Breaking the Wall

Orem International Thanksgiving 4 miler

Previous MonthRecent EntriesHomeJoin Fast Running Blog Community!PredictorHealthy RecipesSasha Pachev's RacesFind BlogsMileage BoardTop Ten Excuses for Missing a RunTop Ten Training MistakesDiscussion ForumRace Reports Send A Private MessageWeek ViewYear View
Graph View
Next Month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
198619871988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024
15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

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
238.9521.5011.955.25277.65
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.200.000.000.0010.20

BYU Campus - Provo River Trail towards the Utah Lake with Ted in the morning. A bit over 8 miles. Hit 8 miles in 54:37. Very cold. Did not bring the gloves. Pace varied from 7:20 at the start to 6:20 at the end. Ted pushed the pace at the end, I followed along but without exceptional enthusiasm. HR in the pace-appropriate range.

Ran with the kids in the evening, and also ran to a neighbors house and back to do the Elder's Quormum move. Noticed that my fingers did not have a very good grip.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.500.003.000.0010.50

Provo Canyon Tempo Run with Ted. Standard 3 miles down from Nunns to the mouth of the canyon. Feeling a bit of a cold. Woke up a couple of times at night to perform the flush routine - bathroom, and then replensh the fluids and electrolytes with EmergenC. However, the damage so far seems to be isolated to the throat and the nose, the rest of the body is performing fine. The HRM on The Toy was not cooperating today. I think the air was too dry, and it was too cold for me to work up a good sweat. Ted suggested a special gel. I might give it a try in the future.

Ted's calves were tight, and he was not sure if he'd be able to finish the tempo run, but he decided to give it a shot. To make things interesting, we gave him a 30 second head start. I watched him take off wondering how in the world I'd ever catch him.

Decided to learn from my Monday experience, and run the first two miles without forcing it. Just use the intuitive feeling of what pace was appropriate for the cardiovascular performance limit imposed by the cold conditions, and patiently wait for the cardio system to become fully engaged before trying to push it.

First mile in 5:21. Ted's calf tightened up, he backed off, I caught him right after 1.5. As I was passing him, two deer crossed the road right in front of us. Second mile in 5:18. Now I think I am ready. Pushed it a bit harder, ran 1:18 - 1:18 - 1:19 - 1:17 for 5:12 on the last mile. HRM started working at the end, showed 163-164 peaking at 166 at the end. The last 100 meters is actually about 0.5% grade up, so you have to push it just to keep the pace.

Ted finished in 17:10 without working too hard.

Ran with the kids in the evening. Also worked out with weights - bench press 3x5x105lb.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.100.000.200.0010.30

My body was trying to hard to get rid of the cold releasing a lot of muscus, and other forms of waste. So I woke up once every two hours or so at night to relieve myself and to drink some more EmergenC to stay hydrated and in mineral balance. Might have had a bit of a fever, as I kept having exact same dream over and over which mixed two happenings in my current life. I kept telling the ROTC cadets how to write a custom storage engine for the MySQL database.

Met Ted at 5:00 am at the Smith's Field House at BYU. The building was locked, and that was a problem for me, as I needed to go bad. So Ted drove me over to Macey's and we started our run from there.

Ran easy 8 miles, very slow. 31 minutes through the first half, then woke up a bit and caught the 7:30 with a mile to go. To rub it in, opened up another 40 seconds finishing in 59:20.

The Toy somehow got knocked out of the cradle, and was discharged when it was time for me to leave, so no HR data today.

The body kept cleansing itself through the run, which required 3 additional stops, but no diarrhea.

After the run, did a 2 minute push-up test, got 56. Then the sit-up test, 2 minutes, got 37. According to Ted, the push-ups were average, but the sit-ups were below average. Something to think about. Of course, I have been doing bench-press in the last few months, so that is probably why push-ups are better than sit-ups.

Ran with the kids in the evening. Needed some more mileage later. Put Jenny in the stroller, ran 0.5 in 3:34 with the last 200 in 45 just for fun.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.005.000.000.0010.00

The sickness has advanced, and I was able to measure the toll today. Not too bad, but some rest and relaxation is needed. Ran with Ted at 5:20 AM on the Provo River Trail starting at Macey's and going towards the Utah Lake. We both had to be at the State Youth Championship, so we had to do our run early and get it done fast. The plan was to warm up to Geneva Road, then run a 5 mile tempo 2.5 out 2.5 back at 6:00 pace, then cooldown.

