensign article on not being in a hurry. Ironically the teacher went into overtime and was just about to start discussing the point "Do not be in a hurry to be done" when he was reminded that the meeting should have ended 10 minutes ago. In spite of the irony the lesson was good, though. There is a difference between being urgent and being in a hurry. When you are in a hurry you move faster than you should. It takes humility to accept the correct pace.

At dinner time I overestimated the recovery of my stomach and ate more than I should have. This resulted in throwing up later. But I started feeling better towards late evening and was hungry again.

We also went on an evening walk on the Provo River Trail and I brought along my new toy - a digital level that we bought at Home Depot for $40 on Saturday. We measured a whole bunch of grades. I began to understand why the trail is so slow in spite of not having any notable hills. On parts that you would think are flat the grade keeps fairly uniformly fluctuating from -2.0% to +2.0%. A good rule of thumb is to compensate for a given distance at a given grade uphill you need to run the same distance at double the grade downhill. This works quite well for grades up to 5%. So if we integrate, running on the trail with no elevation gain is like running up a 0.5% steady grade.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From Rob Murphy on Wed, Jun 09, 2010 at 08:04:02 from 98.202.182.29

A very timely comment considering the death this week of legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. One of his favorite maxims was "be quick, but don't hurry".

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.680.000.002.2512.93

A.M. 10.18 with Jeff in 1:17:06. Did a couple of pickups. First 0.75 in 3:56.7 with the splits of 80, 78, 78. Then 1.5 in 7:48.0 with the splits of 79, 79, 80, 76, 78, 76. I felt very relaxed at 80, at least for the moment I felt like I could run that forever in a pack. 78s felt sustainable, but not pleasant. 76s felt more unpleasant but I felt that I could survive a surge like this if it lasted for no more than a mile.

Then we met a new potential running partner. His name is Daniel and he is from South Carolina. 2:00 800, 4:25 1600, 9:53 3200 and 15:56 5 K on the road. He supported the tradition of stray running young men in Provo speaking a foreign language. He had served a Cambodian speaking mission in California. He is planning on running with us tomorrow.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:05. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 10.18
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.950.900.000.0012.85

A.M. Ran 10.1. Met Jeff and Daniel on the trail. Did a pickup for 0.5 to test Daniels current fitness. He put in what he thought was a 10 K effort and we ended up with 2:59. Then did a 600 in 2:06 catching up after a VPB.

P.M. 2.75 with the kids running group. Benjamin and Jenny did 2.5. Joseph did 0.5 in 4:15. Jacob did 0.25 in 2:29. Julia ran 1.5.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.85
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.000.0011.25

A.M. 10.5 - some with Jeff and Daniel, 2.9 with Benjamin.

P.M.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:31. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:34.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 11.25
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.250.000.000.508.75

A.M. 6 with Jeff and Daniel. Jeff and I did a 0.5 pickup in 2:24.4. It was supposed to be 2:30, but we started the first 200 in 38 and then Jeff overcorrected. It felt good, though.  Jenny and Julia ran 2.

A.M-2. 0.25 with Jacob in 1:57. This is his new record.  2 with Benjamin 16:39. Joseph ran 0.5 with us in 4:25.

P.M. Took VanGoGo to do safety and emissions. It failed the emissions. The mechanic thought it was because we had not driven it in a while, so he said drive it on the freeway. I figured it was a good chance to study the Utah Valley Marathon course. So I drove the course. After that the test still fail. Had to leave the van to get tuned. On a normal day I would have just run home, but since I am tapering, and have done a quick 0.5 in the AM I needed to limit my activity to the minimum. But I did not want to be on the road for too long, so I just Gallowalked home. So I suppose Gallowalking is useful for something after all. Discovered I could walk at 12:00 pace. Ran some of it at around 8:00, maybe about 0.5.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 8.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From seeaprilrun on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 14:51:03 from 68.103.255.61

Gallowalking LOL! I like that word.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.750.500.000.006.25

A.M. Tapering. 2 miles with Benjamin in 15:30. 2 with Jenny and Julia in 17:13. One by myself in 1 in 6:46. Jenny wanted to do set a record in the quarter after her run. So we started out at a good pace and she hit 300 in 1:01 fairly evenly, but then she panicked because she thought she was going to throw up and just stopped. I explained to her that feeling like this was normal in an all-out quarter, she realized that all she had to do was coast in and she would have had the record, and now was determined to try again. I explained to her that she was not going to run as well due to fatigue, but given how much ahead of her record pace she was on her first try she should still be able to get it. On her second try she was able to hit the first 200 in 41, then faded to a 23 100, and then 24 finishing in 88, which is still a record by 3 seconds. But her first attempt shows she was capable of about 83 fresh.

0.5 with Joseph in 4:26. 0.25 with Jacob in 1:54. He set another record. Now I am starting to think that the story about Summer Harper's 3:58 half mile at the age of 3 could actually be true. I heard it from Hawk and used it to motivate Sarah to start running back in 1999 right after our first child (Benjamin) was born. She did a time trial to beat that time and nearly died running 3:57. The she decided to start training. But then after I became more familiar with what 3 year old kids are capable of  I began to wonder if maybe something was exaggerated in that story. Now Jacob has shed a new insight for me on what a 3 year old kid can do.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 6.25
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Race: Utah Valley Marathon (26.22 Miles) 02:31:58, Place overall: 6
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.5526.220.000.0029.77

A.M. Utah Valley Marathon, 2:31:58, 6th place. 

Lots of competition at the start. Four Kenyans, Peter Vail, Jacob Buhler who had an exceptional first marathon (2:24 for 3rd), Clyde, and Dave Holt among a number of runners I recognized at the start. I hooked up with Peter and he agreed to go out a bit slower so both of could have company for a while. Report mile by mile:

1 - 5:26 - with the lead pack (all Kenyans, Peter and Jacob). HR was around 145 due to the downhill (2.9% drop). Believe it or not, it was quite conversational. I was chattering away with Peter.

2 - 10:45 (5:19) - still with the pack, the grade is 2.5% down, felt harder but maintainable, HR was around 155. Still chatty, but not as much as the first mile.

3 - 16:08 (5:23) - The Kenyans had some kind of a discussion, then all of a sudden surged. I told Peter about how they did that to Seth in the Salt Lake Marathon in 2009 and made him run a 4:55 mile. He agreed it was not a good idea to surge with them so we dropped back. The grade was 1.5% drop, HR around 157. A bit too high, but I want to stay with Peter for as long as is reasonable, and 157 is still reasonable.

4 - 21:41 (5:33) - 0.9% grade down, HR 157, Peter is pulling me.

5 - 27:04 (5:23) - 1.4% grade down, HR starts visiting 160 but stays at 157. Still with Peter. Feeling OK, but I know I should be feeling this kind of OK in the marathon at mile 5. We passed a Kenyan. I think his name was Zack.

6 - 32:41 (5:37) - 0.7% grade down. Peter is edging to press it, but the pace is already too fast for me. So I tell him to go and back off. HR drops to 153.

7 - 39:06 (6:25) - 1.9% net  grade up, but rolling a lot. A lot of 6% grades, so a really slow mile.  The Course Tool thinks I actually hit it right on for my average pace even though it was 38 seconds slower than flat. HR stayed at 160 during the climbs and visited 163 mark briefly. I had not looked at the Course Tool prior to the race, so this came to me as a surprise. That is one place where it is easy to misjudge the grade. Plus it occurs at 5500 feet, which has an effect on how much of a hit you get from a given uphill grade. This ended up being the slowest mile of the race for me.

8 - 45:08 (6:02) - 0.2% net grade down, but again a lot of rolling with grades varying from 5% up to 5% down. The course tool says the right split for it would have been 6:07. HR is all over the place from 145 on the down to 160 on the up.

9 - 50:50 (5:42) - 3.1% grade down. HR did not crack 150. The Course Tool says it should have been 5:24. Probably was having a hard time shifting gears after the uphill grades earlier.

10 - 56:41 (5:51) - 0.1 % grade down on a roller coaster of grades varying from 4% up to 4% down, but mostly staying in the 2% up/down range. Got some rhythm. Do not remember the HR, but I imagine around 153-155. The Course Tool expected 6:06.

11 - 1:02:31 (5:50) - 0.7% drop on a roller coaster similar to mile 10.

12 - 1:08:30 (5:59) - 1.1% drop, the roller coaster continues. Right on with the Course Tool.

13 - 1:14:16 (5:46)  - 0.4% drop, more steady.  The Course Tool was confused there because of the tunnel.

Half - 1:14:53. Time to do some assessments. Given how I am feeling and that I did have to be aggressive to get this slow of a split, sub-2:30 is probably out of the question unless there is a strong and steady tailwind all the way combined with no crash, which is too much luck to ask for.  If I average 6:00 to the finish that gives me a high 2:33. I'll be OK with that. If there is a crash of average severity, I might not average 6:00 to the finish. So we are looking at 2:35, which is on the edge of being embarrassing. I'll just take it a mile at a time, and try to put as much gap on the 6:00 guy for the second half as possible, so I can still hold him off if I do crash. 2:33 will be better than embarrassing.

14 - 1:20:01 (5:45) -  1.2% down, more or less steady. Hey, that invites illusions of breaking 2:30, but in order to do that I would need to be as fresh in the last 6 miles as I am now. But still it is nice to think about being technically on pace for 2:30.

15 - 1:25:59 (5:58) - 1.4% steady up. This is exciting. Last year  the split on that mile was 6:02, and I was in a pack at mile 5 instead of being alone at mile 15. The course is different this year.

16 - 1:31:29 (5:30) - 3.4% steady down. Got going. Last year the split was 5:33.

17 - 1:37:01 (5:32) - 2.4% down with some rolling. Last year 5:25 on Jeff's initiative. Still technically on pace for sub-2:30, but the marathon has not yet started. 3 more miles to go before it starts. Marathon starts at 20. If you can get there ahead of pace without killing yourself, you get the privilege of the early start, and it does not count against you.

18 - 1:42:50 (5:49) - 1.2% down. Last year 5:34 on mile 8 in the same spot. The fatigue is starting to show.  But I am still sub-6:00 and with a couple of 5:30s in addition to not slipping over 6:00 on the uphill I have a good gap on the 6:00 guy for the second half. However, all it takes to lose it is a couple of 6:30s, which can still happen.

19 - 1:48:46 (5:56) - 1.1 % down. Last year 5:36. Still sub-6:00.

20 - 1:54:45 (5:59) - 0.9 % down. Last year 5:40 on the matching mile 10. The long anticipated start of the marathon. One thing I do not like about marathons is that it takes almost two hours of running before the race begins. You can really psych yourself out with the anticipation. If you hurry to get there, you might end up too tired to race and perform poorly in spite of the head start. If you take your time, you can get there fresh, but the race will have already started without you.

Time to assess again. Last year split at 20 miles was 1:55:50 and the preceding mile was 6:19. This year things look more promising. The split is a good minute faster, the pace is 20 seconds per mile faster, and we drop 290 feet in the last 10 K at a fairly steady grade with only two minor climbs, one by the Country Club and one on the bridge in the last mile. So it will be faster than 2:35:46, but by how much? Sub 2:30 by now is impossible. I will need to run a 35:15 10 K, which is not happening if an honest effort is giving me barely sub-6:00 at this point. However, something like a 38:00 while challenging is still realistic. That would give me high 2:32 which would be not too far off my prediction of 2:32:00 on the message board. I decided to set a goal of hitting at least one mile in the "zone" under 6:00. Then hopefully the momentum will carry me through something like a 6:10, and maybe one more. Then I will smell the barn, and give it a good push, and maybe the slowdown could be stalled. Still not quite 38:00 for the last 10 K, but worth a try.

21 - 2:00:40 (5:55) - 1.3 % down. Goal met. Let's do one more. By this time I started to catch the half marathoners and they served as easy targets. Every little bit helps in the "zone". Zero in on a runner ahead of you. One nice thing is that unlike when you race your competition he always comes to you at a fast rate, and then there is another to zero in on. You can even fancy that a runner ahead of you has blown up and you are moving up a place. So you are easily meeting the goals and that helps you keep the spirits up when the blood sugar is down.

22 - 2:06:37 (5:57) - 1.2 % down. Another sub-6:00. Encouraging, but do not get a big head over it. Still 4 miles to go and the blow up can be spectacular. Doing some crazy math. If I average 7:30 to the finish, this gives me 2:37. That would be embarrassing. But I am not likely to average 7:30, I always drop gradually. So let's say I average 7:00. That would be 2:35. I like that better, especially since I am not going to average 7:00, at least I am a good minute faster than that pace right now and I am feeling quite strong. OK, let's try another one under 6:10.

23 - 2:12:40 (6:03) - 0.5% net down, but with a climb by the Country Club. Better than expected. Do I have another good mile in me? How about a good 5 K? Hey, 20:00 5 K gives me a low 2:33, and by now I am feeling quite confident I could run a 20:00 5 K.

24 - 2:18:41 (6:01) - 1.3% down. On pace for a sub-19:00 5 K, but still 2 miles to go.

25 - 2:24:44 (6:03) - 0.7% down. During this mile a police officer underestimated my speed and thought a car could safely cross in front of me. It did make it, but it was a bit too close for comfort. So he commented about his mistake. I'll take his mistake as a compliment, especially during mile 25.

26 - 2:30:43 (5:59) - 0.7 % net down with the bridge. When I saw my split at 25 I thought that I needed to give it an earnest to push to break 2:32 or else I would be cursing myself for running something like 2:32:05 for the next two months. Two days ago I played in a chess tournament with an HRM (now you have to be a geek to play chess at all, geek squared to play in in a tournament, but to play it in a tournament with an HRM is more than a geek cubed, it has to be something like egeek

). I noticed that my HR goes up as high as 90 on some moves while normally when I am sitting down in the evening on a warm day it hovers between 57 and 65. So I knew how I could get some adrenaline. I thought about a tournament game I played two weeks ago against a player that was rated 200 points above me. I was a bishop up, and had a mate threat that he could only stop by sacrificing his rook. So in essence I had a win in the bag. But unlike running, one mistake is fatal. I improperly captured his rook, lost my queen, lost my rook, and ended up playing queen against a bishop which resulted in a loss. This did the job. HR hit 160 on the bridge, and I was moving.

Kick - 1:15 (5:52 pace) - 2:31:58 at the finish. The results have not yet been posted, but the finishing order from what I gathered was two Kenyans, Jacob Buhler, Peter Vail, another Kenyan, then me, Dave Holt and Clyde.

The time is the fastest I've run since 2007. It was nice to break a dry spell of pour marathon performances. It was also my marathon debut in clogs. I am pleased to report that aside from some minor slipping on wet uphills there were absolutely no issues - no blisters, foot pain, etc. So I have proven that a sub-2:32 marathon can be done in a $10 pair of clogs bought at Walgreens. Of course, Abebe Bikila proved in 1960 Olympics that a 2:15 marathon can be run barefoot, shoe cost being zero. Indeed, it is not the shoe that makes the runner. I was also happy that my second half was decent (1:17:05), and my last 10 K (the real part of the marathon) was 1 minute faster than my optimistic goal at 20 (37:13).

Update - results are at  Stride Racing

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:55. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:24. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:36.



...


Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 29.77
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Comments
From artichoke on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 19:44:34 from 75.169.45.146

Now that was a GREAT race report! Congratulations on a great time and great finish.

From Toby on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 19:52:59 from 216.194.124.36

Fantastic race report!

From Kelli on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 20:50:52 from 71.219.93.114

Very interesting race report, I can not believe how much you are able to think while you run. I do math in my head to keep my going, but it is much simpler. Wow, you really think through things, impressive how your brain works.

Great race, nice kick.

OH, I liked the comment about how a marathon does not even start until mile 20. SO TRUE.

From Dragonvulture on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 21:11:31 from 75.169.138.134

Congrats on the great race. Love the amount of detail you remember about everything during your race.

From Lindsey Dunkley on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 21:20:12 from 75.169.150.228

Seriously can't believe you ran that time, in clogs none the less. Way to get your PR since 2007. Great race report, awesome race!

From Superfly on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 21:47:59 from 208.117.127.110

Good race Sasha. I could tell you were feeling good today as you went out pretty strong and then we never saw you again. Way to finish it off too. Hopefully Dave and I will get ourselves ready to "race" with you again.

From jtshad on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 21:51:57 from 69.20.183.178

Great race, nice and steady! Good to hear you had such a great result and are getting back into your groove!

From Little Bad Legs on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 21:59:17 from 67.170.153.203

I think that's the first race report that included a reference to a chess tournament. Great race, as usual.

From Steve on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 21:59:36 from 12.198.106.131

So nice to see you running that speed again! I was a great fan of yours from the TOU days!

From Burt on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 22:08:04 from 68.225.214.248

Great job Sasha. I'll let Bonnie run the stats on how geeky you are. But with that kind of speed it's excusable.

From Paul on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 23:19:52 from 174.27.230.30

Good job on fastest-ever clog marathon time.

From Tom on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 23:35:45 from 67.199.180.90

Great job on the race today Sasha. And nice talking to you and Sarah afterward.

So after running it, how do you think UVM compares to SGM, TOU, and Ogden in terms of fastness of the course?

From Jon on Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 00:27:21 from 75.169.136.39

Sub-2:32 in clogs! Nice job.

From James on Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 00:59:18 from 174.23.33.14

That was a great race for you, your best in years from what I have seen. Nice job!

From seeaprilrun on Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 09:33:29 from 68.103.255.61

Congratulations on a good race and a return to form!

From Walter on Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 10:28:48 from 24.10.169.110

Sasha, that was a great run! Watching you take off so fast like that and being able to stay at a 6 pace for those last 6 miles is very strong! I felt good to mile 20 and my give a damn was busted after that. I think its amazing how the Kenyan runners can run in a group like that and then do the "wink" at each other and then pick the pace up to drop unsuspected runners.

From ChrisM on Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 12:18:09 from 86.177.210.19

Nice one Sasha! Great to run a fastest time since '07 too. I am impressed how much you think and can then remember afterwards to put in the blog!

I am guessing you still wear socks with the clogs?

From Holt on Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 17:06:39 from 75.169.90.161

Good job Sasha.

From Mark on Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 21:54:13 from 173.168.88.68

Great job Sasha! Nice to see the clogs work out so well, maybe you can get a sponsorship from Walgreens?

From Mike Warren on Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 10:53:55 from 207.50.149.221

Nice race Sasha!

From James W on Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 11:39:42 from 12.151.72.1

Good job, Sasha, your comment about the geekiness of chess cracked me up - even more so about wearing a HRM while playing in a chess tournament! I also wonder what was going through the minds of the other non-FRB elites when they saw you toeing the line with clogs . . .

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 12:40:13 from 192.168.1.1

Everybody, thanks for the comments. Tom - after proper crazy grade corrections the Course Tool thinks this course is about 2:00 slower than Ogden, and tend to agree with it more or less. I figure the second half is almost identical to the second half of Ogden, but the first half in and of itself is slower by maybe a minute - minute and a half. The other minute to 30 seconds comes from the residual fatigue from the hills between 6 and 8. There are way too many 6% grades between 6 and 10. Thus we end up with a total of 1000+ feet of elevation gain, and this kills all of the benefits of the extra 300 feet of elevation drop. Plus you hit those grades at 5500 feet, while Ogden grades are hit at "only" 5000. So it is not surprising that the Kenyans failed to crack to 2:20 in spite of having every reason to do so and giving it their very best try.

