Breaking the Wall

Uneventful Provo River Half Marathon

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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
67.26	0.00	16.61	0.00	83.87

Nike Double Stroller Miles: 6.02	White Crocs 1 Miles: 69.87

Night Sleep Time: 42.00	Nap Time: 2.00	Total Sleep Time: 44.00

Sun, May 17, 2015

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.

Night Sleep Time: 7.00	Nap Time: 2.00	Total Sleep Time: 9.00

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Mon, May 18, 2015

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 - 2015-05-18 07:29:51
Workout Totals: Distance12.020Time1:33:36.00Pace7:47.22
12 total. Kids ran their usual distances. William ran 7:30 mile and earned another trip to Jamba Juice. Details below.
Leg 1:Distance1.000Time7:30.80Pace7:30.80
With Benjamin, Joseph, Jacob, and William running, and Matthew in the stroller. William ran the splits of 3:56/3:34 and almost got a mile PR earning another trip to Jamba Juice.
Leg 2:Distance1.020Time8:35.30Pace8:25.20
Same company for one more mile.
Leg 3:Distance2.000Time14:13.10Pace7:06.55
Put William in the stroller and continued with the rest of the group. Joseph of course decided to give me a workout and started pushing the pace while I was pushing a stroller with a 2-year-old and a 6-year-old on rolling hills.
Leg 4:Distance6.250Time49:30.40Pace7:55.26
With Benjamin.
Leg 5:Distance1.750Time13:46.40Pace7:52.23
Alone.

Nike Double Stroller Miles: 2.02	White Crocs 1 Miles: 12.02

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

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Tue, May 19, 2015

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
8.00	0.00	3.00	0.00	11.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2015-05-19 07:40:54
Workout Totals: Distance11.000Time1:20:39.60Pace7:19.96
11 total. Kids ran their usual distances. Benjamin and I did a 3 mile tempo run from the canyon to the house. He got 16:01, I got 17:23. A little bit less distance today because we went to the Payson Temple Open House.
Leg 1:Distance1.000Time8:22.90Pace8:22.90
With William.
Leg 2:Distance4.000Time31:12.60Pace7:48.15
With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 3:Distance3.000Time23:41.00Pace7:53.67
With Benjamin.
Leg 4:Distance3.000Time17:23.10Pace5:47.70
Tempo run from the magic spot in the canyon to the house. This is a slower course - has rolling hills. Benjamin got 16:01.

White Crocs 1 Miles: 11.00

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

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Wed, May 20, 2015

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
14.33	0.00	0.00	0.00	14.33

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2015-05-20 09:03:31
Workout Totals: Distance14.330Time1:53:05.10Pace7:53.49
Total of 14.3. Kids ran their usual distances.
Leg 1:Distance10.250Time1:20:13.00Pace7:49.56
With Benjamin and David in the canyon. David is the 4th place Putnam scorer from BYU last year, he and Benjamin are getting ready for Putnam this year, so we were solving Putnam problems on the run. I solved one, still kicking around some in my old age, they solved a few more that were beyond me without being able to sit down and think - all while running. Perhaps it is more than a coincidence that both 3rd and 4th scorer were capable of running 10 miles at sub-8:00 pace and be conversational. I am of the opinion that if kids start running to school instead of taking school bus (or just running and learning at home) their math performance will improve.
Leg 2:Distance2.040Time17:38.30Pace8:38.77
With Joseph, Jacob, and William.
Leg 3:Distance2.040Time15:13.80Pace7:27.94
With Joseph and Jacob.

White Crocs 1 Miles: 14.33

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

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Thu, May 21, 2015

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
14.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	14.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2015-05-21 07:11:56
Workout Totals: Distance10.000Time1:19:06.40Pace7:54.64
14 total in two runs. Kids ran their usual distances.
Leg 1:Distance6.000Time47:08.00Pace7:51.33
With Benjamin.
Leg 2:Distance4.000Time31:58.40Pace7:59.60
With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2015-05-21 20:48:01
Workout Totals: Distance4.000Time31:14.20Pace7:48.55

Leg 1:Distance4.000Time31:14.20Pace7:48.55
Pushed Matthew and Mary in the stroller, Joseph rode alongside on a bike.

