Breaking the Wall

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a fast and testimony meeting. There were so many people that I did not get a chance to bear my testimony. Then we had a lesson on 1 Nephi 16-22 which talked about the contrast in the attitude of Nephi and his older brothers. One more reason for the Book of Mormon in addition to the Bible. While the Bible does mention here and there that it is not good to complain, I do not recall any stories or sermons that highlight this sin and its consequences to the extent that the Book of Mormon does. The Book of Mormon, on the other hand, teaches a powerful lesson on the subject that is easy to remember. You can just say "like Nephi or like Laman and Lemuel" to an LDS person and he will know exactly what you are talking about. Even those who are inactive will joke that they are choosing to follow the example of Laman and Lemuel.  The Elders Quorum lesson was on prayer, but I missed a good part of it because I took Stephen to the nursery for an introductory visit. 

A.M. Ran 6 with Benjamin and Jeremy. We paced Jeremy through his first sub-6:00 mile - 5:59. Afterwards I did my circular pickup, ran some more, then 2 with Jenny and Julia, total of 12.

P.M. 2 total. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Tobler boys and Mandy ran with us. 

A.M. 7 with Jeremy, 5 more with Benjamin. The last 2 of it was with Jenny and Julia as well. Did a circular pickup, and a few more pickups. Total of 12.

P.M. 2 with the kids. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Tobler kids and Mandy ran with us. Julia did 1 with Mandy. 

A.M. Had plans for a tempo run, but got hit with a stomach bug and could barely run at all. Running at any pace was painful. Benjamin was also having problems from a stubbed toe, and could only run 3. I ended up running a total of 9.3 or so including 2 with Jenny and Julia. Jeremy went 4.5 and had a calf problem after that. So it was a day of affliction. 

P.M. Next time I get a stomach bug I should just say a prayer to open the fast and fast formally. That way at least I'll be going without food with a spiritual purpose. So aside from drinking some water and a smoothy I did not eat anything until dinner. This did the job of running the bug out of resources and making it die out, and I was able to run in the PM with much less trouble. Ran with Jacob (1), Joseph (1), Tobler boys and Mandy. Benjamin's toe was feeling better and he ran 2.  

A.M. Did 5 with Jeremy including a short pickup, 1 more alone including circular pickup, 4 with with Benjamin, and 2 with Jenny and Julia. Total of 12.

P.M.  Total of 2. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Tobler boys and Mandy joined us. Benjamin did 2, Julia 1.

A.M. Felt better. Ran with Gary, Benjamin, and Jeremy. Jeremy had to turn around after about half mile because of his calf. Benjamin felt a cold coming on so I told him to keep it easy. Gary and I did the quarters. I did the first two up the canyon ( 76.6, 74.4), then three more down the canyon (70.0, 69.8, 66.1), and the last one up the hill by my house in 71.0, which is a new record. Gary did the first two with me finishing about a second back, then skipped one, did one more finishing a couple of seconds back, then stayed with me on the on the one that was 66.1, then finished 1 second back on the last one. Ran some more by myself, then 2 with Jenny and Julia.

P.M. Had a physical therapy visit with Sergio Orozco to try to diagnose and treat the hip imbalance that has plagued me for years. He observed two things on the right side: mainly tight piriformis compressing the sciatic nerve and thus causing weakness/lack of control down the leg in the muscles that it innervates and also a tight IT band. He did some manipulation to restore pelvis mobility and electrical stimulation of the piriformis. Afterwards I ran with Jacob (1 mile), and Joseph (1 mile), total of 2. Tobler kids, Julia, and Mandy joined us. Julia ran 1 mile.

A.M. 20 mile run. Did a good part of it with Chad. We did a 4+ mile warmup, then I ran a 6 mile tempo - 2 down, 2 up, 2 back down. The splits were 5:27, 5:22, 6:06, 6:11, 5:29, and 5:17 with the total time of 33:52. The wind was quite significant, but not as bad as last week. However it was bad enough that my splits in the 3rd mile were 94, 86, 91, 95. On 94 I was running by myself, on 86 Chad blocked the wind for me, on 91 he was still blocking it but was getting tired, on 95 I was by myself again. I felt very strong in the last two miles. Was able to shift gears quickly after the turnaround with a quarter in 86, and after that the remaining 1.75 were at 5:20 average slipping off the 5:20 pace by 4 seconds up to the last quarter, but then making it up with a kick in 76. Overall the improvement from the best time for this 6 mile course was 34 seconds. Some of it came from wearing shorts, but I think some from the PT session the day before. I am estimating about 3 seconds per mile from the PT session, although it is difficult to say exactly. I have 5 more sessions scheduled and will be doing tempo runs the day after, so this will allow me to document the results with more reliability. Also, if the treatment is effective I am anticipating the results to continue improving of over the course of several months. Some things produce immediate improvement, such as better balance, less waste in movement, and immediate muscular activation, but other things take time - strengthening the muscles that were less developed due to deactivation, improvement in muscle coordination, and the improvements in recruitment that require practice. 

Then we went home and got the kids. Benjamin did 6, Jacob 1, Joseph 1, Jenny and Julia did 2 on their own. Tobler family joined us.  When I was done with everybody I added a quick 1.5 tempo on the hills. The wind was blowing and blew me away - I ended up with 9:11. But there is something about this course that makes it hard - even without the wind 6:00 average on it feel so much harder than it should.