Breaking the Wall

Law Days Run

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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:

Click to donate
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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 133.01 Year: 776.88
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: 1312.70
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3509.63329.90208.31142.824190.66
Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 1422.95Green Crocs 1 Miles: 1248.01Green Crocs 2 Miles: 1430.07
Night Sleep Time: 2527.00Nap Time: 63.50Total Sleep Time: 2590.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
20.000.000.000.0020.00

A.M. Happy New Year to everyone. My New Years resolution is the same as always. Do my best every single day of the year, and start working on my shortcomings immediately as soon as I know what it is I should do better without waiting for the next year to start. I suppose you can say in the Spirit of the later part of Alma 34 which admonishes us to not procrastinate the day of your repentance. 

It was 5F at the start of the run, very slipper, and on top of that the trail is closed at the intersection with I-15 and I really did not feel like visiting Geneva road today to cross it. I felt tempted to run just 10 and call it a day, but I knew better than that. So I did the full 20 as planned. Benjamin was kind enough to run 4 with me instead of his usual 3, and he even kept up a good pace - 30:43 for 4 miles in spite of the slippage. Jenny and Julia ran 2, Joseph did 1, and Jacob did 0.5. I managed to run the last 10 miles at sub-7:00 average. 

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From seeaprilrun on Sat, Jan 01, 2011 at 19:43:26 from 72.205.226.14

Happy New Year Sasha! Thanks for this blog and your words of advice. If you had never said something on my blog I would have never tried like I try now to pursue bigger goals! The thought wouldn't have crossed my mind. I'm a billion times healthier than ever and have learned and am learning so so much!

From Eric Day on Mon, Jan 03, 2011 at 11:59:02 from 200.92.92.13

Happy New Year!

From Tom on Mon, Jan 03, 2011 at 12:50:14 from 137.65.56.16

Happy New Year Sasha!

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 21:14:30 from 192.168.1.1

Julie: I think you've done something right this year. Your mileage has been solid, and you have run a marathon PR on a course that is not dog slow, but is not St. George either. Your time at Painter's half puts you in the shooting range for sub-3:00 in St. George in terms of speed.

I think the best thing you can do is maintain a reasonable amount of mileage (60-70 a week), with occasional speed work and particular focus on running the last 5 miles of your long run at sub-7:00 pace. St. George is probably at least 4 minutes faster than UVM for your time range. I consider UVM, Salt Lake, and Ogden to be equal under ideal racing conditions, but St. George much faster. How much really depends on how efficient you are at using the downhill, and the extra oxygen as most of the race is at a lower elevation.

So the key from now on is not do anything crazy. Just train consistently, do your best to recover, cut down the training some but not altogether when life cuts down recovery, and do not worry about sub-3:00. Let it come naturally.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We have a new schedule - some of the meetings are combined with the Spanish branch. The lesson in Sunday school was on our heavenly family. The lesson in the Elders' Quorum was on adversity. Then we had a Fast and Testimony meeting.

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. 8 alone, the rest with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny 1 (leg pain from the fall last week), Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. One more day of winter is behind us, glad to have it in the books.

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
11.500.000.000.5012.00

A.M. Mike is back from Washington. It was nice to run with somebody again for more than a few miles. Total of 12. We did 0.5 pickup which we managed to do in 2:32 in spite of the ice. It felt good. Ran with the kids after running with Mike. 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
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.0013.00

A.M. Went to the temple in the morning, so had to get up earlier to run. Mike was nice enough to get up earlier as well. We did 10.  Jenny and Julia ran 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

P M. Ran 3 with Benjamin.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Tom Slick on Thu, Jan 06, 2011 at 21:34:55 from 69.171.160.18

so whAT IS YOUR PROPOSED RACE RUNNING SCHEDULE FOR 2011

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 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
11.250.000.750.0012.00

A.M. Ran a total of 10.5. Had to cut my run short due to being called into an emergency with a big customer.  Did a pickup for 0.75 in 4:13. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. Finally got off the emergency and finished the remaining 1.5 of my run.

 

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
18.750.001.250.0020.00

A.M. 20 with Mike, part of it with the kids. Did a pickup for 1.25 in 6:59. Mike was struggling - something is wrong. We ran into John Kotter and Taylor Farnsworth and joined them for part of the run. I told John he had at least a 2;13 marathon in him, if not 2:10. He thought he only had 2:20. I explained some things, among them the concept of virtual leggedness, which I have made up, or at least I have made up the term for it. Virtual leggedness is the total leg power output when running at a constant speed divided by the power output of the strongest leg. Thus, a person with one leg has the virtual leggedness (VL) of 1, a perfectly symmetric runner has the VL of 2, a perfectly symmetric four legged animal will have it at 4, and your average runner will have it somewhere between 1 and 2, but much closer to 2. Maybe 1.9 or so. The closer to 2 the better for a human. VL is an important contributor to quality X. To measure VL ideally you need a treadmill with built-in force plates. In lieu of that, it can be estimated by running on a hard surface where it is possible to leave visible footprints without affecting your form, and then comparing the stride lengths of the right and left pushoff.

A runner with a higher VL will not only outsprint a runner with lower VL given the same muscular strength relative to body weight, but also will win in the marathon given the same mile speed and the same aerobic/metabolic capacities. To understand this idea, the following exaggerated illustration can be helpful. Time yourself hopping 50 meters on one leg. Then time yourself hopping for half a mile on one leg. Compare the times to what you can do in 100 meters sprinting, and in an all out mile. You will likely get your 100 meter running time in the 50 meter one leg hop, but you will be quite far off your running mile PR in the half mile hop if you are able to finish at all.

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 Sunday School lesson was on the role of Jesus Christ in the Plan of Salvation. The lesson on the Elders' Quorum was on repentance. Sacrament meeting talks were on tithing. I really liked them. One speaker mentioned two examples. In one of them a man came to President Hinckley for a temple recommend interview back when President Hinckley was a stake president. The man was not paying his tithing and thought he could afford it because he was behind on his bills. President Hinckley was inspired to tell him that he will not be able to get out of debt until he started paying his tithing. A year later the man came again and thanked President Hinckley for the advice. He was now able to pay his bills. Paying tithing brought extra strength into his life and allowed him to focus on the essentials and budget better. Another story was about a young man that died in a car accident two days before he was supposed to go on a mission. His parents donated the money he had saved to the general missionary fund with a note explaining that they knew that their son would have wanted no other use for that money except allow another missionary to serve in his instead. The story was special to me because when I served a mission, it was partially financed by the general fund. When I came to America, I wanted to save for my mission, but the visa restrictions did not allow me to work. My stake president asked me if I wanted to go on a mission. I shared with him my predicament, and he made the arrangements for me to go, for which I am very thankful.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Kelli on Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 01:22:07 from 71.219.84.215

Very inspiring stories, I am pretty sure I have heard the first one but not the second. I love when lessons at church on tithing, something I believe very strongly in. There is great power in sacrifice and great rewards for living this law. And the missionary story is very cool, I know the general fund helps so many young men and women be able to fulfill their desire to serve a mission.

Thanks for sharing!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.400.000.000.0012.40

A.M. Total of 12.4, 4 of it with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny 1.5, Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.25.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.40
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. 2F temperature, but it was not too bad. Mike and I did a couple of pickups. First 800 in 2:38, then 100 meter jog to get through the underpass and 1200 in 4:04. There was more snow on the second interval, so that slowed us down. I expected to feel a whole lot worse at those speeds in such temperature, but I guess I am getting used to it. Total of 12. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. 

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.750.000.001.2512.00

A.M. Did 800 in 2:37 + 1200 in 3:55 with Mike with full rest today. Total of 12. 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
10.750.000.001.2512.00

A.M. Ran with Mike. Did 800 in 2:34 + 1200 in 3:55 with 100 meter jog in between. Total of 12, including the run with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Another month and a half of winter remaining.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.500.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike and with the kids. Did a 0.5 pickup in 2:57, but the effort was harder due to snow/ice. Total of 12, including the kids runs. 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
18.505.000.500.0024.00

A.M. 20 miles with Mike. We did a 5 mile tempo  in 29:26. The last 600 was quick - 2:01. The trail was a bit slippery, but not too bad.

P.M. Ran with the kids. Total of 4. Benjamin did 3 in 22:32 with the last two quarters in 90 and 84. He was on the move. Jenny and Julia did 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 24.00
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. The lesson in Sunday school was on agency, or in other words, ability to choose. It had an interesting analogy.  On a beach there can be a sign that warns us about the dangers of a whirlpool. It may seem restrictive, but in truth it just tells us how to be more free. There are many things we can do, but once we ignore the sigh and find ourselves in the whirlpool all of sudden our choices are very limited. So are the commandments of God. They restrict us temporarily, and only if we choose to obey them, but as the time goes on our freedom expands. Failure to keep them makes it look like freedom for a short while, but then we find ourselves in bondage.

The lesson in the Elder's quorum was on keeping the Sabbath day holy. We had a good discussion. The talks in the Sacrament meeting were on Christ as our Savior.

I read an article by Elder Oaks that mentioned that only 14% of Americans got anywhere close to correctly identifying the fundamental belief of the LDS church that Christianity was restored in its true form after long years of apostasy. This to go along with only half being able to name even one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). But in any case, I figured I should add my contribution to correcting this lack of understanding of our faith, and will write some about it.

We believe that when Christ was on the earth He established His church, which taught correct principles. The writings of those prophets and apostles are found in the New Testament, and contained the pure doctrine of Christ in their original form. Over the years those teachings were diluted with philosophies of men. Even the Bible suffered a measure of corruption. This led to the rise of many churches which taught and continue to teach a measure of the truth mixed with some misunderstandings. This was not going to last forever, and eventually the time came for the truth to be restored. God called a prophet in our day just like He did in the times of Noah, Moses, Samuel, and Isaiah. This prophet was Joseph Smith. The true teachings of Christ were restored, along with the Priesthood authority to perform ordinances such as baptism. These teachings and authority are found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From fly on the Wall on Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 21:31:02 from 166.70.192.189

As a gentile living in Utah for ~15 years I may know more about the LDS church than general Christianity. I know the fundamental believe of the LDS church but could not name one of the Gospels.

My question would be, how many Americans know anything about the fundamental beliefs of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Judaism, Baha'i, Confucianism, and Taoism. (Way back when I took a class on the world's major religions, but I don't remember much.) Also, does the MTC teach missionaries about the dominant religions in the areas to which they will be sent?

(questions asked sincerely and respectfully)

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, 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
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin - 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
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Mike, then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Low sleep time due to a night time job with a customer. Had some fun waking up at 2:30 AM to switch a pair of MySQL servers to be managed by MMM during a low-activity window. But it pays the bills, actually quite well.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 4.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 5.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.5012.00

A.M. Ran alone, then with the kids. Total of 12. Did a pickup for 0.5 in 2:36, it felt better than I expected - I did not expect much, but then felt a hunch that I needed to move my legs a bit and they moved OK. Benjamin - 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
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Ran alone, then with the kids. Total of 12. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.754.750.500.0023.00

A.M. Long run alone. 20 miles. I prayed last night that I'd find somebody to run with for part of it. The prayer did not get answered until around mile 15 when I ran into the BYU guys. That cheered me up because I began to wonder if the Lord perhaps considered my request frivolous and wanted me to just tough it out alone. But his tender mercies shone on me today after some work.

From 7 to 12 I did a tempo on the standard 5 mile course. The goal was to get some fuel stimulus and evaluate the damage from the sleep disruptions last week. I was able to keep sub-6:00 quite comfortably when I had good traction, but I did not always have it. The splits were 5:51, 5:54, 6:05, 5:52, 5:40 - total of 29;22. The cause of the slowdown that culminated in the 6:05 was the loss of traction.

P.M. Ran with the kids. Total of 3 for me. Benjamin and Jenny did 3, Julia and Jacob 0.5, Joseph 1. Julia fell earlier while climbing on something and could not go fast or far, so I sent her to run with Jacob.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 23.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From seeaprilrun on Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 09:44:57 from 68.103.248.137

Glad you got some company! Long runs alone are definitely a bit of a gut check.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Had a long day in church - we went to Sunday school and Priesthood/Primary/Relief Society in our ward, and then drove to Sarah's parent's ward and attended all of the meetings there. Sarah's parents happened to have moved into my old mission area, so some people remembered me from 15 years ago. After all these years I was remembered as the missionary that liked bananas. I still like them, but not nearly as much as I did back then. During dinner appointments I would leave the beef and the cake alone, and go after bananas. If it was hot - it usually was in the summer, and I was hungry, I could eat 10 at once if the family had that many, but they usually had only 5.

During the Priesthood opening exercises we sat down to sing the opening hymn, when to my great surprise I saw a hymn book in Russian. I looked at it again, sure enough it was in Russian. It happened to belong to an elder who served in the Ukraine some time ago. So he and I sang the opening hymn in Russian.

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 8 alone, then 4 more with the kids. Benjamin - 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
9.502.000.500.0012.00

A.M. Usual run - 8 + 4 with the kids. Except I decided to introduce something new, somewhat inspired by the training method of one Japanese runner who ran 2:34 marathon at the age of 61. He does fairly light 5x1000 twice a day every single day. So I thought about how this could work, and if something similar could work for me. It is quite unconventional, but there are some strong benefits in this approach. The intervals are long enough to make you breathe and practice your form, but short enough and slow enough (if you do not treat them like a true interval) that the nervous system does not get a chance to get overworked. So you can do something like this on an easy day without overworking yourself (I hope). Yet you get some solid mileage at anywhere between marathon and half-marathon race pace on a daily basis..

So I did 800 pickup at a nice relaxed pace but with a bit of a push to get myself breathing and the legs moving. Then I did another, and a few more. Ended up with 5 of those with the times of 2:56, 2:57, 2:56, 2:52, and 2:41. Benjamin and Jenny - 3, 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 seeaprilrun on Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 13:29:50 from 68.103.248.137

I read about this guy a while back. I found it interesting that he rarely deviates from the exact same training schedule and has met great success.

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 14:19:27 from 192.168.1.1

April:

I believe that variation is beneficial only from the psychological perspective. Physiologically, the same routine is better. If you can handle the psychology of repetition, you do not need variation.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.502.000.000.5012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Did 5x800 - 2:51, 2:55, 2:59, 2:52, 2:39. Some of it was slippery. Benjamin - 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
9.501.501.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12 including the run with the kids. 5x800 : 2:51, 2:55, 2:52, 2:42, 2:40. Benjamin - 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
11.001.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Did a total of 12 including kids runs. Ran a mile in 5:51. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Joseph - 1, Jacob - 0.5. I fell yesterday, and today started to feel the consequences. Maybe it was a combination of the fall and running fast breathing in cold dirty air. I started feeling pain while inhaling or moving my arms around in a certain way. So at the start of the run I did not feel like running fast at all. However, in the last mile I started feeling better and picked it up to 5:51.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Burt on Wed, Feb 02, 2011 at 13:37:00 from 206.19.214.144

The fall of Adam?

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.000.000.000.0015.00

A.M. Went to Benjamin's chess tournament in West Jordan. He ended up tying for the first in the 6th grade with 4.5 points out of 5 winning 4 games and drawing the last one against the co-winner. I was particularly impressed with his 4th and 5th games. In the 4th one due to fatigue he made a number of bad mistakes and found himself a rook down, and an exposed king on a voyage through the board. Miraculously, his opponent overlooked a mate in two several times, and then missed the chance to win Benjamin's queen. Finally, the checks stopped for one move and that was enough for Benjamin to force a queen trade, win a bishop, threaten to queen a pawn which won his rook back, and that was enough to win the game. In the last game, I watched in horror as Benjamin hung his queen on a tactic, which his opponent fortunately did not see until he had already made his move. They exchanged a few more blunders as well as brilliant tactics, with the end result of Benjamin playing the end game with a knight against a rook. Benjamin put up an excellent defense - no blunders that either I or his opponent could catch. He offered his opponent a draw, which was refused perhaps unwisely, as Benjamin almost ended up winning on time. His opponent timely took his protected knight with 1 second left on his clock, which resulted in an automatic draw due to insufficient material to mate. The spectators applauded once the game was over.

What I was impressed was Benjamin's ability to put his earlier mistakes aside and in spite of the disappointment play the position at the best of his ability without complaining about it or wasting energy wishing that it were different.

P.M. Ran a total of 15. I am writing it down as easy, because the pace was not cardiovascularly strenuous, but it was not easy due to the chest problem. Every step hurt. I thought of stopping after 2 miles, but then decided to tough it out. I was able to maintain sub-6:40 for the first 11.5 that I did by myself. Then I did 3 with Benjamin and Jenny (Joseph ran the first mile with us), and then 0.5 with Jacob. Julia was sick and did not run.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 15.00
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 Sunday school lesson was on the Fall of Adam and Eve. Then I substituted at the nursery. The talks in the Sacrament meeting were on tithing again, and I was glad to hear it in spite of the repetition. Tithing helps develop faith in a unique way. Another thought about tithing. People often question the need for priesthood authority and organized religion on the basis that you can just talk to God without a mediator. While this is true, an important question remains. It is clear from Malachi 3 that tithing is a very important commandment. But who do you pay it to? Who is authorized to receive it, and how can you know that he is?

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From seeaprilrun on Thu, Feb 03, 2011 at 16:46:17 from 68.103.248.137

My thoughts on tithing: while most people generally tithe to their church and the money is used for xxx, tithing in itself creates a financial discipline which is beneficial regardless of where the money actually goes. Surely God will direct it to its eventual, correct destination?

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 10 by myself, 2 with Jenny, everybody else was sick. I got a new job moving from Percona to Linkedin, but not really moving anywhere as I still work out of my house. I will be doing custom MySQL development. Most people will find what triggered the move rather odd. Percona insisted that I go to Cancun for 7 days for a company meeting. I was willing to go for 3 days figuring I like my colleagues, but not enough to leave my family for 7 days to hang out with them. Percona insisted that I stay for full 7. At the same time, my friend who is now at Linkedin has been asking me to help him find somebody to work on a MySQL project. So I figured, maybe it is time to move jobs.  Yes, I know, most people will actually look for ways to stay longer at a job that gives them essentially a free vacation in Cancun, but not me.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Tom on Fri, Feb 04, 2011 at 10:28:36 from 137.65.56.16

Congrats on the new job Sasha!

From Rob on Fri, Feb 04, 2011 at 15:19:22 from 206.71.84.68

May 1st 2009, I was running on the hotel treadmill in Cancun and will forever remember that as the day I mentally changed from a guy who jogs on the hotel treadmill, to a runner. Something sparked in me that day that changed my total mind set and way of life. Hopefully I can keep it up forever.

Anyway, I would have taken the Cancun option, especially if you could have taken the kids to see some Pyramids. But congrats on the new job, Linkedin is the perfect DBA job.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Feb 08, 2011 at 20:52:52 from 69.28.149.29

Rob - I had a similar mental breakthrough experience on July 5th, 1999. It happened in Provo during the Freedom Run 10 K at mile marker 2 which back then was right over by the MTC on 900 East. I heard a police siren, and it was loud. It was coming from the lead car. I realized that I was the closest to the lead car this far into a race like this than ever before. I looked at my watch, it said 10:10. I looked at the company I was with - it had a lot of people that normally dropped me this far in the race. I thought to myself - what have you done, you are in a lion's den! Then I thought again - that's OK, you belong, you are a baby lion! And after that I trained and raced with a vision.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Kids were sick except for Jenny. She ran 2 miles with me.

P.M. Drove to Las Vegas with the family on the way to Mountain View, CA - Linkedin wanted me to visit for a couple of days, and allowed me to bring the whole family. Stayed the night with Jeff and Kimia.

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 Jeff for the first 5 miles on his way to school (uphill), then turned around and ran back. My chest was still giving me problems, but I was able to get going some on the way back - 37:00 out, 32:25 back.Then ran 1.6 with Jenny (Julia did 1.1).

P.M. Drove to Sunnyvale, CA where our hotel was (Marriott Residence Inn). There are not many hotels that will accommodate a family with seven children in one room, but we managed to solve that problem. On the way stopped in Bakersfield to fill up and Benjamin tried to run. He did not make it very far - about 0.6 miles, as his throat was burning. On the positive side of things, I liked the GPS and the rental van. The GPS helps with "our we there yet" concerns, can be programmed to find obscure gas stations with low prices, and can help locate places like Costco right on the route when we run out of something.  And on top of that, you can take wrong turns and still get away with it. The van (Chevy Express) tells you how much further you can go before you run out of fuel, has a very powerful engine, can do 80 with the foot barely on the gas pedal, and still achieves 15 mph at high speeds. I watched the fuel range estimator and noticed something odd. It seemed to have no better economy at 60 than it did at 80, but what made a lot of difference was uphill/downhill. Maybe because the van is so big and heavy that increased air resistance at higher speeds does not play as much of a factor?

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.800.000.000.0010.80

A.M. 10 in Sunnyvale,CA. I liked the warm weather. I even found a running trail with the help of the Course Tool. It did not have the quarter marks, unfortunately. I did not like having to wait at the traffic lights while trying to get to the trail.

P.M. I am sure glad I am a remote employee. I must have some kind of anti-office allergy and it may be more than mental. After a day at the office my nose was runny, my throat started getting sore, and I got a minor fever. Sarah and the kids went to the beach in Santa Cruz. 0.9 with Benjamin. Julia ran 0.9 with Sarah. Everybody else was too sick to run.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 10.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.600.000.000.009.60

A.M. Woke up feeling better. Logged in to FRB to see if I could map out a better route, and discovered that a bot was bringing it down with frequently repeated hits. Disabled "Hot Discussions" and  "Lost Sheep" until I can optimize those better. We really need to start using memcached there, but when I will have the time to implemented is a big question. Still ran only 8 to keep things safe.

Sarah had some interesting experiences on the trip. Somebody asked her if she was in charge of a day care. She said no, then the question was immediately "Are you Mormon?"

P.M. A meeting was supposed to end at 3:30 PM so we could leave a bit earlier to fight our way through traffic, and it was going a bit overtime. Sarah called. This gave me a chance to end the meeting with: "My wife has seven kids in the van, and she says it is time to go". Fortunately the people I work with have respect for that, so the meeting ended.

We stopped in Gilroy to buy food and run with the kids. Benjamin and Julia ran 1 mile. Jacob and Joseph did 0.6. Jenny was too sick to run.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 9.60
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Burt on Tue, Feb 08, 2011 at 17:48:16 from 206.19.214.144

Memcached? I'm lost.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Feb 08, 2011 at 20:38:43 from 69.28.149.29

Burt - Memcached is a caching server usually used to accelerate the performance of web applications, although it can be used for anything that can benefit from caching.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.800.000.000.008.80

A.M. It was an adventurous morning. Last night we stopped at Marriott Inn in Bakersfield,CA. Steven got sick and has been coughing all night. Then we woke up and found Jenny disoriented and delirious. So we called 911. The operator could not figure out where our hotel was from "Marriott Inn on Chester Lane in Bakersfield, room 1112". Google search for that phrase minus the room brings up a map with the location of the hotel. Additionally, we were using a cell phone, which should have allowed pinpointing our position to within a few hundred feet anyway. Fortunately, as we were talking to 911 dispatch, Jenny drank some orange juice and started feeling better, so there was no need for us to spend the time and effort looking up the address of the hotel. The moral of the story is that you need to know your street address when you talk to 911 - at least in Bakersfield, CA.

Along the same lines of the need of city services to progress in the use of technology. Provo City encourages residents to report graffiti, which I often do. One time the location of it was rather difficult to describe in words, so I used the map, determined the GPS coordinates, and called the police dispatch with the information. They did not know what to do with it so I had to resort to the complicated verbal description,

After the morning adventure, I ran 8 miles, then another 0.8 with Benjamin, Julia, and Joseph (Jacob ran 0.3), and we drove home to Provo. 660 miles in 9:45 with 7 kids, some of them sick. Sarah is very efficient at the stops. A small adventure on the way. About half way between Barstow and Las Vegas we were going up a hill and saw a slow moving bus in the slow lane protected (you would hope so) with a solid white line. I commented to Sarah that there must be a lot of fat people on that bus, that is why it has a hard time going uphill. Right as we approached it, the bus, seemingly in revenge, suddenly moved into our lane. I was able to react and swerve to avoid it. To complicate the matters, another car was passing us at the same time. Fortunately that driver reacted quickly, and swerved to avoid us in time, so it all ended well.


Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 8.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Nan on Tue, Feb 08, 2011 at 14:39:15 from 98.245.117.176

That'll teach you to call people "fat." LOL. Gotta be careful with that negative energy...sometimes it comes right back to bite you.

Seriously though, I'm glad that Jenny is okay and that you didn't get side swiped by a bus full of "healthy" people. That sounds like it was a bit scary.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. I needed it. I caught a cold more or less officially, although fortunately no lasting fever. Just the cough and runny nose. So now only Sarah has not gotten sick so far. So going to church was rather different today. Only Benjamin, Julia, Joseph, and Jacob were healthy enough to go. I went for the first hour (Sunday school).Then Sarah and I traded places and she went to Relief Society. Then we traded places again and I attended the Sacrament/Fast and Testimony meeting. Otherwise I spent most of the day sleeping.

Night Sleep Time: 10.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 10.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.750.250.000.0010.00

A.M. Slept in on purpose, waited for the evening to run.

P.M. Really did not feel like running - considered every possible excuse, but knew well enough that none were good. So I went.  Ran some of it with the kids. Total of 10. Benjamin did 2.45, Jenny 0.5, Julia 1, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. All of the running kids are running, so things are getting half way to normal healthwise. I actually felt better after the run with the nose and the throat thoroughly cleared out. Did a pickup for 0.25 just because in 87. It felt easier than I expected given the sickness.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. Ran 10, some with the kids. Benjamin - 3, Jenny - 1, Julia - 2, Jacob - 0.5, Joseph - 0.5. Sarah is now up to 3 miles, today was her first day of 3. The cold is still there, but looks like it is going away. I have not had a normal dream since we got home, though. I keep dreaming of looping around Barstow, CA going back and forth between I-15 and I-40 all night long, and somehow I intuitively know that the dream is being triggered by nose congestion.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Eric Day on Wed, Feb 09, 2011 at 11:38:29 from 200.92.120.234

How is the new job/work coming along?

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Feb 09, 2011 at 15:20:19 from 69.28.149.29

Eric - quite well. I like working on MySQL source code.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.000.000.0011.00

A.M. 8 alone in early AM before going to the temple. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Jacob did 0.5. Benjamin and Joseph waited to run in the evening.

P.M. 3 with Benjamin, Joseph ran 1 with us.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 11.00
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. Did a total of 12, some alone, some with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. I made the mistake of not properly rehydrating after the run, and was punished for it. Normally, I do not have to rehydrate, but I did not realize I was not yet 100% healthy.  So the fever attacked me in the afternoon. It was 102 F. I started drinking orange juice, and that knocked it down enough to where I could work through it and even write some non-trivial code in C++ that compiled, executed, and passed a test case.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.500.000.000.004.50

A.M. Still recovering from yesterdays fiasco. Did not run.

P.M. Ran with the kids. Started with 0.5 with Jacob, survived it. Next challenge - 1 with Joseph - passed. Then 3 with Benjamin, Jenny and Julia did 2 with us. Benjamin made me work in the last quarter - I survived it, but then was dry coughing for a couple of minutes like a chain-smoker.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 4.50
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. Slept in and rested.

P.M. Felt better than yesterday. Ran a total of 10, most of it was with the kids. 4 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny, 2 with Julia (Joseph joined us for a mile), 0.5 with Jacob, and 1.5 alone. Wore an HRM - 126 at 8:40 pace, 132 at 8:00, 135 at 7:30. So about 12 bpm too high. Resting HR was 68-70, about 20 bpm too high. Still had the post-run chain smoker's cough. I've had it every single time I got a cold in the last 5 years.

This condition made me think about how much different it is to be sick vs being out of shape. I lean in the direction of treating both without much of a distinction. A revolutionary and possibly outrage and mockery inviting idea, but I think it deserves some merit. A mile run test should be a part of a medical exam. If a young man cannot crack 7:00, treat it as a pathology! So if he has a minor heart problem, we discover it when he fails the test, not when it becomes a severe problem, and he dies in the middle of dinner a few years later.  Many health problems will be diagnosed and treated early before they develop into something worse with this approach.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
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. I sure needed it. Went to church. Taught a lesson in Sunday school on prayer. Last week was a good preparation for it. Then we had a lesson in the Elder's Quorum on fasting, and then the Sacrament meeting with talks on obedience.

Elder Packer talks about the concept of "faith obedience" as opposed to "blind obedience". Here is an illustration that helps me appreciate the idea. Suppose I am playing in a chess tournament that has a unique rule that allows me to ask advice from somebody like Gary Kasparov or maybe a very strong chess engine for just one move. Suppose I ask for such advice, I am told to sacrifice my queen, and I do not see the follow up quite yet. Do I have enough faith to go ahead with the move?

Unlike that situation, in spiritual matters when we have enough faith to make the first move, we qualify for advice with the second. And if there is enough faith to make the second, we will receive advice with the third as well, and so on.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. Still not 100%, but at least I felt enough energy to run. Did a total of 10, including the kids runs. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacoh 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From steve ash on Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 11:47:31 from 98.202.79.72

Feel better Sasha. Hang in there.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.750.250.000.0010.00

A.M. Gradually feeling better, but still at only 10 miles a day to be safe. Ran 10 in 1:19:55 with most of it with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny did 2 of that. Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. I picked up to 6:00 for 0.25 to beat the 8:00 average for the run, and to test how much coughing it would produce. It still produced a lot. 

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. Ran a total of 10, a good portion with the kids. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny, 2 with Julia, 1 with Joseph and 0.5 with Jacob.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.001.000.0012.00

A.M. Finally had the confidence to bump the mileage up to 12. Did a good portion with the kids. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob. Did a pickup for a mile to test the waters. Ran it in 5:37. It did not feel too bad, but it was only a mile. The cough is almost gone.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.501.500.000.0012.00

A.M. Did 12 again. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph and 0.5 with Jacob. Did a couple of pickups. First 0.5 in 2:58, then 1 mile in 5:50. Both pickups involved turns and an 180, so a true honest effort was probably higher.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.003.500.000.0017.50

A.M. Finally some semblance of a long run. Ended up with 17.5. Rob came down all the way from Lehi to run with me. He had to be done early, so he had already run 7 by the time we started. We did a tempo run to evaluate mine and his fitness. The plan was to go 6:00 until problems emerged on either side. Rob was a bit anxious and we opened with an 85 even though I had to hold his horses. I was pleasantly surprised with how that 85 felt because I honestly expected to see nothing faster than 88 from the effort. Then I sensed that Rob was not up to running 5:40, and eased off some. We did 87, 87, 90 (5:49), 89, 91, 91, 90 (6:01). At that point I told him to try to make it to 3. He struggled, but held off the 6:00 average finishing with 17:54. I picked it up a bit in the last quarter to be a moving target to see if it would tempt him to kick, but it did not . I ended up with 17:48 with the last quarter in 84. So it seems like Rob has an issue with neural drive - inability to kick  is an indicator of such a problem. Of course, it is no big deal if you are already going 63 per quarter, so if all Haile can do in the last quarter of a 10,000 is 61 after doing 24 of them in a bit over 63, that is technically still a neural drive problem, but I would not mind having it manifested this way at all.

I told him to ease off the intensity, and up the mileage to 10-12 a day at a comfortable pace. We'll see how that works out in a few weeks.

We finished the run with a long cool-down - he ended up with 18, and I was at 11 at that point, then I ran with the kids. 3 with Benjamin - the last 0.5 was done in 3:00. The effort was a bit higher because it was into a headwind and with 5 90 degree turns. 2 with Jenny and Julia. 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob.


Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 17.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Rob on Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 20:06:48 from 204.15.86.95

Sasha, thanks for the run today. I really enjoyed our conversation.

I attribute my "lack of neural drive" to 2 things. First, I never did any competitive sports in school so I never really developed a killer instinct. Second, in college I was actually a very good pool player... however one year a professional pool player took me under his wing. Taught me more about the game of pool than anyone could ever hope to know, however. I could hardly ever beat him, we used to play straight pool and I pretty much was the ball racker for him. Destroyed any killer instinct I did have, I mentally never could win a pool tournament again after that, but I was a better player, strange I know.

I guess I didn't really understand the workout today either, I'm sure next time I could find a little more kick knowing that you were really going to let me rest at the end, I'm used to just running far on Saturdays so knowing in the back of my mind that I still had 8 miles to run held me back. Next time I'll know how it works though :)

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 13:28:14 from 192.168.1.1

Rob:

I would attribute the lack of neural drive to two things: a) too much intensity work and b) getting up at 4:00 AM. Not much you can do about b) given your circumstances except mitigate it by being very careful with a).

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Substituted in Primary. The lesson was Jesus Cleanses the Temple. Then the stars aligned and I taught the lesson in the Elder's Quorum as well. It was on sacrifice. I actually do not mind teaching, it does not stress me out even if they ask me only 5 minutes in advance (this time I had plenty of notice, though).  I do find secretarial callings quite challenging though as I have a hard time keeping track of documents, events, notes, and other things that secretaries are responsible for. I suppose everybody has different talents.

Then we had the Sacrament meeting. The talks were on repentance.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From fly on the Wall on Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 18:42:00 from 204.113.19.47

I have no idea what kind of time sacrifice it takes to keep the Fast Running blogs up and running, but you have my heart-felt appreciation and thanks!

Sincerely, Fly on the Wall

From Mack on Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 16:53:44 from 71.111.188.189

I add my thanks to Fly's. I really appreciate this blog site. Thanks for all you do to make it available.

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 17:29:11 from 69.28.149.29

Thank you for your comments, guys.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.500.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12 including kids runs. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. I did a pickup for 0.5 in 2:55.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.003.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Did a 3 mile damage evaluation tempo in 17:16 with the splits of 5:40 - 5:49 - 5:47. So the damage is definitely present, but it is repairable. The legs felt OK in the first mile, then after about 1.25 they lost their strength. Breathing was OK. The kick was weak, I only had an 85 at the end, and I tried. So that naturally dictates the workout for Thursday - 5x400 in whatever I can, hopefully under 75. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.000.2512.00

A.M. Total of 12. Did 2x200 pickups - 37.6 and 40.2. Ran with the kids. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia - 2, Jacob and Joseph - 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.750.000.001.2512.00

A.M. Today was a historic day. My 12 year old son Benjamin was able to keep up with me through one of my intervals setting a PR of 71.9 for a quarter. I did my regular 12 miles with 5x400 in the middle with full rest. The splits were 75.3 (up), 72.7 (down), 74.7 (up), 72.3 (even roll), 71.4 (down). I like the very unscientific rule of 2:1 adversity ratio. If you run down or with tailwind 3 seconds faster that the other way, then if we made it flat/windless, you would run 1 second slower than aided, and 2 seconds faster than counter-aided, if the difference is 6 seconds, then it would be 2 seconds slower than aided/4 seconds faster than counter-aided. This unscientific rule, nevertheless, is more scientific than the 220 - age for determining your max heart rate. Using this rule for normal amounts of adversity (excluding grades over 10% and wind over 30 mph) you could be a few seconds per mile off, but you will never end up with something as  ridiculous as making a healthy 30 year old man in the top shape of his life over 50 years old. 

So in any case, the unscientific adversity rule says that Benjamin's 71.9 was equivalent to 72.9 on the track. I was very pleased to see him right by my side at those speeds for that long. He also did it towards the end of his 3 miles mid-run without stopping to drop his HR before the start, which helps a lot for the quarter, especially if you are only 12.

I was happy with how the workout went for me as well. It accomplished its purpose, which is to learn to keep pushing when HR gets up to a certain critical range where the natural response is to slow down.

Jenny and Julia did 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.500.000.0012.00

A.M. 12 total. Did 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, and 1 with Joseph, Jacob did 0.5 of it. Did a pickup at the end in the last 0.5 in 2:55.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.502.504.000.0020.00

A.M. Waited for the snow to melt.

P.M. 20 mile run. Did a 5 mile tempo on the Fast Running Blog 5 miler course.  It went very well - I was able to increase the pace with every mile: 5:51, 5:48, 5:47, 5:47, 5:39 - 28:52.8 total time. HR stabilized at around 160, and peaked at 166 at the end. The last quarter was 83.Still too high, shows that even aerobically I am out of shape. But at least I was able to average 5:46.5 for 5 miles, and my last 3 miles were 17:13, which is 3 seconds faster than just 3 miles on Tuesday. So some progress.

Then I did some jogging including kids runs (Benjamin 3, Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5, Jenny ran 3 with Sarah), and ran the last 1.5 in 8:54.9. It was very hard. I had not done a true long run in a while. I felt low on fuel. But the muscle memory helped and I was able to push through the low fuel signals.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 20.00
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

Much needed day of rest. Went to church. Today was a special day. Benjamin received the Priesthood. He is becoming more of a man in a number of ways. 

The lesson in Sunday school was on scriptures. The Elder's quorum lesson was on service. The talks in Sacrament were on using faith to handle adversity. 

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.500.000.0012.00

A.M. My regular 12 mile run. Some of it with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. I did a pickup for the last 0.5 in 2:54.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.5013.00

A.M. Repeat of last week more or less, except I ran 13 miles total and did 2x400 towards the end of the run. The 3 mile tempo went like this: 5:37 - 5:44 - 5:44 -  total 17:05.8. Last quarter was 84. Pretty much an identical repeat of last week except it was 3 seconds per mile faster. I'll take those 3 seconds. It also felt more manageable, even though I still slowed down after the first mile. The legs still were feeling weak in the last mile. The problem likely was low glycogen from the long run on Saturday. I ran with the kids - Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. In the last 1.5 I did 2x400 - 75.2 (rolling), 74.5 (down). I could really tell in those quarter that the legs were fatiguing fast and were in slow motion. A quick quarter surprisingly is a great test of fuel levels. Even though you theoretically have plenty of glycogen to run a fast quarter at almost any time, when the levels dip below a critical threshold there is some negative feedback mechanism that reduces the muscle activity to protect the supplies. So if we know the runner well enough we can check the muscle glycogen quite reliably without muscle biopsy by just running a quick quarter. If anybody has doubts about that, try this - warm up, do a few strides, and run a quick quarter. Then go out at the pace you optimistically hope to be able to finish the marathon in. After about 90 minutes it will become unsustainable. As soon as that happens, run a quarter all out and be done. Compare the times of the quarters. The second one will probably be about 10 seconds slower than the first. Now, rest a week, and try the same pace, except run your all out quarter after 45 minutes. It will probably be only 5 seconds slower than the first. You will see that the quarter speed very much correlates with the fuel levels.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.700.000.000.5013.20

A.M. 8 miles early before going to the temple. Jenny and Julia did 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Benjamin waited to run with me in the afternoon.

P.M. Total of 5.2, 3.2 of it with Benjamin. Did 2x400 - 75.7 up and 70.8 down. Benjamin was about 0.5 s back in the first one, but stayed with me and got a new 400 PR on the second one. The purpose of those 400s for me was to test the glycogen levels. Looks like some rest and frequent snacking on dates helped. Unlike yesterday, I felt strong in the second half of those quarters even at the very end of the day.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 13.20
Night Sleep Time: 6.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.700.000.001.5012.20

A.M. Did 6x400 spread throughout the run. I timed it so that I would be doing two of them in the last 1.5 miles. Again, the idea was to test the glycogen level as well as to train the nervous system to override the low fuel negative feedback. I believe a quarter is long enough for that particular purpose. The reasoning is this:

a) In a low fuel situation I cannot run a fast quarter,  and pain/slowdown is felt particularly in the second half of it 

b) In the past I have been able to correct the symptoms of low fuel shutdown by doing a few fast quarters a couple of times a week.

c)  There was a study a few years ago that demonstrated that a 3 minute bout of maximum effort greatly enhances the ability of the body to absorb glycogen over the next 24-28 hours. I do not remember all of the science behind it, but I believe the basic idea is that if you squeeze the toothpaste tube very hard for a brief moment the vacuum creates a momentum for the new toothpaste to come in if a source is available.

From this I intuitively conclude that a couple of quick quarters at the end of any run will stimulate glycogen absorption and teach the nervous system to work with less fear in a low fuel situation. A good marathoner must learn how not to panic when low fuel signals are being received, and it must happen on both the conscious and subconscious levels. After having run 50+ marathons I am OK on the conscious level, but the subconscious is much harder to train.

So anyway, the theory aside, I did this; 74.5 up - 71.1 down - 74.4 up - 70.8 down - 72.3 rolling and 69.7 down. Total run was 12.2 mile. Benjamin did 3.2, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Joseph asked me during the family scripture study what "endure to the end" meant. I explained the idea using examples from running. He has been remembering it during his runs.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.20
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.5012.00

A.M. 12 miles as usual. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Did 2x400 towards the end. 72.2 rolling and 70.4 rolling down. Both had minor headwind. I felt strong.

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
12.000.005.000.5017.50

A.M. Did my 5 mile tempo on the Fast Running Blog course after a 2 mile warmup. It started well, but deteriorated after two miles. The splits were 5:36 - 5:40 - 5:49 - 5:48 - 5:51 - total time 28:44, 8 seconds faster than last week, in spite of the positive split. I felt strong in the first 2 miles, but then the legs were tired and had no zip. HR refused to rise above 160, and preferred 156 with a slower pace as a consequence. So I finished the tempo, jogged home, (11 miles at that point), ate some dates and waited for them to assimilate while I did some computer work. Then I ran with the kids. 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob, and 3 with Benjamin. In the last 1.5 I did 2x400 - 73.4 rolling and 70.9 down. Benjamin kept up with me on both. Due to the fatigue earlier I cut the long run to 17.5 total to be on the safe side and also as an experiment to see how I would feel on Tuesday.

I have always thought that cardio weakness would only manifest itself by HR going through the roof, but something is making me wonder if it could also manifest itself by HR refusing to go above a certain threshold. After all, tired legs do that - your leg turnover goes down along with your stride length when you are tired. So I went to Good Earth and got some hawthorn berry pills just in case as well.

Gold Crocs 2 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

Much needed day of rest. Went to church as usual. The lesson in Sunday school was on the life of Christ. We watched the video of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles testifying of Christ. All twelve, plus the First Presidency. All testified of the divinity of Christ, and His Atonement. I find the argument that the Latter-Day Saints are not Christian an odd one. There are arguments against the LDS faith that I can understand and appreciate, but this is not one of them. Calling a church non-Christian implies that you have been given the authority to define what is Christian and what is not. Most of the critics as far as I know could not reasonably claim such authority or try to explain how they got it. I am aware of the "authority of the Bible" argument, and it does not hold water. We read the Bible just as much as anybody else, so even if the Bible did give one authority to judge, we would have it as much as anybody else. I suppose the Catholic church could have some form of a claim for this authority, but what is ironic is that most of the criticism does not come from the Catholic church. But if it did, in order to maintain some form of logic, I would expect them to state that every church that is not Catholic is equally not Christian because they lack the inspired understanding of Christ or authority to act in His name.

What we really get the flack for is being different from the established Christian tradition. While being different does not always imply being right (although some people think that all they need to do to be right is be different), if you are right, you will  often be different. When you have found the truth, it will differ from error. When the error has been well established and perpetuated through centuries of tradition, the truth will be in conflict with it, and will undoubtedly raise some eyebrows. So what? Stick with the truth regardless.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.5012.50

A.M. 12.5 total , 6.5 of it with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Did 2x400 towards the end - 74.3 rolling and 70.1 rolling down. The pace on kids runs is actually quite decent - Benjamin averages around 7:40, Jenny and Julia around 8:45. Joseph and Jacob are about 9:00 - 9:30.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.5013.00

A.M. Total of 13. 3 mile tempo after a 2 mile warmup. Got 16:57.9 with the splits of 5:36 - 5:42 - 5:39. This marks poking my head out of the zone of desperation - not being able to crack 17:00 in a 3 mile tempo. Granted, the course is not the fastest, it is on the Provo River Trail which tends to be slower than most race courses, and it has a 180 turn, and I am doing it alone, but still struggling to break 5:40 average over 3 miles and failing does not feel good. I am finally past that, I still struggled, but at least it was 5:39 average, not 5:4x. Some positives: I was only 3 seconds slower in the last mile than in the first, and only 6 seconds slower in the second in spite of a 180 turn. There was an odd quarter at the start of the second mile that somehow ended up being 82, and there was a slight uphill quarter at the start of the third mile that ended up being 84. Those surges did not last, and did have a negative effect of slowing me down later, but at the same time I did not realize I was surging, I just put in a little bit of effort to prevent a slowdown. The last quarter was 83, not very good, but what I liked about it is that I smelled the barn with about 100 meters to go and started moving my legs. I was not able to do that in the previous runs.