Got better sleep than the night before. At least the dreams were more versatile, and I woke up only once.

Noticed the HR was about 5 bpm higher than normal for the pace during the warmup. Ted was moving briskly going sub-6:40 pace at times, and I felt no initiative to help him go any faster. Not a surprise considering the health condition.

Went through the first 2.5 in 15:17 with Ted at a failry steady pace. HR gradually drifted up to 150-151, again 5-6 bpm too high for the pace. Subjectively, I also felt I was working too hard for the pace.

Nevertheless, the temptation to catch the 6:00 mile guy was more than what I could resist even in this condition. So after the turnaround I went after him. Not a lot of go in the system, only 5:55 pace with HR climbing up to 157. Still thought I'd get him eventually. Could not quite see the splits in the dark. Finally, with a quarter to go I realized I was still way behind and needed to kick hard to get him. I pushed it, but it was not enough - got 30:03. HR climbed to 166 at the end at about 5:30 pace.

Ted had a calf problem, backed off, finished in 32 minutes.

Took Benjamin to the State Championship. Jenny and Julia went along to watch. Benjamin was sick too, so I was not expecting much. At the meet he got recruited to run for Team Provo.

He did the best he could under the circumstances, and finished 13th in 15:24 in the 3000 meter run. I told him before the start that since he was running for a team, every place position mattered, and he should fight to advance as high as he could. He followed my advice. Unfortunately, Team Provo did not have enough Batnam boys, and he was not scored.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.502.000.250.0010.75

From the Press Building by the Provo Canyon the long way to my house, 9 miles. Still recovering from the cold. Took it very cautionsly. Went about 7:10 pace closely monitoring HR. It was somewhere around 128-130, still a bit too high. Felt ready for a test of health. Ran 2 mile mini-tempo in 11:54. HR hovered around 150, still too high for the pace. Found a friend for the cooldown mile - his name is Nate, and he was finishing an 18 mile run. We ran at 9:00 pace.

Came home and ran with the kids. Benjamin wanted to do some sprints, so I suggested a fartlek with 4x100 in the middle. His sprints are my threshhold pace.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.952.500.000.0013.45

Started the morning with a run with Julia. She runs 0.25 a day at about 10-12 minute pace. She has an assignment to beat the 12:00 girl, which she usually accomplishes onces she decides to go. However, she has demonstrated that she has a lot more speed than that - her best time on a quarter is 2:13.

Then went to the Provo River Trail, and did an exploration run to see how far they progressed in connecting it with the Jordan River Trail. Not far at all - it ends only after going North for about a mile.

Still recovering from the cold, took it easy, watch HR closely. Almost normal at 7:00 pace. On the way back, decided to run from mile standard 5 mile tempo turnaround at 6:00 pace for as long as HR was normal and I did not feel sick, or until I reached 2.5 mark. This was going to be my health test.

Hard to shift gears from 7:00 pace to 6:00 right away. First mile in 6:02, also little slippery from the leaves. HR hovering between 146 and 149. A little high, especially for the first mile. 146 is OK, 149 is not. Decided to see how hard I would have to work to run 14:45 for the whole 2.5, which was the time I got for that section on Saturday. Sped up to 5:50 pace on the next half-mile. HR hit 155 right away. The HR and the way it felt showed I was still not quite over the cold. Occasional coughing did not help either. However, I felt much better than on Saturday. Climbed the small hill on the next half (2:59, HR 156-157). Pushed a bit on the last (1:26 HR 160, 1:23 HR 162). 14:45 for the 2.5, right on the money. Jogged for the cooldown, but still stay quite a bit ahead of the 7:00 mile who I passed during the tempo. 1:02:55 for 9.2.

In the afternoon, first ran 0.5 with Benjamin and Abby. Then we extracted Jennifer from her friends house, and ran another mile. Then I announced I was going to run to the car rental to pick up a van for us to go to Milpitas, CA - a business trip for me, vacation for the kids, hard work for Sarah. The kids wanted to come.

