Breaking the Wall

Murray Fun Days 5 K

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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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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	3010.45
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
61.42	0.00	11.00	4.23	76.65

Black Crocs 2 Miles: 76.64	Nike Double Stroller Miles: 2.80

Night Sleep Time: 43.50	Nap Time: 4.30	Total Sleep Time: 47.80

Sun, Jul 03, 2016

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. It was a Fast Sunday. Took a nap in the afternoon. We had Sarah's family over for dinner in the evening. A lot of people, in addition to our family and Benjamin's friend Grant who is living with us, we had 26 people if I counted right.

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

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Mon, Jul 04, 2016

Race: Murray Fun Days 5 K (3.107 Miles) 00:17:54, Place overall: 8, Place in age division: 3

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
7.95	0.00	0.00	3.11	11.06

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-07-04 07:32:53
Workout Totals: Distance11.057Time1:22:39.10Pace7:28.50
Murray Fun Days 5 K, 17:54 officially, 17:51.4 on my watch, 8th overall, 3rd master. The reason for the difference of 3 seconds is the mess up at the start. The start was very uncertain, so the timer was started before they told the runners in no uncertain terms that they should actually start. Runners ahead of me - Anthony Costales won with 15:36, then Teren Jameson 16:14, Ken Richardson 16:29, Benjamin 16:42 officially (16:40 on his watch), Albert Wint 17:11, Matthew Wolpert 17:36 (1st master), Mark Payne 17:51 officially, 17:48 on his watch, consistent difference with mine). I ran with Mark most of the way. The first mile was 5:36 (uphill), second 5:38 (small part uphill, the rest downhill), and then 6:37 for 3.107, 5:58.7 pace for the rest of it on rolling hills. Matthew passed us around the 4 K mark, neither of us could latch on, but Mark gapped me there and I could not close it. My legs felt shaky after the run, so it appears that the issue was the lack of leg strength. I am happy with the first 2 miles, but not with the last one. I told Benjamin to start conservatively as an experiment to see if he could close strong. He started perhaps too conservatively, and he could not close super strong either, although perhaps it was not too bad for the heat and the hills. So 5:34, 5:11, and 5:55 for the last 1.107, so 5:20.7 pace. He was closing on Ken but ran out of road. Do not know if he would have been faster with a faster start. The conditions were warm as usual. We cooled down with a new friend - Kenny "The Apache" Searle who blogs here as well. Later I ran with Joseph and Jacob in the canyon.
Leg 1:Distance1.250Time9:26.20Pace7:32.96
Warm-up with Benjamin.
Leg 2:Distance3.107Time17:51.40Pace5:44.83
The race.
Leg 3:Distance2.700Time24:25.10Pace9:02.63
Cool-down with Benjamin and Kenny.
Leg 4:Distance4.000Time30:56.40Pace7:44.10
With Joseph and Jacob.

Black Crocs 2 Miles: 11.05

Night Sleep Time: 6.50	Nap Time: 1.00	Total Sleep Time: 7.50

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Tue, Jul 05, 2016

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 - 2016-07-05 07:30:11
Workout Totals: Distance10.750Time1:26:15.30Pace8:01.42
Total of 10. Joseph and Jacob did 4.69, Jenny 3 with plan to run 2 more in the evening, Julia 2 with the plan to run 2 more, William 2, Stephen 1. Matthew will run 0.25 later tonight.
Leg 1:Distance4.690Time37:38.70Pace8:01.60
With Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 2:Distance1.020Time9:15.00Pace9:04.12
With Jenny and Stephen.
Leg 3:Distance2.040Time17:23.20Pace8:31.37
With Jenny and William.
Leg 4:Distance3.000Time21:58.40Pace7:19.47
Alone.

