Breaking the Wall

Orem Earn Your Turkey

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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

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	40.31	Year:	3073.12
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles:						640.15
Bare Feet Lifetime Miles:						450.37
Nike Double Stroller Lifetime Miles:						124.59
Brown Crocs 4 Lifetime Miles:						1334.06
Amoji 1 Lifetime Miles:						732.60
Amoji 2 Lifetime Miles:						436.69
Amoji 3 Lifetime Miles:						380.67
Lopsie Sports Sandals Lifetime Miles:						818.02
Lopsie Sports Sandals 2 Lifetime Miles:						637.27
Iprome Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles:						346.18
Beslip Garden Clogs Lifetime Miles:						488.26
Joybees 1 Lifetime Miles:						1035.60
Madctoc Clogs Lifetime Miles:						698.29
Blue Crocs Lifetime Miles:						1164.32
Kimisant Black Clogs Lifetime Miles:						720.62
Black Crocs 2023 Lifetime Miles:						1743.12
White Slip Resistant Crocs Lifetime Miles:						759.93

Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
54.15	0.00	2.50	11.22	67.87

Amoji 2 Miles: 67.87

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

Sun, Nov 21, 2021

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.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

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Mon, Nov 22, 2021

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.00	0.00	1.00	0.00	12.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2021-11-22 09:18:31
Workout Totals: Distance12.000Time1:29:46.90Pace7:28.91
12 total. Longest run since the Monumental Half. Also ran my fastest mile since then - 6:09 down the canyon. Started out in 94, then gradually figured out how to run faster in spite of having to shorten the stride. The trick was to up the turnover to unnatural levels. This made my quads feel like I was squatting with a heavy weight. The kids ran their usual distances easy, except for Jacob who did the mile pickup with me, and Mary who ran only 1 mile still not feeling 100% with her cough.
Leg 1: Distance4.000Time29:58.10Pace7:29.52ZoneEasy Miles
With Joseph, William, Stephen, and Matthew.
Leg 2: Distance8.000Time59:48.80Pace7:28.60
With Jacob.
Split 1:Distance4.980Time38:27.60Pace7:43.37ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance4.980Time38:27.60Pace7:43.37
Split 2:Distance1.000Time6:09.60Pace6:09.60ZoneThreshold Miles Cumilative:Distance5.980Time44:37.20Pace7:27.69
Split 3:Distance2.020Time15:11.60Pace7:31.29ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance8.000Time59:48.80Pace7:28.60

Amoji 2 Miles: 12.00

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

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Tue, Nov 23, 2021

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.00	0.00	1.00	0.00	12.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2021-11-23 08:56:38
Workout Totals: Distance12.000Time1:33:21.80Pace7:46.82
12 total. Benjamin flew in from Austin and joined us for the run. He did his usual easy run with 1 mile down the canyon in 4:48. Today I finally was able to go sub-6:00 for the first time since the Monumental Half - 5:53. I did it with Joseph. The splits were 89, 91, 88, 85. 91 was because Joseph was struggling. He actually fell back around 0.5, but then caught up to me at the end. The knee is still not 100%, but what a difference it makes when you can put more or less normal amount of weight on your leg! Another first since the injury today was that in the last two miles I was just running rather than counting steps and muttering short motivational phrases to myself to get through the pain. The kids - with the exception of Joseph - did their regular easy runs.
Leg 1: Distance4.000Time31:58.50Pace7:59.62ZoneEasy Miles
With Jacob, William, Stephen, and Matthew.
Leg 2: Distance8.000Time1:01:23.30Pace7:40.41
With Joseph and Benjamin.
Split 1:Distance4.980Time39:00.80Pace7:50.04ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance4.980Time39:00.80Pace7:50.04
Split 2:Distance1.000Time5:53.30Pace5:53.30ZoneThreshold Miles Cumilative:Distance5.980Time44:54.10Pace7:30.52
Split 3:Distance2.020Time16:29.20Pace8:09.70ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance8.000Time1:01:23.30Pace7:40.41

Amoji 2 Miles: 12.00

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

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Wed, Nov 24, 2021

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
7.00	0.00	0.00	1.00	8.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2021-11-24 09:11:47
Workout Totals: Distance8.000Time59:37.20Pace7:27.15
8 total tapering for the Earn Your Turkey tomorrow. Did a mile pickup in 5:44. Improvement from yesterday. Benjamin did 4:47. Joseph and Jacob did 4, William 3, Matthew and Stephen 2. Mary and Bella did their usual distances.
Leg 1: Distance8.000Time59:37.20Pace7:27.15
With Benjamin, part with Jacob, William, Stephen, and Matthew.
Split 1:Distance4.980Time39:17.10Pace7:53.31ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance4.980Time39:17.10Pace7:53.31
Split 2:Distance1.000Time5:44.70Pace5:44.70ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance5.980Time45:01.80Pace7:31.81
Split 3:Distance2.020Time14:35.40Pace7:13.37ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance8.000Time59:37.20Pace7:27.15

