Breaking the Wall

Week starting Feb 09, 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:	40.31	Year:	3073.12
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
69.75	1.00	9.80	0.00	80.55

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 68.25

Night Sleep Time: 46.50	Nap Time: 1.00	Total Sleep Time: 47.50

Sun, Feb 09, 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. Skyped with relatives in Russia.

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

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Mon, Feb 10, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.24	0.00	0.80	0.00	12.04

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-02-10 08:17:27
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.040	1:37:44.70	8:07.10
Easy run. 12 miles total. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph and Jacob 3, William 1.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	26:36.30.	8:52.10	With Joseph, Jacob, and Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	26:36.30	8:52.10
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	48:50.20.	8:08.37	With Benjamin. It was slippery in places so we did not go very fast.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	48:50.20	8:08.37
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6:25.50.	6:25.50	Caught up to Jenny and William and then ran with them.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.800	4:42.30	5:52.88	Catch-up.
2	0.200	1:43.20	8:36.00	With Jenny and William.
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2.04	15:52.70.	7:47.01	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.040	15:52.70	7:47.01

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.04

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

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Tue, Feb 11, 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 - 2014-02-11 08:05:23
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.000	1:37:19.00	8:06.58
Today Benjamin performed operation code named Hubris Cubed. Hubris raised to power one is when you dare enroll into college at the age of 14. Hubris squared is when you sign up for 300 level math classes in the same circumstances. Hubris cubed is when a 14-year-old goes to the math department and has them make a special test for him (since apparently nobody had requested one before) to challenge a 300 level math class and manages to persuaded them to do it. Today Benjamin took BYU Math 313 (Linear Algebra) challenge exam. He felt OK about it, but we'll see what happens when the exam gets graded. Seriously, though, we need more guts. We have a tradition among above average students of studying well below their limit, taking classes in a manner that guarantees an A. We expect a good student to get As, so they play it safe and get As never really challenging themselves. But real life is much different. To achieve something you need to expose yourself to situations that push your limits and you do not always get an A, you do not always win the race. That is when you grow and you really achieve something. I ran a total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 4, Jacob 2, William 1.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4	34:13.40.	8:33.35	With Joseph. Benjamin did 2 with Jacob.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.000	34:13.40	8:33.35
2	0.000	0:00.00	0:00.00	Pushed the wrong button. Need to add Delete Split functionality.
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	8:35.50.	8:35.50	William's mile time trial on the track. It was challenging as the air is still cold and it has been bothering him when he goes fast. So he did not get his record, but he missed it by only 10 seconds. For the effort he earned a replacement for his Android tablet which he broke when he accidentally sat on it. Happens to five year olds sometimes. But for $50 I will get them a replacement after they've earned it.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	8:35.50	8:35.50
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	47:00.90.	7:50.15	With Benjamin. Did a review for his test today.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	47:00.90	7:50.15
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	7:29.20.	7:29.20	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	7:29.20	7:29.20

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.00

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

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Wed, Feb 12, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
9.30	0.00	3.00	0.00	12.30