Compared to Top of Utah - I have not done the numerical analysis, but I do feel that I would have quite comfortably hit a low 1:12 first half had this been TOU even without the trademarked TOU tailwind. With it probably 1:11. Then second half in 1:17 does sound feasible. Less elevation drop, but pretty good tail wind from 13 to 15, and the lack of uphill from 6 to 10 would have left me with more energy. But the only way to prove it is to race TOU while in the same shape, which is the plan. Hopefully better shape, though.

Chris - yes, socks are a necessity, you get bad blisters otherwise.

From LuzyLew on Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 19:29:25 from 208.187.197.42

Congratulations Sasha. Your report was exciting and inspiring; Made more so because you were happy in your accomplishment. This report is now one of my favorites. After these many years of seeing you run in clogs, or five fingers, I always want to tell you this story: There was a struggling, hardworking black singer/actress in the 1950's named Junior Drake. At an Oscar ‘after party’ in Hollywood she was noticed by a director who walked up to her and said : THAT, is a fabulous dress! To which she replied: Honey, it's not the dress, it's the girl. So for your many racing accomplishments over all these amazing years I'd like to add: it's definitely not the shoes. Thanks for keeping us inspired, and for giving us the FRB.

From fly on the Wall on Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 13:18:25 from 204.113.19.47

Congratulations on breaking your dry spell.

I'm curious, I think of clogs as wooden soled shoes without laces. I can't imagine you ran in wooden shoes. What are "clogs?"

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 15:27:41 from 192.168.1.1

We live in a world of trademarks. So a company that is not Crocs that makes crocs has to call those shoes by some other name. It seems that the competition of Crocs settled on the term "clogs", which I use in the blog to distinguish them from the brand name Crocs and to point out that I am not using the brand. I think we would all benefit if we learned to focus on the essence of the product instead of on how it is marketed. Of course one side effect would be that we would have something like 40% unemployment at first :-)

From Cam on Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 04:59:45 from 166.70.243.182

Sasha, I ran this race and got really bad blisters and eventually bloody feet due to the rain. Did you have no water/feet issues?

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 19:10:06 from 192.168.1.1

Cam, no not at all.

From Burt on Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 18:07:37 from 72.223.84.236

Sasha, did anybody ever tell you that you are hot? Well, this race report is anyway.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in sacrament meeting were on standing in holy places. The lesson in Sunday School was on the gifts of the Spirit. The lesson in the Elders Quorum was on scriptures.

My legs were sore, but walkable/runnable. When I finished the pain was in the calves, but later in moved to the quads. There is a term for that - DOS - delayed onset soreness. To a computer programmer DOS, aside from a well known old operating system, also means Denial of Service attack. So I suppose I can say my legs are getting a mild denial of service attack. I think I need to do more downhill training to get them back to where by Monday I would have no clue that I raced a marathon on Saturday. That ability is not there anymore, although it is not as bad as pre-2003 when I was totally miserable and could not run at all for 48 hours after the marathon. 

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. Met Daniel on the trail.  Ran 7.25 at a bit slower than 8:00 average. Did not want to go any faster. Ran the last quarter with Sarah in 2:50. Legs sore, but runnable with an OK form. At least I think it was OK :-) Jenny and Julia ran 2 in 17:32.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:29. 0.5 with Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.251.000.000.5013.75

A.M. Did 10.1 meeting Daniel on the trail. We did a control mile. Daniel's target was to hit what he thought was his 10 K race pace. So we ended up with a mile in 5:31.6 with the splits of 78, 83, 85, 85.  Then Daniel more or less correctly identified each split by feel after the run. So this is significant progress for him compared to last week. I was rather puzzled by the results, and asked him when he got to Utah from South Carolina. Turned out May 29th. That explained everything - altitude acclimation. He was not himself a week ago. Also ran 2.9 with Benjamin with quarter pickups of 84 and 89.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:29. Jacob ran 0.25 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran while I rollerbladed along. Jenny did 2.16, Julia did 1.85.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 13.75
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.100.400.000.0013.50

A.M. Met Jeff and Daniel on the trail. Ran a bit with Jenny and Julia at the end. They ran 2.16 miles. I did 10.5. Had a post-VPB pickup for 600 meters in 2:09. Felt good. A bit later ran with the kids. Jacob ran 0.5 in 6:09, Joseph and Julia did it in 5:06. I stayed back with Kaytlin, this was her first half mile run. We did it in 6:19.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:55.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.600.000.0013.60

A.M. 10.2 in 1:18:07. Met Jeff and Daniel on the trail. Did a post-VPB 900 in 3:13, which is 5:43 pace. Caught up to Neal Harmon at the end and ran with him. He told me about his new business OraBrush and even gave me a sample product. It scrubs the tongue to remove bad breath.

Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

Later took the kids for a group run. I stayed with Kaytlin and she did 6:09 for 0.5, and this time she ran all the way. Jacob did 0.5 in  5:49. Joseph  and Julia did 0.5 in 5:00.

Then took Benjamin for 2.9. I have given him a challenge of breaking my 11-year-old  2 K record of 7:57. He obviously was ready to smash it, given that his mile PR is 5:53. So something like a 6:10 to open, and even jogging down in 1:40 would still put him 7 seconds ahead. But he does have a tendency to psyche himself out, and he has been doing that over the last two weeks stubbornly convincing himself that he could not do it in spite of all of the facts to the contrary staring him in the face. Finally I had enough of that and told him we were going to run 1200 in 4:42 (6:16 pace), and if he made it that far with no negative comments he was off the hook and could run whatever pace he wanted to the finish. If he made a negative comment he had to surge for 100 meters at whatever pace I would set for him (around 5:20). If he failed to do that, then we stop immediately, go back to the start, and try again. We keep doing this until we have gotten to 1200 in 4:42 or faster, or until we've run a total of 10 K!

So we hit the first quarter in 95, then I picked up the pace and did 92 with Benjamin reluctantly dragging about 2 seconds behind. I yelled at him and told him he could not stop at 1200 until he had caught me. He caught me immediately running an 88 quarter. So we were 4:37 at 1200 and jogged the next 400 in 1:59 while I tried to convince Benjamin to start running a normal pace and get that monkey off his back. He fought me like there was no tomorrow, and those of you who I have paced before would know that I will make your life so miserable at a slow pace that the faster pace would appear the lesser evil if you have that faster pace in you at all. And after having raced for 25 years I do know by feel when a runner right next to me has another gear!  So when we approached the mile mark (6:36), he smelled the barn and starting running. His next 200 was 43, and then he shifted gears and ran the last 200 in 37. That is 5:00 pace! So he ended up with 7:56, 1 second ahead of my record in spite of jogging and arguing for a quarter mile at 8:00 pace in the middle.

This was the third time in the last couple of months that Benjamin had a practical lesson on not doubting himself. First one was 5:53 mile. Second was in a chess tournament when he kept insisting that he was going to lose to a 1900 player no matter what he did, and then ended up beating him. So hopefully the third witness today had delivered the final crushing blow to his self doubt.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 13.60
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Kory on Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 15:40:14 from 134.50.89.33

Great work for Benjamin. Does he enjoy running with you or more by himself?

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 16:03:23 from 192.168.1.1

Kory - he prefers company.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.700.000.000.1014.80

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran 10.1. Then added 2 with Benjamin in 16:39 with  2x100 in 16.7 and 16.2. 16.2 is Benjamin's record. Took kids for a group run. Jacob ran 0.5 in 5:39 paced by Jenny. Joseph did 4:17 paced by Benjamin and Julia. I stayed with Kaytlin - she set a record - 5:41.

P.M. 2.2 with Jenny and Julia.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 14.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.752.450.500.0017.70

A.M. Ran with Jeff for most of the run, but he started from his house, so I ran the last 4 miles alone.  Total of 15.2 with the last 2.95 in 16:58. Last two quarters were 84 and 80. I was happy with how easy they felt. 80 was not exactly easy, but it felt more in the tempo range than 5 K pace. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 5:18. Joseph ran 0.5 with Benjamin in 4:45. Then 2 with Benjamin in 15:46.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 17.70
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in the sacrament meeting were on the role of a father. We are blessed to have a very good singer who came to BYU on a vocal scholarship from South Africa. He sang the hymn O My Father in a solo. The lesson in Sunday School was on sacrament, and the lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on the prophets. 

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.780.001.960.0015.74

A.M. Uneventful half + detour with Jeff in 1:37:58 (13.19 miles). Except we had one event - last 1.96 in 10:36, 5:24.5 pace. Jeff had an upset stomach, so we cautiously dragged along most of the way, and I was not excepting Jeff to go that fast in the tempo portion. I told him imagine you got to mile 20 of a marathon feeling like this, now run to finish the marathon expecting maybe 5:40 at best. I think he really wanted to qualify for the Trials. But in spite of a faster pace I felt very strong. It felt sustainable for the half.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 5:29. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph in 4:36. Then 2.05 with Benjamin in 16:22.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 15.74
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.200.000.000.0012.20

A.M. 10.2 in 1:20:00. Met Jeff on the trail. Then 2 with Benjamin in 15:53. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Jacob ran 0.5 with Julia in 6:00. Joseph ran 0.5 with Benjamin 4:35. I stayed with Kaytlin - she did 0.5 in 6:36.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.20
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.350.000.001.0012.35

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. Total of 10.1 in 1:19:52. Did 4x400 with full rest. The goal was to coast at 70, practice running fast and relaxed. We ended up with 68.5, 67.0, 66.9, then Jeff decided to relax on the last one, I sensed it was going to be slow because it felt too easy, and sure enough it was 70.7. But perhaps it was the best interval because we actually did it right.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2.25 with Benjamin and Jared in 20:28.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.35
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.200.000.3013.00

A.M. Met Jeff and Daniel on the trail. 10 miles in 1:19:12. Did a 0.2 pickup after a VPB.  Then 2 with Benjamin in 16:20 with 3x200. Well, the first 200 got botched as we passed a runner with a dog and Benjamin tripped on the dog's leash, so it ended up being more like 160 meters. The first 100 was 17, though. On the second one my watch did not start. Benjamin did not want to end the day without a valid 200 time, so we did one more in 37.0. Total time for 2 miles was 16:20.

Then did 0.5 with Kaytlin and her cousin in 5:54.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 5:29. Joseph ran 0.5 with Benjamin in 4:23.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.750.000.000.0012.75

A.M. 2 with Benjamin in 14:47. 10.25 with William in the stroller in 1:14:29. 0.5 with Jacob and Kaytlin in 5:48. Joseph ran 0.5 in 4:59 with Julia. Jenny and Julia ran 2.16 as well.

Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 12.75
Night Sleep Time: 6.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.50
Comments
From Britta on Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 14:36:17 from 99.25.218.249

Sasha,

I had a few questions about my 8 yr. old running. He did a 5k last 4th of July and is doing the same one this next Saturday. He keeps saying how much he wants to do it but when it comes time to run each day he complains, I then remind him if he doesn't "train" he will not be allowed to run the race. I want to see some commitment out of him. I know he is just looking forward to the end result of crossing the finish line.

I know he is capable of more than he is giving, how do I help him try a bit harder?

I also know he can run a lot faster than he is. What do you do with your kids to help encourage them?

He will run his 5k in around 35 min. I think he is capable of atleast 30-32 min. Am I expecting too much from him for his age?

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 15:20:09 from 192.168.1.1

Britta:

Your expectations are definitely not unreasonable. Benjamin ran 5 Ks in the 22 minute range at the age of 8. His first 5 K was at the age of 5 years and 7 months, and his time was 27:25 on an accurate out and back course at 4500 feet. Benjamin does have a measure of talent, but I've seen kids that have a lot more than him - he is not that exceptional.

All of our kids complained about running at some point, and some still do on occasion. We just do not let them get away with it the same way we would not let them escape their other duties that are essential to their growth.

Some things that I have found helpful:

* Have a fixed distance that a child is expected to run each day. E.g. for a 5 year old, half a mile. 6 year old can handle a mile. 7 - 1.5, 8 through 10 - 2 miles. Then maybe 3 once they turn 11.

* Have an expectation of the slowest allowable pace. It should not be too high, but it should be fast enough to produce a training effect, teach them to work, and develop a sense of rhythm. Something like this has worked for us - early 5 years old - 12:00 per mile, later 5 - 10:00, 6 - 9:30, 7 - 9:00. Once they can run 9:00 pace comfortably, I do not increase the expectation of the slowest allowable pace as they get older because the pace is more than sufficient for the purpose until they reach teenage years.

* If the child fails to maintain the slowest allowable pace, hold his hand until he gets used to it.

* Have a system of rewards for putting in an honest effort, as well as for reaching certain standards. E.g when Benjamin broke 7:00 mile he got a Palm Pilot. When he ran 21:12 5 K he got Nokia 770 Tablet. When he broke 6:00 in the mile he got a netbook (Asus EEE PC). When Jenny broke 7:00 in the mile she got a Palm Pilot as well. When Julia was 4 she knocked on our bedroom door and said: "Can I have any toy I want if I break the mile?" She meant "if I break 10:00 in the mile". I said yes, of course, and we did a time trial the next day. She ran 9:57 and earned a shopping spree at Walmart. Every Saturday we have treats, and only the children that have run without complaining get to participate. So needless to say, when they feel inclined to complain, we remind them that come Saturday there will be no treats, and they stop immediately.

* Do not put up with complaining. Nip it in the bud. Tell them about Nephi and contrast his attitude against that of Laman and Lemuel. Explain the difference in the results.

From seeaprilrun on Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 17:05:25 from 68.103.255.61

I am impressed with the 10 miles in the stroller--how did you get William to tolerate it--or did he sleep?

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 21:20:27 from 192.168.1.1

April - all of our kids have behaved extremely well in the stroller. In fact, a stroller run is what Sarah has me do with them when they are fussy. I suppose the motion of the stroller and the humming of the wheels calms them down. So William was awake when I put him in, still awake when I took him out, and he made only one gooing sound when he saw the cows. He might have slept for part of the run.

From seeaprilrun on Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 22:11:03 from 68.103.255.61

Ah, I see. My daughter may be too old. She recently turned 3 and gets a bit restless after about 45 minutes. When she was younger she liked it better.

From Britta on Sun, Jun 27, 2010 at 12:57:13 from 99.93.195.76

Sasha,

Thanks for your advice. My son, Dallin, when I took him out for a run yesterday immeditaley started crying when I said it was time to start running. I let this go on for about .2 miles and then I stopped and told him we were going home. I told him I would not run with him with this attitude. I then let him know he would not be running the 5k. He immediatley tried to patch things up and say he was sorry that he would stop crying.

I told him he could have one more chance but I would not run with him and drag him along if he was crying.

We then went home and he hopped on the TM in our home gym while my husband was also working out. He ran 3.1 miles no stopping. It was slow, 5.0 but none the less just another example to me that he can do much more.

I guess it still just surprises me that he was so devasted when I told him he could not run the 5k but gives me such a hard time when it is time to run.

I will try your suggestions, Thanks!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.003.004.000.0023.00

A.M. 20 with Jeff to Bridal Veil Falls and back in 2:19:15. Did a workout in the middle. About 7 miles into the run one mile uphill in 5:33. The target was 5:45, and we were right on pace half way through, but then Jeff saw a biker up ahead so we sped up to 5:20 for the next half mile. Then about 10.5 into the run we ran 3 downhill from Nunns Park to the mouth of the canyon in 15:57 (5:20, 5:19, 5:18). Jeff monitored splits every 100 meters so we were very even. That felt great, breathing felt almost conversational, but the nervous system was obviously in non-conversational state, which is why I cannot run a 2:20 marathon.

Then the last 3.02 in 17:12 (5:41.7 pace) on a rolling terrain with turns and bridges. First mile was good - 5:36, second was harder - 5:39, and then the heat and the distance got to me and 5:52 was all I could give. Jeff maintain the pace, and even sped up a bit finishing the interval in 16:56. Nevertheless I still was happy that I crashed to only 5:52 and not worse.

Ran 0.5 with Kaytlin in 5:31.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 5:23. Joseph ran 0.5 with Benjamin in 4:57. 2 with Benjamin in 16:39.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 3.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church.  The talks in Sacrament were on the restoration of the gospel in the last days. The lesson in Sunday school was on observing the Sabbath day. The lesson in the Elder's quorum was on mothers.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.681.002.000.0013.68

A.M. Did 13.18 with Jeff in 1:31:51. Benjamin ran the first 3 miles with us in 23:36. Last 3.04 was a tempo. Did it in 17:09, 5:38.5 average. Not bad for the bridges, turns, and net uphill.Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 5:23. Joseph ran 0.5 with Benjamin in 4:23.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 13.68
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.200.000.300.0012.50

A.M.  10 in 1:18:33. Met Brian at my house and Jeff, Matt, and Daniel on the trail. 2 with Benjamin in 16:39. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Did a 500 pickup in 1:41.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 5:29. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph in 4:25.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.6012.60

A.M. Ran a total of 10.1 with Jeff. Met him on the trail. We did an 800 meter time trial. First we went to the BYU track, but it was closed for construction. So we went to the Provo High track. We do not run much on the track normally, only when we want to test ourselves.

The results were 2:07.5 for Jeff and 2:16.2 for me. I was 4 seconds slower than my PR of 2:12, which is not a bad start. Jeff started 200 earlier, I joined him at 200, so he finished at my 600 and I ran another 200 alone. We did it so to maximize the distance of running together. My splits were 31, 32 (63), 35 (1:38), and 38. I felt the breathing was OK, but I lacked the leg power. Jeff felt the same way. I was able to stay with Jeff for 400 meters. What was odd is that I thought I had sped up in the last 200, but I have actually slowed down a lot. Up to 600 I was on pace for a PR, but then did not have the strength.

Jenny and Julia ran 2. I did 2 with Benjamin in 15:53. 0.5 with Jacob and Kaytlin in 5:43. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph in in 4:25.


Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.10
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. 10 in 1:19:00. Met Jeff, Daniel, and Matt on the trail. 2 more with Benjamin in 15:18. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob.  Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.250.000.250.0012.50

A.M. 10 with Jeff and some with Matt in 1:18:32. 2 with Benjamin in 15:03, last mile in 6:16. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Did a 0.25 pickup at 5:30 pace.

P.M. Decided to hold Jacob's hand to help him with steady pacing to see if he'd be able to keep up with Joseph and how Joseph would react to it. Benjamin was with Joseph to help us. Joseph tried several surges, but Jacob covered them all. So Joseph could not be lazy. We ended up with 4:03 for Joseph and 4:04 for Jacob with Jacob's splits being 2:07, 1:57.

 

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From MichelleL on Sat, Jul 03, 2010 at 13:57:58 from 67.41.165.45

How old are Joseph and Jacob again?

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Jul 03, 2010 at 23:50:58 from 192.168.1.1

Joseph 5 years and 7 months, Jacob 3 years and 11 months.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.604.003.000.0022.60

A.M. 20.1 with Jeff in 2:18:35. We warmed up for 6.22 miles, then celebrated the re-opening of the closed portion of the trail with the tempo on Fast Running Blog 5 Miler course. The target was 5:44. I was feeling good, and told Jeff 5:40 would be OK. So we did that pace pretty much dead on for the first 2.5, and then sped up. We ended up with the following splits: 5:41 - 5:39 - (14:09 at the turnaround) - 5:36 - 5:24 - then 5:30 for me, 5:16 for Jeff. Total time for me 27:50, 5:34 avg,  second half in 13:41, 4 seconds ahead of the 5:30 guy. Last 3 miles at exactly 5:30 average. Then we jogged some, and then with 2 miles to go picked up the pace to slightly sub-6:00 to get the run over with and to get a fuel stimulus. First mile was 5:56, second 5:43, total time for 2 11:39. I felt those last 2 miles were perhaps the most productive part of the workout. I felt like I was at the end of a marathon, but at the same time I was not too weak to go. I felt that I was able to achieve very good fuel economy on that stretch.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:26. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:48. Joseph and Benjamin ran 4:25.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 22.60
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Stayed for sacrament and Sunday school. Went home after the first two meetings so that Sarah could attend Relief Society. She was home with Julia, who had a fever. It was a fast Sunday. So the sacrament meeting consistent of testimonies. The lesson in Sunday school was appropriately on fasting.

