Breaking the Wall

Week starting Mar 16, 2014

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:

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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
70.62	8.00	3.50	0.00	82.12

Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00	Green Crocs 7 Miles: 82.12

Night Sleep Time: 44.00	Nap Time: 1.00	Total Sleep Time: 45.00

Sun, Mar 16, 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. Matthew behaved today. I was able to attend the new member class in Sunday School and the Elder's Quorum as well. We had a lesson on the topic Our Father in Heaven and briefly discussed the creation recalling a quote from Elder Nelson: "Can an explosion at a printing shop produce a dictionary?" The Elder's Quorum lesson was on the significance of the Sacrament.

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

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Mon, Mar 17, 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 - 2014-03-17 08:15:05
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.000	1:36:55.90	8:04.66
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 4, Julia 2, Joseph and Jacob 3, William 1.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	25:53.30.	8:37.77	With Joseph, Jacob, and Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	25:53.30	8:37.77
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	48:01.40.	8:00.23	With Benjamin. Did some AIME problem solving. Those are fun to solve on the run, but good practice. Benjamin's visual on-the-run algebraic ability has improved and is now exceeding mine. When I say it is time for paper, he still wants to bash it out in his head, and he succeeds. I suppose I deserve this - this is what you get for having your kid derive the volume of a sphere formula while running at the age of 12. Yes, I made him integrate pi*(R^2-x^2)dx from -R to R in his head while running and I made him figure out that this is what he was supposed to integrate to get the volume as well.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	48:01.40	8:00.23
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	23:01.20.	7:40.40	Alone with the exception of Matthew in the stroller.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	23:01.20	7:40.40

Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00	Green Crocs 7 Miles: 12.00

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

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Tue, Mar 18, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
9.54	0.00	3.50	0.00	13.04

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-03-18 08:04:35
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
13.040	1:40:19.40	7:41.61
Total of 13. Joseph did 4, Benjamin 9, Jacob 2, William 1, Jenny 2, Julia 2. Benjamin and I repeated the 3.5 mile tempo run from last week with better results for both of us. Details below.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4	33:52.00.	8:28.00	With Joseph. Did some mental math with inequalities and absolute values in the first half going a little faster than 9:00, then stopped talking in the second half and ran in the low 8:00s.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.000	33:52.00	8:28.00
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3.5	27:53.80.	7:58.23	Warm-up with Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.500	27:53.80	7:58.23
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3.5	19:30.70.	5:34.49	The purpose of the tempo was to test Benjamin's recovery from the Phoenix half. He did much better than last week, and that pushed me to do better as well. The target was 5:36 pace in the canyon, then once we hit the hills just try not to bleed too much. We held slightly sub-5:30 average all the way to the Center street (2.75 miles), I survived by a miracle, then Benjamin slowed down on the hills over the next 2 miles to 5:50. I was still with him with 300 to go, but then he cranked it up on the uphill at the end, and I had nothing left. So he finished with 19:23, a new course PR, and I was 7 seconds back also with a new course PR. So good result for Benjamin, but he probably still needs another week. If he was fully recovered, he would not have had the 5:50 plop over that half mile, even though it was uphill.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.500	19:30.70	5:34.49
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2.04	19:02.90.	9:20.25	With Jenny. She had some hip pain so we ran slow.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.040	19:02.90	9:20.25

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 13.04

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

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Wed, Mar 19, 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 - 2014-03-19 07:49:44
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.000	1:35:35.20	7:57.93
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Joseph and Jacob 3, William 1, Julia 3, Jenny 4.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	25:47.60.	8:35.87	With Joseph and Jacob.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	25:47.60	8:35.87
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	46:54.70.	7:49.12	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	46:54.70	7:49.12
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	22:52.90.	7:37.63	A little bit with Julia, the rest alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	22:52.90	7:37.63