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-02-12 08:18:09
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.300	1:34:53.70	7:42.90
Total of 12.3. Benjamin did 9, Joseph and Jacob 3, Julia 3, Jenny 4, William 1. Benjamin and I did our standard 3 mile tempo down the Provo Canyon. Details below.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	25:00.40.	8:20.13	With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	25:00.40	8:20.13
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2.2	17:26.60.	7:55.73	Warm-up up the canyon.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.200	17:26.60	7:55.73
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	16:24.00.	5:28.00	Benjamin's assignment was to run 5:20, 5:20, then 5:00 or faster. My assignment was to hang on for dear life. There was some headwind, so I told him 5:10 in the last mile would be a good result. He opened with 5:12. It was too fast for me, but I did not want to run alone, so I just hung on. I made it to 2000 in 6:32, and then we hit some snow/ice. Not much, but it was enough to get me dropped as I am clumsy to begin with and was running at my limit already. After that Benjamin ran 5:20 and closed with a spectacular 4:53 (2:28, 2:25) repeating his PR of 15:25, except with a huge negative split this time. I ran 5:35, 5:37. Better than a couple of weeks ago.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	16:24.00	5:28.00
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1.1	9:20.40.	8:29.45	Cool-down to the Canyon View Park. Benjamin's post-workout comment: "This removes the shame", referring to a tempo run a week and a half ago where he ran the last mile in 5:32. He said the 10 K on Saturday did not completely remove it because it was a different distance on a different course. I like his approach. There is much to be said about a healthy sense of shame. It seems like we tend to move back and forth between two extremes - either constantly telling ourselves that we did a great job, or keep beating ourselves up. Both limit the progress. To grow you need to have a balanced approach.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.100	9:20.40	8:29.45
Leg 5
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	26:42.30.	8:54.10	With Julia.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	26:42.30	8:54.10

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

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Thu, Feb 13, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.02	0.00	0.00	0.00	12.02

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-02-13 07:03:12
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.020	1:40:49.00	8:23.24
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Joseph 4, Jacob 2, William 1, Jenny 4, Julia 3. Benjamin and I had some fun today. We got a letter in the mail from the US Department of Education inviting Benjamin to apply for the Presidential Scholar Program award. He somehow made it to the list of candidates. As to how, is a mystery to us - the only thing he did to make himself known was take the ACT and the AP tests. Otherwise the Department of Education would have no record of even his existence - aside from signing a waiver to home school, we've had zero interaction with the public education system. So we started filling out the online forms and ran into an issue. The system was asking for his school and instructed home school students to call to make some special arrangements. So we did. The official on the phone had a problem to solve. Benjamin had zero school transcripts. The conversation went like this: "Who taught you?" "Mom and Dad." "Did they give you any grades?" "No" "Hmm...So they never gave you any kind of grade?" "No" "Hmm... let me talk to my supervisor..." Eventually all three of us figured out what to do and the requirement to have school transcripts was dropped. But it was very entertaining!
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
7	55:06.80.	7:52.40	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	7.000	55:06.80	7:52.40
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4	35:43.90.	8:55.98	With Joseph.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.000	35:43.90	8:55.98
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1.02	9:58.30.	9:46.57	With William on the big boy course.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.020	9:58.30	9:46.57

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.02

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

Comments(2)

Fri, Feb 14, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.09	1.00	0.00	0.00	12.09

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-02-14 07:57:18
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.090	1:36:29.20	7:58.84
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Joseph 3, Jacob 3, William 1, Jenny 4, Julia 3. Joseph did a mile time trial on the track setting a new record of 6:12.6, details below. Benjamin got the results back from his BYU Math 313 (Linear Algebra) challenge. Operation Hubris Cubed was mostly successful - he got 88 out of 100 which gave him B+. He got tripped up by a question about adjugate matrix. The problem was that while he understood the concept behind inverting the matrix using co-factors he was not familiar with the term "adjugate" and there was no hint in the problem to deduce it from the context. The term was not on the published list of course skills and topics. That is one problem with challenging a class if the grading scale is 92% for an A, you did not attend it, and you are using the list of topics from a different section to study. You can easily get 80% on any test, and if they threw an extra credit problem that most of the A students that took the class would fail, you would solve it, so it pulls you up enough for an A. But with the setup without the extra credit where you need to be 92% perfect on whatever the professor thought was important to know about that subject, there is a problem. You could know the subject overall much better than the average student who took the class that got an A. But the student who took the class understands the professor's bias much better than you and he focused on the areas of the bias likely neglecting other topics. One way to correct this problem would be to swap midterms and finals between sections, and to add some tough extra credit problems making it theoretically possible to score above 100% thus rewarding the true general understanding over the understanding of professor's bias. But I am afraid if they did that the students would rebel - how in the world can you test me on something that you did not teach me?
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1.05	9:12.40.	8:46.10	Warm-up to the track with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.050	9:12.40	8:46.10
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2	14:55.50.	7:27.75	Joseph did the mile time trial. Jacob assisted in the second half acting as a rabbit by starting a few seconds ahead. I was in charge of setting the pace, Benjamin was in charge of motivation - making sure Joseph did not let me open the gap. It works better this way - it is hard to pay attention to both for one person. Fortunately we have the luxury of having two people for the job for a 6:12 mile pacing. Joseph opened with 91, then did 94, 94, and 91 for the kick finishing in 6:12.6 - a new PR by 2 seconds. The 9.34 meter tax was responsible for the discrepancy. Jacob ran 3:15 for 800.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	6:12.60	6:12.60	Joseph's time trial.
2	1.000	8:42.90	8:42.90	Cool-down to the house.
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	47:49.90.	7:58.32	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	47:49.90	7:58.32
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2.04	14:56.00.	7:19.22	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.040	14:56.00	7:19.22
Leg 5
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	9:35.40.	9:35.40	With William.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	9:35.40	9:35.40