Later at night I heard Jenny singing America The Beautiful in a beautiful voice. She was not performing, she was just singing because she felt so inclined. I thought : "We have a wonderful daughter!" Then I realized that we would not have had her had we chosen to have children by the standards of the world, and not by faith. She was born 18 months after Benjamin. We had a less comfortable life for the last 11 years since children started coming. But I cannot imagine which one of our children we would be willing to give up to have a more comfortable life.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Rye on Wed, Jul 07, 2010 at 22:57:05 from 97.121.11.186

The Family Proclamation says it all. Having kids has changed my life for the good. Now that 2 are serving missions, I feel a bit of heaven each time I hear from them. The rewards of having a family keep coming in so many ways!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.501.500.000.5012.50

A.M. 12 with Jeff in 1:26:20. Benjamin ran 2 with us in 14:26, last mile in 6:16. Matt joined us for 3 miles. We did a middle-distance workout: 500 in 1:20 (Jeff 1:19), then 200 meter jog in 1:14, then 300 in 52 (46 for Jeff). Then some jogging, and the last mile in 5:44.

The purpose of the workout was to get used to the 800 meter pain.

Jenny ran 2. Julia ran 1.05.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:28. Joseph ran 0.5 with Benjamin in 4:22.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Sammie Howard on Tue, Jul 06, 2010 at 05:22:12 from 78.32.130.9

sounds painfully good well done both you and Jeff :)

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. 10 with Jeff in around 1:19. 2 more with Benjamin in 15:29. Jenny ran 2. Julia did 1.05.

P.M.  0.5 with Jacob. Joseph ran 0.5 with Benjamin.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. 2 with Benjamin. 2 with Jenny. 2 with Julia. 6 alone. Total of 12.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:32. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph in 4:31.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.5012.50

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10 in 1:18:07. Did pickups at 5:10 pace to evaluate form. 2 more with Benjamin in 16:29. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.501.000.000.0012.50

A.M. Met Jeff and Daniel on the trail. 10 miles in 1:14:51. Did a "fat" mile in 5:38. 2 more with Benjamin in 15:42. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles.

P. M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph. I did 0.5 with Jacob.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 11.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.334.371.500.5022.70

A.M. 20.2 with Jeff in 2:19:07. Did some tempo running in the second half. From 11.4, 2.5 in 13:53 (5:41, 5:35, 5:14 pace for 0.5, 5:33 avg), then the last 3.87 in 22:24 (5:47 pace avg., last mile in 5:37). It started getting hot at the end, but I managed to survive. I fell back with a quarter to go, but then kick for the last 200 and caught up.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin in 4:28.  2 with Benjamin in 15:51.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 22.70
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Colby Park on Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 07:28:14 from 84.11.139.234

Sasha, this is Colby Park again with another running question for you. I appreciate your help and advice in answering the questions of a novice runner. I am curious about heart rate training. I have tried to read what I can online to get a better idea, but it seems that you are able to explain things more simply. Maybe this could be an idea for a new page on you website? I signed up for my first marathon in Rome next March. I thought i would try and use a heart rate monitor as I train and just was curious if you could explain techniques I should use. My email address is colby.park@gmail.com if that is easier to respond to. thanks Sasha!

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 12:11:01 from 192.168.1.1

Colby:

When it is functioning properly, HRM is useful only a secondary tool to confirm your sense of effort. All of the "expert" guidelines for using an HRM that give you specific numbers and percentages are essentially useless. You need to know what it means if your HR is at a certain value at a certain temperature at a given point in your run, and you cannot know that without knowing your body. E.g if I see HR of 155 at 6:00 pace with the temperature of 60 F, it is almost guaranteed that I have a cold. For another runner of my capability, this could actually be normal. Seeing 90% of max HR in a marathon for many runners could indicate they are headed for disaster. For me, it is normal.

So basically what you do is monitor your HR when you run and notice patterns. Overtime you develop a sense what is normal and what is not, what is good and what is bad.

HRM is also useful for diagnosing limiting factors. E.g. if HR drifts up and you are slowing down, your limit is cardio/aerobic. But if you are slowing down and HR is dropping or stuck at a sub-maximal value, the problem is neural drive, or possibly just mental.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks were on studying the Gospel. The lesson in Sunday School was on sacrifice. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on the Atonement.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.000.003.0013.50

A.M. 13.1 with Jeff in 1:37:22. Benjamin ran the first 3 with us in 23:45. Afterwards we did 2x1.5. The target was 5:20 as precisely as possible. The first one was 7:57.8, the second 7:54.8. The first mile was 5:19 in both, but the second had a stronger finish. I felt sluggish, but managed to do the pace.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 10 miles in 1:16:43. Met Jeff on the trail. Afterwards 2 with Benjamin in 15:57.

P.M. Benjamin and Jenny took Joseph and Jacob for 0.5.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.400.000.000.6012.00

A.M. Today I proved that I am only 18 years old biologically in spite of being 37 chronologically. Jeff and I did another time trial. He ran 1000 and I did the last 800 with him. I repeated my record of 2:12 from the time I was 18. More precisely, the time today was 2:12.3, and I do not recall the tenths of a second on my 18 year old time, and am not even sure if I ever knew them.

We did it on the BYU track. It was somewhat windy, too windy for records, but being tucked behind Jeff helped a lot. The splits were 32, 32, 34, 34. I was able to stay with Jeff until the last 70 meters, and he put about a second gap on me. My legs worked a whole lot better in the second lap than in the last time trial two weeks ago. The first lap felt more or less the same. Total distance for the run was 10 miles as usual. Then I added 2 more with Benjamin in 16:29.

Tonight we will have my 18th birthday celebration dinner. I do, however, have a few things that do not go with being 18. Where did the six children and a pregnant wife come from? OK, an 18 year old could have six children, but not from the same woman, and not with the oldest being 11. Another thing that is odd is that when I tell jokes I have to give a rather lengthy history lesson so that people that are chronologically 18 would understand them.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin took Jacob and Joseph separately for 0.5 mile run each.


Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Oreo on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 11:37:41 from 206.81.136.61

You're the man Sasha! Keep it rollin. Just think what the next 18 years will bring...

From allie on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 11:49:59 from 174.23.226.74

that is very impressive. happy 18th.

From Smooth on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 11:53:49 from 174.23.214.90

WOW! YOU ROCK!

Happy sweet 18th! :)

From jtshad on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 11:55:46 from 204.134.132.225

Happy birthday (18 or 37, either one you are one fast/fit guy!).

From steve ash on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 13:06:57 from 98.202.75.78

I'm with Jeff, If you are 18 that means I won't have to worry about you being in the masters category for another 22 years:) Either way Happy B-Day!

From seeaprilrun on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 21:36:09 from 68.103.243.161

Happy Birthday! Welcome to adulthood! :)

From Lindsey Dunkley on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 02:12:48 from 75.169.146.123

Happy Birthday :)

From Burt on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 03:16:06 from 68.225.214.248

You're all nuts!

From Bob on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 20:25:20 from 65.101.171.39

Happy birthday! Another year older, another year schmarter.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.430.001.000.3012.73

A.M. 9.88 in 1:14:55. Met Jeff on the trail. We did a "fat" mile in 5:32.8. I got confused and ended up running 200 meters short of 10 miles, but I did not realize it until a day later.

2 more with Benjamin in 15:47. We did 500 in 1:38. Jenny and Julia ran 2. 0.35 with Sarah in 3:27.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:29. Benjamin did 0.5 with Joseph in 4:24.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.73
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.120.001.000.0013.12

A.M. 10.12 with Jeff. Did a "fat" mile in 5:22.6. So it was not really fat. 3 more with Benjamin in 23:22. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph and Jacob for 0.5 each.

 

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 13.12
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
18.655.050.000.0023.70

A.M. 20.2 with Jeff in 2:15:00. He was a bit faster because he dropped me with 1.25 to go. We ran the last 5.05 fast. I got 28:57, 5:44 average. The temperatures got into the 80s at the end. Shade was manageable, but we slowed down by 10 seconds a mile out in the sun.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 3 with Benjamin at around 8:00 pace. Then 0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 23.75
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in the sacrament meeting were on maintaining hope in times of adversity. This is a repeated theme, I recall hearing talks on a similar topic a couple of months ago. But it is a very relevant topic as the times are hard, and people are struggling in different ways.

The lesson in Sunday school was on work, and the Elder's Quorum lesson was on the priesthood.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.850.000.000.6513.50

A.M. Total of 13 miles in 1:42:43. All with Jeff. Benjamin joined us for 3 in 23:26. Jeff and I did a wild workout. 3x300 fast + 100 all out with full rest between 300s and 300 jog before the 100. The first one was 46.4 for me, Jeff was around 45.8. Second, I got 45.0, Jeff was around 44.0. On the third one we hit 200 in 32, and then sprinted wild for the last 100, except there were some ladies that stood over our mark, and we were too worried about running into them, so we missed the mark. But I figure it would have been around 47 for me, and 45 for Jeff. We jogged 300 (or actually a bit less), and then did 100 all out. I got 15.1, Jeff 13.4.

The purpose of the workout was for Jeff to get used to the idea that 60 second quarter is his target 800 meter race pace. For me, it was just to learn to relax while sprinting. A wild workout for marathoners, but I do believe 800 meter speed is as much of a foundation of your marathon success as is aerobic endurance. Not to be misunderstood, a guy that cannot break 3:00 in the marathon should not worry about his 800 meter speed, he should just run base mileage. Maybe a woman that runs 3:05 marathon should, if she struggles cracking 2:50 in the 800, but 99% of the runners are not yet limited by their 800 meter speed because they have not yet trained enough. But somebody who runs high mileage consistently will eventually get to the point where his marathon performance would be limited by his 800 meter speed.

P.M. 0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Jason McK on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 18:00:29 from 63.255.173.99

I suppose this has to do with Yasso 800's. I ran some last year and they made me think I could achieve a BQ. I ended up a little ill for the marathon, but also think they were probably a little optimistic. A month or so ago, I decided to take your advice on base mileage - I hope you're right, I haven't done much besides base work...

From Jason McK on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 18:02:27 from 63.255.173.99

Oh yeah, what's a 'fat' mile?

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 19:24:03 from 192.168.1.1

Jason - for the "fat" mile see the message board.

Regarding the 800s, those are not Yasso 800s. Yasso 800s is in essence a popularized training for a 5 K, more particularly with the focus on converting the mile speed to make it last over 5 K. It will do little for 99% of marathon runners with only one disclaimer that it will do more than sitting on a couch. For 99% of the runners, the time and energy spent on such a workout should be invested into base mileage.

What we are doing here is trying to raise the 800 meter speed period. Done once, not 6 or 8 times with breaks. It shows how much power you've got in the legs and how good you are at using it. If the power is not there, endurance takes you only that far. However, as I said - most runners lack the endurance to use the power they already possess. Thus, increasing the power is not going to help them. If your car keeps running out of fuel, increasing the size of the engine will only make you run out of fuel sooner.

From Jason McK on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 00:42:27 from 97.117.40.115

Sasha, I found your 'fat mile' message - interesting. Is this something widely accepted, or a personal theory of yours? Seems like a good one. Nice analogy with the car. Thanks for the help and info.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 11:23:18 from 192.168.1.1

Jason - the fat mile concept is an intuitive experiment that Jeff and I have tried.

From steve ash on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 13:34:06 from 64.134.220.90

Sasha, I have noticed that your best marathons always had a fair amount of 400m intervals along with short fast downhill tempos. Now, not so much.. Why don't you go back to doing quarters to build your 800 meter speed?

From MichelleL on Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 11:11:19 from 67.41.230.247

I would say that doing shorter speed should be part of a local elite/elite training schedule, but I'd be hesitant to do all out type of speed. More like strides for working on your form and to maintain quick turnover. I'd be scared that any all out sprinting would cause an injury.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.100.000.000.4012.50

A.M. 10 with Jeff. Met a new running partner. His name is Ryan. He is visiting Provo on vacation. We ran 600 in 1:54 to catch up to him.

Then we also ran into three BYU students and started talking. They asked me where I was from. I thought it would be fun to have them guess. They guessed Finland. I told them right next to Finland, and we had an important historical figure that hid in Finland before he came out and caused trouble. They still had no idea. I gave them a hint that the trouble happened in 1917. One of them guessed Norway! Then I said - our country had missiles in Cuba aimed at the United States. They got it then.

2 more with Benjamin in 16:49.

P.M. 0.5 with Benjamin, Jacob, and Joseph in 4:08.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.350.400.500.0013.25

A.M. 10 miles. Met Jeff and Ryan on the trail. Did a post-VPB 600in 2:12, and then later on 0.5 in 2:39 catching up to the BYU running camp group. Felt good. Total time was around 1:16:00.

Another 2.75 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob, Benjamin, and Joseph in 3:56. This is Jacob's record. He gave himself a nice present for his 4th birthday.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 13.25
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. Met Jeff on the trail. 10 miles in 1:18:50. 2 more with Benjamin in 16:49. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin in 4:28.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Rob on Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 11:51:47 from 72.254.86.22

Are you running Deseret News on Saturday?

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 17:07:46 from 192.168.1.1

Rob - I am running the 10 K. But I will have some extra miles to do after that, so if you need me to pace you in the marathon, I can come back and meet you.

From Rob on Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 19:46:49 from 204.15.86.95

Wow, I’m honored that you would offer. Really I’m just planning on this being a training run, the last run of my very first 100 mile week ever, my only goal is to not blowup like I did in Ogden. I am shooting for a sub 3:00 my goal is 2:55. If you really want to pace someone at a 6:40 pace I would love to run with you, if the race started at 5:30 that should put me at mile 20 at around 7:45

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 12:48:31 from 192.168.1.1

Rob - I'll be on the course looking for you around 7:45 near mile 20. You'll recognize me by the red hair, white jersey with St. George Running Center at the front (same kind that Allie wore last year when she won, you can find the picture in the Desnews archive), blue Eva clogs on my feet, and I will be running in the opposite direction of the marathon course. Wave at me so I will not miss you. I have a hard time recognizing runners in a crowd.

6:40 pace is perfect, slower is fine too.

From Rob on Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 14:53:27 from 72.254.127.198

Cool, thanks a lot. And Thanks for the advice on my other post. I will be wearing a blue tank top.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.900.000.001.1012.00

A.M. 10 with Jeff in 1:15:53. Did 0.5 in 2:03 and 1000 in 3:20. 2 more with Benjamin in 17:49.

P.M. Benjamin took Jacob and Joseph for their runs separately, 0.5 each. Joseph got 4:27, Jacob  4:29.

Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Race: Deseret News 10 K (6.214 Miles) 00:32:31, Place overall: 32
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.290.000.006.2119.50

A.M. Ran Desnews 10 K in 32:31. Exact same time as last year. First mile felt good, and then the legs started to give out. Mile by mile:

Mile 1 - 4:48. Got out of the crowd, then worked my way up to Lindsey Dunkley and James Moore, and ran with them. Felt comfortable, wondered if maybe too comfortable.

Mile 2 -  4:54 (9:42). Running with James and Linsey. Felt good enough to talk, invited Lindsey to draft, she tried, but said she felt better side by side. Saw the split, and knew something was up. That effort should have produced another 4:48, not 4:54.

Mile 3 - 5:19 (15:01). Legs were not moving, but this is not unexpected. Eventual women's winner from Ethiopia came by, Linsey went after her, my legs were not responding, we gapped James, but then I fell back, and he caught up to me.

Mile 4 - 5:24 (20:25). Sitting on James hanging on for dear life. Thinking that I'd be lucky to run 32:45, and being over 33:00 is a possibility. Telling myself to keep fighting, not to quit.

Mile 5 - around 5:25. A high school runner from Davis caught up, I was able to latch on on a downhill. I noticed that I was not breathing very hard, so I knew what was up. The nervous system had quit. When it does you are hosed, there is not much you can do. However, it is possible to gain 5 seconds a mile by refocusing and making bold moves. If you can tell yourself, latch on and run a quarter at a faster pace, and you actually manage to do it, the next quarter will not be slower from the surge as you are not going into oxygen debt. We dropped James, the high school runner started to let up, which was a blessing, then he let up too much, and I attempted to pass, but not really. I knew that I could barely manage his pace if I were in front, so all I wanted is give him an adrenaline rush (high schoolers have plenty of adrenaline) so he would go the right pace. It worked, he picked up, and I latched back on. I hoped we would catch Lindsey and I would avoid the embarrassment of being double-chicked, but at the same time I knew that the only way this was possible with how I was feeling is if she had fallen apart, and that would not be good. So I just focused on running my best.

Mile 6 - around 5:30 (31:20). With about 0.7 to go my high schooler smelled the barn and shifted gears. I did not have another gear. Another runner approached from behind. I caught a ride for 100 meters or so, but then I did not have it.

Kick - 1:11 (5:32 pace).  That was all I had. I wanted to beat my last year's time, and was trying, but legs were dead.

Lindsey ran a great race - 32:19, 2nd woman, improved by 18 seconds from last year. Dave Holt got 32:11 (gun time).  Daniel got 32:48, James 32:54.  Jeff ran 29:33, good enough for 12th place. It was a fast race, the winner ran 27:18 with 4 people under 28:00. Miles Batty did 28:15. Seth Pilkington 28:59. Teren - 29:27, I think. John Kotter around 29:30, Brad Osguthorpe 29:31, and Paul Petersen did 29:39. Total of 14 people under 30:00.

Went the shortest way to mile 20 and paced Rob Rohde to the finish. He ran strong, 41:37 for the last 10 K with around 2:51:40 finish time. I think he made top 10. Jeff paced Steve Ashbaker for the last 10 K in 39:52 with around 2:44 finish time.

There are some good and bad things about this performance. The nervous system malfunction is a concern. I thought I had gotten this under control. Apparently not. On the positive side, I held it together somewhat even with the malfunction.

I am excited about Jeff's breakthrough, or more precisely solidifying his breakthrough from Law Days 5 K. It was great that he finished only 3 seconds behind Teren there, but there were still some lingering doubts as to whether Teren was in good shape, or if he was running all out given that all he had to do was beat Jeff. Now Jeff finished in a decent position in a stacked race with  gaps that prove his performance at Law Days 5 K was not a fluke. He is however moving to Las Vegas to attend UNLV graduate program, so I need to find a new training partner. I have been spoiled in the last couple of years. Any time I wanted to run a workout, I could tell Jeff to pace me, and he could pull me at any pace I wanted for as long as I wanted, sometimes faster than I wanted for longer than I wanted as well. And, of course, he was always there for easy runs too, I rarely had to run alone. He will be difficult to replace, but I do have ambitious plans for cloning Jeffs from the BYU Cross Country tryout trash can. May Daniel could become the next Jeff.

Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles in the morning.

P.M. Found brand name Crocs at Big Lots for $10. Got two pairs, we'll see what kind of longevity they have. They do have a thicker sole.

