Breaking the Wall

March 19, 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: 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
10.240.000.000.0010.24

Fast Running Friend Workout - 2017-04-19 08:29:02
Workout Totals: Distance10.243Time1:14:05.50Pace7:14.00
Total of 10 for me and Benjamin today, time trials for the younger kids. Jenny , Julia, and Matthew ran easy. Benjamin helped me pace. Stephen got a PR - 7:23.0, splits 1:50, 1:49, 1:53, 1:48. William ran a small PR - 6:24.1 improving by 0.7 - splits 93, 97, 97, 94. Joseph and Jacob struggled - I think both mostly mentally. We went through the first lap in 81, too fast, but should not have been a killer. Then Joseph started struggling and slowed down a lot. Jacob must have had sympathy pains and also slowed down. Joseph stopped at the 600 meter mark complaining that his legs felt like they were going to collapse. Jacob kept going, but all the commotion knocked him out of rhythm and produced an 89 lap. Benjamin and I tried to get him back on pace, but after you have run an 89 and imagined that it was hard, it is extremely hard to go much faster. So he ran 84, 83, but that only gave him 5:40.8, 2.8 slower than his record. To help them with the mental issues I had them run a 2000 with a rough target pace of 90 seconds per lap. They opened in 93, then sped up. Joseph ended up with 7:27, Jacob 7:32.

The idea of that 2000 was this. The mind optimizes for the minimum pain. If you know you are running just 1 mile with no consequences for slowing down when you should not, the mind will imagine their is more pain than there really is and will trick you into slowing down. However, if you know there will be more distance should you run the interval slower, then the pain optimizer might be tricked into ignoring it because giving it too much attention will result in more pain later. It does not always work, but it is worth a try. We'll see what happens next week.
Leg 1:Distance0.500Time4:32.40Pace9:04.80
With Matthew.
Leg 2:Distance1.000Time7:23.00Pace7:23.00
Stephen's time trial.
Leg 3:Distance1.000Time5:40.80Pace5:40.80
Jacob's time trial.
Leg 4:Distance1.000Time6:24.10Pace6:24.10
William's time trial.
Leg 5:Distance0.500Time4:39.30Pace9:18.60
Recovery jog with Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 6:Distance1.243Time7:32.80Pace6:04.28
2000 with Joseph and Jacob.
Leg 7:Distance5.000Time37:53.10Pace7:34.62
With Benjamin.

Camouflage Crocs 1 Miles: 10.24
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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