So I put Julia in the stroller, and Benjamin and Jennifer consented to the terms of the deal - they had to run there. We did 2.25 miles in 21:38 with a stop after the first 0.5 for me to vote, as the voting station was on the way.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.001.000.000.0010.00

Travel to Milpitas, CA. Ran during stops, total of 5 miles. Did the whole journey in 13 hours (797 miles). Not bad for 5 kids and a nursing baby. Ran 5 more miles in 34:08 in Milpitas. First felt lazy and sleepy, then decided to go. At 6:10-6:15 pace the heart felt like 6:30 in Utah, but the legs felt pace appropriate. Forgot to bring the HRM part of the toy, so no HR data.

Still coughing. Felt some odd chills after the run, but they went away the next morning.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

Ran easy 8 miles in the morning in Milpitas, CA in 54:19. Not feeling good, got a nasty mostly dry cough that sounds like I am about to die. Worked all day. Then ran with the kids in the evening. Felt chills in the evening again.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.250.000.000.0010.25

Ran easy 8 miles in Milpitas, CA again in 1:05:56. Easy pace, but it did not come quite that easy. Still coughing like I am about to die, mostly when something changes - ventilation rate, air temperature, level of dust. Took a nap afterwards, felt a bit better. We went sight-seeing. Rode the metro, then crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, then went to Muir Woods. Ran with the kids in Muir Woods. Then we went to the Muir Beach. Had an adventure with Jenny losing her very special shoes in the dark on the beach. After a prayer, a diligent search, then obtaining a flashlight from a drunk bartender (first time Sarah ever got anything from a bartender) we found them.

I'm glad we had a talking GPS nagivational system in the car. We would have been terribly lost more than once otherwise.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Travelling back from Milpitas, CA to Provo. Hit the chains required area on the mountain pass on I-80 near Truckee, CA. It put us behind a bit, but it could have been worse. We did not have enough cash with us. The chain installer looked at us, then said, "you, guys, look honest" and agreed to take our out of state check.

Ran about 3.3 in Verdi, NV during a stop. Then a little more in Elko, NV.

Passed 4 prison areas in Nevada. One of them was ironically called Independence Valley. That brought back some memories of serving in a church calling in a juvenile detention center. One time I was doing a presentation on how obeying the Word of Wisdom helps you be a better runner. Trying to make a point, I said: "How fast can you run when you are drunk?". One of the inmates responded, apparently speaking from experience: "You think you can do a good quarter, but then you try and it does not work. Then you've got cops all over you."

Another time I observed them playing a video game where they had to run away from the cops (state-provided video game, curiously enough). They were driving pretty wild in it. Trying to bring some sense into them, I remarked that if they drove like that in real life they get their tires spiked. One of the guys answered, again apparently speaking from experience and with an apparent scoff at my ignorance: "They do not spike in the city!"

Got home, unpacked, ran with the kids. Then returned the rental car, and ran back. Had the HRM with me this time. Coughing like crazy. HR at 140-144 at any pace, even 7:30. Speeding up does not increase it. Not feeling good. Cut the run short to 3.25 miles to make the total 8.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.250.000.000.006.25

With the help of large doses of garlic and onions, the cough has reduced from the level of AK-47 to the sound of a less automatic rifle. Did not feel like going for a run at all. Was not sure if it was sickness or plain laziness, so decided to go out and see how I felt. Ran a mile in 7:30. Coughed so hard afterwards that I almost lost my lunch. HR got up to 130. Then a mile with Benjamin, Jenny and Abby in 9:31. HR was 119 at 10:00 pace. Normally it gets there at 8:00 pace. Then another mile with Benjamin in 7:52, HR at 130, lots of coughing afterwards. Decided to go for another 2 miles. Felt miserable on the first. That kicked in the fighter instinct, and I started feeling strong on the second. Decided to add another mile. Ended up with 3 miles in 22:12, HR hovering around 137-138. Not a lot of coughing afterwards.

A little later ran 0.25 with Julia.

Felt better in the evening. I think part of it was maintaining a solid consentration of garlic in the system throughout the day, but I also credit the arousal of the fighter instinct that came from pushing through a miserable mile.