Mark Palamar (the Mark of the blog) and his family came over to visit. He ran DesNews in 3:10;57. His wife Jenny did 3:58. They had two children with them - Andy and Tom. We went for a run/bike ride. I ran 2 with Andy in 18:06. Mark and Tom rode along. Benjamin ran ahead - 15:32 for 2 miles. Then I ran another 0.5 with Benjamin, Jacob, and Joseph.


 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 2.50
Night Sleep Time: 6.50Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From catherine on Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 17:14:13 from 67.169.248.86

Thanks for the great report. It's always helpful when people explain what's going on in their head while they're racing. And good job on your race and on helping other people in.

From Lindsey Dunkley on Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 17:30:59 from 75.169.144.67

Good job today! Thanks for the help in the first few miles...sorry you didn't feel how you wanted during the race, but at least you way hung in there and got the same time as last year :) To be honest, I wanted the time I ended up with, but kept hoping you would pass me back and get closer to your goal time too. Good race!

From peds endo doc on Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 17:54:48 from 24.22.236.187

Sasha...thanks for being such a grat coach and running partner for Jeff. UNLV is where he can grow but he will also ahve a ahrd time finding a aprtner and coach as good as you!

From Rob on Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 21:40:49 from 72.254.87.18

Thanks so much for your help today Sasha. I know I would have totally cracked at 24 without you. Those high fives where making me crazy, but after words I realized they are really what took my mind off the pain and got me through. I'm really excited about my results today, and know I have a 2:40 in me for TOU this fall if everything falls into place as it did today.

From Burt on Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 23:50:38 from 68.225.214.248

Great report Sasha. I was trying to remember if you've ever been chicked before, let alone twice in one race. Way to stay strong.

From steve ash on Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 12:33:26 from 98.202.75.78

Sasha, That was a good time either way. Your 10k pace is closer to your marathon pace than anyone I can think of especially on a downhill course. It made me analyze my performance also and I came to wonder if maybe it's time for me and you to train for a shorter distance event now such as the mile or a 5k? I don't know.. You have enough speed to run 30-31 minutes, but I wonder what your VO2 max is like right now. I think you could get it higher.. You were saying that you run marathons at close to 85-90% of your aerobic capacity. That is evident based on your 10k splits vs your recent marathon splits in the first miles also. So maybe we should try some fast continous downhill runs and multiple long reps with lower mileage maybe? You asked me to come run with you some time and if I do I would like to see us do this kind of training. What do you think?

From Paul on Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 17:37:26 from 174.27.193.158

Nice job in the race. I like that you are excited about the success of others. Definitely the trait of a coach.

From James on Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 18:45:54 from 174.23.34.125

Good job! I hope you can find another running buddy who bugs you to clip those toe-nails!:)

From fiddy on Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 22:31:16 from 174.23.146.221

Way to gut it out Sasha. I want a rematch though!

From Superfly on Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 12:50:38 from 208.117.127.110

Good race Sasha. Getting double chicked isn't too bad when the chicks are going that fast.

From steve ash on Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 20:05:19 from 98.202.75.78

Your English language skills are better than mine..

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Had good talks in the sacrament meeting. The subject was being worthy to receive the Holy Ghost. One speaker quoted Harold B. Lee who compared our ability to receive the Holy Ghost to a tube radio. Yes, the technology has greatly changed from the 50s, but the essence of the Spirit has not. So the analogy still works well even today. If all of the tubes in a radio work, the sound is great.If one fails, the sound is worse, but still audible. If two fail, you can barely hear anything. If three fail, the radio still looks the same on the outside, but you can hear nothing at all. So it is with us. If we keep all of the commandments, the Spirit flows unrestrained. If we start neglecting a few, the flow is diminished. If we neglect more, the flow becomes a trickle. At some point it stops altogether except for the occasional prodding to repentance. We may look the same on the outside, but on the inside we have lost contact with the Lord and are in deep trouble often without quite realizing it.

The lesson in Sunday school was on service. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on diligence.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Kory on Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 15:09:18 from 134.50.89.33

We have the spirit of God within us. Jesus had to leave so that the comforter (Holy Spirit) could live inside of us, and as the Gospel books say (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) we will do greater works than Jesus. Our problem is our faith that stops the Holy Ghost from using us.

Speaking in tongues is one that God will use in all of us if we have the ability to spiritually connect with God. (I know some churches don't believe in the evidence of an unknown tongue but thats ok).

From steve ash on Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 18:48:41 from 98.202.75.78

I like the analogy, but.. sometimes all it takes is to not have one working and you won't hear anything. Thats a good analogy too maybe? Pull the rectifier and it's essentially dead.

From steve ash on Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 18:51:11 from 98.202.75.78

Same for other tubes if they are wired in series and not parallel.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.800.000.000.0012.80

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Benjamin, and Daniel.  Jeff and I ended up with 12.3. Benjamin did 2. Daniel ran around 10. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Benjamin, Jacob, and Joseph. The time was 4:12 for Jacob, 4:10 for Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.80
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.600.000.000.4012.00

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Benjamin, and Daniel. Benjamin did 2 miles. Daniel around 10. Jeff and I did 12. Picked up for 600 meters in 1:54.9.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.001.000.0013.00

A.M. 13 with Jeff, Benjamin joined us for the first 2. Jeff and I did a fat mile in 5:31.3. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph and Jacob for 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.0013.00

A.M. 12.5 with Jeff including 2 with Benjamin.

P.M. 0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.750.002.750.0012.50

A.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:41. Then 10 more alone. Did 2000 in 6:53 and 1.5 in 8:15. Wanted to go further, but felt too tense after a mile of fast running. Nervous system is tired, need more sleep. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M.  0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.224.282.000.0022.50

A.M. 20 mile run in 2:18:06. Nervous system worked better today. Early in the run after a 2 mile warm up ran a 2 mile tempo in 10:49.5. The splits were very consistent - all quarters in 81 except slipping to 82 in the last one. The legs started to feel fatigued in the last quarter, but it was a whole lot better than the day before when I could not hold 82s after 1.25. Then I jogged until it was 4.28 to go and ran the last 4.28 hard. It got hot by then. My first quarter was 1:32, and it felt hard. I began to wonder if I'd be able to hold 6:00. But then I pressed a bit, and got into a good rhythm. Somehow I was holding pace in spite of the thirst, the heat, the turns, and the bridges. I managed 25:30 for the segment, which is 5:57 average.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin. 0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 22.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Rob on Mon, Aug 02, 2010 at 12:05:44 from 72.254.127.221

Upgraded to real Crocs instead of knock-offs I see. Good call.

Are you doing Provo 1/2 on Saturday? Not sure what I was thinking 2 weeks after Deseret News but I'm signed up.

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Aug 02, 2010 at 13:25:52 from 192.168.1.1

Rob - yes I am running the Provo River Half. The reason for the Crocs update was that Big Lots had only the brand-name Crocs and they were only $10.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a fast and testimony meeting. The lesson in Sunday school was on the Word of Wisdom. I taught it. At the end a thought came to me that I shared with the class, and I believe it is worth being mentioned here. I said, to run and not be weary is good, but to know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet is better. The Word of Wisdom is a principle in the LDS religion that teaches us to take good care of our bodies. Part of that is staying away from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, caffeinated tea, and harmful drugs. We also believe in eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and grains, while eating meat in moderation (yes we do, even if you might find it hard to believe if you go to a typical LDS activity). We also believe in a lifestyle that involves going to bed early and arising early (again, might be hard to believe that we do if you look at your typical BYU student schedule, but it is in the Doctrine and Covenants 88, and it was specifically mentioned in the lesson manual), as well as regular exercise. Among the blessings promised for obedience to the Word of Wisdom is "run and not be weary" and "treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures".  In particular, one of those hidden treasures is to be able to recognize and see plainly that the Lord has called a prophet in the last days, just like he did in the times of the Bible.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From fly on the Wall on Thu, Aug 05, 2010 at 18:11:08 from 204.113.19.47

I have wondered why some of the principles of the Word of Wisdom seem to be so dogmatically adhered to while others are virtually ignored? At least these are my observations, as a gentile, of my most reverent in-laws.

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 at 14:16:41 from 192.168.1.1

Because those principles are not understood.

From Rob Murphy on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 at 16:18:48 from 24.10.248.6

Also, because people in all faiths tend to pick and choose which doctrines, principles, and rules they want to adhere to. Kind of like going through a cafeteria line - it's all there, but that doesn't mean I'm putting it on my plate.

From fly on the Wall on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 at 19:16:43 from 166.70.192.189

The question then becomes, why aren't those principals understood?

I like the cafeteria analogy. I suppose this is a form of "free agency?"

From AZDesertmonsoon on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 at 19:25:20 from 204.17.31.126

The older I get the less I see things as black and white. It says to only eat fruit in season, but now we are told that was because of lack of adequate preserving methods and since now we have them it is acceptable to eat fruit out of season. The WoW says that meat should only be eaten "in times of winter, or of cold, or famine" That comes immediately after the advice to eat meat sparingly and acts as an explanation of what sparingly means. Why is it acceptable to eat meat in times of winter, but not summer? A reasonable explanation is because meat was subject to spoilage. So if better preservation methods allow us to eat fruit out of season, do improved refrigeration methods also allow us to eat meat more frequently than the lord wanted the early saints to?

I am not sure I agree with the statement that it is doctrine that saints today should eat meat sparingly. I think red meat should probably be limited, but think the most people don't eat enough fish which is a type of meat. Some people interpret the WoW so literally that they won't eat oats as those are for horses. Wheat is for man.

Beyond the 5 prohibitions I won't judge other individuals as being out of compliance with the WoW.

From fly on the Wall on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 at 19:59:37 from 166.70.192.189

Meat can be preserved by salting or drying. Beyond that, chicken, other fowl, and many fish are small enough so as not to need preservation after death (just cook and eat it all).... So I'm not sure AZD's logic holds? Perhaps in winter there were just fewer alternatives to meat in times past? If so then now that we can eat like it is summer year round, shouldn't less meat be eaten year round? IS this just second guessing the LDS WoW?

From AZDesertmonsoon on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 02:47:39 from 67.40.84.166

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy: having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." ( l Timothy 4:1-5)

Here is a quote from the D&C student manual 2001 edition put out by the church.

"Also, before fruits and vegetables could be preserved, people often did not have enough other food to eat in winter. Spoiled meat can be fatal if eaten, and in former times meat spoiled more readily in summer than winter. Modern methods of refrigeration now make it possible to preserve meat in any season"

My point isn't to argue anyone else's position is incorrect. My point is that these issues aren't black and white. Individuals are given discretion on how to apply some of the principles in their own lives. It is not meet that we should be commanded in all things. It is possible these arguments are rationalizations, but I don't see how they are any more of a rationalization than eating an apple in the summer. If the cold temperature wasn't the reason that eating meat was acceptable and only a shortage of other vegetables it seems the lord could have simply said in time of scarcity or something. I think my argument hinges on whether you believe the second sentence relates to the first sentence or whether they are independent. Church leaders have disagreed over interpretations over the years. One church publication said refined flour was against the WoW. Many of these questions aren't that settled.

From fly on the Wall on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 14:22:07 from 166.70.192.189

Thanks AZD. To me almost nothing is black and white. I most certainly do not know how anyone should apply the WoW. I am just curious as to why people around me apply it as they do. (I hesitate to ask them directly as they can become defensive or mistake it as an open door for proselytization.) I wonder why I am frowned upon for an occasional single beer by those who to me seem to eat a diet rich in meat and processed/junk food, and stay up and arise late. This statement is not meant to sound bitter, just to explain my perspective.

From Rye on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 16:43:09 from 174.27.108.29

In priest quorum the instructor, who is a great teacher, talked about charity and virtue to the young men....then spoke of the WOW.. He stated that you get exactly what you put into it. Sounds simple. I think that's what the Lord had in mind. Simplicity. If we adhere to those great concepts of diet and exersize which we know to be true, we will be blessed. You reap what you sow.

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 17:07:45 from 192.168.1.1

One example of misapplication of the Word of Wisdom. An individual stays away from alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, and drugs, but fails to exercise, goes to bed late and gets up late, eats three meals a day at a fast food restaurant that include large amounts of meat, consumes as much caffeine as a coffee addict via "cold" drinks, and wonders why he is not blessed with health while still technically worthy of a temple recommend.

Unfortunately there is an implicit understanding in the church that as long as you qualify for a temple recommend you are OK. Yet there are some important Gospel principles that can be absent from your life that are not explicitly tested in the interview. For example, service, charity, clean language, regular prayer and scripture study, regular temple attendance, diligence in performing your calling including home teaching. A "saint" that is in the habit of telling dirty jokes and watching R-rated moves that are rated so for promoting unchaste behavior, for example, will usually answer Yes to the question on whether he keeps the law of chastity without hesitation, and the bishop will usually not question him further.

The above is understandable as the temple recommend interview cannot be comprehensive. But the hope is that those who want to be in the temple want to feel the Spirit of the temple in their lives. And that cannot be felt without going beyond the letter of the law, and sincerely trying to apply the principles of that law in your life, not just the letter. Which, if it happened more than it does, would result in people like Fly On The Wall having greater interest in the Church, or at least greater respect for it.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. Total of 12. 2 with Jenny in 15:56, 8 alone in 57:59, 2 more with Benjamin in 15:02, last mile in 6:26.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.002.500.0012.00

A.M. Tempo run with Daniel. Did 2.5 in 13:41. Splits were 83, 82, 82, 81 (5:28), 82, 83, 83, 84 (5:32, 11:00), 81, 80. Daniel had not gotten enough sleep, so he was really struggling. He made it to about 0.75 with me, then coasted in with 14:17. Total of 12 miles including 2 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Then Jenny took Jacob for 0.5.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.


 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. 10 in 1:13:43. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph, then 2.1 with me rollerblading alongside in 16:11 in the rain.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.000.7512.00

A.M. Ran with Daniel, and we found Mike Taylor on the trail and ran with him. Mike was Jeff McClellan's teammate in high school. Did a mile pickup to feel half marathon pace for Saturday. Did splits of 82, 81, 84 (under the bridge), and then shifted gears and ran 74, total of 5:21. Added 2 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Jenny took Jacob for 0.5, and Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.


 

Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.750.200.300.0010.25

A.M. Ran with Mike. Did a 500 in 1:44 (post-VPB), got home with 8.25 on the odometer. Then added 2 with Benjamin in 15:07 with the last mile in 6:19 and the splits of 1:41, 1:37, 1:33, 1:28. I finally got Benjamin to overcome a mental block with this workout where you start at a brisk pace and then keep getting faster with every quarter. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Jenny took Jacob for 0.5.

P.M. Took a nap in preparation for the race tomorrow. My new job (I now work for Percona) does allow me to work on the blog as much anymore, so do not be surprised if I am slow to respond sometimes, but I still work from home, and can squeeze in a nap when I really have to. It has been a great blessing to find this job when my main client ran out of money and dropped my consulting services.

Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5. I rollerbladed.


Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 10.25
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From Steve Piccolo on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 at 15:57:59 from 155.101.243.223

Hi Sasha. Are you training or racing tomorrow? If training, may I join you? If so, what time and where and what type of workout are you planning?

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 17:15:08 from 192.168.1.1

Steve:

Too late now, but if you want to run with me next week, I'll be leaving my house around 6:10 most days in the AM. 339 N 1120 W in Provo. Call 801-788-4608 in advance the night before to let me know you are coming as I may not always check my e-mail soon enough. We will have Mike and Daniel with us on some of the days for part of the run.

Race: Provo River Half Marathon (13.11 Miles) 01:12:03, Place overall: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.890.0013.110.0023.00

A.M. Provo River Half Marathon, 1:12:03, 1st place.

They say mice can play when the cat is away. The cat (Jeff)  is in Las Vegas, so the mice got to play.

I figured the time on this course is rather meaningless, plus in the absence of a good pack it would not be good anyway, so I ran more or less tactically, more for place than for time. Plus I had never won a race wearing Crocs, and figured who knows, maybe I'll get a sponsorship from it, that would be rather interesting. Not that I cannot afford a pair of foam shoes for $10 once a month, but they might offer more, like paying to travel, who knows. Even if not, winning a fairly large half marathon in Crocs is a good story in and of itself.

From the start, Walter went with me. I did not have plans to make an effort to drop him until the course flattened out (around 4 miles), but I noticed he struggled on the mini-uphills, and figured it would make the job easier if I turned up the heat there creating a gap, then he would be softened up by the time we got to the flat part. So I managed to open up about a 10 second gap by mile 2, and from that point on it kept increasing.

However, there was much more serious trouble ahead. Around mile 4 Brian Summers appeared out of nowhere. That was disturbing because he had to go pretty fast to catch up. On the positive side he was breathing pretty hard. On the negative side, we were 4 miles into the race and he was still alive.

I let Brian pass me and sat behind him. We were on the trail with the triangle marks. The pace on the downhill according to Curt's marks was a steady 5:07, and I believe it could have well been right. On the trail it fluctuated between 5:20 and 5:40 according to the marks. I did not want it to be 5:40 as it would give whoever was chasing a chance to catch up. So when Brian slowed down I would make a feeble attempt to pass him. Feeble so that I would not waste energy and so he would believe he could hold me off. I noticed he likes to lead. That is OK because I like to draft. But I want the pace fast. So I communicated to him that I wanted the pace to be faster by attempting to pass him.

When we turned the corner to start the climb up the old highway I saw more trouble. Justin Park closing on us. That is trouble because he came out of nowhere as well. Not surprising with our erratic pace, though. I made an effort to pass Brian up on the hill to keep the pace fast a couple of times to get away from Justin. He responded. I was glad he did because if he had not I would have had to run uphill into a headwind alone.

When we got to the end of the hill and turned around, I was quite well rested, about as well rested as I could be after 7.5 miles, and turned up the heat. I was expecting Brian to respond and live to mile 10, and then I hoped to win the battle off fuel knowing that he blew up in a marathon badly a couple of months ago, and would likely be soft after 10 miles. But he did not go, he was too worn out from running uphill covering me from the wind.

In about a mile I gapped Brian by about 20 seconds, and Justin had not caught up to him, so I figured as long as I kept my quarters not slower than 84 (5:36 pace) I would be safe. I tried to motivate myself to run a more honest race and go faster, but it was difficult. I was running sort of scared, but not as scared as I should have been. Sometimes too much knowledge is not good. I knew the limits of my competition, and it was not good for my pace.

I got to the finish without problems. Sarah was kind enough to get up early in the morning in spite of being only a couple of weeks away from giving birth and be there to take a picture. I will post it when I get around to transferring it from the camera.

Brian came it around 1:13:30, Justin was about 10 seconds back, Walter was around 1:14:00. Michelle won the womens with a course record in 1:17:38 (I think). Saw Rob finish, he got 1:19:04 or about. That is a PR in the half for him. Went back and paced Stuart (the lost sheep), and then ran some more miles to make it 20 for the morning.

Update: the picture is here. Note that the clock shows the wrong time, it was started 1 minute before the actual start of the race.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:47. 0.5 with Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin. Jacob and I hung back with 4:55, Benjamin and Joseph ran 4:26.  Jenny and Julia ran 2 in the AM.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 23.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Burt on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 19:36:06 from 68.225.214.248

While the cat was away the "tomcat", Jeff's dad, was running with me, JamesW, and Marathon Dreamer this morning. We talked about how you just ran a marathon in crocs. Nice victory today in the crocs again. Send that picture into the company!

From Mikal Epperson on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 19:39:44 from 207.200.116.8

Great job today regardless of whom you were up against! The fact is that you ran a great race, won it, and it appears to have been a second fastest performance for you in this race.

