Breaking the Wall

Week starting Apr 09, 2017

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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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to Ukraine's Armed Forces

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
53.38	0.00	13.11	2.34	68.83

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 68.84

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

Sun, Apr 09, 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. Fast Sunday.

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

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Mon, Apr 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 - 2017-04-10 08:55:29
Workout Totals: Distance10.500Time1:18:32.30Pace7:28.79
Usual mileage today for most of us except for Julia. Julia is up to 2, I believe. I paced Sarah through the mile down the canyon in 7:23 (3:33, 3:50) in the middle of her regular 5. This is quite an achievement for her. Bella is only 6 months old, and Sarah is now 41 years old and has given birth to ten children. This reminds me that our family has been greatly blessed by the Lord. We have always had sufficient for our needs and been in good health. The older I get the less inclined I feel to take this for granted. I have felt the hand of the Lord in a number of ways. Sometimes He would show us what to do, sometimes he would just align the circumstances, and often both in perfect harmony.
Leg 1:Distance3.500Time25:43.60Pace7:21.03
Alone.
Leg 2:Distance1.000Time7:23.60Pace7:23.60
With Sarah and Jenny.
Leg 3:Distance1.500Time11:42.60Pace7:48.40
With Jenny.
Leg 4:Distance4.000Time28:58.10Pace7:14.52
Alone.
Leg 5:Distance0.500Time4:44.40Pace9:28.80
With Matthew.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 10.50

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

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Tue, Apr 11, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
4.62	0.00	6.11	0.00	10.73

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-04-11 07:47:29
Workout Totals: Distance10.735Time1:16:43.30Pace7:08.81
Did a workout with Benjamin. First 2 miles down the canyon. He got 9:49, I got 10:57. Both of us struggled on this 2 mile tempo. I am suspecting the lack of warm-up. Benjamin had a target of running 4:40 pace for the first mile, then the best pace to the finish. He only made it to 0.5 at 4:40 pace, then 4:51 at the mile, and 4:58 for the second mile. My goal was to run the first mile in 5:20, and then the best pace for the second. I had similar issues - 2:39 at 0.5, 5:24 at 1 mile, and then 5:33 for the second mile. Then we rested a bit and ran 6:00 for 1 mile up the canyon with Benjamin pacing me. Then we rested some more and ran 3 down the canyon in 17:00 with the splits of 5:46, 5:46, 5:28. I had no problem running 5:28 for the last mile, in fact it was somewhat of an accident. Younger kids ran their usual distances on their own. Julia is up to 3 miles now.
Leg 1:Distance1.250Time10:11.30Pace8:09.04
Warm-up.
Leg 2:Distance2.000Time10:57.60Pace5:28.80
Leg 3:Distance6.985Time50:47.80Pace7:16.34
Split 1:Distance0.500Time4:57.50Pace9:55.00 Cumilative:Distance0.500Time4:57.50Pace9:55.00
Split 2:Distance1.000Time6:00.60Pace6:00.60 Cumilative:Distance1.500Time10:58.10Pace7:18.73
Up with Benjamin.
Split 3:Distance2.375Time22:13.20Pace9:21.35 Cumilative:Distance3.875Time33:11.30Pace8:33.88
Split 4:Distance3.000Time17:00.40Pace5:40.13 Cumilative:Distance6.875Time50:11.70Pace7:18.07
Tempo down with Benjamin.
Split 5:Distance0.110Time0:36.10Pace5:28.18 Cumilative:Distance6.985Time50:47.80Pace7:16.34
A little more tempo to the car.

Leg 4:Distance0.500Time4:46.60Pace9:33.20
With Matthew.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 10.73

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

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Wed, Apr 12, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.75	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.75

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-04-12 09:17:00
Workout Totals: Distance10.750Time1:24:05.80Pace7:49.38
Joseph, Jacob, and Stephen did a mile time trial today on the track at Orem High. There was some smoke in the air which I think affected performance. Stephen opened with 1:45 lap, and then struggled with breathing finishing in 7:48. Joseph ran 5:35 missing his PR by 5 seconds. Jacob got a 0.7 PR running 5:38.0. Splits were - Joseph - 81,83,85,84, Jacob - 81,84,87,84. We really need to work on the third lap with both of them. Other kids ran with Jenny.
Leg 1:Distance1.000Time7:48.20Pace7:48.20
With Stephen and Benjamin.
Leg 2:Distance0.250Time2:07.70Pace8:30.80
With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 3:Distance1.000Time5:38.00Pace5:38.00
Paced Jacob in the mile time trial.
Leg 4:Distance3.000Time25:35.10Pace8:31.70
With Joseph.
Leg 5:Distance5.000Time38:05.80Pace7:37.16
Part with Benjamin.
Leg 6:Distance0.500Time4:51.00Pace9:42.00
With Matthew.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 10.75

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

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Thu, Apr 13, 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 - 2017-04-13 09:24:22
Workout Totals: Distance10.500Time1:21:29.20Pace7:45.64
Usual runs for everybody except for William who stepped on a stick and hurt his foot. He could not run at all. Julia is back to normal mileage - 4 miles.
Leg 1:Distance10.000Time1:16:45.00Pace7:40.50
Part with Joseph, part with Benjamin, part alone.
Leg 2:Distance0.500Time4:44.20Pace9:28.40
With Matthew.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 10.50

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

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Fri, Apr 14, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
5.51	0.00	3.00	2.34	10.85