There is a fine balance in training when sick that needs to be maintained. If you push too hard, the body does not have the energy to fight the illness. However, if you take it too easy or not train at all, the mind quits and the body also along with it. I think I overdid it on the trip, but today finally hit a good balance.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

Ran 8 miles with Ted in the Provo Canyon in the evening. 4 miles up in 29:22, then 25:58 back down. Did not think I could run that fast without serious consequences, but Ted went, and I went with him, and as of almost 24 hours later still no negative consequences, actually feeling much better.

HR still high - 140 going up, 145 going down. However, the faster the pace, the closer it seems to get to normal. Resting HR also normalizing - got down to 59 while driving. The cough is still very strong, but I felt a lot more motivated to run than anytime since Wednesday.

Came home, ran with the kids. Scared the neighbors with the cough.

Taking large quantities of garlic and onions, lots of water, that is helping quite a bit.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.000.000.0011.00

Still coughing but felt like running in the morning to get a breath of fresh air. Went out and ran a mile in 7:10. Then ran with Julia. Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer a bit later. Then ran with 8 miles Ted in the evening on the Provo River Trail. After two miles we found another runner. His name is Alvin, and he is getting ready for the Atlanta Half-Marathon. We maintained 7:40 pace. My HR hovered around 129. Better, but still 7 bpm too high for the pace. Less coughing, although there was quite a bit when we went under I-15.

Still taking lots of garlic. Too bad Americans do not like the smell of it, and I am glad I do not have to work in an office, especially the one where having the "right" smell counts. I am putting "right" in quotes. Perfume and other politically correct substances might smell nice but they do not heal. The smell of garlic and onions might not be as pleasant to some, but they are excellent natural antibiotics. In my entire running career I have gotten a lot of respiratory and other infections, but do not recall ever having to use a synthetic drug for an antibiotic. Large doses of garlic and onions have always been able to bring me back to the point of being able to run again within no more than two days. That said, there are times, I suppose, when a synthetic antibiotic might be necessary, but I think if we learned to enjoy the garlic and onions more when sick and when healthy as well, we would be a lot healthier.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.250.000.0010.75

Ran alone on the Provo River Trail by Geneva Road in the morning. 8 miles in 55:50. Decided to chase the 7:00 mile guy after the turnaround (28:41). He was coming back to me, but not very fast. Not surprising, I am still coughing, although quite a bit less. No AK-47 salvos today until I stopped at the end. I was still behind with a quarter to go, so I took no chances and ran it in 1:31. HR climbed to 156.

HR was fairly good 2 miles into the run - 134 at 7:00 pace, only 6 bpm above the norm. However around mile 3 I noticed a drift upwards. When I started the chase, I was going 6:47 pace, and HR was 143. Slight uphill, but still that is about 12 bpm overboard, even adjusting for the grade. I think I was gradually dehydrating as I went along, which happens when you have a cold.

However, I felt a lot more motivated to run. The thought of having to run 8 miles alone did not bear too hard on me.

Ran with the kids in the evening - added 2.75 miles altogether.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.001.500.000.0010.50

Provo River Trail in the morning, 8 miles in 55:54. Did a 1.5 mile health test tempo in the middle in 8:57. HR was 155 at 6:00 pace. On the last quarter, sped up to 1:28, HR climbed to 157. Still 10 bpm higher than normal.

The latest HR drifts encouraged me to try an experiment. I brought a bottle of water with me and drank every two miles. This reduced the drift a bit - 142 at 7:00 pace uphill at the end instead of 145, and made the whole experience better. I also for the first time in a week did not have AK-47 cough salvos at all, not even after running the tempo or stopping at the end.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.750.005.000.0011.75

Provo River Trail by Geneva Road. The cough is almost gone. Decided to do a test of health. Warmed up 3.75. HR was 132 at 7:10 pace - 5-7 bpm above normal. Then drank some EmergenC to rehydrate. Then did the 5 mile tempo.

First mile 5:49, HR got up to 154. Then 5:47 (11:36), HR at 159. 14:31 at the turnaround (2:55). 3 miles in 17:30 (2:59), HR at 160. Next mile in 5:57 (23:27). Pushed it on the last mile (0.5% rolling uphill), got 5:48, 29:15 total, HR climbed to 165.