From allie on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 19:57:20 from 98.202.119.100

congratulations on the win! i am quite sure the people at crocs will very interested in your results. i'll make sure they see this :)

From Walter on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 20:11:31 from 24.10.169.110

Nice job Sasha! My goal was to strat out hard and try and keep my pace for a bout 10 miles and then see if I could hang on the last 5k. My whole body was not in the mood today. It felt like Bryce Canyon half was just a week ago because I had a hard time maintaining my low 5 minute pace like I wanted to. I was telling on my blog that I know I couldve hit a 1:11 if I didnt do Bryce. I know I could. My age and low mileage are taking its toll on me. Do you think Bryce is faster, the same or slower than this course?

From steve ash on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 20:40:06 from 98.202.75.78

Sasha, Nice to see you take first and on your home turf! nothing beats that.. Good Job!

From MarkP on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 21:12:06 from 24.2.76.180

Impressive job and smart race in the Crocs.

From AZDesertmonsoon on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 22:06:30 from 67.40.84.166

Congrats on the win.

From Stew on Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 00:33:11 from 68.104.123.156

Nice job with the crocs. Now your next challenge, do it all bare foot!!!

From seeaprilrun on Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 10:55:19 from 68.103.243.161

Congratulations Sasha! Nice tactical race, and very awesome about doing it in crocs.

From Rob on Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 11:32:39 from 204.15.86.95

My favorite new term from this race, when I asked Walter at the end if he had won, instead of getting "chicked" he told me he got "Clogged". Very funny. Good job, I only wish I could hang with you for at least the first 3 miles one day.

From Matt on Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 14:18:46 from 98.202.72.183

Sasha, I loved your report. Congrats on the win. Thanks for talking to me on the way up on the Bus and after. I think you helped inspire me to get a big PR. I think I will start to incorportate some more of your advice.

From ChrisM on Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 17:15:49 from 82.20.234.157

Nice job on the first race victory with crocs!

From Lindsey Dunkley on Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 17:34:22 from 75.169.144.67

Nice win...always impressive!

From Britta on Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 22:42:09 from 99.146.24.52

Congratulations on the win. I would like to hear Crocs giving you some kind of deal, that would be fun.

From jeffmc on Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 23:53:22 from 67.160.195.214

Rob,

Not sure if you (or Walter) have noticed or not, but Sasha is actually wearing real Crocs now, rather than wearing the generic clogs. So, maybe it would be more accurate to say that Walter got "crocked" or "crocodiled" rather than "clogged". Either way, still funny.

From Rob on Mon, Aug 09, 2010 at 10:06:53 from 72.254.127.233

I did notice they where real crocs. I mentioned it a few days ago and he told me they were on sale at Big Lots :).

Results have been posted.

http://www.trailrun.com/scripts/show_results.php3

From Tom on Mon, Aug 09, 2010 at 10:43:15 from 137.65.56.16

Congrats on the race and the win Sasha!

From Jason McK on Mon, Aug 09, 2010 at 12:50:51 from 63.255.173.99

A win in Crocs! What strange feat is next in the bucketlist of strange feats/strange feet in the marathon world?

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Aug 09, 2010 at 15:22:08 from 192.168.1.1

Walter - Bryce Canyon is between 1 and 2 minutes faster than this version of Provo River half.

From allie on Mon, Aug 09, 2010 at 22:09:02 from 174.23.182.80

sasha, do you know if the crocs are in the picture?

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Aug 09, 2010 at 23:15:15 from 192.168.1.1

Allie, they are. Will have it posted soon.

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Aug 09, 2010 at 23:38:54 from 192.168.1.1

Allie - I have posted the picture at http://www.fastrunningblog.com/crocs-win.jpg

From Walter on Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 00:26:56 from 24.10.169.110

Sasha, that little (big) stretch of uphill totally took me by surprise. I shouldve looked at the website closer, I thought it was the same as when I ran it 2 years ago. I lost a full minute on that stretch. My times were similar from Bryce besides the 3 steep miles i was hitting under 5 and low 5's. I still like not having to run up on the freeway though.

From Walter on Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 00:32:52 from 24.10.169.110

Jeff, that is hilarious! Croc'ed by Sasha! Never smile at a Croc a dile! haha

Someone is losing their arm, its not going to be me!

From Scott Ensign on Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 12:22:16 from 129.123.3.31

nice job, congrats on the win!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in the Sacrament meeting were on responding to the guidance of the Holy Ghost. The lesson in Sunday School was on charity. The lesson in the Elders Quorum was on the organization of the Priesthood.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 10.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.501.000.000.0012.50

A.M. Ran with Mike, and then with Benjamin (2 miles). Total of 12 miles. Did a mile pickup.  Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.250.000.002.2512.50

A.M. Ran with Mike and Daniel. We did 3x1200 on the trail progressively increasing the pace. First one down a small grade in 4:03.7 (84-80-79), then back in 4:00.6 (82 - 79 - 79), then back down in 3:49.9 (79 - 76 - 74). Added another 2 with Benjamin, and 0.5 with Jacob. Total of 12.5. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.500.000.0012.50

A.M. Ran with Mike. Added more with Benjamin, 2 miles in 15:04 with the last mile in 6:12 (1:40 - 1:33 - 1:32 - 1:27).  Did a couple of pickups during the run.. Jenny and Julia ran 2. I ran 0.5 with Jacob also in 4:36.

 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.001.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, and then with Benjamin. Total of 12 miles. Did a "fat" mile in 5:40. Benjamin ran 2. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for  0.5.  I rollerbladed.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.650.300.600.0012.55

A.M. Ran with Mike and Daniel. We did a quick 1 K in 3:19 (5:20 pace), otherwise ran easy. Ended up with 10.2. Then added 2 with Benjamin in 15:55. We did a pickup to catch a guy on the trail, ran 300 in 1:04 (5:40 pace). Then another pickup at the end. Jenny and Julia ran 2. I ran 0.35 with Julia.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5. I rollerbladed. Jacob still had a fever.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.55
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.1510.250.000.0022.40

A.M. Long run with Mike and Daniel. To Bridal Veil and back. Total of 20.4 in 2:10:48. Mike met me at my house. Daniel met us on the trail. Started at a slow pace, then quickly progressed to about 7:10. Then Daniel pushed it a bit and we started doing 6:40s, which was decent for headwind and uphill in the canyon. Then we got to the turnaround point, which is about 0.2 from the actual waterfall, but Daniel is from South Carolina, so he wanted to see the waterfall. We ran extra 0.2, then turned around, ran another 0.2, and then turned on the sirens and the flashing lights. The plan was 5:50 for 10 miles for me, and to fatigue for Mike and Daniel.  Not the ultimate fatigue, because they still had to get home after that, just as soon as they felt the threat of not being able to make it home at 8:00 pace.

Mike made it a little past the mile, Daniel fell back around 2 miles into the tempo. The pace was actually a bit quicker, around 5:45. There is a big difference between doing that pace fresh, and doing it after a 10 mile "warm-up".

I felt good, the form started feeling very smooth around 16 miles into the run. I wonder if my recent SI joint stretches have been helping. The pace got up to 5:40, but not for long, I slowed down back to around 5:45 on good stretches, and as slow as 6:00 on the turns/bridges. But I was able to shift gears in the last mile and run in 5:39. Total time for the last 10 was 57:28, 5:45 average.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:43. He made me work in the last quarter - we ran it in 86. I really did not feel like it in street clothes and warm weather, and having run 20 earlier with the last 10 hard, but I was not going to get dropped. 0.5 with Benjamin and Joseph in 4:24. Benjamin took Jacob for 0.5 in 5:08 earlier.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 22.90
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in Sacrament addressed a variety of topics, but one thing that stood out to me was the idea that if we had it easy in this life we would not be comfortable in the Kingdom of God in the company of Paul, Peter, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets who had to suffer adversity in this life. That goes along well with Christ's answer to a request by the mother of two apostles who wanted them to sit with him in Heaven: "Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father." (Matthew 20:23).

The lesson in Sunday School was on honesty. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on  covenants.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. 12 miles, some with Daniel and Mike, the last 2 with Benjamin. 0.5 with Jacob in addition in 4:37. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5.

 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.300.0012.80

A.M. Ran with Mike and Patrick Rotich. Learned how to say "bee" in Swahili - nyuki. Well it was really a wasp, actually, three of them, but I had a hard time explaining the difference between a wasp and a bee to Patrick in English, so nyuki is all we got.  I stopped for a VPB, and ended up in a wasps' nest. But it did help me catch up quicker! The bites did not hurt too bad while I was running, but once I stopped they swelled and itched. Added 2 with Benjamin, and 0.5 with Jacob.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.002.0014.00

A.M. Did some downhill repeats with Patrick and Mike by the Provo Temple. 5x0.4 . The first one at around 5:00 pace, the rest at around 4:35. Patrick did them at around 4:05 pace. Mike was sometimes with me, sometimes a few seconds behind. Total of 11.5 for the run or so. Added 2 more with Benjamin, and 0.5 with Jacob. Jenny ran 2, Julia ran 0.7, was not feeling well, then finished out 2 with Benjamin.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.506.500.000.0015.00

A.M. The plan today was an easy run with maybe 1 fat mile. Ran with Mike, Thomas, and Patrick.  Patrick gradually kept speeding up. We dropped Thomas quickly. Then it was time for Mike to turn around. I figured I'd go with Patrick for a while as I wanted to do some tempo miles. He sped up to sub 6:00, kept it there, eased off a bit to discuss his Garmin, then sped back up again. Once I got about 6 miles of tempo running in I asked him to back off. He slowed down from 5:50 to maybe 6:15. I was not too far away from the house, and could have done 5:50 all the way, but I did not want to overload the nervous system. Total time for 12.5 was 1:19:44.

Added 2  more with Benjamin with the last 0.5 in 2:59. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:42.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.100.300.1012.50

A.M. Ran with Patrick, Mike, Thomas and Kevin. Ended up with 10 miles. There was a post VPB pick-up, timed a quarter in 83. Added 2 more with Benjamin in 15:46. We had some dog adventures. A dog started chasing us. We sped up and dropped it. It gave up after a few seconds, it was a small wimpy dog. Then Benjamin asked me how fast I thought the pace was when we dropped the dog. I said about 4:50, but if you really want to know run that pace for 100 meters and I'll time it. We did. It was 18.0, 4:48 pace. Then I told him some people run 26 miles at that pace. We did a little pickup at the end as well. Added another 0.5 with Jacob in 4:36.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5 in 4:34.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Rob on Sat, Aug 21, 2010 at 14:12:42 from 204.15.86.95

Well that settles it. Next marathon I do I'm going to find a dog to chase me the whole way.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.103.652.750.0022.50

A.M. Ran with Mike. Long run. Since we had run some tempo miles on Thursday, this long run was on the easy side. Yes, I know, easy 20 sounds rather funny. But today was the day of buying a lunch for 7 people for $3. Meaning that we get a good stimulus with relatively minimal work. So we ran to Bridal Veil and back with some pickups. About 3 miles into it a mile in 5:46 on a mixed terrain, probably a small net uphill.  Then around 7 miles into it another mile uphill in 5:46 again. I asked Mike how he was feeling, he said the pace felt very sustainable.  So I suggested we do 1.25 pickups instead of just 1 mile to discover problems better. On the way back about 10.5 into the run we hit 1.25 downhill in 6:34 (5:15 pace). That was a great improvement for Mike as he got dropped last week after a mile at 5:45 pace on the same stretch.  Then another test. Around 16 miles into the run another 1.25 on a mixed terrain with probably a slight net downhill. Mike struggled but managed 7:16 (5:48 pace). And finally one more. With 1.5 from my house we started going fast again. Mixed terrain, turns, bridges, slight downhill. Quarters of 84, and 85. Mike turned to go home shortly after that, I kept going fast. Ended up with 8:21 for the last 1.5 (5:34 pace), and 2:22:06 for 20. Remembered a Russian movie we watched recently where there was a robot that looked like a 13-year-old boy and could run 300 kilometers per hour. I thought, well, I am struggling to do 17, but at least I am real and live, while he is a robot and just in a movie.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin including 600 in 2:14. 0.5 with Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 in the morning.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 22.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Bonnie on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 15:15:09 from 128.196.228.134

Warmest congratulations on welcoming the newest member of your family Sasha.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Sarah gave birth to Stephen Alexander Pachev at 12:20 AM at our home. At around 11:10 the labor was not progressing as fast as we wanted to do, so her midwife gave her some homeopathic medicine to get it going and told her to go for a walk to put some pressure on the cervix. Sarah decided to go for a short run instead. She started off at around 8:00 pace. I was not expecting that and had to shift gears to keep up. She slowed down to a more reasonable pace for a woman in labor dilated to a 7 after about 40 meters, but it was still quick. After about 100 meters she decided it was good enough and we walked. She ran some more at the end of the first lap around the block. The combination of the medicine and the cervical pressure from a quick run got things going fast. After two laps of walking around the block (0.7 miles), we got into the house and Stephen was born 15 minutes later. He looked like a runner when he came out - 20 inches, 7lb 4oz, long thin legs. Very nice quiet baby, asks for food politely.

Will post the pictures when I get my hands on the camera.

Kids stayed at the neighbor's house, and the kids and I were able to make it to church in the morning. The subject of the talks was salvation by grace. The doctrine of salvation is laid out in 2 Nephi 25: "It is by grace that we are saved after all that we can do". The LDS church gets a lot of flack for that, and in all honesty I do not understand why. The nature that God created should teach us about how it works, if only we would learn. Does the harvest a farmer gathers come by grace or by works? Sure it comes by grace. The soil, water, sun,  and seeds are provided by God's grace. So is the inherent ability of the seed to grow. But that grace is wasted when the work to plant, grow, and harvest is not performed. Thus by failing to work we waste the grace. So it is with salvation. If we do not keep the commandments we waste the grace of Christ and make a mock of His Atonement. If we do, we gather the harvest that was grown through His grace.

Night Sleep Time: 5.50Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Kam on Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 13:36:31 from 68.66.163.179

Sasha, Congratulations to you and Sarah on the new arrival. We had 2 at home. What an experience.

From jtshad on Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 16:25:09 from 204.134.132.225

Congratulations on the new addition to your family, I hope that Stephen and Sarah are doing well.

From Eric Day on Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 11:29:08 from 189.192.22.1

Sasha, congratulations on the new member. Best for all the family.

From Kim on Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 14:14:21 from 67.199.180.90

Congratulations on your sweet, new baby boy! What a trooper that Sarah is! She didn't mention the running just prior to delivery excitment!

I also enjoyed your thoughts on your Sunday talks!

From rAtTLeTrAp on Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 14:24:46 from 72.102.161.137

Congratulations! Running is definitely a way of life for your family. I can just picture Sarah running around the block while in labor. Priceless :)

From Jason McK on Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 14:38:23 from 63.255.173.99

Congratulations, father of 7!

From Scott Ensign on Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 16:37:47 from 63.228.217.162

congrats to you and your wife on your new addition!

From Mark on Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 19:52:43 from 173.168.88.68

Congratulations on the new baby! That's incredible about Sarah's method of getting the baby to move along. I'm sure little Stephen will be quite fast some day.

From RAD on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 20:53:38 from 67.172.229.125

Congrats on the new baby! I love that Sarah was running in labor. People thought I was crazy when I told them I was going to run the 5 miles to the hospital.

I LOVED your analogy with salvation and the Harvest, thank you for sharing.

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Sep 01, 2010 at 17:44:23 from 192.168.1.1

Thanks, everybody. RAD, I think if you can run 5 miles to the hospital, you might not need to go there at all and deliver at home just fine.

From Nan on Thu, Sep 02, 2010 at 12:25:06 from 24.8.144.22

Wow, congratulations Sasha! What a great birth story. Good for Sarah, running in the final stages of labor. Yay for home birth!

RAD-Sasha is right. Plus, home birth is much more comfortable than on a sidewalk two miles from the hospital.

From RAD on Thu, Sep 02, 2010 at 14:03:42 from 67.172.229.125

I should clarify that I wasn't IN labor. I was being induced and the hospital gives you an hour notice before you need to be there and the hospital is 5 miles away...so I figured it would be a great time to get an extra run in.

I'm not a home-birther. I really wish I was, but my body doesn't cooperate that way. I did have a neighbor that was my nurse this time and it honestly felt like the most comfortable and supported birth I've had. As close to a mid-wife and home birth I think I'll ever get.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.100.400.000.0012.50

A.M. Ran with Patrick, Mike, and Thomas. Easy run, total of 8 for me. Added 2 more with Jenny and Julia in 15:56, 2 with Benjamin in 15:53 with a 700 pickup in 2:29, and 0.5 with Jacob in 4:30.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5 in 4:13.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.000.001.5012.50

A.M. Patrick was doing a tempo run - 5 miles at 5:00 pace. I figured it would be good for me to run some portions of it. So I did the first mile in 4:58 (71, 75, 76,76) and last 0.5 in 2:30. Mike did portions of that. Patrick missed the turnaround and ended up with 25:58 for some distance that was longer than 5 miles.

The initial 4:44 pace of the mile was something my body did not like. I felt it for the rest of the mile. However, the closing 0.5 was much more manageable because it was evenly paced.  At least I was happy that I could start with a 71 quarter and hang on. And I was surprised at how easy that 0.5 felt. I wondered if we were off pace during the first quarter.

Ran a total of 10, then 2 more with Benjamin, Jenny and Julia. Benjamin did 15:51, Julia 16:47, Jenny around 16:20. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:29.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. Ran with Mike, Patrick, and Thomas. Total of 10 miles. Then 2 more with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia. 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.250.7512.50

A.M. Ran with Mike. We did a 400 in 70.4 and 600 in 1:45.1. Total of 10. Then 2 with Benjamin. We did some pickups. Jenny and Julia ran 2. I ran 0.5 more with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. Ran 10 with Patrick, Mike, and Thomas. We did a 100 sprint to measure Thomas' all out speed. It was 15.4. It is probably more than that, as it was mid-run and on the trail. But even that is good enough for a 2:40 marathon if the endurance is there. Ran 2 with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia. 0.5 more with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.004.503.000.0020.50

A.M. 20 miles, most if it with Mike, in 2:23:42 to Bridal Veil and back. Did pickups. 1 mile in 5:35 on a slight net up, 2 uphill into a headwind in 11:51, 2 downhill with tailwind in 10:58, 1 on a slight downhill in 5:27, and then I ran the last 1.5 in 8:26 with the last mile in 5:34. 

Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia ran 2. Jenny took Jacob for 0.5.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 20.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 10.00
Comments
From bsummers on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 00:07:48 from 174.52.96.188

Hey Sasha,

I just wanted to get on here and let you know about a race that I am involved with that I am trying to promote. Its a half marathon on trails in SunCrest. Its a good race that takes place on the 11th of september the start is at 7:10. It should be pretty cool. They are doing alot of stuff for September 11th. They are having a general come speak and such. It is good training for St. George. I did it last year and added on a few miles before the race. Its fun but challenging. You should come.

Thanks

Brian Summers

PS. If you know anyone else who would be interested send them up. you can register on active or www.utmountainracing.com

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Sarah made it as well. So for the first time we went to church as a family of 7 children all there. The talks were on being prepared. The topic keeps repeating, and for a good reason.

