Breaking the Wall

Week starting Jan 16, 2011

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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: 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
77.254.750.500.5083.00
Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 83.00
Night Sleep Time: 49.50Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 51.00
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(1)
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
Add Comment
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
Add Comment
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
Add Comment
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
Add Comment
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
Add Comment
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(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
77.254.750.500.5083.00
Gold Crocs 2 Miles: 83.00
Night Sleep Time: 49.50Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 51.00
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