| 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 | | 66.65 | 1.70 | 3.50 | 1.90 | 73.75 |
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| Airwalk Clogs Miles: 59.05 | Water Clogs Miles: 14.60 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 55.00 | Nap Time: 5.00 | Total Sleep Time: 60.00 | |
| | 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. Our ward was a whole lot bigger now that we have accumulated a good portion of the neighboring ward. However, I still have several callings, so the stars aligned for me to teach in Sunday School (Gospel Principles class) and in the Elder's Quorum as well. I did not mind, in fact I was thankful for the experience. Teaching in the Lord's church is a great blessing. The Lord cares enough for the correct doctrine to be taught that he will show it to you plainly even if you make only a meager effort of your own to receive it. Only one catch - it has to be your honest best effort under the circumstances. Then all you have to do is listen and repeat. So you can learn a lot in the process. The lesson in Sunday School was on the restoration of Christ's original church in our day. The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on the feelings of Joseph Smith about his prophetic calling. What I learned from those lessons is that the Lord really cares about everybody, and I mean everybody. No exceptions. When it says in Matthew 28 to go to all the world and preach the gospel to all nations, there is no kidding, double talk, or figure of speech involved. An observant LDS missionary that served in the US could write a book about socio-economic profile of a trailer court and other not so popular places to live. The one that served in Russia that was thorough in his work would know more about the country than I do. For every area and culture, a good missionary comes back knowing it inside and out. Because he literally would have been to every nook and corner of it. He might like the culture naturally and think it is fun to get immersed, but I highly doubt too many people would ever want to reach this level of immersion just for fun. He immerses himself on that level because he knows the Lord loves those people, and if the Lord does, then the missionary can learn by at the very least coming to their house and talking to them.
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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 | | 12.60 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.60 |
| A.M. 10.1 with Jeff in 1:13:07. We started out slow as usual, first mile in 8:27. Then sped up to 7:20 pace or so. Discussed mortgage and other forms of fraud, then BYU win at the Mountain Conference in cross-country. Finally we were out of topics, got quiet and sped to 6:40 for the last 3 miles. P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:18. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 13:29. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:55.
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| Airwalk Clogs Miles: 12.50 |
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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 | 1.20 | 0.00 | 1.90 | 14.60 |
| A.M. Ran with Jeff. 10.1 in 1:11:01. After a little over 5 miles of warm-up we did a fartlek. The target was 1:00 at 5:20 pace with 1 minute of jogging. Jeff overachieved again and hit the fast minutes at around 5:00. I almost did not complain and did stay with him.
Then, right as I prepared to relax and enjoy the 2 mile cool-down Jeff informed me that he was late for work and we would have to run 6:00 pace to make it, but he would take it easy on me, run a bit slower and make up for the lost time with a quicker shower/getting dressed. So we went about 6:40 at first, but the pace progressively kept getting quicker as gradually recovered from the fartlek and became more responsive to Jeff's subtle moves to increase the pace. We saw Sarah out on the trail, she was in a good mood, and ran for maybe 20 meters with us just to feel the pace. She thought it was closer to 8:00, and was surprised to hear that it was under 6:40. Then Jeff poured some more gasoline into the fire and we ran the last 0.625 in 3:46 (6:02 pace). Took Benjamin for a run shortly after. His assignment was 6:00 to 0.5 or to failure, and then if failure happened before 0.5 something fast at the end. We warmed up with a 9:17 mile, then he ran 600 in 2:16. Then we jogged a little less than half mile and ran the last 300 in 1:07 (6:00 pace). It went a whole lot better than Friday's 1:35 quarter. So something works. The suspects are slowing down on easy runs, training at 6:00 pace, and hawthorn berry tea. I do not really care which one of them is the most dominant as long as I know that the combination of three works. We'll keep doing it. P.M. 2 with Jenny in 17:48. Julia ran 1.5 in 13:41. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:41.
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| Night Sleep Time: 7.50 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 7.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.35 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.35 |
| A.M. 10.1 with Jeff in 1:12:51. 3 with Sarah in 29:35. She did a couple of pickups and in one of them ran a 1:53 quarter. P.M. 2 with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia in the last 1.5 in 17:39. Julia's time for 1.5 was 13:12. Benjamin and Jenny pulled ahead in the last 100 and finished in 17:35 while I stayed with Julia. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:22.
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| Airwalk Clogs Miles: 15.35 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 7.50 | Nap Time: 2.00 | Total Sleep Time: 9.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.85 | 0.25 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 14.60 |
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A.M. Ran 10.1 with Jeff in 1:11:55. From 6.2 ran a 2.5 tempo. The target was 5:50 and we mostly stayed there. Splits by half mile - 2:55 - 2:55 - 2:53 - 2:55 - 2:50 with the last quarter in 83. My legs felt stale. Probably from glycogen depletion from the increased mileage. But I was happy that I was able to speed up to 83 in the last quarter in spite of the staleness. P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:08. Last quarter in 1:30. 2 with Jenny in 17:26. Julia ran 1.5 in 13:05 with us. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38.
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| Airwalk Clogs Miles: 14.60 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 7.50 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 7.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.85 | 0.25 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 12.10 |
| A.M. 10.1 with Jeff in 1:14:08. Did a mile in 5:42 in the middle. Felt a whole lot better in that mile than I did in yesterday's tempo. 2 more with Benjamin in 16:45. Did 0.5 in 3:13 and 0.25 in 1:36. I guess yesterday's 1:30 quarter took more out of him than I thought it would. P.M. Jenny, Julia, and Joseph ran with Sarah on a bike because I got a fever. 100-101 degrees. I do not handle even this low of a fever well and become overly emotional, confused, and generally helpless. I'd much rather run an all-out marathon than have a fever.
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| Airwalk Clogs Miles: 12.10 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 7.50 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 7.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.50 |
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A.M. Ted and Jeff came to my house to run with me, but I still did not feel like I should run even though my fever went away through the night. I drank a lot of orange/peach/mango juice and went to the bathroom once an hour. Kept having the same dream about some sort of puzzle that should have been trivial but I could not solve it because of the fever. Towards the end of the night I found a partial solution to the puzzle and was able to sleep better. When Ted and Jeff got back after 10 miles I felt good enough to try running some with Jeff. We did 4 miles in 31:52. So far the fever has not come back, let's see what happens tonight. P.M. A long nap, then 0.5 with Joseph and Julia in 4:30. Benjamin and Jenny ran with Sarah in the morning.
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| Airwalk Clogs Miles: 4.50 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 8.00 | Nap Time: 3.00 | Total Sleep Time: 11.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 66.65 | 1.70 | 3.50 | 1.90 | 73.75 |
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| Airwalk Clogs Miles: 59.05 | Water Clogs Miles: 14.60 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 55.00 | Nap Time: 5.00 | Total Sleep Time: 60.00 | |
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