Cooled down 1.25 to make the total 10. Ran with the kids later in the afternoon.

The tempo run showed the sickness + the trip took more out of me than the Deseret News Marathon. That is not good. I wonder if I had something more serious than a simple cold.

However, the recovery after a sickness like this in the past has been fairly fast, so let's hope it happens again. I need to be in a fairly decent condition by Thanksgiving to win a turkey in a 4 mile race.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.250.003.001.2512.50

Ran in the Provo Canyon. Warmed up, then the standard 3 mile tempo down partially for training and partially for a test of health. Managed 16:26 with the mile splits 5:36, 5:24, 5:26. HR at 160-162. Legs started failing on the last 0.5, the pace became noticably more difficult, not a good sign. Did not feel good after finished, but I've felt worse.

Jogged uphill for a while at 8:00 pace, and after a while started feeling good. First thought of dowing some 100 m accelerations down. Then started feeling better, and decided to do 5x400 down in 75 each with 200 recovery. Did 74.0,74.6,75.3,73.8,70.7. Felt OK, HR climbed to 160 by the end of each repetition - this shows how anaerobic those quarters are - the heart does not have the time to respond.

Ran with the kids at home.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

Easy 8 with Ted in the morning. Chased 7:30 guy, got him, finished in 59:12. No HR data - left The Toy unplugged.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.250.250.500.008.00

Easy run with Ted in the morning. Only 6 miles, mini-taper for the Thanksgiving 4 miler tomorrow in Orem. Chased 7:30 guy, got him shortly before 5 miles. Then part of the way into the last mile I suggested we try to break 6:00 on the last mile. We managed 5:56 with the quarters of 1:42 - 1:28 - 1:23 - 1:23. Total time 43:13. HR was better - 120 at 8:00 pace (normal), 131 at 7:10 pace (5 bpm too high), 159 at 5:32 pace (2 bpm too high, but I did not hold it for long enough to see if it would drift).

The overall feeling at 5:32 pace was also better - it felt comfortably sustainable, at least during the 0.5 mile stretch. But that does not mean much - I've had days when 5:30 felt sustainable for 1.5 miles, and then all of a sudden I had to slow down to 5:45. Tomorrow I'll have a chance to measure the degree of my recovery.

Ran with the kids in the late afternoon.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Race: Orem International Thanksgiving 4 miler (4 Miles) 00:21:50, Place overall: 10, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.700.000.004.0010.70