Then I ran home and ran with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. I did 2x400 in the last 1.5 miles - 72.2 rolling and 70.3 down. Benjamin did the last one and ended up with around 70.5 which is his PR. He now boasts being able to run for a quarter at a pace that is a little bit faster than the world record marathon pace. He said to me - "And some people run full marathon like this?" I think it is a good idea for every runner to practice running world record marathon pace for as long as he can, even if it is only 100 meters, so that 4:44 per mile marathon will mean to him more than just words and a superficial wow.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From steve ash on Tue, Mar 08, 2011 at 21:35:01 from 67.166.103.179

I have noticed that the trail section is about 10 seconds per mile slower than a typical flat course. Probably because of all the slight elevation changes? Still a good run.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Mar 08, 2011 at 22:55:01 from 192.168.1.1

Steve, I would say more like 5 seconds a mile, and yes, I believe it is due to constant slight ups and downs that break the rhythm.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.5012.00

A.M. Total of 12, 6 of it with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Did 2x400 - 72.1 rolling, and 69.5 rolling down. Was happy that I could break 70. 

P.M. Got my orthotics from Dr. Brady. Orthotics in Crocs is a rather unusual combination, but I am willing to try it. A good rule that I learned from chess is that the winning move is often unusual. Not every unusual move wins, in fact most of them lose. But what wins often needs to be unusual enough for your opponent to have missed when analyzing what you could possibly do.  Therefore you do not limit your creativity and consider odd moves as you analyze their consequences and possible continuations. Most of the time you will rightfully reject those moves, but one time out of a hundred or so you will see the light beyond the madness. So the secret is in inspired rather than random creativity.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.000.001.5012.00

A.M. Did 6x400 workout in the middle of my 12 mile run. First 3 with orthotics. The splits were  72.8 up - 68.9 rolling - 68.1 down ( Benjamin stayed with me on this one for a part, then fell back and finished around 73) - 72.1 up  - 69.4 rolling - 67.9 down. About 2 seconds per quarter faster than last week. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

So there was a definite improvement. Did it come just from training or did the warmup and walking around in orthotics help? Time will tell. Some observations: during the warmup I felt that my right foot was being stretch somewhere deep in the arch. Once I took off the orthotics, the right foot felt on plantar flexion to push the body more forward and upward with a reduced (compared to "normal") lateral component. The last 100 also did not feel as hard as it normally does, and I was getting surprised when I would discovered that the finish was closer than I expected.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.5012.00

A.M. 12 miles total. Did 2x400 into a headwind - 70.4 rolling, 69.8 down. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.005.000.5018.00

A.M. Long run - 18 miles. Did the 5 mile tempo on the Fast Running Blog course in 28:25, splits 5:39 - 5:40 - 5:41 - 5:46 - 5:39. HR was steady at 162-163 at 5:40 pace, dropped to 159 in the fourth mile, and peaked at 167 in the last mile. Last quarter was 82. Positives: improved the time by 19 seconds since last week, HR at 162 and peaking at 167 shows improved neural drive - the quarters are doing their job, and ability to pick it up in the last mile. Negatives: aerobic fitness still lacking - 5:40 pace HR should be no higher than 158, and HR of 167 should produce 5:10 pace, not 5:30, loss of pace/drop in HR in the fourth mile.

Ran with the kids as part of the long run. 3 with Benjamin, did 2x400 72.9 rolling, 70.1 down - Benjamin stayed with me on that one and got a new PR. Jenny and Julia ran 2, Jacob 0.5, and Joseph 1.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 18.00
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 lesson in Sunday school was on the Atonement. The Sacrament meeting talks were on overcoming addiction. 

Night Sleep Time: 4.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.5012.50

A.M. Total of 12.5. Ran with the the kids - Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Did 2x400 towards the end - 70.4 rolling, and 68.7 down.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.000.003.000.5018.50

A.M. Total of 13.5. Did the 3 mile tempo in 16:52 - splits: 5:32, 5:40, 5:40. Felt strong in the first 1.5, then lost the rhythm after 180 turn. I am wondering if I should do those tempos without a 180 for a while to better diagnose the loss of rhythm problem. Positives: 5:32 felt very easy in the first mile. Negatives: 5:40 felt very hard later on, I felt the form was a whole lot worse. Perhaps I can see the glass as half full. The form felt bad later because it was much better earlier. Did 2x400 while running with Benjamin (he did 3 miles), 70.4 rolling, and 69.1 down. Benjamin did the last one with me and I could not drop him - this is his new PR. Jenny and Julia did 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. Got my lazy bum out for an eventing run for the first time in a long time. Was motivated by the latest HRM observations - HR being 5 bpm too high for the pace in the 5:40 range. Ran 5 miles at about 7:20 pace.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 18.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Jon on Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 22:28:08 from 98.71.145.227

Sasha- my Quantcast ranking jumped from just over 100, to over 500 in just a few days. Any idea why? I don't think I'm really getting that much traffic, am I?

From JD on Sat, Mar 19, 2011 at 22:55:20 from 166.128.90.156

Mine did the same thing. Overnight I went from 80 or so to over 400 people. I've noticed several other bloggers' Quantcast numbers do the same, around the same time.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.250.5012.75

A.M. Did 12.5 including the kids runs. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Did 2x400 - 70.4 rolling and 69.5 down. Benjamin did a pickup at the end of his run and we ran the last 400 in 86.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.950.000.002.2512.20

A.M. Today I tested my Android project. I have been working on a running tool. The goal is to have a 100% replacement for Garmin + more. Android phones have a GPS, an accelerometer, a magnetic field sensor, and Bluetooth capability. So you can read HRM data from a Bluetooth-capable strap, and the with the combination of GPS and accelerometer get a better estimate of the distance than just the GPS. Additionally, accelerometer allows you to detect form abnormalities. 

I started with what was the easiest, but at the same time a stepping stone to more complex operations. Detect a simple form abnormality - excessive lateral swing. So you hold the phone in your hand and try to keep it in the plane that is perpendicular to the ground and parallel to the direction of running. If the angle of the phone's acceleration relative to that plane exceeds the chosen lateral swing tolerance level, the phone vibrates. The goal is to be able to run without making it vibrate.

So I learned my Android basics, and after some trial and a good amount of error came up with something that I could test on my run. I did 6x600 spread throughout 12.2 mile run. The times were 1:49.1 (rolling) - 1:48.7 (down) - 1:47.8 (rolling) - 1:48.1 (down) - 1:49.1 (rolling) - 1:49.8 (down). The "down" is really not that much down - only a second per quarter faster.

I was happy with the performance of my tool for the most part. The core part worked OK - it vibrated like it was supposed to. What I missed is being able to time the splits with the phone as well, which is the next feature. And I need to fix it so it will not let the phone power off half way through the run.

Benjamin ran 3 miles, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.20
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.302.700.000.0015.00

A.M. Did a medium-long run today of sorts - 15 miles with a couple of pickups. First a mile in 5:51 then another in 5:45, which felt so good that I wanted to just keep going, so I kept going all the way to the house even though it was an odd distances, and ended up with 8;27 for 1.45 or so miles. Tested the phone some more. 

Benjamin  did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Benjamin picked up for a quarter at the end in 87.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.500.000.000.0014.50

A.M. Ran in the Emigration Canyon today because Benjamin was playing in the Utah State Elementary Chess Championship. He played well, winning 5 games out of 6, while losing 1, and took second place in 6th grade. This is the highest he has ever placed. His work paid off. I ran 11 miles. The winds were fierce on the way back,

Jenny and Julia ran 2, Joseph 1, Jacob waited for me to get get back.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob, and 3 with Benjamin.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 14.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Bill on Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 13:32:07 from 71.219.132.8

If you're in SLC next weekend come run our 5K. Running of the Leopards 5K. Great Family race. We have not seen you racing much in SLC anymore. Love Chess! Tell Benjamin congrats. I always take a board on our bus trips with the team and challenge the kids. We will need to play again soon. Hope all is well with you and your family.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Had good lessons. The Sunday School lesson was on the Priesthood. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on service. Then we had the Sacrament meeting most of which was taken up by the change in the bishopric - we now have a new bishop and councilors.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.5012.50

A.M. 12.5 miles. Ran with the kids. Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Did 2x400 at the end - 73.2 rolling and 70.5 down. Carried the Android and tried to not make it vibrate. 

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.003.000.5013.50

A.M. In my latest experiments with  my Android form coach I began to wonder if perhaps the increased lateral acceleration component was inevitable when running fast because I had a hard time running sub-4:50 pace without making it signal that the acceleration vector was too far out of the correct plane. So today I decided to see what would happen in the 3 mile tempo run. I decided to not worry about the pace, and just do whatever it would take to not make the trigger go off.

The tempo run actually surprised me. Based on what I was seeing in the quarters, I was expecting that I would be lucky to run 17:15 this way. I actually ended up with 16:45 with the splits of 5:36 - 5:35 - 5:34. At first the pace felt easy but I could not go any faster without the alarm going off. Then I realized something - I have tested the threshold setting while standing, and it allows quite a bit of freedom for the arms to move sideways. Thus, it is not the lateral arm swing that triggers the alarm, but probably the hip rotation. So instead of worrying about the arms, I focused on keeping the hips straight, and was able to speed up without the alarm. The entire tempo run felt much easier than the ones before, and I felt strong all the way to the end.

Later in the run I did 2x400 - 74.2 rolling and 72.7 down. Benjamin ran the last one with me. Again, the focus was not speed, but to keep the alarm silent.

Those results make me suspect that the reason I have a hard time maintaining the pace is that somehow I learned to associate running faster with rotating my hips harder, which is sustainable for a short distance, but eventually is not sustainable. Regardless, I was happy that my Android experiments produced some form of a positive result.

The total distance was 13.5 miles.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From jeffmc on Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 13:44:11 from 131.216.80.154

I think that you may be onto something as far as the hip rotation is concerned. I remember talking to you about it once while we were running, but for some reason we never focused on it at all after that initial discussion.

I have noticed that at the end of races when you are trying to sprint to the finish, the hip rotation is even more evident visually than at slower speeds. It is not too visible from the sagittal plane (no surprise there) but when looking at you from the frontal plane it is fairly easy to see visually.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.5012.50

A.M. Ran 12.5 files. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Did 2x400 - 74.3 rolling and 72.7 down.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.450.000.002.2512.70

A. M. 12.7 total. Did 6x600 - 1:50.3 - 1:50.7 - 1:51.3 - 1:53.0 (wind) - 1:51.7 (wind) - 1:51.3 9 (wind). Benjamin ran 3 miles and did the windiest one in 2:00. Jenny and Julia ran 2, Jacob did 0.5, and Joseph ran 1.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.70
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.5012.00

A.M. Total of 12, did 2x400 in 72.6 (rolling), and 70.0 (down). Got an armband for the Android, so that changes the alarm dynamics some, as you cannot steady the phone as well artificially when it is in the armband as when holding it in the hand. So when it starts buzzing, better straighten out the hips, it is more difficult to cheat. At the same time wiggling the hands does not trigger a false alarm. 

Benjamin ran 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.206.003.000.0020.20

A.M. Started the run with a warmup and a 5 mile tempo on the Fast Running Blog course. It was a new experience because I wore my form correction buzzer on the armband for the first time in a tempo. The first mile was good - 5:40, then I held the pace to 1.5 and all of a sudden started fading - the legs felt dead. The buzzer was going off once every few steps, so the form was not perfect, but it never is. I normally would focus on just pushing when I feel like this, but this time I decided to focus on keeping the buzzer quiet. It was an odd experience as I was not running any slower than I normally would when feeling like this, except it was rather easy. I just could not figure out how to speed up. So my second mile was 5:44, then 5:53, and 5:52. In the last 0.5 I finally figured out how to speed up without tripping the buzzer, and ran the last two quarters in 86 and 81, which gave me 5:43 for the last mile and 28:51 for the tempo. It was an odd experience because I finished quite fresh in spite of losing the pace and being unable to go faster. 

I originally planned to cut the long run short if there were problems in the tempo, but I felt that I should go full 20, and run a short tempo at the end of it to see what would happening. So I came home, did the kids runs - 3 with Benjamin, 1 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob and 2 with Jenny and Julia, and then ran a 4 mile tempo to finish the 20. The course was not the best, especially the first 2 miles because they are a slight uphill with turns and tunnels. When you run those downhill, the downhill still does not quite make up for the mess, so when you run them uphill you get a double hit. So I did 6:02, 6:08, then turned around and stepped on the gas a little because I now did not have any fear of crashing on fuel. The last two miles were 5:52 and 5:50, and felt quite easy, but I could not go faster without tripping the buzzer.

I guess the buzzer shows that I am like an old car. When it goes 55 you cannot tell it is old. But when you get it up to 75, it starts rattling. I suppose today the magic pace was 5:50 - I could coast just fine at 5:50 forever, but trying to go faster resulted in bad form, so it was not sustainable.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 20.20
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 as usual. Some people do not see the point of going to church every Sunday and learning essentially the same thing, something they have heard before many times. A runner should know better than that. We run the same course almost every single day, and that is what gives us our fitness. It works the same in church. We learn the doctrine of Christ and partake of the Sacrament. That gives us our faith.

Back a while ago before I joined the LDS church I considered the idea of developing faith rather odd. After all, things are either true or they are not, and if they are true you believe it, otherwise you do not.  Since then I learned that faith is more that just believing things that are not so believable. There is power behind true faith. I have experienced it. It was the faith that has allowed me to transition from a poor Russian student that could bare

Thus increasing your ability to recognize what is true through your spiritual senses and believe and act on it as if you could see it is of vital importance. In fact, that is the whole reason we have come to Earth. That is why you do not see God in plain sight. If you could be aware of His existence without having to exercise your faith, that would defeat the purpose of living.

The lesson in Sunday school today was on the organization of the Priesthood. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on Elder Bednar's talk in the last General Conference on inspiration by the Holy Ghost. Our new bishopric and their wives spoke in Sacrament on various subjects.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Kory on Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 21:49:17 from 96.18.87.100

Really we have to focus on our spirituality everyday not just Sundays, because were only at Church 20% of the time.

Something I need to do more myself.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.503.000.000.0012.50

A.M. Usual 12.5. Did 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Ran the last 3 miles in 17:44  focusing on not triggering the buzzer.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.505.000.000.0015.50

A.M. 15.5 total. Did a 5 mile tempo on the Fast Running Blog course at the start. The goal was to run without making the buzzer go off. I struggled - the legs felt dead, and I had a hard time maintaining good form. Nevertheless, I just ran at whatever pace I could manage without tripping the alarm too much or tensing too much. I noticed that the two correlate - if I can relax, the alarm quiets down, if I try to force a faster pace and tense up, the alarm goes off. So I did 5:55 - 5:51 - 5:47 - 5:50 - 5:51 - total of 29:14. Did 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 15.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.750.003.000.0013.75

A.M. I had one of the oddest running experiences today. The negative odd is not that odd, as confusion exists in multiple combination, so to find more confusion is easy. It was positively odd, for which I was thankful as order is scarce.

Based on my past experiences I knew that for me several days in a row of at least 3 miles at sub-6:00 pace result in progressively increasing fatigue and deteriorated performance. So based on that, and the results of the tempo run yesterday, I was expecting to be in a condition where maintaining 5:50 pace would be difficult, the leg would feel dead, etc. So the logic would dictate that I should rest. But I was still curious what would happen, as there was something different this time. In all of those runs, while I was unable to go faster, the pace did not feel like it was knocking me out as much as before. So intuitively I felt there was some value in picking up the pace because I was receiving and responding to the continuous feedback on my form from my Running Form Coach, and I felt that I needed to go at least a couple of miles for the learning to take place, and the pace needed to be sub-6:00. Additionally, during the easy part of the run, which included 3 miles with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob, my legs felt unusually springy.

So I decided to start the tempo, and if it was obvious that I was more fatigued that yesterday, discontinue it as soon as possible. I planned to start it exactly 3 miles away from my house on the way to the Provo Canyon, but the plan was sabotaged by the flooding under the University Parkway bridge. So I decided to just start it at the closest mark and go until I ran into construction on I-15 which would give me a little over 2 miles. To my surprise I went through the first mile in 5:41 on a less than ideal setup (two sharp 90 turns, bumpy trail, going under the bridges) and it felt easy. The next one was 5:35 on a slight downhill, but still with a couple of bridges. I was almost at the construction point but I felt good enough to want to go further, which is a good sign. It means that there is a solid reserve of energy. You first reach the point of not wanting to run more at the target pace, then not being able to do so quite a bit later.

I decided to do a 180 and run backwards. This would be a real test of fitness. Third mile, 180 turn, bridges, net uphill. If there was fatigue, it would definitely show. I managed a 5:41 on that mile, pushing some, but without a superhuman exertion, which gave me 16:57 for the 3 miles. During the entire run the buzzer was more silent than usual, mostly fussing only when I hit the bumpy portions of the trail.

During the cooldown I ran into Jerry Henley. We had a good talk. He saw me during the end of my tempo and observed that my form was smoother than normal. This was another interesting coincidence, as back in 2002 he mentioned that I would not be able to run 2:25 on the Ogden course without a fluidity fix to my form. I have pondered his comment since quite frequently. He was dead right. I have not been able to run 2:25 on the Ogden course. The best my form could give me was 2:30:02, and that was backed up by some serious endurance. Also, this is the first time I've run into Jerry during a run in probably at least 5 years, if not more, and for it to happen right at the time when I would want him, and I mean him in particular, to look at my form is perhaps more than just a coincidence. 

So what did the trick? Running Form Coach instruction finally caught up? The fitness is finally there, and a better form is a part of it? I have been messing around trying to understand the cause of my imbalance, and this morning just intuitively tied my legs together at the knees and tried to walk. It felt like the imbalance went away, so I stood and walked around like that while I read the scriptures and got ready for the run. Could that have stretched something? Who knows what did it, but at least I can say the combination works, so do the combination, do not mess with the magic recipe.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 13.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.003.000.0013.50

A.M. More interesting "coincidences". I put that in quotes because I do not believe in coincidences. God allows circumstances to occur, and none will without His permission. We may not understand the reason, or be able to figure out the pattern, but the pattern is still there, and exists for a reason. He plans and sets up things in subtle ways so the pattern is not obvious, and it requires faith to discern it. Being mortal, I do not yet have enough faith to know all things, but I do have enough to observe the easy patterns that speak to me loudly.

So just right after my breakthrough run yesterday Jeff called me up and said he would be in town for a couple of days. This gave me a chance to test my fitness today. Given the results of my run yesterday, and counting in possible fatigue, I rather optimistically told Jeff to pace me for 16:30 on my standard 3 mile out-and-back tempo course. So he opened with two 81 quarters, and then sped up to 79, 78, 78. The pace felt easier than I anticipated, but still too hard for me to make it to the finish with a 180 turn in the middle and some uphill on the way back. So I told him to back off. After that it was 81, 82, 82.5, 83.5, 84, 84, high 79 to give us 16:13.9 for the run. Quite a bit better than I expected. To put things in perspective, my weekly progression had been 17:16, 17:05, 16:57, 16:52, 16:45 - very small improvement increments. All of a sudden, instead of 5-9 seconds, it is 31 in just one week! Having Jeff around did help a lot, but at the same time, mid-run 78s almost entirely canceled the benefits. I did not tell him to back off earlier because I wanted to dare the devil and see if I could live through a tempo with a few 78s (5:12 pace) thrown in the middle of it. I did for the most part. Mile splits were 5:19 - 5:23.5 - 5:31 . The buzzer was set to a lower tolerance, so it was going off more than yesterday, but I was able to keep it quiet on and off.

Did 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph and 0.5 with Jacob. Total of 13.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From steve ash on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 17:24:59 from 76.23.2.151

Very nice Sasha:)

I talked to a guy who is a Bio-Med engineer and he seems to think that you have something really good there.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.001.000.2512.50

A.M. Ran with Jeff and the kids. Total of 12.5. Benjamin ran 3 showed off his speed with a 70.1 quarter. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Joseph did 1, and Jacob ran 0.5.  Jeff and I did a "fat" mile in 5:32. It felt very good.

On the chess front, after last night's tournament my rating is 1403 and Benjamin's is 1280. I estimate that mine is worth about a 17:30 5 K now.  What is interesting is that even though mine is higher, the three times that Benjamin and I faced each other in a tournament he won. When we play "friendly" games, our score is about even - he wins half the time, I win half the time, and we hardly ever draw.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From rAtTLeTrAp on Tue, Apr 05, 2011 at 16:23:16 from 75.196.42.56

Sounds like Benjamin thinks very well under pressure. That is a good trait. Or maybe he is always that good and just going easy on you sometimes so you don't get discouraged :)

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.505.005.000.0020.50

A.M. Got up earlier than normal to get the run done before the General Conference. Jeff was still in town and ran with me. I was feeling fatigued from the hard week and the reduced sleep, but still decided to run the 10 mile tempo for the first time since last fall. It was rather odd. We started out very slow, both us were asleep, in 94 for the first quarter. Then 89, 84, 81 (5:48) and I told Jeff to back off because I was not ready for that pace for the whole 10 yet. He pulled me until 7.5, then took off and ran the last 2.5 in 12:49 - 5:07 pace.

My time was 57:58 with the splits of 5:48 - 5:43 - 5:44 - 5:42 - 5:59 - 5:41 - 5:40 - 5:52 - 5:58 - 5:51. Once Jeff took off I struggled. However, I was still happy to be under 58:00 in my first 10 mile tempo in a long time.

Total distance was 20.5. We ran 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then listened to the first session of the General Conference. Most memorable for me were the talks by Elder Perry on the Sabbath day, and President Eyring on doing good. The idea of "Have I done any good in the world today" is very simple but at the same time very powerful.

P.M. Listened to the afternoon session of the Conference. I always look forward to the statistical report because numbers speak to me. So this year we got 14,131,467 members,  120,528 children of record, and 272,814 convert baptisms. Children of record means the number of children for whom the Church created a record, which usually happens when they are blessed, but can happen at a later time as well, for example, if the parents join the Church or become active when the child is 4 years old. But mostly that number is indicative of the birth rate in the Church, which would be about 8.52 per thousand per year if we do the division. This number is rather low, US birth rate is 13.83. However, we need to account for the inactivity rates in the Church. 14 million is the number of members that are on record. About 50% or possibly more of them are not active, and those who are not will not register the birth of their children with the Church. So the actual birth rate is higher.

 This is, however, a better number than reported in 2001 when we had 81,450 increase in the children of record vs 11,068,861 members, which gives the virtual birth rate of only 7.35 per thousand, but still a far cry from what our parents' generation did - according to the numbers from 1983 report with only 5,165,000 members we managed to have added 124,000 children of record, which gives the virtual birth rate of 24.01 per thousand! The causes of the drop can come from two sources - either those who are active members of the Church are not having as many children, or the activity rate has dropped. I believe we have both factors significantly at play. But I wonder what would happen if we could restore the same level of commitment both in terms of Church activity and having the children to the 1983 levels. That would be 339,264  new children of record. We could almost send all of our missionaries home (although of course we would not do that) and still have the same rate of growth in the Church! Those would be  wonderful results, and we can achieve them. If our parents could do it, so can we.

A non-mathematical person often objects to the above argument that it is just numbers. It is more than numbers. The worth of souls is great the sight of God, and even though He works with infinity He does care how many of His children in our world return to His presence. The more the better.

I also liked the talk by Elder Oaks about desire. I thought how it applied to runners. The desire to achieve can rise above lower level desires, and what a great feeling that is when it does. But it should be kept in balance and not attempt to rise above the higher level desires, but rather to be in harmony with them and provide support.

Elder Oaks also addressed one of the root causes of our underperforming virtual birth rate. Young men not taking initiative to get married and raise a family. 

Benjamin and I went to the Priesthood session in the evening. It was his first one. Our ward gave us the tickets to go to the Conference Center. We heard some talks about athletes. One from Elder Anderson on Super-Sid, an LDS New Zealand rugby player who postponed his career to go on a mission, came back, regained shape, and became a rugby legend for the next 11 seasons. He refused to play or practice on Sunday, which could have been a problem, but with faith it was resolved. He was so good that the schedules were changed to accommodate that.

Elder Snow mentioned the sub-4:00 mile and Roger Banister. This subject comes up once every three years in a General Conference. I believe it does so for a reason. The Lord does not want us to create artificial limits, but rather see with an eye of faith. It was good for Benjamin to hear that talk right in the Conference Center because not so long ago the sub-6:00 mile became a similar barrier for him, and he had to use his faith to overcome it. Shortly after that, I have observed an overall increase in faith in him.

And of course, the single young men of age got another beating, a pretty good one I thought to follow up on the one from Elder Oaks, this time from the Prophet himself. President Monson spoke about getting married again.


Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 20.50
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. Two more sessions of the General Conference. The single young men of age to marry kept hearing about their problem. This time from Elder Scott. There was also a lot of discussion of the Church welfare plan. If only our government adopted it, we would never see poverty. It is based on the principle of self reliance. No man ever gets fish without taking fishing lessons first if he capable of taking them. As I heard those talks I wondered about the poor people that live righteously, keep the commandments, pay their tithing, live within their means, and are still struggling to provide for their needs. There are some of those, relatively not too many, but they do exist. For one reason or another have not been given the talent of financial prosperity. How will the promise of having enough for their needs is fulfilled for them?

I often think of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 117 about Oliver Granger, of whom the Lord said: "and when he falls he shall rise again for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase". It is a test our faith when we see Oliver Grangers around us - the Lord wants to see if we have enough of it to take care of them. That is how this promise is fulfilled.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.0012.50

A.M. Felt sluggish. Did the usual 12.5 including kids runs. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Did a 3 mile tempo at the end in 17:26 on the last 3 miles of my Bridal Veil 20 miler course.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.504.001.000.0015.50

A.M. Did the kids runs - Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Then jogged another 2 miles and did the Fast Running Blog 5 miler tempo in 28:50.6 - splits: 5:48, 5:47, 5:44, 5:51, 5:41. Legs felt empty, had a hard time keeping the Android buzzer quiet. Again focused on keeping it quiet vs pushing the pace, and was rewarded by finding some zip in the legs in the last mile. Total of 15.5.

Gold Crocs 2 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. Early 8 miles before going to the temple. Towards the end of my run my normal wake-up alarm set for 6:30 AM went off. It was a beautiful hymn - The Morning Breaks. I did not want my buzzer to disrupt the hymn so I tried to run with better form.

Jenny and Julia ran 2. Jacob did 0.5. Benjamin and Joseph waited for me to get back from the temple.

P.M. Did 3 with Benjamin, and 1 with Joseph.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.0012.50

A.M. Did the warm-up with the kids. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then jogged 3, and ran the 3 mile tempo over the last 3 miles of the Bridal Veil 20 miler course (from my house to Bridal Veil and back). Felt strong, did 16:53.7. Last mile, which was the most normal of the 3 was 5;32. The entire course has some form of obstacles to speed along the way, mostly turns, tunnels, and bridges, but that is the best I can do with the constraints of the trail construction, running with the kids, sleeping a decent amount, and starting work at some reasonable time.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Steam8 on Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 22:04:41 from 166.70.55.77

7 kids! I am amazed. So fun that you have your kids come run with you. What a great dad!

You are so fast! Amazed at your running accomplishments too!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.0012.50

A.M. Did the warm-up with the kids. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. It was raining today. I recalled a Russian song that says that nature does not have bad weather and every weather is a blessing. Thus all of the joys and troubles of life should be received thankfully. I taught Benjamin the words while we ran under a mix of snow and rain and jumped of the puddles. I did not recognize the Russian word for "bad", so I took my chance to give him a bit of a teasing, and said to him in Russian: "What, you've lived to the ripe old age of 12 and do not know such a simple word?"  It is interesting that he understood this phrase perfectly in spite of not knowing a simpler word.

Then I jogged 3, and ran the 3 mile tempo over the last 3 miles of the Bridal Veil 20 miler course (from my house to Bridal Veil and back). I felt strong, but it was difficult to keep the pace due to the rain and slippage under the tunnels. I ended up with 16:57.9.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.409.500.500.0020.40

A.M. The weather today tested my belief in the Russian song I quoted to my children yesterday about nature not having such thing as a bad weather. A steady stream of snow was falling on me the entire 20.4 miles.Fortunately it was warm enough that it did not stick to the road. Also, fortunately, there was no significant wind either. Of the two adversaries I would chose wet snow over wind any day. I ran a 2 mile warm-up, and then a 10 mile tempo on my favorite course - two times the Fast Running Blog 5 miler. I organized a free race a couple of years ago on that course, thus the name. Unfortunately, the race has not shown a whole lot of interest. With the hard economic times, almost every house that is for sale is a short sale or foreclosure, people out of jobs, gas prices going through the roof, etc, you would think that there will be plenty of people that will come to run a race with no frills  just to race, but go figure - they prefer "added value" for added price - food, fancy shirt, music,  etc even when perhaps they cannot really afford it. So given the lack of interest on the part of the participants, and the lack of time on my part as well - the economy has changed my job situation to where I cannot devote as much time to the blog as I used to, I have not done that race since. But if I am wrong and there is now enough interest, I'll do it again. Send me a message with proposed dates if you would like to run it.

The tempo went like this: 5:52 - 5:50 - 5:53 - 5:49 - 5:54 (29:18) - 5:49 - 5:48 - 5:53 -5:53 - 5:41 (29:05) total time 58:23, 5:50.3 avg. I felt OK, but could not get myself to go faster. Part of it was the snow, part was not having anybody to run with, part fatigue from the week, and part just plain lack of fitness. I was happy that I was able to turn my legs over some in the last quarter, and hit 81 in spite of all the negatives.

Then I ran home, and finished the remainder of the 20.4 with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 20.40
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. It was a fast Sunday. The lesson in Sunday school was on covenants. A long forgotten concept. Very simple and very powerful. When you make a promise to the Lord to keep His commandments and serve Him and actually keep it, He has much greater blessings for you that greatly exceed the value of your contributions. The idea can be even applied by the "unbelievers", I put this word in quotes for two reasons. One, they say there is no such thing as an atheist in a fox hole. Two, those of us who do not believe are in this state temporarily, one day we will all believe because we will see. But the time to act is now before we have seen, that is when it really counts. Good chess moves are much more valuable over the board under time pressure than during a quiet computer-aided post-game analysis.

As far as how the "unbelievers" can apply the idea of a covenant - decide to do good, and do it consistently! You will feel the power. 

The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on honesty which connected well with the Sunday school lesson. What great power is hidden in the teachings of the Church! And it does not have to be hidden if we honestly keep our covenants.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.0012.50

A.M. I decided to try running with a knee brace today. The idea is this - the right foot is out of whack, the right hip is out of whack. So we encourage the knee, which is in the middle, to work straight. That would hopefully give a reason to both the foot and the hip to correct some.  Unfortunately I had a bad start in the experiment with some bad luck. I got lost in thought and tripped while I was running with Jenny and Julia, and the fall bruised my left knee. I finished my run with the kids - Benjamin did 3 miles, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5, and then went for more. With 3 miles to go I felt the knee would let me do my 3 mile tempo, so I went ahead. In spite of the hurt knee, and being low on fuel from the 20 miler on Saturday and the fast Sunday, I managed 17:10.6. What was odd, though, is that in the last mile I felt like I was not able to get full power out of my legs in an odd way that I had never experienced before, and I was losing speed. I do not know if it was related to being low on fuel, hurt left knee, or the knee brace on the right knee making the muscles work in a way that they are not used to. I will have to wait until the left knee heals from the fall to try it again.

Gold Crocs 2 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. Benjamin had a sore throat today, so I just ran with Jacob (0.5), Joseph (1), and Jenny and Julia (2). Then ran by myself, just easy, total of 12.5, to let the left knee rest. I still wore the brace on the right knee. Similar feeling to the last mile of the tempo run yesterday for a good portion of the run, except for a few parts when I felt like I was actually getting some power of out the right leg. 

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.752.250.001.5014.50

A.M. Did 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Benjamin was still sick. Then I ran another 2 miles and started my workout. First max HR 1.25 - "coast"a mile in 5:20, then run as hard as possible trying to max out the HR. I could only hit 167 and could not sustain it, legs started caving. I ended up with the last quarter in 78, and 6:38 for the interval. I was wearing the knee brace and the buzzer, still not sure what to think of the knee brace, but my instincts told me I need to run as much sub-6:00 mileage with it as possible. Then I jogged some, and ran 2.5 in 14:41 with the last quarter in 81. Total of 12.5.

P.M. Benjamin started feeling better, so I ran 2 miles with him.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 14.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.0012.50

A.M. Kids runs first - 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob. Then 6 more alone with the last 3 in 16:47.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.0012.50

A.M. Kids runs first - 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with

Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob. Then 6 more alone with the last 3 in 16:37. That is the fastest I've run on that course under this setup this year, and it felt good. I am getting used to the knee brace, although I am still not quite sure if it is doing me any good. But at least it is a step, something to do.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.909.501.000.0020.40

A.M. Long run. Started with a 2 mile warm-up, and then a 10 mile tempo on my standard course. Did it in 58:10 with the following splits: 5:52 - 5:52 - 5:46 - 5:47 - 5:51- 5:51 - 5:51 - 5:49 - 5:50 - 5:41. Felt fatigued after the first 2 miles and thought I would not be able to go any faster, considered stopping, but then the horror of plodding out the rest of the run for eternity hit me, and I decided to finish out the tempo. I gave it a little push and it woke me up. Had a small kick in the last mile as well. Overall not too unhappy with the tempo, viewing it as a stepping stone. Ran with the kids - 0.5 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, 2 with Jenny and Julia, and 3 with Benjamin. Challenged Benjamin to run the last 0.5 under 3:00, he made me work, we ended up running 2:50. It felt easier than I expected. Possibly part of my problem is that lately I've been doing my workouts alone for the most part. When Jeff joined me a couple of weeks ago, all of a sudden I started hitting much faster times.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 20.40
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From steve ash on Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 12:16:10 from 76.23.2.151

I'll join you next week if the injury is ok.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. We had  a Stake Conference. Elder Costa from the Presidency of the Seventy came and spoke. Among many other things he told us about the sacrifices that the members of the Church in Brazil make to go to the temple. They have to work and save for a year or more, and then will sell some of their property as well to pay for the trip. The Provo mission president and his wife spoke as well. They are from Rochester, NY and are serving here for three years. They are converts and joined the Church shortly after they had gotten married. When the sister missionaries came to the door, he asked them to explain to him in one sentence why he should listen to them. One of the sisters was able to condense it to one word - authority.

Interestingly enough, later that evening I was participating in the ward missionary visits, and we met a couple that moved to our neighborhood from California not too long ago. While I was explaining the concept of authority I ran into an interesting obstacle. The man believed that Joseph Smith indeed saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, was ministered to by angels, and in truth translated the Book of Mormon by divine means, but even after a thorough  (or at least I thought so) explanation still could not see how it would follow from that that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint would in that case become the only one with the authority to baptize. I suppose I can understand the emotions behind it. When somebody says he has seen an angel, you do not want to question his experience at first, hey, why not? When you realize this means you have to make significant changes in your life that involve work and sacrifice, there are three different paths you could take. a) Verify for yourself if his experience was authentic, and if it turns out to be so make those changes, otherwise do not worry about it b) Enter the perpetual question mode - what about this, what about that? - so you do not have to accept the authenticity of the experience while at the same time excusing yourself from the work to find out if it was true, and c) Enter the logical disconnect mode accepting the authenticity of the experience while denying that you have to do something about it.  Back 50 years ago the missionaries mostly saw either a) or b), but lately with the arrival of political correctness and other garbage related to it, c) is becoming a more common response.

What I am wondering about is how much of what 50 years ago would have been a big positive a) has now become a lame c) due to the general reduction in the willingness to make commitments and sacrifices.

 


Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.602.001.000.2012.80

A.M. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob, then 6 alone with the last 3 at tempo pace. It was very wet, the trail was slippery, so the first two miles were slow, barely managed 11:43 because I had to slow down on wet parts. Then the last mile was better, and I gave it a push managing 5:36. The time for 3 miles was 17:19.

P.M. We did a 100 meter time trial for family home evening. Jacob did 26.5, Joseph 22.5, Julia's time got messed up, but was around 20, Jenny got 17.6, Benjamin's time got messed up but was around 15.0. He beat me - with street clothes and at the end of the day all I had was 15.6, which is not bad for me in those circumstances, but it was not good enough to beat him. On the second try we tied running 15.6 - I was coming from behind and had to lean at the end to avoid being beat again.  I was very excited that Benjamin could run 15.0 at the age of 12 at the end of a rather cold day.. So I am estimating that he will end up with about 12.0 as an adult, and Jenny will probably be around 14.5. If those estimations hold, both will be world-class distance runners if they train right for long enough.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Tom on Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 11:58:13 from 137.65.56.16

Happy Birthday!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.652.000.501.2515.40

A.M. Did 6.5 with the kids - Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, Jacob 0.5. Then another 8.9 with a a workout in the middle. 1.25 with the first mile in 5:23 and the closing quarter in 77 - 6:40. Max HR was 163. I will attribute that to cayenne pepper, but will not complain as I am happy to run 5:08 pace at with the HR being only 163. I am just not happy that 5:08 was as fast as I could go. I think the cayenne pepper, which is known for its ability to increase stroke volume, highlighted the problem of (relatively) weak muscles. Then I jogged a bit and ran a 2.5 tempo in 14:34. Last 0.5 was 2:46.


Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 15.40
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.0012.50

A.M. 6.5 with the kids (Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5), then 6 more with the last 3 being a tempo on the usual course - last three of the Bridal Veil 20 miler course from a magic spot between the Country Club and the Wyview to the house. The left knee was fussing from the fall last week, so I was holding back some in the first two miles (11:30), then it stopped fussing and I ran the last mile in 5:35, total time was 17:05.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.0012.50

A.M. Mike came today. It was a nice birthday present to have him back. We ran with the kids - 6.5 total, 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then he ran with me to the start of the usual tempo, and I did the tempo alone as Mike was running out of fuel. Ended up with 16:58 with the last mile in 5:34. It has now been over 3 weeks since I've been doing those daily tempos and I am still alive. That is a new development. I wonder where it will take me.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From allie on Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 00:14:11 from 174.23.251.140

happy birthday.

From steve ash on Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 01:24:58 from 174.52.97.157

Happy B-day Sasha:)

From AZDesertmonsoon on Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 11:58:05 from 204.17.31.126

Hope you had a great birthday!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.500.752.750.5012.50

A.M. Started with the kids runs. Benjamin did 3 in 21:03 with the last mile in 5:43. That is his new PR. His splits were 89, 87, 87, 80. Half way through Benjamin's run we met Mike and he joined us. Then we ran 2 with Jenny and Julia - Jenny and Mike ran ahead and finished in 15:15 while I stayed with Julia, and our time was 17:30. Then 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then 3 more easy, and the last 3 in 16:47 with the last mile in 5:31 and the last quarter in 79. I had to beat Benjamin's last quarter, so I sandbagged a bit earlier to have some juice. With the "sandbagging" I still averaged 5:38 for the first two "steeplechasy" miles. Felt the legs were stronger, the stride was wider and more relaxed. Mike ran the tempo at 6;12 pace.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.0011.000.000.0021.00

A.M. Did my usual long run. Mike joined me for a part of it. Did a 10 mile tempo in the middle. The splits were: 5:45, 5:48, 5:52, 5:53, 5:58, 5:57, 5:49, 5:54,5:54,5:54 - total time 58:44. Felt like I would be able to hold the pace easily at the start, but then all of a sudden slowed down to 5:54 or so and just could not get out of the rut. There is a reason for feeling this - I have been doing 3 mile tempo runs almost daily at around 5:40 pace average. What confuses me is that I have felt quite snappy in most of the 3 mile tempos, but have felt quite stale in all of the 10 mile tempos. If it was just the fatigue, I would have felt stale in the 3 mile tempos as well. I have noticed in the 1.25 pickups that once my HR goes above 160 I start feeling uncomfortable. Possibly in the 10 mile tempo HR has to get into the trouble range eventually, and I do not know how to handle it, while 3 miles is short enough that I can bluff my way through it.

Finished the run with the kids - 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph and 0.5 with Jacob. Total of 21. During the run with Benjamin we did a few pickups that totaled a mile at around 6:00 pace.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 21.00
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. It was an Easter Sunday. Sarah played the hymns on the organ, and the flute for the musical number in addition. I always enjoy hearing her play musical instruments. The talks in the Sacrament meeting were naturally on the resurrection. The lesson in Sunday school was on the Church of Jesus Christ in former times. As far as I know, there are only two churches that claim to have a connection to the Church that Christ established when he lived among the Jews - the Catholic and the LDS. The difference is that the Catholics believe the authority of the priesthood was never lost, while we believe that it was lost and restored through Joseph Smith.

The lesson in the Elders Quorum was on Elder Uchtdorf's talk from the October general conference about strategically slowing down when flying through turbulence, or in other words, adjusting properly and taking time to ponder the things of eternity rather than increasing the mad rush when we encounter adversity.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.003.000.0012.50

A.M. Usual 12.5 including kids runs. Mike joined me for part of it. Did 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. I often do not realize how many children I have until it is time to fill out the forms. You only have to buckle them until they are maybe 4, then they can buckle themselves. But you still have to put their social security number on the forms until they are 18! 

Finished the run with a 3 mile tempo in 16:59. Felt good.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.004.0015.50

A.M. Did an experimental workout. Mike joined me for a part. Wanted to better understand the cause of the slowdown I have been experiencing at faster paces lately. The suspicion was that it had to do with the suppression of the stretch reflex, thus resulting in longer ground contact times, and disproportionately increasing effort required to run at faster speeds. The question was, whatever it is, can I snap out of it with a few jumps that would hopefully reboot the stretch reflex in the quads. So I decided to do this - run 5:20 pace until a relaxed effort was not good enough to maintain the pace. Then stop, jog a bit, do a few jumps, and keep going. I ended up doing 4 miles in 21:38 with a stop after a mile, then in 0.75, 0.5, 0.25 (it was a good spot to stop due to a 180), and then every 0.5 miles. My conclusion was that while I might have been losing the bounce in my legs , the jumps did not do much to fix it. Half a mile later, just about how long it would take to push HR above 160, I felt that the legs had lost their snap again. I suppose the only way to fix this problem is to attack it directly - get HR above 160, then try to maintain 5:20 for some time, rest, and repeat. So something like 1000 meter repeats with short rest.

Ran with the kids: Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 15.50
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. The combination of the Saturday tempo run difficulties and the struggle to maintain 5:20 relaxed for even a mile yesterday convinced me that my body was finally tired of the daily 3 mile tempos and needed a break.That fatigue is so subtle - I do not feel any soreness in the legs, or a decrease in the energy levels, the only way I know it is there is that I get tired more quickly at fast speeds.

So I ran easy today. Total of 12.5, most of it with Mike, 6.5 of it with the kids as usual - Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.750.000.252.5012.50

A.M. Did 4x1000 with 200 recovery. Mike joined me for a part of it. The workout went well - I was able to hit my target times. The times were 3:15.1 (down) - 3:23.8 (up) -  3:17.1 (down)- 3:22.3 (up). I felt that this short and simple workout stirred the cobwebs and got them moving a bit. Ran with the kids. First 3 with Benjamin with a 2000 time trial in the middle. His target was 7:30, but he again psyched himself out and could not get going until he had a quarter left. So he made it to the mile in 6:18 (94-95-95-94), and then kicked in 83 finishing in 7:41. Still a PR by 16 seconds, but we will try again on Monday. Jenny and Julia ran 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.400.001.100.0012.50

A.M. Another easy day. Did a total of 12.5 including 6.5 with the kids (Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5). At the end of the run I noticed there was a guy that would end up about a minute or so ahead of me after I had turned around that was going a good pace. So on a whim I decided to chase him. It took about 1.1 miles, with the mile split of 5:23, and it included a quarter in 84 through the tunnels where I had to take the foot of the gas for fear of slipping and falling. It felt very good, I felt like I could run like this forever. So how is that that when I try this in a workout it is not nearly so easy? Perhaps not enough excitement, which could possibly be directing the finger of blame at the underperformaing adrenal gland. Come to think of it, I've had a hard time getting excited about anything lately. Not that I am unhappy, more like being too mellow.

