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
52.71	0.00	17.11	1.69	71.51

Red Crocs Miles: 71.51

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

Sun, Aug 20, 2017

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 as usual.

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

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Mon, Aug 21, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.36	0.00	0.00	0.25	10.61

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-08-21 08:22:42
Workout Totals: Distance10.612Time1:22:35.20Pace7:46.94
In the morning did the usual runs with the kids. Did a quarter pickup in 79 at the end and it felt easier than I expected. In the evening paced Sarah through 100 in 21.0 and ran with Matthew. He actually ran a 400 PR in the first lap (1:53) but then faded to 2:10 and did not get his 800 record.
Leg 1:Distance4.050Time31:40.10Pace7:49.16
With Jacob. William did 3, Stephen 2.04.
Split 1:Distance2.040Time16:58.50Pace8:19.26 Cumilative:Distance2.040Time16:58.50Pace8:19.26
Stephen's drop off.
Split 2:Distance1.010Time7:51.70Pace7:47.03 Cumilative:Distance3.050Time24:50.20Pace8:08.59
William's drop off.
Split 3:Distance1.000Time6:49.90Pace6:49.90 Cumilative:Distance4.050Time31:40.10Pace7:49.16
With Jacob.

Leg 2:Distance5.000Time39:38.90Pace7:55.78
With Joseph.
Leg 3:Distance1.000Time6:48.60Pace6:48.60
Alone. Did a pickup.
Split 1:Distance0.750Time5:29.30Pace7:19.07 Cumilative:Distance0.750Time5:29.30Pace7:19.07
Split 2:Distance0.250Time1:19.30Pace5:17.20 Cumilative:Distance1.000Time6:48.60Pace6:48.60
Pickup.

Leg 4:Distance0.062Time0:24.20Pace6:30.32
Sarah's 100 time trial. Matthew jumped in, so we timed him as well.
Split 1:Distance0.062Time0:21.00Pace5:38.71 Cumilative:Distance0.062Time0:21.00Pace5:38.71
Sarah's time.
Split 2:Distance0.000Time0:03.20Pace0:00.00 Cumilative:Distance0.062Time0:24.20Pace6:30.32
Matthew's time.

Leg 5:Distance0.500Time4:03.40Pace8:06.80
With Matthew.

Red Crocs Miles: 10.61

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

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Tue, Aug 22, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
7.54	0.00	3.00	0.00	10.54

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-08-22 07:54:41
Workout Totals: Distance10.540Time1:13:22.30Pace6:57.68
Kids ran on their own today. I did 10.54 with a 3 mile tempo down the canyon in 16:28 (5:27, 5:31, 5:30).
Leg 1:Distance5.270Time40:02.30Pace7:35.84
Warm-up - glycogen pre-dump.
Leg 2:Distance3.000Time16:28.00Pace5:29.33
Tempo.
Leg 3:Distance2.270Time16:52.00Pace7:25.81
Cool-down.

Red Crocs Miles: 10.54

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

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Wed, Aug 23, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
9.15	0.00	1.00	1.00	11.15

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-08-23 08:18:26
Workout Totals: Distance11.150Time1:22:49.30Pace7:25.68
We had mile time trials today. First William ran a huge PR of 6:01.9 with the splits of 86,89,94,90. I paced him. Then Jacob ran 5:33.8 with the splits of 80,85,83,83. Joseph and I paced him. I kicked for 200 with a lap to go with the idea to help Joseph break his record of 5:28, but he did not follow me, so I eased off. I ended up with 5:30.7, he had 5:32.9. Also Matthew ran 800 PR in 3:58.4 paced by Joseph and Zachary (cousin). Then I ran some more distance alone. In the evening we paced Samantha (the one living with us, not Jeff's wife) through a mile in 10:05 with 2 breaks.
Leg 1:Distance0.400Time3:48.00Pace9:30.00
Warm-up.
Leg 2:Distance1.000Time6:01.90Pace6:01.90
William's mile.
Leg 3:Distance0.250Time2:22.60Pace9:30.40
Recovery jog.
Leg 4:Distance1.000Time5:33.80Pace5:33.80
Jacob's mile.
Split 1:Distance1.000Time5:30.70Pace5:30.70 Cumilative:Distance1.000Time5:30.70Pace5:30.70
My split.
Split 2:Distance0.000Time0:02.20Pace0:00.00 Cumilative:Distance1.000Time5:32.90Pace5:32.90
Joseph.
Split 3:Distance0.000Time0:00.90Pace0:00.00 Cumilative:Distance1.000Time5:33.80Pace5:33.80
Jacob.