Amoji 2 Miles: 8.00

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

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Thu, Nov 25, 2021

Race: Orem Earn Your Turkey (3.95 Miles) 00:24:32, Place overall: 27, Place in age division: 2

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
5.65	0.00	0.00	6.22	11.87

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2021-11-25 07:15:04
Workout Totals: Distance11.868Time1:28:54.90Pace7:29.52
Earn Your Turkey 3.95 miles, 24:32 (though probably 2 seconds off, should be 24:30), 27th overall, 2nd in 45-49 I was happy to be able to race competitively given that I ran my first sub-6:00 mile down 1% grade only two days earlier. Could definitely feel the loss of fitness. Hopefully I can regain it. This year we did not get as many turkeys, only 4. Would have been 5 if they had given one to the largest family. We had some challenges. Benjamin - 20:52 gun time, 20:49 chip, 20:50 on his watch, 5th overall, and turkeys went only to top 3 this year with overall winners double-dipping for the age division. Got a fever the night before, but it was not the fever, but his quad spasm that slowed him down. He basically had a repeat of the first 4 miles of the Monumental and Fort Ben. Jacob - 22:05 gun time, 22:02 chip time, 22:03 on his watch. Excellent race. Unfortunately, no turkey being 15 in 15-18 age division, but missed it by only 8 seconds. Joseph - 24:23. Had problems with his legs, and with his heart, but overall a decent performance given his latest struggles. William - 26:44 on his watch, 26:45 gun time. About what I would have expected given his current workouts. 2nd place in 12-14. Julia - 30:55 gun time, 30:53 on her watch. The time was a bit better than what I was expecting, but the place a lot better - she won the 19-24 age division and gave us an unexpected turkey. Jenny and Nate - ran together, Jenny had some stomach problems, they finished in 31:36. Jenny's time is still not recorded correctly in the race results, not sure if they will ever fix it. Sarah - 35:59 gun time, I timed her at 35:58. She had some struggles with an upset stomach in the last couple of days, so her goal was to break 36:00. The night before she was not sure how she was going to run, and I told her a good goal would be to follow the pacer (me), at the end without allowing herself to drop back. Unlike in previous years she did it, and she got her goal. Leigha - 400 meters in 3:14, she now races in 3-4, but she just barely turned 3 and still wears a diaper. So we were happy she ran all the way and finished in something respectable. Bella - 800 meters, 4:23, first in 5-6. Her race was again a lesson on doing what you know is right rather than following the crowd. Just like last year, many people got confused and turned around early. She ran the entire distance and won the race. Mary - 800 meters, 3:51, first in 7-8. We need to figure out how to teach her to race. But as luck would have it, this level of effort was good enough to win today - to make up for Jacob not getting a turkey. Matthew - 800 meters, 2:54, first in 7-8. I was hoping he would blow away Jacob's course record of 2:51, but he again busted out from the start, blew away the competition, and then did not feel motivated to push. We had a discussion about that afterwards. Stephen - 1 "mile", really 0.97 (we wheeled it), 6:01, second in 11-12. He put in a valiant effort and performed above what he was doing in his recent workouts. Unfortunately, as he learned today, being valiant in the race you care about cannot compensate for the lack of valor in training and other races. So he missed the turkey by 10 seconds, which he would have found had he been more focused in his training. Of all the kids he was the most disappointed about the result, but it was all good. Disappointments teach us important lessons the hard way.
Leg 1: Distance2.000Time16:16.20Pace8:08.10ZoneEasy Miles
Warm-up.
Leg 2: Distance5.251Time35:58.10Pace6:50.99
My race + pacing Sarah.
Split 1:Distance0.463Time2:46.50Pace5:59.61ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance0.463Time2:46.50Pace5:59.61
Split 2:Distance0.492Time3:02.50Pace6:10.93ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance0.955Time5:49.00Pace6:05.45
Split 3:Distance0.485Time2:53.60Pace5:57.94ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance1.440Time8:42.60Pace6:02.92
Split 4:Distance0.499Time2:57.20Pace5:55.11ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance1.939Time11:39.80Pace6:00.91
Split 5:Distance0.484Time3:07.50Pace6:27.40ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance2.423Time14:47.30Pace6:06.20
Split 6:Distance0.976Time6:23.50Pace6:32.93ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance3.399Time21:10.80Pace6:13.87
Split 7:Distance0.552Time3:20.00Pace6:02.32ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance3.951Time24:30.80Pace6:12.26
Split 8:Distance1.300Time11:27.30Pace8:48.69ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance5.251Time35:58.10Pace6:50.99

