Breaking the Wall

Week starting Aug 14, 2016

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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to Ukraine's Armed Forces

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
64.42	2.00	6.00	0.00	72.42

Nike Double Stroller Miles: 2.52	Khaki Crocs 1 Miles: 72.42

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

Sun, Aug 14, 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.

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

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Mon, Aug 15, 2016

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.56	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.56

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-08-15 08:18:00
Workout Totals: Distance10.560Time1:24:35.20Pace8:00.61
Usual run, usual distances for the kids, except I added an extra 0.5 and ended up with 10.5 total.
Leg 1:Distance1.020Time9:26.60Pace9:15.49
With Stephen (Matthew/Mary in the stroller)
Leg 2:Distance1.500Time11:19.70Pace7:33.13
With Matthew and Mary in the stroller.
Leg 3:Distance2.040Time16:02.00Pace7:51.57
With Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 4:Distance6.000Time47:46.90Pace7:57.82
With Benjamin.

Nike Double Stroller Miles: 2.52	Khaki Crocs 1 Miles: 10.56

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

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Tue, Aug 16, 2016

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
8.10	2.00	0.00	0.00	10.10

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-08-16 07:56:08
Workout Totals: Distance10.100Time1:17:46.20Pace7:42.00
Benjamin and I paced Joseph and Jacob through their 2 mile tempo down the canyon. I paced Jacob - he improved from last time running 11:49 with the splits of 5:53,5:56. He had a kick at the end with last quarter in 85. Joseph struggled today running 11:43. At first things were going well, he had 5:49 for the first mile, but then he got psyched out by a utility truck crossing the road and that mentally threw him off. So he could only manage 5:54 for the last mile. He appears to have an oversensitive nervous system. It is easy to knock him out of balance emotionally with little things. If you touch his back lightly, he screams in pain. Often gets irritated when doing something where greater attention to detail is required. Nothing especially out of whack, just on the oversensitive end of the range - will hopefully go away as he matures. In spite of all of his struggles this year he has been able to run 800/1500/mile/3000/5K in 2:36/5:11/5:38/10:55/19:10 - quite a bit better than Benjamin did at his age, so things are going well.
Leg 1:Distance1.150Time10:07.90Pace8:48.61
Warm-up with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 2:Distance2.000Time11:49.70Pace5:54.85
Jacob's 2 mile tempo down the canyon.
Leg 3:Distance0.950Time8:56.80Pace9:25.05
Cool-down with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 4:Distance6.000Time46:51.80Pace7:48.63
With Benjamin.

Khaki Crocs 1 Miles: 10.10

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

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Wed, Aug 17, 2016

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

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-08-17 07:44:51
Workout Totals: Distance10.073Time1:23:08.90Pace8:15.27
Benjamin was still sore from Saturday, so we decided to take another easy day before running hard. Usual distances for everybody today.
Leg 1:Distance2.040Time18:48.80Pace9:13.33
With Stephen.
Leg 2:Distance2.040Time16:23.50Pace8:02.11
With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 3:Distance5.993Time47:56.60Pace7:59.99
With Benjamin.

Khaki Crocs 1 Miles: 10.07

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

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Thu, Aug 18, 2016

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.25	0.00	2.00	0.00	14.25

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-08-18 07:35:29
Workout Totals: Distance14.250Time1:53:26.30Pace7:57.64
Benjamin and I did a hard 2 mile run down the canyon today. He got 9:32 (4:44,4:48), I got 10:34 (5:14,5:20). For him this is a 9 second course PR. For me this is the fastest I've done it this year. Kids ran their usual distances.
Leg 1:Distance5.250Time42:37.70Pace8:07.18
Warm-up.
Leg 2:Distance2.000Time10:34.70Pace5:17.35
Tempo run down the canyon.
Leg 3:Distance2.750Time26:18.60Pace9:34.04
Cool-down.
Leg 4:Distance0.250Time2:16.00Pace9:04.00
With Matthew.
Leg 5:Distance4.000Time31:39.30Pace7:54.82
With Joseph and Jacob.

Khaki Crocs 1 Miles: 14.25

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

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Fri, Aug 19, 2016

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
9.06	0.00	0.00	0.00	9.06

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-08-19 07:38:11
Workout Totals: Distance9.060Time1:12:25.70Pace7:59.66
Took Stephen for his pre-birthday mile time trial - he was about to turn 6. Had a discussion with him about overcoming fear with prayer. I think it might have worked. He ran 7:48.9 - new PR, first time under 8:00, splits 1:52, 2:00, 2:02, and 1:51 with the balance going towards the 9.34 meter tax. Not quite as fast as William (7:27) and Jacob (7:34) at that age, but not as slow as Benjamin (7:58) or Joseph who was barely breaking 9:00 due to stubbornness/oppositional defiance. William helped me pace Stephen. Sarah was quite impressed that we were able to get our couch potato Stephen who is happy to sit in front of a TV for hours if you let him to go sub-8:00 before he turned 6. Stephen knows that the only way he gets to watch a movie for a long time is if he asks me for one in Russian - and he does all the time. Otherwise the kids ran their usual distances. Total of 10 for Benjamin and 9 for me.
Leg 1:Distance0.180Time1:52.70Pace10:26.11
Warm-up with William and Stephen.
Leg 2:Distance1.000Time7:48.90Pace7:48.90
Stephen's mile time trial.
Leg 3:Distance0.130Time1:26.30Pace11:03.85
Cool-down with William and Stephen.
Leg 4:Distance0.750Time6:17.10Pace8:22.80
With William.
Leg 5:Distance1.000Time7:09.50Pace7:09.50
With Benjamin and Jacob.
Leg 6:Distance6.000Time47:51.20Pace7:58.53
With Benjamin.

Khaki Crocs 1 Miles: 9.06

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

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Sat, Aug 20, 2016

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
14.38	0.00	4.00	0.00	18.38

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-08-20 08:21:40
Workout Totals: Distance18.380Time2:26:18.40Pace7:57.61
Today Benjamin and I did a 4 mile tempo run down the canyon. It went well for me, but not so well for Benjamin. I ran 21:50 (5:18,5:27,5:33,5:32). Benjamin ended up with 21:08. He started well - 4:54, then still OK - 5:02, but then he got a side ache and ran 5:47, then it eased off some and he ran 5:25. We suspected the cause of the side ache was ice cream the night before. I did not want him to end the workout on a bad note, so I had him do some stretches and squats, and then run a hard mile. The mile went OK - he ran 4:41. Benjamin and I ran 13 together, then I ran another 5 with the younger boys. Everybody did their usual Saturday distances.
Leg 1:Distance6.300Time53:06.50Pace8:25.79
With Benjamin - warm-up.
Leg 2:Distance4.000Time21:50.40Pace5:27.60
Tempo run.
Leg 3:Distance3.000Time27:07.80Pace9:02.60
Cool-down.
Leg 4:Distance2.040Time19:06.70Pace9:22.11
With Stephen, William, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 5:Distance2.040Time17:18.10Pace8:28.87
Dropped off Stephen and ran 2 more.
Leg 6:Distance1.000Time7:48.90Pace7:48.90
With Joseph and Jacob.

Khaki Crocs 1 Miles: 18.38

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
64.42	2.00	6.00	0.00	72.42

Nike Double Stroller Miles: 2.52	Khaki Crocs 1 Miles: 72.42

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

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