Breaking the Wall

March 18, 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:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 25.00 Year: 668.87
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
14.980.255.750.2521.23

A.M. The Big Workout (threshold version). Warmed up with Ted and Adam. Had a bush stop, then caught up. Hit a 1:27 quarter, and that felt like more like brisk easy rather than marathon pace. The warm-up was the standard 6.2, and the time was 46:38.

The workout consisted of 2.5 - 2 and 1.5 tempo intervals with full recovery (slow 0.5 jog). Two reasons for odd distances - to try something new, and to avoid 180 turns. The plan was to try to manage 5:20 pace on all of them, or as close as possible.

Ran the first 2.5 from the lake to Geneva road in 13:21.4. Fairly even splits, hit a couple of 1:21 quarters on the uphill section, and one more 1:21 after that, I think that one is still slightly uphill, because it is always slow. Kicked at the finish a bit to make up, did 1:19. Otherwise a fairly steady set of 1:20 quarters. The last mile of it was tough, but no surprise. I ran it in 5:22, and effort-wise this is about 5:15 flat.

The 2 miler was from the 0.5 mark of the Provo River 5 Mile Tempo to the turnaround.
The slight steady downhill on the second quarter got me into a nice rhythm and I was able to run relaxed all the way through. Got 10:37.6. Fairly even splits, a little faster on the first mile (5:18) because of the nice downhill quarter. When I say relaxed, it was not a jog, but I was able to relax while running hard, so that made the pace sustainable. This reminds me of the class on how to handle labor that Sarah and I attended before Benjamin was born (after that, she did not need a class). Turns out, the same principle applies during labor as when running hard - learn to relax while in pain. I think it applies to any form of pain.

The 1.5 interval was from the 2/3 mile mark of the tempo course to 0.5/4.5. The first mile of it was essentially flat, and the last 0.5 was a slight uphill, steady in the first quarter, and rolling in the second. That same nice downhill that helped me relax would now be a nice uphill at the end of the last interval. Nice! Hit the first mile in 5:20, again with the focus on relaxing while running hard. Then slipped up a bit on the next quarter even though I increase the effort in advance in hopes of avoiding it - 1:21. Saw The Fast Running Mommy. I knew she wanted a kiss, but all I could manage was the Brezhnev-style hand-wave. Picked it up on the next quarter to catch the 5:20 guy. Ran the last quarter in 1:16, this gave me 7:57.1 for the interval.

Ran back to the Fast Running Mommy, gave her a full-blown kiss, and finished the run with her. Total of 16 miles.

P.M Ran 2.05 in 16:55 with Benjamin to his soccer game. Pushed Jacob and Joseph in the stroller. Added 0.5 in 3:59 during the game. Benjamin's team won 3-0. Ran 1.5 back with Jenny pushing Julia in the double stroller in 12:48, and then finished the remainder of the distance with both of them in the stroller. Got 17:58 for 2.18. Then ran 0.5 with Julia in 5:12.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Logan on Tue, Aug 28, 2007 at 17:13:54

According to my mile 13 I was at 1:08:17. Life goes on though!

From Breanna on Tue, Aug 28, 2007 at 23:56:20

Sasha,

I like the new updates to the blog. What is the save entry button for?

From Paul Petersen on Wed, Aug 29, 2007 at 09:57:57

Sasha - there seems to be something wrong with the blog. The http://fastrunningblog.com/show_blogs.php page yields absolutely no content.

From Sasha Pachev on Thu, Aug 30, 2007 at 18:38:06

Breanna - Save Entry saves what you typed without making it public, and then takes you back to the edit page so you can continue editing. This is to help avoid session timeout problems. You should hit it every few minutes when typing up long entries.

Paul - I fixed this bug yesterday.

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