Black Crocs 2 Miles: 10.75

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

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Wed, Jul 06, 2016

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.38	0.00	3.00	0.75	14.13

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-07-06 07:21:11
Workout Totals: Distance14.130Time1:48:57.30Pace7:42.65
Did a workout with Benjamin with Draper Days 5 K in mind. First 3 mile tempo run in the canyon with the first 0.75 uphill, then 180 turn, 1.5 downhill, 180 turn, and 0.75 uphill. I ran the splits of (up) 88,88,91,(down) 84,83,83,84,86,86,(up)93,90,89 - total 17.25.7. Benjamin paced me through the first 1.5, then ran (down) 73,75,78, (up) 92, 88, 84 - 16:47 total. Benjamin experienced an odd loss of power. First he was clumsy on the turnaround - his first post-180 100 was 25 seconds. Then something happened in his last 100 - it was 24 seconds. He thought the problem was of neurological nature - he did not feel his breathing was being taxed. Then we did 4 x 0.25, 3 up, 1 down with long recoveries (0.25 jog). This time Benjamin felt no neurological problems - (up) 68.7, 66.3, 66.5, (down) 59.7. I got (up) 78.8, 77.9, 76.5, (down) 70.2. Then we cooled down, and I ran 4 more with Joseph and Jacob. I was hoping for a leisurely cool-down, but they made me work.
Leg 1:Distance3.030Time25:20.50Pace8:21.82
Warm-up - with Benjamin.
Leg 2:Distance3.000Time17:25.70Pace5:48.57
Tempo run.
Leg 3:Distance1.100Time10:38.10Pace9:40.09
Recovery.
Leg 4:Distance0.250Time1:18.80Pace5:15.20
Leg 5:Distance0.250Time3:07.00Pace12:28.00
Leg 6:Distance0.250Time1:17.90Pace5:11.60
Leg 7:Distance0.250Time2:52.00Pace11:28.00
Leg 8:Distance0.250Time1:16.50Pace5:06.00
Leg 9:Distance0.250Time3:00.50Pace12:02.00
Leg 10:Distance0.250Time1:10.20Pace4:40.80
Leg 11:Distance1.250Time11:38.30Pace9:18.64
Leg 12:Distance4.000Time29:51.80Pace7:27.95
With Joseph and Jacob.

Black Crocs 2 Miles: 14.13

Night Sleep Time: 7.50	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 7.50

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Thu, Jul 07, 2016

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.13	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.13

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-07-07 07:44:35
Workout Totals: Distance10.133Time1:24:29.10Pace8:20.26
Today we did our race with the handicap. Joseph and Jacob did the 800, William 700, Stephen 600. All started at the same time. I paced Stephen, Benjamin paced William. William ran 2:39.7, Joseph 2:43, Jacob 2:45, Stephen 2:50. Stephen's splits were 49, 58, 63. He really fell apart in the last 200. But he was first at the 200 to go mark, for which he got two stars. William caught him with 150 to go. His splits were 88 for the first lap, then 46 for the next 200, and 25 for the last 100. Aside from the last 100 he had a good run - if he could run another 100 as slow as 27 that would give him 3:07 - a big PR. I think with some conditioning and stars aligning he could get under 3:00 at the nationals. Joseph and Jacob were tired, so I had them just jog back home and not do any more miles today. Benjamin and I did a total of 10, Jenny 6, Julia 4, Matthew 0.25. Stephen a bit over 2 miles total.
Leg 1:Distance0.880Time8:43.20Pace9:54.55
Warm-up with the gang.
Leg 2:Distance0.375Time2:50.50Pace7:34.67
600 with Stephen
Split 1:Distance0.354Time2:40.50Pace7:33.39 Cumilative:Distance0.354Time2:40.50Pace7:33.39
William's 700
Split 2:Distance0.009Time0:04.20Pace7:46.67 Cumilative:Distance0.363Time2:44.70Pace7:33.72
Joseph's 800
Split 3:Distance0.002Time0:00.90Pace7:30.00 Cumilative:Distance0.365Time2:45.60Pace7:33.70
Jacob's 800
Split 4:Distance0.010Time0:04.90Pace8:10.00 Cumilative:Distance0.375Time2:50.50Pace7:34.67
Stephen's gap

Leg 3:Distance0.248Time2:21.00Pace9:28.55
With Matthew.
Leg 4:Distance0.930Time9:37.10Pace10:20.54
Back to the house.
Leg 5:Distance7.700Time1:00:57.30Pace7:54.97
With Benjamin.