The lesson in Sunday school was on missionary work. It was the fifth Sunday, so instead of the Elder's Quorum and Relief Society we had a combined meeting. The topic was following the Holy Ghost.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.900.250.600.2512.00

A.M. 10 with Mike, Patrick, and Thomas. Did 1000 in 3:21. 2 with Benjamin, we did pickups - 200 in 36.1, 200 in 37.4, and 400 in 89. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.7 with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. 10 miles, some of it with Mike. 2 more with Benjamin. 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M> Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.750.2512.50

A.M. 10 with Mike, some of it. Did a mile pickup in 5:20.9 with the last quarter in 76. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:19. 0.5 with Benjamin, Jacob, and Joseph in 4:10.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.001.000.0012.00

A.M. 10 with Mike, Patrick, and Thomas. Patrick and I did a pickup for a mile in 5:26. 2 with Benjamin in 16:19, same time as last night. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.7 with Jacob.

 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Scott Ensign on Fri, Sep 03, 2010 at 22:44:03 from 67.41.173.210

nice pace for your son. do your kids run in crocs or do they prefer regular shoes?

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Sep 04, 2010 at 18:46:29 from 192.168.1.1

Scott - they run in Crocs.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.900.000.100.0012.00

A.M. 8 with Mike early (5:00 AM). Had to take my mother to the airport.

P.M. 0.5 with Benjamin, Jacob, and Joseph. 2 with Benjamin in 15:16. 1.5 more alone in 9:42, last 200 in 40.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.502.008.000.0022.50

A.M. Slept in, so ended up running alone. That was a blessing, perhaps, because as soon as I got back from a hard 20 mile run I found a text message telling me a client had an emergency that I was going to handle, which meant no nap.

Did the mile fast/ mile slow workout.  The slow miles were between 7:20 and 8:00, the fast varied with the terrain and fatigue effort, but most of them were about half marathon race pace effort. The splits were 5:56 (slight up, bridges) - 5:38 (rolling) - 5:44 (slight up, headwind) - 5:50 (more up, headwind) - 6:07 ( even more up. more headwind) - 5:19 (down, tailwind) - 5:18 (less down, less tailwind, probably pushed too hard on this one) - 5:30 (slight down, took it easy, relatively) - 5:43 ( bridges, turns, but down) - 5:44 (bridges, turns, no energy)

Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.7 with Jacob.

P.M. Joseph's first bike ride on the trail. He learned to ride his bike two weeks ago, and has been riding in the church parking lot. I decided to take him on the trail for a difference. Benjamin and I ran. We ended up with 2.5 in 21:50.  Joseph rode the first 1.63, then ran 0.87 in 7:54 (9:05 pace).

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 22.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church for the sacrament, then went to Sarah's brother's baby blessing in Brigham City, and stayed for all three meetings there. It was a fast and testimony meeting. Then we discussed Job in Sunday School, and the Elder's Quorum discussion was on the natural man. 

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.251.500.0012.75

A.M. Ran with Mike and Patrick. Did 10. Mike and I did a pickup mile in 5:26, then I did a post-VPB 600 in 2:00 (5:20 pace). 2.25 with Benjamin in 16:58, last 400 in 90. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:27. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Easy run with Mike, 10 miles. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.7 with Jacob.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.352.902.500.0012.75

A.M. Tempo run with Mike. 5 miles. The plan was go 6:00 for the first 3, then quicker if Mike could handle it. Turned out that Mike has gotten into great shape and could go much faster giving me a good push to where I just had to sit behind him most of the way. So we did this:

5:56 - 5:42 - 5:42 (14:00 at 2.5) - 5:30 (81,83,83,83) - 5:38 (85,86,86,81) - total time 28:28, last 2.5 in 13:58.

My legs started caving in the last mile, and I had a hard time shifting gears to get out of the 86 quarter rut. Mike was hurting at that point too and was not pushing the pace anymore as much. Finally I was able to shift gears in the last quarter somewhat, and Mike was able to respond, so we ended up with a good time for him, much faster than I expected. Caving legs were probably a result of cumulative lack of sleep, or at least I hope it will be fixed by sleeping.

We had a bit of a rhythm breaking adventure as we ran into a duck about 0.25 into the last mile of the tempo. Literally, both of us ended up kicking it. That  is the first time I've ever run into a bird like that I believe.

Finished the run with Jenny, she ran 2, I ended up with 10.5. Julia had a fever and did not run. Jenny took Jacob for 0.5.

P.M. 2.25 with Benjamin in 17:44. Last 0.4 or so hard, at about 6:00 pace. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.500.000.5013.00

A.M. Did 10.5 with Mike. 2x400 in the middle 72.8 and 69.8. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:18.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 15:21. We did a couple of pickups - a quarter in 87, and another in 88. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph in 4:13.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. 10 with Mike. Jenny ran 2. 0.5 with Jacob, and Jenny in 4:44. 2 with Benjamin in 16:37.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.005.002.000.0017.00

AM. 15 miles with Mike. Did a 7.5 mile tempo on the standard 2.5 stretch of the Provo River Trail. The plan was 5:52 pace until 1.5 to go, then give it a push  if the energy is present. We were a bit feistier. Splits: 5:47 - 5:45 - (14:26) - 5:47 - 5:45 - 5:50 (14:28) - 5:42 - 5:36  then 79, 77 (5:12 avg for the last 0.5), (13:54) total time 42:48. I was much happier with this run than with the one on Wednesday. Mike did great, we traded quarters until a mile to go, then I pulled him, he stayed with me until a quarter to go, then fell back 2 seconds, but that was still very solid as by that time I had sped up to 5:08 pace.

Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P, M. 2 with Benjamin. 0.5 with Joseph. Jacob was sick.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 17.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. We had a Stake Conference. Good talks. Elder Holland talked about the grit, the spunk, and the moral courage of the pioneers, and how we should have it today. Sister Beck talked about faith. I liked her "You are doing better than you think you are but you can do a whole lot better".  Somehow it has become fashionable to beat yourself up about your shortcomings while vehemently insisting that you are doing your very best. Elder Packer talked about a number of things including agency and leadership. He also told stories, I particularly enjoyed the one about how he used a 20 mark bill borrowed from Elder Bednar (back then a young  missionary in Germany to bribe an East German train conductor so he would accept a valid passport as really valid in his eyes.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.501.000.500.0014.00

A.M. 10 with Mike Did a 1.5 pickup in 8:33.. 2 more with Julia in 17:52. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:29. Benjamin and Jenny were sick.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:27. He was sick.  S w Dr. Brady, he had some ideas for me, will try them. Ran a mile on his treadmill.

Bare Feet Miles: 1.00Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

A.M. 6 with Mike, 0.5 with Jacob in 4:15. Julia ran 2. Joseph, Benjamin, and Jenny still sick.

P.M. Flight to Montreal - company meeting. Ran a good distance through the terminals to make the connections in Detroit and Cleveland. Ran 1.5 from the bus stop to the  hotel with luggage. Was still able to run about 9:00 uphill without too much effort.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 9.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

A.M. 7 miles in Mont Royal park. It was hillier than I thought, but the climb was not bad at a lower elevation. I noticed that the runners were slower in Montreal than in Provo. In Provo I do not pass people like they are standing still unless I am doing a tempo run. Today maybe I picked a bad time, but people that looked fit were coming to me very fast even though I was running a true honest easy effort. Maybe I pushed it subconsciously because it was uphill and I had more oxygen to work with at a lower elevatiion.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 7.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Rob on Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 16:48:26 from 72.254.58.165

The Canadians are just slow.. "A"

From Superfly on Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 23:14:39 from 208.117.127.110

Travel safe. Sounds kind of fun. I love running in new places.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.300.000.000.008.30

A.M. 4.8 in Montreal.

P.M. 1.5 back from the company meeting in the rain. That was the fastest way to get to the hotel. Then another 2 miles doing pre-departure errands. If I lived in Montreal I would get a job as a courier. The ability to run comfortably at 6:30 pace allows you to get places downtown quicker than any other way, and the air quality is actually good enough that you will not suffocate while doing it. But I do not want to live in a big city. Every time you sneeze they charge you. It costs to park your bike of all things! To get to the airport, 7 Canadian dollars by bus, or 40 by taxi.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 8.30
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.500.000.000.001.50

A day of adventures. It began with me sleeping in, if arising at 1:30 MST can be called sleeping in, and missing the bus I planned to get on to go to the airport. I ran downtown (1.5 miles) with my bag, but by the time I got there, I realized the next bus will not allow me to make my flight. So I took a taxi. I had to find an ATM to get the cash for the taxi.  Part of the bummer is that I had already bought the bus ticket the night before. That was the start of the travel marathon. Then customs at the airport, and a connection to Cleveland to find out that Delta had overbooked my connecting flight to Minneapolis. The agent offered me a plan to get to SLC by 7:00 PM instead of one. I pressed her to find a better option, and she found a plan that would get me there by 4:00 PM that would involve a connecting flight from Continental to Atlanta. I took that. On the positive side of things I got at $6 breakfast voucher and a $200 certificate for Delta for the inconvenience.

I checked the Continental schedule, and realized that the flight I was supposed to be on was going to be late, and that would jeopardize my connection in Atlanta. Fortunately, there was another flight right before it that was late as well, and I had enough time to make it. The Continental people were nice enough to book me on that flight. Thus I progressed to Atlanta, and on to Salt Lake from there. Delta pt me in first class on that flight. I still do not understand why people fly first class. It is still a plane.

The entire time I was very concerned about getting sick. I already had a bit of a snotty nose when I started the trip. So I took some vitamin C, ate some garlic, and was drinking lots of orange juice to contain the damage. Planes and airports are an incredible germ factory. I suppose the damage could be reduced if they let you go outside for a walk somewhere with clean air between flights, but that will not happen until the majority of travelers are runners with concerns about being healthy for the marathon they are going to run the day after their trip.

 The travel marathon continued with a drive to Logan, bib pickup, and finally I arrived at my destination at Jason's house by 7:00 PM. So 3.5 hours of sleep + 17.5 hours of traveling from 200 feet above see level to race at 5000 feet. Great preparation for the marathon!

I considered just skipping it altogether, but just could not do it. I had to at least try. I have run Top of Utah every single year they've had it. I love the race directors. They are some of the few that really understand what it takes to be fast, and put a lot of effort into making this a great race. I felt that I needed to at least make it to the starting line if I could, and then do my very best to get to the finish in a decent time without risking my health.


Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Rob on Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 14:56:26 from 72.254.127.226

This sounds to much like my everyday life, I travel about 50% of the time for my job and have for the most part gotten used to training where and when ever I can. I think 4 weeks in San Francisco was a little to much to turn around and run TOU 1 day later but not much we can do, we need the paycheck.

Since I do travel a lot however, I rarely sit in coach. I can attest, first class makes all the difference. Especially on the long cross country flights, or better yet international.

Congrats on 5th place, I dream of running that fast some day but time is against me. I should have started my pursuit about 10 years sooner.

Race: Top of Utah Marathon (26.22 Miles) 02:36:06, Place overall: 5
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.5026.220.000.0026.72

A.M. Top of Utah Marathon, 2:36:06, 5th place, $250. I feel like I have just piloted a plane with a missing propeller blade, or perhaps a couple. It could not go as fast as it normally does, but I landed it safely without being too much off schedule. Not that I had ever flown a plane or ever would (my uncorrectable 20/800 vision in the right eye will not permit it), but I image that is how something like this would feel.

I woke up in the AM. Relatively minor congestion in the throat and nose. HR was 52, a bit high for that time, but no fever. I do know from experience that even a minor cold can prove disastrous in the marathon. You can fake it in the 5 K, or even 10 K, but the marathon is a different animal. The health needs to be perfect at the starting line or else...

Decided to give it my best shot anyway, then jog to the finish if I had to. Ran the first 2 miles with Sammy Nyamongo and Peter Omae (5:32, 5:22), then about half way through the third mile the pace increased, and I realized that I did not have the health to keep it. So I backed off and cruised with the goal of keeping my head above water, being thankful for everything under 6:00, more thankful for under 5:50, and exceptionally thankful for a few miles under 5:40.

Hit 5 Miles in 27:58. Steve Shepherd and and Ben VanBeekum caught up to me around 7. I ran with them for a couple of miles. Ben was just doing a tempo run - 13 miles. Steve was racing. Steve's pace was too fast for me, I backed off. Ben stopped to go the bathroom, then caught up and was nice enough to pull me to 13. That helped a lot. 10 mile split was 56:52 (28:54), 1:14:24 at the half. Not a complete disaster yet, but the body is weak and there is another half to go.

1:25:32 at 15 (28:40). Encouraging. Now I have only 11 miles to crash over. And I am still in 4th. Meaning I can get passed once and still be in the money. And even if I get passed twice, I am not going home completely empty handed, it is $50 for age division win. But the way I am feeling I can get passed multiple times once the eggs of trouble hatch. Slightly sub-6:00 average for the next 3 miles, 1:43:29 at 18. Only 8 miles to crash over, that is encouraging. Also, the fact that I could keep sub-6:00 that late in the race means the crash will not be exceptionally bad, that is encouraging as well. Maybe I might even hold on to 4th!

The two uphill miles in 6:15 and 6:24. Second one shows a sign of weakness, but I am still moving my legs. 1:56:08 at 20. Brandon Reiff from Reno came up on me during the 21st mile. I tried to hang with him, but could only do it for a minute. This however pulled me through the next mile in 6:00. This was the last respectable mile, then I started laying goose eggs with nothing approaching 6:00 anywhere close, but at least I kept my head above water with nothing slower than 6:40. During that time I started praying for the Lord's mercy so that I would not get passed, and the Lord heard and answered my prayer. I ended up with a time that did not deserve 5th in this race, but at the same time I ended up with a place that I believe my true fitness without that trip would have earned had the race been more normally competitive. The trip was not my fault. I did not go to Montreal for pleasure. I did not have a choice, it was a mandatory company trip, and I need to feed my family, I could not say no. But the Lord was merciful to me, and made up what I lost after all that I could do.

The top finishers were Sammy  Nyamongo (2:24:06), Peter Omae ( 2:25:02), Steve Shepherd (2:25:30),  Brandon Reiff (2:33:31), then right behind me Joe Furse 2:38:15.


...

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 26.72
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From jtshad on Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 10:13:07 from 69.20.183.178

Nice job pushing through and finishing in the top 5. Sometimes life gets busy and priorities take the place of running, so good job with the balance required this past week.

From Scott Ensign on Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 10:44:43 from 65.100.218.2

way to go Sasha, coming off that trip, fighting off a cold, little sleep. your dedication and perseverance are inspiring. It was great to talk to you at the end too, though at the time I was a little disoriented and out of it as I was feeling like I was going to pass out or throw up (you may have noticed..).

there is a nice separate article in our local paper about your running the marathon in crocs, along with some nice pictures. I will save it for you and can send it, or deliver it next time I am in Provo (I go down there quite a bit).

congrats again, Scott

From Jon on Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 12:54:23 from 98.84.70.166

Nice race in less-than-ideal physical state, Sasha.

From seeaprilrun on Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 17:57:53 from 68.103.248.145

Way to go Sasha! You can still run an awesome time in less-than-ideal condition!

From Superfly on Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 19:05:08 from 208.117.127.110

Way to gut out a race Sasha. Hope you feel better for STG. At least you still got in the $$$.

From allie on Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 19:10:56 from 174.19.51.35

great job, sasha. another strong race, even with a propeller missing. good to see you yesterday, and thanks for the advice. i always appreciate your insights, and my dad very much appreciated the crocs :)

From Steve on Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 19:30:44 from 173.127.123.97

Nice race! I enjoyed talking with you a bit after the race. Can't wait for some time off now..

From Jason McK on Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 20:06:26 from 97.126.182.184

Nice race. It was great to meet you. Sorry I wasn't more hospitable, there were just so many people to support. Congrats on being in the money. In all the things you mentioned, the one thing that I can't remember that I need was how much slower than race pace a 2:40 guy should run most of the time...What was that again?

From Tom on Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 00:24:59 from 67.199.180.90

Nice job Sasha. It's really tough to race well with busy work and being on the road.

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 12:12:43 from 192.168.1.1

Everybody thanks. I have not been as responsive on the blog lately due to a new job. I still do not have it as bad as most people job-wise, but when you add seven children and a couple of church callings, it leaves very little time for the blog.

Clyde - no STG this year. I decided I did not want another marathon in my legs for the possibility of an air travel certificate. Especially after the Friday ordeal, I really do not want to even think about air travel, even if it is on my terms and to another marathon. And I do not want to miss the mission reunion for the mission where I served (Salt Lake), which is Friday night before St. George.

Jason - thanks for letting me stay with you. You have a great family. Keep it up. Very solid performance on Saturday. The pace for an easy run of a 2:40 guy naturally gravitates to around 7:30. However, no particular guideline here, except you do not want to do the "easy" not so easy runs at 6:40 pace. Just relax and let the body choose the pace. If it starts getting slower than 8:30 give yourself a mild push, otherwise do not worry about it. On a hard run, the pace is very particular once you start going fast. You never want to run slower than 6:10. If you cannot run 6:10 without extreme fatigue, then just jog until you can, and try again.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Good talks in the Sacrament meeting on missionary work from a recently returned mission president and his wife. The Sunday school lesson was on obedience. The Elder's quorum lesson was on the organization of the priesthood. I was a bit spacy during church due to fatigue from traveling and running the marathon. I think traveling took more out of me than the marathon. I estimate that I was about 5 minutes off due to travel fatigue and resulting sinus infection. If you had me run a marathon the day before, I would probably be about the same 5 minutes off if I had to do another one the next day.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.750.250.000.0011.00

A.M. 8.5 with Mike. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:26. 2 with Benjamin in 15:59. He made me run the last quarter in 89. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5 in 4:21.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 11.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.650.750.000.0012.40

A.M. 10.4 with Mike. Met another runner named Ethan. I think he is the youngest training partner I've ever had aside from my own children - born in 1992! Did a 0.5 pickup to catch Ethan in 2;51. 2 with Benjamin in 16:54, last quarter in 90. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5 in 4:34.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.40
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.300.000.500.0012.80

A.M. 10.3 with Mike and Ethan. Did a couple of pickups to show Ethan different paces, and then ran a post VPB 500 in 1:42 (5:26 pace). 2 with Benjamin in 15:20, last mile in 6:42. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.050.000.950.3012.30

A.M. 10.3 with Mike and Ethan. Did a pickup for a quarter in 83, and then for a mile in 5:22.7. The last 500 of the mile at 5:05 pace. 2 with Benjamin in 16:49. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph in 4:34.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.30
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.000.000.0011.00

A.M. The alarm that was supposed to wake me up a week ago to go to the airport in Montreal went off this morning instead at 2:15 AM. I happened to have put it on the wrong date, a week later than intended. I got up thinking it was time to run, and started getting ready. Half way through I realized that it was too early, but by then it was too late as my body had woken up and refused to go back to sleep. So I decided to work instead and filed a MySQL bug report. That bug has been bugging me. One of our customers ran into it, but the challenge was demonstrating to the MySQL team that the bug existed without using customer data, and in a way that was reliably reproducible. Familiarity with the MySQL test driver which I originally wrote back in the day did help. Not knowing the optimizer code as well as I needed to made things difficult, but I bluffed my way through it with the help of a debugger.

Then I ran with Mike and Ethan. I felt energetic at the start of the run, but around 3-4 miles into it I was ready for a nap. I had never felt like this before, not right in the middle of a run. I really was ready to stop, lay on the grass and take a nap right in the middle of a run! I did push through it, though, and ended up with 9 miles. Decided to cut the run a bit short as I have been feeling fatigued from the trip and the marathon this whole week, but not too short.