Leg 5:Distance7.500Time54:57.20Pace7:19.63
Alone.
Leg 6:Distance1.000Time10:05.80Pace10:05.80
Paced Samantha with the boys.

Red Crocs Miles: 11.15

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

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Thu, Aug 24, 2017

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

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-08-24 07:00:50
Workout Totals: Distance11.000Time1:25:38.00Pace7:47.09
Today Stephen set a course record for the 2.04 course - 16:09. Matthew also set the course record for his 0.5 course - 4:00.9. Otherwise it was a usual day.
Leg 1:Distance5.000Time38:28.30Pace7:41.66
With Jacob and Jeff McClellan.
Leg 2:Distance4.080Time32:16.80Pace7:54.71
With William. Stephen, Zachary, and Jeff ran the first 2.
Split 1:Distance2.040Time16:09.20Pace7:55.10 Cumilative:Distance2.040Time16:09.20Pace7:55.10
Stephen's time.
Split 2:Distance2.040Time16:07.60Pace7:54.31 Cumilative:Distance4.080Time32:16.80Pace7:54.71
With William.

Leg 3:Distance1.420Time10:52.00Pace7:39.15
Part alone, part with Joseph.
Leg 4:Distance0.500Time4:00.90Pace8:01.80
With Matthew.

Red Crocs Miles: 11.00

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

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Fri, Aug 25, 2017

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
6.56	0.00	0.00	0.44	7.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-08-25 08:45:36
Workout Totals: Distance7.000Time53:10.60Pace7:35.80
Mini-taper for the TOU Half. Did a pickup with Jeff in the last 0.44 at about 5:20 pace uphill. Was surprised that I could even do it.
Leg 1:Distance7.000Time53:10.60Pace7:35.80
Split 1:Distance6.560Time50:49.40Pace7:44.85 Cumilative:Distance6.560Time50:49.40Pace7:44.85
With the kids and Jeff.
Split 2:Distance0.440Time2:21.20Pace5:20.91 Cumilative:Distance7.000Time53:10.60Pace7:35.80
Pickup.

Red Crocs Miles: 7.00

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

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Sat, Aug 26, 2017

Race: Top of Utah Half (13.109 Miles) 01:15:24, Place overall: 12, Place in age division: 2