Orem International Thanksgiving 4 miler, 21:50, 10th overall, 1st in the age division, got the turkey. "International" in the name of the race is rather an exaggeration. However, it is technically correct - sometimes people from foreign countries run in this race. This is a big family race. They have kids races for every age, and give awards to the youngest participant, the oldest participant, the biggest immediate family, and the biggest extended family. Last year Joseph won the youngest participant awards - he walked 100 meters in 4:10 pushing a toy walker. That was the only way he could cover the distances, being only 10 months old. Two years ago, they had some extra turkeys. I proposed the award to the most pregnant participant. Sarah won it, being 8 months pregnant and having finished the race in 57:00. Her closest competitor was 6 months pregnant. This particular race has been becoming more and more of a challenge over the years as the number of my children increased. It does take quite a bit of nervous energy for me to help N children get ready to run, and then run with every one of them and cheer them on. Although I have been setting PRs in 5 Ks and 10Ks in other races, my times have been getting progressively worse in this one. I have been getting frustrated, but this year decided to take it in stride. I'll make sure the kids have good races, and then see what's left for my own. Did a bit of a warmup, then it was time for Joseph's race. He walked 100 meters in 1:05 taking 5th place in the boys 0-2 division. Joseph turns 2 in January. Then Julia (4) ran 400 meters winning 3-4 girls division in 2:02, and beating all the boys as well. She and I had this conversation several times in the last two months: "Julia, what are you going to do on Thanksgiving?" "Run fast and get the turkey!". "what happens if you do not train?" "Another girl gets the turkey!". "What happens if you get tired and slow down?" "Another girl gets the turkey!" "What happens if you start crying?" "Another girl gets the turkey!" I was pleased to see how the physical and mental preparation bore fruit. Benjamin and Jenny's 800 m race followed. Since they were in the same race, I had to choose who to pace. It was a tough call. I figured Benjamin would need some extra help as he was racing in the 7-8 division, and he is 7, which means he'd be racing older kids. I instructed Benjamin earlier to start out fast to get out the crowd. He overdid it a bit - 19 seconds in the first 100. It took me a while to maneuver out of the crowd of little kids and catch up to him. I told him to ease off a bit. 44 at 200. Then the lactic bear jumped on him. 53 for the next 200 (1:38 at the turnaround), followed by 56. However, slowing down to 56 allowed him to recover. With 200 to he was ready to kick. 23 on the next 100, followed by 21 on the last. He gave it all he had and outkicked two 8 year old boys, which quite remarkable. It is not unusual for a smaller kid with more endurance to beat a bigger one. But it is nearly impossible for a smaller one to outkick the bigger unless the bigger gives up. Both kids fought it as hard as they could. Benjamin's push on the last 200 got him 4th place in his division and a PR of 3:18. In the meantime, Jenny won her division with 3:51. Then I paced Abby, our friends' daughter in the mile. She ran 7:57, a PR by 38 seconds. Finally done with kids races, now my own. Given the recent sickness, and the known difficulty of racing after kids races, I had two goals - break 22 minutes, and win a turkey by either making top 5 or winning the age division. At the start, it looked like it could take breaking 20:00 just to make top 5 - there was a huge crown of college runners from all over the state that came to visit family for Thanksgiving plus Josh McAdams. However, winning the age division with 22:00 was quite realistic - being 33 I am in a rather non-competitive age division. Most college runners by that age have lost their edge. I decided to approach the race with a caution attitude, and be thankful for every quarter at 5:30 pace or faster. The college crowd led by Josh McAdams. I ended up a bit behind from the start, and then started working my way through the pack until I found a couple of guys to run with. We hit the first mile in 5:18. HR climbed to 161. Afterwards, I was able to follow Hawk's quarter marks on the road. The pace dropped significantly. There was a headwind, but it dropped way too much, so much that I started feeling very comfortable. Next quarter in 1:25. Picked up a bit to 1:22. Then 1:27. This was enough for me. I broke away from the pack and hit the next one in 1:21, 5:35 for the mile, 10:53 at 2 miles. HR hit 169. Tried to hold 5:30 pace. Next mile in 5:32. HR down to 166. Caught two bandits at 3 miles, this race always has a lot of them. Hawk does not mind as long as they do not cross the finish line. One of them was going only 3 miles. The other was going all the way. I tried to encourage him to go faster by tucking in behind really close, but that did not work - he did not have much aerobic energy left. So I had to break the wind for him, or get a slower time. Since he was a bandit, the faster time at this point was more important than beating him. Tried to push it, hard to shift gears into a headwind. The next three quarters 1:24, 1:23, 1:23. Turned on the last quarter, now tailwind. Was able to kick, ran the last quarter in 1:14, 5:24 for the last mile. The bandit, being apparently a college runner, had lots of anaerobic juice left and pulled away from me on the last 200 as if I were standing. My last 200 was 36 seconds. HR maxed out at 172. My finish time was 21:49 on my watch, 21:50 officially. Josh McAdams won in 19:19. Full race results are available here. Ran back to meet Sarah. Met her at around 3.2. She finished in 36:52, 91st out of about 270 women. Not bad at all for having had a baby 4 months ago. Cooled down with Ted. At the awards ceremony Joseph got a turkey in a raffle. So we ended up with 4 turkeys. The performance in the race indicates I have gotten healthier since Monday. It is interesting that HR locks in at 166, and I feel like I cannot go faster after a surge that brought it up to 169. It might have something to do with the lack of anaerobic training recently. But I think it is more than that. It provides a clue to my dilemma of why I can do 5:00 - 5:10 - 5:20, but not 5:20-5:10-5:00 in a 5 K. HR stays fairly low on the first mile even if I am running 5:00 - it would take in about 0.5 to hit 160, then it probably hits 165 at 0.75, and then reaches 170 at the mile. The race showed that I can get up to 170 and hold it for a minute or two, but then it is too much, I drop back to 166. So if I want to run the first mile in 5:00 I need to hold 170 for maybe a minute, while if I want to run the last one in 5:00 off regular race pace, I need to hold 170 for the entire mile. If I am right, it logically follows that to improve my 5 K I need to create a workout that would hold my HR at 170 for the maximum possible amount of time. I think I'll give it a try sometime in March.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.500.000.000.0017.50

