| 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 | | 54.45 | 3.20 | 11.60 | 0.75 | 70.00 |
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| Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 11.00 | Green Crocs 6 Miles: 70.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 49.00 | Nap Time: 1.00 | Total Sleep Time: 50.00 | |
| | 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. Joseph gave a talk. It was not written out. His assigned topic was service. I suggested he should read Matthew 25:32-40 and then talk about it. Sarah was concerned. The primary presidency told her there was nothing to worry about - kids have said some funny things over the history of primary, and they even had a list. She looked at it and saw that the first entry was connected to Joseph. His talk went fine, though.
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| Night Sleep Time: 9.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 9.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.80 | 1.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
| A.M. Total of 8 miles. Benjamin did 8, Jenny 4, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, Julia 3, William 1. William ran a mile PR of 8:50.3 improving by 2 seconds on the same course. His splits were 2:15, 2:18, 2:09, and 2:08. He got excited about going for the record when I told him that his split at the quarter was fast enough to get it. But about 900 into the run he said he did not want the record anymore. That is exactly how I felt at mile 18 on Saturday. I told him he's gone way too far and worked way too hard to just give up and miss the record now. He rebooted his 4-year-old mind, sped up, and got the record.
Analysing my performance on Saturday I realized that there may have been three factors involved:
- Aging
- Lack of training at fast paces
- Fallout from Big Cottonwood half a week earlier
While aging is going to become more and more of a factor in the next few years it does me no good to use it as an excuse, although there may be some things I can do that I have not done already to forestall it. It would do me no good to blame the sub-par performance on the prior half-marathon - not much to do about it except not do it next year. However, lack of fast pace training can be fixed. I made a mid-year resolution to make sure that I always run at least 20 miles a week at paces 6:00 per mile and faster and figured out how I can do it while running with the kids. There is a 500 meter stretch where I can do pickups.
So I followed that resolution today and got about 1.2 miles at around 5:50 - 6:00 pace. Legs felt the impact of the marathon, but could move enough to do the pace without major pain.
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| Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00 | Green Crocs 6 Miles: 8.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| A.M. Did 10 total. Did a workout - 2 mile tempo run down the canyon. Was expecting 11:00, maybe 10:50 at the best due to post marathon fatigue. Ran 10:38.8 with the splits of 5:20,5:18. Felt more endurance than last Tuesday and ran almost the same time without trying as hard. Go figure.
Benjamin did 4 in ancipation of the cross-country meet. Joseph did 1, Julia 1, and Jenny 1. William ran 1 mile as well since he was not going to race - 4 K is too long for him.
Paced Sarah through a mile time trial on the track. She ran 7:42.7 with the splits of 1:49, 1:59, 2:00, and 1:51. The balance went towards the 9.34 meter tax. Her PR is 6:52 but it is 11 years and 6 kids old. The time today is the fastest she's run the mile in the last 4 years or so. I think we can get 6:52, though - she's been improving by leaps and bounds. The difference this time is that she has been serious about keeping her training pace faster than 10:00 per mile.
P.M. Cross-country meet. 4 K. For some odd reason the times were slow today. Benjamin won with 15:03 by 10 seconds over Grant. He said he was struggling today - did not drop Grant until the last 1000 unlike in the 1 K and 2 K. Mid-race he felt he did not have the strength. However, when he did it was very decisive. Maybe it was all mental after all.
Joseph ran 20:14, Jacob 21:29, Julia 21:49. Jenny had issues with her foot and wobbled through it in 23:30. I am suspecting that either the course was short last year, or long this year, or perhaps there was some weirdness this year like taller grass. I can understand one kid underperforming, but not a whole bunch when they finish in more or less their usual order with more or less usual gaps.
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| Green Crocs 6 Miles: 10.00 |
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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 | | 10.75 | 0.00 | 1.25 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| A.M. Total of 12 Benjamin did 8, Jenny 2, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1. I did 4x500 pickups at 5:35 pace.
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| Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00 | Green Crocs 6 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 | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 0.75 | 12.00 |
| A.M. Did a workout with Benjamin. 4x300 with 600 recovery jog in the canyon on a downwind but relaatively flat stretch. The target was 48. I got 50.7, 48.5, 47.8, and 48.2. Benjamin got 50.7, 48.2, 46.9, and 45.7.
Then we did a quick tempo pickup at the end, and later on I did a 3 mile tempo on my nasty out-and-back course in 17:38.
Benjamin did 8, Jenny 3, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1.
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| Green Crocs 6 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 | | 10.90 | 0.00 | 1.10 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| Total of 12. Benjamin did 8, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1. Benjamin and I did a pickup at 6:00 pace down the canyon for 1.1. I was pushing the stroller.
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| Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 5.00 | Green Crocs 6 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 | | 10.00 | 2.00 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 16.00 |
| A.M. Total of 16. Started by running with William. He set a new mile record of 8:42.7 on his out and back course. His splits were 2:14, 2:16, 2:13, 1:59. Last quarter was actually a PR for the quarter. This was the family record in the 4 and under division. For this effort he earned a new bike. His form is starting to look better. A year ago he looked like a kid. Now he is beginning to look more like an elite runner.
It is probably too early to tell for sure but it seems like the running talent in our boys has been in the inverse birth order so far. Joseph showing more talent than Benjamin, Jacob more than Joseph, and William more than Jacob. Jeff McClellan once offered a hypothesis that this may have to do with Sarah getting more running experience behind her belt over the course of the years. Another theory says that younger children tend to develop more talent because they are constantly chasing their older siblings. Well, if the pattern continues our little Matthew (nicknamed Mo-Mo) might live up to his nickname and be the next Mo Farah.
Benjamin, even though supposedly being the least talented, showed some teeth today. We did a 4 mile tempo run down the canyon. The target was 5:45. We started out at 5:36 pace, I asked Benjamin if he was OK with it, he said no problem. We ran the splits of 5:34, 5:32, 5:33, and 5:16 - total time 21:55. With 1000 to go Benjamin saw that a pace a little under 5:20 would catch the 5:30 guy and went for it making me suffer and wanting to plead for mercy as we ran the last 1000 in 3:13. I was thankful that I was able to survive that. I figured if he ran the UVM half today it would have been around 1:13.
Benjamin did 8.25, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1. I did a pickup at the end of 16 down the canyon for 2 miles in 11:43. This gives me around 15.4 miles for this week at 6:00 pace or faster. Short of the goal of 20, but given this was on the week immediately after the marathon this was just perfect, I think.
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| Green Crocs 6 Miles: 16.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 8.00 | Nap Time: 1.00 | Total Sleep Time: 9.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 54.45 | 3.20 | 11.60 | 0.75 | 70.00 |
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| Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 11.00 | Green Crocs 6 Miles: 70.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 49.00 | Nap Time: 1.00 | Total Sleep Time: 50.00 | |
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