Breaking the Wall

Uneventful Pioneer Day 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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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
64.93	1.50	14.11	0.50	81.04

Black Crocs Miles: 42.95

Night Sleep Time: 21.00	Nap Time: 0.50	Total Sleep Time: 21.50

Mon, Jul 21, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.54	0.00	0.00	0.00	12.54

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-07-21 07:44:13
Workout Totals: Distance12.540Time1:38:56.50Pace7:53.41
Total of 12.5. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 4, Julia 1.5, Joseph and Jacob 2, William 1, Stephen 0.5.
Leg 1:Distance2.040Time17:10.00Pace8:24.90
With Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 2:Distance9.000Time1:07:15.20Pace7:28.36
With Benjamin.
Leg 3:Distance0.500Time5:22.30Pace10:44.60
With Stephen.
Leg 4:Distance1.000Time9:09.00Pace9:09.00
With William.

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

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Tue, Jul 22, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.90	0.00	1.00	0.00	13.90

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-07-22 07:08:59
Workout Totals: Distance13.900Time1:54:00.70Pace8:12.14
Total of 13.9. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 4, Julia 2, Joseph and Jacob 3, William 1. Stephen 0.5. Steve Ashbaker and his friend Kevin joined us for part of the run.
Leg 1:Distance3.000Time25:36.50Pace8:32.17
With Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 2:Distance9.400Time1:14:00.80Pace7:52.43
With Benjamin, Steve, and his friend Kevin. Did a couple of pickups in the canyon.
Split 1:Distance4.600Time37:08.00Pace8:04.35 Cumilative:Distance4.600Time37:08.00Pace8:04.35
Split 2:Distance0.500Time3:03.00Pace6:06.00 Cumilative:Distance5.100Time40:11.00Pace7:52.75
Uphill.
Split 3:Distance2.700Time21:52.30Pace8:06.04 Cumilative:Distance7.800Time1:02:03.30Pace7:57.35
Split 4:Distance0.500Time2:44.50Pace5:29.00 Cumilative:Distance8.300Time1:04:47.80Pace7:48.41
Downhill.
Split 5:Distance1.100Time9:13.00Pace8:22.73 Cumilative:Distance9.400Time1:14:00.80Pace7:52.43

Leg 3:Distance1.000Time9:03.50Pace9:03.50
With William.
Leg 4:Distance0.500Time5:19.90Pace10:39.80
With Stephen.

Black Crocs Miles: 13.90

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

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Wed, Jul 23, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.54	0.00	0.00	0.50	12.04

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-07-23 07:07:51
Workout Totals: Distance12.040Time1:36:25.80Pace8:00.55
Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Joseph and Jacob 3, William 1, Julia 3, Jenny was at girl's camp, and Stephen got lost in the morning shuffle and I forgot to run with him. Benjamin and I did a pickup for 0.5 down the canyon in 2:36.
Leg 1:Distance3.040Time25:13.10Pace8:17.73
With Joseph and Jacob. Benjamin joined us for the last mile.
Leg 2:Distance8.000Time1:01:38.40Pace7:42.30
With Benjamin.
Split 1:Distance7.300Time57:40.70Pace7:54.07 Cumilative:Distance7.300Time57:40.70Pace7:54.07
Split 2:Distance0.500Time2:36.50Pace5:13.00 Cumilative:Distance7.800Time1:00:17.20Pace7:43.74
Split 3:Distance0.200Time1:21.20Pace6:46.00 Cumilative:Distance8.000Time1:01:38.40Pace7:42.30

Leg 3:Distance1.000Time9:34.30Pace9:34.30
With William.

Black Crocs Miles: 12.04

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

Comments(5)

Thu, Jul 24, 2014

Race: Uneventful Pioneer Day Provo River Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:18:01, Place overall: 1

