| 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 | | 82.10 | 0.00 | 6.50 | 1.65 | 90.25 |
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| Green Crocs 1 Miles: 14.25 | Green Crocs 2 Miles: 76.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 55.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 55.00 | |
| | 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. The second day of the General Conference. Elder Callister's talk stood out to me. He presented the idea that the argument that the Book of Mormon came from the inspiration of the devil belongs to the same category as the accusations against Christ that he cast out devils by the power of the devil. To which Christ responded that the kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. What I find interesting is that that exact same thought came to me during a missionary discussion on Wednesday and I shared it. I knew where that thought came from, and it was a welcome confirmation of the source to hear it expressed again in General Conference from a member of the Seventy. Further along, he quoted C.S. Lewis on the subject of Christ being called "a great teacher". C.S. Lewis did not like the idea, and for a good reason. If Christ indeed is who he says he is, it is disrespectful to call the Son of God and our Savior just "a great teacher". If he is not, he is merely an imposter or a crazy man, and as such should not be called "a great teacher". Similar logic applies to the Book of Mormon. You cannot call it "a great book of history", etc. If there is any history in it, it is true, has a divine origin, and you should follow its teaching. There is no logical middle ground either on Christ or on the Book of Mormon.
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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 | | 13.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.75 | 14.25 |
| A.M. Total of 12.25. We had an adventure. We decided to go see the Frontier Airlines Provo - Denver flight take off and then do our runs on the Provo River Trail over by the Utah lake. Then we went for a run. I put William and Stephen in the stroller. Our real stroller is having issues, so we used the little one that is really not meant for running. Its wheels are too small. I thought they were big enough to go over a bump on the Provo River trail, but they were not. So down goes the cradle, baby, and all... William and Stephen both got cut lips and scraped noses, but otherwise fortunately no serious injuries. I ran 2 with Joseph, Julia, and Jenny, then 0.5 with Jacob, and 5 with Benjamin. Also did a 0.75 pickup in 4:00 to retrieve the van because William and Stephen did not want to go back in the stroller after the accident. Added more distance after getting home to make it 12.25. P.M. 2 miles.
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| Green Crocs 1 Miles: 14.25 |
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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 | | 13.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.90 | 14.00 |
| A.M. Total of 12. Did 5 with Benjamin, 2 with Joseph, Jenny and Julia, 0.5 of it with Jacob.Then did the hill sprints. Was surprised that the performance improved quite a bit from last time - my fastest was 9.7 (last time 10.2). And they felt more "sprinty" as well. On the way back ran 0.5 in 2:27.5, and it felt good too. P.M. 2 miles.
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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 | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
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A.M. I had to get up early to get my run done before going to the temple. Sarah could not sleep either and decided to run at the same time. I patrolled the trail for the duration of her run going back and forth along the route. I ended up with 7.5 miles, she did 5. Then I added another 2.5 miles to make it 10 total. The kids ran on their own. Benjamin did 5, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph and Jacob 0.5.
P.M. 2 miles.
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| Green Crocs 2 Miles: 12.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 6.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 6.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.50 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| A.M. Total of 12. 5 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph, the rest myself. Did a pickup and ran the last 0.5 in 2:48. One difference I observed between a 2:30 and a 3:00 marathoner. Both are equally comfortable at 7:30 pace. At least the probability of a 2:30 guy choosing to run at 7:30 on his easy run is not that much different from that of a 3:00 guy. However, the difference is that the 2:30 guy has a jet engine that takes some effort to engage but once it gets going he can run 5:40 pace for a long time, though quite reluctantly because of the need to focus. 3:00 guy's does not have it. Now what about a 2:10 guy? That is a different animal. His natural choice of easy pace probability curve is shifted - I do not see him happy at 7:30 pace. He might choose 7:00, but more likely 6:30 or even 6:00. And his jet engine takes him to 5:00. Maybe what that means is that your average 3:00 guy is really an undertrained 2:40 guy. The 2:30 guy is usually well trained. So really there is not that much of a difference between those two in terms of Quality X, which is why they choose about the same easy pace. The 2:10 guy is well trained, but has a different level of Quality X. So he chooses a faster pace for an easy run. It very well may be that the natural choice of an easy pace is a strong predictor of potential after all, or at least stronger than you would think at first. P.M. 2 miles.
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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 | | 14.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| A.M. Total of 12. 5 with Benjamin. 2 with Jenny and Julia. 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph. The rest alone. P.M. 2 miles.
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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 | | 16.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 22.00 |
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A.M. 20 miles with a 5 mile tempo in the middle. Same course as last week - Fast Running Blog 5 Miler course starting at the Utah Lake. I decided to start out a bit faster on purpose, then ease off without easing too much, and then give it a push for the second half. For one reason or another I found this approach more appealing. Perhaps it is psychological. A slower starting out pace still feels hard and I start doubting my ability to keep it, which makes me slow down even more. If I start out faster, I do not worry about the slowdown because I have some capital in the bank to spend, and then I have a reason to fight the slowdown because I do not want to waste my capital. The strategy produced good results today. First mile was 5:30. Then 5:40 (minor uphill). 14:05 at the turnaround, and the third mile in 5:45 (16:55 for 3 miles). I told myself - do not lay a goose egg on the quarter before the turnaround, but I did regardless running it in 89. However, I was able to kick into gear soon, and after a couple of transitional quarters started hitting 83s consistently like a clock. The 4th mile was 5:33 (22:28), and now I was on schedule to catch the 28:00 guy (5:36 pace) if only I could hold 83s. I hit the next 3 quarters in 83. I wanted to hit close to 80 in the penultimate quarter, but it did not work out. I think if I had somebody with me it would have happened easily. But with a quarter to go I was mad that I did not get that split, and gave it a more diligent push, which gave me 80 for the last quarter, 5:29 for the last mile, and 27:57.3 for the whole run. This is the first time I cracked 28:00 on this tempo run this year. Ran home making it the total of 14 so far, then 5 more with Benjamin. Then I had one more mile left. I saw I need to run 5:34 to get sub-7:00 average for 20. It was going to be a stretch. I could probably have run a nice straight mile in 5:34 just fine, but it was not the mile I was running. It had a total of 10 90 degree turns and one 180 which I find very annoying when fatigued. But I tried anyway and managed 5:46. This gave me 2:20:12 for 20 miles. Jenny and Julia did 1 mile. Joseph and Jacob did 0.5. P.M. 2 miles.
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| Green Crocs 2 Miles: 22.00 |
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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 | | 82.10 | 0.00 | 6.50 | 1.65 | 90.25 |
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| Green Crocs 1 Miles: 14.25 | Green Crocs 2 Miles: 76.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 55.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 55.00 | |
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