I caught up to my chase target, made a police siren noise, and said: "Do you know how fast you were going? I had to run a 5:23 mile to catch you!" His name turned out to be Logan. And in good tradition of my Provo River chase targets, he of course spoke a foreign language - he just got back from a Vietnamese speaking mission in San Jose. Watching his form, and having an idea of his pace from how quickly he was coming to me during the chase, I decided to make a guess about his running background - 4;35 mile in high school. I was only 2 seconds off - it was 4;37. We talked some more. I hope to convert him to the true religion of being my training partner. A plug for the "true religion" - it got Jeff to 2:22 marathon, 1:07 half, and 29:33 10 K.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Jon on Sat, Apr 30, 2011 at 21:54:59 from 74.177.80.153

Being mine and Cody's training partner got Paul to a 2:17! Ok, we can't claim any credit for that, but still.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.5010.000.000.0020.50

A.M. 20.5 miles with a 10 mile tempo. The weather was not the best, so I wore pants today. However, there was no headwind. There was a fallen tree from last night's storm that I had to jump over 4 times, which broke the rhythm. The splits were:

5:46, 5:52 (tree),5:48 (180 turn), 5:53 (tree), 5:56(180 turn at the end), 5:51,5:50,5:53 (180 turn), 5:52 (tree), 5:46 - total time 58:27.7. After the first 5 in 29:15 I wanted to stop, but the thought of having to run more miles at 7:30 pace was even more unpleasant than the thought of doing the same at 5:50 pace. So I kept going.  Overall I think the run went better than last week, and perhaps comparable to 58:10 two weeks ago when I was wearing shorts and there was no tree to jump over. I was pleased to see that unlike last week I had more control over the pace and could surge to 5:40 more or less on demand mid run for short periods. There was more bounce in the legs. So I suppose some rest and the 4x1000 on Thursday did some good.

Ran with the kids to finish the 20.5. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 20.50
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. 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. Then we had a fast and testimony meeting. Benjamin and Jenny overcame their fear of public speaking and bore their testimonies.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.251.250.000.0012.50

A.M. Stephen refused to sleep, so I took him downstairs and worked with the idea to take a nap in the afternoon. Thus only 4 hours of sleep. Did the usual 12.5 miles, including kids runs. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Benjamin repeated his 2000 time trial, this time much better. I told him that if he found enough faith to bear his testimony in public, he would be able to use that faith to overcome his self-confidence issues when faced with a challenging running goal, in this case being able to run 2K under 7:30. He does have a testimony. He has read the standard works of the Church (Old Testament, New Testament, Book Of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price) in their entirety twice, has been through the Book of Mormon 9 times, and studies at least one General Conference talk every day. All of that on his own initiative. But he did not inherit from me the natural brazen-facedness that eliminates the fear of getting up in front of a crowd or tucking into a pack of Kenyans and running with them till "the standard bearer fainteth". So that had to be developed through faith, and he took the first step yesterday in church. Today he did the time trial, and it went much better than last time.  His splits were 88 - 88 - 89 - 91 - 86 with the total time of 7:22.5, reaching the goal of sub-7:30 and improving his PR by 18.5 seconds.

During the rest of the run I saw Ed Eyestone and ran with him some. We had a good chat.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 4.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 5.50
Comments
From Kory on Tue, May 03, 2011 at 18:43:48 from 134.50.89.24

That's really cool on the PR. Congrats to him.

From Scott Ensign on Tue, May 03, 2011 at 23:50:26 from 67.40.112.104

congrats to Benjamin on a great PR,he must be very proud.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.900.000.002.5013.40

A.M. Ran with the kids - Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob - 0.5. Little did I know that this would be Jacob's last run for a long time. Later in the evening he broke his leg while wrestling with his brothers. So we are now in an emergency mode as he is not able to move and requires constant care. We've never had anybody break a limb yet, I suppose there is always a time for first. Now every morning when I take the kids for their runs Jacob is not there. But at least he is alive, in the house, amazingly in good spirits even thought he cannot move his leg without extreme pain, and should be more or less to normal in a couple of months. It could have been much worse, But I still miss him. 

Total run was 13.4. Did 4x1000 with 200 recovery - 3:14.9 down - 3:25.3 up - 3:18.1 down - 3:22.5 up. Felt OK, but not the best.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 13.40
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Kory on Thu, May 05, 2011 at 21:52:45 from 184.155.141.249

What type of break is it? Straight break or jagged break. Did it require any screws.

From Burt on Thu, May 05, 2011 at 22:03:11 from 72.223.90.79

Oh, bummer for Jacob.

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, May 06, 2011 at 16:15:30 from 192.168.1.1

Kory:

It was more than just a hairline fracture, bad enough to need a splint, but it did not need screws. He is wearing a splint that ER put on, on Tuesday he has a doctor's appointment to see how it is doing, and will likely need a cast. But I am praying for it to heal well enough before then that he will not.

From Kory on Fri, May 06, 2011 at 17:26:27 from 184.155.141.249

Mark 9:23

Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."

I will pray for complete healing as well.

If you would pray for my fun run/race tomorrow. I want to have fun and go somewhat fast (7 minute pace maybe high 6 for one mile) but have fun and not hurt.

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, May 06, 2011 at 17:59:35 from 192.168.1.1

Kory - will do.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. Spent a good portion of last night in the emergency room at the Utah Valley Hospital with Jacob taking care of his broken tibia. Ran 12.5 miles. 6 with the kids. Benjamin did 4, including 1 with Joseph who ran 8:19 and set a new record for the mile without holding my hand. Jenny and Julia did 2.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 4.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 4.00
Comments
From Kam on Thu, May 05, 2011 at 20:07:31 from 174.23.120.174

Sorry to hear about the bad break. Thoughts out for a speedy recovery for Jacob.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.002.5012.50

A.M. Started with the kids run - Benjamin did 3, including 1 with Joseph. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Then did 4x1000 with 200 recovery. Was not expecting much, considering canceling the workout, but decided to give one repeat a shot, to see how I felt. Ended up doing all 4 because I surprisingly felt good after the first one. The splits were 3:15.8 down - 3:21.5 up - 3:17.1 down - 3:21.1 up. Mike joined me for a part.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.250.250.000.0012.50

A.M. Ran 4 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph, then 2 with Jenny and Julia. Then added 6.5. Mike ran parts of me. I picked it up a bit in the last quarter and ran it in 89. 

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.0010.000.000.0023.00

A.M. We had a service project in the morning, so I did not start my run until 10 AM. By then it got warm, and I underestimated how warm it was going to get. Benjamin came along with me on a bike and was carrying some water. Unfortunately he took off half way through on the downhill in anticipation that he would be getting tired later and not able to keep up with me on his old bike, but he did better than he thought he would. The run was to Bridal Veil and back, 10 miles up, then 10 down. On the way up it was not too warm and I had tail wind, so I did 1:09:20 for the first half without much difficulty. On the way down things were not so good. It got warmer, the thermometer I ran past said 80F. I was feeling sluggish, but managed 5:50 pace in the first 3 miles. Then I got out of the canyon and there was no cover from the sun. 80F would be no big deal in July, but given that a week ago it was 35F I struggled, especially with no water. Also, direct sunlight makes a difference. 80F at 6:00 AM or 8:00 PM is barely noticeable, while 80F at 12:00 PM is a problem. So the pace slowed to 6:00, then started slipping a bit over it, and the last two miles were 6:28, 6:23. But the way I felt with the lack of energy and bounce in the legs I thought I'd be lucky to break 7:00 on those. I suppose this was a practice for the end of the marathon. The total time for 20 was 2:10:14 with the last 10 in 1:00:54, 6:05 average.

Jenny and Julia ran 2 on their own. 

P.M. Ran with Benjamin and Joseph. Joseph set a record in the mile with the time of 7:53. His splits were 2:00, 1:59, 1:58, 1:56. This does not tell the whole story as his first 200 was 54. Then he slowed down, but we told him if he sped up he'd be able to get sub-8:00. I promised him a remote controlled helicopter if he broke 8:00. Whenever a child asks for something special, we set some form of performance requirements for them to get it. He has tried numerous times before, the fitness was there, but the attention span was not. Finally he was able to focus, and we ordered the helicopter that night. After Joseph's run Benjamin and I ran two more miles giving me 23 for the day, and Benjamin 3 on foot and 20 on a bike. After some rest and a couple of meals I was actually feeling quite strong.

Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 23.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Kory on Tue, May 10, 2011 at 19:05:37 from 134.50.89.24

How did the doctor appointment go with your son. I prayed for healing in the Tibia. I hope it's better.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, May 10, 2011 at 19:21:49 from 192.168.1.1

Kory - interesting twist of events. They did an X-ray and the bone was in the same condition as it was a week ago, which is not unusual as it does not start to heal until later. However, they decided not to put a cast. And as far as pain is concerned, he is doing a whole lot better.

From Kory on Tue, May 10, 2011 at 23:06:56 from 184.155.141.249

Thanks for the update I will continue to have him in my prayers. I'm glad he didn't have too serious issues with having to have surgery. God Bless your family and your marathon times this year.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Given that it was Mother's day, the talks in the Sacrament meeting were on motherhood.

Jacob was able to make it and stayed for all the meetings. I went with him to the second part of his primary class to make sure no wild kid would accidentally re-injure his broken leg . The lesson was on obedience. The teacher, while talking about Lehi and his family, who were commanded to leave everything they had and go into the wilderness, asked the children how they would react if their father told them he had a vision and they needed to leave in a similar manner expecting a response something to the effect of "it would be very hard, I am not sure if I could go, etc". Jacob's answer was simple: "I would just go". 

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From baldnspicy on Tue, May 10, 2011 at 19:37:42 from 72.95.164.253

That's one tough kid all around! You should be proud! I happened to teach the same lesson to my CTR 7 class. Their answers were interesting but not as trusting as your son's.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.000.7512.50

A.M. 4 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph, 2 with Jenny and Julia. 6.5 alone, total of 12.5. Did a 0.75 pickup in 3:59. Felt sluggish, the pace felt hard, but sustainable. Ran in new Crocs.The old Crocs are being retired at 1631 miles. They do not have a hole yet, this is actually record mileage without a hole, but I really do not like the slant on the right shoe, so I decided it was time for the new pair.

Green 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
10.000.000.002.5012.50

A.M. Did 4 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph, and 2 with Jenny and Julia. Then did my 4x1000 workout: 3:13.5 down - 3:22.7 up - 3:17.5 down - 3:18.5 up. Fastest average time (3:18.1) since I started doing those a couple of weeks ago, and first time I broke 3:20 on the uphill. Felt sluggish, but was able to push through it. Total distance 12.5 as usual.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.400.600.000.0010.00

A.M. 10 before going to the temple. Did a pickup for 0.4 miles at the end at around 5:50 pace. Kids ran on their own - Benjamin - 4.2, Jenny and Julia 2.1, Joseph 1.05.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.300.000.002.5012.80

A.M. Ran with the kids - Benjamin 4, Joseph ran 1 with us, Jenny and Julia 2. Then 4x1000 with 200 recovery - 3:14.5 down - 3:21.8 up - 3:16.1 down - 3:19.9 up. Total of 12.8.

Green 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
12.250.250.000.0012.50

A.M. Kids runs - Benjamin 4 with 1 of it with Joseph, Jenny and Julia 2. Then another 6.5. Picked up to 5:45 pace in the last quarter.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 6.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.50
Race: Law Days Run (3.107 Miles) 00:17:35, Place overall: 7
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.400.000.003.6014.00

A,M. Raced in the Law Days 5 K - 17:35, 7th place. This was the annual team race. I ran for Chad's law firm Curtis, Manning, and Bradshaw. In the past we have been able to win, but this year our team was not as strong, and we were racing Olsen Shaner headed by Teren, Jamal, and Seth Wold. So we lost. My 17:35 did not help either. Fritz ran decent for the course (16:40), which was longer than it was last year, but not sufficiently long to justify a loss of 1:08 for me compared to last year. Teren won with 15:33, which is probably comparable to his 14:52 last year. The logic goes like this - he ran Provo City Half this year about 55 seconds slower than Jeff did last year, and he beat Jeff last year by 3 seconds in the 5 K. Adjusting for the fact that he probably is better trained for the 5 K than for the half marathon, it is reasonable to suppose that if he is losing to Jeff by 55 seconds in the half, he would have been on par with him in a 5 K. So if we are to use Teren as a benchmark, this means I performed about 30 seconds worse this year than last year. It was better than the worst I expected, as I have struggled to run good times in my workouts lately. Especially after seeing the splits at 1 mile (5:48), and 2 miles (11:50). I do not know if those markers were right, but by the time I got to 2 miles, I thought, hills or not (the course is very hilly), I am about to run a very embarrassing time. I hoped that a) the marker was off and b) the downhill in the last mile would help. It was probably a combination of both. My split at the 3 mile marker was 16:48, but then it took me 47 seconds to get from there to the finish. So either the marker was off or the course was long. Andrew Hansen outkicked me on the home stretch, although I tried hard to hold him off. Jamal was second with around 15:58, then Seth with around 16:25, Fritz 16:40, and Oliver from Westminister College in 17:24.

The entire race I felt in a daze, it hurt, but I felt more like a spectator than a participant. I suppose we would run really fast if the spectators got to feel our pain instead. And running would have even fewer spectators than it does now. The good news is that I never really felt weak and done, just could not quite kick into gear. What is odd is my throat was hurting afterwards like it does after a hard mile race. I had not felt that way in a while. Fritz and I went for a long cooldown afterwards, and meandered to East High Track. Then we did a test to evaluate the quality of our 5 K effort. 800 meters at what I perceived was my 5 K race effort I had just run at. This gave us 2:36.6, so about 5:15 mile pace.  Fritz said it felt easier than his 5 K effort. So if we adjust a bit for the short length of the interval, and compensate for the wind (there was a significant wind that was a factor) and post-race fatigue, I think it is fair to say that I would have run a track 5 K in still air in 16:40. So whatever length that course was, we can probably say that it was 55 seconds slower than track in ideal conditions.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Rob Murphy on Mon, May 16, 2011 at 13:43:07 from 205.127.70.66

Good to see you back Sasha. I have to say, I've missed your presence on starting lines recently. Of course I don't see you after that.

From fiddy on Wed, May 25, 2011 at 15:42:56 from 155.101.96.134

You should know that the Provo Half was long this year, too. When will you be racing again?

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church as usual. Taught a lesson on repentance in Sunday school. Being a ward mission leader I get turns teaching the class for new members and investigators. Then we had a lesson on developing talents in the Elder's Quorum. I remember thinking back before I was a believer that if there was a God and if he had His church that church would not just sing and pray all the time, that it would encourage a healthy life style and a development of talents - athletic, musical, scientific, etc. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints passed that test quite well for me when I got introduced to it. What is even better is that this encouragement to develop talents is more than just "hey, it is cool to be able to do things, so why not?" - there is a strong doctrinal foundation behind it. It naturally flows from the core doctrines of the Church. Without that encouragement and foundation I would have reduced myself to jogging 5 miles a day about 10 years ago if not earlier.

Then we had a Sacrament meeting. The talks were on reaching out to your neighbors. I liked the musical number. We are blessed to have a talented singer in our ward who attended the BYU on a vocal scholarship and still sings in competitions. He sang A Poor Wayfaring Man Of Grief, all 7 verses. This is my favorite hymn. When I hear it, the knowledge of who Joseph Smith was is plain before me. That was the hymn he wanted to hear when he was in jail a few hours before he was shot by a mob. Some people hear that hymn and say, so what? Others know plainly that somebody who lived a lie would not want to hear that hymn before his death. That would make him who he claim to be - a prophet of God in our day similar to Moses, Peter, or Paul to restore the truths that were lost through many years of apostasy, and therefore, the choice is simple. You must be baptized by proper authority if you have not been already, and join the action of being part of the Lord's church in the last days. I remember possessing that knowledge, knowing the right course of action, and still hesitating some back in 1992 in Moscow. Then a vision opened in my mind - I felt like I was standing in the doorway and blocking it while some people wanted to come through. By now I know that there were at least seven of them. I decided to act on faith, and make a step forward so that the progress of those unknown  people would not be blocked. I lack the words to describe the blessings this decision has brought into my life.

Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From Mack on Wed, May 18, 2011 at 14:40:33 from 50.39.193.169

Great post Sasha. Thanks for sharing such personal, heartfelt feelings. Very inspiring!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.001.2512.50

A.M. First ran with the kids - 4 with Benjamin, 1 of it with Joseph, then 2 with Jenny and Julia. Then 6.5 more myself. Did two pickups - 1200 in 3:59 and 800 in 2:37. 

Green 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
11.750.000.001.7513.50

A.M.  First ran with the kids - 4 with Benjamin (1 of it with Joseph),  2 with Jenny and Julia. Did 2x1000 down 3:16.1 - up 3:22.7 with 200 recovery, then realized I needed something different. First, the legs were not moving today. Second, I have done this workout for the last couple of weeks without much improvement. So I concluded that it was probably creating a poor stimulus. I did a few 200 meter pickups. Those revealed a problem that perhaps explains why I have had such a hard time in the 5:20 range. Running it in as slow as 36 felt tense, like I was almost sprinting all out. Well, if 4:50 feels that tense, relaxation at 5:20 is not happening, and you'll be lucky to make it through the 5 K at that pace. So the solution is to do something that will make me run in the sub-5:20 range while forcing me to relax. In other words, I need to set myself up to run faster than 5:20 while fatigued so I cannot just sprint my way through it.

P.M. Since I really do not have the time for doubles anymore, I decided to resurrect my poor man's doubles idea - "always on the run". So I just jogged a mile in the afternoon.


Green 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
12.350.000.752.6015.70

A.M. In the line of my yesterday's reasoning I decided to try a ladder to see how it would feel. Did it on the flat portion of the trail with 200 recovery. The idea was that if I knew the next interval would be shorter, I would not be afraid to give the current one a push. At the same time, 200 recovery is not very much, and the length of the intervals stayed decent for a while, so I would not be able to just power my way through the intervals, and would have to relax some to be able to sustain the pace. I am pleased to report that it worked quite well. I hit the following splits:

1200 - 3:58.7, 1000 - 3:16.9, 800 - 2:37.7, 600 - 1:56.9, 400 - 73.3, 200 - 34.3.

So I hit sub-5:20 pace on all of the intervals without slippage all the way to the dark side, and was even able to run a 73 quarter followed by a 34 200 while quite fatigued from the earlier intervals. So the trick of gradually shortening the interval did work in helping me break out of the rut a bit. What I liked even better is that I dealt with fatigue by relaxing instead of just slowing down.

Then I ran 4.6 with Benjamin (1 of it with Joseph). We did 400 in 83, and then 800 in 2:47. Then 2 with Jenny and Julia.

P.M. Did an "always on the run" mile.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 15.70
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. Pouring rain. Did a total of 12.5, including kids runs. 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph), 2 with Jenny and Julia. That was quite a soaking experience.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.001.0013.50

A.M. Ran with the kids. 4 with Benjamin, including 1 with Joseph. Benjamin did a time trial for half a mile on the trail in 2:37 with the splits of 79 and 78. That is his new record. Jenny and Julia ran 2 miles. I went for 6.5 more to finish 12.5 and did 0.5 worth of accelerations at about 4:50 pace.

P.M. "Always on the run" mile.

Green 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
13.0010.000.000.0023.00

A.M. Did the Bridal Veil 20 miler. First 10 uphill in 1:09:29, then tempo back down. Started out at 5:40 pace, but then got a side ache and had to slow down to 6:00. Sarah brought me water to the 14 mile mark. It was not as warm as two weeks ago, but it was still nice to have water. There was some headwind. After 7 miles of tempo I faded to 6:08 on the part of the trail with the turns and the bridges, but that served as a wake up call. I toughened up to deal with the side ache, and was able to speed back up to slightly sub-6:00. Last mile was 5:56. Total time for the tempo was 58:39, 5:52 average. Total time for 20 miles was 2:08:08. Now if only it was the full marathon...

Not sure about the cause of the side ache.  I have gotten them before in the marathon when low on fuel sometimes (possibly the liver does not like to be empty?), after eating dry food, and sometimes odd breathing patterns kick the diaphragm.

On the positive side of things, unlike two weeks ago I felt some zip in the legs for the entire duration of the tempo. And the time was respectable. My best time in this setup is a little under 56:00, but that was trading miles with Ted for the first 7 miles, and a bit of tailwind, so overall better conditions. I would say with the same setup I would have been a minute faster. So in other words, I am out of shape by about 10 seconds a mile right now.

Benjamin ran a mile with Joseph. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

P.M.  3 with Benjamin.

Green 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. Had a lesson on baptism in Sunday school. Then a lesson on Elder Cooks General Conference talk "Let There Be Light". We had an interesting discussion. The teacher asked about the objection that is often raised that the teachings of the Church need to be more "in line with the times". A thought came to me which I did share, and feel is worthwhile sharing again. As the time goes forwards, many things improve. But not everything. For example, while I would much rather have computers of the modern day, I would be much happier with the gas and food prices of 20 years ago. Somehow as the time progresses "the new morality" manages to earn the glory of being associated with improved technology, while avoiding the blemish of increased cost of living and increased waist line that have arrived with the modern times as well. Behaviors that are destructive to the family are by no means a step forward. Not any more than being 50% overweight.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.000.7512.50

A.M. Ran with the kids. 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph), and then 2 with Jenny and Julia. 6.5 more to finish 12.5. Did pickups, 0.75 worth of them.

 

Green 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
12.700.000.002.6015.30

A.M. Did a ladder workout on the trail, all flat. 1200 3:58.0 - 1000 3:16.3  - 800 2:37.7 - 400 71.7 - 200 33.6 with 200 recovery. Felt sluggish at first, but hit relatively decent splits. Was rather surprised by the improvement in the 400 and 200 compared to last week. Then ran with the kids - 4 with Benjamin (1 of it with Joseph), and 2 with Jenny and Julia. Total of 14.3 miles.

P.M. "Always on the run" mile.

 

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 15.30
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Burt on Thu, May 26, 2011 at 00:16:06 from 72.223.90.79

A ladder workout? I'm not superstitious. I have no doubt that there's a reason how things turn out.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.5013.50

A.M. Total of 12.5. Ran with the kids - 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph), 2 with Jenny and Julia. Then Sarah went with me on a bike for 3 miles and I did 4x200 pickups. Was able to hit 32.3 chasing her, which gave me some encouragement as I struggled cracking 33 lately. Then 3.5 more.

P.M. "Always on the run"  mile.

Green 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
11.600.000.001.5013.10

A.M. Total of 12.7. Ran 1.5 mile in 7:53 (78,78,78,81,81,77). This was encouraging, especially since I was able to do it alone. Then ran with Benjamin (4 miles, 1 with Joseph), and 2 with Jenny and Julia. Had an accident - tripped and fell down, scraped the hand and bruised a bone in the hand.

P.M. Went to the chess tournament with Benjamin. Jogged 0.4 with him in between the two games. Won one and lost one. Benjamin did the same. My rating now is 1439, his is 1402. He has finally crossed the 1400 barrier and is catching up to me. That makes both of us class C players. After that you have class B, class A, expert, national master, international master, and grandmaster.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 13.10
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. 0 sleep time is not a mistake. The hand bone bruise from yesterdays fall got worse at night and I could not sleep at all. I laid in bed and pondering the meaning and purpose of pain. At first I prayed for it to go away. Then I remembered that Christ had suffered more pain than all of us combined, and thus, if we are to know Him (John 17:3), then how can we without experiencing at least some pain?

Fortunately I was still able to run. I had to hold my hand in a vertical position, though. But if Murray Halberg could win the Olympic 5000 with his crippled arm hanging down, I figured I could run 12.5 miles with a less severe impairment. Part of it was with the kids - 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph), and 2 with Jenny and Julia.

P.M. Went to the doctor. The X-ray showed no broken bones, but he still wanted the hand immobilized, so he put it in a splint.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 1.00
Comments
From RAD on Tue, May 31, 2011 at 15:51:53 from 98.202.17.113

unique perspective on pain, and one that I need to ponder as well. Thank you for sharing it!

Glad you were still able to run and that there are no broken bones. Heal well Sasha.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.0010.000.000.0020.00

A.M. My first run ever wearing a splint. I woke up feeling that the hand was almost 100% better. So the pain finally went away. Sometimes prayers take at least 24 hours to get answered. Sometimes even longer, but in this particular case there was a quick resolution. Nevertheless I decided to wear the splint for a couple more days just to be sure. I ran full 20 miles, to Bridal Veil and back. First 10 in 1:09:36, then tempo on the way back. I was happy with how the tempo went. I hit the first 5 miles in 28:08, then it flattened out and got a bit warmer, and on top of that I got somewhat complacent seeing that I would "easily" reach my goal of running faster than last week. So I let the pace slip to 5:55-6:00 range, and the turns in the last 3 miles were not helping my motivation as they broke my rhythm. When you've run 17 miles already it is one thing to just keep going, but you are too tired to keep accelerating back to pace every time you get knocked down by a turn or a bridge. But then I was finally done with the bumpy nasty part, and got down to business in the last mile some running it in 5:48. Last 10 miles in 57:26 (5:44.6 average), and 2:07:03 (6:21 average) for the whole thing. 

I finally felt like I had some semblance of being in shape. This run gave me encouragement that I may perform decent in the Utah Valley marathon.

The children ran on their own. Benjamin - 4.2, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1.05.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 20.00
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. The lesson in Sunday school was on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then we had a combined meeting of Priesthood and Relief Society in which they talked about various services that the Church offers - addiction recovery, adoption, family therapy, employment placement, humanitarian aid, and others.Then the Sacrament meeting talks were on remembering our ancestors in connection with the Memorial Day.

Yesterday I learned about the death of Sammy Wanjiru. I had dreams about him all night. What a sad turnout of events. Not so much because he died, as all of  us will eventually, but more due to the circumstances. Sammy had a lot of qualities I admire. He was not afraid to bust out several sub-4:30 miles in the middle of a marathon. I love this style - go out hard, then hold on. Have the faith, have the guts, and back it up with fitness. Then just go. He won the 2008 Olympics by running near world-record pace from the gun on a day with temperatures reaching 80F. I remember Ed Eyestone commenting in disbelief on the splits and predicting that there will be severe casualties and the pace will slow down. There were a lot of casualties, but Sammy did not slow down. Then when he finished, before he began to celebrate, he knelt down and offered a prayer. You would hope that a man that would remember to pray after winning an Olympic marathon would know better than to visit bars and cheat on his wife. Unfortunately, Sammy felt into this trap of the devil. And as if to symbolize that, his death came from a physical fall from the balcony of a tall building. The circumstances are still not quite clear as far as I know, but a few facts have been established with certainty - there was a visit to a bar, there was drinking, and there was a woman involved that was not his wife.

In chess there is a concept of a loose piece. It is when you put a piece, usually a knight or a bishop, but it can be a rook, and even a queen sometimes on a square that your opponent cannot yet strike but it has  no protection from your end either. This may appear innocent to a less experienced player, but good players know to avoid it. A loose piece is an invitation for your opponent to find a tactical combination to capture it and gain a game-winning material advantage. Shortly after Sammy's win, I discovered an article with a picture of him and his coaches drinking beer. I had an uneasy "loose piece" feeling. Here was the man capable of sub-2:00 drinking his chance away. Just like it is difficult to foresee exactly how you will be punished for leaving a loose piece, I did not foresee how Sammy's quest for sub-2:00 marathon would be stopped. I thought that over the years he would just gradually and prematurely lose fitness, which did happen, but I did not expect such a tragic end.

As I contemplated those events, I recalled talking to one runner who I will not name, but who some may recognize (it is hard to hide your identity when you are fast). He said - I would join your church (meaning the LDS church) if it helped me break 2:30 in the marathon. I told him it very well could, but he still remained unconvinced. Then, through an interesting sequence of events he ended up entering the marathon in which I broke 2:30 for the first time with the intention of using it as a training run for the Chicago marathon running the first 10 miles or so. I started aggressively opening with a 5:07 mile. He was with me and asked - are you going to do this all the way? I knew that my training was not going to support 5:07 pace for the whole thing quite yet, especially since the downhill grade was going to reduce and eventually disappear, but I did appreciate the question. He offered to pace me, which I appreciated very much, and had kept me company for the first 9 miles before pulling out. He still did not quite get the message, and as far as I know to this day is still not a member of our church. However, thinking about that experience gives me the faith to say that the LDS church could have helped Sammy Wanjiru break 2:00 marathon. It does take some faith to take it that far. But even without it, it is fairly certain that had he kept the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity, he would have stayed alive for long enough to give it a serious shot.


Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From Jake K on Thu, Jun 02, 2011 at 14:37:19 from 155.100.213.19

Very interesting thoughts. His story is similar to Daniel Komen's (Competitor Mag recently did this article: http://goo.gl/RU8el ). I can't help but wonder what guys with this kind of talent could have done w/ a little more focus. The counter-argument, with Sammy, that I've heard people say is that his "recklessness" is what made him such an unpredicitable and successful marathoner racer. Either way, I enjoyed reading your take on Sammy's story.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

A.M. 12.5 miles total. 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph), 2 with Jenny and Julia. 

Green 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
13.000.000.002.6015.60

A.M. Ran with Logan Clark. Did a workout 1200 - 3:56.3 - 1000 missed the mark but it was around 3:18 - 800 again missed the mark, it was around 2:37.5 - 600 - 1:55.6 - 400 - 72.5 - 200 - 34.0. 200 jog recovery between the intervals. Felt tense. Then did 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph and Jenny), and 2 with Jenny and Julia. Jenny did a total of 3.

P.M. "Always on the run" mile.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 15.60
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From neumannator on Thu, Jun 02, 2011 at 15:24:34 from 71.219.49.71

Congrats on your SGM legend status!!!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.400.000.001.1013.50

A.M. Ran with the kids - 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph and Jenny), then 2 with Jenny and Julia, Jenny ended up with 3. Then 3.5 alone, and 3 more with Sarah on a bike. Did some pickups - 200 in 35, 400 in 72.5, 600 in 1:47.6, 400 in 67.7, and 200 in 33.3.

P.M. "Always on the run" mile.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.350.000.000.7516.10

A.M. Did an odd workout. Wanted to do 80-90 quarters for 5 miles. Did it for 1.75, 88-78-92-78-92-79-93 and then decided to just tempo the rest of the way in. So ended up with 28:53. Was not happy with how I felt. It seemed that I had to move my feet very fast to maintain 87 quarters, and yet for the life of me I could not go faster no matter what I tried. Total of 9.1 miles for this part of the run.

Then ran with the kids. 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph and Jenny). Did 0.75 pickup in 4:26. Then 2 more with Jenny and Julia. Total of 15.1 for the run.

P.M. "Always on the run" mile.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 16.10
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.001.0013.50

A.M. Total of 12.5. Jenny ran 3, Julia 2. I did 4 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph. Did 8x200 pickups.

P.M. "Always on the run" mile.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.950.750.002.5015.20

A.M. Did a total of 15.2 with a 2 mile time trial of sorts. The goal was to maintain 5:20. I managed to do it for the first mile, and then started losing it slowing down to 83,83,84 quarters, and then kicked in 80 for the last one. The end time was 10:50. This is not bad as it could be, but it does highlight a problem. What I do not understand is the fluctuations that pop up seemingly for no reason. From time to time I have a better day, e.g last Thursday and last Saturday, then it is followed by a multitude of mediocre days like this one. I am starting to suspect a cumulative lack of sleep that accumulates a droplet at a time with the body entering a state where it does not want to take the sleep that it needs. Possibly in combination with glycogen depletion.

Did 4x200 afterwards. Another concern is the difficulty of hitting times as slow as 34.

Jenny ran 3, and Julia did 2. I did 4 with Benjamin, one of it with Joseph. Benjamin and I finished with 4:23 last 0.75.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 15.20
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From Kory on Wed, Jun 08, 2011 at 01:33:19 from 134.50.201.10

Have you changed your diet at all. Maybe it's the Carb intake. Has your work schedule changed not allowing you to sleep as much.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Had good lessons. In Sunday School we learned about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then the Elder's Quorum lesson was on work. It was a Fast Sunday, so we had a testimony meeting after the Sacrament.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.700.750.000.7510.20

A.M. Did 2x100 strides, then 1000 in 3:02.6. The goal was to run anaerobically for a little bit as it supposedly stimulates glycogen production if followed up aggressive carbohydrate intake afterwards. I added a 30 minute nap later for good measure as I was feeling my body was capable of taking it. 

Total distance was 10.2. Added a test tempo at the end to feel the marathon pace - 0.75 in 4:23. The kids ran mostly on their own - I just joined Benjamin for about a mile. Benjamin did 4, Joseph 1, Jenny 3, and Julia 2.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.20
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.650.000.750.008.40

A.M. Did 2.4 with a 0.75 in 4:08, then did total of 6 with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia 2, and Joseph 1.

P.M. Short nap.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 8.40
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.001.000.000.006.00

A.M. 6 miles before going to the temple, did 1 mile pickup in 5:42. Felt decent. The children ran on their own - Benjamin - 4, Jenny - 3, Julia 2, and Joseph - 1.

P.M. Nap.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 6.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.400.000.000.608.00

A.M. Did 2.2 before running with the kids with 1000 in 3:00.3. The idea of this 1000 is to stimulate glycogen buildup. I also noticed, perhaps of more interest in my circumstances, that hard anaerobic running in the AM makes me want to take a nap in the afternoon, and I feel something different in my body when I wake up from that nap. I am suspecting that I am getting more than just glycogen buildup out of this if the nap is taken. There is some hormonal activity going on, possibly an increase in the levels of testosterone and friends.

 Then ran with the kids, total of 6 -  Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia 2, and Joseph 1.

P.M. Nap.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 8.20
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.000.001.000.006.00

A.M. 6 with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Joseph 1, and Julia 2. I did a pickup for a mile in 5:29. Benjamin did the first quarter of it with me in 83. The mile felt very good, effortless, there was some zip in the legs. This was definitely an indicator that the naps did something. But the real proof will be seen in the race tomorrow.

P.M. Nap.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 6.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Race: Utah Valley Marathon (26.22 Miles) 02:33:23, Place overall: 6
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.3026.220.000.0027.52

A.M. Utah Valley Marathon - 2:33:23, 6th place.

My workouts were predicting 2:35 or so. I  have struggled to understand this long sequence of troubled workouts with seemingly no progress, and finally after some prayer a thought occurred to me. The problem is not biomechanical, or fuel, it is hormonal, and it is  in some (possibly more than one) hormone that controls the power of muscle contraction. I did not have the resources to figure out which one it was. So I decided to assume testosterone and hope that the natural treatments of that problem will help with whatever hormone X is involved. I would call this a tentative shot in the dark that was lighted up by inspiration, so the dark was not quite as dark. I solve difficult computer problems like this all the time, so I figured apply the method to physiology and see what happens.

I decided to apply some natural remedies for boosting testosterone. One of them is naps. I spent last week napping. I feel the performance today indicated that I am on the right track with the naps and other things.  I was able to start at a pace I would have considered suicidal, or beyond that, impossible, a week ago, and in spite of that was able close only 3:27 slower in the second half (1:14:58/1:18:25), with a 5:56 mile from 25 to 26. I treasure sub-6:00 miles after 20, they are precious and dear to me, and do not happen unless I am doing something right.

I expected Clyde and Dave to stick together and go through the first half in about 1:16:30. I figured the pace was survivable, and if my nap treatment was effective, I would have another good half after that as well. If not, I would, well..., hang in there and survive as I've done many times before. So I just followed them from the start.

It soon  became apparent that Clyde and Dave wanted to run like Steve Jones and Sammy Wanjiru today at least in the early miles. What was worse is that I did not recognize Ben Van Beekum at the start, and did not realize he was in the race. So in my mind my choices were to run aggressively with Dave and Clyde or to run alone. I did not want to run alone at all, so the choice was obvious.

Mile 1 - 5:47. Bryant Jenson, Hillary Kibet Cheruiyot, and another Kenyan pulled ahead, while Paul Petersen, Jake Krong, Clyde and Dave, and I were together. It was uphill, and at 5800 or so feet it felt hard. But I figured I'd hang in there while I can. 

Mile 2 - 5:29 (11:16). Downhill starts. I am happy with a sub-5:30 more relaxed but still too fast for a marathon effort. Still the same company. I am sure hoping that Clyde and Dave will wisen up soon because I do not want to run alone and I do not want to run that fast either. But it is a race, you cannot just say "Can you guys please be nice to me?"

Mile 3 - 5:05 (16:21) This was an odd mile. It did not seem like the downhill or the effort increased dramatically. Maybe there was a bit more downhill, and a bit more effort. Possibly a mistake was made in the calculations when the course was certified and the mile ended up being short. Which would mean another mile would be long to make up for it because you cannot certify a course without extensive documentation, etc, for the entire length, but you are not required to provide as much documentation for each individual mile. During this mile we had a spread - Paul and Jake started pulling away, and Dave made an effort to go with them while Clyde and I stayed back. I breathed a sigh of relief, as it gave me some hope for more reasonable pace.

Mile 4 - 5:31 (21:52). Dave pulling a way, Paul and Jake pulling away, but still visible, I am sitting on Clyde's tail hoping for survival. That is the only way I can survive this pace. This had a mild downhill, but we are still at around 5600 feet or so. The effort eased up, though, and I was finally able to talk. I told Clyde we were headed for 2:24, and it accounted for the hills later on if we maintained the effort. Of course, neither one of us had done anything lately that would suggest we would be able to maintain such a pace to the finish on this course, but it is nice to think with faith. It gives you boost to know that you can at least start the marathon like this. That is 70% of the battle.

Mile 5 - 5:30 (27:22). Essentially a repeat of mile 4. We got caught and passed by a Kenyan runner that looked like Jon Ndambuki, but I could not tell for sure.  He must have not been having a very good day as we passed him back a few miles later and he dropped out.

Mile 6 - 5:37 (32:59). Less downhill, reduced effort as well. I am starting to consider helping Clyde with the pace, but I do not want it to be faster, and he is doing a fine job.

Mile 7 - 5:54 (38:53). The downhill ended,  I think, and we eased off even more to prepare for the climb.

Mile 8 - 6:00 (44:53). Start of uphill. I am noticing that the effort is getting reduced on the uphill. So either  Clyde is struggling with the uphill, or maybe he is backing off on purpose which a smart thing to do. Either way, fine with me. I am all for taking a little break to recover from the aggressive start. This mile was just an appetizer, though, the main course was served in the next mile. Clyde asked me what we would hit in the half. I said anywhere from 1:14:30 to a low 1:15:00. We passed the Kenyan back.

Mile 9 - 6:14 (51:07). Now the main course of the uphill meal. Survived with a reasonable measure of dignity. Clyde asked me for an effort estimate. I thought this was worth 5:50 on a flat mile.

Mile 10 - 5:34 (56:41). Downhill. With Clyde's help got going after the uphill quite well. Was very pleased with this mile.

Mile 11 - 5:32 (1:02:13). Downhill. Clyde's support crew lead my Mik'l showed up and cheered him on, so the effort increased a bit into the red zone again. I told him it was not time to push yet. At this point I knew enough about his condition to offer advice. Earlier I did not say anything about the aggressive pace because it may not have been aggressive for him. At the same time Dave, who has been in front of us since mile 4 by about 20 seconds started to  come back.

Mile 12 - 6:07 (1:08:20). A rich dessert served in the uphill meal. I forgot about this dessert, but I remembered when I saw it. Two years ago it was the first mile, and I ran it in 6:07. So 6:07 on mile 12 was quite acceptable. 6:00 AM is too early of a start for me in terms of emptying the stomach completely before the race. So I started to feel it and to make plans for a quick stop.

Mile 13 - 6:05 (1:14:25). This mile was quite eventful. It was still rolling, so it was not very fast. Dave really started to fall apart and we passed him. My need for a bathroom stop intensified, and I was faced with a problem. This race has gotten too big, too many spectators. No virtual privacy for a VPB. So I had to jump into a port-a-potty. Set a port-a-potty PR of 16 seconds, at least Clyde's official half split is 16 seconds faster than mine. I may have been inside for a bit more as I surged a bit right before the stop, and maybe a bit more right after, but it could not have been more than 20. I got out right when Dave had caught up, and he commented on my efficiency.

Half - 1:14:58. Technically sub-2:30 is still possible, but not quite. I am creating different plans dreaming of 2:33, optimistically hoping for 2:35, and disaster control of 2:38-2:40. Which one will it be? The first half depends on you. But the second half is a gift of God.  Some people think you can improve your second half dramatically by taking it easy in the first half. You can to a point, but not really. You can help it with training, but even then you can get a surprise.

This is when the real suspense begins. Now is the moment of truth. Have I been a good boy? What is in my Christmas stocking? A toy I was hoping for, a toy beyond my dreams,  a toy I would not be unhappy with, a really crummy toy, or just coals?

Mile 14 - 5:55 (1:19:20). Clyde is not coming back to me, and no wonder. If I am going this slow, he is not coming back unless he blows up royally. This split concerned me. I know things get worse for me around 18. So I am starting to mentally prepare for damage control.

Mile 15 - 5:53 (1:26:13). I have not crashed yet. How many more sub-6:00 do I have, and how bad is it going to get after that? It does not look like I will have any sub-6:00 after 20, but can I hit a couple of 6:10s? If so, let's say 1:56 with respectable change at 20, and then last 10 K in 39:00, so 2:35. I will not be unhappy with that given all the troubles I had before this race. But maybe it will get worse? Can I really do 39:00 for the last 10 K today? It has been worse. Then be humble, be thankful you can run at all, and take the best you can get.

Mile 16 -  6:15 (1:32:28) . Second serving of the uphill dessert. The pace is a cause for serious concern. Mentally preparing to deal with the upcoming crash. Said a prayer that I will not lose the strength in my muscles at 18 miles more or less with the idea - "Please let me make it to 20 before I blow up, and maybe, if I have been a good boy, to 21".

Mile 17 - 5:58 (1:38:26). Still sub-6:00. One more mile to see if my prayer will be answered.

Mile 18 - 5:42 (1:44:08). The downhill helped, but  I am still encouraged. When you are seriously blowing up, you stop being able to use the downhill to go faster. At least I am responding to the downhill some. So maybe I can live another 3 miles. Started passing half-marathon runners that started at the same time as the marathon.

Mile 19 - 5:54 (1:50:02). My prayer was answered - I am thankful for the strength that I was able to maintain for one more mile.

Mile 20 - 5:46 (1:55:48). Now that is quite a bounty of blessings. I would have been thankful for 6:05. Very thankful to still feel strong. The density of the half marathon crowd has increased, now passing more people per minute. That is both a plus and a minus. Plus because you can focus on visible targets that can be reached within a minute but are not as trivial as landmarks. When you are starting to struggle it becomes very important to break the big task into multiple easy-to-reach goals. The importance of having a target to focus on can be appreciated by the fact that we tend to slow down by 5-10 seconds a mile in the dark at the same perceived effort when such targets are not available.  The minus comes because you have to swerve.

Mile 21 - 5:58 (2:01:46). Sub-6:00 after 20! A sigh of relief. Now I know that the worst statistically likely is 6:30, and it is not coming until after 24. Ben Van Beekum passed me on this mile and he was moving fast. I considered latching on, but decided not to disrupt the rhythm as it did not appear likely that I would be able to hang on for more than half a mile. I did not recognize him, though, but my thoughts were - this is a collegiate runner doing his first marathon, his PRs are around 2:00 in the 800, 4:25 in the 1600, and 15:00 in the 5 K. He was too scared to start faster, and now he is full of energy.

Mile 22 - 6:00 (2:07:46). Another 6:00. Only 4 miles to crash over. The last one can be saved some with the "smell the barn" effect. I am still feeling strong to run one more mile respectably. So only two miles to really lose time on. Encouraging.

Mile 23 - 6:05 (2:13:51). Expected, but thankful that I am still following a reasonable slow-down curve. Particularly thankful that there are only 3 miles left. Ran through a portable shower. It was very nice.

Mile 24 - 6:23 (2:20:14). Uphill mile, but not enough to justify 18 second drop. So there was some slippage. Still thankful to be moving.

Mile 25 - 6:05 (2:26:19). Recovered from the slippage. Two factors helped. Knowing I had only 2 miles left, and Clyde appearing as a reachable target. I was still not sure if I'd be able to deal with him once I caught up because if it took me too long by then I might crash myself, and he might start benefiting from the "smell the barn" effect. But now I was mentally racing a competitor rather than just the clock. I could have tried this earlier, but I think I made a wise decision earlier to not worry about catching Clyde and just let it happen naturally if it was meant to happen.

Mile 26 - 5:56 (2:32:15). Caught up to Clyde, He picked it up. I ran with him. Then we approached another portable shower. I did not want to lose contact, but I knew I needed to cool off. So I went for the shower. Two girls of considerable size who were in the half marathon were going through it at the same time. I warned them and managed to go through it without collisions. When I got out, Clyde was not with me, or ahead of me. So the only other possibility was that he was behind. I stepped on the gas and started running scared. The fear was irrational, if you closed 20 seconds in a mile on somebody that late in the marathon, there is a mathematical expectation that you will gap him by 40 in the next mile, which is essentially what happened. But I threw math out the window, and used this irrational fear to get a faster time. With the finish approaching, and with the knowledge that Clyde has run a 4:15 mile at one point, the fear of being caught and outkicked was greater than the fear of blowing up.

