Breaking the Wall

Week starting Dec 15, 2019

15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

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:	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
69.85	2.00	0.00	5.25	77.10

Neon Crocs 1 Miles: 77.10

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

Sun, Dec 15, 2019

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, Dec 16, 2019

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
13.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	13.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-12-16 09:58:32
Workout Totals: Distance13.000Time1:40:41.30Pace7:44.72
Easy runs, usual distances.
Leg 1:Distance2.000Time15:53.80Pace7:56.90
With Matthew, and I think some other kids.
Leg 2:Distance4.000Time31:57.50Pace7:59.38
With Joseph, Jacob, and Julia, I think.
Leg 3:Distance4.000Time29:40.00Pace7:25.00
With Stephen.
Leg 4:Distance3.000Time23:10.00Pace7:43.33
With Joseph and Jacob.

Neon Crocs 1 Miles: 13.00

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

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Tue, Dec 17, 2019

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.75	0.00	0.00	1.25	12.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-12-17 15:15:06
Workout Totals: Distance12.000Time1:26:59.90Pace7:14.99
Total of 12. Matthew ran 14:49 on the hilly 2 mile course, his new course record. I did 2x0.625 uphill in 3:43, downhill in 3:23. Otherwise easy runs, usual distances, except for Bella, who was recovering from a stomach flu and did not run.
Leg 1:Distance2.000Time14:49.50Pace7:24.75
With Matthew.
Leg 2:Distance3.000Time23:24.90Pace7:48.30
With Joseph and Jacob, part with Stephen and Julia, I think.
Leg 3:Distance7.000Time48:45.50Pace6:57.93
Alone, did 2x0.625 in the middle.
Split 1:Distance2.645Time19:09.90Pace7:14.74 Cumilative:Distance2.645Time19:09.90Pace7:14.74
Split 2:Distance0.625Time3:43.20Pace5:57.12 Cumilative:Distance3.270Time22:53.10Pace6:59.91
Split 3:Distance0.460Time3:50.40Pace8:20.87 Cumilative:Distance3.730Time26:43.50Pace7:09.89
Split 4:Distance0.625Time3:23.90Pace5:26.24 Cumilative:Distance4.355Time30:07.40Pace6:55.02
Split 5:Distance2.645Time18:38.10Pace7:02.72 Cumilative:Distance7.000Time48:45.50Pace6:57.93

Neon Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00

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

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Wed, Dec 18, 2019

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.11	0.00	0.00	2.00	13.11

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-12-18 13:25:02
Workout Totals: Distance13.107Time1:40:24.10Pace7:39.61
Total of 13. Did 8x0.25 down the canyon with Joseph and Jacob. We did 0.125 recovery, but ended up stopping a lot because Julia and William did a part of our workout (0.125 intervals), and they were frequently not there in time for us to start the interval, so we had to wait for them. So this, plus some tail wind, made it easier for us to run those intervals faster, and we were averaging around 74 instead of the target of 76. Benjamin did 6x0.375 with 0.25 recovery. His target was 1:39, and he was OK with the pace in the first 0.25, and then kept losing it and running 35s. He managed to do one in 1:38 thanks to the 63 opener, but most of them were around 1:41-1:42, and the last two were 1:44 and 1:43. Not a surprise, but it again highlighted his problem with speed endurance. We are going to work on it. Matthew decided to run another course record, and surprised me with 22:22 on the out and back 3 mile course with the splits of 7:32, 7:30, 7:20, with the last mile being uphill. He also did not seem to be working super-hard and was rather conversational.
Leg 1:Distance0.980Time8:25.70Pace8:36.02
Warm-up.
Leg 2:Distance2.875Time20:25.70Pace7:06.33
Workout.
Split 1:Distance0.250Time1:15.60Pace5:02.40 Cumilative:Distance0.250Time1:15.60Pace5:02.40
Split 2:Distance0.125Time1:13.20Pace9:45.60 Cumilative:Distance0.375Time2:28.80Pace6:36.80
Split 3:Distance0.250Time1:15.10Pace5:00.40 Cumilative:Distance0.625Time3:43.90Pace5:58.24
Split 4:Distance0.125Time1:27.40Pace11:39.20 Cumilative:Distance0.750Time5:11.30Pace6:55.07
Split 5:Distance0.250Time1:13.70Pace4:54.80 Cumilative:Distance1.000Time6:25.00Pace6:25.00
Split 6:Distance0.125Time1:24.80Pace11:18.40 Cumilative:Distance1.125Time7:49.80Pace6:57.60
Split 7:Distance0.250Time1:13.80Pace4:55.20 Cumilative:Distance1.375Time9:03.60Pace6:35.35
Split 8:Distance0.125Time1:28.30Pace11:46.40 Cumilative:Distance1.500Time10:31.90Pace7:01.27
Split 9:Distance0.250Time1:15.60Pace5:02.40 Cumilative:Distance1.750Time11:47.50Pace6:44.29
Split 10:Distance0.125Time1:34.60Pace12:36.80 Cumilative:Distance1.875Time13:22.10Pace7:07.79
Split 11:Distance0.250Time1:14.20Pace4:56.80 Cumilative:Distance2.125Time14:36.30Pace6:52.38
Split 12:Distance0.125Time1:45.90Pace14:07.20 Cumilative:Distance2.250Time16:22.20Pace7:16.53
Split 13:Distance0.250Time1:14.40Pace4:57.60 Cumilative:Distance2.500Time17:36.60Pace7:02.64
Split 14:Distance0.125Time1:36.00Pace12:48.00 Cumilative:Distance2.625Time19:12.60Pace7:19.09
Split 15:Distance0.250Time1:13.10Pace4:52.40 Cumilative:Distance2.875Time20:25.70Pace7:06.33

Leg 3:Distance5.252Time42:00.90Pace7:59.99
Cool-down with Benjamin, some with Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 4:Distance3.000Time22:22.20Pace7:27.40
With Stephen and Matthew.
Leg 5:Distance1.000Time7:09.60Pace7:09.60
With Stephen.