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 12.00

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

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Thu, Mar 20, 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 - 2014-03-20 07:03:13
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.000	1:40:02.60	8:20.22
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 4, Julia 2, Joseph 4, Jacob 2, William 1.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
7	55:40.70.	7:57.24	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	7.000	55:40.70	7:57.24
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4	35:30.70.	8:52.67	With Joseph and Jenny.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.000	35:30.70	8:52.67
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	8:51.20.	8:51.20	With William.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	8:51.20	8:51.20

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 12.00

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

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Fri, Mar 21, 2014

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

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-03-21 07:41:37
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
13.000	1:43:57.20	7:59.78
Total of 13. Benjamin did 9, Joseph 3, Jacob 3, William 1, Jenny 4, Julia 2. Attempted a mile time trial with Joseph and Jacob but it did not go very well. It was rather cold - 33 F, plus Joseph's legs were hurting, plus Jacob hit an asthma attack. Details below.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	9:41.90.	9:41.90	Warm-up with Joseph, Jacob, and Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	9:41.90	9:41.90
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6:49.50.	6:49.50	This split shows Joseph's time. He opened in 93, then just coasted after that. Jacob was not doing well, but he almost caught Joseph and finished in 6:53. Joseph complained that his legs were hurting and could not move. Jacob hit an asthma attack.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	6:49.50	6:49.50
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	9:14.90.	9:14.90	Cool-down.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	9:14.90	9:14.90
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	46:47.40.	7:47.90	With Benjamin. Discussed plans of how to solve Jacob's asthma attack problem. Today we gave him the inhaler, but it still happened. We decided we just need to do the time trials when it is warmer - 33F is too cold for him.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	46:47.40	7:47.90
Leg 5
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	22:26.50.	7:28.83	Pushed Matthew in the stroller.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	22:26.50	7:28.83
Leg 6
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	8:57.00.	8:57.00	With William.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	8:57.00	8:57.00

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 13.00

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

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Sat, Mar 22, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.08	8.00	0.00	0.00	20.08

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-03-22 08:17:04
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
20.080	2:24:43.40	7:12.44
20 miles total. Benjamin did 12.35, Jenny 4, Julia 2, Joseph 4, Jacob 2, William 1. Benjamin and I did a 6 mile tempo run - details below. I finished the workout with another 2 mile tempo as well.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4	35:46.50.	8:56.62	With Joseph.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.000	35:46.50	8:56.62
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4.35	34:04.00.	7:49.89	With Benjamin from the press building to the magic spot on the old highway.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.350	34:04.00	7:49.89
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	34:39.90.	5:46.65	Tempo run with Benjamin. He had a side ache issue again. This time it got pretty bad. We had to stop twice in the middle of the tempo to massage it and do some squats and sit-ups. It went away and became manageable after the treatment. On one hand it looks like some disturbance of the diaphragm. But on the other hand those pains have always correlated with being low on fuel. Except this time the pace was relatively slow. But we did have significant headwind. I have experienced side-aches in conjunction with the headwind before - most memorable case in the St. George Marathon 1998.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	34:39.90	5:46.65
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3.65	27:45.60.	7:36.33	From the house to the magic spot in the canyon. Felt low on fuel, was not sure if I'd be able to run 6:00 for the last 2 miles, but decided to move on faith - that is how you develop the marathon endurance.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.650	27:45.60	7:36.33
Leg 5
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2	11:44.90.	5:52.45	Faith-based tempo. One foot in front of the other. Somehow managed 5:52 pace.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.000	11:44.90	5:52.45
Leg 6
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.08	0:42.50.	8:51.25	Cool-down of sorts to the car.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.080	0:42.50	8:51.25

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 20.08

Night Sleep Time: 8.00	Nap Time: 1.00	Total Sleep Time: 9.00

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Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
70.62	8.00	3.50	0.00	82.12

Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00	Green Crocs 7 Miles: 82.12

Night Sleep Time: 44.00	Nap Time: 1.00	Total Sleep Time: 45.00

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