Kick - 1:08 (2:33:23).  I wonder if it was a bit short as this comes out to 5:11 pace. I was kicking as hard as I could, but it was 5:30 pace at the fastest. As I was approaching the finish I was happy to be done with the race, I was happy that I avoided the expected slump at 18 in spite of the early signs of trouble, and I was happy to have finally demonstrated a semblance of form that gives me hope for the future.

After I finished, Benjamin raced in the 5 K and finished 10th overall with 19:36. That is his new record. Now we have two people in the family that can break 20:00 in the 5 K.

Hillary Kibet Cheriuyot won with 2:19:18, then Paul 2:19:29, Bryant 2:21:24, Jake 2:21:47, Ben 2:31:59, then me, Clyde 2:34:16, Dave 2:42:06, and Jeff Shadley won the masters with 2:42:15.

Jenny and Julia did 2 in the AM, then Jenny did not want to run more because it was getting too hot. I ran a mile in the evening with Joseph and Jenny. The legs felt a bit sore, but I could run without a limp, so I was happy with that.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 27.50
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Comments
From Burt on Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 21:53:42 from 72.223.90.79

Hey, that's a great time. If I don't comment now, I'll forget to later.

From jtshad on Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 22:09:02 from 24.10.248.6

Congratulations on a fine race Sasha.

From Tom on Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 23:40:47 from 67.199.180.90

Great job on the race Sasha. And thanks for you words of support and advice to Kim.

From JulieC on Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 23:33:16 from 207.108.176.107

Hey sasha, your a GREAT tangent runner!! I was bummed with getting miles to read .14 ahead of time after mile 6 or so. I need some advice here. That's a lot of time wasted for me. I think you are definitely thinking right with the hormone thing....perhaps DHEA. Sleep the cure all. I think a lot of us felt exhausted at the start of this race, due to running around (mostly women I know) keeping the kids happy and not getting a lot of sleep majority of nights, getting runs in before they wake etc... I read this month in runner's world that Deena Kastor used to get 12 hours a night sleep time, seriously? This was BEFORE she had first baby last February. Wow!!!

From ty on Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 00:40:09 from 74.211.35.53

Great race sasha! I enjoy reading your blogs, and amazed at your ability to have each race down to a science. How do u do it? haha. Anyways, I hope you get the hormone thing figured out.

From Steve on Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 10:10:55 from 76.27.106.132

Cool report Sasha. I hope I get the chance to run with you (behind you) at one of these races..

From Jake K on Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 21:25:51 from 67.177.21.60

Nice report Sasha. Glad that you were able to keep it together over the second half of the race and finish strong. Mentally you stayed tough and didn't hit the wall you expected to. Good work, and nice meeting you!

From Burt on Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 22:11:02 from 206.19.214.144

Well, you said you surged before the portajohn and after the portajohn. Sounds like there was some surging going in the portajohn, too. Nice efficiency.

From Superfly on Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 13:03:56 from 74.211.21.81

Glad you finally finished your report. I had to read in in segments over the last couple days:).

Anyways it was fun running with you again. I actually really had fun the first 20 miles or so. Hopefully we can race again sometime soon... it's been too long.

Way to fight through the pain and overcome the early struggles by finishing the race off in a respectable manner. You ran great!

From RAD on Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 17:42:44 from 98.202.17.113

Thanks for a great report Sasha and congrats on an excellent, gratuitous finish. Running is such a wonderfully, personal emotional experience. Thanks for sharing yours.

Best piece of advice I am taking away: "When you are seriously blowing up, you stop being able to use the downhill to go faster." I've wondered in some races why I wasn't able to use the downhill. Never felt like I blew up, but now I get it! Thanks.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Much needed day of rest after the marathon. Went to church. The stars aligned and I taught both in Sunday school and in the Elder's Quorum. I get to do this due to being the ward mission leader and the Elder's Quorum instructor at the same time. I do not get to teach the Elder's Quorum that often, but I am in charge of the new member class. And, of course, I forgot to delegate, so I got double blessings, which I could use. The lesson in Sunday school was on the ordinance of sacrament. The Elder's quorum lesson was on obedience. During the lesson my phone, which had the lesson manual on it started to malfunction somewhat. I figured it must have happened for a purpose and used the incident to illustrate the importance of being obedient to God's commandments with exactness. We should not malfunction when asked to do good things, and God never asks us to do anything that is bad. Of course, we are at a much higher level than just a gadget. We have God-given agency. He gave us the ability to disobey His commandments to give us a chance to develop our faith. Thus, when we obey, we choose good over bad, and our faith grows, or, in fact, actually has a meaning. Tools or mere creations cannot have faith because they cannot make decisions. We can. What an irony it is when we begin to insist that to prove our ability to choose we must choose bad. 

Benjamin and I often study chess games of grandmasters using a games database. And there are times when out of let's say 30 games, in all of them the same move is made in the same position by 30 different players of high caliber. Sometimes it takes us a while to figure out why. Why not be original and make some other move?  After some analysis, and sometimes with the help of a computer, we are able to see why not. It loses the game. How interesting that out of 20-30 possibilities there is only one that works. But it takes a high skilled player to notice that. To me, this is a powerful lesson in not trying to be different for the sake of being different, being humble enough to recognize that there is only one reasonable choice in a particular situation, and you must not be afraid of uniformity.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.250.750.000.008.00

A.M. Ran 6 with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia 2, and Joseph 1. Then 2 more, did a pickup for 0.75 in 4:24. Felt like I had done something on Saturday, but not too terrible.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 8.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. Total of 10 including 6 with the kids. Jenny and Julia did 2, Benjamin 4, Joseph 1.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. Total of 10 including 6 with the kids.  Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia 2, and Joseph 1.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
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. Ran 12.5 including 6 with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny, Joseph and Julia 2, Joseph ran 2 miles for the first time, and it was a good start. His time was 17:08 and he earned a prize. Being a little scientist he decided he wanted a digital pH meter. I did a mile pickup in 5:23.6 to test the legs. They did not feel as fresh as before the marathon, but OK.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.001.0012.50

A.M. 12.5 including 6 with the kids. Jenny did 3, Joseph 1, Benjamin 4, Julia 2. I did a mile pickup again in 5:20.7. Felt a tiny bit stronger that yesterday.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.500.002.0015.00

A.M. A repeat of what I did 2 weeks ago. 15 mile run including a 2 mile time trial. Pleased to observe that the time trial went better one week after the marathon that one week before: total time 10:45.7 with the splits of 79, 79, 81, 80.5 (5:19.5), 82.5, 81, 84 (a car was parked in my way in the fishermen parking lot, lost probably a second from the extra distance and the loss of rhythm), 78 (5:26). Two weeks ago the time was 10:50 and the splits were the more or less the same through the first mile, but I lost more time in the second mile. I am happy to note that even post-marathon, I am seeing a slight but noticeable gain in strength.

Next week I hope to succeed in luring Fritz with a post-run breakfast and whatever else he can be lured with and have him pace me through this workout.

As part of the run, ran with the kids. Benjamin and Jenny did 3 (Benjamin had a sore throat), Julia and Joseph 1.5. At the end of my run I did a 0.5 pickup in 2:52.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Comments
From JulieC on Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 11:53:22 from 71.35.250.32

Hi Sasha, I am interested to know what your comparison of UVM course is to SGM, TOU, Ogden and the Provo City Marathon. It is not yet on your list for figuring out how you will do in other races based off your race predictor. Which of the marathons would you say UVM is closest too? Thanks Sasha. I am going for Sub Three at SGM and at UVM I never felt like I pushed it at all in fact I ran the last 6.2 miles of it with a friend and I talked the whole time (probably not wise and wouldn't do this at SGM). I ran a 3:09 which included a 54 second potty stop at mile 2.5 and most likely dehydration due to GI issues the whole week and a steroid taper ending the day before the race. I honestly think 3:05 was more what I was trained for but unfortunately the taper week I felt the worse than I had EVER felt in a long time and couldn't even eat or sleep well at all. So during the marathon I just ran it like a training run, never pushing it like I know I can if I felt good. I am hoping I have a great chance of going sub3 in 15 weeks : D.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The Sunday school lesson was on the law of the Sabbath, then a lesson on families in the Elder's Quorum,. The sacrament meeting talks were on the role of fathers. Then a short nap, followed by a meeting, and missionary visits.

Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.750.0012.50

A.M. Total of 12.5 including kids runs. Benjamin ran 4, Jenny 2, Julia ran 4 with Sarah, Joseph ran 1.5 in 12:42. I did a pickup for 0.75 in 4:13.7.

P.M. Nap.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.000.7512.50

A.M. Did a warm-up, 2x100 strides, then ran 1000 on the trail in 3:01.6. Was running steady to 600 (1:46), then a bear jumped on me. That is actually good. The idea was to fight the bear for a little bit so I would want to take a nap in the afternoon.

Ran with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 1.5. Joseph set a record for 1.5 with 12:06 and the last mile in 7:58.

P.M. Nap.

Some thoughts. I have been assuming for years that the biggest hangup that keeps me from running better is biomechanics. But perhaps I was wrong after all. I am starting to think that the hang up is the lack of muscle power relative to body weight. In other words, the problem is that the muscle needs to be this big to produce only so little power, and when it does get this big, then we are in a vicious cycle because now that it has more power it has to carry its increased weight. It manifests itself in bad biomechanics, and poor speed at the same time. The supporting evidence for this explanation is this - I have observed that the average 120 lb male that does not do weight training can lift more weight than me even if I do lift weights. My weight is 145 lb. Now, of course, this is just arm strength, so there are flaws in the argument. But this does point to a problem of some kind that could very well apply to the legs. Another argument to go with it is that my quads are quite large for a guy that struggles to run 100 in under 14.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From Rob Murphy on Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 19:01:02 from 75.100.43.173

I've been in the wilds of Northern Minnesota the past week and have run into two actual bears while on my runs.Fortunately they both went the other way.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.001.0012.50

A.M. Ran some my myself and some with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia 1.5, and Joseph 1.25. I did a mile pickup in 5:13.8. On the positive side I volunteered it. On the negative side I felt like I was carrying a bear after the first quarter or so. On the positive side again I did not seem to mind carrying the bear and in spite of the bear I did not slow down - the splits were 78, 78, 80 (bridge), 77. I am wondering if the path to improvement involves some interaction with the 800 meter - 1 mile race bear. After all, how do you make your slow twitch fibers strong enough to run sub-5:00 without a lot of help from the fast twitch? Not by running 5:40 tempo runs for sure. You may build the aerobic plumbing for sub-5;00 by running 5:40, in fact, by running 7:00 - 7:30 for a lot of miles, and that is a necessary step, but you will still lack the power. But the power will not come from sprinting because the fast twitch fibers steal the show. So the idea is that we disable them first by running for a couple of minutes at a good speed, we know they are dead when the bear jumps on the back, and then we run as fast as possible for some more. This should give the slow twitch fibers maximum recruitment which will hopefully give them a kick to become stronger. To actually make them stronger in response to the stimulus we need a solid recovery - the right foods, maybe some magic herbs, and of course a nap.

P.M. Nap.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.000.7512.50

A.M. Did 2x100 strides, then 1000 in 3:00.9. The splits were 35, 1:47 (72), then a high 73. Almost there at the target. The plan is to get it to the point where it is under 3:00 with the last quarter no slower than 72, then extend it to 1200. The bear did not feel as heavy as he used to, and he jumped with about 200 to go instead of 400.

Ran with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny, Julia and Joseph did 1.5. Total of 12.5.

P.M. Nap.


Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.5012.50

A.M. Total of 12.5 . Benjamin and Jenny were spending the night at the grandparent's house, and ran on their own - Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3. I did 1.5 with Joseph and Julia. Sarah also rode with me on a bike for 5 miles. I did a 0.5 pickup in 2:29 and felt very strong.

P.M. Nap.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.000.000.003.0019.00

A.M. Total of 15. The demon of reduced muscle strength is visiting me again. I tried my routine 2 mile time trial and did 78, 79, 80, 81, 83 - after that I felt it was not necessary to continue as it was apparent that something was wrong, so I stopped and jogged for the rest of the run. Towards the end I was curious, and did another pickup for 0.75 to catch up to another runner who I've run with a few times - his name is Ryan. I did 78, 80, and then 85, but it had a 100 in 24 while I was getting through the puddle under the bridge, so it was more like 82. Exact same pattern, and same feeling. After about half a mile all of a sudden I feel a loss of strength.  Did 1.5 with Joseph and Julia as part of the run.

P.M. Benjamin and Jenny came home and still needed to do their run. Jenny did 3 by herself, while I ran 4 with Benjamin. I wanted to understand the reduced strength demon problem better, and decided to do my 2 mile time trial again with the idea that I go only for as long as needed  and only finish it if 80s feel comfortable after the mile. Benjamin joined me for the first 500 meters or so. It went like this this time: 77, 79, 80, 83 (5:19 for the mile). After that it was again apparent was was going on so I discontinued the tempo. OK, so at least it is not worse at the end of the day after running 15 miles in the morning. So it appears that I enter this odd state of fatigue from where it just does not get any worse, I suppose. I would compare this to being perpetually in the second half of a better than embarrassing marathon.

Green 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. Had a lesson on fasting in Sunday school, then another lesson in the Elder's quorum on Elder Uchdorf's talk in the Priesthood session about reaching your potential. Then talks on reverence in the Sacrament meeting.

Went with the missionaries to a missionary discussion in the evening. They were reaching a 9 year old boy and his mom. She just got out of the battered women shelter into a house. The discussion was on the Word of Wisdom, part of which is staying away from alcohol. The boy told about his experience witnessing his dad's DUI arrest.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.000.002.5013.00

A.M. Did my strength test again. See how long I can hold 5:20 without having to sprint. So I did 79, 80, 80, 82 (5:21). Not good. Jogged some, decided to try again to see if the failure comes sooner. 80, 80,80, 80 (5:20), 83, 82 (8:05 for 1.5). Hmm... That is the oddest pattern. How does that work? You would expect that after getting to the point of not being able to run another 80s quarter without a significant effort I would not be able to return to the same condition after only 10 minutes of jogging. A possible explanation is that my slow twitch fibers cannot go faster than 5:30. So if I want to run 5:20 I have to recruit fast twitch, and they fatigue after about a mile. Fast twitch recover pretty fast, and are ready to go again after 10 minutes of jogging. Slow twitch are not fatigued, in the meantime, they just cannot go fast enough.

The feeling is also rather odd. At 80 the stride feels relaxed, like I am only recruiting a fraction of power. Then when I slow down, all of a sudden it feels like I am recruiting every fiber there is to recruit, like I am trying to squat with maximum weight. That does go along with the fast twitch fatigue explanation. It takes only a fraction of fast twitch power to run 5:20 pace. But it does take all of the slow twitch power to run 5:30 if the fast twitch are not helping.

Ran with the kids Benjamin did 4, Jenny did 3, Julia and Joseph did 1.5.

P.M. Nap.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Comments
From Rob on Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 15:46:09 from 72.254.182.113

So Sasha, how do I determine when I switch over to Fast twitch from Slow twitch. I realize the difference between running a solid pace and sprinting but where exactly does that cross over point occur?

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 16:09:08 from 192.168.1.1

Rob - this is a grey area. Because there are a lot of fibers all over the spectrum. But a rough test could be this. Works only if you are well-developed aerobically. Go out at a pace that is a bit faster than what you can race a 5 K. After about a mile you will experience a sudden slow down, and then you will not be slowing down more for a while. The pace you end up with is probably the fastest pace that the slow twitch fibers can do. If your aerobic development is lacking, the bleeding does not stop, so the test does not work.

From Rob on Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 16:14:31 from 72.254.182.113

So in optimal aerobic condition fast twitch muscles are only good for about 1 mile?

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 18:25:24 from 192.168.1.1

Yes, and in less optimal, good only for about a quarter if that, while the slow twitch act like fast twitch in terms of endurance but not in terms of power.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.850.000.000.4010.25

A.M. Decided to run a little less today. Here is the theory behind it. There are three important factors to be aware of when trying determine the optimum length of the run. Aerobic stimulus, fatigue hormones, and strength hormones. Aerobic stimulus increases in proportion to the length of the run. The fatigue hormones increase in proportion to the length of the run as well. If the fatigue hormones overpower the strength hormones, you may get stronger cardiovascularly, but it does you no good because the muscles are too weak to use the aerobic power. The tricky question is at what point the fatigue hormones begin to overpower the strength hormones. I am suspecting this critical point varies not only from individual to individual (obviously), but also within the same individual based on his level of strength at any given time. So if the strength hormones are doing well, you can throw a few more miles at the body, and you will do fine. If not, they get overpowered.

I did notice over the last month that running only 8-10 miles in one run compared to the normal 12.5 correlated with the increase in strength, and then returning to 12.5 gave me a decrease again.This was rather odd, I thought, because in the past I did not notice any such difference. In fact, in 2007 I ran 13 miles in one run followed by another run in the evening with no loss of strength. So I thought if anything, I would only get a reduction in the aerobic power from running only 10 instead of 12.5. But solutions are often found by exploring odd possibilities. A good rule of thumb is that a solution to a difficult problem often involves an odd move. If it did not, you would have seen it already, and the problem would not be difficult.

So I decided to see if that was a coincidence, and ran a bit less today - 10.25 including kids runs. Benjamin did 4, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 1.5. I did a couple of pickups on the trail just for fun.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.25
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.002.0015.00

A.M. Repeated my 5:20 pace test. This doubles as a workout, but I am more interested in using it to see if how my naps, magic foods and herbs, mileage variations, and other forms of magic affect the muscular performance. So here is what happened: 79, 78, seeing the pace was drifting upward I eased off, 82 too much, but now I could not quite get it back up, 81 (5:20), then I said if the next quarter is slower than 81 I am going to 1.5 otherwise full 2, 81, 82, 82, 80 - 10:45.4 for 2 miles, which is the fastest time and the best split (5:20, 5:25) since I started doing those tests. So apparently I did something right between Monday and today. Will try another 2 days of 10 miles instead of 12.5, and see what happens on Saturday.

Ran with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 2, Julia 1.5, Joseph 1. Total of 15 miles.

P.M. Nap.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. Easy 10. Ran with the kids - Benjamin 4, Jenny 3, Julia and Joseph 1.5.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. 10 total, including runs with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia and Joseph 1.5.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.002.000.0015.00

A.M. It was a crazy day today. We had a baptism in our ward this morning which I was in charge of, the kids were performing in an Independence Day celebration, and we went to Ben Crozier's wedding. He finally found a young lady that saved him from being a menace to society. And yesterday was rather crazy as well as we went to a Russian missionary reunion. So anyway, I was not expecting much from today's workout, but it went quite well. I did 15 miles with a 2 mile time trial. It went like this: 80,80,80,80 (5:20),82,81,83, 77.5 (5:23 high). Total time 10:43.9, which is the fastest I've done on those time trials so far. Still not where I should be, but at least some progress.

P.M. Nap.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.50Nap Time: 1.50Total 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 lesson in Sunday school was on sacrifice. Benjamin and I observed one time that chess grandmasters are quite excited to sacrifice after we had studied a number of their games. Benjamin's comment was - it seems like they are trying to find out how much material they can sacrifice without losing the game. Sacrifice moves are always marked with an exclamation mark (!), and sometimes even with two in the annotations. In contrast to that, when we are asked to sacrifice to do the Lord's work, we often do not possess the same degree of enthusiasm. At the same time, going back to the chess analogy, while it takes no special aptitude to just hang a piece, a high level of skill is required to use sacrifices effectively. So perhaps we are like a less experienced chess player that finds himself in a complicated position who has the privilege to receive advice from a grandmaster. The grandmaster gives him the move. Our friend, lacking the vision, protests in disbelief  - but this loses my queen! So maybe the reason we grumble about sacrifices is that proverbial lack of vision combined with the equally proverbial lack of faith in God.

Strange as it may sound, thinking on my past experiences, the times when I felt the most peace in my life are the ones when I took a step forward through faith not seeing more than one step ahead of me. A step out of the comfort zone brings comfort! A different kind of comfort.Not the comfort of the flesh, but the comfort of the Spirit.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.800.000.000.2010.00

A.M. Easy run with a short pickup to catch up to Tyler Parsons. Ran with him for about a mile and a quarter after that to my house to get his number/e-mail. I am planning on pacing him through a time trial of 6:00 pace "till the standard bearer fainteth" or until he makes it to 2 miles on Saturday. Ran with the kids - Benjamin did 4, Jenny, Julia and Joseph 1.5. Then we went to the Colonial Days in Orem afterward.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.000.000.5010.00

A.M. Attempted my 2 mile time trial, but apparently the last few days of relative craziness got to me. After two 81 quarters I did not like how I was feeling and decided to call it off.Ran total of 10 miles including the kids runs. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia and Joseph 1.5.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Chad Robinson on Fri, Jul 08, 2011 at 13:11:56 from 67.136.62.186

In my quest of finding the right size of Crocs to run in I now have a pair of slightly used size 6 Black Crocs that are going to go unused (Size 7 if the fit for me). I don't know if you can use them or not, but I thought I would offer. BTW, I hope life settles down for you guys some.

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Jul 08, 2011 at 13:46:30 from 192.168.1.1

Chad:

Thanks for the offer. We will take it. For any size of shoe we either have a kid that fits it, or soon will. Send me a private message so we can make the arrangements to pick it up.

From Kory on Fri, Jul 08, 2011 at 13:54:00 from 134.50.89.24

Smart move and wisdom.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.250.000.001.2511.50

A.M. Early morning run - 10 miles. Decided to see if I was feeling any better today. Started with an 82 quarter, it did not feel good at all. Then did a mile in 5:23.6, that felt a bit better, but not much. I think I am experiencing the combined effect of the disruption in the house from the water damage on Sunday. William (2 years old) decided to do a plumbing experiment and we did not catch it soon enough. So we had to call the flood company and our bedroom and a few other places have become quite unusable. So Sarah and I have been sleeping in the living room. To make things worse, the flooding company has been running a dehumidifier and the drying fans since Sunday. 

Benjamin ran 4, Jenny and Julia 2, and I ran 1.5 with Joseph.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 11.50
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Comments
From Eric Day on Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 18:49:11 from 200.92.136.156

Kids...how can we have surprises in our lives if we don't have children?

Love them, hate them...but they will always give us memories.

Cheers !

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.501.500.000.0010.00

A.M. Did 10 including kids runs. Benjamin did 4 with 3x800 in the middle. His times were 2:54.5, 2:53.6, 2:55.3. He was feeling the effects of the war zone in the house quite a bit but nevertheless survived the workout. I might have acclimated some, but it is difficult to tell because the pace was not too fast and the distance was not too long. But the pace did feel normal, at least for that short of a distance, and I was in the mood to go further and faster.

Jenny did 3, Julia 1.5, Joseph 1.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.250.000.000.7510.00

A.M. 10 miles including kids runs. Benjamin did 4, Jenny and Joseph 1, Julia 1.5. All the kids have been feeling the effects of the flood war zone. However, it seems that I am recovering some. Noticed that the legs felt different and decided to test them. Did 0.75 in 3:55 and that felt quite good.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.001.001.002.0015.00

A.M. Ran with Tyler. We did the 6:00 "till the standard bearer fainteth" test for him. It was interesting. He went through the first mile in 5:37 with the splits of 85, 85, 84, 83. I figured he was more fit than I thought and did not force him to slow down to 6:00. But then he did the next quarter in 89, and then could not hold the pace slowing down to 93, 92, 93, which gave him 6:07 for the last mile, and total time of 11:44, which was actually better than I was expecting.

Then we jogged back 2 miles, and I did my 2 mile time trial. Tyler ran the first 0.5 miles with me. The splits were 79, 81, 80, 81, 81, 81, 82, 78 - total time 10:43 ( 5:21, 5:22). It is the most even I've been able to do it so far, and also the fastest this year.

Total of 15. Did part of Benjamin's run. The kids otherwise ran on their own - Benjamin - 4, Jenny 3, Julia and Joseph 1.5.

I had Tyler do a target marathon pace pickup for the last 1.5 miles, which we did in 9:51.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 15.00
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 missionary work is progressing in our ward. We had an investigator galore today by our standards. Two families came - a mother with her four children, and another mother with her three children. The lesson in Sunday school was on work and personal responsibility, and it just happened that the Elder's Quorum lesson was on a similar subject - family responsibility. Then in the sacrament meeting your young women told about their experiences at the camp.

Yesterday we went to see Sister Pace who taught me the Gospel back in 1992 in Russia with her husband, who passed way 10 years ago. She is still quite energetic at the age of 92. She was happy to see our family.  She gave us two books of her family history which we studied in the afternoon. Those books contain a wealth of information. I felt like Lehi when he got his hands on the brass plates and studied the genealogy of his fathers.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.200.000.000.8010.00

A.M. Did total of 10, including kids runs. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia and Joseph 1.5. I did some pickups - 200 and 3x400.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.900.000.002.1015.00

A.M. Did a workout. Warm-up, two 100 m strides then 8x400 with 200 recoveries on the trail. I found a stretch that was as flat as it gets, but it was still a bit bumpy. Splits: 74.1, 72.9, 74.0, 73.2, 73.9, 73.6, 73.2, 71.8. Recoveries were between 1:35 and 1:45. I think I picked the intensity right because I started to feel like I was finding a good rhythm and at the same time was getting a good cardiovascular push in the last 200. Generally happy with the workout. Ran a total of 15 including the kids runs. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia and Joseph 1.5.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.001.000.000.0010.00

A.M. 10 total including kids runs. Benjamin did 4 miles in 28:20, last two in 12:44. Jenny ran 3, Joseph and Julia did 1.5.I ran the last mile in 5:47 to test the legs and breathe some air.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.001.0013.00

A.M. Tried my 2 mile workout, but after the first mile in 5:24 I saw it was going nowhere, and decided today was the wrong day to do it. I already know how to run slow, I need to learn to run fast. So my rule is that if 5:20 is too difficult to sustain, no point it battling it out at 5:30 or slower. The same training stimulus can be reached by jogging without learning the bad habit of running tense. Ran with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia and Joseph 1.5. I ended up with the total of 13.

Green 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
9.201.400.000.0010.60

A.M. Ran with the kids - 4 with Benjamin, 3 with Jenny, 1.5 of it with Joseph. Julia ran 4 with Sarah. I have been thinking about quickness of muscle contraction vs force and decided to do a test. So I ran 7:30 pace for about 1.5 miles, and then picked up to about 6:15, and then to about 5:55. It appeared to me that the difference between 7:30 and 6:15 was mostly in how quickly I was moving my legs, but the amount of force I had to put into the step was not much difference. But 5:55 compared to 6:15 required a whole lot more force. Also, in terms of breathing, I was not breathing much harder at 6:15 than 7:30, but much more at 5:55.

P.M. 0.6 doing errands on foot.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.60
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From rAtTLeTrAp on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 21:06:23 from 24.22.239.183

That's interesting. 7:30 to 6:15 is a pretty big spread for basically the same level of effort. Lately I've been having a bit of a mental wrestling match about 7:00 vs 6:52.

From jeffmc on Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 01:02:26 from 68.227.0.14

If this aids in your thought process at all, I believe there is a research study out there that looked at stride length and stride rate as runners sped up while running, starting slow and finishing fast.

The study found that stride length increased quite a bit when speeds went from slow to moderate (with minimal change in stride rate), but as the subjects continued to speed up they began to increase stride rate more and more while stride length increased more minimally.

If you search you should be able to find it, and it may shed more light on your thought process

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.601.000.003.0020.60

A.M. 20 mile run. Chad Robinson came to run with me. He is a recent convert to the true religion of running in Crocs. I observed the he looked much like Ed Eyestone and spent a good portion of the run trying to figure out why he cannot run 27:41 10,000 meters yet. We did a test running a mile in 5:55. I watched the splits, listened to his breathing, monitored the patterns of fatigue using the "how do I drop this guy" sense, and concluded that the main weakness was the lack of leg strength. Chad weighs only 120 lb while 6-1 tall. So my recommendations were smart hill work and appetite boosters like garlic and cayenne pepper in addition to consistent mileage.

Chad was only going 12, but I was easy to talk into going a little further out, so he ended up going to about 7.5 and then waiting for me to come back to finish the 15. I went to the 10 mile mark to make the total of 20. On the way back, starting about 10.5 into the run I did a 3 mile tempo down the Provo Canyon. The target was 5:20 pace. I did the first mile in 5:11, then got scared/tired and ran 5:27 for the second mile. After hitting a quarter in 83 right before the 2 mile mark I realized I need to get down to business and gave it a more serious push, which gave me 5:17 for the last mile, and the total time of 15:55. It felt good to do this workout, as the downhill helped me move my legs faster for longer than normal. I was pleased with the last mile, as I had serious doubts about my ability to break 5:20 after the 5:27 middle mile "goose egg". It was nice to have Chad for a little bit in the last mile.

Some thoughts on the "how do I drop this guy" sense. It is developed through racing, and its original purpose is to know when and how hard to surge so you can make your competitor suffer the most at his weakest moment. But just like nuclear energy it can be used for peaceful purposes such as pacing or evaluating fitness.  For example, you can know that the person you are pacing has two 6:20 miles in him left, or one 6:10. So if you have 2 miles to go and you are leading him at 6:10, he will slow down to 6:30 in half a mile from fatigue and the fear of having to run another 1.5 miles.

P.M. 0.6 miles doing errands on foot.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 20.60
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. It was a busy day for me. I got to teach two classes - one in Sunday school, and one in the Elder's Quorum. The lesson in Sunday school was on service. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on eternal marriage. I shared the idea that service is to our faith what training is to our muscles.

The Sacrament meeting talks were on pioneers. One thing to learn from the pioneers is the attitude of doing hard things that are right without hesitation or complaint. The power to do that comes from the understanding that right is more important than comfortable. One prerequisite to that, of course, is a strong sense of wrong and right. Without that sense you will inevitably drift towards what is comfortable. I have now lived long enough to be able to see the consequences of many of my decisions in the past, and to deem some of those decisions as bringing joy or regret. The only ones that have brought regret involved choosing what is comfortable or convenient above what was right. The ones where I chose the other way have brought joy.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From RAD on Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 16:02:54 from 76.27.16.189

"Right is more important than comfortable."

That is a quoteable quote I will be hanging on to and remembering. Thanks for sharing Sasha. It was good to see you Saturday on the trail.

From allie on Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 23:09:42 from 24.10.191.18

great post, sasha. thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.501.500.000.0010.00

A.M. Total of 10 including kids runs. Benjamin did 4.5 with 3x800 2:55.8, 2:44.3, 2:55.3. Jenny, Julia and Joseph ran 1.5.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.501.500.000.0010.00

A.M. Total of 10, including kids runs. Benjamin - 4, Jenny - 3, Julia and Joseph1.5. I did a pickup for 1.5 miles in 8:49.

P.M. I did an experiment. I wanted to see how fast I could run with the stride length artificially reduced and how it felt. So Julia and I did a craft project of sorts (she likes craft projects), and cut out 24 9''x9'' squares out of a 27''x72'' rubber mat I bought at Home Depot. Then with the help of a measuring wheel we laid out 14 of those rubber squares on the side walk exactly 5 feet apart creating a segment 65 feet in length with a way to force the stride length to 5 feet by landing on the squares. I was able to run this with a running start in 3.2 which is about 16.2 for 100 meters or about 4:20 mile pace. My natural stride length at that pace is probably around 5-10 inches longer. The stride rate was about 244 steps per minute. I felt that I had to lift my my knees higher to avoid stepping past the squares. I also noticed that I was using a lot more force than I expected to be able to turn over quickly. I figured that since I naturally hit 60 inch long stride length at about 5:50 pace, I would experience the strength effort similar to running at 5:50 except the legs would move quicker, but it was much different. It basically felt like a near all out sprint, except it required extra coordination to hit the squares.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.200.000.002.0015.20

A.M. Did a warm-up, then a repeat of last weeks 8x400 with 200 recovery workout. Splits: 73.7, 73.6, 72.4, 72.8, 72.0, 72.1, 73.4, 70.6, which comes out to 72.6 average. About 1 second per quarter improvement over the last week. I also counted my strides over one 100 meter stretch - it was 56 strides. So that is a turnover of about 186 steps per minute with the stride length of  1.78 m or about 70 inches. The stride felt good, like I was comfortably floating, but the comfort unfortunately did not last long. This turnover should be sustainable for at least the 5 K, if not 10. I am wondering as to the reason I cannot maintain the adequate stride length. The biggest obstacle to sustaining a fast pace is that you lack the stride length over any distance to keep the turnover from having to be over 200 to produce the speed, which is not sustainable over long distances for most runners. I thought I had that problem, but  apparently I can overcome it at least in a quarter mile repeat. Now the question is how to extend that feeling to longer distances.

The kids did a portion of their runs on their own, and a portion with me. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia 2, and Joseph 1.5. I ended up with a total of 15.2 miles.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 15.20
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. Total of 10 including kids' runs. Benjamin did 4, Jenny 3, Julia and Joseph 1.5. Jacob started to do short runs on Tuesday and has been doing 200 meters. His leg is gradually regaining strength and his form is starting to look more and more normal.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.003.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Had some fun this morning, maybe too much. Sarah left on her 5 mile run about 10 minutes before I did, so I decided it was a perfect opportunity to chase the Hot Chick. I warmed up for about 0.5 and then started going a bit sub-6:00. It took me about 3 miles to catch up. When I did, I found that she had met a new running partner Merylin and they were going a bit sub-9:00 pace. So I ran with them back to the house for the remaining 1.5 miles of the run. With a quarter to go I gave Sarah a challenge to break 2:00 (sub 8:00 pace). She complained at first, then I quoted Elaine Dalton's "I can do hard things", and she accepted the challenge running it in 1:57. That was a major improvement for her to be able to run sub-8:00 after running sub-9:00 for a while at the end of a 5 mile run.

Then I ran with the kids. Benjamin did 4 with the last two in 12:50. Jenny did 3, Julia and Joseph 1.5. I ended up with 12 total.

P.M. Did another stride experiment. Laid out my magic rubber squares 4 feet apart for the distance of 72 feet and tried to cover the distance as quickly as possible. It took me 7 tries starting at 4.7 before I got to 4.3. Then I did it one more time and was done. 4.3 translates to the speed of 5:15 per mile, and turnover of 251 steps per minute. All of that with a 4 foot stride length. I learned that it is possible to run like that, although not for long. The feeling was drastically different from trying to do the same thing with the 5 foot stride length. 5 foot stride length was mostly about power. 4 foot stride length required special coordination, as well as some odd type of power that made my legs feel like I've just done a nice fast downhill run. Not explicitly sore, but what I would call stale. I think I have now formulated the question I am trying to answer with these experiments - is there a drill that can be done using the artificially controlled stride length that can help me improve my speed across the board?

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Steve Piccolo on Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 23:31:14 from 67.2.46.110

I would love to run one of your free/cheap races if it works with my schedule. I wanted to run some of your previous ones but they didn't work with my schedule. Please let me know if/when you put one on. 8K is a good distance, but I am flexible.

From neumannator on Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 23:32:25 from 67.2.51.197

On a lighter note, the "drill" as you called it may just be the drill that someday doctors may use to do "leg transplants". As we get old, the speed just starts fading. I think that less mileage and more speed specific workouts can slow it though. Good luck.

"pufftorenia mats oohchenya"

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
18.003.003.000.0024.00

A.M. Benjamin followed me on a bike for my long run. From the start I was feeling some staleness in the legs, possibly the effect of my experiment last night. Ran 10.5 at about 7:10 pace to Bridal Veil Falls and back to Nuns Park, then did 3 miles down the Provo Canyon in 16:05.9. The splits were 5:19 - 5:23 - 5:22 high. I was struggling with the warm weather and the staleness in the legs. Then, I jogged 3.5 miles and ran the last 3 in 17:54. Even though it was only 76 F, I was really feeling the warmth and it was bothering me. The total time for 20 miles was 2:16:35.

Jenny and Julia ran on their own - Jenny 3, Julia 1.5. Jacob ran 200 m with Sarah.

P.M. Ran again with Benjamin and Joseph. By now it was 86 F, but the sun was going down. It was actually much nicer than 76F earlier in the morning with direct sunlight. Benjamin and I did 4, Joseph ran the first 1.5. with us.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 24.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Chad Robinson on Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 17:43:13 from 67.136.62.186

The absence of direct sunlight make a big difference. I have noticed that a lot running at night. BTW, are you good to get together Saturday morning?

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The stars aligned again and the same person taught the in the investigator/new member class in Sunday school and in the Elder's quorum, except this time it was not me. I do not know how that happened, but all three ward missionaries also teach in the Elder's Quorum. In any case, the lesson in Sunday School was on the Word of Wisdom. The Elder's Quorum lesson was on a talk by Elder Richards in General Conference on the subject of "What manner of men ought ye to be" with references to the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:48 and in 3 Nephi 12:48 from the same sermon which Christ repeated to the Nephites when He appeared to them after His resurrection.

I have observed in the process of doing missionary work that a likely potential convert really knows his Bible. Not just the quotes here and there from his minister, but somebody who has read it from cover to cover several times and has thought about it in its entirety rather than just the parts that fit into a particular religious doctrine. Such a person will not be going in endless loops with the common concerns and objections such as the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, polygamy, God speaking to a prophet, our ability to receive revelation including new scripture, and our ability to become like God eventually after returning to His presence. It will be so because in his study of the Bible he has discovered that the unity of the Godhead is in purpose and not in body, the twelve tribes of Israel came as a result of a plural marriage that was sanctioned by God at the time, God has a pattern of speaking to his people through prophets who receive revelation and record it - that is how we got the Bible in the first place, if we want to receive knowledge we are entitled to ask God, and Christ himself told us to be perfect like the Father in the Sermon on the Mount.

When I went on a mission in 1994 I was still a relatively new convert. I decided that I needed to read the Bible from cover to cover. I was amazed at how smoothly the "rough" parts of the Bible fit into the LDS doctrine while at the same time every other religion I encountered had to basically skip over them. There were passages here and there that required explaining and clarifying, but not too many in comparison with every other religion I encountered, and even that fit smoothly because the doctrine explains that while most of the Bible is true some of the truths were lost in translation or due to innocent or sometimes purposeful omissions or alterations  over the long course of the human history. Thus an LDS missionary who did what he was supposed to and learned the Bible is tempted to Bible-bash. He holds his own quite well while defending his religion, which is a position of disadvantage, as it is much easier to attack a religion with the Bible than defend it. There is almost always an obscure passage somewhere in the depths of the Old Testament that throws a curve into almost any religious practice or doctrine. But the reason I said "tempted" is that he is not supposed to because that is not how conversions come. They come through quiet whisperings of the Holy Ghost, and an agitated argument involving the sophistry of men even if it is about the Scriptures does not bring it. However I made an observation that those who have actually read the Bible are more likely to have the Holy Ghost with them, and do not fight the truth, but accept it and live it. So whenever somebody claimed an allegiance to a religion that accepted the Bible (more often than not to get rid of us), I would always challenge them to learn it better and practice its teachings.


Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.750.750.000.0010.50

A.M. Ran 10.5 including the kids runs. Benjamin did 4, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph did 1.5, Jacob ran 0.25. Did a pickup for 0.75 in 4:21. Legs felt sluggish.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.752.000.000.0010.75

A.M. Ran 10.75 including kids runs. Benjamin did 4, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 1.5, Jacob 0.25. Did a pickup for 2 miles in 11:36 (5:53 - 5:43). Legs felt better than the day before.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.75
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.250.000.000.0010.25

A.M. I broke my phone yesterday, and could not sleep because I kept having ideas on how to fix it. So I just kept trying them. I still was not able to fix it, but I learned a lot about how the Android phones, and Samsung Intercept in particular works. What is odd is that by early morning I was not feeling sleepy at all and was ready to run. Maybe if I ever race an overnight relay I should just bring some broken but potentially fixable gadget with me to keep my mind active and I'll race just fine without sleep. Ran 10.25 total including the kids runs. Benjamin did 5, Jenny, Julia and Joseph 1.5, Jacob 0.25. Legs were actually quite snappy.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 1.00
Comments
From Rob on Mon, Aug 01, 2011 at 16:32:43 from 206.71.84.68

I have a whole bin full of such devices, let me know if you need one.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.002.0013.75

A.M. Did a warm-up, then 8x400 with 200 recovery. 75.4, 73.3, 71.9, 72.4, 72.8, 73.9, 72.2, 70.0. It took me some time to get going, but I felt strong in the last two repeats. Then ran home and ran with the kids. Benjamin did 4, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 1.5, Jacob 0.25. I ended up with a total of 14.75.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 14.75
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.503.000.000.3010.80

A.M. Ran some myself, some with Sarah, and some with the kids. Did a pickup for 1.5 at 6:00 pace. Sarah did 0.5 in 4:11, and then another 0.5 in 3:56. Benjamin did 4 including 3x800 - 2:52.9, 2:45.3, 2:53.2. I did those with him. Then 1.5 with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob. Some more by myself. Did the fixed length stride drills at 5 feet. Total mileage was 10.8.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.80
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.501.503.000.0020.00

A.M. Long run with Chad Robinson. He went 15, I did 20. He waited for me after we got to 7.5. We did a test pickup. He made it to the mile in 5:53. After that the markers were gone as the new ones have not been painted after the road reconstruction, but we kept going. I tried to maintain the same effort, not sure if I got it quite right, but Chad survived for about another 0.5 miles.This is quite an improvement for Chad in the last two weeks.

After that we jogged some, I dropped Chad off to wait, then ran up, and then did a 3 mile tempo back down. The legs were stale from the combination of quarters on Thursday and drills on Friday, or perhaps stale just because, so I was not quite sure what to expect hoping it would not be as bad as 16:30 or worse. Went through the first mile in 5:15, was happy about that, then Ian interesting event happened. A guy that I passed earlier all of a sudden caught up to me and passed me back. His form looked decent, so I had hopes he was some stray collegiate runner in good shape and could pull me for the rest of the tempo. So I mentally relaxed thinking I would have company. He did OK for the next quarter which I ended up doing in 77. Then he lasted another quarter, but started losing steam. After a 77 I had enough steam to draft at 80, but not enough to sense that we were running slow and to want to take the initiative. He actually did not quite make it to the 1.5 mark, so I was left alone at that point. I felt like somebody had just held a juicy watermelon in front of me, and then took it away. What was I thinking? I should not have held up my hopes. What are the chances that a random runner on the trail would be able to hold 5:20s for a couple of miles mid-run when out of 2000 or so people that came to race the Provo River Half last year only 4 could have done it under such circumstances?

After this disappointment, it took me some time to recover. I hit several goose egg quarters in a row with the worst being 85 and the second mile in 5:27. With about a half mile to go I was finally able to speed up to an 80 quarter when I zeroed in on Chad, followed by a 78 at the end which gave me 16:06.3 for the run and the last mile in 5:24. It was not so much the fatigue, but rather the anticipation of the rest of the run being easy and fast. The lesson to learn from that is you should always expect the target pace to be hard. Be thankful when it is easy, but always be prepared for it to require more effort than what you are currently exerting.

Chad and I jogged some, then sped up some. I challenged him to run the last 3 miles at 6:30 pace, and he accepted - we ended up with 19:32 and the splits of 6:21, 6:39, 6:32.

Benjamin ran 4, Joseph 1, Jenny and Julia 1.5, Jacob 0.25.

Green 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 as usual. We had a lesson on charity in Sunday school, then a combined meeting of priesthood and Relief Society where the discussion was on self-reliance. The sacrament meeting talks focused on reverence. Benjamin was the youth speaker. It was his first talk in the sacrament meeting. He did quite well.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.381.000.000.3710.75

A.M. Did 5 with Benjamin, then 2 alone with a mile in 5:41.8, then 1.5 with Julia. Jenny had a sore muscle problem, ran only 0.5. Joseph had a cold, ran only 0.7. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:31 - his fasted time since he broke his leg. Then 2 more with 600 in 2:00. Total of 10.75.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.75
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.250.000.003.2513.50

A.M. Decided to try an experiment. I've done the 3 mile tempo stretch from 10.5 miles in the middle of the 20 mile run over the last three weeks hitting the times of 15:55, 16:05, and 16:06. So I wondered what would happen if I did it fresh. Benjamin and I drove to the Canyon View Park in the Provo Canyon, then he rode along with me on a bike as I did a 2 mile warm-up followed by the tempo run on the same downhill course, about 1-2% grade. I hit the splits of 5:18, 5:24, 5:22 to finish in 16:04.7. Essentially the same result as in the middle of a long run. This provides some food for thought. Obviously there is some limiting factor involved that is not fatigue related as it does not seem to matter if I've run a 2 mile warm-up or a 10 mile warm-up. But I do not know what to make of it. Need some time to think.

