Breaking the Wall

USATF Development Meet at Timpanogos

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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:	72.31	Year:	3105.12
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
76.12	0.00	4.00	1.86	81.98

Brown Crocs 1 Miles: 81.98

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

Sun, May 13, 2018

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. Talked to Benjamin on Skype in the morning before church, then went to church with everybody.

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

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Mon, May 14, 2018

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 - 2018-05-14 08:30:06
Workout Totals: Distance13.000Time1:37:52.20Pace7:31.71
Easy runs with the kids, usual distances. Jenny ran 8 miles under 1:00:00 without pushing too hard. Bonnie set a record for 4 miles - 30:21.
Leg 1:Distance8.000Time59:43.10Pace7:27.89
With Jenny.
Leg 2:Distance1.000Time7:47.30Pace7:47.30
With Matthew.
Leg 3:Distance4.000Time30:21.80Pace7:35.45
With Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, and Bonnie. Joseph actually ran ahead and ended up with 27:26. Jacob and William made a bathroom stop while Bonnie and I kept going, and then caught up - so their time was a little under 30:00.

Brown Crocs 1 Miles: 13.00

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

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Tue, May 15, 2018

Race: USATF Development Meet at Timpanogos (1.864 Miles) 00:10:33, Place overall: 2, Place in age division: 1

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
9.52	0.00	0.00	1.86	11.38

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2018-05-15 10:19:24
Workout Totals: Distance11.385Time1:34:21.80Pace8:17.30
Ran some in the morning, then went to the USATF Developmental Meet at Timpanogos. The highlight of the meet for us was Joseph outkicking me in 3000 with a PR. Results: 3000 Joseph 10:32.53 myself 10:33.44 Jacob 10:56.73 Jenny 11:47.69 800 William 2:47.27 Stephen 3:03.75 Matthew 3:38.28 Analysis/splits: Conditions - 800 - pretty much perfect. 3000 - the wind started to pick up and was a factor - head on the back stretch, but was not disastrous. The temperature was perfect, though. Joseph and myself - I opened in 81 and just barely caught up to the leader (Nate Hillhouse) after the first lap. Joseph had 83 and caught up to us soon after. Then three of us were together for the next three laps with Nate leading. I attempted to take the lead several times, but Nate would not let me. We had 2:46 (85) at 800, 3:28 at 1000, 4:11 at 1200 (85), then 4:53 at 1400 and 5:36 at 1600 (85). In the fifth lap Nate fell back, but Joseph was right on my tail. We had 6:18 at 1800 and 7:01 at 2000 (85). Then I let the pace slip and ran 44 for the next 200 - 7:45 with 800 to go. I was able to recover and speed up to 85 for the next 400 (9:10 with a lap to go). With 200 to go Joseph passed me. I was able to latch on, but he shifted gears again with 70 meters to go, and I could not find another gear and finished 0.91 seconds behind. There was some confusion at the finish as we were lapping some runners and they were in our way - so maybe we could have had a more vigorous kick if we could just not worry about it. But regardless it was a great performance for Joseph and I am very happy for him - he has been struggling a lot lately in workouts. I am glad he was able to find the strength to run well today. Jacob for some reason did not have the confidence to go with us - even though he has run 10:38 in a time trial and was definitely capable of handling the starting pace. So he was stuck in a no man's land running without much focus and hit 1600 in 5:58. Then he realized that he was running awfully slow and sped up. His last 3 laps were 87, 86, 80. Split by 1500 he had around 5:36, 5:20. When he ran 10:38 in a time trial it was 5:14, 5:24. Regardless, even with this mishap, this is the fastest time he has ever run in a race - even though his previous fastest time was at a low altitude. Jenny had a good performance - this is a near PR for her, but her PR was run at a lower altitude as well (2700 feet in Boise). She opened with a 96 lap, then sped up some and had 6:17 at 1600. So split by 1500 this is 5:54, 5:53. 800: William followed Kenny Briggs and they both ran 77 for the first lap. Then they both crashed, but Kenny a bit less than William. So he ended up with 2:45.11 vs William's 2:47.27. With better pacing I think William would have run a PR, but I think the positive is that William found the guts to open in 77 knowing he had another lap left. In time trials I had a hard time getting him there in 80. So now we need to work on opening in 77 and not slowing down to 90 in the second lap. Stephen opened in 90, and then was running in no man's land, so he just coasted in 93 for the second lap. We need to work on knowing how to make it hurt just the right way all the way, not just the first 200 meters - even if there is no one around. Julia is having some health issued again. She her breathing at 8:00 pace is labored, her competitive drive went down. So she opened in 88, and then just could not move and finished in 3:06. She is taking an iron supplement, but she might still be low - so we are going to test her iron next week. Matthew had an interesting race. Apparently Stephen had scared him with his stories of being disqualified at the nationals for getting out of his lane before it was time. This time, however, the kids were supposed to go to lane 1 as soon as they could, but Matthew - being only 5 years old - did not figure that out. Stubborn as he is, he ran the entire race in lane 4. So he actually ran 847 meters, and his time at 800 would have been 3:25 - still 4 seconds slower than his time trial PR, but still pretty good for his first track race.
Leg 1:Distance2.200Time16:07.30Pace7:19.68
With Joseph, Jacob, and William taking Bonnie to school.
Leg 2:Distance1.000Time7:49.00Pace7:49.00
With Joseph, Jacob, William and Stephen.
Leg 3:Distance3.000Time23:35.50Pace7:51.83
With Jenny.
Leg 4:Distance1.422Time11:22.60Pace8:00.03
Warm-up before the track meet.
Leg 5:Distance0.000Time3:38.20Pace0:00.00
Timing the 800 for William, Stephen, and Matthew.
Split 1:Distance0.000Time2:47.00Pace0:00.00 Cumilative:Distance0.000Time2:47.00Pace0:00.00
William.
Split 2:Distance0.000Time0:16.60Pace0:00.00 Cumilative:Distance0.000Time3:03.60Pace0:00.00
Stephen.
Split 3:Distance0.000Time0:34.60Pace0:00.00 Cumilative:Distance0.000Time3:38.20Pace0:00.00
Matthew.