Neon Crocs 1 Miles: 13.11

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

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Thu, Dec 19, 2019

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
13.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	13.00

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-12-19 09:35:14
Workout Totals: Distance13.000Time1:38:46.60Pace7:35.89
Easy runs, more or less usual distances, total of 13.
Leg 1:Distance2.000Time15:41.30Pace7:50.65
I think this was with Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, and Matthew.
Leg 2:Distance2.000Time15:43.00Pace7:51.50
Same group minus Matthew.
Leg 3:Distance5.000Time35:54.10Pace7:10.82
Alone.
Leg 4:Distance4.000Time31:28.20Pace7:52.05
With Julia.

Neon Crocs 1 Miles: 13.00

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

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Fri, Dec 20, 2019

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

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-12-20 09:54:46
Workout Totals: Distance12.000Time1:32:11.30Pace7:40.94
Easy runs except for Matthew's time trial. He was not mentally all there, so he was on pace at 1 K but then did not push hard enough and ended up with 6:44, 7 seconds off the record. He learned an important principle, though - if you want to run a record, you have to do it the record's way, not your way. Your way is rarely the record's way, because usually left to your own devices you will not focus as hard as you should and push yourself as hard as it takes to get the record.
Leg 1:Distance4.000Time31:14.10Pace7:48.52
With Jacob, part with Benjamin.
Leg 2:Distance4.000Time31:55.60Pace7:58.90
With Benjamin and Joseph.
Leg 3:Distance1.000Time6:44.20Pace6:44.20
Matthew's mile time trial.
Leg 4:Distance3.000Time22:17.40Pace7:25.80
With Benjamin.

Neon Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00

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

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Sat, Dec 21, 2019

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.99	1.00	0.00	2.00	13.99

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2019-12-21 11:21:33
Workout Totals: Distance13.995Time1:49:19.40Pace7:48.70
Today Matthew repeated his mile time trial, except he ran the record's way following all of the pacing instructions. The result was much better - 6:34.2, a 3 second PR. Splits 1:35, 1:40, 1:40, 1:37. Benjamin, Joseph, Jacob, Bonnie, William, and Stephen helped pace him. Julia ran 800 in 3:19. Then Benjamin, Jacob, and I did 8x0.25 down the canyon. Joseph joined us for the first and the last one. The target was 76, which we did in the first, but then the rest of them went faster and we averaged around 73-74, in the last one I ran 69, Jacob, Joseph, and Benjamin did 68. I was surprised that I was able to do this workout. Then we ran more miles, total of 14 for me and Benjamin. Usual distances, more or less for the kids.
Leg 1:Distance1.000Time6:34.20Pace6:34.20
Matthew's time trial.
Leg 2:Distance0.980Time8:49.60Pace9:00.41
Warm-up with the kids.
Leg 3:Distance2.875Time19:48.50Pace6:53.39
8x0.25 with 0.125 rest down the canyon with Benjamin and Jacob, part with Joseph.
Split 1:Distance0.250Time1:16.20Pace5:04.80 Cumilative:Distance0.250Time1:16.20Pace5:04.80
Split 2:Distance0.125Time1:05.20Pace8:41.60 Cumilative:Distance0.375Time2:21.40Pace6:17.07
Split 3:Distance0.250Time1:14.10Pace4:56.40 Cumilative:Distance0.625Time3:35.50Pace5:44.80
Split 4:Distance0.125Time1:26.50Pace11:32.00 Cumilative:Distance0.750Time5:02.00Pace6:42.67
Split 5:Distance0.250Time1:13.50Pace4:54.00 Cumilative:Distance1.000Time6:15.50Pace6:15.50
Split 6:Distance0.125Time1:27.20Pace11:37.60 Cumilative:Distance1.125Time7:42.70Pace6:51.29
Split 7:Distance0.250Time1:13.70Pace4:54.80 Cumilative:Distance1.375Time8:56.40Pace6:30.11
Split 8:Distance0.125Time1:30.10Pace12:00.80 Cumilative:Distance1.500Time10:26.50Pace6:57.67
Split 9:Distance0.250Time1:13.30Pace4:53.20 Cumilative:Distance1.750Time11:39.80Pace6:39.89
Split 10:Distance0.125Time1:29.20Pace11:53.60 Cumilative:Distance1.875Time13:09.00Pace7:00.80
Split 11:Distance0.250Time1:11.50Pace4:46.00 Cumilative:Distance2.125Time14:20.50Pace6:44.94
Split 12:Distance0.125Time1:32.40Pace12:19.20 Cumilative:Distance2.250Time15:52.90Pace7:03.51
Split 13:Distance0.250Time1:14.50Pace4:58.00 Cumilative:Distance2.500Time17:07.40Pace6:50.96
Split 14:Distance0.125Time1:31.60Pace12:12.80 Cumilative:Distance2.625Time18:39.00Pace7:06.29
Split 15:Distance0.250Time1:09.50Pace4:38.00 Cumilative:Distance2.875Time19:48.50Pace6:53.39

Leg 4:Distance3.140Time26:07.90Pace8:19.33
Cool-down with Benjamin and Jacob.
Leg 5:Distance6.000Time47:59.20Pace7:59.87
More distance with Benjamin.

Neon Crocs 1 Miles: 13.99

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
69.85	2.00	0.00	5.25	77.10

Neon Crocs 1 Miles: 77.10

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

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