Jogged some more, then we dropped off Benjamin's bike at the park, and he ran 4.3 miles with me. He got going at the end and his last mile was 6:13. Got home ran another mile with Julia. She did a total of 1.5 with 0.5 with Jenny. Jenny could only do 0.5 because her leg was hurting. I ended up with a total of  11.5 miles.

P.M. 1.5 with Joseph in 12:59. William insisted on going for a run, so I ran 200 meters with him in 1:17. That was quite remarkable as he does not yet quite talk. He says things here and there, but you can never count on him understanding verbal instructions. And of course, he still wears a diaper. But he can run! Then did 0.25 with Jacob in 2:37. Then I decided to try another experiment. I did a calculation that if you turn over at 180 with a stride length of exactly 6 feet, that is 4:53 mile or 2:08:11 marathon, which is the goal I feel I should set my eyes on, even though it does appear unachievable. But that is what faith is all about. Achieving things that appear achievable is science, it takes no faith. If you want your faith to grow, you need to set your eyes on things that appear unachievable. Ironically, I've helped a lot of bloggers achieve what to them looked unachievable, but for me it was science. With myself, I do not have a mortal to ask advice from to whom what appears unachievable to me would be science. And I do not have the gift of beholding of angels, so all I've got is my faith and quiet whisperings of the Holy Ghost, which I hope I can hear and understand.

Anyway, I figured that 180 stride rate is about the highest sustainable for me in the marathon, also it appears to be a common denominator among the guys that run 2:08. I can sustain 180 stride rate in the marathon, so the missing link therefore is the stride length. The difference is that I do about 5 feet, while a world-class runner does about 6 feet. So I wanted to get a better feel for what its like to run with a 6 foot long stride length. I laid my "magic" squares out 6 feet apart for 102 feet, and did some strides. I wanted to know the highest possible stride rate I could get with this stride length. It was around 210. My fastest time was 4.8, which is around 15.4 for 100 meters. I really liked the feel of the stride. It felt like I was running a good quarter. So in other words, 6 foot stride length is not completely unnatural to me. It just takes something that I cannot quite grasp to extend it from a quarter to a longer distance. I wonder if the critical element is connected to being able to turn over at 240 at that stride length, and if I learned that, I'd be able to relax with 180 stride rate/6 foot stride length. In addition to learning the high turnover, maybe what I should try to do next is try to run with 180 stride length/6 foot stride rate and try to understand why it is not natural to me.

I figure I did about 0.25 in the strides. So about 2 miles for the evening run.

 

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. 10 miles in early AM before going to the temp. Kids ran on their own. Benjamin did 4, Jenny and Julia 1.5, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.25.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.600.000.002.4012.00

A.M.Pondered the issue of stride length. Recalled that one British coach suggested that stride length is affected by the range of motion in the hip extension and the strength of the plantar flexors, particularly the soleus. Remembered that back in 2008 Jeff and I measured the circumference of the calf and the quad with the following results:

Lower shin, thinnest part - Jeff 7.5, me 8.375. Calf, the widest part, flexed - both 14.5 inches. Quad, widest part, flexed - me 21 inches, Jeff - 20 inches. So Jeff was definitely ahead on the flexed calf to shin size, and flexed calf to flexed quad size ratio. In other words, his calf appear to be stronger relative to body size.

Also recalled that in numerous studies running economy was correlated with the ballistic power of the ankle joint.

Combining all of the above - if you want to run efficiently you need to learn how to use your calves. For me that is not easy. My calves do not want to work. But I decided to start focusing on using the calves more.

Ran 4 miles first, did a 0.5 pickup in 2:40 to catch up to Sarah, then ran with her for 1.5 miles. Then took Benjamin and Joseph for a mile, then dropped Joseph off and did a workout with Benjamin. Focused on the calf action. We did 4x100 17.4, 17.4, 16.6, 17.1. Then 3x200 33.4, 34.0, the last one I challenged Benjamin to race me. I got 30.5, he did 31.4. That is the fastest I've gone in a 200 this year, and that is also Benjamin's PR.

Then dropped Benjamin off, and went for some more miles. Did a pickup over an odd distance - 2100 meters, this was the longest good stretch of the trail, in 7:01, one second slower than 5:20 average.

Ran 0.25 with Jacob in 2:30 - new record since the broken leg.

Jenny and Julia did 1.5.  I got total of 12 miles.

Green 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
10.000.000.750.0010.75

A.M. Ran 4 with Benjamin, then 1.5 with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph, 0.25 with Jacob in 2:17 - his new record since the broken leg. Then did 5 more in 32:55 with the last 0.75 in 4:08. Tried focusing on the calf push off. Seemed to help some, but it is still not a well practiced movement.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.75
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.000.001.003.0020.00

A.M. Did the long run with Chad Robinson. We ran 3 miles easy, then 1 mile pickup in 5:42, Chad handled it quite well. Then Chad ran with me to 8.5 turnaround. I ran another 1.5 (Bridal Veil Falls), then 0.5 jog and start the usual 3 mile tempo down the canyon. Focused on the calf push off again. I think it made a difference. Not so much in the speed as in the sustainability of the pace. I did 5:19, 5:23, 5:17 high for the total time of 15:59.9. The entire time I felt more in control than in other tempo runs, but I felt that could not go faster without losing the calf push off and overloading the quads. Last quarter was high 76. I caught Chad with about 600 to go, and he stuck with me for a quarter, then he fell back some when I kicked. His last 600 was around 2:00, which is an improvement.

We jogged some, and then ran the last 3 miles in 19:19 with the splits of 6:23, 6:36, 6:20. Chad did better that last week on this part as well improving overall by 13 seconds, 12 of which came from the last mile. What is more important, perhaps, is that he was more responsive to the pace never lagging behind and always maintaining contact.

Total time for 20 was 2:22:07.

Kids ran on their own. Benjamin did 4, Jenny and Julia 1.5, Joseph 1, Jacob 0.25.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total 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 lesson on honesty in Sunday School. Then a lesson on Priesthood in the Elder's Quorum, and then a fast and testimony meeting. Our Bishop's councilor told a story about two boys. One got a bunch of stuff for Christmas, and  he went through it and said, is that all? The other got a box of manure and he started digging with excitement - there must be a pony there! I really liked that story.What a difference the ability to see a diamond amidst the dross can make!

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.400.001.000.0011.40

A.M. Today is the 19th anniversary of my baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was baptized 19 years ago in a lake in Moscow. Incidentally, I had circled that lake frequently on my runs a few years prior.In the absence of religion of any kind, running gave e a thread of life support at that time to stay away from harmful substances that harm the body and cloud the mind and the spirit, and to avoid falling into depression in view of the grim political, social, economical, and spiritual climate of the Soviet Union in its final stages of existence. When the opportunity came, I learned the truth about God and His plan of Salvation, and accepted it. This helped me put my running into the proper context, and have a deeper reason to pursue this talent.  So perhaps it is symbolic that I was baptized in that lake.

I was blessed with an interesting opportunity to celebrate it. A couple from Argentina that was baptized a year ago approached me at church and introduced me to the wife's brother whose name is Esteban. Esteban lives in Spain, but was here in Provo for a visit. He is a runner, so they were excited to have him meet another one. Our family is known in the neighborhood as "the family that runs", "the guy that is always running", "the guy that runs with his kids", or "el señor que corre con sus niños, y la señora tambien".

So I ran with Esteban this morning. Benjamin joined us for 4 miles. We caught up to Sarah and ran with her for about 0.8. I had a chance to speak some Spanish. It was nice to have a partner for most of the run. We averaged around 8:00 for 10 miles in spite of Esteban's being out of shape.

I found out Esteban was on his way to Las Vegas next, and gave him Jeff's number and e-mail.

Jenny and Julia ran 1.5. Joseph ran 1 mile. Jacob did 0.25. I ended up with a total of 11.4. I picked it up in the last mile and did 5:35.9.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 11.40
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From TexasLindsey on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 15:52:07 from 70.253.143.214

Sasha, I felt the need to comment on this entry. You are really an inspiration! You are such a strong person, mentally and physically.

Finding this blog changed my life. I realize now that I was only putting in half the effort and thinking it was full effort... I think reading what the best were doing made me toughen up and stop my complaining about everything, really. I have become more dedicated to my running, more healthy with my eating and habits, and a better mom and wife because of it.

Just thought you should know how you have inspired and helped others with what you have done! Thank you!!

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 15:55:30 from 192.168.1.1

Lindsey:

Thanks for the comment.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.560.000.001.3010.86

A.M. Ran 4 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Jenny and Julia, 1.5 with Joseph, and 0.25 with Jacob. Then another 3.6 including a pickup for 2100 meters in 7:00.5. Again focused on the calf push off, and got results similar to Saturday. I felt a bit sluggish from the start, but the pace did not seem to get much harder as the run progressed. So it is harder to get going, but easier to maintain the pace. This is consistent with the idea that soleus is primarily made of slow-twitch fibers, so if you are able to delegate some of the quad work to the soleus, you will lose a little bit of initial spunk, but will be able to hold the pace for longer.

From that develops another thought. When you try to run fast, soleus would resist recruitment because it will think it is not fast enough and will want to delegate its work to other muscles that have more fast twitch fibers. So then the challenge is to train it to not be lazy at fast speeds.

I remember watching Haile Gebrselassie in the movie Endurance and noticing a very energetic calf action. It left me thinking for a while. It's been over 10 years, but I am still thinking. It is not so much the matter of calf strength - you can get calf strength by going to the gym, so if it was all the matter of strength, every gym bum that works out his calves would be a great runner. It is more about the art of significantly recruiting your calf when running for the purpose of forward motion thus relieving the burden of the quad. Perhaps the East Africans and few Caucasians have that art naturally somehow, while others have to work to develop it. Like singing voice.

Total distance was 10.85.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.86
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From jeffmc on Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 16:35:48 from 131.216.80.154

Just a couple thoughts:

In a previous post you listed our measurements from a couple years ago, and you related this to calf strength. I would be hesitant to look too much into the calf size as an indicator as most of my family members have big calves except Andrew (and he has the fastest 400m of all of us), while small calf size has also been correlated with good running economy.

High levels of plantar flexion on toe off have also been shown to correlate with good running economy, which ties in a little closer with your premise that the soleus plays an important role.

If you look at many world class runners such as Bekele, or Tadesse, you will notice that they have comparatively huge quadriceps in comparison to their size. I think that their may be a tie in between strength of the quads, and the ability of the body to utilize this strength through the full range of motion. The soleus may play a role in helping these runners to utilize this strength, potentially acting more as a stabilizer?

From experimenting in the past with what you are doing now, I think that it can be beneficial, however if you don't remember I brought on a minor calf injury when I ran an all out 400m focusing on the toe off (so be careful).

I also think that there is something to be said for what goes on from the feet up through the core. So, when you are focusing on toe off you may want to also pay some attention to what changes may be occurring in your knee flexion, hip flexion/extension, pelvic tilt, etc. Sometimes our experimenting may cause additional changes elsewhere in the body. Some of these additional changes may be good, and some may be bad, while sometimes it may be one of the changes that were not our primary focus that end up making the biggest difference in performance.

From steve ash on Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 20:50:37 from 24.10.169.210

Thanks Jeff, That was pretty insightful. It makes me wonder about my own bio-mechanics, ie-I have small quads.

From jeffmc on Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 21:56:38 from 131.216.80.154

Steve, I don't necessarily think it is the size of the quads that matter as much as the ability of the body to utilize the strength that is there, as many of the top Kenyans do not have large quads. I mentioned Bekele and Tadesse, as they are the world record holders at the 10000m and the half marathon, and it could be that the great strength they have in addition to very efficient muscle firing patterns helps push them over the top performance wise.

I think that Sasha's focus on the soleus may in fact help in the sense that it would help him learn to use the power in his quads more efficiently, while it is also possible that a weak calf muscle would change the firing patterns to such a degree that it would not allow him to use the full extent of his quad strength.

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 13:31:55 from 192.168.1.1

Muscle size can be used as a hint of sorts at what the problem may be, but is definitely not a conclusive driver of performance. I am suspecting, for example, that the cause of my calves being small relative to quads is that I run in a way that places undue emphasis on the quads. This is also supported by the fact that whenever I fall off the pace, the perceived signals of fatigue are always coming from the quads, while the calves do not seem to feel any different than if I were jogging.

But at the same time small muscle size is OK, and is actually a benefit if you know how to recruit it well. So it is all about the subtle balance that is difficult to put your fingers on. Probably the best way to develop it is try different drills, strengthening exercises, and propioceptive cues and see which ones produce faster pace with lesser effort in situations where you cannot cheat yourself into believing that you are running faster with less effort.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.250.500.000.0012.75

A.M. 10.75 total. 4 with Benjamin - last 0.5 in 3:01. 1.5 with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph. 0.25 with Jacob. 5 more alone.

P.M. 2 miles with Sarah pushing Stephen in the stroller.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.75
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.250.000.750.2510.25

A.M. Ran to the BYU track with Benjamin. We did a 200 meter challenge. Unfortunately it was not a good way to do it as both of us had diarrhea. So we were somewhat lethargic. But we both did OK more or less. I did 31.1, he was 31.4. I stayed behind him for the first 100, then outkicked him in the second. As soon as we finished we saw Jon Kotter. He was doing some 800s and 400s and told us he was embarrassed by the 2:11 800 splits. That is why he is a 28:48 10,000 meter runner. Not just because of that, but I believe this plays an important part. If you want to be good you need to see performances that are kind of good but do not reflect your true potential as unsatisfactory. One way to do it is to call the embarrassing. If a certain level of performance leaves you feeling naked you will be in a hurry to find some clothes.

Jon was about to do a quarter in 60. I decided to join him for the second half, and briskly jogged across the field to the start. This did not give me much rest from the first 200, but I was able to keep up with him with the 200 in 31.2.

Then Benjamin and I ran back. Total of 5.5 miles.  I did 1.5 with Joseph, 1.5 with Jenny and Julia, 0.25 with Jacob, and 1.5 more alone with the last 0.75 in 4:09.0. Total of 10.25.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.25
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.750.0010.75

A.M. Started with 2 by myself, then 5 with Benjamin. We caught up to Sarah and ran with her for 1.5 miles.  Jenny and Julia did 1.5 on their own. I did 1.5 with Joseph and 0.25 with Jacob. Then 2 more with the last 0.75 in 4:07.5. Again focused on the calf push-off. Total of 10.75.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 10.75
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Race: Provo River Half Marathon (13.11 Miles) 01:12:08, Place overall: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.390.0013.110.0021.50

A.M. Provo River Half Marathon - 1:12:08.6, first place. Curt called me last week as said he had signed me up and given bib #1. So I had to run and live up to the expectations.

Sarah prayed last night that I would run comfortably and alone. The important part of her prayer was answered - I did win, but it was not comfortable, and I was never alone. Which is good, I think, because a contested win teaches you more than a solo tempo run.The Lord gives you what you need, not necessarily what you asked for.

Come to think of it, the run was not that uncomfortable. I never felt like was done, could not hold the pace, etc.

I warmed up 2 miles, then saw Justin Park. He had run 1:10:41 in the Utah Valley Half this year, so I knew he was in good shape. We agreed to work together for as long as we could taking leads every 2 minutes.

At the start, Jon Kotter and Ian Hunter, who were not in the race, but just doing a hard workout along the race route, joined us. Justin and I stuck with our plan, while Ian and Jon ran with us, sometimes a little behind, sometimes a little ahead for the first 4 miles, then dropped us.

The splits in the first 4 miles, according to Curt's marks were 5:03, 5:07 (10:10), 5:26 (15:36), 5:09 (20:45). Maybe the third mile was a bit long, and the fourth a bit short, but I think the 4 miles were more or less accurate. They are down a fairly steep grade, and are quick.

Then it flattened out, but still some gradual downhill sections with flat breakups. Our split at the official 6 mile mark was 31:55, so 11:10 for 2 miles. Could have been right. I timed us on the triangle marks, and we were going somewhere in the 5:30-5:40 range.

The next mile was about a quarter on a mild downhill slope, and then the rest of it uphill and into the wind. It was Justin's turn to lead, and I wanted to pass him because he started going very slow and it felt too easy. I was also getting concerned that if we went that slow somebody might catch us from behind. Then I said to myself, just wait until it is your turn to lead, you'll find out why Justin was taking it so slow. I did. Having somebody to hide behind when you have a headwind makes a lot of difference. My effort on Justin's turns eventually normalized as the wind subsided. 

We had mile 7 officially in 5:48 (37:43). I think it was short. We were barely moving on the uphill part. Next mile in 6:02 (43:45). Could possibly have been right, as we were done with the uphill and turned around. The next mile was long, possibly to make up for the short mile earlier. It was all downhill, we were on the move and we ended up with only 6:00 (49:45). This was followed by another short mile - 5:15 to hit the 10 mile marker in 55:00. I knew this one was short for sure because the triangle marks clocked us at 5:31. But mile marker 10 was more or less correct in sum.

At this point Justin started struggling, which surprised me some. He sat back for 4 minutes. But then he recovered and led at a good pace, so I rested behind him for 4 minutes.

Next mile was definitely short, 5:02 (1:00:02) - triangles showed around 5:34, followed by a long mile to make up - 5:58 (1:06:00), with triangles showing 5:36. Incidentally we covered my 3 mile tempo course in 16:41 which is not a bad time for the end of a half marathon.

At this point Justin was sitting back, and I decided it was time to start racing. I think when two runners are about equal, they should work together rather than actively try to break each other until the last mile. Maybe last two miles. But no more than that. The place outcome will be the same - the stronger one will be ahead, but early racing will hurt the times of both.

I knew that Justin's kick was better than mine. Therefore I needed a safe 5 second gap with 400 to go in order to win. I was OK with the pace we were going, but did not feel like I could pick it up enough to break him by running up front. Nevertheless, that was my only option. So I focused on the calf push off, and it resulted in a speed up of about 5-10 seconds a mile. This proved sufficient. I gapped him a little. Then I heard that he had closed it some, and got seriously concerned. One more push, smooth and steady. This time he did not cover the gap, but it was far from over. Without a sizable lead he can eat that gap with his kick. So I kept pressing with two purposes in mind. Increase the safety margin, and fatigue and demoralize the competitor to take the sting out of his kicking fangs. Running is an interesting sport. Most of the race you are working together. But then you start to race, and you are using mean tactics against your friends. They do the same to you. But when you finish you are still friends.

With 400 to go I said, there is no way I am losing this race, and started the best kick that I had in me. It ended up being good enough, and I won by 6 seconds.

Ran a 5 mile cool-down. Pace another runner. His name was Matt Chadwick. He ended up with around 1:46, but that included a long bathroom stop. He is planning on joining me next Saturday for a part of my run.

Kids ran on their own. Benjamin did 4, Jenny and Julia 1.5, Jacob 0.25.

 

P.M. 1.5 with Joseph.


Green Crocs 1 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Dragonvulture on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 17:29:11 from 67.41.165.8

Congrats on the win. You looked good and strong today. Enjoyed the report.

From Holt on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 17:57:11 from 71.213.91.113

Good run Sasha - congrats!

From MichelleL on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 18:22:46 from 58.152.206.39

Nicely done!

From Jake K on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 18:28:14 from 67.177.21.60

Well done Sasha! Congrats on the win!

From seeaprilrun on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 18:42:28 from 174.70.177.86

Congratulations on racing hard and earning your win!

From Tom on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 19:07:54 from 67.199.180.90

Nice job Sasha. You looked strong when I saw you early on and I see that you finished strong as well.

From Burt on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 21:09:34 from 72.223.91.148

Another fantastic half marathon, you big jerk! haha!

From JPark on Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 22:56:08 from 67.177.59.66

Thanks for letting me work with you today (and for taking the longer pulls!)You were definitely the stronger man. Best of luck getting ready for TOU!

From allie on Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 01:49:53 from 24.10.191.18

nice job, sasha. sounds like an exciting finish. great effort and congrats on the win.

From Seth on Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 10:22:20 from 67.177.36.242

Nice work! You've got a race strategy dialed.

From Becky1 on Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 10:30:16 from 76.23.13.133

"With 400 to go I said, there is no way I am losing this race, and started the best kick that I had in me. It ended up being good enough, and I won by 6 seconds."

Love this! Congratulations.

From Clay on Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 13:18:46 from 71.195.211.129

Great race Sasha! I love your race reports they are so detailed! Keep up the good work!

From steve ash on Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 18:11:37 from 24.10.169.210

Well done Sasha:)

From James on Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 20:24:39 from 174.23.158.169

Good win. Thanks for putting our race up on the blog.

From Chad Robinson on Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 22:32:06 from 208.110.158.227

Nice race and win Sasha! That 16:42 on your 3-mile tempo course is fantastic (I would have loved to have pulled you through the last 800). Nice job on the smart drafting exchanges and executing your race plan well. I look forward to picking back up with you in the next couple weeks.

From Superfly on Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 16:32:54 from 74.211.21.81

way to work hard for a win!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had an unusual meeting setup. The area authorities asked the stake presidency to give a training on the Priesthood to all Priesthood holders for the first two hours. I like the story from the 2002 April conference by Elder Condie quoting Wilford Woodruff taling about his missionary work in Missouri back in the day:

"The family were about to sit down to breakfast as we came in. In those days it was the custom of the Missourians to ask you to eat even though they were hostile to you; so he asked us to take breakfast, and we were very glad of the invitation. He knew we were Mormons; and as soon as we began to eat, he began to swear about the Mormons. He had a large platter of bacon and eggs, and plenty of bread on the table, and his swearing did not hinder our eating, for the harder he swore the harder we ate, until we got our stomachs full; then we arose from the table, took our hats, and thanked him for our breakfast. The last we heard of him he was still swearing. I trust the Lord will reward him for our breakfast."

 

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Comments
From steve ash on Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 21:31:18 from 24.10.169.210

Interesting anecdote, I got a good laugh out of that one..

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.001.0011.00

A.M. Usual run. Total of 11 miles. Did 5 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Joseph, 1.5 with Julia, 0.25 with Jacob. Jenny did 1.5. Did a pickup for a mile in 5:23.7. Felt tired, probably from the race.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 11.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.250.000.500.2511.00

A.M.Did another 200 meter challenge with Benjamin. I ended up with 31.0, he got 31.6. Then we did one more in 36.1. It was supposed to be around 34, but I mis-paced it. We ran the last 0.5 miles in 2:51. Benjamin and I ended up with a total of 5.5 miles. Then I ran with the other kids. Jenny, Julia, and Joseph did 1.5. Jacob did 0.25. I ran some more and end up with 11 miles for the whole run.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 11.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.350.000.000.6512.00

A.M. Ran with the kids  - Benjamin 4, Jenny and Julia ran 1.5 on their own, Joseph did 1.5 in 11:56 for which he earned a remote control car. Jacob did 0.5 in 4:31. Then I decided I needed to address the struggles I had lately getting up to speed in 200 meters and did some short hill sprints. 10 of them about 60 meters in length. Fastest one on the magic stretch was 9.8. Total distance 11.5 miles.

P.M. Did sprints with Joseph, Jacob, and William, and then ran a quarter with Joseph in 1:45.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 11.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.500.000.001.5011.00

A.M. Got up early to run with Benjamin before his Youth Conference. We did 4 miles. I did a pickup for 0.5 in 2:41. Felt sluggish. Then ran 4 more. Decided to do a pickup for a mile to see if I'd feel any better. Surprised myself with a 5:19 mile that came with work, but no heroic effort. Then ran with Joseph, Jenny, Julia, and Jacob. Jenny, Joseph and Julia did 1.5. Jacob did 0.5. I did total of 11 miles.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 11.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.100.000.000.4011.50

A.M. Ran 5 miles with Benjamin in 35:44. He ended up setting a 5 mile PR on accident since his old PR was rather weak and was set in the middle of a 10 K 3 years ago.  Then did 1.5 with Joseph. Jenny ran 1.5, Julia did 2. Jacob ran 0.5. I did hill sprints afterwards with Tyler. It was nice to have Tyler around for those as he was a sprinter in high school with 11.0 100 meters PR. We went to the same stretch where I did those on Wednesday, about 60 meters long at maybe a 6% grade - need to measure it. At first it seemed that I was stuck at 9.8. But then I decided to start focusing on Tyler as a visual cue to indicate if I was running faster or slower while adjusting my form and power timings. This gave me a breakthrough. At first I ran a couple of 9.7s, then 9.5, and the last one in 9.4.

Total distance was 11.5 miles.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 11.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.5010.000.000.0020.50

A.M. 20 mile run from my house to Bridal Veil Falls and back. Felt sluggish somewhat. First half was in 1:12:52. Then turned around and ran a tempo for the last 10. Was stuck at 5:48, but at least was consistent for the first 4 miles. Then I got out of the canyon and all of a sudden felt like I was in a sauna. It was not too warm, maybe 75 F, but there was more humidity than what I am used to. In any case, it did not feel good. I held my own for another 3 miles with 7 miles in 40:54, and then started laying serious goose eggs - 6:04, 6:15, and 6:06 for the last mile with a heroic effort. The Spanish branch elders were playing soccer at about 18.7 mark (yes, I know that course well enough to tell to you how far along you are with 0.1 precision). They gave me some encouragement which I needed at that point. I ended up with 59:19 for the last 10 miles and total of 2:12:11 for 20 miles.

Afterwards I felt quite miserable for some time, but after getting some fluids in I recovered.

We had a baptism in our ward in the afternoon. A mother with her three children got baptized. They are originally from Wyoming. She got tired of the party life style in her town, came to Utah, and requested the missionaries to teach her.

The children ran on their own - all except Joseph. Benjamin did 5, Jenny and Julia 1.5, and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 3:59.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 20.50
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 as usual. We had a lesson on tithing in Sunday School. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on the law of chastity. The sacrament meeting program had to be simplified somewhat with the youth talk postponed until next week due to the four confirmations of the family that got baptized the day before. Benjamin did not mind, as he was the youth speaker. The talks were on self-reliance and living within our means.

On that subject, there are two very funny and telling ads in Orem. One is on the freeway. There is a picture of a man celebrating. He is so happy that he looks like he had just won the Olympic gold medal. The text underneath explains the reason for his joy - bankruptcy. The other is on Orem Center street and says: "Live debt free. 801-BANKRUPT"

I laugh at those ads, but I do find them rather disturbing. Orem is a predominantly LDS area. I highly doubt that the ad is directed primarily to those outside of the Church. I recognize that there are times when you have to declare bankruptcy. Maybe you do not have a job and you just got hit with a $200 K medical bill. Something crazy like that. The ad is not directed to those individuals either. How is it that we go to church, listen to a multitude of talks on self-reliance and avoiding debt, nod our heads in agreement, and then go and spend ourselves into a bankruptcy? Then those outside of the Church laugh at us - "look, Utah is leading the nation in bankruptcies - that's because they have a lot of children and pay tithing", and we get laughed at for a good reason because we deserve it. We should know better. Trying to keep one foot in the Lord's Kingdom with the other being in the world results in a serious hip adductor injury.

 


Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From jeffmc on Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 17:50:45 from 68.227.0.14

It is interesting to see how Satan tries to destroy different people in different ways. Here in Vegas, one of the first things I noticed was that a lawyer who advertises immigration services in Utah has a fair number of advertisements here in Vegas touting his ability as a divorce attorney.

Satan's ultimate goal is to destroy the family. So where divorce is not viewed as favorably Satan advertises practices that eventually destroy the family internally, whereas in other areas he simply advertises practices that will destroy the family outright.

On a side note, do you have any thoughts on my recent training/workouts, etc?

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.001.0013.50

A.M. Ran with Tyler. First we did 5 miles with Benjamin in 39:24. During the run I gave Benjamin a math problem around mile 4 mark. Integrate x^7+x^5 from 0 to 1. It took him about a quarter mile to solve it. The answer was 7/24. Then I gave him another - find the minimum of x^2 - 6*x. He struggled some, but solved it after I reminded him to take the derivative and find the root. The answer to that one was  -9 achieved when x = 3. A less violent method of solving it is to notice that x^2-6*x = x^2 - 6*x + 9 - 9 = (x -3)^2-9 . Since the smallest (x-3)^2 can be in the real domain is 0, the smallest x^2-6*x can get is -9 and it happens when x = 3.

Then we took Jenny and Julia for 1.5. I was in the math mood, so I had them calculate 2^3. Jenny solved it right away, but to give Julia a chance to solve it showed me the answer (8) on her fingers using the traditional unary system (one finger for each count). The next problem was find the biggest number you can count to on your fingers.  Jenny correctly observed that you can count up to 15 with only 5 fingers using the binary system, but struggled to name the number that can be reached with 10. With 10 fingers you can count up to 1023. The trick is that each finger can be in two states - up or down. With N fingers you can count up to 2^N - 1. That is if you agree that all fingers down is a zero. If you want to get fancy, you can agree that all fingers down is a 1, and shift everything else one up, then you get 2^N. One more problem for Jenny - 64^(1/2). She struggled some, then figured out it was 8. Then she did 121^(1/2) - the answer to that was 11, and 27^(1/3) which is 3.

Then we ran 1.5 with Joseph and 0.5 with Jacob. Then 3 more on our own. We did a mile pickup in 5:16.2. Our splits were 79, 78, 81, 78. The 81 involved going under the bridge, which is a nasty rhythm breaker. So in essence it was a very steady run. This is incidentally a new mile PR for Tyler. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it felt. Last week I struggled to run 5:23 even though I did not feel like the race on Saturday had taken a whole lot out of me. This time I felt knocked out pretty bad by the heat on Saturday, and quite miserable for a while after the run. So I was expecting something similar to last Saturday, but it was not. I wonder if this was because I was stronger, or because I had Tyler with me. Of course, in this range of speed there is a lot of room for error and tricking yourself that you are feeling better or worse than you really do as it is still some distance away from all out race pace.

The total distance was  11.5 miles.

P.M. 2 miles with Sarah following me on a bike in 15:34.


Green Crocs 1 Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From MarkP on Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 12:20:55 from 71.32.207.35

I simply enjoy reading your post.

From ACorn on Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 12:35:31 from 68.66.168.22

My dad used to give me math problems all the time, I'm glad he did.

I've enjoyed posting and using the blog as a journal the last month. Thank you for all of your work!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.600.000.000.4014.00

A.M. Ran 5 with Benjamin in 37:29. We caught up to Sarah and ran a mile with her. She did 8:00. That is her fastest mile since giving birth to Stephen who turned 1 yesterday. Then 1.5 with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then 5 more miles which included 10 hill sprints on the same stretch. Being alone did not help - my fastest one was only 9.9 compared to 9.4 when doing it with Tyler. Total of 12 miles.

P.M. 2 miles with Sarah on a bike, and pushing Stephen in the stroller in 15:38.

Green 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
10.000.501.500.0012.00

A.M. Ran with Tyler. Started with 5 miles with Benjamin. Then 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph, and 1.5 with Jenny and Julia. Then 5 more without the kids. Picked up in the last 2. Did 5:55, 5:42 - 11:37 total. This is a new 2 mile record for Tyler.

Green 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
12.300.700.001.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12.2. Did a warm up of about 0.5, a pickup of 0.7 at about 6:00 pace, then paced Sarah for the last 1000 meters of her fast mile which she did in 7:53. Ran another 0.5 with her, then 1.5. with Jenny and Julia, 0.5 with Jacob, Joseph, and Jenny (Jenny got 2 miles), then 1 more with Benjamin and Joseph (Joseph got 1.5 miles), then 4 more with Benjamin (Benjamin got 5 miles). Then 3 more with a mile in 5:17.5. I was happy with that because it started getting very warm, 79 degrees and I could feel it.
P.M. 2 miles with Sarah on a bike and William and Steven in the stroller in 15:36.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.20
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.600.000.000.4014.00

A.M.Ran 5 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob, and 5 more myself including 10 hill sprints on the same stretch. The fastest was 9.8. Total distance was 12 miles.

P.M. 2 miles in 14:55.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.500.000.0013.00

A.M. 10 miles in 1:11:47 before going to the chess tournament with Benjamin. Did a pickup in the last 0.25. Jenny and Julia did 1.5. Jacob did 0.5..

P.M. 3 miles with Benjamin after the chess tournament. Joseph ran 1.5 with us. We did a pickup in the last 0.25.  At the tournament we played 4 games. I drew one, won one, and lost two. Benjamin won two and lost two. After this tournament his rating is now 1526. I am still ahead, but not by much (1532), and likely not for long. However, I am happy that I have been able to improve alongside with Benjamin and be a decent partner for him.

Green 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
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Had lessons on missionary work and on the role of women. The Sacrament meeting talks were on the role of women as well. Then picked up my mother at the airport in the afternoon. Her flight was re-routed at the last minute due to the hurricane problems in New York, so she ended up flying through Paris. She will stay with us for a few weeks.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.002.500.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12. 5 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Jenny and Julia (Joseph did 0.75), 0.5 with Jacob, 5 more alone. Ran the last 2.5 in 14:22.9. Felt it was too warm.

P.M. Decided it was time to change into a new pair of Crocs. The old one started developing holes. It lasted only a bit over 1200 miles. I wonder if it is because I did more speed work. On the positive side of things, the holes have developed more or less symmetrically. So maybe I am experiencing subtle changes in the form in the direction of symmetry. Ran 2 miles in 14:52.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00Green Crocs 2 Miles: 2.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.002.500.0014.00

A.M. 5 with Benjamin, 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob, 1.5 with Jenny and Julia, 5 more alone. Ran the last 2.5 in 14:10.6, 5:40 average. Felt better than yesterday. Possibly because it was a bit cooler.

P.M. 2 miles in 14:12.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.300.000.000.7014.00

A.M. Ran 5 with Benjamin in 36:13. We did a couple of pickups including a 500 meter stretch in 1:40. 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph. 1.5 with Jenny and Julia. 5 more alone including hill sprints - 10 as usual up about a 60 meter stretch. The fastest time was 10.0.

P.M. 2 miles in 14:13 with Sarah on a bike.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.500.0012.00

A.M. Did 5 with Benjamin, 0.5 with Jacob, 1.5 with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph, and 5 more alone. Did a pickup in the last 0.5 in 2:50.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.600.000.001.4014.00

A.M. 5 with Benjamin and Sarah pushing Steven in the stroller in 45:31. This is a good time for her, she is improving. Her last mile was 8:51. Jenny and  Julia did 1.5 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob. I ran another 6 miles including 10 hill repeats (fastest was 9.9), and 2x800 with 100 meter jog in between in 2:33.1 and 2:31.0. Then another mile with Joseph. Total of 12.

P.M.  2 miles in 14:00.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.5010.000.000.0020.50

A.M. Usual 20 miler to Bridal Veil Falls and back. Was a bit faster in the "warmup". Noticed that I was hitting 7:00 pace uphill into a headwind without trying too hard. Of course, I can trick myself easily in that speed range, but I was hoping that there was more to it that me merely wanting to believe that I was feeling good. The first half was 1:10:15.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to set a goal of breaking 2:30 in the Top of Utah. This is not a super-goal. I've done it before twice. But I have not done it since 2007. So I figured I needed a humble but challenging goal, and this is a nice round number. So this morning I prayed to have some form of evidence that this goal is in my shooting range. After the prayer, I thought - well, I need to set some kind of a metric to judge my fitness from this workout. Looking back at my past workouts, I said if I run a low 57:00 for the last 10 miles of this 20 miler or faster, sub-2:30 is in the cards.

So I ran with the idea of running 57:00 or at least close. Coming down the Provo Canyon I hit my 3 mile tempo stretch in 16:42 (5:30,5:33,5:39). It felt slightly aggressive, but something that I could survive. Cooler temperatures did help, it was not as bad as two weeks ago, but it started to get warmer somewhat. 5 miles was not clearly marked, but I am estimating it was around 28:04. I was happy to hit 5:49 for mile 7 which has uphill, and roughly corresponds to the slowest mile of the last 6 on the UVM course.

Afterwards it got warmer (67F), and the course started to go through turns, tunnels, and bridges. I did the next mile in 5:44, then 5:54. I was in a state where if you had me run straight on an even terrain I was OK, but I was really getting bothered by turns, little ups and downs, and a bumpy road. In the last mile I decided to give it a push, but the first quarter was a bummer. The tunnel was flooded, so I had to go around through the gate and across 820 N watching out for cars, and this was bad enough of a momentum killer than I ended up with a 92 quarter. After that with 19.25 miles for the run, 9.25 of it at almost 5:40 average I was tired, but found the energy to get angry and say: "I am going to crack 57:00. I do not care if 57:05 is still good enough. I am cracking 57:00!". So I did the next two quarters in 85, and the last one in 83. This gave me 56:58.9 for the last 10 miles, and 2:07:14 for the whole 20.

So I reached my goal, and if my estimates are correct, this predicts being able to dip under 2:30 a bit in the Top of Utah if the weather is as good as it was in 2007.

Benjamin did 5, Joseph 1.5, Julia and Jenny 1.5 as well.

P.M. 0.5 with Jacob.


Green Crocs 2 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 10.00
Comments
From seeaprilrun on Sun, Sep 04, 2011 at 00:56:07 from 205.172.12.230

I hope you meet your goal! Perhaps a little of that "anger" will show up at the right time during TOU.

From Jake K on Wed, Sep 07, 2011 at 15:08:20 from 155.100.226.53

Way to finish the long run strong. I like that you didn't consider 57:0X "good enough." Its really easy a lot of the time to "settle" on a run like that, so sometimes its good to tell your legs that you need to go faster, and its always good when they actually respond.

You will have a great race at TOU!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a lesson in Sunday School on Romans 8-10 which talks about salvation from sin through the redemption of Christ. In the Elder's Quorum we had a lesson on on temple worship. The Sacrament meeting did not have talks, but a fast and testimony meeting instead as it was the first Sunday of the month.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.600.900.000.0012.50

A.M. Did 5 with Benjamin, of it with Joseph. 1.5 with Julia and Jenny. 0.5 with Jacob. 5 without the kids. Saw another runner before my turnaround and decided to chase him down. Took me about 0.9 at about 5:50 pace. At first I was feeling sluggish, but gained strength as the chase progressed. The runner's name was Jeff. He is a freshman at BYU from Riffle, CO.  My training partners keep getting younger than me. This was my new PR for the age difference with a running partner my height - he is 20 years younger than me. I am still in the mindset that it is not possible to be 20 years younger than me and be already born.

P.M. For our Family Home Evening activity we went to the intersection of 40 N parallel and 112 W meridian. It turned out to be a spot in the field near Elberta, UT. We could not quite get to the sweet spot due to the presence of a fence with barbed wire. But we got as close as we could. I really enjoyed the fresh air. We meandered far enough away from the car as we tried to get to the magic spot that I had to do some running to get the car. Ended up running about 0.5 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From steve ash on Wed, Sep 07, 2011 at 00:26:56 from 24.10.169.210

Sasha, with that mindset I know you can break 2:30. You did once not so long ago. You can do it again..

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.002.500.0014.00

A.M. Ran 5 with Benjamin, Jeff joined us for a portion of it, then 0.5 with Jacob, 1.5 with Joseph, Juila, and Jenny, and 5 more myself. Ran the last 2.5 in 13:56. Felt strong. 

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
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 at 5:15 AM before going to the temple. Thought I would feel sluggish, but was more awake than I excepted. Total time was 1:12:53. Met a Russian language mission-bound missionary at the temple - saw the word Elder in Russian on his name tag and decided to give him some practice. Even though he was as green as it gets in the MTC we managed to have a conversation without a single word of English. I found out that he is from Arkansas, has a younger brother and sister, was baptized at the age of  8, and is headed to a Russian-speaking mission in Moldova.

P.M. 2 miles pushing Steven with Sarah on a bike.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments
From Rye on Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 00:58:44 from 174.27.123.67

How fun for you! It's fun to meet those young energetic Elders! Looking forward to seeing my daughter on the 9th of Dec. 19 1/2 months worth of working hard...... My son will return home in April of 2012. It's been great! I have a different attitude about missionary work since they have been serving. Interesting how that works.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.001.0014.00

A.M. Did 5 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Julia, Joseph and Jenny, 0.5 with Jacob, and 5 alone. Did 2x800 in 2:32.5 and 2:30.8 with 100 meter jog recovery. The reason to even bother with the recovery is that now with the flooding under the bridge I have one good 800 meter stretch, followed by another 100 meters later. Otherwise I would have just run the whole mile. Total of 12.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.100.000.000.4014.50

A.M. Did 5.5 with Benjamin. We paced Sarah through a 7:37.9 mile, her new PR since Stephen was born. Then I did 0.5 with Jacob, 1.5 with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph, and 5 more alone including hill sprints - 10 x about 60 meters from magic spot to magic spot. Fastest time was 10.0. Total of 12.5.

P.M. 2 miles pushing Stephen in the stroller.

 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.003.0017.00

A.M. Ran 5 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Jenny and Julia, 1.5 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. That gave me the total of 8.5 warmup. Then I took Sarah with me to the Provo Canyon. She rode the bike along side with me during my tempo run. I wanted to test myself on my standard 3 mile course to see if the improvement I noticed last week was from the long distance endurance, or if it was all across the board. I also wanted to get another point of reference.

However, the workout had another purpose. When pacing Sarah yesterday it occurred to me that she did not know how to properly respond emotionally to the high intensity effort, and it had cost her up to 20 seconds. So I figured it would be good for her to observe a more experienced runner deal with the fatigue while riding alongside on a bike.  I would recommend this to everybody who has not run competitively for very long - ride a bike alongside somebody who has when he is running at a high effort and pay close attention. The speed does not matter so much, although those who have more competitive experience tend to be faster.

So I ran up a bit over 2 miles, and then ran the tempo on my 3 mile course from Nunn's Park to the mouth of the Provo Canyon. The first mile was 5:07, and felt reasonable, so I maintained the effort. The second mile was 5:12, and I was happy with it as well. On the third mile I started to struggle some for a number of reasons - fatigue from the first two, more areas of the trail exposed to the sun, and more people on the trail, so I had to do maneuvers to avoid an accident which breaks the rhythm. I also was getting complacent because I knew I was going to smash all of my times from this year with comfortable effort. Nevertheless I managed to run the next 0.75 in 3:59, and then Sarah started singing the fourth verse of Come, Come Ye Saints: "And should we die before our journey's through, happy day all is well. We then our free from toil and sorrow too, with the just with shall dwell." I thought that when I finished I would be free from toil and sorrow, and wanted to accelerate the arrival of that glorious moment, so I pressed harder and ran the last quarter in 75. This gave me 5:14 for the last mile, and 15:33.5 for the 3 mile tempo.

My efforts this year on that course have produced very consistent results with the times ranging from 15:55 to 16:06. So 15:33 was definitely an improvement beyond accidental. I changed two things in my training in the last month - added hill sprints, and a second 2 mile run in the evening. I am suspecting the second run is responsible for most of the magic. My hill sprinting times have not improved. I would imagine if the hill sprinting was responsible for the improvement I would at least see some improvement in those times. On the other hand, I do feel a difference from a month ago in the way I breathe. When things get hard, I feel like the oxygen I breathe in is going somewhere, like there is some infrastructure underneath to absorb it and it is not just the muscle contracting harder.

So that gives me some food for thought. I had tried running fast earlier this year with an HRM and observed that I was unable to get the HR beyond 167, and it dropped as I was unable to maintain the pace. That points to a neuromuscular problem. At the same time, adding a second run gave an improvement in performance. That points to some kind of aerobic improvement which should not have helped if it was a purely neuromuscular problem. I suppose the interaction between aerobic and neuromuscular is more complex than I realized. Live and learn.

P.M. 2 miles.


Green Crocs 2 Miles: 17.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Jake K on Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 19:41:32 from 67.177.21.60

I bet both small changes had some benefits. You may not be getting faster on the hill sprints, but maybe they have caused adaptations that allow you to run faster in general. And I am a firm believer that a shakeout run in the evening is a almost always beneficial.

Run w/ confidence next weekend. You seem ready to pop a good one!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest as usual. Went to church. The lesson in Sunday school was on developing talents. The manual talked about Shelly Mann. At the age of 5 she had polio and was put into the swimming class to help her recover. At first she was worse that all the girls in her class who were also recovering from polio. Then she was able to lift up her arms. Then she swam the width of the pool. Then the length. Eventually she won the Olympic gold in butterfly.  The lesson also made me think of Wilma Rudolph and I read about her as well. She came from a family of 22 children, and was number 20. She was born prematurely, survived through a miracle, had severe developmental problems, and could not walk on her own until she was 12. But she overcame all of that and won three Olympic gold medals in 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4x400 relay in 1960.

