Breaking the Wall

Top of Utah Half

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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
44.67	2.00	13.11	3.00	62.78

Neon Crocs 2 Miles: 62.78

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

Sun, Aug 18, 2019

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 19, 2019

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 - 2019-08-19 08:27:34
Workout Totals: Distance12.000Time1:30:18.80Pace7:31.57
Easy 12 (9+3). Matthew was sick today, did not run. Mary was still recovering, ran only 0.25. Otherwise usual distances for the kids.
Leg 1:Distance9.000Time1:07:19.90Pace7:28.88
With Benjamin.
Leg 2:Distance3.000Time22:58.90Pace7:39.63
With Benjamin.

Neon Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00

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

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Tue, Aug 20, 2019

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
8.15	1.00	0.00	3.00	12.15

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-08-20 07:42:13
Workout Totals: Distance12.150Time1:30:07.80Pace7:25.09
Benjamin did 2x3 down the canyon in 16:06 and 15:47. On the first interval Joseph, Jacob, and I ran with him to failure to maintain the pace, then to the nearest point where we felt good about being done. For Joseph that point was 0.5 in 2:39 and he was done. Jacob made it to about 1.5, and then finished out 2 miles in 10:49, which is his course PR. I made it to a little bit past 2 miles with the splits of 5:21, 5:25, then dropped back finishing the last mile in 5:40, and improving my course PR for the year by a little bit - 16:26.2. Then I paced Stephen in a mile time trial at the track to see if he could improve his mile PR a bit more before his 9th birthday. He missed it by 0.6. Matthew is recovering from his cold, ran 0.5 today.
Leg 1:Distance1.480Time12:19.20Pace8:19.46
Warm-up with Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 2:Distance3.000Time16:26.20Pace5:28.73
3 miles down the canyon, first 2 with Benjamin.
Leg 3:Distance1.670Time14:57.10Pace8:57.19
Cool-down.
Leg 4:Distance1.000Time6:20.70Pace6:20.70
Paced Stephen in the mile time trial on the track.
Leg 5:Distance2.000Time16:17.10Pace8:08.55
I think this was with William, and Stephen.
Leg 6:Distance0.500Time4:14.30Pace8:28.60
With Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, and Matthew.
Leg 7:Distance2.500Time19:33.20Pace7:49.28
With Jacob.

Neon Crocs 2 Miles: 12.15

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

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Wed, Aug 21, 2019

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
8.00	1.00	0.00	0.00	9.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-08-21 06:45:54
Workout Totals: Distance9.000Time1:05:59.70Pace7:19.97
Tapering for the Top of Utah Half. Total of 9. Stephen was able to improve his mile PR by another 2 seconds the day before he turned 9 to 6:18.1. Otherwise usual easy runs for the kids.
Leg 1:Distance7.000Time52:12.90Pace7:27.56
With Benjamin.
Leg 2:Distance1.000Time6:18.10Pace6:18.10
Paced Stephen to a mile PR with the help from Benjamin, Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 3:Distance1.000Time7:28.70Pace7:28.70
With Joseph and Jacob.

Neon Crocs 2 Miles: 9.00

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

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Thu, Aug 22, 2019

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

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-08-22 20:15:48
Workout Totals: Distance8.000Time59:19.00Pace7:24.88
Total of 8. Tapering for the Top of Utah Half. Kids ran easy, their usual distances, except for Stephen, who was still energetic from his PR the day before, and ran a mile in 6:53.
Leg 1:Distance1.000Time6:53.00Pace6:53.00
With Stephen.
Leg 2:Distance1.000Time7:33.00Pace7:33.00
Alone.
Leg 3:Distance4.000Time29:22.00Pace7:20.50
Alone.
Leg 4:Distance2.000Time15:31.00Pace7:45.50
With Joseph and Jacob.

Neon Crocs 2 Miles: 8.00

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

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Fri, Aug 23, 2019

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
6.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	6.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-08-23 08:47:14
Workout Totals: Distance6.000Time46:15.10Pace7:42.52
Total of 6 - tapering before the Top of Utah Half. Benjamin did 4. Otherwise, usual distances for the kids.
Leg 1:Distance1.000Time7:57.20Pace7:57.20
With Joseph and Matthew.
Leg 2:Distance3.000Time22:41.10Pace7:33.70
With Joseph.
Leg 3:Distance2.000Time15:36.80Pace7:48.40
With Benjamin in Logan.