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-04-14 08:23:50
Workout Totals: Distance10.857Time1:19:31.60Pace7:19.50
Did a workout with Benjamin. More or less a repeat of what we did on Tuesday. Except we changed a few things around. First, we threw in a warm-up tempo mile in 5:44 down the canyon. Then for the first 2 miler since Benjamin forgot his watch, I gave him mine. It was an odd experience to run a tempo without a watch. I held back a bit on purpose knowing that I would be running it again paced by Benjamin and with a watch when I can do better. I thought I was going to get something around 11:20 or even slower, but I ended up with 11:12. Benjamin was able to hit the first mile in 4:42, but then I had this feeling "the work is done" and ran the next two quarters in 80 and 78, then sped up to 75 for the last two which gave him 5:08 for the second mile and 9:50 total. Next Tuesday I will tell him the work is not done until he gets to 1.25 in 5:53. Then he paced me through a mile in 5:52 uphill. This has dual purpose - to practice uphill running at a fast pace, and to assess the wind. Then remembering how well my final tempo went on Tuesday which was supposed to be light I decided to just give a good push and make it my main tempo. So I told Benjamin to pace me roughly for 11:00, but I adjusted his pacing based on how I felt. We were running into fairly significant headwind, but Benjamin covered me quite well. I was able to run 10:44 with the splits of 5:21, 5:23, last quarter in 79. Younger kids ran on their own. Julia is back to normal mileage. William did just 1 mile as his foot is still not 100% recovered.
Leg 1:Distance3.348Time25:23.30Pace7:34.99
Split 1:Distance1.848Time14:46.90Pace7:59.92 Cumilative:Distance1.848Time14:46.90Pace7:59.92
Split 2:Distance1.000Time5:44.70Pace5:44.70 Cumilative:Distance2.848Time20:31.60Pace7:12.44
Split 3:Distance0.500Time4:51.70Pace9:43.40 Cumilative:Distance3.348Time25:23.30Pace7:34.99

Leg 2:Distance2.000Time11:12.90Pace5:36.45
2 mile tempo down the canyon.
Split 1:Distance1.750Time9:50.70Pace5:37.54 Cumilative:Distance1.750Time9:50.70Pace5:37.54
Benjamin's split.
Split 2:Distance0.250Time1:22.20Pace5:28.80 Cumilative:Distance2.000Time11:12.90Pace5:36.45
My finish.

Leg 3:Distance3.541Time26:12.50Pace7:24.08
Recovery with 1 mile interval up the canyon.
Split 1:Distance0.654Time5:14.00Pace8:00.12 Cumilative:Distance0.654Time5:14.00Pace8:00.12
Split 2:Distance1.000Time5:52.80Pace5:52.80 Cumilative:Distance1.654Time11:06.80Pace6:43.14
Split 3:Distance1.887Time15:05.70Pace7:59.97 Cumilative:Distance3.541Time26:12.50Pace7:24.08

Leg 4:Distance1.343Time10:44.50Pace7:59.90
2 mile tempo down - paced by Benjamin.
Leg 5:Distance0.125Time1:18.30Pace10:26.40
Jog to the car.
Leg 6:Distance0.500Time4:40.10Pace9:20.20
With Matthew.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 10.86

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

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Sat, Apr 15, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.50	0.00	4.00	0.00	15.50

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-04-15 11:35:47
Workout Totals: Distance15.500Time1:54:30.20Pace7:23.24
This morning our whole family went to a baptism. We met a couple - their names are Todd and Elena - at Sprouts last week. Elena is a Russian immigrant. They told us they were getting baptized and invited us to their baptism. So we ran a bit later. Benjamin and I did 15 miles with two tempos in the middle that were supposed to be light, but I felt good, so they ended up being quite fast. The first one was 2 miles uphill in 11:49 (5:55, 5:54), second 2 miles down in 10:59 (5:32, 5:27). The wind was blowing into the canyon, but with Benjamin's help I was able to deal with it in the second tempo. Last quarter was 79. Younger kids ran their usual distances. Today I felt more energy than normal. I did an experiment - decided to make sure I eat one sweet potato a day - started a couple of days ago. I recall in 2003 for a couple of months I ate one of those daily and that coincided with a running breakthrough. I am wondering if perhaps sweet potatoes have some nutrients that I naturally lack. I will try this for a few months to see what happens.
Leg 1:Distance15.000Time1:49:44.70Pace7:18.98
With Benjamin, part with Joseph.
Split 1:Distance2.280Time18:00.70Pace7:53.99 Cumilative:Distance2.280Time18:00.70Pace7:53.99
With Benjamin and Joseph - easy.
Split 2:Distance2.000Time11:49.20Pace5:54.60 Cumilative:Distance4.280Time29:49.90Pace6:58.20
Tempo uphill - Joseph ran the first 300 or so.
Split 3:Distance5.630Time45:02.90Pace8:00.09 Cumilative:Distance9.910Time1:14:52.80Pace7:33.36
Easy.
Split 4:Distance2.000Time10:59.60Pace5:29.80 Cumilative:Distance11.910Time1:25:52.40Pace7:12.61
Tempo downhill.
Split 5:Distance3.090Time23:52.30Pace7:43.53 Cumilative:Distance15.000Time1:49:44.70Pace7:18.98
Back to the house.

Leg 2:Distance0.500Time4:45.50Pace9:31.00
With Matthew.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 15.50

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

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Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
53.38	0.00	13.11	2.34	68.83

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 68.84

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

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