Breaking the Wall

Week starting Jan 26, 2014

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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:	2724.68
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

Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
75.18	0.00	6.00	0.00	81.18

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 81.18

Night Sleep Time: 51.50	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 51.50

Sun, Jan 26, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We got a new Bishopric.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 8.00

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Mon, Jan 27, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.04	0.00	0.00	0.00	12.04

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-01-27 08:15:56
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.040	1:38:03.10	8:08.63
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 3, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 3, William 1.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	26:19.90.	8:46.63
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	26:19.90	8:46.63	With Joseph, Jacob, and Benjamin.
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	47:37.80.	7:56.30	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	47:37.80	7:56.30
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2.04	14:42.70.	7:12.70	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.040	14:42.70	7:12.70
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	9:22.70.	9:22.70	With William.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	9:22.70	9:22.70

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.04

Night Sleep Time: 8.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 8.00

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Tue, Jan 28, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.00	0.00	3.00	0.00	13.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-01-28 08:17:21
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
13.000	1:44:21.10	8:01.62
Total of 13. Benjamin did 10, Jenny 3, Julia 3, Joseph 4, Jacob 2, William 1. Benjamin and I did a tempo run, details below.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4	35:26.30.	8:51.58	With Joseph.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.000	35:26.30	8:51.58
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4.1	35:17.10.	8:36.37	Started at the 1.5 mark. Warm-up up the canyon to Nunn's Park.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.100	35:17.10	8:36.37
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	16:32.90.	5:30.97	3 mile tempo down the canyon. Benjamin's assignment was 5:20 pace in the first 2 miles, then try to go sub-5:00 in the last mile. My goal was to make to hold on for as long as I could - I was still having stomach issues and could not eat very well over the last few days. It showed. I made it to 0.75 in 3:57 and had to drop back. My mile split was 5:21, followed by 5:41 and a heroic effort in the last mile which gave me only 5:30. Benjamin went through the mile in 5:16, followed by 5:21 and 5:04. He did open the kick with two 75 quarters, but then lacked the juice to keep it and slowed down to 77s. So his total time was 15:41 - a decent result for the weather and the pacing. For a comparison, last week I ran 16:01. So 30 second slow down, well maybe make it 20 given that last week Benjamin pulled me the entire time going my pace while today I was on my own for most of the run. I suppose the difference comes from low glycogen. A good way to look at it is this is marathon conditioning and will help deal with the last 10 miles.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	16:32.90	5:30.97
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.9	7:13.40.	8:01.56	Cool-down to the car.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.900	7:13.40	8:01.56
Leg 5
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	9:51.40.	9:51.40	With William.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	9:51.40	9:51.40

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 13.00

Night Sleep Time: 7.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 7.00

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Wed, Jan 29, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.04	0.00	0.00	0.00	12.04

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-01-29 08:08:05
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.040	1:34:06.30	7:48.96
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Joseph and Jacob 3, Jenny and Julia 3, William 1.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	24:24.70.	8:08.23	With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob. Joseph and Jacob were quite aggressive in the last 1.5 running it in 11:19 for Jacob and 11:14 for Joseph, so around 7:30 pace. It is a good sign that they ran that pace on that course in the cold weather on their own initiative.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	24:24.70	8:08.23
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	45:24.90.	7:34.15	With Benjamin. Discussed orthonormal basis if I remember right.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	45:24.90	7:34.15
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2.04	14:44.30.	7:13.48	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.040	14:44.30	7:13.48
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	9:32.40.	9:32.40	With William.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	9:32.40	9:32.40

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.04

Night Sleep Time: 7.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 7.00

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Thu, Jan 30, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	12.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-01-30 07:06:22
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.000	1:43:03.10	8:35.26
Total of 12. It snowed a lot today. We started a little earlier because Benjamin is now teaching a math ACT preparation class on Thursday mornings. Benjamin did 7, Joseph 4, Jacob 2, William 1, Jenny and Julia 3.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
7	55:39.40.	7:57.06	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	7.000	55:39.40	7:57.06
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4	37:48.50.	9:27.12	With Joseph. Discussed the relationship between incline percentage and angle. After some work Joseph figured out that you need to take the arctangent of the percentage ratio, e.g if the incline is 2 percent, the angle is atan(0.02). Benjamin ran 2 with Jacob.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.000	37:48.50	9:27.12
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	9:35.20.	9:35.20	With William.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	9:35.20	9:35.20

