Breaking the Wall

December 21, 2024

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Location:

Orem,UT,United States

Member Since:

Jan 27, 1986

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

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

Draper Days 5 K 15:37 (2004)

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

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

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

Long-Term Running Goals:

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

Personal:

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

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

Favorite Quote:

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

Elder Bruce R. McConkie

 

Favorite Blogs:
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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 3010.45
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles: 640.15
Bare Feet Lifetime Miles: 450.37
Nike Double Stroller Lifetime Miles: 124.59
Brown Crocs 4 Lifetime Miles: 1334.06
Amoji 1 Lifetime Miles: 732.60
Amoji 2 Lifetime Miles: 436.69
Amoji 3 Lifetime Miles: 380.67
Lopsie Sports Sandals Lifetime Miles: 818.02
Lopsie Sports Sandals 2 Lifetime Miles: 637.27
Iprome Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles: 346.18
Beslip Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles: 488.26
Joybees 1 Lifetime Miles: 1035.60
Madctoc Clogs Lifetime Miles: 698.29
Blue Crocs Lifetime Miles: 1164.32
Kimisant Black Clogs Lifetime Miles: 720.62
Black Crocs 2023 Lifetime Miles: 1743.12
White Slip Resistant Crocs Lifetime Miles: 759.93
Sat, Feb 02, 2013
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.250.002.000.0015.25

A.M. Finished the Fast Running Friend data collection feature that allows me to gather and analyze the GPS data from it. Tried it out. During the 1 mile with Jacob and Julia it crashed, of course. I neglected to release the JNI references after each flushing operation and it eventually overflowed the 512-entry reference table, plus I also had a bug that was flushing the data wrong. I ran 2 more with Julia, Jenny, and Joseph, and 1 more with Rob. Rob ended up with 4, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, Jenny 2, Julia 3.

Then I fixed the bugs, and tried again. During the 8 mile run with Benjamin and later on everything went well as far as timing is concerned, and the distance also was reported correctly. I did a tempo run for 2 miles down the Provo Canyon. Benjamin joined me for 1 mile. He would have joined me for 2, but his foot has been giving him trouble so we decided to be cautious. We went through the first mile in 5:27, then I did 5:33. Felt like I did not have the top gear. Not surprising - I have not been sleeping well in the last two weeks - Matthew is keeping us up. And with all the snow I have not done anything fast. So all in all I think 11:00 for 2 miles is a good starting point.

After that I ran 0.5 with William and 2.5 myself. Collected more GPS data, analyzed in the afternoon. Discovered a small bug that does not affect anything for the user, only my analysis. Will continue working on finding a good GPS algorithm.

Total of 15.25 miles. 

Green Crocs 5 Miles: 15.25
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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