| 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
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 70.90 | 10.00 | 5.50 | 2.10 | 88.50 |
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| Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00 | Green Crocs 2 Miles: 76.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 55.00 | Nap Time: 2.00 | Total Sleep Time: 57.00 | |
| | 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. Had lessons on missionary work and on the role of women. The Sacrament meeting talks were on the role of women as well. Then picked up my mother at the airport in the afternoon. Her flight was re-routed at the last minute due to the hurricane problems in New York, so she ended up flying through Paris. She will stay with us for a few weeks. |
| Night Sleep Time: 8.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 8.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| A.M. Total of 12. 5 with Benjamin, 1.5 with Jenny and Julia (Joseph did 0.75), 0.5 with Jacob, 5 more alone. Ran the last 2.5 in 14:22.9. Felt it was too warm. P.M. Decided it was time to change into a new pair of Crocs. The old one started developing holes. It lasted only a bit over 1200 miles. I wonder if it is because I did more speed work. On the positive side of things, the holes have developed more or less symmetrically. So maybe I am experiencing subtle changes in the form in the direction of symmetry. Ran 2 miles in 14:52.
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| Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00 | Green Crocs 2 Miles: 2.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 8.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 8.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
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A.M. 5 with Benjamin, 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob, 1.5 with Jenny and Julia, 5 more alone. Ran the last 2.5 in 14:10.6, 5:40 average. Felt better than yesterday. Possibly because it was a bit cooler.
P.M. 2 miles in 14:12.
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| Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 8.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 8.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.70 | 14.00 |
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A.M. Ran 5 with Benjamin in 36:13. We did a couple of pickups including a 500 meter stretch in 1:40. 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph. 1.5 with Jenny and Julia. 5 more alone including hill sprints - 10 as usual up about a 60 meter stretch. The fastest time was 10.0. P.M. 2 miles in 14:13 with Sarah on a bike.
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| Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 8.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 8.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| A.M. Did 5 with Benjamin, 0.5 with Jacob, 1.5 with Jenny, Julia, and Joseph, and 5 more alone. Did a pickup in the last 0.5 in 2:50. |
| Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 8.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 8.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.60 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.40 | 14.00 |
| A.M. 5 with Benjamin and Sarah pushing Steven in the stroller in 45:31. This is a good time for her, she is improving. Her last mile was 8:51. Jenny and Julia did 1.5 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob. I ran another 6 miles including 10 hill repeats (fastest was 9.9), and 2x800 with 100 meter jog in between in 2:33.1 and 2:31.0. Then another mile with Joseph. Total of 12. P.M. 2 miles in 14:00.
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| Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 7.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 7.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.50 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.50 |
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A.M. Usual 20 miler to Bridal Veil Falls and back. Was a bit faster in the "warmup". Noticed that I was hitting 7:00 pace uphill into a headwind without trying too hard. Of course, I can trick myself easily in that speed range, but I was hoping that there was more to it that me merely wanting to believe that I was feeling good. The first half was 1:10:15. A couple of weeks ago I decided to set a goal of breaking 2:30 in the Top of Utah. This is not a super-goal. I've done it before twice. But I have not done it since 2007. So I figured I needed a humble but challenging goal, and this is a nice round number. So this morning I prayed to have some form of evidence that this goal is in my shooting range. After the prayer, I thought - well, I need to set some kind of a metric to judge my fitness from this workout. Looking back at my past workouts, I said if I run a low 57:00 for the last 10 miles of this 20 miler or faster, sub-2:30 is in the cards. So I ran with the idea of running 57:00 or at least close. Coming down the Provo Canyon I hit my 3 mile tempo stretch in 16:42 (5:30,5:33,5:39). It felt slightly aggressive, but something that I could survive. Cooler temperatures did help, it was not as bad as two weeks ago, but it started to get warmer somewhat. 5 miles was not clearly marked, but I am estimating it was around 28:04. I was happy to hit 5:49 for mile 7 which has uphill, and roughly corresponds to the slowest mile of the last 6 on the UVM course. Afterwards it got warmer (67F), and the course started to go through turns, tunnels, and bridges. I did the next mile in 5:44, then 5:54. I was in a state where if you had me run straight on an even terrain I was OK, but I was really getting bothered by turns, little ups and downs, and a bumpy road. In the last mile I decided to give it a push, but the first quarter was a bummer. The tunnel was flooded, so I had to go around through the gate and across 820 N watching out for cars, and this was bad enough of a momentum killer than I ended up with a 92 quarter. After that with 19.25 miles for the run, 9.25 of it at almost 5:40 average I was tired, but found the energy to get angry and say: "I am going to crack 57:00. I do not care if 57:05 is still good enough. I am cracking 57:00!". So I did the next two quarters in 85, and the last one in 83. This gave me 56:58.9 for the last 10 miles, and 2:07:14 for the whole 20. So I reached my goal, and if my estimates are correct, this predicts being able to dip under 2:30 a bit in the Top of Utah if the weather is as good as it was in 2007. Benjamin did 5, Joseph 1.5, Julia and Jenny 1.5 as well. P.M. 0.5 with Jacob.
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| Green Crocs 2 Miles: 20.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 8.00 | Nap Time: 2.00 | Total Sleep Time: 10.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 70.90 | 10.00 | 5.50 | 2.10 | 88.50 |
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| Green Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00 | Green Crocs 2 Miles: 76.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 55.00 | Nap Time: 2.00 | Total Sleep Time: 57.00 | |
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