Breaking the Wall

Week starting Jun 15, 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
69.60	0.50	3.50	0.00	73.60

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 49.10

Night Sleep Time: 43.00	Nap Time: 1.00	Total Sleep Time: 44.00

Sun, Jun 15, 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. Happy Father's Day!

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

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Mon, Jun 16, 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 - 2014-06-16 07:41:33
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.000	1:36:39.00	8:03.25
12 total. Benjamin did 6, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph and Jacob 3, William 1, Stephen 0.5.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	47:24.20.	7:54.03	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	6.000	47:24.20	7:54.03
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	25:31.30.	8:30.43	With Julia, Joseph, and Jacob.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	25:31.30	8:30.43
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
2.5	18:49.00.	7:31.60	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.500	18:49.00	7:31.60
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.5	4:54.50.	9:49.00	With Stephen.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.500	4:54.50	9:49.00

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 12.00

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

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Tue, Jun 17, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.50	0.00	0.00	0.00	12.50

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-06-17 07:49:16
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.500	1:37:27.30	7:47.78
Total of 12.5. Benjamin did 7, Jenny 4, Julia, Joseph, and Jacob 3, William 1, Stephen 0.5. Sarah and the kids had an adventure today on their way back from the eye doctor appointment. Somebody robbed a bank nearby and fled in a van resembling ours. The bank manager pointed at our van, so the SWAT team went after it. All of a sudden they were surrounded by a multitude of police cars that came out of nowhere, and Sarah heard "you are considered a dangerous person" over the loud speaker. She came out with her hands up in the air and had machine guns pointed at her. Then they had the kids come out of the van. Finally they realized they had the wrong van, but by then the real robbers had gotten away. I have been checking the news to see if they have been caught - no result so far. This reminds me of an episode in "Singles Ward" - "Put down the casserole and step away from the minivan!"
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
7	55:12.10.	7:53.16	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	7.000	55:12.10	7:53.16
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	8:15.50.	8:15.50	With William, Joseph, and Jacob. We sped up in the last quarter. William did 1:52 - I stayed with him. Joseph and Jacob ran it in around 1:34.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	8:15.50	8:15.50
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.5	5:06.70.	10:13.40	With Stephen.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.500	5:06.70	10:13.40
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
4	28:53.00.	7:13.25	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.000	28:53.00	7:13.25

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 12.50

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

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Wed, Jun 18, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.60	0.00	0.00	0.00	12.60

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-06-18 08:14:39
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.600	1:38:07.90	7:47.29
Total of 12.6. Benjamin did 9.1, Jenny 4, Julia, Joseph, and Jacob 3, William 1, Stephen 0.5.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
9.1	1:10:10.20.	7:42.66	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	9.100	1:10:10.20	7:42.66
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.5	5:29.20.	10:58.40	With Stephen.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.500	5:29.20	10:58.40
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	22:28.50.	7:29.50	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	22:28.50	7:29.50

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 12.60

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

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Thu, Jun 19, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.00	0.00	1.00	0.00	12.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-06-19 07:53:13
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.000	1:35:34.10	7:57.84
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 4, Julia, Joseph, and Jacob 3, William 1, Stephen 0.5.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	23:55.50.	7:58.50	With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob. David joined us after about 0.4.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	23:55.50	7:58.50
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
6	46:04.00.	7:40.67	With Benjamin. We did a pickup up the canyon for a mile in the middle. I felt better than I expected. Hopefully I am recovering from whatever it was that left me flat in the Utah Valley Half (lack of sleep, most likely).
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	2.300	17:51.50	7:45.87
2	1.000	5:44.60	5:44.60
3	2.700	22:27.90	8:19.22
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1.5	13:07.00.	8:44.67	With Julia.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.500	13:07.00	8:44.67
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.5	5:12.80.	10:25.60	With Stephen and Julia. Somehow I managed to talk Stephen into running the last quarter without holding the hand. He did it in 2:39.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.500	5:12.80	10:25.60
Leg 5
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	7:14.80.	7:14.80	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	1.000	7:14.80	7:14.80

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, Jun 20, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.00	0.50	0.50	0.00	12.00

For those who are wondering - I botched an upgrade on the Fast Running Blog server, and all the devils broke loose. I ended up having to do quite a few boots from the recovery USB drive, and I got really good at typing init=/sbin/init --verbose before I figured out why it was not booting, or rather before I figured out the workaround that would make it boot. We are still not quite out of the woods yet, but at least we are functional enough for me to post this. It may take a couple of days before we are fully operational - given the fact that I need some sleep, and have other responsibilities. In the meantime, report the errors when you run into them.

