Breaking the Wall

Week starting Nov 20, 2022

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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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to Ukraine's Armed Forces

Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	2724.68
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
70.13	0.00	8.00	0.00	78.13

Joybees 1 Miles: 78.13

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

Sun, Nov 20, 2022

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 as usual, our ward, then the Russian-speaking branch.

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

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Mon, Nov 21, 2022

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

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2022-11-21 09:34:19
Workout Totals: Distance12.000Time1:35:45.50Pace7:58.79
12 total, easy runs, usual distances.
Leg 1: Distance4.000Time31:21.40Pace7:50.35ZoneEasy Miles
With Benjamin, Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, and Matthew - if I remember right.
Leg 2: Distance6.000Time47:02.10Pace7:50.35ZoneEasy Miles
With Benjamin, Joseph, and Jacob.
Leg 3: Distance0.000Time0:00.00Pace0:00.00ZoneEasy Miles
Leg 4: Distance2.000Time17:22.00Pace8:41.00ZoneEasy Miles
With Mary and Bella.

Joybees 1 Miles: 12.00

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

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Tue, Nov 22, 2022

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.35	0.00	2.00	0.00	12.35

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2022-11-22 10:01:24
Workout Totals: Distance12.346Time1:38:57.20Pace8:00.90
12 total. Did a 2 mile tempo down the canyon in 11:42 with Jacob. Benjamin rabbit chased us and ran 9:55. Easy runs for everybody else.
Leg 1: Distance1.000Time9:00.60Pace9:00.60ZoneEasy Miles
With Benjamin, Jacob, William, Stephen, Matthew and Maddy.
Leg 2: Distance9.000Time1:10:21.80Pace7:49.09
With Benjamin and Jacob. Part with the other kids.
Split 1:Distance4.550Time39:19.30Pace8:38.53ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance4.550Time39:19.30Pace8:38.53
Split 2:Distance2.000Time11:42.90Pace5:51.45ZoneThreshold Miles Cumilative:Distance6.550Time51:02.20Pace7:47.51
Split 3:Distance2.450Time19:19.60Pace7:53.31ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance9.000Time1:10:21.80Pace7:49.09

Leg 3: Distance0.346Time2:46.00Pace7:59.77ZoneEasy Miles
Leg 4: Distance1.000Time9:27.10Pace9:27.10ZoneEasy Miles
With Mary and Bella.
Leg 5: Distance0.000Time0:00.00Pace0:00.00ZoneEasy Miles
Leg 6: Distance1.000Time7:21.70Pace7:21.70ZoneEasy Miles
With Mary.

Joybees 1 Miles: 12.35

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

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Wed, Nov 23, 2022

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.25	0.00	0.00	0.00	11.25

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2022-11-23 08:17:08
Workout Totals: Distance11.250Time1:29:15.70Pace7:56.06
11 total. Easy pace, kids tapering.
Leg 1: Distance8.000Time1:01:50.00Pace7:43.75ZoneEasy Miles
With Benjamin. I think we had other kids for part of it as well.
Leg 2: Distance2.000Time15:45.80Pace7:52.90ZoneEasy Miles
With Benjamin. Maybe with Stephen and Matthew.
Leg 3: Distance1.000Time8:53.10Pace8:53.10ZoneEasy Miles
With Mary and Bella.
Leg 4: Distance0.250Time2:46.80Pace11:07.20ZoneEasy Miles
With Leigha.

Joybees 1 Miles: 11.25

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

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Thu, Nov 24, 2022

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
13.91	0.00	0.00	0.00	13.91

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2022-11-24 07:14:52
Workout Totals: Distance13.912Time1:44:36.90Pace7:31.19
Earn Your Turkey 3.95 Miles, 23:52, 26th overall, 1st in 45-49, turkey. Our results: Benjamin 20:27 (6th, 2nd in 19-24) Jacob 21:55 (12th, 2nd in 15-18) Joseph 22:35 (16th, 4th in 15-18) Dad 23:52 (26th, 1st 45-49, turkey) William 25:59 (42nd, 3rd in 12-14) Bonnie 26:04 (9th woman, 2nd in 15-18) Nate 28:42 (55th, 14th in 19-24) Jenny 30:47 (for some reason not in the official results) Sarah 36:50 (65th woman, 3rd in 45-49) Maddy 45:48 (122nd woman, 20th in 19-24) 1 mile (really 0.97) Matthew 5:55 (1st in 9-10) Stephen 6:03 (2nd in 11-12) 800 meters: Mary 3:23 (1st in 7-8) Bella 3:36 (1st in 5-6) 400 meters: Leigha 2:20 (1st in 3-4) This year's race featured the presence of the 2016 1500 meter Olympic Champion Matt Centrowitz. Interestingly enough, he did not win the race. I believe he and Mike Ottesen did a friendly tempo run of sorts, and finished together in 19:34, but Mike's chip ended up registering about 0.1 earlier. Third place went to Payton Riggs with 19:46, Brian Schultz 19:50, and Dustin Bybee 20:02. Then Benjamin with 20:27. I did not think I had another sub-24:00 in me, but I was happy to find it. Benjamin got confused about when the race was supposed to start, and got there 10 minutes prior, so no proper warm-up. When the temperature is around 30F, you pay for it in particular, and he did. Still 20:27 is a decent result, and on the plus he did not get a spasm. Sarah is starting to struggle more with the race effort when she does not get enough sleep. She had a hard time pushing herself today. But still averaged close to 9:00. Maddy ran her first race. She was really worried about being able to run the full distance, but her preparation paid off and she was able to do it at sub-12:00 average. Joseph had a decent race, course PR. Big improvement from last year in spite of his challenges with irregular heart beat and muscle pain. Jacob cracked 22:00 for the first time on this course. His endurance is still lagging, though. With his 3 mile speed he should be running this course in a low 21:00 or maybe even a bit under. William goofed off today running barely fast enough to beat Bonnie. As a result Maya Bybee earned the status of his running girlfriend :-) Stephen put in a lot of effort during the race, but his lack of preparation in training prevented from winning just it did last year. He was disappointed. Hopefully he will remember and try harder over the next year. Matthew did not have any serious challengers, and once he had a commanding lead he let his focus slip. He still won but I believe he had another gear that he could have found had he dug deep. Mary and Bella ran in separate heats, and both achieved decisive wins. I was not sure if Leigha would win her race, but the field was not as strong as it used to be, so she won fairly decisively as well.
Leg 1: Distance1.663Time13:18.30Pace8:00.04ZoneEasy Miles
Warm-up.
Leg 2: Distance6.400Time45:59.50Pace7:11.17
My race + pacing Sarah + pacing Maddy.
Split 1:Distance4.000Time23:53.20Pace5:58.30ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance4.000Time23:53.20Pace5:58.30
Split 2:Distance1.500Time13:11.50Pace8:47.67ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance5.500Time37:04.70Pace6:44.49
Split 3:Distance0.900Time8:54.80Pace9:54.22ZoneEasy Miles Cumilative:Distance6.400Time45:59.50Pace7:11.17

Leg 3: Distance0.085Time0:40.60Pace7:57.65ZoneEasy Miles
Jogging around.
Leg 4: Distance0.248Time2:21.80Pace9:31.77ZoneEasy Miles
Leigha's race.
Leg 5: Distance0.498Time3:36.20Pace7:14.14ZoneEasy Miles
Bella's race.
Leg 6: Distance0.498Time3:23.70Pace6:49.04ZoneEasy Miles
Mary's race.
Leg 7: Distance0.970Time6:03.50Pace6:14.74ZoneEasy Miles
Stephen's race.
Leg 8: Distance1.000Time8:50.30Pace8:50.30ZoneEasy Miles
Cool-down.
Leg 9: Distance2.550Time20:23.00Pace7:59.61ZoneEasy Miles
To the house.

Joybees 1 Miles: 13.91

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

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Fri, Nov 25, 2022

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
12.37	0.00	0.00	0.00	12.37

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2022-11-25 10:05:00
Workout Totals: Distance12.370Time1:43:01.10Pace8:19.68
12 total. Easy runs, usual distances.
Leg 1: Distance0.250Time2:42.90Pace10:51.60ZoneEasy Miles
With Leigha.
Leg 2: Distance2.000Time19:37.30Pace9:48.65ZoneEasy Miles
With Benjamin, Maddy, and I think almost everybody else.
Leg 3: Distance10.120Time1:20:40.90Pace7:58.35ZoneEasy Miles
With Benjamin, part with the boys.

Joybees 1 Miles: 12.37

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

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Sat, Nov 26, 2022

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.25	0.00	6.00	0.00	16.25

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2022-11-26 09:56:42
Workout Totals: Distance16.250Time2:05:24.50Pace7:43.05
16 total. Did 2+4. First paced Matthew to a new 2 mile down the canyon PR of 11:58. He started out in 6:04, but then with about 0.75 to go William caught him in the rabbit chase, and he started fighting back. He fought so hard that William gapped him by only 7 seconds from that point. So Matthew closed with 5:54 last mile, and the 0.75 in 4:23. William got a PR as well - 11:21 (5:45, 5:36). Bonnie also got a PR - 11:39 (5:45, 5:54). Joseph paced William, and Jacob paced Bonnie. Stephen did the first 0.75 with me and Matthew. Then Jacob and I ran 4 miles in 23:59 playing a rabbit for Benjamin. By then we had some headwind. Joseph ran the last 2 miles with us. Benjamin did 2x4 20:54, 20:59. Bella was sick, ran only 1 mile. Mary hurt her toe and could not run. Leigha did her usual 0.25.
Leg 1: Distance0.980Time8:20.70Pace8:30.92ZoneEasy Miles
Warm-up.
Leg 2: Distance2.000Time11:58.40Pace5:59.20ZoneThreshold Miles
Pacing Matthew.
Leg 3: Distance5.000Time42:48.90Pace8:33.78ZoneEasy Miles
Distance.
Leg 4: Distance4.000Time23:59.90Pace5:59.98ZoneThreshold Miles
With Jacob, part with Joseph as a rabbit for Benjamin.
Leg 5: Distance3.020Time26:15.20Pace8:41.59ZoneEasy Miles
Cool-down/distance.
Leg 6: Distance1.000Time9:09.80Pace9:09.80ZoneEasy Miles
With Bella.
Leg 7: Distance0.250Time2:51.60Pace11:26.40ZoneEasy Miles
With Leigha.

Joybees 1 Miles: 16.25

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
70.13	0.00	8.00	0.00	78.13

Joybees 1 Miles: 78.13

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

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