2 more with Benjamin in 16:54. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 11.00
Night Sleep Time: 4.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.632.871.000.0017.50

A.M. Long run with Mike and Ethan. Due to post marathon recovery I did only 15. Mike went full 20. Ethan ran about 15. Mike and I did a couple of pickups. First a mile in 5:27. Then Mike ran a tempo - 7.5, I did the first 2.5 with him, and then turned around and ran 600 meters back to Ethan, so 2.875 of tempo in 16:25 (5:42.6 average). Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Jacob. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin, 0.5 with Benjamin and Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 17.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Colby Park on Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 10:46:11 from 214.13.91.217

Sasha, time for another timely question. I am getting ready for the Rome Marathon in March and had a few questions about winter running. What is the best way to stay motivated and run in the winter, especially if it is raining or snowing? Are there certain types of shoes that are better or some kind of clothing? Also, I am able now to hit about a 10k 6 days a week as far as mileage goes. I should have about 4 1/2 months from when I get back from Afghanistan before the marathon. Do you have any suggestions on what I should do during that time? Thanks Sasha and sorry for all of the questions.

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Oct 09, 2010 at 18:57:12 from 192.168.1.1

Colby:

To stay motivated you go out and do it. You need to develop the same hunger for fitness as you do for food. This should solve the motivation problem.

You are asking the wrong guy about shoes. I know very little about them. Last year I did all of my mileage in Crocs, and never spent more than $10 on a pair.

Note that the Rome marathon is on a Sunday. There are Saturday marathons in Europe - Dublin, Stockholm, Helsinki, and Oslo right off the top of my head. Dubai is on a Friday I believe, although not quite in Europe.

My advice, however, is to never run a marathon when there is time crunch for training. 4.5 months are enough to prepare for a jog that they hand you the medal after, but not enough to prepare to run the distance anywhere close to your potential.

You must realize that due to the long established tradition of running the marathon unprepared we have a culture of very low expectations for performance in that distance. Many people on the blog experienced a good measure of shock the first time they ran a marathon near their potential as it was a 30+ minute PR.

If you have only 4.5 months to train I would recommend a half marathon. Focus on building your aerobic base, throw in a little bit of impromptu speed, but never force it. Remember that diligence and consistency will beat ambition and heroics.

From Colby Park on Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 08:43:22 from 208.79.15.130

Sasha, thank you for the advice and tips. Currently I am in Afghanistan and have been running roughly 40 miles a week, although the blog doesn't show it. So the 4.5 months I will have when I get back will hopefully be just slowing working that mileage up to hopefully somewhere near 60 miles a week consistently. I know that I won't be in my "peak" shape by that point, but I am still hoping to finish strong and get a good idea at what the Marathon race is. My real goal will come in October when I will run the Athens marathon. I am hoping to gain some experience with the Rome run, and then continue to carry over my training and lessons learned for Athens. Do you still think a half-marathon is better suited for me at this point?

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The topic in the Sacrament meeting was unusual, but appropriate for the troubled times - how to find employment and stay employed, and the talk was given by our ward employment specialist. This may not sound like a spiritual topic, but it is. When you are out of work, you go to the Lord and ask in faith. I had to do that a couple of months ago. My client called and said they were out of money, so there went my source of income. Fortunately I was prepared, and knew who to call to find work. I got on Skype immediately and contacted a friend at Percona. A week later I had work again, better paying (although more time consuming), and still from home.That setup was a blessing from the Lord for following his guidance in the past.

The lesson in Sunday school was on eternal families. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on obedience with exactness and doing your duty.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.5014.50

A.M. Ran with Mike and Ethan. Total of 10 miles. Mike and I ran 0.5 in 2:37.6. 2 more with Benjamin in 15:22, last quarter in 90. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. A mile to Dr. Brady's office and the same distance back. Benjamin and I ran 0.5 with Joseph in 3:58.

 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 14.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.250.250.000.0012.50

A.M.9 miles with Ethan and Mike. 3 with Benjamin in 23:54, last quarter in 91. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:46. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.001.2512.50

A.M. Ran with Mike and Ethan. Mike and I did 5x400 down a small grade on the trail. The splits were 70.8, around 69, around 69, 69.1, and 68.1. Total of 9 miles. Then 3 more with Benjamin.

Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike and Ethan. 3 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.807.003.000.0018.80

A.M. Long run today due to the General Conference tomorrow. It is hard to get a quality long run in without getting up too early. Also we were going to be out of town so would be doing it alone. Mike was happy to get it done today as well, so it worked out great. We did a warm-up, then a 10 mile tempo, and a cool down that included 3 miles with Benjamin.

Mike and I did 10 in 57:18 like this: 5:40 - 5:35 - 5:42 (14:06 at 2.5) - 5:44 - 5:49 (28:29 at 5, 14:23) - 5:47 - 5:44 - 5:49 (42:56 at 7.5, 14:27) -  5:48  - 5:41 (last quarter in 79, last 2.5 in 14:22, last 5 in 28:49).

5:48 pace felt cozy, 5:40 did not, 5:52 (88 quarters) felt too cozy. This was a great run for Mike. We traded quarters most of the way, except I pulled him from 7 to 9.5. A couple of months ago he could not do that pace for a little over a mile going downhill. Now he can do this on an out and back riverbank course for the whole 10 and have initiative in the last quarter.

Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph. We went to my mission reunion in Salt Lake. The highlight of the evening for me was walking into the chappel as our mission president was speaking (we got there late due a number of almost legitimate reasons). He stopped his talk and started counting our children - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 -7! I was happy I had something to show him 14 years after finishing the mission.

 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 18.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Rob Murphy on Mon, Oct 04, 2010 at 23:02:28 from 24.10.248.6

I'm impressed with that 10 miler Sasha.Good work.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 6 alone, then 2 with Julia in 18:55, 2 with Jenny in 16:02, 2 with Benjamin in 14:19, 0.5 with Jacob.

General conference, great talks.

P.M. We stayed with Sarah's parents who happen to live in one of my old mission areas. Got to meet some people I knew back then before and after  the Priesthood session of the General Conference.  President Monson laid down the doctrine of Sabbath day sports and keeping the commandments 100% of the time vs 98 in the Priesthood session with a story about a collegiate basketball player.  I took Joseph for 0.5 afterwards.


Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Kory on Tue, Oct 05, 2010 at 00:07:52 from 24.116.159.75

Did you miss running STG this year. Putting priorities first is important. I've learned that so much with my accident. Nothing is more important than the presence of God.

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Oct 09, 2010 at 19:02:21 from 192.168.1.1

Kory, yes, no St. George. A number of reasons, but primarily I did not feel it was worth missing my mission reunion to run another marathon. It's been 8 years since I've seen my mission president and former companions. And I think it was a good decision. The mission reunion was good, and from what I hear I did not miss a whole lot in St. George.

From Matt on Sat, Oct 09, 2010 at 19:13:25 from 98.202.72.183

Your a good man Sasha!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Got to hear more General Conference. The theme seemed to be following the prophet and obedience with exactness. I think about the power of the Helaman warriors who had so much faith that they could not be killed in a battle in spite of their lack of battle experience. To me it is the synonymous with obedience with exactness, a powerful illustration.

President Packer mentioned a funny story about how an elementary school student proposed to resolve the debate of a kitten's gender by voting.

President Monson spoke about gratitude at the end. I have thought of many things I consider trivial that I should be thankful for. Gravity is one of them. Without it my muscles would be mush even if we could figure out how to solve other problems, such as the air dissipating away from the Earth.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.500.0012.50

A.M. 9 with Mike, did 0.5 in 2:41. 3 with Benjamin in 25:24. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. 9.5 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. Benjamin took Joseph for 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.001.0012.50

A.M. 9 with Mike, including a quick one in 5:10.5. I think it is my mile PR for the dark. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph in 4:11. 3 with Benjamin in 24:45.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.500.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike. Did a total of 9, including 0.5 in 2:43. 3 with Benjamin in 25:41. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.509.001.000.0019.50

A.M. Long run with Mike. Julia is getting baptized tomorrow, so again long run on Friday. We did a warm-up of about 2.5, then ran a 10 mile tempo. I was feeling tired, and Mike struggled last time, and we positive-split so this time the plan was to go out slower and negative split even though the total time would be slower. We succeeded in executing the plan:

5:59 - 5:52 - 5:56 -  5:52 - 5:50 (29:29) - 5:47 + 5:44 + 5:48 + 5:50 - 5:36 (28:45, 58:14). Last quarter was 79.

We traded quarters up until about 5.5, then I started feeling fatigued and Mike was feisty so I just sat back for a couple of miles. Then Mike's steam diminished, and I started helping with the pace more. At the end I was hoping that Mike would just coast it, but he pressed hard in the last quarter. I somehow survived.

3 more with Benjamin in 24:45. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob in 4:11.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 19.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.750.000.250.0013.00

A.M. Ran early (at 5 am) with Mike. Needed to be done early enough to pick up Benjamin from the scout camp-out so he could make it to Julia's baptism. Total of 9 miles. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Later picked up Benjamin, then baptized Julia, and blessed Stephen. Busy day, but something to be thankful for.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:31, 0.5 with Joseph in 4:24, 3 with Benjamin with the last 0.5 in 3:00, last quarter in 83, and last 200 in 39.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a fast and testimony meeting. At the beginning a baby blessing.  For some reason I thought our friend was blessing the twins, so I was looking for the second baby, but there was none.

The lesson in Sunday School was on family responsibilities. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on the church of Jesus Christ today.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.300.000.000.7015.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, total of 9.5. Did a micro-fartlek. 1 minute fast, then 35 seconds fast, then a quarter in 66.7.  Also ran 300 in 59 catching up to a guy named Jesse. Turned out he had served a mission in Ethiopia. Ran 0.5 with Jacob, Jenny, and Julia. Jenny and Julia did a total of 2. Jacob's time was 4:22, Jenny and Julia surged ahead at the end. 3 with Benjamin in 26:41.

P.M. 2 to Dr. Brady's and back. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From jeffmc on Sun, Oct 17, 2010 at 19:09:18 from 68.227.2.151

just curious if you have found out anything from Dr. Brady that is significant? Any fix in sight for your leg issues?

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 18:12:30 from 192.168.1.1

He thinks the problem is in the right foot. I questioned that at first, but after running with a band around the big toe and its neighbor and feeling the difference I am starting to think he is right. He has me doing a scooter, lunges, and flexibility for psoas and piriformis.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.5012.50

A.M. Ran with Mike, and some with Kevin and his baby in the stroller. Total of 9 miles. Did 4 pickups of about 33 seconds at an aggressive pace. 0.5 with Jacob in 4:26. 3 more with Benjamin in 26:01. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P. M. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Joseph in 4:35.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike. Total of 9. 3 more with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph.

 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.000.001.5012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike. Total of 9. Did a mile pickup in 5:18 + 0.5 pickup in 2:39.5. 3 more with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin in 22:11. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.0010.000.000.0023.00

A.M. 20 with Mike in 2:09:56 to Bridal Veil Falls and back. First 10 in 1:11:19 to warm up, and the last 10 fast in 58:37. Sarah and Julia made a strap for me to wear around my right big toe and the toe right next to it (index toe?) as an experiment to see if it will change my form for the better. I've been wearing it this week and it felt good, but today was the real test, and I think it went well. I opened the tempo with 5:35 pace thinking I was only running maybe 5:45-5:50. Then I noticed that the split was fast, and that Mike was struggling, so we eased it off to about 5:50 - 6:00. With 4 miles to go Mike struggled more, so I moved up front and had him low-five me once every so often. With 1.5 to go he said he had zero energy left. I told him he had slightly more than zero, and just push without fear. He was able to speed up to 5:52 average for the last mile, and our last two quarters were 87, and 85. I was happy that sub-6:00 pace was easy enough that I could do some motivational pacing at it. And for Mike this was a huge breakthrough, as he had never run this fast for the whole 20, and particularly the last 10 miles of a 20.

P.M. 3 with Benjamin in 24:54.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 23.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in Sacrament were on prayer and faith. One story was told in the prayer talk. A boy is asked if he prays at night, he answers yes. Then his teacher asks if he prays in the morning. The boys says : "No, I ain't scared in the morning!" Of course, the point of the story is that we should pray not only when we are in trouble.

The talk on faith was interesting as well. The speaker was Caucasian, but had served a mission in Taiwan. He was talking about Christ, and was about to quote John 3:16, but half way through the verse he realized that he did not have it perfectly memorized in English. He admitted that, and the proceeded to quote it in his language of comfort - Chinese. It sounded like a bunch of forks falling on the floor to me, but I marveled that to over a billion people that noise means: "For God so loved the world that he sent His only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish but have everlasting life." At the same time, what most Americans would consider a noise of a tractor plowing in the field means the same thing to me and over 150 million Russians.

The lesson in Sunday school was on eternal marriage, and the Elder's Quorum lesson was on faith.

In the evening we had an adventure. We noticed a mouse in the house earlier and set up a glue trap for it. It got caught. So Jenny and I escorted it to a nearby park and released it there. Jenny loves animals and insisted that we trap the mouse without killing it and release it.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin in 24:56. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.800.000.000.0013.80

A.M. 9.3 with Mike, 1.5 with Jenny and Julia, then 3 with Benjamin starting the first 0.25 with Jacob and Joseph. Jenny and Julia ended up with 2 miles, Jacob and Joseph did 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 13.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.003.000.0012.00

A.M. Tempo run with Mike. 3 miles, out and back on the trail starting at the 5 mile course start. Something was wrong today. We opened with a 5:19 mile, and that felt OK, Then I ran into a branch in the dark during the second mile, and we did a 180, but that should not have thrown me off so bad. Second mile was 5:34. I thought that was bad, but the third was 5:47! 16:40 total time. I told Mike to take off with about 500 to go and he finished in 16:27.

The legs felt weak. Probably a combination of glycogen depletion, accumulated lack of sleep, and lack of running at 5:20 pace. Total of 9 miles. 3 more with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.004.503.500.0020.00

A.M. Wanted to get a better understanding of the fading on Wednesday, so did the same workout at the start of the long run after the last 3 days of more eating and somewhat better sleep. A MySQL upgrade job for a client last night did not help with sleep, but there was really no better time to do it as we had to avoid disruptions during peek hours, but it was not too bad, I still got over 7 hours of sleep.

This time the 3 mile tempo run went better, although still with problems. Splits but quarter: 79 - 80 - 80 - 81 (5:20) - 79 - 81 - 86 - 82 (5:28) - 85 - 84 - 84 - 84 (5:37) - total time 16:25. Mike pulled away from me in the last quarter and finished in 16:22.

Then we jogged for about 7 miles, during which time we caught up to Kirk and he gave us a lesson on Arabic culture. He teaches Arabic at BYU. Then we did a 5 mile tempo. The target was 6:00 pace, but we picked it up after 2 K mark, and ended up almost a minute ahead of pace with 29:09. The splits were 6:02 - 5:48 - 5:50 - 5:50 - 5:39. Last two quarters were 85 and 79.

Here is what's interesting. The last half mile of the 5 mile tempo (from 12 to 17, so you would expect lower glycogen) run over the exact same stretch as the 3 mile tempo was 5 seconds faster than the last half mile of the three mile tempo which was done from 2 to 5, so essentially primed for racing a 5 K. It also felt easier. The difference, of course, was that I had not run 1.5 miles shortly prior at 5:20 pace, but what I find surprising is that was enough to negate the difference you would expect from not being in the out-of-fuel zone.

So one thing is clear at this point. 5:20 pace temporarily puts me in a state of misery more that it should. The mechanism of that is debatable. If VO2 max tests I've done in the past are any indication, the lactic acid levels would be quite low at that effort - maybe 1.02 RER (respiratory exchange ratio), which is a good way to estimate lactic acid buildup without stopping to poke yourself, in other words not a whole lot. There is some unknown villain at work. If somebody with a lab wants to track him down, I'll be happy to participate.

The antidote to the villain, however, is to do intervals that are longer than a mile, or possibly shorter ones with very little rest at 5:20 pace. I'll give that a try.

My Crocs are over 1000 miles, and still no holes, although one is about to develop.



Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From allie on Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 17:41:38 from 174.23.232.22

1,000 miles. very nice. i thought i was doing well with 150 on mine. good to know i can expect a long life out of them.

interesting analysis of your workout today -- thanks for sharing.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Good talks in the Sacrament on enduring to the end. The lesson in Sunday school was on the law of chastity. The Elders'  Quorum lesson was on adversity.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin in 23:30. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

P.M. 2 miles total to Dr. Brady's and back.

 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.5012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. Did 0.5 in 2:39. 3 with Benjamin in 24:53. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.003.0012.00

A.M. The trail was unusable for speed work due to construction, branches and snow. I suppose we could still have used it, but I did not feel like it. So I measured out 0.75 stretch on Independence Avenue, which rolls up going north. We did 4x0.75 on it starting up and alternating directions. 4:07 - 3:56 - 4:04 - 3:58. 2 minutes of rest except we did 2:30 before the last one. Total of 9 miles. 3 more with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M, 9 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.002.0016.00

A.M. Mike had a cold, and I felt one coming, so we cut the long run short and ran only 15. Did 4x0.5 in the middle - 2:40 - 2:35 - 2:37 - 2:30 (79, 71). Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

P.M. 1 with Benjamin in 7:00.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 16.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in Sacrament were on tender mercies of the Lord. The lesson in Sunday School was on temples and family history. It was the fifth Sunday of the month, so we had a joint meeting of the high priests and elders which focused on home teaching.