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-06-20 08:01:46
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
11.990	1:35:00.00	7:55.40
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Joseph and Jacob 2, Julia 3, Jenny 4, William 1, Stephen 0.75. Today was the day of records. I took the little boys to the BYU track. William ran 400 in 1:44.1, Jacob did 800 in 3:00.5, Joseph did it in 2:53.0. Details to follow.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.37	4:12.90.	11:23.51	Warm-up with Benjamin, Jacob, Joseph, William, and Stephen.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.370	4:12.90	11:23.51
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.248	1:44.10.	6:59.76	With Benjamin and William. William opened the first 100 in 25, then did 26, 26, and 27. I was happy with the result. His previous quarter PR was 1:51, but that was at the end of a mile.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.248	1:44.10	6:59.76
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.496	3:00.50.	6:03.91	Benjamin and I paced Jacob. He opened in 42, then became very doubtful and slowed down to 48, but then realizing he would miss his record if he did not get his act together he sped up to 45 and 45 in the kick improving his record by almost 2 seconds. I was very pleased with this recovery.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.496	3:00.50	6:03.91
Leg 4
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.25	1:48.80.	7:15.20	Jog with Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.250	1:48.80	7:15.20
Leg 5
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.496	2:53.00.	5:48.79	Benjamin helped me pace Joseph. He opened with 42, then became a little doubtful and slowed down to 44, but then he sped up to 43, and though he struggled in the kick (44), he pulled off a PR by one second.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.496	2:53.00	5:48.79
Leg 6
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.5	3:45.10.	7:30.20	Jog with Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.500	3:45.10	7:30.20
Leg 7
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.75	6:31.20.	8:41.60	Jog with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.750	6:31.20	8:41.60
Leg 8
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.38	4:10.20.	10:58.42	Back to the car with everybody.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.380	4:10.20	10:58.42
Leg 9
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
5.5	44:33.50.	8:06.09	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	5.500	44:33.50	8:06.09
Leg 10
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	22:20.70.	7:26.90	Alone.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	22:20.70	7:26.90

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

Comments(3)

Sat, Jun 21, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.50	0.00	2.00	0.00	12.50

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-06-21 08:26:48
Workout Totals
Distance	Time	Pace
12.500	1:36:56.10	7:45.29
Only 12.5 today, all with Benjamin, due to only 2 hours of sleep last night recovering the Fast Running Blog server from a botched upgrade. It did upgrade, and I learned a lot on the positive side, and I also thought of some cool job interview challenges resulting from that experience. On the negative side I had to cut down my long run as a precaution although I did feel quite good for this kind of sleep. Benjamin and I did a 2 mile tempo in the middle down the canyon. I told him to take the lead and run 6:00 pace. He ran 5:37/5:21 instead, but I was able to keep up and felt quite decent. Stephen ran 0.5 without holding the hand, Joseph and Jacob did 3, Julia 3, Jenny 4, William 1.
Leg 1
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
3	25:19.60.	8:26.53	With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3.000	25:19.60	8:26.53
Leg 2
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
0.5	5:41.40.	11:22.80	With Stephen and Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	0.500	5:41.40	11:22.80
Leg 3
Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
9	1:05:55.10.	7:19.46	With Benjamin.
Split#	Distance	Time	Pace	Comment
1	4.700	37:37.80	8:00.38
2	2.000	10:58.50	5:29.25	Tempo run down the canyon - splits of 5:37/5:21. Benjamin set the pace with the idea of running 6:00, but 6:00 was too slow for him.
3	2.300	17:18.80	7:31.65	Back to the house.

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
69.60	0.50	3.50	0.00	73.60

Green Crocs 7 Miles: 49.10

Night Sleep Time: 43.00	Nap Time: 1.00	Total Sleep Time: 44.00

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