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.09

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

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Sat, Feb 15, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
14.10	0.00	6.00	0.00	20.10

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-02-15 07:46:29
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
20.100	2:26:43.60	7:17.99
20 miles total with Chad. Benjamin did 13, Joseph 4, Jacob 2, William 1, Julia 3, Jenny 4. Chad, Benjamin, and I did a workout in the canyon -2 x 3 with a brief recovery in between. First one uphill, second one back down on the same course. Details below.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4	34:24.30.	8:36.08
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.000	34:24.30	8:36.08
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2.55	19:29.70.	7:38.71	Warm-up.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.550	19:29.70	7:38.71
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	17:40.40.	5:53.47	Uphill tempo. The target was 18:00 for Benjamin, to survive for me. I survived quite well thanks to drafting and a bit of tailwind. I actually felt quite good on this one, but felt the fatigue on the second. Chad did this one in 18:52.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	5:49.50	5:49.50	Benjamin started aggressively, but then eased off into the target pace.
2	1.000	5:58.60	5:58.60	Benjamin surged in the first quarter hitting it in 86, but then eased off and we gave back a little time to the 6:00 guy.
3	1.000	5:52.30	5:52.30	A little push in the last half mile got us 5:52.
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.25	2:25.70.	9:42.80	Recovery jog. The actual rest was longer for me and Benjamin because we waited a little over a minute for Chad after we finished.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.250	2:25.70	9:42.80
Leg 5
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	16:37.30.	5:32.43	Benjamin's target was 16:00, my goal was to hang in there. I went with him in the first 0.5, but then had to back off. He went through the mile in 5:14 then hit a glycogen bonk that manifested itself in a side ache which made him stop a couple of times for 3 seconds. He still held his own running 5:26 and 5:21, 16:01 total time (not stopping the watch when he stopped). I was generally happy with the result for the headwind and the second repetition. Chad got 17:40.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	5:26.50	5:26.50	First half was 2:38, then I backed off and tried to recover.
2	1.000	5:37.70	5:37.70	Not feeling too bad but for the life of me cannot do a single quarter under 84.
3	1.000	5:33.10	5:33.10	Managed a quarter in the middle in 83, and the last one in 82 pushing as hard as I could.
Leg 6
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2.3	17:40.10.	7:40.91	Cool-down with Chad and Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.300	17:40.10	7:40.91
Leg 7
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
5	38:26.10.	7:41.22	With Chad. Felt low on fuel at the end, did not want to run faster than 8:00, but Chad made me do it.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	5.000	38:26.10	7:41.22

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 20.10

Night Sleep Time: 8.50	Nap Time: 1.00	Total Sleep Time: 9.50

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Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
69.75	1.00	9.80	0.00	80.55

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 68.25

Night Sleep Time: 46.50	Nap Time: 1.00	Total Sleep Time: 47.50

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