Breaking the Wall

Week starting Feb 05, 2017

15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

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:

Click to donate

to Ukraine's Armed Forces

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
56.20	0.00	7.50	3.94	67.64

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 67.63

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

Sun, Feb 05, 2017

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. Was very tired in the afternoon and took a long nap. Practicd Russian with Benjamin. Played a scripture chase game with the kids. Was surprised at how good Jacob was at identifying random passages out of the Book of Mormon. We talked to my mother on Skype.

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

Add Comment

Mon, Feb 06, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.50	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.50

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-02-06 08:43:04
Workout Totals: Distance10.500Time1:24:09.60Pace8:00.91
Easy run. Benjamin felt some symptoms of a cold, ran only 7. Joseph was ambitious and ran 7 total - 6 with Jenny. I did the usual 10.5, usual distances for everybody else.
Leg 1:Distance1.000Time8:26.00Pace8:26.00
With Benjamin, Stephen, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 2:Distance3.000Time25:30.10Pace8:30.03
With William, Benjamin, and Jacob.
Leg 3:Distance3.000Time23:58.40Pace7:59.47
With Benjamin.
Leg 4:Distance3.000Time21:28.50Pace7:09.50
Alone.
Leg 5:Distance0.500Time4:46.60Pace9:33.20
With Matthew.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 10.50

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

Add Comment

Tue, Feb 07, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
6.57	0.00	0.00	3.75	10.32

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-02-07 14:41:45
Workout Totals: Distance10.320Time1:16:22.10Pace7:24.00
Did 6x1000 with Benjamin alternating directions in the canyon. He paced me. We were supposed to do it with 200 recovery, but I needed to go to bathroom several times which resulted in longer rest than planned. On the way down the range was 3:21 - 3:24, on the way up 3:34 - 3:37. The wind was favoring the up direction, so the gap was smaller than normal. Also having Benjamin with me made a lot of difference. I had Benjamin do a lighter workout today because he had some symptoms of a cold. Joseph tried to do an interval with us, but something was wrong and he could not keep up. Perhaps 7 miles the day before wore him out. Benjamin ran only 8 miles. Jacob had stomach problems, ran only 3. Otherwise usual distances for everybody.
Leg 1:Distance1.150Time9:37.00Pace8:21.74
Warm-up.
Leg 2:Distance4.550Time30:18.00Pace6:39.56
Workout.
Split 1:Distance0.625Time3:24.10Pace5:26.56 Cumilative:Distance0.625Time3:24.10Pace5:26.56
Split 2:Distance0.125Time1:22.10Pace10:56.80 Cumilative:Distance0.750Time4:46.20Pace6:21.60
Split 3:Distance0.625Time3:37.40Pace5:47.84 Cumilative:Distance1.375Time8:23.60Pace6:06.25
Split 4:Distance0.300Time3:32.10Pace11:47.00 Cumilative:Distance1.675Time11:55.70Pace7:07.28
Long rest - bathroom.
Split 5:Distance0.625Time3:23.50Pace5:25.60 Cumilative:Distance2.300Time15:19.20Pace6:39.65
Split 6:Distance0.125Time1:22.70Pace11:01.60 Cumilative:Distance2.425Time16:41.90Pace6:53.15
Long rest.
Split 7:Distance0.625Time3:34.20Pace5:42.72 Cumilative:Distance3.050Time20:16.10Pace6:38.72
Split 8:Distance0.125Time1:43.00Pace13:44.00 Cumilative:Distance3.175Time21:59.10Pace6:55.46
Split 9:Distance0.625Time3:21.80Pace5:22.88 Cumilative:Distance3.800Time25:20.90Pace6:40.24
Split 10:Distance0.125Time1:22.80Pace11:02.40 Cumilative:Distance3.925Time26:43.70Pace6:48.59
Long rest.
Split 11:Distance0.625Time3:34.30Pace5:42.88 Cumilative:Distance4.550Time30:18.00Pace6:39.56

Leg 3:Distance0.120Time1:10.00Pace9:43.33
Back to the car.
Leg 4:Distance0.500Time4:41.90Pace9:23.80
With Matthew.
Leg 5:Distance3.000Time23:37.70Pace7:52.57
With William and Jacob.
Leg 6:Distance1.000Time6:57.50Pace6:57.50
Alone.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 10.32