Nike Double Stroller Miles: 4.00

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

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Fri, May 22, 2015

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.56	0.00	0.50	0.00	12.06

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2015-05-22 08:18:29
Workout Totals: Distance12.056Time1:37:27.10Pace8:05.00
Total of 12. Today William set a mile PR by 17 seconds running 7:10.6. More Jamba Juice. His splits were 1:44 - 1:50 - 1:46 - 1:48. He is getting close to going sub-7:00. Joseph and Jacob did an 800 time trial, but something was wrong - neither of them had the juice for some reason. Joseph got 2:47.0, Jacob 2:50.8. Need to figure out if this was just a bad day or maybe they need to do some shorter distance speed. Otherwise kids ran their usual distances.
Leg 1:Distance0.180Time1:51.60Pace10:20.00
Warm-up.
Leg 2:Distance0.496Time2:50.80Pace5:44.35
Joseph's and Jacob's 800 time trial.
Split 1:Distance0.496Time2:47.00Pace5:36.69 Cumilative:Distance0.496Time2:47.00Pace5:36.69
Split 2:Distance0.000Time0:03.80Pace0:00.00 Cumilative:Distance0.496Time2:50.80Pace5:44.35

Leg 3:Distance1.000Time7:10.60Pace7:10.60
William's mile time trial.
Leg 4:Distance2.340Time19:46.20Pace8:26.92
With Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 5:Distance6.000Time48:44.20Pace8:07.37
With Benjamin. Rob joined us for the last couple of miles.
Leg 6:Distance2.040Time17:03.70Pace8:21.81
With Rob.

White Crocs 1 Miles: 12.06

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

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Sat, May 23, 2015

Race: Uneventful Provo River Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:17:15, Place overall: 2, Place in age division: 1

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
7.35	0.00	13.11	0.00	20.46

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2015-05-23 08:17:04
Workout Totals: Distance20.460Time2:17:42.30Pace6:43.83
Total of 20. Benjamin and I did the Uneventful Provo River Half Marathon - meaning we ran the course at race effort for me, endurance tempo run for Benjamin, but there was no official race. Stephen set a mile PR of 9:17 on the little boy course, splits of 4:46/4:31 paced by Julia. Julia figured out a way to get him going - it was not easy. She started making up a story as she ran but she ran the pace for Stephen's record - so he had to keep up to be able to hear the story. Joseph and Jacob did 5. Otherwise kids ran their usual distances.
Leg 1:Distance1.250Time10:42.40Pace8:33.92
Warm-up with Benjamin.
Leg 2:Distance13.110Time1:17:15.70Pace5:53.60
The Uneventful Half. After the first 4 miles or so I developed a side-ache. Possibly from the lack of long downhill running practice. First two miles were at around 5:30 pace, then we slowed down to 5:45-5:50 or so. On the uphill the side ache went away and I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to run 6:16. However once the downhill resumed the side ache came back and I could barely keep it sub-6:00. The 3 mile tempo stretch (from about 9 to about 12) was 17:48. Benjamin was solving Putnam problems in his head up until about 6 miles, then he had to focus, but he was still comfortable enough that I had to keep telling him to slow down once every half mile or so.
Leg 3:Distance1.100Time10:56.10Pace9:56.45
Cool-down.
Leg 4:Distance1.000Time7:50.70Pace7:50.70
With Julia, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 5:Distance4.000Time30:57.40Pace7:44.35
With Joseph and Jacob.

White Crocs 1 Miles: 20.46

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
67.26	0.00	16.61	0.00	83.87

Nike Double Stroller Miles: 6.02	White Crocs 1 Miles: 69.87

Night Sleep Time: 42.00	Nap Time: 2.00	Total Sleep Time: 44.00

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