| 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 | | 66.50 | 4.00 | 7.00 | 1.50 | 79.00 |
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| Green Crocs 6 Miles: 78.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 52.00 | Nap Time: 2.00 | Total Sleep Time: 54.00 | |
| | 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.
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| Night Sleep Time: 7.00 | Nap Time: 2.00 | Total Sleep Time: 9.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 1.00 | 13.00 |
| A.M. Total of 13 miles. Started with 2 miles with Joseph and Jacob, then did a workout with Benjamin in the canyon. We did our usual 3 mile tempo from Nunn's Park to the mouth of the canyon. I told Benjamin I wanted him to start slower than last time, but finish the last mile as close to 5:00 as possible. My goal was to be in contact at 2 miles and finish the whole 3 in some decent time.
Today was a little colder, and I felt it from the start. Benjamin, being younger, did not notice much but possibly that messed with his sense of pace. In any case we went through the first mile in 5:09, then he eased off to 5:16, but I still could not keep up and he gapped me by 5 seconds by 2 miles. His split was 10:25, I got 10:30. Then he ran the last mile in 5:05 finishing in 15:30 - I could only manage 5:27 finishing in 15:57.7.
Joseph did 3, Jenny 1, Jacob 2, Julia 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 | | 11.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| A.M. Total of 12 miles. Benjamin did 8, Jenny 2, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1. I read on the news this morning that the United Nations declared November 19 the World Toilet Day. I think runners like me appreciate it in particular as I there have been very few runs in my 29-year running history when I did not need one. Seriously, though, toilet is probably one of the most underappreciated inventions - probably because our idealism makes us want to think of higher matters, but the reality of our existence brings us back to earth on a daily basis.
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| Green Crocs 6 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 | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 12.00 |
| A.M. Total of 12. Did a workout with Benjamin in the Provo Canyon. I did 4x200, he did 4x400. My splits were 31.7, 31.5, 31.4, 31.5. He got 63.0 in the first, 400 recovery, then 63.4. I sensed he was affraid to push it and thought a longer recovery would help overcome the fear. So I had him jog 600 meters before the next one and told him to start out aggressively. It worked. He ran 60.4. I figured this took quite a bit out of him, and had him do an even longer recovery - 1200 meters with the expectation that anything under 62 would be good. He was able to do another one in 60.4.
Now I think we are running into a problem. Benjamin's official 200 PR is still only 29.1 from last year. While I know he CAN do it faster, he still has not done it. So while he can run two 60 second quarters back to back he still has no experience moving at a pace that will give him under 58. This makes it very difficult to run relaxed at 60 seconds per quarter/4:00 mile pace even if the power and the endurance are there to support it.
So the plan of attack is push the 200 PR up and get some practice running 200 under 28. The challenge is you need to do it on a warm day, and it is getting colder. But we still have good days, even in January and February when it is warm enough and dry enough to sprint. So I am thinking given that his workout performance today is about as good as it can get without a sub-28 200 experience we will revisit the 200s until he learns to run it fast enough.
Jenny did 4, 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 | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| A.M. Total of 12. Ran with the kids. Benjamin did 8, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1. I did a 4 mile tempo run on my least favorite out and back hilly course in 23:49. It was raining.
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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 | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| A.M. Total of 12. 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 | | 14.00 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.00 |
| A.M. Total of 18. Ran with Chad for the first 10, then with Benjamin for the next 8. Benjamin and I did a tempo run for the last 4 with the first 2 down the canyon, and the remainder a hilly roll home in 23:15. It was very windy. Interestingly enough the gusts of wind did not seem to help much - I timed our 100 meter stretches with and without gusts and there was maybe a difference of 1 second on average. This surprised me. I thought gusts like that would make us fly, but they did not.
Afterwards we went to a convert baptism in our ward. Our friend and neighbor Lou finally got baptized after going to church for about 13 years or so. The closing hymn was Count Your Blessings. Afterwards we realized we were missing a blessing - in a rush we left Jacob home. At least he was at home and not at some gas station. Jacob is quite a blessing, though - never gets in trouble, does what we ask him to do without talking back, holds the distinction of having run 6:55 mile before turning 7 and before losing his firth baby tooth, and currently has a mile PR of 6:36 and 800 PR of 3:08.
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| Green Crocs 6 Miles: 18.00 |
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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 | | 66.50 | 4.00 | 7.00 | 1.50 | 79.00 |
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| Green Crocs 6 Miles: 78.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 52.00 | Nap Time: 2.00 | Total Sleep Time: 54.00 | |
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