Breaking the Wall

Day of rest. Went to church. The lesson in Sunday school was on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then we had a combined meeting of Priesthood and Relief Society in which they talked about various services that the Church offers - addiction recovery, adoption, family therapy, employment placement, humanitarian aid, and others.Then the Sacrament meeting talks were on remembering our ancestors in connection with the Memorial Day.

Yesterday I learned about the death of Sammy Wanjiru. I had dreams about him all night. What a sad turnout of events. Not so much because he died, as all of  us will eventually, but more due to the circumstances. Sammy had a lot of qualities I admire. He was not afraid to bust out several sub-4:30 miles in the middle of a marathon. I love this style - go out hard, then hold on. Have the faith, have the guts, and back it up with fitness. Then just go. He won the 2008 Olympics by running near world-record pace from the gun on a day with temperatures reaching 80F. I remember Ed Eyestone commenting in disbelief on the splits and predicting that there will be severe casualties and the pace will slow down. There were a lot of casualties, but Sammy did not slow down. Then when he finished, before he began to celebrate, he knelt down and offered a prayer. You would hope that a man that would remember to pray after winning an Olympic marathon would know better than to visit bars and cheat on his wife. Unfortunately, Sammy felt into this trap of the devil. And as if to symbolize that, his death came from a physical fall from the balcony of a tall building. The circumstances are still not quite clear as far as I know, but a few facts have been established with certainty - there was a visit to a bar, there was drinking, and there was a woman involved that was not his wife.

In chess there is a concept of a loose piece. It is when you put a piece, usually a knight or a bishop, but it can be a rook, and even a queen sometimes on a square that your opponent cannot yet strike but it has  no protection from your end either. This may appear innocent to a less experienced player, but good players know to avoid it. A loose piece is an invitation for your opponent to find a tactical combination to capture it and gain a game-winning material advantage. Shortly after Sammy's win, I discovered an article with a picture of him and his coaches drinking beer. I had an uneasy "loose piece" feeling. Here was the man capable of sub-2:00 drinking his chance away. Just like it is difficult to foresee exactly how you will be punished for leaving a loose piece, I did not foresee how Sammy's quest for sub-2:00 marathon would be stopped. I thought that over the years he would just gradually and prematurely lose fitness, which did happen, but I did not expect such a tragic end.

As I contemplated those events, I recalled talking to one runner who I will not name, but who some may recognize (it is hard to hide your identity when you are fast). He said - I would join your church (meaning the LDS church) if it helped me break 2:30 in the marathon. I told him it very well could, but he still remained unconvinced. Then, through an interesting sequence of events he ended up entering the marathon in which I broke 2:30 for the first time with the intention of using it as a training run for the Chicago marathon running the first 10 miles or so. I started aggressively opening with a 5:07 mile. He was with me and asked - are you going to do this all the way? I knew that my training was not going to support 5:07 pace for the whole thing quite yet, especially since the downhill grade was going to reduce and eventually disappear, but I did appreciate the question. He offered to pace me, which I appreciated very much, and had kept me company for the first 9 miles before pulling out. He still did not quite get the message, and as far as I know to this day is still not a member of our church. However, thinking about that experience gives me the faith to say that the LDS church could have helped Sammy Wanjiru break 2:00 marathon. It does take some faith to take it that far. But even without it, it is fairly certain that had he kept the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity, he would have stayed alive for long enough to give it a serious shot.

A.M. 12.5 miles total. 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph), 2 with Jenny and Julia. 

A.M. Ran with Logan Clark. Did a workout 1200 - 3:56.3 - 1000 missed the mark but it was around 3:18 - 800 again missed the mark, it was around 2:37.5 - 600 - 1:55.6 - 400 - 72.5 - 200 - 34.0. 200 jog recovery between the intervals. Felt tense. Then did 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph and Jenny), and 2 with Jenny and Julia. Jenny did a total of 3.

P.M. "Always on the run" mile.

A.M. Ran with the kids - 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph and Jenny), then 2 with Jenny and Julia, Jenny ended up with 3. Then 3.5 alone, and 3 more with Sarah on a bike. Did some pickups - 200 in 35, 400 in 72.5, 600 in 1:47.6, 400 in 67.7, and 200 in 33.3.

P.M. "Always on the run" mile.

A.M. Did an odd workout. Wanted to do 80-90 quarters for 5 miles. Did it for 1.75, 88-78-92-78-92-79-93 and then decided to just tempo the rest of the way in. So ended up with 28:53. Was not happy with how I felt. It seemed that I had to move my feet very fast to maintain 87 quarters, and yet for the life of me I could not go faster no matter what I tried. Total of 9.1 miles for this part of the run.

Then ran with the kids. 4 with Benjamin (1 with Joseph and Jenny). Did 0.75 pickup in 4:26. Then 2 more with Jenny and Julia. Total of 15.1 for the run.

P.M. "Always on the run" mile.

A.M. Total of 12.5. Jenny ran 3, Julia 2. I did 4 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph. Did 8x200 pickups.

P.M. "Always on the run" mile.

A.M. Did a total of 15.2 with a 2 mile time trial of sorts. The goal was to maintain 5:20. I managed to do it for the first mile, and then started losing it slowing down to 83,83,84 quarters, and then kicked in 80 for the last one. The end time was 10:50. This is not bad as it could be, but it does highlight a problem. What I do not understand is the fluctuations that pop up seemingly for no reason. From time to time I have a better day, e.g last Thursday and last Saturday, then it is followed by a multitude of mediocre days like this one. I am starting to suspect a cumulative lack of sleep that accumulates a droplet at a time with the body entering a state where it does not want to take the sleep that it needs. Possibly in combination with glycogen depletion.

Did 4x200 afterwards. Another concern is the difficulty of hitting times as slow as 34.

Jenny ran 3, and Julia did 2. I did 4 with Benjamin, one of it with Joseph. Benjamin and I finished with 4:23 last 0.75.