Leg 6:Distance0.000Time3:05.70Pace0:00.00
Timing Julia's race.
Leg 7:Distance0.600Time5:14.20Pace8:43.67
More jogging to warm-up.
Leg 8:Distance1.863Time11:47.50Pace6:19.76
3000 race.
Split 1:Distance1.863Time10:33.20Pace5:39.88 Cumilative:Distance1.863Time10:33.20Pace5:39.88
My time.
Split 2:Distance0.000Time0:23.40Pace0:00.00 Cumilative:Distance1.863Time10:56.60Pace5:52.44
Jacob.
Split 3:Distance0.000Time0:50.90Pace0:00.00 Cumilative:Distance1.863Time11:47.50Pace6:19.76
Jenny.

Leg 9:Distance1.300Time11:41.80Pace8:59.85
Cool-down.

Brown Crocs 1 Miles: 11.38

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

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Wed, May 16, 2018

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
14.20	0.00	0.00	0.00	14.20

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2018-05-16 09:17:00
Workout Totals: Distance14.200Time1:49:50.10Pace7:44.09
Easy runs - total of 14 for me, Jenny 8, Julia 5, Joseph and Jacob 6, William 4, Stephen 2, Matthew 1.
Leg 1:Distance8.000Time1:01:38.10Pace7:42.26
With Jenny.
Leg 2:Distance2.200Time16:43.30Pace7:36.05
With Joseph, Jacob, and Stephen taking Bonnie to school.
Leg 3:Distance1.000Time7:38.00Pace7:38.00
With Matthew, William, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 4:Distance3.000Time23:50.70Pace7:56.90
With William - Joseph and Jacob started with us, but ran ahead.

Brown Crocs 1 Miles: 14.20

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

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Thu, May 17, 2018

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
14.20	0.00	0.00	0.00	14.20

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2018-05-17 08:57:25
Workout Totals: Distance14.200Time1:49:55.80Pace7:44.49
Easy runs, 14 total for me.
Leg 1:Distance8.000Time1:01:35.40Pace7:41.93
With Jenny.
Leg 2:Distance1.000Time7:32.80Pace7:32.80
With William, Stephen, Joseph, Jacob, and Matthew.
Leg 3:Distance2.200Time16:46.80Pace7:37.64
With Joseph, Jacob, and Stephen taking Bonnie to school.
Leg 4:Distance3.000Time24:00.80Pace8:00.27
With Joseph, Jacob, and William.

Brown Crocs 1 Miles: 14.20

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

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Fri, May 18, 2018

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
14.20	0.00	0.00	0.00	14.20

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2018-05-18 09:03:54
Workout Totals: Distance14.200Time1:49:03.60Pace7:40.82
Easy runs, usual distances, 14 total for me.
Leg 1:Distance8.000Time1:00:59.80Pace7:37.48
With Jenny.
Leg 2:Distance2.200Time16:34.50Pace7:32.05
With Joseph, Jacob, and Stephen taking Bonnie to school.
Leg 3:Distance1.000Time8:03.40Pace8:03.40
With Matthew, Stephen, Joseph, Jacob, and William.
Leg 4:Distance3.000Time23:25.90Pace7:48.63
With Joseph, Jacob, and William.

Brown Crocs 1 Miles: 14.20

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

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Sat, May 19, 2018

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.00	0.00	4.00	0.00	15.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2018-05-19 08:01:04
Workout Totals: Distance15.000Time1:49:35.60Pace7:18.37
Chad came to run with us. Jenny did 10, Joseph and Jacob 8, Julia 5, William 6, Stephen 5, Matthew 1. Chad and I did a 4 mile tempo run down the canyon. We started earlier so we got some nice tailwind. We opened with 5:45, then Chad started pushing the pace and I followed - 5:39, 5:30. In the last mile Chad kept pushing it, but ran out of juice with 200 to go. I saw that if we kicked we would have 5:36 average for 4, so I went for it, and ended up with 22:22.8. Chad had 22:24.2. My last mile was 5:29, Chad's 5:31 or 5:30 high. I was happy that I was able to close with 10:59 2 miles. When we sped up to 5:30 at first my body and mind grumbled, but then I remembered that this used to be easy, and thought - maybe it could be easy again?
Leg 1:Distance1.980Time16:26.60Pace8:18.28
Warm-up with Chad, Joseph, Jacob, and Jenny.
Leg 2:Distance4.000Time22:22.80Pace5:35.70
Tempo run with Chad.
Leg 3:Distance3.020Time22:06.70Pace7:19.30
Cool-down with Chad - part with Jacob.
Leg 4:Distance1.000Time7:53.70Pace7:53.70
With William, Chad, and Matthew.
Leg 5:Distance5.000Time40:45.80Pace8:09.16
With William, Julia, Chad, Bonnie, and Stephen.

Brown Crocs 1 Miles: 15.00

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
76.12	0.00	4.00	1.86	81.98

Brown Crocs 1 Miles: 81.98

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

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