Nike Double Stroller Miles: 1.80	Black Crocs 2 Miles: 10.13

Night Sleep Time: 7.50	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 7.50

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Fri, Jul 08, 2016

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.07	0.00	0.00	0.37	10.44

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-07-08 07:35:57
Workout Totals: Distance10.443Time1:23:23.80Pace7:59.15
Did 600 on the track with Joseph and Jacob. Wanted to see if yesterday was a fluke, or maybe indicative of some fatigue. They both did better - Joseph got 1:58, Jacob 1:59. One concern I had was that they dropped back when I moved forward at 300 to make sure they stayed on pace, and they did not close that gap. So maybe there is some lingering fatigue involved. Jacob said he was feeling good, but did not have the motivation to move out into the second lane to pass Joseph. Joseph said he did not think he had another gear. So I think we will repeat this workout on Monday. At first I had Benjamin pace them because I needed to go to bathroom and there was not one around. After he took them through the first 100 in 40 I stopped them and had them try again. Then I felt I would be able to pace, so I did it instead. The first 200 was 38 and we were all together, maybe Jacob had 39, then I was 77 at 400, Joseph 78, and Jacob 79. About 50 meters before the finish I took my foot of the gas because the gap was too big to be productive, but I still ended up finishing maybe a second or so ahead of Joseph. William did 2, Jacob and Joseph 4, Benjamin and I 10, Stephen 1, Matthew will run 0.25 tonight, Jenny 5, Julia 4.
Leg 1:Distance1.000Time8:42.10Pace8:42.10
Warm-up with Benjamin, Joseph, Jacob, William, and Matthew and Mary in the stroller.
Leg 2:Distance0.070Time0:40.70Pace9:41.43
Benjamin's mis-pacing.
Leg 3:Distance0.373Time1:59.20Pace5:19.57
600 with Joseph and Jacob.
Split 1:Distance0.373Time1:58.40Pace5:17.43 Cumilative:Distance0.373Time1:58.40Pace5:17.43
Split 2:Distance0.000Time0:00.80Pace0:00.00 Cumilative:Distance0.373Time1:59.20Pace5:19.57

Leg 4:Distance1.000Time9:06.80Pace9:06.80
Back to the house.
Leg 5:Distance1.500Time11:43.60Pace7:49.07
With Jacob and Benjamin.
Leg 6:Distance1.500Time11:17.40Pace7:31.60
With Joseph and Benjamin.
Leg 7:Distance5.000Time39:54.00Pace7:58.80
Distance with Benjamin.

Nike Double Stroller Miles: 1.00	Black Crocs 2 Miles: 10.44

Night Sleep Time: 7.50	Nap Time: 0.30	Total Sleep Time: 7.80

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Sat, Jul 09, 2016

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.14	0.00	8.00	0.00	20.14

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-07-09 06:40:27
Workout Totals: Distance20.140Time2:20:58.60Pace6:59.99
Total of 20. Started with 4 before anybody was awake, then drove to the Canyon Glen Park with Sarah, Grant, and Benjamin. Sarah ran home, Grant rode the bike and provided drinks/food for us on the go (EmergenC, fruit snacks). Benjamin and I did an 8 mile tempo from the magic spot near Vivian Park to the house. Benjamin was able to run without stops today. Our first 5 miles were 29:10 at a fairly even pace, then I told Benjamin to pick it up. He ran the last 3 (1 down, 1 rolling down, 1 up) in 16:32 (5:25, then 11:07 for the last 2 fairly even), total time 45:42. I got 17:39 (5:42,5:55,6:02), total time 46:39. I was happy to see that Benjamin is regaining fitness and health. Afterwards I ran 4.69 with Joseph and Jacob to retrieve the car.
Leg 1:Distance4.000Time28:42.70Pace7:10.68
Alone.
Leg 2:Distance3.450Time27:36.80Pace8:00.23
With Benjamin and Grant - warm-up/distance.
Leg 3:Distance8.000Time46:49.40Pace5:51.18
Tempo run
Leg 4:Distance4.690Time37:49.70Pace8:03.94
With Joseph and Jacob.

Black Crocs 2 Miles: 20.14

Night Sleep Time: 6.50	Nap Time: 2.00	Total Sleep Time: 8.50

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Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
61.42	0.00	11.00	4.23	76.65

Black Crocs 2 Miles: 76.64	Nike Double Stroller Miles: 2.80

Night Sleep Time: 43.50	Nap Time: 4.30	Total Sleep Time: 47.80

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