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
8.10	0.00	13.11	0.00	21.21

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-08-26 05:17:39
Workout Totals: Distance21.210Time2:23:13.10Pace6:45.14
Top of Utah Half, 1:15:24, 12th overall, 2nd master, $75. Started out with Nan and Jacob Kuntz, but could only keep up for a little over 3 miles. Then Dennis caught up to me. I latched on. Matt Wolpert passed us. When we got to the steeper downhill between 5 and 7 I found another gear, passed Dennis, then passed Jacob and Matt, and tried to catch up to Nan. Started to run out of juice as it flattened out. Matt passed me shortly after 9. Right before he passed me my Croc fell off. Not sure why. I lost about 5 seconds and was not able to latch on. However, shortly after 10 John Coyle passed me and I latched on. He pulled me up to Matt by 12, but as soon as we were about to make contact, I fell apart and could not keep the pace. John passed Matt, but I could not even make contact. So I stayed a few seconds behind him for the rest of the race. He won the masters with 1:15:18. Top finishers: Aaron FLETCHER 01:04:46.8 Bryant JENSEN 01:06:30.2 Riley COOK 01:07:06.7 Nate KRAH 01:07:43.5 Fritz VAN DE KAMP 01:08:04.5 Ben VAN BEEKUM 01:09:18.3 Tom DERR 01:11:10.0 Eric STRAND 01:11:39.5 Nan KENNARD 01:14:34.2 John COYLE 01:14:46.4 Dennis took 3rd in the masters with 1:16:39 (55 years old). Nan's 1:14:34 was not only the course record, but probably the world record for a mother of four (defined as someone who has given birth to and is currently raising four or more children). Nancy Kiprop ran 2:24:20 marathon in Vienna. She has seven children, but she adopted five of them, which puts her in a different division. Aaron Fletcher got the course record as well. Something odd happened in the last 5 K. All competitors around me including myself appeared to have an unusual slowdown. Looking at the split at 9 miles/finish time for me: 2017: 50:41/1:15:24, 2016: 50:47/1:14:49, 2015: 50:43/1:15:04, 2014: 50:47/1:14:46, 2013: 50:21/1:14:49. The Croc incident happened after 9 and cost me maybe 5 seconds, but where did the rest of it go? The time should have been at least 20 seconds faster, even counting the incident. Matt Wolpert had a faster split at 9 than he did last year, had no Croc incident, and finished 35 seconds slower. Nan had about 30 seconds on me shortly after 9 at the spot of the Croc incident - pre-incident. So 5 seconds on the incident, the remaining 15 on just being more fit. John Coyle is an outlier with an unusually fast last mile, but that is to be expected from a 1:06 guy out of shape (or doing a training run, but he looked too fat for a 1:06 guy from behind, so I am assuming just out of shape). Removing the outlier, Matt, Nan, and I ran more or less the same relative to each other comparing the first 10 miles and the last 3, and yet there was a clear slowdown for me and Matt relative to last year (and other years for me). My best explanation so far is that it got a bit warmer, warm enough to where you slow down by 7 seconds per mile or so without noticing.
Leg 1:Distance2.100Time18:56.10Pace9:01.00
Warm-up with Nan Kennard and Jessica Stanford.
Leg 2:Distance13.110Time1:15:24.10Pace5:45.09
The race.
Split 1:Distance1.000Time5:36.60Pace5:36.60 Cumilative:Distance1.000Time5:36.60Pace5:36.60
Split 2:Distance1.000Time5:36.50Pace5:36.50 Cumilative:Distance2.000Time11:13.10Pace5:36.55
Split 3:Distance1.000Time5:36.60Pace5:36.60 Cumilative:Distance3.000Time16:49.70Pace5:36.57
Split 4:Distance1.000Time5:47.20Pace5:47.20 Cumilative:Distance4.000Time22:36.90Pace5:39.23
Split 5:Distance1.000Time5:33.80Pace5:33.80 Cumilative:Distance5.000Time28:10.70Pace5:38.14
Split 6:Distance1.000Time5:26.20Pace5:26.20 Cumilative:Distance6.000Time33:36.90Pace5:36.15
Split 7:Distance1.000Time5:32.00Pace5:32.00 Cumilative:Distance7.000Time39:08.90Pace5:35.56
Split 8:Distance0.950Time5:16.40Pace5:33.05 Cumilative:Distance7.950Time44:25.30Pace5:35.26
Split 9:Distance1.050Time6:15.70Pace5:57.81 Cumilative:Distance9.000Time50:41.00Pace5:37.89
Split 10:Distance1.000Time5:58.40Pace5:58.40 Cumilative:Distance10.000Time56:39.40Pace5:39.94
Split 11:Distance1.000Time6:04.60Pace6:04.60 Cumilative:Distance11.000Time1:02:44.00Pace5:42.18
Split 12:Distance1.000Time6:18.60Pace6:18.60 Cumilative:Distance12.000Time1:09:02.60Pace5:45.22
Split 13:Distance1.010Time5:48.40Pace5:44.95 Cumilative:Distance13.010Time1:14:51.00Pace5:45.20
Split 14:Distance0.100Time0:33.10Pace5:31.00 Cumilative:Distance13.110Time1:15:24.10Pace5:45.09

Leg 3:Distance6.000Time48:52.90Pace8:08.82
Cool-down with Joseph and Jacob. Nan, the Richardsons, and Merillee Blackham joined us for the the first 4.

Red Crocs Miles: 21.21

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
52.71	0.00	17.11	1.69	71.51

Red Crocs Miles: 71.51

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

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