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.00

Night Sleep Time: 7.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 7.00

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Fri, Jan 31, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	12.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-01-31 08:14:24
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.000	1:35:46.80	7:58.90
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Joseph and Jacob 3, William 1, Jenny and Julia 3.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	26:00.80.	8:40.27	With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	26:00.80	8:40.27
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	46:39.10.	7:46.52	With Benjamin. Talked about spectral decomposition of symmetrical matrices.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	46:39.10	7:46.52
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	23:06.90.	7:42.30	Alone. Caught up to Jenny at the end and ran with her.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	23:06.90	7:42.30

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.00

Night Sleep Time: 7.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 7.00

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Sat, Feb 01, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
17.10	0.00	3.00	0.00	20.10

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-02-01 07:41:11
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
20.100	2:35:56.80	7:45.51
Total of 20. Most of it with Chad. Benjamin did 12.6, Jenny 3, Julia 3, Joseph 4, Jacob 2, William 1. Chad, Benjamin, and I did a tempo run. Details below.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	22:13.30.	7:24.43	With Chad.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	22:13.30	7:24.43
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4	35:05.10.	8:46.27	With Chad and Joseph. Joseph solved the following problem: a falcon is flying at 100 mph ascending at the angle of 30 degrees in relation to the horizontal line. The sun is shining on him at a perfectly vertical angle. Assuming the earth is flat in the vicinity of the falcon and assuming the sun is positioned at an infinite distance away, find the speed of the falcon's shadow. With a few hints he was able to get it. He forgot the approximation of the square root of 3, so I had him do it in his head using the method of splitting the search interval in half until the required precision is reached. He figured out that since 17^2=289 and 18^2=324, then sqrt(3) can be approximated as 1.7. I gave him one more digit for free because by then we were almost done with the run, and with that he figured out that the shadow was travelling at 86.5 mph. A 9-year-old is actually capable of doing rather advanced math, but the challenge is that he keeps forgetting his results and occasionally needs reminders about where he is at so far and where he is going. Very similar to the way they play chess. At times they find a brilliant move, but they lose focus and blunder a lot. That gets fixed with age.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.000	35:05.10	8:46.27
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
5.3	42:42.30.	8:03.45	Warm-up with Benjamin and Chad from the house to Nunn's Park. Benjamin ran 2 miles with Jacob earlier.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	5.300	42:42.30	8:03.45
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	16:34.90.	5:31.63	There was some ice on the road, but it was still quite runnable. We tried to repeat the Tuesday's workout. Benjamin went through the first mile in 5:16, I was a little bit back in 5:18. I thought I was doing well and would be able to run at least under 16:20, but after the first mile I lost steam. I am going to blame it on low glycogen as I was 13 miles into the run by that point. My next mile was 5:39, followed by only 5:37 in spite of a heroic effort. Benjamin had some mental issues after the first mile. His next mile was 5:25, followed by 5:32. He said he had a side ache combined with the mental pressure of having to run 5:00 in the last mile. So he did not even try, just coasted. Chad finished in 17:38. It is good that we discovered this weakness. Benjamin on the surface looks like he overcame completely the issues that kept him from breaking 6:00 when he was 10 and 11, but they do not just go away and under some conditions in the past have popped up their ugly head. However, each time this happened he hit them with a hammer pretty hard and came out a winner. We will try this workout again on Tuesday. It is important to win this battle.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	16:34.90	5:31.63
Leg 5
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2.3	17:22.50.	7:33.26	Cool-down to the house. Dropped off Chad and Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.300	17:22.50	7:33.26
Leg 6
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1.5	11:58.10.	7:58.73	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.500	11:58.10	7:58.73
Leg 7
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	10:00.60.	10:00.60	With William.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	10:00.60	10:00.60

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 20.10

Night Sleep Time: 7.50	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 7.50

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Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
75.18	0.00	6.00	0.00	81.18

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 81.18

Night Sleep Time: 51.50	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 51.50

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