Breaking the Wall

April 16, 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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to Ukraine's Armed Forces

Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	870.94
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

Tue, Sep 12, 2006

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
11.40	0.00	0.00	0.00	11.40

Ted had an early meeting. So we started at 5:00 am at my house. Both of us were asleep in the early miles, so it took us 3.5 miles to catch the imaginary 8:00/mile guy. I was satisfied once we caught him, but Ted suggested we chase the 7:45 guy. Got him around 5.5. Then the 7:30 guy was not that far ahead. So we went after him, and went passed him at 7.5. Finished the 8 mile run in 59:39 with the last two miles in 6:52 and 6:50. My heart rate counting for 10 seconds was 120. At some point I'll get around to measuring it in a more high-tech manner (heart-rate monitor). I am waiting to accumulate enough in-store credit at Wasatch Running to get Garmin 305.

Ran with the kids afterwards. Found a new way to motivate Jenny to hold the pace. She is allowed to spank me as much as she wants to during the run. Of course, I run slow enough for the task to be possible, but fast enough for her to have to hold a steady pace to do it.

Ran some more in the afternoon with Jenny and Julia in the stroller. Saw Dr. Jex again.

In the evening did bench press, 105 pounds, narrow grip, 5-4-3.

A few days ago I added a new feature to the blog - you can now set watches on people's blogs so you get a notification any time an entry is added or modified, or a comment is posted. But so far I do not see a lot of people using it. Is this because it is not very useful or because people are having a hard time figuring out how to use it?

If it is the latter - log in, to to Blogs, click on Add Watch button next to the blogs of interest. To disable, click on Remove Watch. Do not set watches on your own blog unless you really want to get redundant e-mails.

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

Comments

From Chad on Wed, Sep 13, 2006 at 09:10:36

Sasha, on the Blog Watch feature, I guess I haven't used it much because it's easy enough just to check in on the site and scan through to see which blogs have been updated. Since you changed the blog list based on when the blog was last updated, it's easy to do that.

From Kerry on Wed, Sep 13, 2006 at 09:18:50

I set watches on a couple of blogs, but don't seem to be getting the emails. Like Chad mentioned, it's now very easy to scan through the entries now they're sorted by last update. Thanks again for all you do!

From Andy on Wed, Sep 13, 2006 at 11:02:29

I agree with the other comments about the watch feature. It is easy to check the blog and see new entries with the "last updated" feature that you added. I don't want my email to get filled up with notifications.

From Sasha Pachev on Wed, Sep 13, 2006 at 14:30:07

Kerry:

I checked the logs - looks like the e-mails are being set to your address. Check to see if your spam filter is catching them.

From Paul Petersen on Wed, Sep 13, 2006 at 17:58:07

Sasha, I have noticed that a lot of the blog comments are send to my spam box. I suppose that it's not avoidable, but just an FYI. As far as the watch feature, I find it more fun to check manually, and the date feature you recently added is quite handy in filtering out what I want to look at.

From Superfly on Thu, Sep 14, 2006 at 11:07:11

Sasha good job with your morning run with Ted. I wish I could have been up there with you guys. However I'd be happy catching the 7:45 guy that early in the morning.

You need to get Ted going on the blog.

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