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
8.905.600.000.0014.50

A.M. Jeff and I were planning on a 10 mile tempo run. However, Jeff ate something bad and was having serious stomach issues. But we decided to give it a try anyway. Jeff threw up before the start of the tempo, first time in 14 years. Jeff is quite a scientist. Most people would just get away from the vomit as fast as they could, but he studied it in detail and then reported one item at a time what came out.

Then we started with a tentative goal to run 6:00 pace until we had to call 911 for Jeff. We started out sluggishly. 6:06 for the first mile. During the second mile Jeff stopped to throw up again. Then we could not get back to pace, and then we stopped for Jeff's VPB, so we ended up with 6:09.  Not much faster in the third - 6:02. An old lady, about 70 years old or so, was riding a bike in front of us. She was a nimble old lady. Her bike looked pretty heavy, yet she was maintaining sub-6:00 pace. She must have been Ben Crozier's grandma. Back when we trained together whenever I told Ben I ran a good time, he always said his grandma ran that same race on that same course 5 seconds faster.

With the grandma ahead of us to chase the pace quickened. We ran the next mile in 5:53. But the grandma was not coming to us. I thought for sure we'd catch her on the uphill. But we did not. Then finally Jeff decided he wanted to catch the grandma even if it meant more vomit. So we sped up to an 84 quarter, followed by an 81. The grandma did not have that gear, we caught up, and she admitted that she tried hard to stay ahead of us. I was surprised that Jeff was able to go that fast without losing anything on either end of the pipe. Once we passed the grandma, the competitive urge was over and we coasted the last quarter in 85 to finish 5 miles in 29:50, last mile in 5:40. Jeff felt that was good enough, and I did not want to run 5 more alone bad enough to actually do it. So I stopped with him and we jogged in to get 10 miles total.

Then I picked up Benjamin and ran 2 miles with him in 15:45. We did  6:00 pace to failure after the warm-up mile in 9:00. He made it to about 0.6 this time, the longest so far. I think he could have gone 0.75, but was not mentally ready. To help him prepare I challenged him to run a hard quarter from 1.75 to the finish, which he did in 1:37. His last mile was 6:45 which included a jog from 0.6 to 0.75.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:48. 2 with Jenny in 19:34. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:52.

 

Five Fingers 2 Miles: 12.00Bare Feet Miles: 2.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.75Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.75
Comments
From Glory in the long run on Wed, Jul 01, 2009 at 14:35:43 from 67.177.39.243

Teren ran 15:35, he always seems to run about that except when it's a bigger race, I don't know if he was guaging himself for Murray cuz I think he's run 14:50 there. I think he did 5 minute high tempo pace.

From TylerS on Wed, Jul 01, 2009 at 17:25:54 from 66.29.160.130

I liked the Grandma story! That is a "run/Vomit" you guys will always remember!

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