As I read I pondered and wondered where the Shelly Manns and Wilma Rudolphs are today.  It's been a while since we've seen anything like this. A handicapped child growing up to be an Olympic champion. I think there are several reasons why. One is that there is more competition. 11.18 100 meters does not earn you the Olympic gold anymore today. You will be lucky to make the final.  So a handicapped child with a hidden talent is racing numerous others with equal or greater talent who are not handicapped. Even if he accomplished something equivalent to what Wilma Rudolph did it will not get the same publicity.

Another reason, perhaps more significant, is that back in the 40s, 50s, and 60s we were a nation that aimed for the stars, both figuratively and literally. Since then we have become more cynical and instant-gratification minded.  Families have been eroded. The children are being raised by the public school system more than by their parents and teachers in that system are forbidden to teach spiritual values. Children are not valued, and abortions and birth control have increased. Perhaps the Wilma Rudolph of today has been aborted when some doctor said she would be born with a defect. Or possibly never conceived in the first place. And if she does manage to make it past birth, good luck finding a set of parents that will do what it takes to inculcate the faith it requires to accomplish such a feat.

 There is a lot of talk on the news about the economy. Some people blame Obama, others blame Bush, yet others move the numbers around and blame it on the real estate bubble, stock market bubble, risky loans, immigration, etc. I think they miss the root of the problem. It is the generation X mentality of indolence, instant gratification, and aversion to meaningful challenges. In other words, the problem is that it is highly unlikely that we will see another Shelly Mann or Wilma Rudolph today. Until it is fixed, it does not matter who the president is or what the government does.


Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Rob on Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 18:30:23 from 72.254.11.154

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705376283/Nearly-18-years-after-accident-runner-Walter-Brown-defying-odds-to-keep-racing.html

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/52138919-77/kamp-van-marathon-fritz.html.csp

From Steve on Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 20:58:00 from 209.235.31.148

Rob, that's awesome. Sasha, I agree with the problem and the general trend. It's really prevalent. But I also believe there are some far stronger than at any other time in the past. Maybe the ratio is just changing..

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 14:04:21 from 192.168.1.1

Steve, yes, according to what I get out of the scriptures, we should expect greater polarization in all aspects, both physical and spiritual in the last days.

Rob - the links you posted prove my point to some extent. Athletes like Fritz and Walter who have overcome some adversity are lucky to get noticed by a sympathetic local newspaper reporter at most. This is because the standard of performance has been raised. In 1952 Emil Zatopek won the Olympic marathon in 2:23. Fritz in his current shape would have been competitive in that race. Today 2:23 does not take you even to the US trials. Kenyans with 2:08 performances in the Olympic year are left off the team.

While it is good that the standard of performance is higher, this has had a negative impact in some ways. A guy that has some talent, but not enough to medal in the Olympics often works just as hard, or possibly harder because the carrot is further away, than those who actually win. Yet he is essentially nobody. He is not a role model because he does not win anything cool. Very often he realizes that the carrot is further than he can reach and moves on to other things of less inspired nature that nevertheless pay the bills. Thus people that could have potentially learned the principles of faith and hard from him miss that chance, and this makes another contribution to "the nation that does not shoot for the stars" syndrome.

In light of that I believe we could greatly benefit from some well-organized program to encourage athletes that are performing within 10-15% or so of the world record to keep performing. Companies spend lots of money on motivational speakers. They could probably achieve the same effect for a fraction of the cost by sending their employees to ride a bike along with their local 2:20 marathoner during his training run and then talk to him afterwards about what it takes to perform at his level.

From Rob on Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 15:08:52 from 72.254.11.154

Wow! interesting perspective to say the least. I'm afraid to even ask what your thoughts on Lance Armstrong are?

Back in the 40's and 50's we were in the middle of World War II/ Korea, As a result there was a bit of natural selection going on. Most of the strongest, healthiest people were out dieing in a war leaving only the 4F people to participate in athletics. This may have something to do with it as well.

From fiddy on Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 15:28:16 from 155.101.96.134

I've not read the book, but Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers addresses this problem a little bit. He basically shows how, due to the setup of our society, small initial advantages become greatly magnified.

I remember when I started running competitively there were people my age that had been training for a long time and seemed unbeatable to me. I remember feeling at the time that it was foolish for me to make goals to try to beat them because they were clearly so much better. In most sports nowadays, it "feels" like unless you are the very best at each 9 or 10, why bother? In reality, there is plenty of time and opportunity to overcome differences in "natural ability".

I think a striking example is the distribution of white players in the NBA. There are very few white american players, but there are plenty from other countries. Some of the white players from other countries are considered to be very very good. I suspect that most young white american basketball players lack confidence and this leads them to not work as hard or just to pursue other things.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

A.M. 5 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Julia and Jenny, 1.5 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob, and 3.5 alone. Total of 12.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.001.500.0012.00

A.M. 5 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Joseph and Jenny, and 0.5 with Jacob and Julia. Benjamin and I paced Sarah through 1.25 in 9:55, which is 7:56 pace. This was her first time at sub-8:00 for more than a mile since Stephen was born, and actually I think since William was born as well. Then did 3 more with the last 1.5 in 8:34. Wore an HRM. HR was was 154 at 5:40 pace with 60 F temperature, but the sun started coming out (it was around 9:30 am), so it started to feel a bit warmer than ideal.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

A.M. 5 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Joseph and Jenny, 0.5 with Jacob. Julia did not run - had a bit of a flu. Total of 7.

P.M. 2 miles with Sarah on a bike. Pushed Stephen in the stroller.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 9.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.500.000.000.507.00

A.M. 5 with Benjamin, Jeff joined us after about 1 mile. About 3.5 into the run I did a fast 0.5 miles on the trail in 2:21.5 with the splits of 71, 70. Jeff did it in 2:37. It felt good to run at world record marathon pace even though it was for only half mile. I did not have a bear jump on me this time. Actually felt like I could go longer at that pace, but not faster. Drank my "magic" carb drink (molasses sugar, honey, lemon juice, water)  I had prepared earlier as soon as I got home. Then ran 1.5 with Joseph and Jenny, and 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. Went with Benjamin and my mother to the chess tournament. Benjamin lost one game and won one with the net result of his rating rising to 1574. I drew one and won one with the net result of the rating rising to 1529. Benjamin is now ahead of me although not by far yet. At least I am still improving, although not as fast as him. My mother lost both games. The first one normally, the second she was winning but forgot to pay attention to the clock. She has played chess for a long time, and taught me to play when I was little but she does not have a whole lot of tournament experience. But she is getting some now when she comes to visit.

The tournament was a good psychological tuneup for the marathon. A game of chess will test the depth of your emotional strength even if you think you do not care that much about the outcome. My second game told me that I was doing OK. I noticed my opponents mistakes, but did not get too excited about it, which is easy to do, and when you do you often make a bad move in response. I was able to methodically convert the small advantage into bigger until it became decisive with no blunders on my side that either one of us noticed. This evidence of emotional stability gives me confidence for the marathon. It is much easier to lose in chess off emotions than it is in the marathon, so if the chess side works fine, the running side should as well.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 7.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.000.000.000.005.00

A.M. Benjamin and Jenny were at grandma's house, so I just ran with the younger kids. 1.5 with Julia and Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then 3 more alone, total of 5.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 5.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Race: Top of Utah Marathon (26.22 Miles) 02:34:15, Place overall: 4
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.3026.220.000.0026.52

A.M. Top of Utah Marathon, 2:34:15.9, 4th place, $500.

Stayed with Steve Anderson. He has a big house, so I was able to bring the family. We drove to the finish, then rode to the start, visited the land of Oz where we of course found a congregation of fast runners including Paul.  I located James Moore and Glen Tucker and invited them to participate in trading leads every 3 minutes for as long as it served the benefit of all.

At the start it rained pretty hard, but we were able to hide under the covers to avoid getting wet. Nevertheless the road was wet and the air was humid, and there was a possibility of more rain, so I realised that the original plan for 2:30 might need to get modified even if my fitness would allow it in ideal conditions.

Mile 1 - 5:26.  Paul pulled ahead, I am working together with James, Glen is a few seconds back warming up. I was pleased with that mile because I thought 5:40-5:45 from how it felt.

Mile 2 - 5:35 (11:01). Slowdown expected as it is not as steep as the first one. Let's see what the next one brings. Glen finally caught up and joined the lead trading.

Mile 3 - 5:33 (16:34). From what I remember it is supposed to be a bit quicker. It felt harder than it should have.

Mile 4 - 5:35 (22:09). OK, something is up. I have trained enough in the Provo Canyon and raced enough in the Blacksmith Fork Canyon (this was my 13th Top of Utah Marathon, I've run it every year) to know based on my workout last week that this effort should have produced 5:23-5:25 with the same fitness and conditions, especially tapered and drafting 66% of the time.

Mile 5 - 5:39 (27:48) I explained to Glen and James that something was wrong with me, and they were sufficiently merciful to back off a bit and allow me to draft all the time. Very nice of them considering that 2nd place gets $1000 while the 4th only $500. If we could propagate this attitude into business, I believe this alone would recover our struggling economy. Businesses spend way too much effort trying to trip each other up and it is almost unthinkable for a business to do something nice for their competitor with the approach that I am making myself better by helping my competitor do better.

Mile 6 - 5:44 (33:32) Hanging in there, wondering how long before I get dropped, thankful that James and Glen are willing to be conservative.

Mile 7 - 5:43 (39:15) Surviving.

Mile 8 - 5:43 (44:58) Trying to make the best of it. At least I am reaching some form of fragile stability, if there is such a thing.

Mile 9 - short, 5:24 (50:22). This one is always short, needs to be remeasured and re-marked.

Mile 10 - long, to make up for the short mile 9, 5:58 (56:18). At least still ahead of the 5:40 guy by 22 seconds. Not for long, though.

Mile 11 - 5:44 (1:02:02). Still with Glen and James, trying to survive. 2:30 is out of the window, even though I am still technically on pace, but I am hoping for some damage control at least. Now I think this was an important learning point somewhere between miles 5 and 13. I knew by how I felt that my original goal needed to be adjusted. In fact, somewhere in between those miles I knew that if we got some decent tailwind it might be 2:32 high, same conditions and no major disasters - 2:34, disasters, well let's hope there will not be any. To a certain extent experience takes the excitement factor out of the race. I recall in 2005 while hitting slower splits I was still thinking of 2:30-2:31 at this point. I ended up with 2:39:12. But with more experience I knew what was going to happen to me with quite a bit of precision. So the question was being willing to accept it, and salvage a few seconds by proper pacing and mental toughness. But even though I knew, I still secretly hoped for a positive surprise.

Mile 12 - 5:53 (1:06:55). Guessing somewhat on this split as my memory if fuzzy. Still in the same mode. Can maintain contact with Glen and James with concentration, thankful they are still around.

Mile 13 - 5:28 (1:13:23) That is what the math comes out to based on my official 13 mile split. The pace picked up, but it was probably more around 5:35-5:40. I am probably remembering one of the earlier splits wrong.

Half - 1:13:59. Time to assess things. On average, I have run this race with about 7:00 positive split when no disaster happened. I definitely do not feel like I jogged the first half. In fact, I was hanging off the edge of a cliff from about mile 5. It does feel like you are on the edge of a cliff when a pack is pulling you at the fastest pace you can go. If you lose contact, you will slow down by at least 5 seconds per mile with the same effort if you are lucky, and possibly even 10 - you are off the edge and on your way down. No reason to expect a miraculously fast second half. So that gives me 2:34 high - 2:35 low expectation. Well, let's take it one mile at a time.

Mile 14 - 5:35 (1:18:58). Glen took off. I sensed that James wanted to go with him, but was not fit. Somehow with experience you can sense the level of fitness of the runner next to you. Earlier I observed a surging pattern when he led. That is indicative of cycles of excitement followed by a revelation of the true levels of fuel. From that I knew likely he did not have enough fuel to go with Glen for more than a couple of miles. But even if he did have more strength than he let on, he still could have a good race if he held back to 17 and then gave it a major push. Especially given the fact that we were still ahead of the 5:40 guy. If he really felt that good, he would have no problem running 5:40s from 17 to the finish, which would give him 2:28. So I told him he should stay with me to 17 then give it a push if he had it in him.

Mile 15 - 5:46 (1:24:44). Following James. The pace is far from easy, but I am not crashing yet. The longer I maintain sub-6:00 the less distance I will have to lose the cushion over. Around this point I start playing the game of estimating the finish time if I averaged 7:00 to the finish. At this point it does not cheer my heart at all because 11 miles is a long way to go, and at 7:00 it takes 1:17:00. So that is 2:41:44 at 26 and then there is 385 yards, and it is all uphill too. What cheers my heart, though, is that it takes at least 5 miles to slow down from 5:46 to 7:00, and also that when in good health I do not slow down that much in marathons anymore, and I came to this race in good health. I have struggled with the pace so far, but it was not health-related - more like I am not handling the moisture, so the pace spectrum has shifted 5-10 seconds down everywhere.

Mile 16 - 5:50 (1:30:34). Thankful to still be sub-6:00.

Mile 17 - 5:50 (1:36:24). Another 5:50, will take it.

Mile 18 - 5:56 (1:42:20). James hit the gas pedal during this mile, or so it felt, but it was slower than the others. Not a good sign. Getting ready for "Christmas".

Mile 19 - 6:16 (1:48:36). Merry Christmas to both me and James! It had some significant uphill, though, but I could tell that whatever remnants of the zip I had in the legs earlier were leaving me. But James was feeling even worse around here. I passed him and tried to quietly slip away.

Mile 20 - 6:14 (1:54:50). Still uphill. James recovered, caught up to me, and took the lead. I am having mixed feelings. On one hand I want him to do well. On the other hand, I like $750 more than $500. Yet, James is a poor student and I have a nice job. But I have a wife and seven children to feed. I tell myself, if you really think James needs the money more than you do, then beat him, and give him $250 afterwards. But he will not take it that way because good runners believe in getting what they earned through their own sweat. Yet we've run together for 20 miles and a special bond develops when you work together for that long at top effort. Well, odd thoughts go through your mind when the blood sugar is low. Let's just work together and let the stronger one of us finish ahead.

Mile 21 - 6:05 (2:00:55). Downhill, last nice downhill stretch. I've run this enough to know that 6:05 on that mile means about 39:30 for the last 10 K for me. So in essence I already know my finish time. But yet I am still concerned it could be worse because the thought of having to average low 6:20s with all the turns and rises which seem like large hills when you are in the "zone" sounds like something you might not be able to depend on.

Mile 22 - 6:28 (2:07:23). Lots of turns on this mile. James asked me how I felt. I told him I was surviving. This and the next mile are the most difficult miles of the race psychologically. What I should do is visit Logan a week before the race and run a tempo over the last 10 K to know what to expect. Perhaps even paint marks every 200 meters here so you can give yourself very immediate time goals. On the positive, 7:00 pace gets you to 26 in 2:35:23 to 26. Then another 385 yards. So a disaster that I have not seen for a long time, I think since 2005, still gets me 2:36. That cheered my soul.

Mile 23 - 6:25 (2:13:48). Similar experience to mile 22, except the dim light at the end of the tunnel got brighter.

Mile 24 - 6:10 (2:19:58). This mile had a short downhill stretch, but it was very helpful for mental purposes. Also, James saw somebody coming up on us (Nate Clayson) and it got his competitive spirit revived. He pushed, I tried to go with him, but after a couple of minutes my strength proved insufficient.

Mile 25 - 6:30 (2:26:28). This mile has the uphill on Main street. James is slowly pulling away, but is within striking distance. All it takes us for him to start jogging, which happens sometimes at the end of a marathon.

Mile 26 - 6:27 (2:32:55). James is not quite jogging, and I have zero zip in the legs. It all went into that 6:10 mile trying to keep up. I am however thankful that this marathon is over and I do not have another one planned in two weeks.

Finish - 1:20 (2:34:15). Legs not moving, but at least I am still running at some semblance of a respectable pace. Glad to be done.

So I ended up 4th. Paul won with 2:20:30. Glen was second with 2:30:54. James third with 2:33:53. Nate Clayson 5th with 2:36:08.

Allie won the women with a PR of 2:50:59 which is quite remarkable given non-PR conditions. But when you are in good shape you can still run a PR even in less than ideal conditions.

Benjamin and Jenny ran on their own both Friday and Saturday. Benjamin 3 miles, Jenny 1.5 miles. Julia, Joseph, and Jacob ran with Sarah. Julia and Joseph did 1.5, Jacob 0.5.

Overall, I think I should be happy with the performance even though it was off the 2:30 target. The lack of tailwind was one negative factor. The other, perhaps, was high humidity which I did not handle well for one reason or another - perhaps from having trained in dry air. All I know is that from mile 2 the pace felt wrong, like there was a shift of spectrum by 5-10 seconds per mile, but I was holding it OK. I looked at my report from 2009 when I ran with a heel problem. I made it to the half in 1:13:03, so 56 second faster, and I felt better too. 20 mile split was 1:54:05, still 45 seconds faster. Then the foot problem deteriorated and I wobbled to the finish in 2:35:19, 1:04 slower.  That year I was willing to run as fast as 5:21 mid-race, while this year I experienced the same feelings at 5:33. I do not believe I had more half-marathon fitness then than I did immediately coming into the race. So something was up.

 I decided to try again in Huntsville, AL on December 10th in the Rocket City Marathon, and already started making arrangements. The plan is to fly from Provo to Nashville and rent a car there. The flight will cost a little under $300. The car probably around $50. I wrote to Jon Elmore (Jelmo), and he said I could stay with him. The prize money is $1000 - $750 - $500 - $250 - $250, so there is a chance to recover at least a portion of the cost. But if not, I can handle $350 of expenses occasionally nowadays.  I know the course, it is very fast. A few micro-rollers, but it does not slow you down from what I remember. Unfortunately, last time I ran it I did it one week after running another marathon. I made it to the half in around 1:13:30, held the pace to 18, and then royally blew up finishing in 2:37:25.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 26.52
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Comments
From Mauri on Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 21:24:30 from 174.27.104.131

Great job! My husband and ran TOU today. It would have been great to meet you.

From Seth on Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 23:31:11 from 67.177.36.131

Congrats on 4th overall! It was great meeting you at the end of the race. You're so fast in those crocs!

From Walter on Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 02:32:22 from 24.2.69.110

Nice race Sasha! I think runners would turn this struggling economy around for sure! Go Runners!

From Steve on Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 14:24:57 from 76.27.108.183

Loved having the family up here, Sasha and thanks for the advice! Maybe next year I can get in a decent TOU.

From Kam on Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 19:53:37 from 67.2.39.182

Good race, and great job keeping the bloggers in the top 4 positions.

From Scott Ensign on Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 22:22:29 from 67.40.104.42

nice job Sasha. I shouted at you at mile 18, but you looked like you were pretty focused so probably didn't hear me. glad to see you took home some well deserved $$$$

From crumpyb1 on Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 00:38:13 from 71.33.12.228

I saw you turn the corner during mile 18. We (friends and I) were in the car heading to park by mile 14. Can't wait to read the rest of your race report.

I'm sorry I missed Sarah. I looked around briefly at the end of the race, but couldn't think were to find you and Sarah in all the crowds. Please give her my best and good luck in St. George.

From seeaprilrun on Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 22:36:23 from 68.103.248.97

Great job running smart and fighting your way into the money. Eagerly awaiting details.

From steve ash on Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 20:57:24 from 24.10.169.210

Sasha, I was bummed when you didn't get sub 2:30 but I do like this race report and 2:34 is still great:)

From fiddy on Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 22:40:22 from 155.101.96.134

I was very close to asking if you wanted to split the money. Then I saw Nate.

From jeffmc on Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 15:20:41 from 131.216.80.154

I don't want to be negative at all, but to be honest I am not sure if you really would have gone much faster in dry conditions. With the exception of one 10 mile tempo, none of your workouts have indicated that you had faster than a 2:32-2:33 in you. I think that even in good conditions the fitness was lacking for a sub 2:30. By December that fitness may be there as long as the training goes well. Good luck.

From Superfly on Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 16:08:34 from 74.211.21.81

Good job Sasha. Way to battle through the tough mental part of a marathon for more than half the race. You finished great considering how bad you felt early on.

From Kory on Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 01:49:16 from 184.155.137.220

God's give you the ability to finish strong and fight through a tough race. Nice work in the conditions. I hope you fully recover for the December race.

From Little Bad Legs on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 21:46:13 from 68.186.75.3

Sasha, after reading many race reports (yours and others) I was pretty excited to run along side you. Your pacing precision was just what I was expecting! Great to meet you and way to gut out a solid race despite not feeling well from early on.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The lesson in Sunday school was on obedience. The Sacrament meeting talks were on marriage. Our former bishop was on one of the speakers. He is a plumber, and likes to tell plumbing stories when he gets a chance. He told one about how a tree managed to sneak its roots through and into a sewer pipe which caused it to clog up. He compared that to how immorality can destroy marriage.Now, some may object to comparing marriage to a sewer pipe, but that is what he works with and thinks about all day, and the message is clear nevertheless - the dangers of subtle corruption. I have a lot of stories like that from software development. Pretty much anybody that works with things that have to work can tell you a similar story. I think there is a good lesson in those stories.

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. Ran with the kids. 5 with Benjamin, then ran with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph. Joseph did 1, Jenny 2, Julia 1.5. Jacob did 0.5.  Total of 7.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 9.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.001.000.0011.50

A.M. 5 with Benjamin, then 2 with the other kids. Jenny did 2, Julia 1.5, Joseph 1.5, and Jacob 0.5. I added another 2 miles and did the last one in 5:38. It felt very good.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 11.50
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 total including 5 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Joseph, Jenny, and Julia, and 0.5 with Jacob and Julia.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
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 total. 5 of it with Benjamin, 1.5 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob. Jenny ran 1.5. Julia did 2.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
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. Total of 10. 5 with Benjamin. 2 with Jenny, Joseph did 1.5, Jacob did 0.5. Julia took a break because she hit her head last night. I ran a 2.5 tempo in 13:58.8. Felt decent, but a little tired.

P.M. 2 miles on Mount Nebo Loop near Payson Lakes.

Green 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
11.750.000.750.0012.50

A.M. Jenny ran 2, Julia 1.5, Jacob 0.5. I did 5 with Benjamin, and 5 more alone. The last 0.75 in 4:11.6. It was 81 F by then. I felt sluggish at the start of the pickup, and when I started going fast I thought it would be good to hit 4:20 (5:47 pace). I still felt sluggish, but was able to hit 5:35 pace more or less naturally in spite of the heat.

P.M. 1.5 with Joseph, 1 more alone, total 2.5.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Missed most of the Sunday class due to the diaper adventure with Stephen. For the Priesthood meeting I was in the Deacons class, as I am now the Scout master. Benjamin laughed when he heard I got called as the Scout master, and for a good reason.The world of outdoor adventure is more foreign to me than Chinese. At least I would learn Chinese faster because I have a natural talent for languages. But I do what I was called to do to the best of my ability regardless.

The lesson was on the role of women. Then we had the Sacrament meeting. I spaced out enough that I do not remember even the subject of the talks. This is not good, I need to pay more attention.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From Amy Jo on Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 21:31:47 from 68.41.252.191

Someone referred me to the advice you gave Kelley about speed vs.distance training. I found it very interesting. I am just getting started and have never been a runner. I am overweight and have built up to being able to run 2 miles but I am very slow (about 15 min/mile pace). Do you really think that focusing on the speed is more important than focusing on the distance-even at this level of running? I would love to get faster but that seems IMPOSSIBLY fast to me:) lol

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 22:08:27 from 192.168.1.1

Amy - I believe that somebody who cannot run 10:00 per mile for a long time can only get faster by running 10:00 in small segments until he is able to run it larger segments. This is different from somebody who can run under 10:00 comfortably already - they get faster by running their comfortable pace for long distances continuously and do not necessarily need to push the pace to the point that they are unable to sustain it, or even get close to that point.

So what I told Kelley applies to you to a great extent, but possibly with a couple of changes, depending on how severely overweight you are. There is a weight point past which running is not safe because the risk of injury is too high. I do not know exactly where that point is, but it is better to err on the safe side. So I would recommend riding a bike for a couple of months first to drop the weight, and strengthen the muscles, joints, and bones before you start running. It is important to ride sufficiently hard, not just coast along and enjoy the nature. Find a course with a good amount of uphill, but not so much that you cannot do it. You need to be breathing hard and your legs need to feel like they are working, and you need to be sweating. Probably start with 20 minutes a day, then increase it to 30. Monitor your progress. The weight should be coming down. If not, we need to re-evaluate.

Additionally, pay close attention to your diet. Challenge yourself to only eat foods and drink drinks that have a non-commercial name - apples, bananas, oats, rice, beans, water, orange juice, etc. The name of the food or drink must be substantially better recognized than the name of the company that makes it. That trick is something that is easy to remember that at the same time will work better than a complex set of rules with points, or lists of things you can or cannot eat, etc.

Do the bike riding for a month, then try to run and see how you feel.

From frenchmommy5 on Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 20:25:19 from 76.23.52.215

I saw a post on your blog by googling "st george marathon carpool" that you are taking a large van from Provo down tomorrow afternoon and back up right after the marathon with the extra bonus of general conference being on the radio. I would love to go with you, but I know you will finish a couple hours before me. Is this an option for you to wait? I am coming from Lehi and this is my first marathon in ten years and only my second marathon total.

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 20:45:46 from 192.168.1.1

frenchmommy5 - that was from 3 years ago. I am not going to St. George this year. However, feel free to contact other bloggers in the are via private message to see if they are going and would be willing to take you.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

A.M. 12 total. 5 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Joseph did 1.5. Jacob 0.5.

P.M. 2 miles

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
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. Total of 12. 5 with Benjamin. 2 with Jenny and Julia. Jacob and Joseph ran 0.5.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.601.000.000.9014.50

A.M. 5 with Benjamin in 34:29. He ran the last two miles in 12:16 (6:21, 5:55) which is his new 2 mile record. 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob in 4:11. This is Jacob's new record since he broke his leg. His fitness is returning. 2 with Jenny and Julia. Then I did hill sprints. At first I was struggling a lot starting out with 10.9. Eventually worked my way up to 10.2. I felt very awkward in the first one, then less awkward towards the end. Also did 0.5 pickup in 2:29.5. It felt good.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From MichelleL on Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 23:44:05 from 58.153.15.64

hurray for Benjamin! That is awesome.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.001.0014.00

A.M. 5 with Benjamin. 2 with Jenny and Julia. 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob. 4.5 alone, total of 12. Did a pickup for 1 mile in 5:19.5.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.700.000.001.3014.00

A.M. Total of 12. Did Sarah's 2 mile tempo run with her. She ran it in 15:49, which shows she is in PR shape. Her PRs came in 2002-2003 when we had first 2 and then only 3 children. Now after 7 she is back in the PR shape. She is also able to fit into her wedding dress at the age of almost 36 after being married for almost 15 years and all the children in between.The recipe of her success is simple - run 6 days a week and eat healthy. No excuses, no exceptions. No fancy training programs, no fancy diets, no special equipment, and no certified personal trainers. Just focus on the essence of things and get it done.

Ran 2 with Benjamin, Jenny and Julia - Benjamin had a sore throat. 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob. The rest alone. Did a pickup for 2100 meters in 6:58.8 - 5:19 pace.

P.M. Added another 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From steve ash on Sat, Oct 01, 2011 at 13:15:11 from 24.10.169.210

Yup. It's not rocket science for sure. I think thats great that Sarah was able to do accomplish that:) Congrats to her!

From allie on Sat, Oct 01, 2011 at 18:51:18 from 24.10.191.18

i met sarah for the first time at the TOU awards ceremony this year and i thought she was the third place woman overall. i congratulated her on her race and then she introduced herself and i realized my mistake. i felt pretty silly, but after thinking about it i'd say it's not a bad thing to be mistaken for a top 3 finisher in a marathon after having seven children. :) she looked great, and it's nice to see she has been able to stay healthy and consistent through seven pregnancies. it's true that the recipe is very simple -- unfortunately this simplicity seems to make it very difficult to figure out.

From Jake K on Mon, Oct 03, 2011 at 16:26:51 from 155.100.226.53

That simple recipe for success would go a long, long way in our country if folks would forget about quick fix gimmicks and do exactly what Sarah did! Congrats to her... and I just also wanted to say that I think its great that your whole family values health and exercise. You guys set a good example.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.200.007.300.0019.50

A.M. Total of 17.5. Did a tempo run on the Fast Running Blog 5 miler course. This course has been a stumbling block for me this year. I've had a lot of not so good workouts on it. Part of the reason is that I've been doing them alone and comparing the times to what I not too long ago got when running them with Jeff. Part of the problem is that to get to that part you have to run through construction, and for some reason this drains me mentally. And part of the problem is perpetuation - you have had a couple bad workouts, you subconsciously are expecting the workout to be bad, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. In any case, I felt it was time to break the spell.

So I started the tempo run opening with a 5:41 mile followed by 5:39. I did not like how I was feeling. After doing a quarter in 87 which felt a lot harder than it should have, I did not want to run like that any further and stopped at around 2.3 mark. Jogged a bit as I thought about what I was going to do. I could try another day, but that would mean running through that construction mess again while thinking negative thoughts subconsciously and trying to battle them consciously. There would be more negative thoughts. At the same time, if an 87 quarter after 5:40 pace for the first 2 miles felt hard, this did not predict good things for the rest of the workout. I figured I'd give it another try, this time with a more aggressive start and more mental effort put into the run. If nothing good is happening, at least I will get home faster.

So I started at the 2.5 mark in the opposite (slight uphill) direction and got the first mile in 5:35. Then I laid a goose egg with a 5:44, but it was not too bad as it was there was some minor uphill. But it wore on me mentally, and I lost steam. As I approached the turnaround I wondered if I should call it good, but decided to finish the full 5. It did help to know that on the way back I would have a small downhill. So my half-way split was 14:15, and 3 mile split was 17:08 (5:49). That was quite a goose egg, some of it is mental. I have a hard time with 180 turns. I slow down before one because I feel it is not worth it to give it a good push if you are going to lose the momentum already, and then on top of that it takes me a good half mile to get going again.

In the last two miles I felt better and gave it a good push.At first I thought just not give the 5:40 guy any more ground than he's already got on me. But then my 4th mile was 5:37, and I realized that with a 5:35 I could actually catch him, and 5:35 felt doable. So I went for it and ran the last mile in 5:30 with the last quarter in 79. This gave me 28:15.4 for the whole run, which is my fastest time of the year for this course by a few seconds. More important, though, is that I have made progress in overcoming this mental block.

Ran home, and ran with the kids. Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia did 2 miles. Joseph and Jacob did 0.5.

 After the run we listened to General Conference. There were a lot of good talks. I liked Elder Holland's talk on missionary work in the Priesthood session. I also liked Elder Anderson's talk on children. He quoted the frequently quoted scripture in Moses 1:39 that states that the purpose of God with regards to our existence is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". Then Elder Anderson stated the obvious but frequently forgotten - that before immortality there has to be mortality. In other words, before a person can receive the blessings of Heaven he must be born on earth.

Took a nap in between sessions to avoid a forced nap during the afternoon session. You must have a fresh mind when listening to General Conference talks - even though they discuss matters that appear rather simple I find them just a strenuous on the mind as lectures on deep theoretical math.

P.M. 2 miles


Green Crocs 2 Miles: 19.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. The second day of the General Conference. Elder Callister's talk stood out to me. He presented the idea that the argument that the Book of Mormon came from the inspiration of the devil belongs to the same category as the accusations against Christ that he cast out devils by the power of the devil. To which Christ responded that the kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. What I find interesting is that that exact same thought came to me during a missionary discussion on Wednesday and I shared it. I knew where that thought came from, and it was a welcome confirmation of the source to hear it expressed again in General Conference from a member of the Seventy. Further along, he quoted C.S. Lewis on the subject of Christ being called "a great teacher". C.S. Lewis did not like the idea, and for a good reason. If Christ indeed is who he says he is, it is disrespectful to call the Son of God and our Savior just "a great teacher". If he is not, he is merely an imposter or a crazy man, and as such should not be called "a great teacher". Similar logic applies to the Book of Mormon. You cannot call it "a great book of history", etc. If there is any history in it, it is true, has a divine origin, and you should follow its teaching. There is no logical middle ground either on Christ or on the Book of Mormon.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.500.000.000.7514.25

A.M. Total of 12.25. We had an adventure. We decided to go see the Frontier Airlines Provo - Denver flight take off and then do our runs on the Provo River Trail over by the Utah lake. Then we went for a run. I put William and Stephen in the stroller. Our real stroller is having issues, so we used the little one that is really not meant for running. Its wheels are too small. I thought they were big enough to go over a bump on the Provo River trail, but they were not. So down goes the cradle, baby, and all... William and Stephen both got cut lips and scraped noses, but otherwise fortunately no serious injuries.

I ran 2 with Joseph, Julia, and Jenny, then 0.5 with Jacob, and 5 with Benjamin. Also did a 0.75 pickup in 4:00 to retrieve the van because William and Stephen did not want to go back in the stroller after the accident.  Added more distance after getting home to make it 12.25.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 1 Miles: 14.25
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.100.000.000.9014.00

A.M. Total of 12. Did 5 with Benjamin, 2 with Joseph, Jenny and Julia, 0.5 of it with Jacob.Then did the hill sprints. Was surprised that the performance improved quite a bit from last time - my fastest was 9.7 (last time 10.2). And they felt more "sprinty" as well. On the way back ran 0.5 in 2:27.5, and it felt good too.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
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. I had to get up early to get my run done before going to the temple. Sarah could not sleep either and decided to run at the same time. I patrolled the trail for the duration of her run going back and forth along the route. I ended up with 7.5 miles, she did 5. Then I added another 2.5 miles to make it 10 total.

The kids ran on their own. Benjamin did 5, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Comments
From Tara on Thu, Oct 06, 2011 at 18:32:07 from 75.169.156.55

I like those family runs! Nice work.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.500.000.500.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12. 5 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph, the rest myself. Did a pickup and ran the last 0.5 in 2:48. One difference I observed between a 2:30 and a 3:00 marathoner. Both are equally comfortable at 7:30 pace. At least the probability of a 2:30 guy choosing to run at 7:30 on his easy run is not that much different from that of a 3:00 guy. However, the difference is that the 2:30 guy has a jet engine that takes some effort to engage but once it gets going he can run 5:40 pace for a long time, though quite reluctantly because of the need to focus. 3:00 guy's does not have it. Now what about a 2:10 guy? That is a different animal. His natural choice of easy pace probability curve is shifted - I do not see him happy at 7:30 pace. He might choose 7:00, but more likely 6:30 or even 6:00. And his jet engine takes him to 5:00.

Maybe what that means is that your average 3:00 guy is really an undertrained 2:40 guy. The 2:30 guy is usually well trained.  So really there is not that much of a difference between those two in terms of Quality X, which is why they choose about the same easy pace. The 2:10 guy is well trained, but has a different level of Quality X. So he chooses a faster pace for an easy run. It very well may be that the natural choice of an easy pace is a strong predictor of potential after all, or at least stronger than you would think at first.

P.M. 2 miles.


Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Burt on Sat, Oct 08, 2011 at 23:20:37 from 72.223.91.148

Hey Sasha. Long time no talk. Hope you're doing ok.

From Chad Robinson on Sat, Oct 08, 2011 at 23:57:10 from 208.110.158.227

I think that is spot on for the 3:00 and 2:30 guy. 7:30 is my go to easy pace, but 5:40 is a lot of work. I would definately say that I am an undertrained 2:40 guy. BTW, my achilles has been feeling great for a month now but I want to get up to 60 mile weeks before I join you again, which may take me until the end of November (I am taking it slow).

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12. 5 with Benjamin. 2 with Jenny and Julia. 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph. The rest alone.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.000.006.000.0022.00

A.M. 20 miles with a 5 mile tempo in the middle. Same course as last week - Fast Running Blog 5 Miler course starting at the Utah Lake. I decided to start out a bit faster on purpose, then ease off without easing too much, and then give it a push for the second half. For one reason or another I found this approach more appealing. Perhaps it is psychological. A slower starting out pace still feels hard and I start doubting my ability to keep it, which makes me slow down even more. If I start out faster, I do not worry about the slowdown because I have some capital in the bank to spend, and then I have a reason to fight the slowdown because I do not want to waste my capital. The strategy produced good results today.

First mile was 5:30. Then 5:40 (minor uphill). 14:05 at the turnaround, and the third mile in 5:45 (16:55 for 3 miles). I told myself - do not lay a goose egg on the quarter before the turnaround, but I did regardless running it in 89. However, I was able to kick into gear soon, and after a couple of transitional quarters started hitting 83s consistently like a clock. The 4th mile was 5:33 (22:28), and now I was on schedule to catch the 28:00 guy (5:36 pace) if only I could hold 83s. I hit the next 3 quarters in 83. I wanted to hit close to 80 in the penultimate quarter, but it did not work out. I think if I had somebody with me it would have happened easily. But with a quarter to go I was mad that I did not get that split, and gave it a more diligent push, which gave me 80 for the last quarter, 5:29 for the last mile, and 27:57.3 for the whole run. This is the first time I cracked 28:00 on this tempo run this year.

Ran home making it the total of 14 so far, then 5 more with Benjamin. Then I had one more mile left. I saw I need to run 5:34 to get sub-7:00 average for 20. It was going to be a stretch. I could probably have run a nice straight mile in 5:34 just fine, but it was not the mile I was running. It had a total of 10 90 degree turns and one 180 which I find very annoying when fatigued. But I tried anyway and managed 5:46. This gave me 2:20:12 for 20 miles.

Jenny and Julia did 1 mile. Joseph and Jacob did 0.5.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 22.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From MichelleL on Sat, Oct 08, 2011 at 23:50:35 from 58.153.15.64

Nicely done. Being paced by a fast guy here this week, and doing 2x5k this week, reminded me of your pacing and how grateful I am to you and all the other guys who have paced me along the journey. Just wanted to let you know I am still thoughtful and grateful for your help.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The lesson in Sunday school was on family responsibilities. I missed most of the deacons class due to a visit with the Stake Young Men councilor. Then we had a Fast and Testimony meeting. Sarah played the organ. William and Stephen decided to get fussy at the same time. This presented some challenges, but we dealt with them.

Night Sleep Time: 10.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 10.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.450.000.000.7514.20

A.M. Total of 12. 5 with Benjamin, 3 more alone, ran 0.75 in 4:01 feeling good, in fact, I was planning to run it in 4:12, but after seeing how easy the first quarter was, I decided to keep the pace. I was happy with it because it is has five 90 degree turns. 2 with Jenny. 1 with Joseph and Julia - Jacob ran 0.5 of that. 1 more alone.

I got curious about how much energy running burns and decided to research the subject. I started by looking up different calculators. Every single one of them uttered the absolutely ridiculous heresy. 5 miles at 6:00 pace takes the same or less energy as 5 miles at 12:00 pace. What a joke! The conclusion is obviously absurd. Take took guys of the same weight with 20 lb of fat they can lose, feed them the same diet, have one run 5 miles at 6:00 pace every day, have the other do the same at 12:00, do that for three months, then weigh them at the end. The 12:00 guy will lose 5 lb maybe, the 6:00 guy will have all of his extra weight gone!

So I decided to track down where this heresy comes from and found a paper that used a linear approximation of VO2 as a function of speed with positive values of a and b, so VO2 per minute per kg = a*V + b where V is velocity. Well, if we try to do it per unit of distance, since t = d/V, we get  VO2 * t = (a*V +b)*t =  (a*V+b)*(d/V) = d*(a + b/V). From this formula as V increases, the energy required to run a unit of distance (e.g one mile) decreases! That is what those calculators base it on. Now that I am remembering, this is actually an accepted fact that VO2 increase with speed is linear.

This may very well be true, but I think what the formula is missing is something like c*V^2 term, or possibly a higher power to account for the anaerobic energy use. It is wrong to assume that all "aerobic" exercise is 100% aerobic. And from what I remember about the Kerb cycle reactions, the anaerobic energy is very expensive - you have to burn a lot of carbs for that extra 10 seconds per mile of pace.

There may be another explanation as to where the energy goes, but the point is - running faster requires more energy per unit of distance, not just per unit of time.  If you have just written out a fancy proof with the end result being that 1 = 3 you may not know where your mistake is, but you can be 100% it does exist.

P.M. 2.2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From jeffmc on Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 02:29:53 from 68.227.2.226

putting aside the calculators, there is an element of truth to what you found as there have been studies performed that found that in addition to the linear increase of VO2 to increase in velocity, there is also a relationship between ml/kg/km of O2 used during running. These studies found that at constant speeds the amount of O2 used per km of running was constant whether or not the individual was running fast or slow.

The elite Africans seem to be getting numbers in the 190-200ml range on average, with Zerseny Tadesse being recorded at about 150ml of O2 per kg/km which is the lowest ever recorded level of O2 used.

What I think that the studies are leaving out is that they are trying to use O2 consumption to calculate metabolic cost, when it is apparent that VO2 is not the only factor in play. So, while VO2 use per km may remain constant at different velocities it does not mean that metabolic cost reacts in an equivalent fashion.

Using Tadesse as an example supports this, as with his VO2 max in the 80's, and a ml/kg/km of O2 consumption in the 150's, he should be able to run a marathon in under 2 hours if he is able to run the full marathon at a level equivalent to what his O2 numbers tell us. We know that this is very far from the case as he has never to my knowledge broken 2:12:00 in the marathon and has dropped out on a number of occasions.

So, I think that the calculators are simply trying to give the best estimate that they can with the knowledge that we currently have. The problem is that we don't know exactly what determines the metabolic cost of running or how much it "costs" to run a mile in 6:00 vs. 10:00. All we know is that the amount of oxygen used to run the distance is approximately the same even when practically disregarding the velocity we are running at.

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 16:35:40 from 192.168.1.1

Jeff:

Do you know if anybody has tried to measure the mechanical energy required to run? This should be fairly simple if you have a treadmill with force plates. You can get the work against ground from the ground reaction forces, and assume that the work in the air is a small constant fraction of that.

From jeffmc on Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 17:40:05 from 131.216.80.154

Rodger Kram up at the University of Colorado has done a lot of work with energy cost of running, and has an Alter-G treadmill that he built force plates into. The focus of his research is looking into the energy cost of locomotion (walking, running, etc.). He has even done research with animals (from elephants to bugs) to compare their energy cost to that of humans. I would look him up first and then branch out from there.

I believe that some other researchers figured out a way to determine caloric cost of running as well, although I do not recall their methods. That would be something to look at as well.

From AZDesertmonsoon on Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 19:02:14 from 204.17.31.126

Here is a word doc of a study called "The Effects of Running Speed on the Metabolic and mechanical Energy Costs of Running" in the Journal of Physiology Online.

This study suggests that the metabolic cost per distance remains relatively constant across running speeds while mechanical cost per distance decreases as speed increases.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffaculty.css.edu%2Ftboone2%2Fasep%2FHarris.doc&rct=j&q=THE%20EFFECTS%20OF%20RUNNING%20SPEED%20ON%20THE%20METABOLIC%20AND%20MECHANICAL%20ENERGY%20COSTS%20OF%20RUNNING&ei=QRGWTvbrKJTjsQKD15jwAQ&usg=AFQjCNF1BpcxNPnyMp-Fgd_mZUcSom4d9g&cad=rja

From jeffmc on Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 21:41:27 from 131.216.80.154

Interesting article. I would be interested to see if someone has performed a similar study at faster speeds. The runners in this study had 10k times ranging from 29:30-36:00 yet their running speed ranged from about 11:30-6:40 per mile. The runners told researchers that the two fastest speeds (3.67m/s and 4.00m/s) felt the most comfortable, but those are also the speeds that were the closest to the speeds that most of the runners trained at. Would mechanical cost for these runners climb as they started to run at speeds that were not so easy?

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.300.000.000.8014.10

A.M. Started with 5 with Benjamin which included hill sprints for me, but not for him as his foot felt tender. I did most of them in 9.9, but managed one in 9.3. Not sure how that happened. Then I did 0.5 in 2:27.4 hitting every single split exactly the same as last Tuesday.I have marks at 200, 300, 500, 600, and 700, and I checked all of them. I am quite a geek, I realize, as I remembered all of those splits from last week without recording them. Then did 2 with Jenny, 1 with Joseph and Julia, 0.5 with Jacob, and the rest myself to make the total 12 miles.

