Breaking the Wall

Day of rest. Went to a confirmation in my old ward with Benjamin, then took everybody to our regular set of church meetings. Got called as a Ward Mission Leader. Had good lessons in Sunday school and in the Elders' quorum. The Sunday school lesson talked about Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel. I remembered that it was the discussion of those three that finally helped Benjamin find in himself what it took to break the 6:00 mile for the first time. One brother in his 80s commented that he considered it a "compliment" to get a wayward child. Means the Lord chose your family to give that spirit the best chance. Then in the Elders quorum we talked about George Albert Smith. He was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1903. Back then they often just announced your calling over the pulpit without talking to you first with the assumption that you were faithful enough to accept, and General Conference sessions could take place on a work day. So he was at work and could not attend when his calling was announced. He came home, and there were people gathered around his house to congratulate him on being called as an apostle. 

A.M. 2 with Jenny and Julia, 8 with Benjamin going 6 the usual way, 2 alone. Did 0.25 pickup to catch Benjamin after a VPB in 86 up the canyon. On the way down ran a mile in 5:21. The road had some snow on it, especially in the first half, which I ran in 2:44. Second half was 2:37.

P.M. 1 with Jacob, and 1 with Joseph. Another Jacob who is in our ward, is 11 years old, and wants to run the Utah Valley Half Marathon came to train with us and ran 2 miles. I will call him from now the older Jacob.

A.M. Tempo workout today. Extended my baby uphill strength training step to 1.5 miles. Ran it in 8:58.0. First 0.5 I did not have the headwind, and coasted through it in 2:51. Then the headwind hit, and I slowed down to 6:07 pace. I do not think the headwind was necessarily too bad, although it was a factor. I experienced a loss of strength as well that was not wind-related, I think. All of a sudden I felt like I was jogging, but I could not go any faster. And I could not breath the air quite right, I felt l that whatever I was breathing was not making it to the muscles. Maybe a side effect of mild dehydration - I had a minor diarrhea yesterday. Also the temperature was around 20 F, which makes it difficult to breathe, but I do not think it was just the temperature - I had a funny feeling coming from the heart yesterday at the end of the PM run when the temperature was 36F. It was no big deal, but I could feel that the heart was doing something sub-optimal, and it was still doing it today. I had the same feeling during the 2 mile tempo coming back as well. The first mile was 5:20, which was not bad considering that parts of it were on snow, but the second mile was weak - I did three quarters in 82 each, and then ran 78 as Benjamin pulled me in the last quarter, but that 78 required a heroic effort. Total time was 10:44.5. Benjamin did a total of 6.

2 with Jenny and Julia, 2 more alone, total of 12.

P.M. 2 with the older Jacob, my Jacob did 1, Joseph did 1 after that.

A.M. Total of 12. Some with the the kids. Benjamin did 6, Jenny and Julia 2.

P.M. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph.

A.M. Total of 12. Benjamin did 6, Jenny and Julia 2. I did a tempo run to check if Tuesday was just a temporary problem, or maybe something else was going on. Ran down the Provo Canyon. It was cold, there were patches of snow, but there was a nice tailwind. I got 10:30.3 for 2 miles with the splits of 81, 78, 77, 79 (5:15), 80, 79, 79, 77 (5:15). Benjamin was concerned about his ankle, so he did not help me in the last quarter. I think with his help I might have run a couple of seconds faster. So I suppose Tuesday was just a fluke, possibly diarrhea related.

P.M. 1 with Joseph and the older Jacob. My son Jacob fell on the stairs and cut his tongue. So he did not run today so as to not raise the blood pressure and flow without need.

A.M. Total of 12. 6 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia. Did a post-VPB pickup for a mile uphill, the wind was quite solid, but I managed 5:56.

P.M. 1 with the older Jacob and my son Jacob, 1 with Joseph.

A.M. Total of 20.2. Ran a good part of it with Chad. Did a 6 mile tempo run with Chad joining me for portions of it. 2 down the canyon, then 2 back up, and 2 more down. Paced Chad through the first 1.5, the mile split was 5:44, missed 1.5, though. Second mile was 5:36, (11:20), then turned around, and had a hard time with the headwind. Thought maybe I was out of shape. Struggled through the next 2 miles in 6:26 each (24:13 at 4). Thought that the last two would not be very good, I'd be lucky to go 5:50. But I was able to shift gears and get going. First quarter was 90, but after that it was quite solid. 5:38 for the 5th mile, and then the last mile with the quarters of 82, 82, 80, 79 - 5:32, and 35:13 for the total time. Odd. The wind did not feel that strong, I've been able to hit 6:00 pace into something similar lately, I thought. After the first 12.2 ran 1 with the Jacobs, my son Jacob got 8:39, a new mile PR, 1 with Joseph, and 6 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Benjamin and I got caught by two BYU guys and we joined them. They provided a nice wild shield. They were going around 7:00 at first, then picked it up to 6:15. We ran a quarter in 93 with them and a little more to our turnaround. It sure felt easier behind them than in the tempo run, even though that was faster and mile 17 for me.