Night Sleep Time: 8.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.600.400.000.0012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. Did a pickup for 600 m in 2:08 at the end. 3 more with Benjamin in 23:18. Joseph ran the first mile with us in 7:55. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.5012.00

A.M. 12 miles total. Ran with Mike, we did a pickup for 0.5 in 2:27.6, 3 with Benjamin, including 1 with Joseph. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike. Total of 9. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M.  3 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M.Total of 12. Ran with Mike, then 2 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Jacob. Benjamin asked me how to sustain fast pace for a long time. I thought for a moment, and a parallel came to me. I said, view it as eating an orange. It is sour, but also sweet. If it was just sweet, it would not be an orange, and it actually would not taste so good. We are able to enjoy oranges because we allow the sour component of the taste to enhance rather than detract from the sweetness.  When you run fast, things get sour because of the pain, but they are also sweet because of the pace. To be a good runner you must learn to enjoy the mix, take it as a whole. Speed alone without the pain to reach it is worthless. Driving 120 mph gets old fast, and frequently results in a fine, while running 10 times slower (5:00 mile) never does and frequently results in prize money. Why? Because the former is an orange without the vitamin C and other important nutrients that contribute to its sour taste.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Chad Robinson on Tue, Nov 09, 2010 at 13:46:33 from 67.136.62.186

I like the analogy. Running fast (relatively fast in my case) is definitely bitter-sweet.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.501.501.000.0015.00

A.M. Total of 15. Ran with Mike, then 2 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph. Mike and I did a 2.5 pickup in 14:23. It started very slow - first quarter in 94, then we sped up. Last mile was 5:38. Jenny and Julia ran 2, including 0.5 with Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.600.000.002.4012.00

A.M. Went to the Utah XC Championship to watch Benjamin and Jenny. Ran 4 miles while there. Benjamin got 6th in the 3 K in 13:09 in Midgets - good race. Jenny was 3rd in Bantums with 16:11 - she was not feeling well, but the competition was not very deep. The course was either slow or long or both. Aiden who had just run 18;55 5 K could only pull off 12:07 in a competitive race. Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. Added 8 more miles, 7 with Sarah riding alongside on a bike, and 1 with Joseph. Felt like I was getting over the traces of the cold that threatened to develop into trouble, so I decided to do a few pickups targeting 5:20 pace. First 2000 in 6:34 (5:15 pace), then 1200 in 4:02, and 600 in 2:00.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a fast and testimony meeting, then a lesson on the spirit world in Sunday school, and a less on the plan of salvation in the Elder's Quorum.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.000.7512.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran with Mike, we did a 0.75 pickup in 3:49 (5:05 pace). Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 1 with me, and 0.5 with Jacob. 3 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.400.000.000.6012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran with Mike, we did a 1000 pickup in 3:21, 1 with Jenny and Julia, they ran 1 more, including 0.5 with Jacob. 3 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Benn Griffin on Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 06:02:12 from 96.233.177.13

Hi, Sasha, I have been MIA with the wedding and job. I wanted to say solid training and ask how your new little joy is doing! Hope that you can post a family photo again :D

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.000.001.5012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran with Mike, we did 1.5 in 7:54. It felt hard, but I survived it. 1 with Jenny and Julia, 3 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph. Jenny and Julia ended up with a total of 2 including 0.5 with Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 12 including kids runs. Benjamin ran 3, Jenny and Julia ran 2, Joseph ran 1. Jacob was sick, did not run.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.500.000.000.0013.50

A.M. Total of 13.5. Ran with Mike, we did a 1K pickup in 3:13, felt really good. Then kids runs, some overlapping. Benjamin ran 3, Jenny and Julia ran 2.5, Joseph ran 1. Jacob was still sick, did not run.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.601.500.003.9020.00

A.M. 20 miles with Mike. The first 4 were with the kids. Benjamin ran 3, Jenny and Julia ran 2, Joseph ran 1, and Jacob did 0.5. Mike and I did a workout on the trail practicing 5:20 pace. 2000 in 6:35, than one went well, I felt strong. Then we jogged 400, and started another. Mike was leading, but too slow, so we went through the 400 in 82, then I took over and Mike fell back, which surprised me. I went on to battle the leaves on the trail and finished it out in 6:47, probably an honest 6:40 effort if you adjust for the leaves on that section. Something was wrong with Mike, 7:20 was all he could do. So we jogged some, and then did 1000. I wanted to see what was wrong with Mike. He handled that one well, we did 3:17. That was encouraging, and rather odd as well. What was the cause of that 7:20 deal earlier? To get an idea  we did 5:20 pace to Mike's failure but not exceeding 2000. He made it to 600 or so then started falling back, I ran to 1200 in 3:59, he did 4:09. This was probably low glycogen for him. When glycogen runs low, the body begins to conserve and the ability to sustain high power output is reduced, although 2-3 minute bursts of power are possible.

 At the end we did 1.5 at 5:50 pace, and Mike handled it fine.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in Sacrament meeting were on pride. The lesson in Sunday school was on the gathering of Israel, or in other words, the descendants of Jacob. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on repentance.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.550.000.000.7512.30

A.M. Total of 12.3. Ran with Mike first, we did a 0.75 pickup in 3:55. Then ran with the kid.s. Benjamin did 3, Joseph did 1, Jenny and Julia 2, and Jacob 0.5.

Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.750.000.001.2512.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran with Mike we did 1200 in 3:57 + 800 in 2:32. Then ran with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.001.7513.00

A.M. Total of 13. Ran with Mike, we did 1.75 in 9:17 (5:18 pace). Then with the kids - Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.000.7512.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran with Mike, we did 0.75 in 3:50. Then with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.25.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.750.500.003.7522.00

A.M. Ran with Mike. We did a long run - 20 miles. Ran with the kids for the first 2. Jenny and Julia ran 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Mike and I did 6x1K in the middle with 400 recovery. Times: 3:12, 3:15, 3:17, 3:15, 3:19, 3:15, 3:15. We also ran the last 0.5 at a tempo pace in 2:53.

P.M. Benjamin ran 3. I went 1 with him on a scooter, and then ran the last 2.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 22.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had the Primary children do a presentation during the Sacrament meeting. The lesson in Sunday school was on the Second Coming. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on baptism. When I got home, I was tired and took a nap.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.000.7512.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran with Mike, we did 0.75 in 4:01. Then with the kids. Benjamin ran 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Kory on Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 16:51:15 from 24.116.159.75

Sasha you never post to anyone anymore. How are you doing? Have you found knew business for your consulting.

What's your long term goal now? I know 2:08 is really out there. Have you revised that?

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.000.7512.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran with Mike. We did 0.75 in 3:57. Then with the kids. Benjamin ran 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.000.2512.00

A.M. Ran with Mike. We did a pickup for 0.25 in 78. Then with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.25.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Race: Orem Thanksgiving 4 Miller - Earn Your Turkey (4 Miles) 00:22:25, Place overall: 9
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.004.0012.00

A.M. Earn Your Turkey 4 miler - 22:25, 9th place.

It was around 10 F at thes start.  As far as I remmeber, last time I raced in temperatures that cold was cross-country 3 K 1986 in Moscow, and I am not even sure if it was that cold. I remember my time too - 11:08 for the 3 K.  I have trained enough in cold weather to know, however, that there is a world of difference between 25 F and 10 F for performance. Something happens in between. In 25 F you lose maybe 5 seconds a mile. In 10 F you lose a lot more. My original plan was to try to maintain 5:20s, but with the conditions it was out of the window. So I just ran.

The mile markers were placed by the GPS according to Hawk, and sure enough they were in the wrong spots. Back in the old days Hawk used the wheel, and he would get them right expect he would habitually confuse marker 1 and 3 as they were too close together, but far apart enough where you would definitely notice a dog-slow third mile and an impossibly fast last mile even if you adjust for the kick. Anyway, I still remember where the right markers are enough to know when they are not where they are supposed to be, and the GPS ones were not. But I did not know the right marker position well enough to be able to take my splits. So I'll post the "official" marker splits with an adjustment guess.

First mile officially 5:17, more likely 5:23. Second 5:29, probably about right. Third officially 5:56, more likely 5:50. Last mile 5:43, probably about right. I ran with Mike up to about 1.7, then the legs sarted to give out. However, I was able to make a last ditih effort to catch up to a high school runner whose name I have forgotten and latch on. He pulled me to a little bit after 3 miles, then I made a feeble effort to pass him, which he fought off, then with half a mile to go I put in all that I had into passing him and dropping him and was able to gap, but it was not enough to hold him off in the kick. Additionally Clark Nielsen outkciked me as well, but at least I did not get chicked like last year, and the time was 40 seconds faster in spite of much worse conditions. Of course, last year I was recovering from a cold and a foot injury as well so the comparison is not as good as it looks.

Mike had a great race fininshing in 21:56. Who knows what that is worth. Based on workouts I was expecting him to run 21:10 in ideal (for Novermber) conditions, but I could have been wrong one way or the other. Danny Moody won with 20:45. Last year he did 19:38. Amber Andrews won with 24:01 thie year vs last year's 23:02.  Both of them are reasonably consistent performers, but not clock-consistent. But at least we have some baseline.

Then it was time for kids races. They were full of adventure. First William ran 100 meters.  It was too late when we realized his shoes had been left in a bag too far away from the start. So we borrowed the shoes from Jacob which were too big. those fell off once, I put them back on. He made it to the finish in third place in 1:12. That was not as good as Jacob's win in 2008, or Joseph's 46 in 2007, but not as bad as some of Benjamin's DNS'  at that age. The challenge with William is that he does not talk much yet, so it is hard to explain to him what he is supposed to do, especially when it is 15 F temperature. He did quite well for the conditions.

Next it was Jacob's turn. He was in the lead. Half way through Hawk gave me a hard time about holding his hand even though in the past the practice was that parents could hold the kids' hand in the 3-4 age group, and they did not say anything about that at the start. I let go, but Jacob still ran strong and finished in first place in 1:57 for 400 meters.

Then Julia and Joseph ran in the 800 meter race. Julia chicked the field with 3:39, which pleasantly surprised me. She's been having a hard time holding pace in her training runs, so I was expecting her to blow up, but she did not. Joseph took 2nd in his age division with 4:17, which is about what I expected. He has the speed, but not the mental maturity, and if I could hold his hand to help him stay focused, it would have been around 3:45, but in the 5-6 age division you do not hold the hand. In any case, it was not bad given the cold temperature.

The real adventure came in the mile race. They started it without warning, so whoever was at the start at that time got to start on time, and others had to run from behind.  Benjamin got to start on time, while Jenny was about 2:30-3:00 late, which is an absulute disaster in the mile.  Benjamin took 3rd with 6:09 after a 12-year kid whose name I do not remember and Aiden Troutner. Jenny's last quarter was 1:46, and her official time was 9:47 which was good enough for 5th place, but of course does not reflect her true fitness.



Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Burt on Thu, Nov 25, 2010 at 22:12:23 from 72.223.84.236

Way to go Pachev family!

From Stephen on Thu, Nov 25, 2010 at 22:54:37 from 174.52.135.96

You are way out of my league. Congratulations on a great run! Interesting information about cold temperatures slowing you down. I ran in Orem today, just to earn my turkey, and it was much slower than usual.

From seeaprilrun on Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 21:39:42 from 72.205.224.181

Way to go Pachevs--turning in some solid times in the cold!

From Superfly on Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 18:49:06 from 208.117.127.110

Burr... sounds too cold to race. Good job!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids, total of 12. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 0.5, and Joseph 1 mile.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.200.250.250.0015.70

A.M. Ran with Mike. Cut the long run short due to indigestion. All places from 8;00 to 5:30 felt the same - miserable. Most of the run was at 6:40 pace. So ended up with 15.7 including 3 with Benjamin at the end. Jenny did 2, Joseph 1, Jacob 0.5. Julia had the same problem as me with the stomach, did not run. 

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 15.70
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Had talks on something that does not quite sound like a religious topic - time management. But it recently has become a spiritual matter. There are a lot of good things you can do. So many that it becomes easy to forget to do the things of the greatest spiritual value.

The lesson in Sunday school was on the life after Christ's return to the Earth. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on missionary work.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 0.5, Joseph 1.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Jacob - 0.5, Joseph 1.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A,M, Ran with Mike, total of 10. Jenny and Julia ran 2, Benjamin and Joseph did 1. Jacob did 0.5.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.5012.00

A.M. 12 total, some with Mike, some with the kids. Did 0.5 pickup in 2:37, felt happy with how it felt. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 12 total, some with Mike some with the kids. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.25.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.500.000.003.5020.00

A.M. Long run with Mike. Kids joined for a part of it  at the start - Jenny and Julia did 2, Jacob did 0.5, and Joseph ran 1. Then Mike and I did a 2.5 tempo. The target was 5:20 to failure. It was an odd run. We made it to the mile on the dot, then for the next mile it seemed like we were going fast, but we kept hitting 82-83 quarters, and ended up with 5:31. It felt easy, but not easy enough to pass Mike and run the right pace. Then we recovered a bit in the last 0.5 and finished the tempo in 13:32 (2:41 for the last 0.5). After some jogging we ran a mile in 5:21. Again we were off pace for the first three quarters, then made up all except 1 second at the end with a 77 quarter.

The pattern seems to be that 5:28 still feels good, but then there is a wall somewhere before 5:20 and it really does not feel good in that range.

We ran the last 3 miles with Benjamin, and about 0.8 of that with the BYU team at 6:40 pace. It was a good confidence builder for Benjamin to feel like he can run with the big boys even though he is only 11 years old.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a Stake Conference with Elder Jay Jensen. He talked about faith, hope, and Christ's Atonement. It was a good experience.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.000.7512.00

A.M. Total of 12, some with Mike, some with the kids. Mike and I did 0.75 in 3:57. Benjamin ran 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 0.5 and Joseph 1. Joseph ran 9:00, fastest time without holding my hand. With the hand he's gone as fast as 7:55. For Benjamin the hand was never needed, and I doubt would have been helpful even at that age. But Joseph is less mature in a lot of ways. Every child is different.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12, some with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny 0.5 due to a calf problem, Julia 2, Joseph did not run due to a cold, and Jacob did 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Some with Mike, some with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.501.000.500.0012.00

A.M. Did total of 12, including kids runs. Did a pickup for 0.5 in 2:47. Saw a Mexican looking guy on a bike and for some reason remembered the Called To Serve hymn in Spanish, I like the Spanish version better - it has four verses instead of two, and generally is filled with more spunk.

Benjamin ran 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 0.5 and Joseph 1. Benjamin did a mile time trial and set a new records of 5:48 with the splits of 85, 88, 93, and 82. This is progress. It was good that he was able to PR during the winter. Last winter he could not PR. He was mentally stronger than before. However, as you can see from the splits, we still need to work on mental issues. He started whining a bit at around 600, but then rallied in the last quarter using the saved energy.

P.M. Played in a small chess tournament in Riverton, won both games for the first time thanks to the blunders of my opponents, chess rating now is 1380, equivalent of about 17:40 5 K.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, and later with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 0.5 and Joseph 1.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.001.000.003.0020.00

A.M. Long run with Mike (20 miles), including the kids runs. Mike and I did 2.5 tempo in 13:35, and then 2x400 in 72.8 and 71.1. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Our last 3 miles were with Benjamin. I told him Mike was running out of fuel to stir his competitive juices, so he pushed the pace in the last mile, and we ended up with 6:19 with the last quarter in 86.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had Fast and Testimony meeting, then a lesson on the final judgment in Sunday school, and the gift of the Holy Ghost in the Elder's Quorum.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran a total of 12, some with Mike and some with the kids. Benjamin ran 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 0.5 and Joseph 1. I retired my Crocs at 1553 miles due to the holes in the soles, and am now running in the new Crocs.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.000.001.2512.25

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, Jacob 0.5. Total of 12.25 for me.Mike and I did a pickup for 1.25. The target was to run 5:20 pace for 1 mile, then 5:00 pace for the last quarter. We did it faster - 5:15 through the first mile, then high 72 for the last quarter, total of 6:27.9. I was happy that 72 quarter came so easy, the entire time I was wondering if we were going to hit 75. But at the same time we passed another runner during the kick that was going around 9:00, and I could not tell at first if she was walking or running. So the ground was moving. I did a calculation - when you are going 4:50 you are moving at 10:26 pace relative to somebody going 9:00. That is, he is coming to you as fast as the trees do when you are running 10:26.  If you slow down to 6:00, and he is still going 9:00, the rate of approach is 18:00 per mile. Even at 5:20 the rate of approach is only 13:05. Mike and I do not visit the 4:50 range too often due to the lack of fitness, so when we do we get to observe interesting visual effects.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, Jacob 0.5. Total of 12 for me.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, Jacob 0.5. Total of 12 for me.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, Jacob 0.5. Total of 12 for me.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.253.750.000.0020.00

A.M. Wet snowy long run with Mike. Total of 20 miles. Kids joined us for a part. Benjamin did 3, Jenny did 2,  Julia 1 (stomach flu), Jacob 0.5 and Joseph 1. We met a couple - a brother and and sister, their names were Sherri and Dan, and ran with them for a while. Most of the time we managed a bit sub 8:00 pace. Then we did some pickups starting around mile 14. First a mile in 5:31, then in 5:51, then 1.5 in 8:45 (5:50 pace). Benjamin did his 3 miles in 22:07 with the last quarter in 89.

It was one of those runs that I was happy to be done with and have in the books.  But that is what builds character.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in Sacrament were on the true meaning of Christmas. I like those type of talks. Christmas is about the Atonement of Christ. His birth would not deserve a celebration had it not been for his sacrifice and resurrection. The lesson in Sunday school was on exaltation. I missed the Elder's Quorum lesson because Julia was sick and I had to take her home.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin did 3, Julia and Jenny 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Another wet run, glad to be done with it.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.550.000.000.0012.55

A.M. I thought that I was glad to be done with the run yesterday, but today's run added a new dimension. The trail was not usable if I wanted to get to work on time, so I paced back and forth on the 0.75 stretch of Independence Avenue until I was done with the distance. I thought of the irony of the name "Independence High School" - for kids that are trying too hard to prove their independence. Finished my 8 miles, then I got back home and started helping a neighbor get his truck out of the snow when Sarah came with our neighbor little girl who was in panic because she did not have a way to get to school on time for an event she considered to be very important - her brother was not willing to drive in the snow, nor would anybody else. Sarah came up with a brilliant idea - put her in the stroller and run with her. In spite of the snow and a late start I got her there only 4 minutes late, and out and back added 1.4 miles to my run. I am sure glad we home school our kids, though. Then I ran another 3.15 around the block with the kids. Jacob did 0.7, Joseph 1.05, Jenny and Julia 2.1, and Benjamin 3.15. I ended up with 12.55.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran by myself, then with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From steve ash on Sat, Dec 25, 2010 at 22:25:02 from 98.202.79.72

Rozdestvom Khristovym!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.000.7512.00

A.M. Ran 12 total. Did 6x200 pickups between 36 and 38. Then ran with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Had some time on Christmas Eve and decided to run with each child individually while I can rather than combining some of the runs to save time. Did 4 with Benjamin in 31:51, 2 with Julia in 17:13, 1 with Joseph in 8:18, 0.5 with Jacob in 4:24, and 2 with Jenny in 16:48. Then the remaining 2.5 by myself. Total time for 12 miles was 1:35:12 (7:56 average) with 9.5 of done done with the kids ages  4 through 11!

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.005.001.000.0020.00

Merry Christmas to all. Celebrated it with a long run. Total of 20. Did a part of it with the kids. Benjamin ran 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 0.5, and Joseph 1. Did a 5 mile tempo from 8.5 to 13.5 in 28:18 (5:46 - 5:38 - 5:40 - 5:40 - 5:34). Also picked  it up to a bit sub-6:00 in the last mile to test/stimulate fuel storage.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Eric Day on Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 11:59:36 from 200.77.17.116

Merry Christmas to you & your family !

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to Church. The talks in Sacrament were on dealing with adversity. This seems to be a repeating theme, and I suppose for a good reason. A quote from Winston Churchill: "If you are going through hell, keep going!"  The Sunday school lesson was on God as our Heavenly Father. The Elders Quorum lesson was on President Monson's talk on choice.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.001.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Did a mile in 5:51. Ran with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny 1.5 (some weird injury, probably growing pains), Julia -2, Joseph - 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.001.500.0012.00

A.M. Ran total of 12, including the kids runs. Did 1.5 pickup in 8:31. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.200.000.000.0012.20

A.M. Lots of sleet, wet snow falling down. I ran 8 by myself, and then 4.2 with the kids. Benjamin did 3.15, Jenny and Julia 2.1, Joseph 0.7 and Jacob 0.35. Everyone was thoroughly wet. 

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.20
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. The wet snow that fell down yesterday froze. So it was very slippery. Fortunately the trail got plowed. Ran a total of 12, including kids runs. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 0.5, and Joseph 1.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Kory on Fri, Dec 31, 2010 at 23:01:51 from 96.18.87.100

Sasha can you remove me from the blog?

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. One more cold slippery run. Did a total of 12, 8 alone, the rest with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. In the last two days everybody has slipped and fallen except me. That is unusual. I have gone on runs before where I've fallen 4 times in 10 miles. Maybe I am getting wiser with age.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3825.24298.62130.70122.794377.35
Water Clogs Miles: 8.25Airwalk Clogs Miles: 54.00Water Clogs 2 Miles: 278.35Water Clogs 3 Miles: 506.42Eva Clogs Army Miles: 496.75Eva Clogs Black Miles: 311.90Eva Clugs Blue Miles: 33.21Eva Clogs Pirate Miles: 451.80Eva Clogs Blue Miles: 323.93Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 1553.37Bare Feet Miles: 1.00Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 208.20
Night Sleep Time: 2476.33Nap Time: 73.50Total Sleep Time: 2549.83
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