P.M. Benjamin and Joseph ran in a 1.5 K cross-country race in the Kiwanis Park. Benjamin finished 6th overall while winning the Midget division in 5:37. Joseph took second in the Pre-Bantam with 7:33. There were about 60 kids total in the race, quite a turnout. I was expecting fewer than that. Who knows what that was worth on the track, though.

I ran 2.1 miles later in the evening.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.10
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.505.500.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12. Started with 5 with Benjamin. We paced Sarah through 0.75 in 5:32. Then we went further on the trail and shortly before the turnaround saw a girl going about 8:00 that made a good chasing target that ended up about 2:00 ahead of us once we turned around. So I gave Benjamin a challenge to catch her. He did quarters of 86 followed by 83, and there was still no sign of her. Then we had to stop to cross the road as the tunnel was flooded. My watch did not stop. We lost about 20 seconds. We started going and Benjamin was anxious to catch somebody still. Then we saw another girl going about 9:30, and she was quite far away. However, Benjamin hit the gas pedal again, and we ran 600 in 2:04 and actually caught her before it was time to get off the trail. So we ended up with a 5:58 mile that included about a 20 second stop. This would be Benjamin's PR if you took out those 20 seconds, and it also shows about what his race on Tuesday was worth.Definitely quite a bit more than 5:37 1500 for sure. Jenny ran the first 0.75 with us, then turned around and ended up with 1.5.

I ran 1.5 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Julia and Jacob. Then I decided to do an experiment. I wanted to know how much weight is lost at sub-6:00 over 5 miles in 50 F if you are wearing shorts and a T-shirt. So I weighed myself before the start and it was 146.2. Then I ran 5 miles on my nasty course. I really do not like that course, but I do not have anything better that starts and finishes at the house. Total of 14 90 degree turns, one 180 turn, 2 road crossings (flooded tunnel) complemented by dodging a gate each time, 4 tunnels, and 2 wooden bridge crossings.  I did the tempo run with the following splits - 5:56, 5:55, 5:50 (14:50 at the turnaround), 5:38, 5:36 - total 28:55.7. Felt good. When I finished I weighed myself again and it was 145.0. So 1.2 lb went away somewhere. There were no bathroom visits in between the weight measurements. So where did it all go?

 I was probably using up about 4.3 liters of oxygen per minute, and thus emitting about the same volume of carbon dioxide. So that is about 124 liters of CO2 that came out. Enough to fill up a small tank. Now we have to consider that O2 came in to produce CO2 that came out. CO2 density at 32 F and normal atmospheric pressure is 1.977 grams per liter. That should be good enough for this estimate. O2 density under the same conditions is 1.429 grams per liter. So 124 * (1.977 - 1.429) gives us about 68 grams of carbon lost via breathing. That is about 12% of the total weight loss! Through an intricate chemical process you could in theory collect all of this CO2 and make diamonds out of it. The process, of course, would cost more than the value of the diamonds produced. The rest was sweat I suppose.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Chad Robinson on Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 18:24:05 from 50.73.39.89

Quick question - I plan on wheeling out and marking my 4 miles course (2 mile out-and-back) tomorrow and I was wondering if I should mark the (8) 400's and tack on the remainder at the end, make the 400's a little longer to pick up the remainder, or ignore the remainder altogether.

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 14:24:03 from 192.168.1.1

Chad - I'd say mark it every 1320 feet ( exactly quarter mile) - then you do not have to worry about the remainders.

From RAD on Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 16:36:50 from 76.27.16.189

What I learned today from Sasha: When I run, I'm making diamonds! awesome.

(okay, I understand that wasn't the whole point of that, but I loved the end result of the computations to figure out the weight loss. Few people would be bright enough to make it that far into a mathematical equation like that without getting lost)

Awesome running Benjamin! Love having a target to conquer.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12. 5 with Benjamin. Jenny did the first mile with us, and then turned around - total of 2. 1.5 with Julia. Joseph did 1, Jacob 0.5. Added the rest alone.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.250.000.000.7514.00

A.M. Usual 12. 5 with Benjamin. Jenny did 2. Julia did 1.5. Jacob 0.5. Joseph 1. I did a pickup for 0.75 in 3:58. It felt good.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.0010.000.000.0022.00

A.M. 20 mile run to Bridal Veil Falls and back. On the way out ran 7:00 pace up until I got to the Provo Canyon. Then slowed down to 7:30 for a while as the wind did not want me to enter the canyon, and then sped back up to around 7:15 after that. The time at the turnaround was 1:11:11. On the way back ran a tempo. I knew it was going to be good, but I was not looking forward to it. It was not the tempo that I minded, I suppose, I just did not like to run all 20 alone. But I did not have anybody with me today, so I did not have a choice. I suppose I did have a choice to run less or not at all but those were not reasonable choices and had the consequences attached to them that I did not want. 

So it was actually nice to run the last 10 fast - less time, a feeling of accomplishment, and the time is spent in a trance of sorts. There is some pain from the effort, but definitely no boredom. So I turned on the jet engine and went. Learning from the experience in the last two weeks, and, come to think of it, my entire racing experience, I decided to be a bit more aggressive in the early miles to get a good split and feel like I have some vested stake in the run. I've seen the jet engine work for years, but it never ceases to amaze me how one moment you are going 7:00 and you feel like you are working, and then the next moment you are going 5:30 and not only are you still alive, but you can keep it for 10 miles.

I hit my 3 mile downhill tempo course in 16:30, which starts around 0.5 into the tempo, and then was maintaining something in the 5:40 range for the next 2 miles or so (small downhill). My split at 6 miles  was 33:13, and then 39:04 at 7 miles (5:51 - uphill). Then I did 5:48 (downhill, but with turns, a bridge and a tunnel), followed by a nice warm goose egg of 5:54. The turns, tunnels, bumpy road, and bridges were too much for me by that point and I was losing concentration. On the positive side, this mile consisted of a half in 3:00, followed by kicking into gear and speeding up to 5:48. In the last mile I said enough goose eggs and ran it in 5:40. It took some effort, but I did feel that if I had somebody challenging me, I would go faster. My time for the last 10 miles was 56:26. I was happy that I was able to show the 5:40 guy who is the boss by 14 seconds. This was my fastest time this year for the course. It is not too far away from my best time ever, which is 55:38.

I weighed myself at 145.0 before the run, and was down to 141.4 after. So 3.6 lb loss over 20 miles. By the evening I got it all back up with a plus - 147 something, which is good - pack some nutrition and liquid. I have been wondering lately, however, if it is possible for me to weigh 138 lb at the start of a race with the same muscle strength and bone health. I do have to specify "at the start of a race" because of the fluctuation of as much as 10 lb depending on when the weight is measured. So somewhat on a whim I decided to try an experiment - do push-ups and situps twice a day to cause some muscle activity where it normally does not happen in hopes of packing my strength more compactly.The idea is that a slow-twitch fiber muscle mass gain will be small, but the activity will reduce the fat mass with a small net positive, and every little bit counts.

I've also been eating fiber to try to clean out the gut better. It may not be a lot, but there is no reason to carry that stuff around. 5 lb of dead weight for somebody in the 150 lb/16:00 5 K range is worth about 8 seconds a mile based off the VO2 Max model - assuming that VO2 max for a given runner on a given day determines performance 100%, and then going to the charts to see how much faster you would run with the current_weight/(current_weight-dead_weight) increase in VO2 max. Flawed model, but good enough for a quick and dirty estimate.  When the weight fluctuates as much as it does it is hard to measure the progress, but I think in the last two weeks I managed to get rid of at least 3 useless pounds.

P.M. 2 miles


Green Crocs 2 Miles: 22.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 9.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The lesson in Sunday school was on eternal marriage. Then I went to the deacons' class, where the lesson was on perfection through the Atonement of Christ. The Sacrament meeting was taken up by the Primary program. Four out of our seven children were up there. Benjamin was too old, while William and Steven too young.

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. 12 total. 5 with Benjamin, then some with the other kids and alone. Jenny did 2, Julia 2 as well. Joseph did 1, and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.250.000.001.0014.25

A.M. Total of 12. Benjamin did 3.5 with me. Did hill sprints. They were a bit longer because I could not find my old marks. Did 10 of them, the fastest was 11.7. Then did a 0.5 pickup in 2:28.0. Felt a bit sluggish. Ran with the other kids - Jenny 2, Joseph and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. Benjamin and Joseph ran in a cross-country meet at Kiwani's park. It was 3 K. Benjamin won the Midgets again with 11:32, and it was good enough for 5th overall. He battled in the kick with a boy about 3 years or so older, and lost respectably - only a second. I was expecting him to lose that kick by more, but he has matured now and his kick is very solid. Joseph ran 16:07 taking third in the Pre-Bantam. He has crazy turnover - bam-bam-bam-bam-bam. I ran 2 miles later.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.25
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.001.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12. Did 5 with Benjamin. Jenny did 2. We paced Sarah through a 0.5 "shake the cobwebs" run in 3:27.4. She is making progress. Now sub-7:00 for 0.5. Her mile record is 6:52, and she is shaking her fist at it. After giving birth to seven children!

Benjamin felt energetic in the last quarter, so we ran it in 79.

Then I ran with the other kids. Julia did 2, Joseph 1.5, Jacob 0.5. Then I finished the run and did my own "shake the cobwebs" 0.75 in 3:48.1. Did not like how it felt. I wanted to hit 3:45 without feeling excessively anaerobic. I did not even hit the pace, and was feeling quite anaerobic already. You would think that if I can coast at 5:40 essentially forever I should be able to hit 5:00 for less than a mile without feeling too bad yet, but it does not happen. I suppose what I am observing is the proverbial resistance as you try to poke your head out of your currently aerobic zone and claim some new territory on the frontier. It is like stepping out of the safety of the trenches straight into the enemy fire. But new territory does not come unless you fight for it.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.250.250.750.7514.00

A.M. Total of 12.Started with a warmup and a cobweb shakeout 0.75. It went better this time. I got 3:45.7 with almost perfectly even quarters. I also figured out a trick on how to survive under enemy fire with more comfort - exhale more vigorously. This allows you to be more aerobic. Perhaps another contributing factor was the weight at the start of the run. Yesterday it was 146.6, today it was 145.0. However, yesterday I waited until the end of the run to do the "shakeout", while today I did it first thing. So I was probably close to 145 when I started it yesterday as well, except this morning I was fresher, which could also be a factor. But at the same time, yesterday was warmer, which helped. So I would say the difference is most likely explained by having had some practice at the pace from the day before.

Then 5 with Benjamin. The Utah County pumped out the water from under the bridge, so now we had a good mile. I remembered that at around 3.5 mark into the run, and challenged Benjamin to break his PR of 5:43 in the middle of 5. He resisted, I told him to at least try 5:40 pace for the first 0.5, and if it did not feel good, ease off there. So he decided to be obedient and went for it. First quarter in 82, then 83. He was holding the pace just fine, but in his mind he figured he was done. Just like in this joke. In Doctrine and Covenants in multiple places it takes about the worth of one soul, and how great shall be your joy if you should labor all your days and bring just one soul into God's kingdom. So a missionary says to the mission president - I've baptized that one soul, can I go home? So Benjamin just slowed down to a jog. I did not and yelled at him to catch me. He hesitated for some time, but then decided to be like Nephi rather than Laman and Lemuel. I slowed down to the pace that was fast enough for Benjamin to get the record, but slow enough that he would be able to catch me within a reasonable time. That ended up being a 92 quarter. Benjamin caught up, ran the last quarter in 81, and we ended up with the mile in 5:38.6, which is his new record. As soon as he finished he told me he was glad he obeyed and got the record.

I ran with the other kids. Jacob and Julia did 0.5, Joseph 1. I added some more to make the total 12.

P.M. 2 miles

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From jeffmc on Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 21:54:14 from 131.216.80.154

Benjamin being able to run 5:38 in this scenario tells me that he could run under 5:30 right now given the right situation.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.005.000.0018.00

A.M. 16 miles total. I knew that I would not be able to do a long run on Saturday, so I decided to do a medium long today instead with a tempo. I did the Fast Running Blog 5 mile course in the normal direction. The weight at the start of the run was 144.4, so I was likely low on glycogen. It did show in the run. I opened with 5:29, then 5:32, and then three goose eggs in a row - 5:44, 5:42, 5:42. Total time 28:09.8. Some of it was the 180 turn and a slight uphill on the way back. But the difference of 13:51 - 14:18 in the halves was more than the uphill and broken rhythm could explain. Still, I'll take the bonk/goose egg pace of 5:42, it beats 5:50 that I was seeing in the spring.

Came home, then ran 5 with Benjamin (Jenny did 2), and 2 with Julia. Joseph did 1, and Jacob did 1.5.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 18.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.501.006.500.0015.00

A.M. Had only time for 12, and had to get up at 6:00 AM to do it. I suppose I could have gotten up earlier, but there is a fine balance between stress and recovery. At some point getting up earlier to run more miles becomes counterproductive, especially if you have a busy day ahead. The weight at the start of the run was 143.2, so even less glycogen apparently than the day before, and it did show. I wanted to get a better understanding of yesterday's 5:42 goose eggs, so I decided to do some moderate fast running in the middle of my run. I did not have a clear plan, just wanted to go at 5:30 pace until I started fading, maybe go some more to understand the pattern better, then jog some and try the same effort again to see what it would yield. 

So I did the first 2.5 of the yesterday's tempo in 13:59. The first mile was 5:32, then I slowed down to 5:39, but did not slow down more after that. After a bit over 2 miles of jogging I was back at the same spot and decided to run some distance of the second half of the tempo. From the start I noticed that I was feeling sluggish but at the same time the pace felt sustainable. It was marathon type "I am at mile 15, and I do not want to dump all of my fuel right there and then quite yet" feeling. Yet the pace was 5:37 for the first mile. Then I struggled in the next mile doing it in 5:46, but it had some uphill, and then was able to shift gears and run 2:45 for the last 0.5 which gave me 14:08 for the 2.5. So adjusting for the terrain difference between going out and going back, I essentially repeated my earlier 13:59 effort, but it felt different, more suitable for the marathon. In the first repetition I felt like I was running a bad half. In the second it felt more like a good marathon.

One thing that I did differently was an attempt to lighten the push while increasing the leg turnover. I do not know if the leg turnover was actually higher, but this was the cue I used. Regardless, I think what was happening is an increased recruitment of the true slow twitch fibers that are less glycogen-hungry as opposed to the intermediate 5K fibers that eat glycogen like there is no tomorrow. It is easier to run 5:40 pace by recruiting the 5 K monsters, as they are strong and this pace for them is a jog. Recruiting the marathon fibers to run 5:40 requires some practice.

On the way back saw that I needed to run the last 0.75 in 5:02 to break 6:40 average for 12. I moved my legs a bit, and ended up running it in 4:37, 6:10 pace. What was odd is that it felt like 6:40, maybe a bit under. I did not expect that at this point of depletion.

Benjamin did 5, Jenny 2, Julia 2, and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. Joseph ran 1.4 around the track at Runner's Corner. We went there to get Benjamin a pair of spikes. We ended up getting a non-spiked version of cross-country shoes for $20.

I ran 3 miles later with the last 1.5 in 8:44.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 15.00
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 a lesson on the law of chastity in Sunday school. A very basic subject, one of the Ten Commandments, and also taught at a higher level in the Sermon on the Mount. But, as evidenced by the commercial success of various enterprises that promote unchaste behavior, apparently this commandment is not well understood. Even in the Utah County. If it was, many DVD rentals would go out of business with the selection they offer.

Interestingly enough, the lesson in the deacon's quorum was on avoiding temptation. Then the talks in the Sacrament meeting discussed teaching the Gospel in the family. One sister told about how the experience she had with reading the scriptures and the family home evening growing up. She said she enjoyed it. It was a memorable experience for her. She asked her mother why it did not happen more often. The answer was: "Because you, kids, hated it." What I learned from this is that the kids may express negative thoughts at times, but we must have the faith to persist in the course that was given us by the Lord through His prophets. They will later appreciate it.

Interestingly enough, I do not recall our kids ever complaining about either the family scripture study or the family home evening. In fact, the oldest three - Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia in addition read the scriptures on their own without a reminder. Joseph and Jacob do a supervised personal study with a parent or an older sibling helping them find their place and helping them with the difficult words if needed.

I do not know if it is just that we got very good kids, or maybe it has something to do with the environment and upbringing. We never miss. We will postpone or cancel whatever needs to be postponed or canceled, we will do it in the most inconvenient circumstances if needed, but it will happen. We believe that if a certain form of entertainment is not appropriate for a child it is not appropriate for the adults either. We do not have any video games and the like in the home. We home school, which mean that our children spend more time with the parents. Our kids are expected to work in some way, and there is always plenty of opportunity. We eat at least one meal a day together. They never eat junk food and never watch dumb TV shows. In fact, we do not even have a cable TV subscription. Ironically, the only time we wish we did is during the General Conference, but radio does the trick.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From jeffmc on Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 16:32:38 from 68.227.0.14

Sasha, you have the internet. The church streams all of conference live over the internet now. All you need to do is bring a computer from your office out into the play room twice a year and you can watch conference on that. I am assuming that your tv doesn't have a hookup for the computer in order to watch conference on the tv, but if it does that would also be an option.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.002.500.0014.00

A.M. Ran with Neal Ferrin. We did a 2.5 tempo on my "obstacle" course. It went quite well - we ended up with 13:40.9, 5:28 pace done very consistently. It was good to run with somebody. After the tempo I ran 5 with Benjamin. Jenny did 1.5, Julia 2, Jacob 0.5, Joseph 1. I ended up with a total of 12.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.002.000.000.0015.00

A.M. Ran with the kids. Benjamin did 5. Jenny and Julia 1. Joseph 1. Jacob 0.5. I ran some more to make the total 12. Ran the last 2 miles quicker, wanted to be done with it, and also wanted to practice economical running. The time for the last 2 miles was 11:32, 5:46 average pace.

P.M. 3 miles with Sarah in 26:14.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From seeaprilrun on Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 22:34:01 from 68.103.254.223

This looks like a familiar workout.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.750.000.000.7515.50

A.M. Ran 0.75 in about 3:46. I had 2:29 at 0.5, but then ran into some adventures. Had to yell at two groups of teenagers to get out of the way as they were blocking the trail, and lost concentration. On top of that, missed my finish mark.Then came home, and ran with the kids. Ran with 0.5 with Jenny, Julia, and Jacob did 0.5. Ran 1 with Joseph. 6 with Benjamin. Taught him some Russian. We learned the phrase "Ещё немного, ещё чуть-чуть.", which means - "just a little bit left, just a tiny bit". I grew up with it. It was used to teach Russian kids to endure in a sport.You would often hear it during a track meet.

Come to think of it, it is much more effective for preparing world-class athletes than today's: "Everyone is a winner!" It is not the overhyped  excitement that wins, it is the quiet perseverance.

Total of 12 miles.

P.M. Total of 3.5. Part of it was 1 mile run with the scouts. I was amazed at how many of them could not handle the virtual pregnancy 5 K pace for even a mile. Sarah ran a 5 K in 34:37 while 8 months pregnant, and she is not a natural athlete. When we first got married and she tried to run with me I thought she had some kind of a heart condition. So I figure it is fair to call anybody under 40 years old who cannot beat that time "virtually pregnant". Hmm...a  high incidence of virtual teenage pregnancy among boys. Not good.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 15.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From timp on Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 08:23:58 from 99.110.188.230

I like that virtual pregnancy 5 K pace concept. I told my family about that one this weekend.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 12 miles total. 5 of it with Benjamin. Ran with the other kids as well. Jenny and Julia did 1.5. Joseph did 1. Jacob 0.5.

P.M. Chess tournament. Had a good day, won both games. Interestingly enough, in both the opponents lost their queen on a blunder. Rating got up to 1565, the highest ever. Benjamin lost against an 1800+ guy, then won against a 1400. The game that he won was quite dramatic. Benjamin was one move away from getting mated, but he found a combination that sacrificed the rook, but eventually won the queen eliminating the threat of mate and winning the game.

His rating went up a little bit as well, he is now at 1575. I feel like I've proved to some extent that an old dog can still learn new tricks. It was inevitable, of course, that he would pass me in rating at some point, but I am happy that at the age of 38 I can keep up somewhat in the rating progress with my 12-year old son. Chess is a great way for us to connect because it is one thing where we are essentially equal. We play correspondence games online to improve our skills. We do it as a team, and discuss our moves. Sometimes we disagree on what the best move is. When it happens the one arguing against the move takes the side of the opponent and we play it out for a few moves. The proponent of the move must demonstrate that he can deal with attempted refutations. The opponent must find a refutation. There is more than a good chess move that comes out of this process. We are learning critical reasoning and how to disagree in a constructive way and then possibly accept correction so that we both are eventually led to the right answer.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.002.0014.50

A.M. 12.5 miles total. 5 with Benjamin.Did 4x0.5 workout in the middle. Benjamin did the first repetition with me. I told him to make it to 600, then if he felt like he could run another 200 finish the repeat. We made it to 600 in 1:50. Then Benjamin backed off and finished in 2:32, which is his new record and a symbolic time because I ran 2:32.8 800 on the track at the age of 12 years and about a month. Benjamin is 12 years and 8 months old, so he is older. However, he did this in towards the end of a 5 mile run. Any distance with a significant anaerobic component that  results in a near maximum heart rate at the end is run best when you start with an HR of about 20-25% above resting. In other words, if you stop and let your HR drop, you will race an all out 800 probably good 5 seconds faster if not more even if you are extremely well aerobically developed. So all in all, he is doing OK.

I kept the pace more or less and finished in 2:28. My next repeat was with only 100 meters recovery, so I was feeling it some, but it was not too bad - 2:29.3. The remaining two were with longer recoveries and I got 2:28.3 and 2:28.1. The last one involved some dog dodging. I came to an almost complete stop as a dog lunged in front of me. I do not mind being chased by a dog, but I really do not like it when it jumps right in front of me. So I lost some rhythm, but made up the time anyway as I was a bit upset and gave it a push.

Jenny did 1.5, Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.0010.000.000.0022.00

A.M. Usual 20 miler. Benjamin ran the first 2 miles of it with me, then turned back. He ended up doing 5, including 1 mile with Joseph. Jacob did 0.5 with them. Jenny and Julia did 1.5. When I approached the Provo Canyon I realized a race was taking place on the trail. At first I thought it was some small race, but then I remembered that Halloween was approaching, so this must have been the Halloween half marathon. Seeing the spread among the leaders, I figured there were not a lot of people in the race. Turned out I was wrong. There was a huge crowd, and it kept getting bigger and bigger. I saw the 1:30 pacer, that was James Moore, and I think Allie was with him, then 1:40 pacer, then 1:50 pacer, then 2:00, then 2:10. I wondered how I would be able to do my tempo on the way back as the trail was completely blocked by the crowd running somewhere in the 9:00 - 10:00 pace range. I also saw various expressions of idiocy under the guise of a Halloween costume. I was not looking forward to seeing it again on my way back.

My split at 10 miles was 1:11:15 or so.  Then I turned around and started the tempo. My that time I was around the people headed for around 2:15, so for a while the crowd was not too thick, but not for long. As soon as I caught the 2:10 pacers, things became challenging. However, I managed to find a way to deal with the mess and maintain good speed. Most people got out of the way upon request. I had to issue that request every 5-10 seconds. I discovered that a two-syllable exclamation does not interfere with the breathing too bad if you wait to do it until it is time to exhale. Once in a while I had to do a maneuver similar to what we frequently see happening on I-15 during rush hour. I had to step on the dirt only two or three times, and bumped into a runner only once with a few more near misses, but those do not count. Somehow with all of the adventures I pulled off around 5:35 average pace through that section, which lasted around 4 miles, and it did not feel too hard.

Then it was finally over, and I was able to run normally. Not sure what the mile splits were exactly earlier, but I started caring about them only when I got past 6. I did the uphill mile in 5:47, then the next adventure mile in 5:47 again, then one more adventure mile in 5:47, and then I was fed up with it and ran the last mile, which is adventurous as well in 5:38. This gave me 56:31 for the last 10 miles. I was happy to have hit sub-5:40 average again on this course in this workout. At the end I felt strong, no perceived fuel shortage, but at the same time I could not put that strength to use. Nevertheless, I was happy to have felt this way - my weight at the end of the run was a low 141 lb, and I got it up to 147 by the evening. So I must have been quite depleted, and it is good to know that I can run sub-5:40 while at that level of depletion.

P.M. 2 miles

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 22.00
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. The Sunday school lesson was on the New Testament, talked about 1 John 4 where John draws the connection between loving God and obeying the commandments. Then I went to the combined meeting of young men and young women where the lesson was on gratitude. Then we had a Sacrament meeting. Our family did a musical number. We sang "I am a child of God" with Sarah playing the flute. Yes, I went up and sang. So did all of the children. Even William tried to sing. Stephen stayed quiet, which I think is good for a 14 month old during a musical number. Sarah was concerned that William might wonder off and try to be disruptive, but I said that somebody in the congregation would stop him, and if they did not, they would deserve the disruption.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

A.M. 12 total. 5 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia did 2. Joseph 1, Jacob 0.5. Ran a couple of miles with Neal.

P.M. For Halloween I was a runner. Ran 2 miles. I even wore a costume. Shorts and long-sleeved T-shirt.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
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. Total of 12, some of it with this kids. Benjamin did 5, Jenny and Julia 2, Jospeh 1, and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
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. Early morning run before going to the temple. Sarah was awake so she ran with me patrolling the trail for the first 2.5, then I ran the last 2.5 with her. She got 20:53. I did a total of 10 miles. Kids ran on their own. Benjamin 5, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.001.250.750.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12. Some with the kids. Benjamin 5, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, Jacob 0.5. Ran the last 2 miles in 11:08. Jeff Coombs was on the trail, he ran the first mile of it with me. With 0.75 to go my split was 7:11, and I decided to speed up to catch the 5:40 guy. 5:45 pace earlier felt comfortable, but no walk in the park. So I thought it would be a challenge to speed up to 5:32 pace. However, I surprised myself and ran the last 0.75 in 3:57 with the quarters of 80, 79, 78 quite comfortably.At the end of the run I weighed 141.6 lb, but unlike on Saturday, and particularly a couple of weeks ago, I was apparently not glycogen depleted at that weight. At least not enough to struggle with the pace.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.001.000.0014.00

A.M. 12 miles, some with the kids. 5 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob. Picked up in the last mile, ran it in 5:45. It was windy, so it felt a bit hard.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.003.003.000.0022.00

A.M. Long run. Did not want to run in the Provo Canyon today as it got colder. When it first gets cold it is important to take it easy to avoid the risk of getting sick. So I took it easy the whole week more or less, and decided to take it easy in the long run as well. So I ran the first 9.75 miles with the kids. 0.5 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, 2 with Jenny and Julia, and I talked Benjamin into going 6 with me to reduce my lonely mileage by one mile. About 4.5 miles into it he remarked that he was moving not that much slower than his official 10 K record (45:34), so I challenged him to beat it. He had to add a quarter mile (really only 0.21, but we added a full quarter anyway). Then he went fast. His last mile was 5:59, and his time for 6.25 was 45:12.

Then I went to the Fast Running Blog 5 mile course and did a mild tempo. I was not sure what goal I had in mind except run faster than 6:00 pace. The first mile was 5:55. It felt good, almost like a jog, but I did not feel like going any faster. Nevertheless I gave myself a kick in the pants and ran the next mile in 5:47. My time at the turnaround was 14:38. At this point I decided I wanted to break 29:00. At 4 miles my split was 23:13. I was not looking forward to running the last mile in under 5:47 as it is not a pleasant mile. Nevertheless I found an extra gear and ran it in 5:35, which gave me 28:48 for 5 miles. I was happy about that extra gear. It felt so good to kick into it. I like the way it felt - I was going faster, it felt hard but it did not feel miserable. It is one thing to be able to just go fast. But it is something else when you can go fast and enjoy it. Especially after having run 18 miles already.

Total distance was 20 miles.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 22.00
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 as usual. The lesson in Sunday school was on the spirit world. We learned about the importance of not procrastinating the day of our repentance. Once you lose your body, the spirit has a very limited capacity to improve. What a waste of time it is to live on the earth wondering if there is a God and saying you will believe when you see Him! The whole reason He placed us here is so we would learn to do His work going off the faith.

The lesson in the deacon's quorum was on the Sacrament. Then we had a Fast and Testimony meeting.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.750.750.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12. Some with the kids. 5 with Benjamin. 2 with Jenny and Julia. 1 with Joseph. 0.5 with Jacob. Ran the last 1.5 at a quick pace. Started out with an 87 quarter, then 83, 86 through the tunnel, and then shifted gears and did 83, 82, 82 for a total of 8:23.6. 5:30 pace felt good. I was breathing more, but I felt in control.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 8.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

A.M. Ran a total of 12. Paced Sarah through a 2 mile tempo at the end of her 5 in 15:53. Ran 5 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob.

P.M. We had a CPR class. Our friend is a certified teacher, so she did it at our house. We had a group of 8 people. 2 miles after that. Then I dreamt about doing CPR for the whole night.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.800.000.001.3014.10

A.M. Total of 14.1. Met Neal on the trail. We did my weird 2100 meter interval from the DI bridge to the Union Pacific bridge. The "dream" target was to average 5:00 pace through it. However, it was cold - 21 F at the start of the run. So that made it difficult. Also, the "dream" target assumed Neal would be able to hold it without problems, but he ended up having some problems today. So it went like this - 75, 74 for the first two quarters. The pace felt fast at first, the air was cold, and I was concerned that I might fade badly. But I got used to it as we went along and my confidence kept increasing. Our next quarter was 77, which was expected due to the tunnel under 820 N. The one after that started feeling easy, and for a good reason because we did it in 76, and it is a nice quarter. Should have been 75 with the same effort. Our mile split was 5:03. Around that point I started feeling comfortable enough to pass Neal. I hesitated some because I was not prepared for him struggling at this pace. So due to this hesitation I ended up with a 200 in 39. I was actually feeling quite good, but not good enough to shift gears from 5:10 to 5:00. So I ended up coasting for the last 300 meters in 58. It would have been a 57, but there was a girl on a skate board blocking the passageway around the barricade that I normally take, so I had to take the other one, which gave me a longer route and also resulted in a loss of badly needed concentration. The time for the "weird interval" was 6:40, which is 18 seconds faster than my previous fastest time this year, and is a 5:05 per mile average. Neal finished it in 6:46. Then we ran some more, and found Jeff Combs. He ran with us, then Neal went home, and Jeff and I went to get the kids.

We ran 0.5 with Jacob, 2 with Jenny (Julia did 1), 1 with Joseph and Benjamin, and 4 more with Benjamin, so he ended up with 5. Jeff turned around and ran home when we had 1 mile left.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.10
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.801.200.000.0014.00

A.M. 12 miles total. Some with the kids. Benjamin did 5. We did race pace pickups to tune up for the 3 K cross-country race. 300 in 1:05, a quarter in 84, then 1200 in 4:19. Jenny did 2, Julia 1.5, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. 

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.001.500.000.0015.50

A.M. Total of 15.5. Ran some with the kids. Benjamin did 3 including 0.5 in 2:51 to practice race pace. Jenny did 2. Julia 1. Joseph 1. Jacob 0.5. Then I ran 4 more including 1 mile in 5:39. Then we went to look at a house in Orem near Orem High. We have been thinking of either building a new house or buying one. The Lord has poured out so many blessings there is not enough room to receive them. So we are house shopping. The requirements, of course, are for it to be big enough (2600 sq feet), have at least two full bathrooms, be affordable, and be properly positioned for running. At first I was not considering Orem because the only places that appeared to have easy access to the Provo River trail were  exceptionally expensive or just too far away. I needed something withing 0.5 mile I thought. But then I got an idea. If we lived close to Orem High, the little kids could run on the track, and then being a little further from the trail would be OK.  So this location is about 0.45 from Orem High, and it is a very nice mostly car free 0.45, and about 0.62 of very nice running from Carterville road access at 400 S, which is just as good as the trail, perhaps even better as you can get to the Provo Canyon with less interactive from the cars on Carterville road than you would coming straight out of the crazy expensive River Bottoms area. I ran 5.5 miles around the area to evaluate it and gave it a go. Sarah looked at the house and gave it a go too. So we made an offer on it. $125 K for 2900 sq feet. The house needs work, but nothing crazy. Short sale, so there are multiple offers and it takes time to get approved. But we can wait.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 15.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Tom on Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 18:59:34 from 137.65.56.2

Congrats on the home purchase!

From jeffmc on Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 21:12:02 from 131.216.80.154

You may have trouble getting access to the orem high track during school hours as PE classes might be using it. I have been kicked off of tracks before (when they were not in use) simply because I was there during school hours.

From Kory on Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 01:18:18 from 134.50.201.14

Our you still doing private Linux consulting?

From Holt on Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 15:47:12 from 204.113.55.41

Good luck getting the house. Seems like it could be a good move for your fam.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.5011.500.000.0022.00

A.M. Ran with Jenny and Julia - 2 miles, also with Jacob 0.5. Then did the rest of my long run. Benjamin and Joseph did not run because they were running in the Utah State Cross-Country Championship later. I did the flat 10 mile tempo on the 5 miler course. At the start of the run I weighed 141.8. This was caused to some extent by some stomach problems I experienced in the last few days. I was not feeling bad, but for some reason I kept having liquid stool, which means, likely, that the nutrients were not going in. At least two weeks ago that weight meant near depletion, I had it at the end of the 20 mile run.

So I did another 2 miles of warm-up and then started the tempo. The pace did not feel easy, but I could hold it. The splits by 2.5 were 14:26 - 14:33 - 14:28 - 14:31. All miles fell in the range of 5:46 to 5:50. Total time was 57:58. I think I lost some time on the leaves. There were a lot of leaves on the ground. Last mile was 5:48. So I did not have a whole lot of juice left, but I had enough to maintain the pace at least.

After the tempo I felt sluggish, but I still had 5.5 miles left to go. At first I did not feel like going faster than 9:00. I eventually coaxed myself into 7:20 pace after a couple of miles. In the last 0.5 I decided to measure how much fuel I had left. It turned out that I did not have a whole lot. I struggled through two 93 second quarters. They did have a lot of turns, but still I usually can crack 6:00 pace even after all the adventures. I weighed myself after the run and measured 138.6 lb. Still, 6:12 pace means I had some glycogen in the muscles. When it is completely gone, the pace becomes more like 6:30. Either that, or I learned to run 6:12 off blood sugar and fat, which would be very nice because that would mean that I would never crash beyond that in a marathon as long as my stomach can still process the sports drinks.

P.M. Went to the State Cross Country Meet. Benjamin ran 3 K in 11:35 finishing second after Aiden Troutner. He was in contact through the first half of the race, actually leading most of the time, but then Aiden made a move and Benjamin could not respond. Aiden won with 11:07. Afterwards we had a discussion on learning how to draft without feeling that you are not in control, and also how to avoid the temptation of thinking - I've made it far enough, the work is done. Benjamin had never been able to make this far with Aiden, so mentally he was not ready to race him even though I think fitness wise he could have at least made it to the kick.

Joseph ran in the Pre-Bantam 2 K and finished second in 10:21 after Ammon Blackburn whose time was 9:56.

Later in the evening ran 2 miles. Decided to test how well the fuel levels have recovered and ran the last mile in 6:00. I forgot after the turnaround to turn on the engine right away, so I ended up with the first quarter in 95. Then I did 89 ,88, and 88. Food did help. 

 


Green Crocs 2 Miles: 22.00
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 as usual. We had good talks in the Sacrament meeting on the proper use of time. One speaker quoted Alma 34:32-34 which discusses the problems that result from procrastinating the day of your repentance. I like those verses very much for their intended meaning, but I also like this somewhat humorous application of the scriptures. In verse 33 it says  "if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed". I take it to mean the time it takes you to run the marathon. In that sense, I do need to hurry, as the night of darkness is approaching. I am 38 years old. I have kept myself in good health, and have been able to hold off the aging. But I will not be able to do it forever. That is when the "night of darkness" spoken of comes about as far as running is concerned. Fortunately, the real night of darkness comes only if you have willfully chosen to disobey the commandments of God. So even if I do not improve my time in the running sense, I am still OK as long as I do my best to serve the Lord. But I would like to improve my running time regardless.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.002.500.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12. Some with the kids. Jenny and Julia ran 3 with Sarah. I ran 3 with Benjamin, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then some more. Did 2 pickups of 1.25, first in 7:02, second in 7:01. 

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.750.003.250.0014.00

A.M. 12 miles as usual. Did 4 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 3 with Sarah. Joseph did 1, Jacob 0.5. I was feeling like I should run a tempo, so I ran out 3 miles on my 20 mile course, and ran the same 3 miles back as a tempo. I knew I should be able to average 5:30 on it, but it sounded intimidating to do it alone. But I went anyway. Opened with 2:42 half, then  2:46 (5:28), then I hit an area with two sharp turns, a wooden bridge, and two tunnels, and this gave me 2:49 for the next half. I got mad about that and ran the next half in 2:44, although it still had a tunnel. So that was 11:01 for two miles. I battled the next obstacle quarter (tunnel under 820 N) with an 85, and then I was really mad and ran 81, 82, 80 to finish the tempo in 16:29.6, right on target.

P.M. 2 miles. Got motivated in the last quarter and ran it in 82.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.751.251.000.0014.00

A.M. 12 miles total. 5 with Benjamin. He is more or less back to full health after catching a minor cold earlier. Nevertheless he tried to use that cold as an excuse to not participate in his on-the-run Russian lesson. His attitude about Russian is maturing, though, as he is beginning to realise that it will likely be the language he will speak when he goes on a mission. He is at the point where he is able to hold a meaningful conversation, although he still has a lot of seriously gaping holes in his knowledge.  Of course, those holes are gaping to me because I am a native speaker.  By the way, if anybody wants a free on-the-run Russian lesson, I'll be happy to teach it to you. Thanks to our politics of not shooting for the stars, both figuratively and literally, Russian fluency is now required by NASA if you want  to be in the space program. Contact me to make the arrangements.

I did a tempo yesterday, but I found myself in a situation where I knew could catch Sarah if I ran 2 miles at sub-6:00. I could not resist the temptation and figured a nice marathon pace or so effort would be good for my training. So I ran 2 miles in 11:32. First mile in 5:52, that was an honest marathon pace effort, then 90 through the obstacle quarter, and then Sarah was within my sight and I had to show off. We've been married almost 15 years (Nov 29th is the anniversary) and had seven children together, but I still cannot help but show off in some way to impress her when I get a chance. It is subconscious. So I picked it up and ran 84, 83, 83 which gave me 5:40 for the last mile.

P.M. 2 miles. Again felt motivated in the last quarter and ran it in 80.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.750.000.001.2514.00

A.M. 12 miles. 5 with Benjamin. Joseph did 1. Jacob 0.5. Jenny and Julia ran 3 with Sarah. In the early miles I ran 0.75 in 3:59, and it felt harder than it should have.

Benjamin and I ran into Jeff Coombs. I decided to surprise Benjamin with a fast 0.5 and challenged him and Jeff to follow me at about 5:20 pace.  Benjamin's assignment was to learn to draft without feeling panicked about being dropped. I took them through a quarter in 81, then picked it up and ran the next one in 76, so 2:37 for 0.5. This time 5:04 pace felt a whole lot better, I felt like I could keep it for a while. Amazing how much having company makes the pace feel easier, even if you  are leading.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.001.000.0014.00

A.M. 12 miles as usual. Ran a good portion of it with the kids. Came up with an idea of how to run with Jenny and Julia. 1.5 out with them, then a quarter out and quarter back, and then a tempo mile to catch up. I see them for most of their run, get to run total of 2 with them, and I get a total of 3.5 with 0.5 at 7:00 pace, and 1 mile at a tempo pace. So we did that, and I ran my tempo mile in 5:37. Also did 5 with Benjamin.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.005.003.000.0022.00

A.M. 20 miles total. Did the first 10.25 with the kids. First, did my 3.5 with Jenny and Julia running 3. I did the tempo mile in 5:36. Then 0.5 with Jacob and 1 with Joseph. Then 5.25 with Benjamin. He did a couple of pickups to catch runners in front of us which gave me 0.5 of tempo. Then I weighed myself at 142.4 lb and went on to finish the rest of the run. I decided to do a mild tempo - 5 miles targeting 86 quarters, or 5:44 per mile. I started the tempo after having run about 13.4 miles total for the run, and did it of the Fast Running Blog 5 miler course. The start was very sluggish - 89 followed by 87 after I had given myself a kick in the rear. After that I was awake, found the groove, and started gradually eating away at the  4 seconds I had lost. My split at the turnaround was 14:22, 2 seconds behind pace, so I gained 2 seconds, but then I lost them on the turnaround. I got mad about that, found the rhythm again after a couple of quarters, and was within 1 second of the pace with a mile to go. The pace up to that point felt good, but to go faster required a visit into a different dimension. Even though I say the pace felt good, it is all relative. I was in another dimension already. I do not realize these things until I see a passerby on the road. When he enters the area of my peripheral vision, he disappears. Somehow I am able to concentrate to the point of turning it off. Yes, it takes that much concentration for me to run sub-6:00. 

Once I had only a mile to go, I finally found the courage to visit that other dimension. I did the last mile in 5:34, which gave me 28:31.6 for the tempo. I jogged some more, and with 0.5 left I decided to test my fuel levels. They were better than last week. I ran 90 and 87 quarters - 2:57 for 0.5, 5:54 pace average, and I felt that I had another gear yet. So it was not bad at all. After the run I weighed at 141.6 lb. So that is the difference for me - 138.6 lb resulted in 93, 93 for the last two quarters with no other gear available.

P.M. 2 miles. Did another fuel test in the last mile - got 5:42. First quarter was 89, then I kicked into gear, and did 86, 84, 83. Felt strong.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 22.00
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 our Stake Conference. One quote that impressed me from one of the talks. "Our father taught us - everything you see me do you can do, and everything you hear me say you can say."

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.001.000.0014.00

A.M. 12 miles total. 5 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia did 3. I ran part of it with them, then added extra and caught up with a tempo mile in 5:35. 1 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob.  

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.500.000.000.5014.00

A.M. 12 miles. Did a pickup for 0.5 in 2:40. Ran 5 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 3 with Sarah. Joseph did 1, Jacob 0.5.

P.M. 2 miles

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.100.000.000.9012.00

A.M. Total of 12. 5 with Benjamin. Joseph did 1. Jenny and Julia ran 3 with Sarah. Jacob did not run - recovering from a fever last night. I learned some Turkish from a runner I met and ran with that is from Turkey.  I also met another runner who told me his girlfriend was getting off her mission today. I told him she needed to find her new companion without delay and shared with him the story of how I proposed to Sarah a few hours after returning from my mission. He liked it. I did two pickups. One was random and lasted 0.4 at about 5:20 pace. The other was more formal and was exactly 0.5 in 2:35. It felt good and I had hopes of doing well in the Thanksgiving race.

P.M. We had an adventure. William got a febrile seizure. We called 911. They came and gave him buterol treatment. He recovered, but we still were up with him on and off through the night. Did not get to bed until 12:00 am, and then had sleep interruptions. 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From aleph on Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 20:22:17 from 71.62.246.146

What a nice story about proposing to your wife. Your family and especially your son will be in my prayers. Happy thanksgiving

From catherine on Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 23:39:30 from 98.202.112.51

I'm glad William recovered - that's very scary. We'll keep you guys in our prayers.

Race: Earn Your Turkey 4 Miler (4 Miles) 00:21:58, Place overall: 3
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.501.003.001.0015.50

A.M. Earn Your Turkey 4 mile - 21:58.4, 3rd place. 

We had our share of adventures leading up to the race. Last night I got maybe 5 hours of sleep. Some people can run well off that. I could when I was younger, but over the last 5 years I've become sensitive to such things. Maybe it's been more than 5 years. But I figured all I had to do is not get beat my somebody between 35 and 39 who was too slow to make top 5, or just plain make top 5 to earn my turkey. This race is generous with turkeys. First place in the age division plus top 5 overall get it. Plus there are kids races for every age group, plus a prize for the largest immediate family, largest extended family, youngest participant, and oldest participant. We do well in the youngest participant and largest immediate family.

William threw a surprise last night with his seizure and the 911 visit. So we were not sure what to do. Sarah considered staying home with him, but we ended up asking a friend to help us with the little kids and particularly William at the race. It did help that she was an EMT by profession. If something bad started happening to William she would know what to do. I gave William a blessing, and after that even had the nerve to ask the Lord to make William healthy enough to run his 400 meter race. The prayer ended up partially answered. His fever was gone by the morning and he was acting more or less normal, but he refused to run. Maybe I should have been more specific in my prayer as I did not say anything about him being willing, which is very important for a 3 year old.

So we ended up all running, except William.