Provo Canyon. Ran 6 miles with Ted. Then saw three runners, and decided to join them. Their names were Peter and Tim Wright, twin brothers, the other runner's name was Nathan. Of all things, it turned out that Nathan was fluent in Russian, Tim was fluent in Serbo-Croatian, and Peter was fluent in Norwegian. All three learned their languages while serving an LDS mission.

Now this happens only in Utah, more particularly in the Utah County. Where else in the world would you be able to randomly approach three runners on a cold morning in a canyon and find this degree of language fluency? Here in Provo you can go to the store, and if you see a young non-Latino man without an earing, tattoo, extreme hairstyle, or other similar marks, you can start speaking to him in Spanish, and there is about a 30-40% chance that you will find him fluent. For Russian, it is somewhere around 10%. There is about a 70% chance that he will be fluent in some foreign language. And we are talking about a very decent level of fluency. Your average former Russian-speaking missionary sounds like an Estonian that did well in his Russian classes. The better ones sound essentially native.

I was having so much fun chatting with my newly found friends about the intricacies of learning a language and other things that I decided to go a little longer than I planned. We ran past the Bridal Veil Falls where the search and rescue operation for the three stranded climbers was in progress. I ended up with a total of 15.75 miles on this run in 2:01:33. A very healthy base-building run.

Ran some more with the kids in the afternoon, total of 17.5 for the day.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.504.500.000.0012.00

Ran 10 miles with Steve Ashbaker on the Draper trail in the morning in 1:03:45. Rolling hills constantly on that trail. Did some tempo pickups in the middle at about 5:45-6:00 pace. HR was 154 at 5:45. Ran with the kids in the evening.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.002.500.000.0011.50

10 miles on the Provo River Trail in the morning. We are supposed to be closing on the sale of our house and the purchase of the new house, and moving, so I have been somewhat stressed lately. I think it showed today a bit.

Started out at 8:00 pace which soon became 7:05-7:10, HR 127-129. After 3 miles sped up to 6:35-6:40, HR 138-140. Then ran a tempo 2.5 portion from the Utah Lake to Geneva Road in 14:40. HR drifted up to 156, and climbed to 161 when I sped up to 5:40 pace on the last quarter. The pace felt hard. Part of the problem was being overdressed for the weather, part can be blamed on having been sick. But there is still a part that is not accounted for. I will blame it on the cumulative effect of the stress of moving that has been building up over the last week.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. After the first half Jenny was complaining that 9:00+ pace was too fast. I told her when your mind gets soft, soft pace feels hard, when you harden the mind, hard pace feels soft. She took the initiative to push the pace on the last 600, hitting first 200 in 1:02, and then the last 400 in 1:52, which dropped Abby and really made Benjamin work.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.002.000.000.0010.00

Ran in the morning with Ted. We decided to chase the 7:00 guy with 2 miles to go, ran 6:15, 6:09 the last two miles, total time for 8 miles 55:34. Snow on the road.

Ran with the kids in the evening.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.250.000.000.0010.25

Today is our wedding aniversary. Sarah and I have been married 10 years. She is getting a new house for a present.

Ran on the Provo River Trail starting from BYU with Ted in the morning. Dropped him off at 7, ran another 1.5. Slippery roads, and cold - 19 F.

Spent most of the afternoon preparing the websites and the home office for the move. This has been quite an adventure so far.

Ran with the kids in the evening.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.0011.50

Ran 10 miles with Ted on the Provo River trail in the morning in 1:08:33. We started out at 7:30 pace, and gradually sped up to sub 6:40 after the first 4. For the first time in a month felt relaxed at 6:40 pace.

Ran with the kids in the evening. Busy day preparing for the move.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
238.9521.5011.955.25277.65
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Debt Reduction Calculator
Featured Announcements
Lone Faithfuls
(need a comment):
Recent Comments: