Breaking the Wall

Day of rest. Went to church. Had the privilege to bless my son William. We do not baptize children until they are 8 (age of accountability), but we give them a special blessing soon after they are born.

Julia gave a talk in Primary. Usually if the child is not a fluent reader or if he is just too nervous a parent goes up to help. But I was holding William and Sarah had not yet come in, so I had an idea - send Jenny to help Julia instead. That's part of what the families are all about - older children helping their younger siblings. Julia ended up needing help with only a couple of words.

A.M. Ran 7.5 with Derek, Dustin, and Mary Ann, and then 2.5 alone. Total time for 10 was 1:11:07.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:08, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 13:03. 1 with Julia in 10:07. It is getting colder.

A.M. Derek and Dustin did not show up, so it was just me and Mary Ann. She had a tight hamstring, so I did my workout alone. We warmed up 3 miles.

The plan was 10x200. I did 4 alternating directions; 33.3, 34.1, 32.9, 33.3. Then I decided to do a couple of quarters to see what would happen. 70.3 (high 33 split half way), and 72.6 (35). Was fading badly for some reason especially at the end of the last one, the legs felt heavy, like at the end of all out 800 meters. However, my breathing recovered to normal in 20 seconds after each interval.

Did another 2x200: 34.4, and 35.1. Same problem as in the last quarter.

One difference today is that it was 27 degrees. Here is what's odd. If it is just a cold muscle problem, wouldn't you think that you'd have problems in the first few repetitions, and then they would go away as they warm up, and you will not be fading as much in a longer repetition? It was exactly the opposite today.

But at the same time it does not surprise me. I know from experience that starting out fast is a lot more forgivable in 60 degrees than in 25. I still have no clue why.

Finished the run, then added another 2.25 running back from Computune. The Fast Running Van had a break fluid leak. Total distance 10.37 for the workout.

P.M. 2.25 with Benjamin and Jenny to Computune in 20:03. 1 with Julia pushing Jacob and Joseph in 9:58. Joseph got out a few times and ran for portions of it.

A.M. Jeff must have slept in this morning. Ran 8.1 with Mary Ann, and then 2 more alone. Total time 1:22:00.

Went with the missionaries to visit a Mexican family in the afternoon. I do not think most people realize how much the church is doing to reach out to the Latinos.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:54, 2 with Benjamin in 17:29, Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 13:09.

A.M. Ran with Dustin and Mary Ann. Decided to wear tights to see if they will make a difference in the speed workout. Warmed up for 3 miles. Mary Ann had a tight hamstring, so she just jogged. Dustin did the workout with me.

Workout on the trail, usual spot.

We started with 3x400: 68.4, 70.7, 69.8. Took 400 recovery.  Dustin was a step ahead on the first one, even on the second, and a step behind on the third. Then 4x200: 32.1, 32.0, 31.6, 31.0. 200 recovery. Dustin was a step ahead on all.

The workout went a lot better than on Tuesday. What was different: Dustin's presence, wearing tights, and hanging upside down on the inversion table before the run.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:21, 2 with Benjamin in 17:07. Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 13:09.

Read on the news in a headline that the total amount of American debt was down for the first time since 1952. The headline made it sound like Americans were starting to be serious about getting out of debt. Decided to read the article to see what was up and was laughing for the rest of the day, and still laughing. The cause of the reduced debt was an increase in foreclosures. Mind-boggling, but true nevertheless. When you lose a house, you also lose the debt.

Along the same lines, there is an ad as you drive east on Center street in Orem from the I-15 exit. It says: "Live debt free! 801-BANKRUPT".  And recently I got the following in the mail, kept me laughing for a few days, and I am still not over it: "Title loans. Any make, year, or model. Go from 0 to $5000 in 20 seconds!" I could not believe it. Somebody is spending time and money to advertise something as idiotic as going into $5K of debt in 20 seconds, that fast!

I was have a conversation about religion with a friend in 2002. He asked me: "So what is your prophet telling you to do now?".  The first thing that came to my mind was to get out of debt. My friend was rather skeptical and wondered what was so special about that. Valueable advice often comes in the form of an invitation to wash yourself in the Jordan river seven times. We are tempted to disregard it as being too simple. Yet this inspired simplicity can make a big difference, and I have seen it so in this case.

A.M. Total of 10 in 1:18:29. First 4 with Daniel and Mary Ann. Wore Five Fingers. Feet felt fine. They are OK if there is not a lot of moisture even if it is cold. The left one is finally starting to develop a hole. The right one has had two holes for about 600 miles already. But my feet are getting used to it.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 10:00. 2 with Benjamin in 17:00, Jenny ran 1.5 with us in 12:55.

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Daniel and Mary Ann did the warm-up (2 miles), and ran the first mile of the tempo. Mary Ann additionally did another 0.75 or so of the tempo starting at our 2.75 mark. Jeff ran everything with me.

Tempo. 15 miles, 1:26:59, same course - 3 times the standard 5 mile tempo from Geneva Road to the Utah Lake and back. So 6 times on the same 2.5 stretch alternating directions, 5 180 turns, tedious, but I like being able to compare the splits.

Conditions - the road traction was ideal, but it was windy. So some miles were slower than the effort we put into them.

Splits: 5:50, 5:55, 5:52, 5:54, 6:01, 5:54, 5:52, 5:46, 5:43, 5:52, 5:42, 5:40, 5:42, 5:42, 5:34. 

By 2.5: 14:44 - 14:48 - 14:39 - 14:28 - 14:17 - 14:03

By 5: 29:32 - 29:07 - 28:20

By 7.5: 44:11 - 42:48

Details: First mile felt great. Then we started dealing with the wind. Decided to ignore the splits and just go by the effort of the consensus. Meaning that both Jeff and I agreed we were putting in an honest 5:50 effort. The effort was producing splits about 10 seconds per mile slower than what we felt we deserved. Finally I got tired of this and suggested we trade quarters. Up to that point we'd been running side by side. This led to a pace increase. The surging to pass also agitated Jeff enough to where he started to want to run faster, and it was wearing me out. Sensing this I decided it was time to start drafting.

The last 5 miles I was following Jeff hanging on to dear life as he tried to bring us under 1:27:00. 5:40 pace for me at the end of a 15 mile tempo is hard even in ideal conditions, and with the wind gusts it was particularly tough. I moaned the last 3 miles. Moaning helps me deal with the pain and exert more effort. With 1.25 to go Jeff gapped me and then challenged to give him five. I made an effort to humble myself and feel Christ-like love in my heart. It was not easy. I think I learned something. You cannot learn this just sitting in Sunday School or reading the scriptures. But at the same time I do not think you will learn it as well if you had not been taught this in Sunday School or from the scriptures. You need the right balance of theory and practice to learn effectively.

Jeff had just raised the bar on me after I had reached what I thought was my limit. I had to humble myself, not let my pride turn my focus to the pain, but rather hush that pride and believe that I could go faster. Truly believe, not just in my mind, but in the very depth of my heart.

So I made an effort to believe in my ability to run the last mile in 5:35 as much as Jeff believed it. It is easy for him, he is not getting my pain signals. But it is good that he is not. This allows him to believe naturally and lead the way. We grow when we lay our pride aside and allow those who are stronger to show us what we need to do.

The last three quarters were 85, 83, 84, and 81, and we reached a time I thought was impossible in those windy conditions. This seems to be a common theme in those tempo runs lately.

When we finished I felt nauseous and would have thrown up had there been anything in my stomach. After about a minute of my attempting to vomit we ran a 3 mile cool down. Total of 20 miles for the run.

P.M. Snow on the roads. 0.34 with Joseph while pushing Jacob in the stroller in 4:11. 200 with Jacob in 1:47. 1 with Julia in 9:51. 2 with Benjamin in 17:50. Jenny ran the first 1.5 in 13:27.