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

Add Comment

Wed, Feb 08, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.50	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.50

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-02-08 08:55:40
Workout Totals: Distance10.500Time1:22:47.60Pace7:53.10
Usual run, usual distances.
Leg 1:Distance4.000Time31:59.20Pace7:59.80
With Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 2:Distance6.000Time46:03.30Pace7:40.55
With Benjamin.
Leg 3:Distance0.500Time4:45.10Pace9:30.20
With Matthew.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 10.50

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

Add Comment

Thu, Feb 09, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
5.59	0.00	7.50	0.19	13.28

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-02-09 09:20:05
Workout Totals: Distance13.272Time1:33:45.20Pace7:03.84
Did 7.5 tempo with Benjamin again - 2.5 down, 2.5 up, 2.5 down. The weather was better - very warm for this time of year, 60 F. We ran in shorts. He paced me for the first 5 miles, then took of. My splits were 14:32, 15:27, 14:30 - total of 44:29. Benjamin's last 2.5 was 12:46, 5:06 pace - total time 42:45. I was happy that I improved my time from last week by 1:10, and that I held together on the uphill - 15:27 vs 16:07. It really helped to wear shorts, have virtually no wind, and have Benjamin pace me. Kids ran their usual distances, but there was some speed. Jacob ran 5:48 mile with me and Benjamin in the tempo. Jenny ran the first 0.5 in 2:55. We also went the track - Matthew ran 400 in 2:06 without holding the hand. His splits were 25, 29, 37, 35. He was doing exceptionally well for the first 200, but then got tired and lost the motivation. We were able to talk him into finishing, though, and he got a record, for which he earned a garbage truck. Then I did 100 meter sprints with Jacob (15.2), William(17.8), and Stephen(20.6) - I believe all of those times are their PRs, if not pretty close. I was able to keep up with Jacob - barely. Benjamin did total of a bit more than 10, I was around 13.
Leg 1:Distance1.050Time9:01.30Pace8:35.52
Warm-up.
Leg 2:Distance7.500Time44:29.00Pace5:55.87
Tempo - 2.5 down, 2.5 up, 2.5 down.
Leg 3:Distance2.000Time17:46.40Pace8:53.20
Cool-down.
Leg 4:Distance0.248Time2:06.30Pace8:29.27
With Matthew, no hand.
Leg 5:Distance0.248Time2:12.90Pace8:55.89
With Matthew, holding the hand.
Leg 6:Distance0.062Time0:20.60Pace5:32.26
With Stephen.
Leg 7:Distance0.062Time0:15.20Pace4:05.16
With Jacob.
Leg 8:Distance0.062Time0:17.80Pace4:47.10
With William.
Leg 9:Distance2.040Time17:15.70Pace8:27.70
With William.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 13.27

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

Add Comment

Fri, Feb 10, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.50	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.50

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-02-10 09:11:08
Workout Totals: Distance10.500Time1:23:20.40Pace7:56.23
Usual runs and distances today. Went cross-country skiing with Joseph in the evening.
Leg 1:Distance4.000Time31:06.40Pace7:46.60
With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob, I think.
Leg 2:Distance3.000Time23:43.50Pace7:54.50
With William and Benjamin.
Leg 3:Distance3.000Time23:44.00Pace7:54.67
With Benjamin.
Leg 4:Distance0.500Time4:46.50Pace9:33.00
With Matthew.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 10.50

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

Add Comment

Sat, Feb 11, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.54	0.00	0.00	0.00	12.54

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-02-11 08:51:01
Workout Totals: Distance12.540Time1:34:33.90Pace7:32.46
Took Julia to the Utah All Girls Chess Championship. She won 3 out 5 games, losing 2, and got 6th place. I ran 10 miles in the Emigration Canyon while there. Then we ran 2 miles together when we got home. Benjamin did 12, otherwise usual Saturday distances for everybody.
Leg 1:Distance10.000Time1:13:52.00Pace7:23.20
Leg 2:Distance2.040Time16:00.80Pace7:50.98
Leg 3:Distance0.500Time4:41.10Pace9:22.20

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 12.54

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

Add Comment

Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
56.20	0.00	7.50	3.94	67.64

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 67.63

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

Debt Reduction Calculator

Featured Announcements

Most Recent Entries:

New Kids on the Blog
(need a welcome):

Lone Faithfuls
(need a comment):