Leg 3: Distance0.153Time1:13.40Pace7:59.74ZoneEasy Miles
A short jog.
Leg 4: Distance0.248Time3:14.70Pace13:05.08ZoneEasy Miles
Pacing Leigha
Leg 5: Distance0.498Time4:23.10Pace8:48.31ZoneEasy Miles
Pacing Bella.
Leg 6: Distance0.498Time3:51.50Pace7:44.86ZoneEasy Miles
Pacing Mary.
Leg 7: Distance0.970Time6:01.80Pace6:12.99ZoneVO2 Max Miles
Chasing, then pacing Stephen.
Leg 8: Distance1.250Time9:46.40Pace7:49.12ZoneEasy Miles
Distance/cool-down.
Leg 9: Distance1.000Time8:09.70Pace8:09.70ZoneEasy Miles
More distance with Joseph and Jacob at home.

Amoji 2 Miles: 11.87

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

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Fri, Nov 26, 2021

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.50	0.00	0.50	1.00	12.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2021-11-26 09:36:39
Workout Totals: Distance12.000Time1:32:39.90Pace7:43.32
12 total. Did a mile pickup in 5:56 - Jacob paced me. Also did 0.5 in 3:14 uphill by Matthew's initiative. William did not join us on that, and Stephen fell back and finished in around 3:20. Benjamin and Julia got sick. Benjamin was able to run only 2.5 miles. Julia tried to run, but could not. Otherwise usual distances for everybody.
Leg 1: Distance4.000Time30:23.60Pace7:35.90
With Joseph, William, Stephen, and Matthew.
Split 1:Distance3.500Time27:09.50Pace7:45.57ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance3.500Time27:09.50Pace7:45.57
Split 2:Distance0.500Time3:14.10Pace6:28.20ZoneThreshold Miles Cumilative:Distance4.000Time30:23.60Pace7:35.90

Leg 2: Distance8.000Time1:02:16.30Pace7:47.04
With Jacob.
Split 1:Distance4.980Time40:07.90Pace8:03.51ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance4.980Time40:07.90Pace8:03.51
Split 2:Distance1.000Time5:56.20Pace5:56.20ZoneVO2 Max Miles Cumilative:Distance5.980Time46:04.10Pace7:42.22
Split 3:Distance2.020Time16:12.20Pace8:01.29ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance8.000Time1:02:16.30Pace7:47.04

Amoji 2 Miles: 12.00

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

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Sat, Nov 27, 2021

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
9.00	0.00	0.00	3.00	12.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2021-11-27 12:19:48
Workout Totals: Distance12.000Time1:28:27.40Pace7:22.28
12 total. Did a 3 mile tempo. Jacob paced me. The target was 6:00 pace. We did 6:00, 5:54, 6:03. 5:54 really wore me out, and I had to work to keep the average under 6:00 in the last mile. Joseph started 1:00 ahead of us, and William, Stephen, and Matthew started 1:00 ahead of Joseph. Joseph's target was 19:00, the little boys had a target of 20:00. This was supposed to me a mild tempo for everybody except myself. Stephen, Matthew, and William ran 19:51, Joseph had 12:42 at 2 miles, but then he got concerned that Jacob and I might close with a 5:20, and the fear made him run 5:42 to finish in 18:24. We need to figure out how to keep that fear going :-) Benjamin felt good enough to run 8 miles and an easy pace.
Leg 1: Distance0.980Time8:07.00Pace8:16.94ZoneEasy Miles
Warm-up with the kids.
Leg 2: Distance3.000Time17:57.30Pace5:59.10ZoneVO2 Max Miles
Tempo run with Jacob - rabbit chase.
Leg 3: Distance8.020Time1:02:23.10Pace7:46.72ZoneEasy Miles
Part with Jacob, part alone.

Amoji 2 Miles: 12.00

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

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Totals

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
54.15	0.00	2.50	11.22	67.87

Amoji 2 Miles: 67.87

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

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