Breaking the Wall

Much needed day of rest. Went to church as usual. The lesson in Sunday school was on the life of Christ. We watched the video of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles testifying of Christ. All twelve, plus the First Presidency. All testified of the divinity of Christ, and His Atonement. I find the argument that the Latter-Day Saints are not Christian an odd one. There are arguments against the LDS faith that I can understand and appreciate, but this is not one of them. Calling a church non-Christian implies that you have been given the authority to define what is Christian and what is not. Most of the critics as far as I know could not reasonably claim such authority or try to explain how they got it. I am aware of the "authority of the Bible" argument, and it does not hold water. We read the Bible just as much as anybody else, so even if the Bible did give one authority to judge, we would have it as much as anybody else. I suppose the Catholic church could have some form of a claim for this authority, but what is ironic is that most of the criticism does not come from the Catholic church. But if it did, in order to maintain some form of logic, I would expect them to state that every church that is not Catholic is equally not Christian because they lack the inspired understanding of Christ or authority to act in His name.

What we really get the flack for is being different from the established Christian tradition. While being different does not always imply being right (although some people think that all they need to do to be right is be different), if you are right, you will  often be different. When you have found the truth, it will differ from error. When the error has been well established and perpetuated through centuries of tradition, the truth will be in conflict with it, and will undoubtedly raise some eyebrows. So what? Stick with the truth regardless.

A.M. 12.5 total , 6.5 of it with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Did 2x400 towards the end - 74.3 rolling and 70.1 rolling down. The pace on kids runs is actually quite decent - Benjamin averages around 7:40, Jenny and Julia around 8:45. Joseph and Jacob are about 9:00 - 9:30.

A.M. Total of 13. 3 mile tempo after a 2 mile warmup. Got 16:57.9 with the splits of 5:36 - 5:42 - 5:39. This marks poking my head out of the zone of desperation - not being able to crack 17:00 in a 3 mile tempo. Granted, the course is not the fastest, it is on the Provo River Trail which tends to be slower than most race courses, and it has a 180 turn, and I am doing it alone, but still struggling to break 5:40 average over 3 miles and failing does not feel good. I am finally past that, I still struggled, but at least it was 5:39 average, not 5:4x. Some positives: I was only 3 seconds slower in the last mile than in the first, and only 6 seconds slower in the second in spite of a 180 turn. There was an odd quarter at the start of the second mile that somehow ended up being 82, and there was a slight uphill quarter at the start of the third mile that ended up being 84. Those surges did not last, and did have a negative effect of slowing me down later, but at the same time I did not realize I was surging, I just put in a little bit of effort to prevent a slowdown. The last quarter was 83, not very good, but what I liked about it is that I smelled the barn with about 100 meters to go and started moving my legs. I was not able to do that in the previous runs.

Then I ran home and ran with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. I did 2x400 in the last 1.5 miles - 72.2 rolling and 70.3 down. Benjamin did the last one and ended up with around 70.5 which is his PR. He now boasts being able to run for a quarter at a pace that is a little bit faster than the world record marathon pace. He said to me - "And some people run full marathon like this?" I think it is a good idea for every runner to practice running world record marathon pace for as long as he can, even if it is only 100 meters, so that 4:44 per mile marathon will mean to him more than just words and a superficial wow.

A.M. Total of 12, 6 of it with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Did 2x400 - 72.1 rolling, and 69.5 rolling down. Was happy that I could break 70. 

P.M. Got my orthotics from Dr. Brady. Orthotics in Crocs is a rather unusual combination, but I am willing to try it. A good rule that I learned from chess is that the winning move is often unusual. Not every unusual move wins, in fact most of them lose. But what wins often needs to be unusual enough for your opponent to have missed when analyzing what you could possibly do.  Therefore you do not limit your creativity and consider odd moves as you analyze their consequences and possible continuations. Most of the time you will rightfully reject those moves, but one time out of a hundred or so you will see the light beyond the madness. So the secret is in inspired rather than random creativity.

A.M. Did 6x400 workout in the middle of my 12 mile run. First 3 with orthotics. The splits were  72.8 up - 68.9 rolling - 68.1 down ( Benjamin stayed with me on this one for a part, then fell back and finished around 73) - 72.1 up  - 69.4 rolling - 67.9 down. About 2 seconds per quarter faster than last week. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

So there was a definite improvement. Did it come just from training or did the warmup and walking around in orthotics help? Time will tell. Some observations: during the warmup I felt that my right foot was being stretch somewhere deep in the arch. Once I took off the orthotics, the right foot felt on plantar flexion to push the body more forward and upward with a reduced (compared to "normal") lateral component. The last 100 also did not feel as hard as it normally does, and I was getting surprised when I would discovered that the finish was closer than I expected.

A.M. 12 miles total. Did 2x400 into a headwind - 70.4 rolling, 69.8 down. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Long run - 18 miles. Did the 5 mile tempo on the Fast Running Blog course in 28:25, splits 5:39 - 5:40 - 5:41 - 5:46 - 5:39. HR was steady at 162-163 at 5:40 pace, dropped to 159 in the fourth mile, and peaked at 167 in the last mile. Last quarter was 82. Positives: improved the time by 19 seconds since last week, HR at 162 and peaking at 167 shows improved neural drive - the quarters are doing their job, and ability to pick it up in the last mile. Negatives: aerobic fitness still lacking - 5:40 pace HR should be no higher than 158, and HR of 167 should produce 5:10 pace, not 5:30, loss of pace/drop in HR in the fourth mile.

Ran with the kids as part of the long run. 3 with Benjamin, did 2x400 72.9 rolling, 70.1 down - Benjamin stayed with me on that one and got a new PR. Jenny and Julia ran 2, Jacob 0.5, and Joseph 1.