I warmed up almost 2 miles, then the race started. Somehow when you've had some kind of a challenge and you are not able to run at 100% sometimes your deficiencies are compensated by weak competition. As far as I am concerned, today they were overcompensated, even though I finished only 3rd. I would have preferred a pack over a higher place as long as I got the turkey of course.

I started out following Derek Moody, and we worked our way out of the crowd of early fast starters, but then I saw Brandon Hebbert move into the lead. I hesitated if I should follow Derek or Brandon. I knew from the warmup that the entire stretch on Center street had fairly strong headwind, definitely not something I would want to face from the front or alone. I decided to take a chance and go with Brandon. I paid for it later. He started speeding up. I could not even make it to the turn with him (1 mile mark) and ended up picking up a share of headwind after a couple of minutes of running at a pretty intense effort. The first mile was officially 5:15 going off the mile marker.  5:08 for Brandon.

So from about 0.8 to 3 I ran in no man's land. I was not feeling too good, but I felt good enough to maintain a slower pace. It seems that the lack of sleep in combination with the training I've been doing lately affected my ability to endure intense pain for periods of 10 minutes and longer, but if I could just reduce it a bit, I am OK, and can last a while. So I coasted in frustration. Mile 2 was 5:36 (10:51), and I am willing to believe that both mile 1 and mile 2 markers were placed correctly. However, I believe the mile marker 3 was misplaced. I timed myself at 16:31 at mile marker 1 when we passed it again, and at 16:50 at the official mile marker three. In the past, when those markers were right, or at least produced reasonable splits, mile markers 1 and 3 were within 5 seconds of running of each other. So it would be accurate to estimate my mile split for the third mile as 5:40. Around that time Derek caught up to me, and I was able to latch on, for which I am thankful, because that is what got me under 22:00. He pulled me for about three quarters of a mile. We meandered through the crowd of the runners that we lapped. I've run this race since 1997, and only in the recent years do I recall a problem with the traffic in that spot.  That would have had to be about 12:00 pace crowd that we were hitting. In the past it used to be not so thick. What is going on?

I could follow Derek when we were running straight, but I had difficulties when we encountered obstacles. Finally, I've lost concentration enough to where he dropped me. Then he started his kick, and I did not have much left. Nevertheless those three quarters that I was able to survive behind him helped me run 5:28 last mile (estimate) and finish in 21:59 by my watch and 21:58.4 officially, which gave me a turkey for making top 5. Derek finished in 21:48, Brandon won with 20:06. He really turned it on in the last 2 miles as he had only about 30 seconds on me shortly before mile 2, so he must have done around 4:55 pace in the last two miles.

I  ran back to Sarah and paced her to the finish. This gave me about 1.5 miles. Sarah was running against serious lack of sleep because she had slept maybe only 2 hours. Nevertheless, she toughed it out and pulled off a respectable time of 33:13.

Then it was time for the kids races. First Stephen - 100 meters. He is 15 months and just barely learned to walk. Those races are exciting because you never know what your kid is going to do. Benjamin was actually our worst back in the day, and a string of DNS's,  DNF's, and extremely slow times until he turned 4 when he won his first race. Even then he threw a fit mid-race when two girls dropped him. But he still won the boy's race in spite of being double-chicked. But once he turned 5 he became a tough competitor and never had issues of this kind since in races. Now he does not even have them in training anymore aside from occasional grumbling but then he remembers what he read in the Book of Mormon or General Conference lately about the traits of Laman and Lemuel and repents quickly. Stephen did quite well. Sarah and I walked by his side and held his hands. All the kids except William, who sat in the stroller, eventually joined us. So we were walking together as a family united in our mission to take Stephen to the finish. He cried for a little bit, then realized it was useless or maybe felt the warmth of our support, and calmed down. There was a special feeling of unity when we all walked like this.  He finished in 2:42 by my watch, 2:40 officially. And he was not last in spite of being the youngest participant. Being the youngest, he won the turkey prize.

Then it was William's turn, but he was in no mood to run. Perhaps it was good, as he may have been still experiencing the remnants of his fever last night. So he ended up scoring a DNS. At least he was healthy enough to come to the race and he will have a chance to do better in the coming years.

Then it was time for Jacob and Joseph's race. It presented a challenge for the pacers. Normally I would have sent Benjamin to run with Jacob and would have stayed with Joseph myself. But Benjamin's race started at almost the same time. So I had to get creative, instructed Joseph on where he should be, paced Jacob in the first 200 meters, then sped up, caught up to Joseph, and paced him to the end. The race is 800 meters combined both 5-6 and 7-8 age divisions. Figuring it would take around 3:30 to win I told Joseph to hit the first quarter in 1:43. He did it in 1:38, which was OK even though he paid for it in the second half. At that point he was sharing the overall lead with Ammon Blackburn who is 7. With 300 to go Ammon made a move which Joseph could not cover. I told Joseph to keep believing that he could catch him. Joseph did his best. Ammon finished in 3:23 by my watch, 3:27 officially. Joseph got 3:28 by my watch, 3:30 officially. Joseph ended up winning a turkey as he won the 5-6 age division.

Benjamin won the "mile" race officially in 6:10, another turkey. We strongly suspect that the course was long because it did not start in the same place as last year. Also because he beat second place by 39 seconds. Jenny and Julia have been struggling lately. Jenny has been going through a growth spurt which caused muscle soreness. Additionally she had an upset stomach this morning. Julia has had problems with anemia. We just recently found it that is what it was. So their training and fitness was less than ideal, but they still ran OK. Jenny got 7:59, Julia got 9:15.

Even though William had a DNS, they allowed us to count him in the largest immediate family contest. We won with 9 people in the race thus earning a turkey plus some extras. Additionally we won two turkeys in the random drawing. So we ended up with a total of 7 turkeys. Luckily, only one of them came in the real form. The other 6 were certificates. That is good because our fridge is small, and can barely hold the one real turkey that we got in the freezer.

Afterwards Benjamin and I ran a long cool-down. I ended up with a total of 13.5 miles. Benjamin ended up with a total of 5.

P.M. 2 miles. Did the last one in 5:56 as I was curious how fast pace would feel at the end of the day. It felt hard, harder than even 5:42 last Saturday at the end of the day. I did start out with a 93 quarter because I did not start running fast right away, but still after that it was 89, 87, 87, and  those 87s felt like 83s last Saturday. I suppose the combination of the lack of sleep and the fatigue from the race did the magic.


Green Crocs 2 Miles: 15.50
Night Sleep Time: 5.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 5.00
Comments
From Kam on Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 00:29:14 from 174.23.249.127

It sounds like there will be plentiful poultry in your future. Congrats on a great turkey day of Thanksgiving.

From Chad Robinson on Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 00:38:24 from 208.110.158.227

Nice job Sasha! It sounds like you guys really earned your turkeys. I would imagine that mile was a bit long, Benjamin has better than a 6:10 in him.

From seeaprilrun on Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 21:40:01 from 205.172.12.230

Wow Sasha--great family event. Sorry to hear about the scare with William, but glad he is better. I empathize with the stress and the lack of sleep on performance--it has hurt me in races recently. Still--a very respectable time and performance I think, and well worth 7 turkeys!

From Toby on Sun, Nov 27, 2011 at 23:28:49 from 199.101.225.254

Great race report Sasha! I ran the race as well and watched your son run the 1/2 mile fun run (I knew my son had no chance at placing when racing a Pachev!). He was very impressive! I noticed at the finish, you were calling out to him, "you can still catch him". How do you manage the "over-bearing parent" and the "we don't quit when things get hard" with your children when it comes to running?

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 23:59:11 from 192.168.1.1

Toby:

Our children overall are quite responsive to challenges. They do complain at times about various things, of course, but since I started training my children in 2004 I've never had a child older than 4 utterly refuse to go for a run. As to why, there are several factors. One is consistency. A run is considered a regular part of the daily routine and a day is considered incomplete unless a run happened. Another factor is that we teach obedience and take it seriously. A child can break a window and not get punished at all or only very minimally if he was careless and he knew it. But if he is disobedient even in something small, we do not get off his case until he corrects his attitude. We also have a system of rewards for good performance everywhere including running. We teach the children that success requires work. When they underperform due to the lack of honest effort, I make sure that they recognise the connection, and make a plan to fix it. They usually are anxious to do something about it because they do not like to get beat. I think another factor that helps is that we home school. This allows us to be our children more to teach those values while saving them from the lame "everyone is a winner" doctrine taught in public schools.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.500.001.000.0014.50

A.M. Total of 12. Jenny and Julia did 3, which I did 3.5 running ahead, adding distances, and then catching up. The catch-up mile was 5:30 and it felt very good. 5 with Benjamin. 1 with Joseph. Jacob had a cough, did not run.

P.M. 2.5 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.007.503.000.0021.50

A.M. Total of 20.5. Started with 0.5 with Jacob. Jenny and Julia did 3 with Sarah. Benjamin had a cold, did not run. After Jacob's run I did my 20 mile course to Bridal Veil and back with some pickups throughout the run. Started with a mile at 0.5  in 5:55 up a small grade and with obstacles. Then at 3 did a mile in 5:44. This one had less adversity, but I would still consider it anti-aided. At about 6.5 did 2 up the Provo Canyon in 11:58. It felt harder than it should have. Then at 10.5 did 3 down the Provo Canyon on my standard tempo stretch. Based on how hard the earlier miles felt I thought it would be difficult to be under 17:00 (5:40 average). I wondered if I would even get that after the first quarter in 90. But then I got going and hit 5:38, 5:34, 5:30, which gave me 16:42. I wanted to run the last 4 hard and started on it. 6:00 pace was a struggle. After doing a mile in 6:15 I was concerned that I might be doing more damage than good if I kept pressing and stopped the tempo 2.5 into the interval while still 1.5 away from the house. After a quarter of jogging, however, I reconsidered and decided to give it an honest push in the last mile. I was very sluggish through the "obstacle" quarter in 96, but then was able to shift gears  and did 87, 87. Before the run I weighed 144.4 in winter clothes. After 140.4. Adjusting to my normal weighing standard I think this would convert to around 143.8 and 139.8. So there went 4 lb in the run. Not much sweating - the temperatures started in the 20s and were in the low 30s at the end of the run.

The crash was interesting. It was not really a crash after all, I think. I was just so mentally exhausted from running alone in the cold for 20 miles, working hard for a good portion of it,  and possibly also from our adventures with sick children and the race on Thursday, that I just did not have the mental energy to battle various course obstacles (tunnels, turns, bridges) on the trail. The last three quarters showed I still had something physically. But I think one thing we do not realise is how much mental energy it takes to keep accelerating back to pace after minor setbacks, and when the physical goes down, the mental goes down with it as well perhaps at a higher rate. So what would be only a minor annoyance when you are fresh becomes a 10-15 seconds per mile knockdown when fatigued.

P.M.  1 mile with Joseph.


Green Crocs 2 Miles: 21.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From seeaprilrun on Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 00:01:23 from 205.172.12.229

Nice 20 Sasha. I think the mental element of running is much huger and a bigger factor than we as runners give it credit for.

From Chad Robinson on Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 00:20:13 from 208.110.158.227

Sasha, I don't know what your next several Saturdays are looking like, but I am ready to pick back up with you if you are interested.

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 00:44:34 from 192.168.1.1

Chad:

This Saturday I am going 15. We can meet at our usual time of 7:30 if that works for you.

From Chad Robinson on Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 11:12:36 from 50.73.39.89

Sounds great. I will be there.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Benjamin and William were too sick to go to church. So I ended up going just to the Sacrament meeting - Sarah went to the first two. The talks were on the temple and I enjoyed them. 

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.500.500.000.0014.00

A.M. 12 total. Did a couple of pickups. Jenny and Julia ran 2.5 with Sarah. Benjamin ran 0.5 with Jacob, felt terrible. I did 1 with Joseph. 

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
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. 12 miles. Joseph did 1, Jacob 0.5. Benjamin, Jenny and Julia were too sick to run.

P.M. Did not run. With so many people in the house already sick, I realized that I was likely next in line. So I decided to cut the training on purpose to give the body a better chance to fight the surrounding germs.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

A.M. 8 miles total. Following the reduced mileage to boost the immune system plan. Timed it just right, I think, because I started developing some minor symptoms of a cold. Benjamin was healthy enough to run a mile with me and Joseph in 8:15. Jenny ran 0.5  with Jacob, felt terrible. Julia was too sick to run.

P.M. Laying low, did not run. Let's hope this minor cold will serve as a vaccination.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 8.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.750.250.000.0010.00

A.M. Total of 8. Still laying low through this spontaneous "vaccination". Did 0.5 with Jacob and Julia, 1 with Joseph, 1.5 with Benjamin, and 5 myself. Felt good, actually on the 5 mile run and did it in 33:56. Picked it up in the last quarter to 87. But I was still cautious because I have a scratchy throat and a runny nose. When you are like this, you could be feeling good, push it in a workout, and get sick for real.

P.M. 2 miles.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. Total of 10. Benjamin did 2, Jenny,Julia and Jacob 0.5., Joseph 1. Trying not to get sick for real, thankful that I had no fever yet.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.502.500.000.0014.00

A.M. Ran with Chad. There was some snow on the ground, quite a bit of it, enough to affect the pace. I wanted to run something fast without overdoing it. Decided on pacing Chad through 5 miles at 6:00 pace. We started from the Fast Running Blog 5 miler start. I mispaced the first mile overcorrecting for the snow and the "spontaneous vaccination" state of my health and we got 5:50. I suspected it would perhaps be too much for Chad, as that course is a bit slower than ideal even when you have no snow, and we hit it 10 seconds faster than the target pace on top of it. So it was probably worth a good 5:40 without the snow, and 5:35 on a nice flat road. Nevertheless, Chad lived through another two quarters in 90 each. On the positive side of things, those felt like a jog, and I was happy that my health was still good enough for those to feel that way in spite of the snow. Then we hit an area where I have struggled recently in many of my tempo runs losing about 5 seconds per mile for apparently no reason related to fitness, fatigue, or lack of effort. I think it is because overtime the asphalt got broken up and it is now quite bumpy. Constant tiny bumps take out of you more than you would think. Let us assume for simplicity you land on a surface that is sloped at a 3% incline either up or down on every step. This makes every step like going either up or down on a 3% incline. If you were to go half way at 3% uphill and the other half at 3% downhill according to the Murphy's law of running (adversity when reversed returns only half of what it took), this is equivalent to running uphill all the way on 1.5% incline. On top of that, in the bumpy run scenario you do not get the benefit of a steady rhythm.  In any case, it all added up to Chad slowing down to a 92 followed by 500 meters in 1:57, which is around 93. After seeing a 92 I told Chad we should go only 2.5 but challenged him to not let the 6:00 guy pass him. He took the challenge, made it to 2.25 still 1 second ahead, and then kicked in 86 finishing in 14:55. I figured 2.5 of tempo was good enough for me as well. 

We jogged some more, then ran with the kids - 0.5 with Jenny, Julia, and Jacob, 1 with Joseph and 3 with Benjamin. Benjamin's health was good enough to volunteer 23:17 for 3 miles.

P.M. It was just like in the Russian song about a sentimental boxer who thinks it is rude to hit his opponent. There is a line that says "he is doing the upper cut, he squeezed me in the corner, I barely escaped, now comes the upper cut, I am on the floor, and I am not feeling good". I spent the evening in bed with 102.6 F fever. It was not responding to ibuprofen. Finally we figured out a way to contain it - it did respond to tylenol quite well.  On the positive side of things, in the song the boxer wins the match without hitting his opponent once by wearing him out to the point that he collapses.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From Chad Robinson on Wed, Dec 07, 2011 at 16:07:29 from 50.73.39.89

You know this already but your kids are impressive, I enjoyed running with them. On a side note do you have and great tips on making protein powder more pleasant? I did notice the multiple bumps in the trail as well.

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Dec 09, 2011 at 15:12:42 from 198.202.202.21

Chad - you could mix it with the juice of your choice. Jenny mixes it with orange juice.

From Chad Robinson on Fri, Dec 09, 2011 at 16:12:58 from 50.73.39.89

Thanks. I mix it in with a banana, yogurt and apple juice (all stuff I was eating daily).

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Recovering from the fever. It went down, but I was still cautious and stayed home for the first two church meetings. Came for the Sacrament. It was a Fast and Testimony meeting. I did not fast, though, for health reasons. It was our last Fast and Testimony meeting in this ward. We bought a house in Orem at 395 S Palisade and will be moving there on December 17th. So we took advantage of the chance to bear our testimonies for the last time. First I bore mine, then Sarah, then Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia. Joseph seeing the example of his older siblings decided to bear his as well. He confidently marched to the pulpit, located and set up a box to stand on, adjusted the microphone, and then saw the crowd and was overwhelmed. He moved his hands indicating he had trouble. Julia walked up and helped him.

I found some energy after church to do my home teaching. However, after that I felt that I needed to rest. So I lay in bed. The feeling was timely as around 4:30 pm or so my fever came back and registered at around 100.5 F. I knocked it down with Tylenol. My reasoning was this - if my body did not need to fry the germs at all in the morning and early afternoon, why all of a sudden now and to the extent of pushing it over 100 F? I figured it was overreacting to a trigger and did not really need to be hot. I decided to be defiant against the fever. Knock it down, if it goes a way and there are no other symptoms, act cautiously normal. Train more or less normally, with the volume and intensity slightly reduced. This provides a hour of  elevated temperature which could do some germ frying. Additionally, eat a lot of garlic, onions, and vitamin C to make it less comfortable for the germs, and drink a lot of fluids to flush them out.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.850.001.150.0010.00

A.M. This week was supposed to be a taper for the Rocket City Marathon. Now with the illness things are a little different. I need to do the impossible. Allow the body to heal. Avoid losing fitness more than I already have and try to recover what I have lost. At the same time try to build a glycogen store and some freshness in the legs. Do not get a second round of sickness. Be ready to race on Saturday.

I was pondering those issues on Saturday night while I lay there with 102 F fever and considered dropping out of the race. Then I heard a voice in my mind that let me know the Lord wanted me to run the marathon and do my best. I hoped that it was just a voice of delirium from the fever, but I had heard that voice enough to know the difference. Plus the impression remained once the fever was gone.

I have made some progress since Saturday night. I know how to take those fevers down. It returned in the middle of the night and I kicked it waking up with a nice 97.7 F temperature in the morning and feeling ready to run.

I prayed to know how far I should run, and felt that I should run 10 with a 1 mile pickup to access the damage. So I ran with the kids first. Jacob did 0.5, Jenny and Julia 1, Joseph 1, and Benjamin 5. During Benjamin's run I did the pickup. He stayed back as he is still not 100%. I did the mile in 5:37, then turned around and ran back to Benjamin maintaining the same effort. This gave me about 1.15 of tempo running. The pace felt interesting. The legs could handle it, and were not giving in. However, I noticed that the breathing was quite labored. This gave me an idea . The problem could be caused by the drop in the red cell count. I figured it would be difficult to have the best of both worlds - high white cell count, and high red cell count at the same time. So if white go up, the red would go down. So I decided to add some iron supplementation to help the recovery.

After running with Benjamin I added about 2.85 more to make the total 10. What is interesting is that I was volunteering 6:30-6:40 pace without thinking about it, and at that pace I was not bothered by breathing.


Green Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.850.001.150.008.00

A.M. Total of 8. 5 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia did 1, Joseph 1, Jacob 0.5. Did the same 1.15 pickup as yesterday. It went better. The time for the mile was 5:31 and the breathing was not as labored. Still it was scary to think that I am expecting to average 5:43 for 26 miles when 5:31 does not quite feel as easy as it should. But I've got a few things going for me. Warmer temperatures, shorts,  lower altitude, a pack (hopefully), and a few more days to get healed. 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 8.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.000.000.000.005.00

A.M. Went to the temple. Did not feel like running in 10 F, worked instead so I can run in the afternoon. The kids ran a little later in the AM. Jenny and Julia did 2, Jacob 0.5, Joseph 1. Benjamin did a total of 5 including 2.5 in the AM, and then 2.5 with me in the PM.

P.M. 5 miles, 2.5 with Benjamin.


 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 5.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.500.500.000.007.00

A.M. Total of 7. Decided to take Jacob for the full mile. Jenny and Julia joined us. This was the first time in his life that he's run the full mile. I told him he could run as slow as he wanted. He ended up doing 9:15 with the splits of 2:16, 2:17, 2:20, 2:22. The conditions were not ideal - about 20 F, he was wearing a thick coat. I was quite impressed with that. Benjamin at his age (5 years and 4.5 months) had a PR of 8:47, but it was not done the first time around, not in those conditions, and he was mentally determined to get the record.  I think Jacob is our most talented runner in the family so far. He just needs to work on self-confidence and determination, but that will come with age.

Then I ran 5 with Benjamin. With a mile to go he needed 7:01 to catch 7:30 average, so I challenged him to do that to test his health. He was volunteering 6:24 pace on some stretches. I thought - this pace gives you 2:47 in the marathon, and it feels so easy. If only I could run just that on Saturday it would be so nice. Maybe I should volunteer to pace the ladies for the OTQ, this would give me an honorable excuse to run 2:47 and avoid the possibility of finishing in some embarrassing time like 2:42 after trying to run what I should and running into the limits of my health. No, I should not even think that, but run an honest race, and if I run  into the limits of my health, then let it be so, and let me learn humility.

Benjamin picked it up to 92 after 0.5 left to go, then said he was feeling weak. But that fired up my tempo pace engine, and I did not want to shut it down. So I told him to coast to the finish while I kept going. I ended up doing the last quarter in 86, he did it in 95.

So coming into the Rocket City marathon I have the following hierarchy of goals:

  • Goal 101 - avoid the need for serious medical attention and be able to drive back to the airport at the end of everything.
  • Goal 102 - finish the race.
  • Goal 201 - finish the race under 2:40.
  • Goal 202 - finish the race under 2:37:25 - my time in 2003.
  • Goal 301 - under 2:35:00
  • Goal 302 - under 2:34:15 - TOU time this year
  • Goal 303 - under 2:33:21 - UVM time this year, fastest marathon this year
  • Goal 304 - under 2:31:58 - fastest time in the last two years
  • Goal 401 - under 2:30:32 - honest course PR
  • Goal 402 - under 2:30:00
  • Goal 403 - under 2:29:00
  • Goal 404 - under 2:27:46 - non-St. George PR discounting the short DesNews course in 2004
  • Goal 501 - under 2:25:00
  • Goal 601 - under 2:22:00
  • Goal 701 - under 2:19:00

In setting these goals I decided to start with the basics - goals 101 and 102, then gradually progress upwards. Too many failures, if not most can be attributed to the neglect of some basics. We must pay due respect to the basics.

At the same time while taking care of the basics we must not neglect  shooting for the stars. Thus I put up quite a range of goals that are unlikely to be attained in this race. Nevertheless, if things are going well, I do not ever want to think "I am done, I have no higher goal to shoot towards".


Green Crocs 2 Miles: 7.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00
Comments
From BostonRob2 on Fri, Dec 09, 2011 at 15:19:00 from 159.53.78.140

Congrats to Jacob for running his first mile..sounds like fast running and a healthy lifestlye runs in the family ;) You must be proud. My wife just did her first mile (without stopping) last weekend. We too used the same method, go as slow as you want. She did great and plans to go for 1.5 next time. Have a safe flight out of Denver today. Btw thanks for setting up this website/blog, I love it. Good luck in your race!

From Jon on Fri, Dec 09, 2011 at 18:58:07 from 98.71.184.216

Man, and I think I plan too much when I set A, B, and C goals...

Good luck!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.000.000.000.002.00

A.M. 2 miles before getting on the plane. It was nice to fly out of Provo. Feels almost like I have my own private jet.  Except the flight left late because of fog problems in Denver, and then I missed my connecting flight. But private jets get delayed too for odd reasons. So I am now having a nice 3+ hour layover in Denver as I am typing this. On the positive side of things, Denver airport has a nice recharging station and free although somewhat buggy WiFi.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 2.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments
From Jake K on Fri, Dec 09, 2011 at 16:16:58 from 155.100.226.53

The free WiFi is the one good thing about the Denver airport. Otherwise I always found it to be kind of a creepy place... there are some very weird murals near the baggage claims... plus its about a half hour away from Denver!

Good luck this weekend! Hoping you hit one of those 400-Level or higher goals! Run Strong!

From Mike Kirk on Fri, Dec 09, 2011 at 18:35:22 from 69.136.51.97

Good Luck. I'd come and cheer you on but we have piano recitals & the Nutcracker this weekend.

Watch Geno Phillips (#16?) He is from Chattanooga and should be good for a 2:35. He is fiesty so it is easy to get him to run too fast and closer to your pace. He is your height and tattooed. He is a middle school track coach.

From Superfly on Fri, Dec 09, 2011 at 19:17:27 from 74.211.21.81

Good luck! Hope it turns out to be high on your goals list. 400 or above would be excellent.

Race: Rocket City Marathon (26.21 Miles) 02:44:58, Place overall: 10
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.8026.210.000.0027.01

Rocket City Marathon, 2:44:58, 10th place.

Stayed with Jon Elmore and his family the night before in Decatur. They have a very nice family. I felt a spirit of peace in their home. It was a privilege to meet them.

I have been schooled by the reality of having to run a marathon after a recent illness. As I mentioned earlier, I was concerned and prayed to know if I should go to the race, and felt that I should.  After the first mile in 5:49 which felt hard, followed by 5:55 which felt OK, but too hard for 5:55 this early in the race, I knew something was up. I prayed for permission to drop out and did not get it. Yes, I somehow I knew that I should not pray for a miraculous healing and a flow of strength.

I was running with Josh Whitehead and Fernando Cabada. Fernando is a 2:12 guy who already qualified for the Trials and was doing a progression workout. Josh was a 2:34 guy but set a PR of 2:31:37 today Fernando invited us to be paced by him for the initial part of his workout.

We did 17:28 (5:44), 23:17 (5:49), and then Fernando went into the next stage of his progression and we did 28:54 (5:37). At this point I had to back off. I continued with the 40:44 (5:55 average for 2 miles), 46:50 (6:04), not a good sign this early even though there was some uphill, but it should not have done that to me if I was anywhere near normal, then I think 52:50 (6:00) and 58:44 (5:54) at 10 miles. OK, at least sub-6:00 for the first 10, so maybe I can get to the finish on my own two feet today.

At this point we were on a long stretch with tailwind, so I was able to keep it sub-6:00 for a little longer.  Hit the half in 1:17:25. OK, at least one half of this mess is over. Well, not quite one half because the second half brings more surprises. Two more miles under 6:00. 1:28:30 at 15. Thankful to have gotten this point so far.  

Now comes the headwind and a 6:30 mile with it. Another 6:30 mile. A runner passes me as if I were standing still. I think that was Scott Fannining. It must be more than just the headwind. OK, how bad can this get?  Another runner comes by - Hirbo Hirbo, and he was struggling enough himself that I was able to latch on. 2:00:56 at 20 miles. This is beginning to look very ugly.

Somehow I managed to run sub-7:00 miles for the next four. I was with Hirbo. George Dewitt who is 53 years old caught up to us and we were able to latch on. Then Zachary Koch went by, no latching, all three of us were too slow and tired.

Then at 24 I found another wall. I began to be concerned about my health. This had not happened to me since perhaps my first marathon. Once I find my wall, I crawl alongside, it is bad, but it does not get worse. But I suppose when your health is off, your marathon gets a couple of miles longer, so anything past 24 is an ultra, or in other words life beyond the grave.

Fortunately I had enough sense to grab two Powerades and empty them out at 25. Half a mile later I found some moderate zip in my legs and passed Hirbo, which put me in 10th place. Thus I was able to find a small consolation in running my slowest marathon in 12 years.

After the race the marathon was not over. I had to get to the airport. Apparently I looked pretty bad as the volunteer kept asking me if I was OK.  I ate some food, and headed to my car. There were two ladies in the parking lot waiting for their friend to come in. I asked them if they could give me a ride to my car, which they happily did.  Somehow I was able to get dressed without taking forever and 3:04:47 after the start of the race I was driving to Nashville. When I got to the airport, great was my surprise when I saw Steve Anderson already there. He finished behind me, how did he get ahead? I suppose a few things helped him - he did not take a wrong turn, which I did, he might have driven faster, although I did maintain good speed throughout, and he did not have to go through as much airport security as I did as he is a pilot. He was there ready to fly me home! It turned out that that flight was piloted by another crew, but Steve flew on that same plane with me to Denver, and then piloted the flight to Salt Lake while I flew in my virtual private jet to Provo.

Provo now has one commercial flight by Frontier. If more people fly on it, there will be more, so I figured I'll help spread the word.

So what lessons did I learn from this marathon and how am I going to use what I learned to get better? Sickness is a double hit. You lose aerobic fitness, with that you lose fuel efficiency. Those 2 hours 44 minutes and 58 seconds have etched this concept in my mind in a way that I will not forget. Aerobic fitness is very closely connected with fuel efficiency. In the first 15 miles I learned what it is like to run with underperforming aerobic system. In the last 11 miles I learned that my underperforming aerobic system not only made me slow but also ate up all of my fuel - how rude!

So the moral of the story is that to run a good marathon you need to have solid aerobic fitness. It is built primarily through mileage, but you need to be careful not to go into diminishing returns. Fitness cannot be developed or used when health is lacking. Thus the three foundational elements of marathon performance are, first health, second aerobic fitness, and only third specific fuel storage/efficiency conditioning.

In spite of a bad race, I decided I am coming back to Huntsville next year and will make it a routine trip in my schedule. It is a place where they shoot for the stars. Both literally (they have a space center) and figuratively. I find it more than just a coincidence that the Huntsville has a concentration of fast runners that is unusual for the South.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 27.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Superfly on Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 14:20:17 from 74.211.21.81

Sorry things didn't workout out for the race. Hopefully you, me and a few others on the blog will have a race in the future where there are no issues. Fully healthy with no sickness, good weather and conditions. Those type of races don't happen very often but I'm ready for one to pop up.

From Steve on Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 23:53:52 from 64.195.178.164

Good race Sasha and nice seeing you again. Maybe I'll see you at the TOU this year..?

From Jake K on Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 19:26:59 from 155.100.226.53

There isn't much you can do when you get sick right before a race. All things considered you ran pretty well. I'm sure that last 10K wasn't very fun, but it sounds like you hung tough.

Lessons learned for next time around, and like Clyde said, hopefully some of those things that you can't control (sickness, weather) are in your favor next time.

From seeaprilrun on Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 01:00:38 from 68.103.253.134

I am sorry to see this Sasha, but glad that you persevered and finished. That takes heart when it gets that bad. You could not be more right about health first and foremost before aerobic fitness. Per your guidance, I had a great breakthrough with much less mileage but accompanied by much more health. It's a lesson I hope I never forget.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We spoke in the Sacrament meeting on charity. It was our last Sunday in the ward. We are moving on Saturday to our new home in Orem on Palisade Drive.  The Lord has poured out so many blessings we ran out of room to receive them.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Chad Robinson on Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 00:20:04 from 208.110.158.227

Saturday at 7:30? New or old house?

From seeaprilrun on Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 00:55:25 from 68.103.253.134

Hope the blessing continue at the new place.

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 14:35:13 from 192.168.1.1

Chad, 7:30 old house.

From Rob on Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 11:27:58 from 62.50.221.195

Does that mean Fastrunningblog will be going down for "maintenance"?

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 14:34:47 from 192.168.1.1

Rob:

The plan is to move the site at 3 am some time next week to minimize the disruptions. We are not selling the house we are in, so the server can stay hosted there for a while until I am ready. I already have gotten the Internet connection set up in the new house with a static IP address.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

A.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, 5 with Benjamin - total of 7. Jenny and Julia ran 2.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 7.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 alone, 5 with Benjamin - total of 10.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. 1 with Jacob - he set a new mile record in 9:05. 1 with Joseph. 1 alone. 2 with Julia. Jenny ran 1.5 - she fell down yesterday and got bruised, so she was struggling today. 5 with Benjamin.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.250.501.250.0010.00

A.M. . 1 with Joseph, 1 with Jacob, 2 with Jenny and Julia. 1 more alone with a 0.5 pickup in 2:51, and 5 with Benjamin. We did a couple of pickups. 0.75 in 4:12 down the Provo Canyon, and then 0.5 uphill in 2.57 on Carterville road near our new house. We have not moved yet, but have been doing our runs there since we had to bring a load of boxes anyway.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

A.M. Total of 10. Most of it with the kids. Jenny and Julia did 2, Joseph and Jacob 1, Benjamin 5. Jacob is now a sub-9:00 miler. I gave him a little bit of encouragement

at the start to give it a good push and he did running 8:52 with the

splits of 2:07, 2:15, 2:16, 2:14. This makes it 7 sub-9:00 milers at

our household

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 10.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.205.000.000.0015.20

A.M. Ran with Chad. This was my last run at our old house. We went to the Fast Running Blog 5 miler course and ran a tempo on it. The goal was to see how far Chad could go at 6:00 pace. This time there was no ice on the road so I could do a better job pacing. We did 5:55, 11:53 (5:58),  14:51 at the turnaround, then Chad started struggling and slowed down to 92 quarters. We hit the next mile from 2.5 to 3.5 in 6:09 (21:00 at 3.5). At that point I needed to do a VPB. I had Chad go ahead. The VPB took 17 seconds. Chad slowed down to about 95 being alone. I thought that I would be able to run 5:40 pace easily to catch up, but it was not so. I could barely manage sub-6:00. My split at 4 miles was 23:56 (subtracting the lost 17 seconds), and shortly after I caught up to Chad. I figured since he had already accomplished the purpose of the workout - find out how long he could hold 6:00 for on that course - I would just go and see how much juice I have in me. It turned out I did not have a whole lot. The last mile was 5:58 which gave me 29:54 for 5 miles. That last mile felt very similar to 5:37 5th mile in the Rocket City Marathon last week when I got dropped. I felt like I was breathing in the air, could not benefit from breathing in more of it, but it could not get to my muscles. It was a very odd feeling. Likely the leftover from the sickness. I've had it before the last couple of times I've been sick. It takes about a month to get over it. Chad finished 5 miles in 30:48. Afterwards we ran some more to make it to 14 miles total. We picked up in the last quarter and did it in 90. For a quarter 90 did not feel too bad even that late in the run. Then I ran another 1.1 to pick up the moving truck. 

Kids ran on their own. Benjamin did 5, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph and Jacob 1.

P.M. 1.1 with Jenny from the Budget Truck drop-off to our old house to pick up some odds and ends.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 15.20
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

Much needed day of rest after the move. Went to our new ward. The talks in Sacrament were on the life of Christ. The lesson in Sunday school was titled "What think ye of Christ?", and covered the testimonies of the Savior born by ancient and modern prophets and apostles. Then we talked about exaltation in the Elders Quorum. 

We received a warm welcome in our new ward, and had three families visit us after church.

Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.002.000.0012.00

A.M. First run officially from our new house. I ran 2 miles with Benjamin, Jenny and Julia first. Benjamin had a sore throat so I had him run with the girls to avoid excessive stress. Then 1 more with Joseph and Jacob. It was nice - no cars to dodge except for one pickup truck on the 260 or so meter stretch of Carterville road before the real trail begins, and that one went around us, we just stayed where we were.  Then I ran 9 more to about 2 miles into the Provo Canyon and back. Did a 2 mile tempo to test the waters on the way back. The road was slippery today being covered with fresh snow, but it was not too bad. I was able to run 7:10 pace uphill without too much effort. In the tempo I put in an effort that I felt was sustainable, but I also had to be careful to not trip so there was a little bit of holding back the throttle that way. I went through the first mile in 5:45, the second mile was 5:51, and I felt the difference. In the first mile I was feeling more or less normal. But in the second that same feeling that kept me back from running much faster than 6:00 on Saturday was with me again. I would consider this to be an aerobic weakness, not a strength issue. Total of 12.

Green Crocs 2 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. Started with 8 alone. The road was covered with snow, no chance of any decent tempo. That is OK as it was good for me to skip the tempo after yesterday's effort. No big deal, just two miles, but it adds up. So it was good to have a break. I maintained about 7:30 average with about 7:00 effort. Then ran with the kids. Jacob did 1, Joseph 1, Jenny and Julia 2, Benjamin 2. Some of the runs were combined. Total of 12.

I like our new neighborhood. The word about our healthy eating habits quickly got out and people have been bringing us fruit instead of candy and cookies.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.002.000.0012.50

A.M. Starting with 8 in the Provo Canyon. The road conditions were better today though worse than Monday, but I decided to try a short tempo anyway. Did 2 miles down the canyon in 11:26. Most marks were not visible. However, I caught 2:51 split for the first 0.5. This time I did not feel that fatigue I experienced on Monday in the second mile, and it showed in the pace. Jenny and Julia ran 3 with Sarah. I ran 1 with Jacob,then 1 with Joseph, and 2.5 with Benjamin. He still has a sore throat so he's been taking it easy. Total of 12.5 for me.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.50
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.550.002.250.2012.00

A.M. Ran 8 on my own in the Provo Canyon. The road was better, so I decided to do another tempo. Since my 2 mile mark was covered I decided to make it 2.25. First mile went well. I ran it in 5:32. Tailwind helped some. Then I had some headwind in the second mile, and I slowed down to 5:47. The last quarter had minor headwind, but I was apparently tired from the wind battles and the distance, and ran it in 88. This gave me 12:47 for 2.25. I felt, though, that it was more of a problem with rhythm than the actual fitness. Headwind earlier broke by rhythm and I had not yet regained it. In the last 300 right before our house I decided to do a little hill interval. There are marks on the road every 100 meters, I am suspecting Ed Eystone and the BYU team for putting them and they appear accurate - I am always hitting reasonable splits on all of them. So I ran that 300 that had maybe 50 meters of 3-5% downhill, and then 250 of maybe 4-6% uphill in 1:00.

Then ran with the kids. Jenny and Julia did 2. Joseph and Jacob 1. Benjamin 2. I ended up with a total of 12.

 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.000.2512.00

A.M. Ran with the kids, total of 4. Benjamin did 2, Joseph and Jacob 1, Jenny and Julia 2. Benjamin still had a sore throat so I had him take it easy. Then ran 8 more to the magic spot in the Provo Canyon and back. Did a little interval in the last quarter before the house. It was a slight down in the first 100, then more down in the next 50, then up in the last 250. The time was 78.

P.M. An experience worth sharing. Our garage door broke. Of all things, it had to break on a Friday night before Christmas Eve with Monday being a legal holiday. It broke badly, our van could not get out. So with it in that state we'd be stuck at home for a while. I tried to see if it was something I could fix. I can command an electronic device to obey me, but this was a mechanical problem - an area where I am handicapped. I knew I lacked what it took to fix it, and said a silent prayer. Ten minutes later a man and his wife showed up at our house to meet the new neighbors. Turns out he is good at fixing things. He started looking at the matter, and knew what to do. He went to his house and brought a spare part for that particular garage opener, and fixed the problem. I think that is the best Christmas present I have ever received.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.004.000.0017.00

A.M. Total of 17. Started with 5 with the kids. Jenny and Julia did 2, Joseph and Jacob 1, Benjamin 3. He starting to feel better but still not 100%. Then I went for 12 more. Did 2x2 miles down the Provo Canyon. I considered doing 3x2 with the first down, second up, and the last down, but after the first one reconsidered. I felt it was important to learn to run a good pace downhill first before practicing uphill tempo pace. Slow pace teaches bad form, and I was not ready for a fast relaxed pace uphill yet. In the first interval I opened with a 5:26 mile, and the first 0.75 of it felt like a jog. Then it got harder. I put in a little bit more effort, and it produced only 5:35. So I ended up with 11:01.0. In the second one I went through the first mile in 5:31 and it felt harder than 5:26 in the previous repetition. Part of it I think was the lack of endurance from the sickness, but part was also fuel depletion as by that time I was about 14 miles into my run. However, I gave it a push in the second mile and managed to hold off the fading some. With a kick in 79 in the last quarter I actually pulled off another 5:31 mile, which gave me 11:02.7 for the interval.

On the positive side of things, even though struggling to run 5:30s down the Provo Canyon does not excite me too much, being able to do it at all is a marked improvement over the last week, and shows that my fitness is gradually returning.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 17.00
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. We had a nice Christmas program. Afterwards came home and took a long nap. My body needed it.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 10.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.000.2512.00

A.M. Started with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny 2, Julia, Joseph, and Jacob 1. This was total of 5 for me. Then 7 more to make 12 total. Did a fast quarter at the end - uphill - in 76. 

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.003.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Some with the kids. Benjamin did 5, Jenny 2, Julia 2, Joseph and Jacob 1. I decided it was time to start gradually introducing uphill tempo running. Started with a mile in 5:57.8. Then on the way back ran the 2 mile tempo in 10:44.0. The splits were 5:21 - 5:23. The second mile was helped a lot by the last quarter in 77.5. I started losing steam, but then I kicked which kept the split from being too positive. This is definitely an improvement over the last week.

P.M. Felt oncoming cold symptoms. Took a nap.

Green Crocs 2 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. Felt some minor cold symptoms. Nevertheless felt strong enough to run full 12. Did some of it with the kids. Benjamin did 5, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph and Jacob 1.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments
From Dragonvulture on Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 13:13:46 from 71.213.20.94

Hi Sasha, are you interested in joining our group for a run Saturday morning from Highland? we are doing 16 at 6:30am. Should have at least 6-8 guys. 4-5 sub 2:40 guys, a few of which are planning on going under 2:30 this next year, including your watermelon from your July 30th run, who was finishing up a 20 mile run when he stopped running with you. Sent me a text at 8013107971 so I can get your phone number, there are a couple guys from Orem who are carpooling up, which we may be able to get you a ride from there if I can get your info in time. Jody and Toni should be coming from South Orem.

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 18:24:02 from 67.222.225.187

Thanks for the invitation. I am running with Chad at 7:30 AM from my house in Orem at 395 S Palisade Dr. The days of me driving somewhere for a training run are gone. Two reasons. I live in the best location for running in the Utah County short of maybe a cabin in the Provo Canyon, and I have seven children with the oldest being 12, so that leaves barely enough time for just running.

From Dragonvulture on Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 18:51:44 from 71.213.20.94

So it sounds like you got the new home in Orem? That's great. What time are you starting your runs now? We do start runs on Saturday's and possibly other days from the Orem Soccer park if you would like to join us on those occasions, I can let you know when we are meeting.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.0013.00

A.M. The original plan was to do something fast, but I felt that I might have a cold coming, so I decided to lay low, and ran easy. Total of 10. Benjamin did 5, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph and Jacob waited until the afternoon.

P.M. 3 with Todd. 1 of it with Jacob and 1 with Joseph.

 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.500.000.001.5015.00

A.M. Total of 12. Some with the kids. Jenny and Julia did 2, Benjamin 6. I did 6x400. First 5 were down the Provo Canyon with 200 meter rest. 74.0 - 73.4 - 72.1 - 71.4 - 71.8. Benjamin helped me with the last 100 of the third, first 200 of the fourth, and stayed with me for the fifth. The last one was after jogging a couple of miles and was uphill near my house. Benjamin helped me with the first 150 or so meters. I ended up with 76.6.

P.M. 3 with Todd, Joseph did 1 with us, Jacob 1 as well.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.402.003.000.0017.40

A.M. Ran with Chad. We did the first 12.4 by ourselves, and the rest with the kids. We did some tempo running. First 2 mile tempo down. The wind was strange, kept changing directions. It was not too much of a factor in the first one. We did an even split 11:24. Then we jogged 0.5 miles, and I ran 1 mile uphill alone, while Chad jogged. I call that baby steps in strength work. Start with 1 mile. I was surprised to see the first two quarters in 83 and 85 which felt way too easy for that stretch. Then I slowed down and ran 88 and 89 which gave me 5:45.4. On the way back we found out why that stretch was too easy. Chad stayed with me through about the first 1000 meters. I had 4:19 at 0.75 followed by 5:43 at the mile. Then my next quarter was 85 followed by 89. The wind had picked up and was blowing into the canyon. That 89 quarter felt hard. No wonder I hit 83 easily going the other way. Seeing 89 I pushed harder but got only 86 in the next quarter. That was frustrating. Then all of a sudden the headwind stopped and I felt like somebody had just cut the chain he was holding me with. The last quarter was 80 with more or less the same effort, which gave me 11:23. Chad finished in 11:50. Then we ran to my house and ran with the kids. Jacob did 1, Joseph 1, Jenny and Julia 2, Benjamin 3. Total of 17.4 for us.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 17.40
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3509.63329.90208.31142.824190.66
Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 1422.95Green Crocs 1 Miles: 1248.01Green Crocs 2 Miles: 1430.07
Night Sleep Time: 2527.00Nap Time: 63.50Total Sleep Time: 2590.50
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