Neon Crocs 2 Miles: 6.00

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

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Sat, Aug 24, 2019

Race: Top of Utah Half (13.109 Miles) 01:17:21, Place overall: 13, Place in age division: 5

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
2.52	0.00	13.11	0.00	15.63

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-08-24 05:29:57
Workout Totals: Distance15.635Time1:38:56.60Pace6:19.70
Top of Utah Half, 1:17:21, 13th overall, 5th master. PR since Leigha was born. Benjamin got 4th overall with a PR of 1:08:21, $125. I ran most of the race with Mark. Got a sideache around mile 6. Around 9 miles Savannah Berry and Thom Kuehls caught up to us. We sped up, but I had only 1 mile in me at their pace. Then I backed off and tried to hang on. I thought they would gap me by a minute and set a goal to make it less than that. Savannah did pretty much what I thought finishing in 1:16:23. Thom had a great race as well, 1:16:50. Mark started coming back to me, but there was a reason he was able to hang on with them about a mile longer than I did - he just had more juice. So I closed the gap a bit, but then was not closing anymore - he ended up with 1:17:08, I think it is a new PR. Benjamin ran a perfect race with steady pacing, and the last 1.1 or so at 5:00 pace upgrading his position as he went on. This was a new PR for him, and also the fastest time on any course I know of anybody running in Crocs. Afterwards we cooled down with Mel. Joseph and Jacob ran 8 miles, William I think 6, and Stephen I think 5, Matthew 1. Do not remember what Jenny and Julia did.
Leg 1:Distance1.325Time10:36.20Pace8:00.15
Warm-up with Benjamin, part with Mark.
Leg 2:Distance13.110Time1:17:20.20Pace5:53.94
Race.
Split 1:Distance1.000Time5:41.50Pace5:41.50 Cumilative:Distance1.000Time5:41.50Pace5:41.50
Split 2:Distance1.000Time5:47.30Pace5:47.30 Cumilative:Distance2.000Time11:28.80Pace5:44.40
Split 3:Distance1.000Time5:47.10Pace5:47.10 Cumilative:Distance3.000Time17:15.90Pace5:45.30
Split 4:Distance1.000Time5:50.20Pace5:50.20 Cumilative:Distance4.000Time23:06.10Pace5:46.53
Split 5:Distance1.000Time5:37.70Pace5:37.70 Cumilative:Distance5.000Time28:43.80Pace5:44.76
Split 6:Distance1.000Time5:39.80Pace5:39.80 Cumilative:Distance6.000Time34:23.60Pace5:43.93
Split 7:Distance1.000Time5:48.70Pace5:48.70 Cumilative:Distance7.000Time40:12.30Pace5:44.61
Split 8:Distance0.920Time5:29.90Pace5:58.59 Cumilative:Distance7.920Time45:42.20Pace5:46.24
Split 9:Distance1.080Time6:29.00Pace6:00.19 Cumilative:Distance9.000Time52:11.20Pace5:47.91
Split 10:Distance1.000Time5:50.40Pace5:50.40 Cumilative:Distance10.000Time58:01.60Pace5:48.16
Split 11:Distance1.010Time6:17.50Pace6:13.76 Cumilative:Distance11.010Time1:04:19.10Pace5:50.51
Split 12:Distance1.000Time6:36.90Pace6:36.90 Cumilative:Distance12.010Time1:10:56.00Pace5:54.37
Split 13:Distance1.000Time5:50.40Pace5:50.40 Cumilative:Distance13.010Time1:16:46.40Pace5:54.07
Split 14:Distance0.100Time0:33.80Pace5:38.00 Cumilative:Distance13.110Time1:17:20.20Pace5:53.94

Leg 3:Distance1.200Time11:00.20Pace9:10.17
Cool down with Benjamin and Mel.

Neon Crocs 2 Miles: 15.63

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
44.67	2.00	13.11	3.00	62.78

Neon Crocs 2 Miles: 62.78

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

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