Breaking the Wall

March 29, 2024

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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:

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 133.01 Year: 776.88
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: 1312.70
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
21.100.500.000.0021.60

A.M. Ran 6:30 AM with Ted. 15 degrees. Trail conditions were decent for the most part, a couple of icy spots. The plan was to run 15.1 uneventfully. However, without much tempo volume lately I had a couple of horses neigh once in a while and tried to create events. Ted is smart, he knows what to do. So he engaged me into a conversation about the VO2 Max study that Sean posted on the forum. I gave him a piece of my mind on why exercise physiology has contributed so little to the improvements in running. Then the conversation drifted into how you should really do a study - get 1000 people at the age of 10, and give them enough of an incentive to keep training for at least 15 years. The we talked about what this would produce, and I mentioned that they did have something similar in East Germany. From there the conversation drifted into the subject of how much illegal performance enhancing drugs really help you get faster. Ted argued that they do a lot, I argued that you can get the same and better results with honest training and healthy life style overtime, and that if you drugged a guy who has already done his homework, it would not make him run any better. Right in the heat of that discussion around the 8.6 mark we saw a guy going the other direction. It was time for us to turn around to add 5 miles to our standard 10.1 course anyway, so we did, and I said, let's get him. Ted was reluctant. I figured I'd just chase the guy down quickly, engage him in a conversation, then Ted will catch up. So I went through my gears, got up to 5:45 pace, held it for about 0.5, and caught our new friend. His name is Tyler. Hopefully he will join the blog soon. We ran the rest of the distance with him. Total time for 15.1 was 1:51:32, 7:23.18 avg.

Runner's joke. "You mean you can run 26 miles without stopping?" "Yes, on a good day, depends on what I ate for lunch the day before, and if I do a good warm-up first."

P.M. Went sledding with the kids to South Fork of the Provo Canyon right near the start of the Provo River Half.  On the way a car right in front of us went sledding on Hwy 189 between Bridal Veil and Vivian Park, span around, and end up on the side of the road, but no damage. Fortunately we were far behind enough to have room to slow down and avoid it hitting us. Did the kids run over there. The course was rough - you were going either up or down, and 0.5 of each kid's run involved running down on ice for 0.25, and then back up on the way back. Ran 1.5 with Jenny in 15:05, then 1 with Julia in 12:00, then 2 with Benjamin in 18:20. Added another 2 when I got home in 14:59.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From ryan on Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 14:19:42

Sasha,

the FRB links on SG Running Center are broken.

From ryan on Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 14:20:55

i just double checked and the first 3 links are ok but the others are not working

From Jamie on Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 21:07:11

Out of curiosity, what book(s) have you written?

From James on Fri, Dec 14, 2007 at 17:28:22

You must have a good amount of snow down there?

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Dec 14, 2007 at 21:05:21

Ryan - the links have now been fixed. Jamie - I've written two geek books, see http://asksasha.com for details. James - we have quite a bit of snow, but I've seen it much worse.

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