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
3.90	0.00	13.11	0.00	17.01

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-07-24 07:09:47
Workout Totals: Distance17.009Time1:55:08.70Pace6:46.18
Ran the Uneventful Half on the Provo River course with Benjamin in 1:18:01. Could have gone maybe a minute faster, but Benjamin was struggling with the heat and I did not want to leave him alone. We picked the wrong day to do it - when we started the temperature was already 75 F. Details below. Joseph and Jacob ran 3, Julia 2, William 1, Stephen 0.5. Chad's son Alex (7 years old) set a mile PR of 9:27.
Leg 1:Distance1.300Time11:52.20Pace9:07.85
Warm-up with Chad and Benjamin.
Leg 2:Distance13.109Time1:18:01.30Pace5:57.11
The race. Chad was not feeling good, and just ran straight at an easy pace. Benjamin and I tried to run hard.
Split 1:Distance3.000Time16:51.60Pace5:37.20 Cumilative:Distance3.000Time16:51.60Pace5:37.20
We opened with 5:26, I missed the time at 2 miles, and hit the button at 3. Felt good.
Split 2:Distance1.000Time5:38.30Pace5:38.30 Cumilative:Distance4.000Time22:29.90Pace5:37.48
Early signs of trouble for Benjamin - he needed to go to the bathroom #2. For me this would not mean anything, but for him if he has to go mid-run it usually means some form of distress.
Split 3:Distance9.109Time55:31.40Pace6:05.73 Cumilative:Distance13.109Time1:18:01.30Pace5:57.11
Around mile 8 the heat really got to Benjamin, and combined with the hill really knocked him out. He had to go to the bathroom again, and got some water which refreshed him enough to run a little sub-6:00 pace after that. When we finished he threw up. A lot of yellowish green stuff came out - just one homogeneous yellowish green liquid. I was actually feeling quite decent and was happy with the time given how it felt and the warm conditions. I would say definitely an improvement from a month ago at Utah Valley Half where I ran the same time with much more effort.

Leg 3:Distance1.100Time10:16.20Pace9:20.18
Cool-down to the house with Chad and Benjamin.
Leg 4:Distance1.000Time9:27.50Pace9:27.50
Paced Alex along with Joseph, Jacob, and Chad.
Leg 5:Distance0.500Time5:31.50Pace11:03.00
With Stephen.

Black Crocs Miles: 17.01

Night Sleep Time: 7.00	Nap Time: 0.50	Total Sleep Time: 7.50

Comments(1)

Fri, Jul 25, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
9.05	1.50	0.00	0.00	10.55

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-07-25 07:45:55
Workout Totals: Distance10.546Time1:24:25.80Pace8:00.35
Total of 10.5. Benjamin did 5.25, Jenny was still at the girl's camp, Julia did 2, Joseph and Jacob did a time trial at the BYU track. Stephen did 0.5, William 1. Details below.
Leg 1:Distance0.400Time3:41.10Pace9:12.75
Warm-up with Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 2:Distance0.496Time3:14.40Pace6:31.94
800 with Jacob. He was feeling tired from Wednesday's hike to the Y and running around at the ward activity last night, but still wanted to do the time trial. He opened with 95, but then slowed down, so I just had him stop at the 800.
Leg 3:Distance1.000Time6:08.40Pace6:08.40
With Joseph. He got a track mile PR by a second. He opened with 89, then 92, so far so good. Then he began to doubt and slowed down to 94 in the next lap, but then kicked in 89 hitting 6:04 at 1600, and then just stopped thinking it was over. Before he realized the problem he lost 2 seconds. So this really should have been 6:06.
Leg 4:Distance0.400Time3:47.70Pace9:29.25
To the van from the track.
Leg 5:Distance1.000Time9:04.40Pace9:04.40
One more mile for distance with Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 6:Distance0.500Time5:24.20Pace10:48.40
With Stephen.
Leg 7:Distance5.250Time41:46.50Pace7:57.43
With Benjamin.
Leg 8:Distance1.500Time11:19.10Pace7:32.73
Alone.

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

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Sat, Jul 26, 2014

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

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2014-07-26 08:18:12
Workout Totals: Distance15.000Time1:59:30.50Pace7:58.03
Total of 15. Benjamin did 9, Joseph and Jacob 3, William 1, Julia 2, Stephen 0.5, Jenny still at girl's camp. I ran the first 6 miles with Matthew in the stroller.
Leg 1:Distance3.000Time26:21.70Pace8:47.23
With Joseph and Jacob running, and Matthew in the stroller.
Leg 2:Distance9.000Time1:09:05.80Pace7:40.64
With Benjamin. First 3 miles with Matthew in the stroller.
Leg 3:Distance2.500Time18:43.00Pace7:29.20
Alone.
Leg 4:Distance0.500Time5:20.00Pace10:40.00
With Stephen.

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
64.93	1.50	14.11	0.50	81.04

Black Crocs Miles: 42.95

Night Sleep Time: 21.00	Nap Time: 0.50	Total Sleep Time: 21.50

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