Breaking the Wall

SLC Track Club 10 K

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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: 133.01 Year: 776.88
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
72.850.006.210.2079.26
Brooks T4 Racing Flat Miles: 47.10Saucony Type A Miles: 11.61
Night Sleep Time: 47.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 47.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.1013.10

A.M. Ran with Daniel, Matt, and Mary Ann. Usual deal, except Daniel is now up to 8 miles. And he ran a 17:44 5 K earlier thanks to the increase in mileage. That is his 5 K PR since I've known him.

After Daniel got off the trail I ran some more with Matt and Mary Ann. Then Matt and Mary Ann ran in the direction of BYU, and I stayed on the trail. Due to the extra mile on Daniel's part I miscalculated the turnaround and went about 0.1 further, which is OK. 

Did explosions as usual. Finished with 1:18:53 for 10.1.

Then added 2 miles with Benjamin in 16:38. Did an explosive game with him as well. He was the antelope and I was the cheetah. Once in a while I'd give him a 2-3 second warning to run away from the cheetah. Then I'd sprint until I caught him.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:57. Jenny ran 2 miles with Sarah in 19:26.

Brooks T4 Racing Flat Miles: 12.10
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.400.000.000.0013.40

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Pretty much the same run as yesterday except it was too slippery for the explosions. 10 miles in 1:18:30. Afterwards a mile with Julia in 10:27.

P.M. 2.4 with Benjamin and Jenny. Benjamin actually ran only 2. Jenny ran the whole 2.4.

Brooks T4 Racing Flat Miles: 11.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.900.000.000.1014.00

A.M. Big group today. Chauncy, Mary Ann, Jeff, Daniel, and Matt. Our usual route. Total of 10 miles in 1:18:30. Did explosions. Then 2 with Benjamin in 17:20.

P.M.  2 with Jenny in 19:30. Julia ran a mile with us in 9:14. Jenny was not feeling well, so Julia actually dropped Jenny, and then I waited for Jenny at the mile.

Brooks T4 Racing Flat Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.150.000.000.0013.15

A.M. Ran with Jeff, Daniel, and Mary Ann. Jeff is learning Linux so we had an on-the-run computer class. 10.15 miles in 1:20:40. Later ran 2 with Benjamin in 15:52. Too slippery to do explosions, but Benjamin managed to run the last mile in 7:21 anyway.

P.M. 1 with Julia in 9:42. Jenny ran 2 miles with Sarah.

Brooks T4 Racing Flat Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

A.M. Ran 10 miles with the usual crowd in 1:20:40. Then 2 more with Benjamin in 17:26.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 19:09. Julia had a fever, did not run.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Race: SLC Track Club 10 K (6.214 Miles) 00:37:46, Place overall: 5
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.400.006.210.0011.61

A.M. Ran the SLC Track Club 10 K. 37:46, 5th place. I've run in training in worse conditions (for speed), but never in a race. The entire course was covered with snow. On the way out I could run more or less normal pace. But then on the way back we got a strong headwind, and on top of that, the road became more slippery.

I  also  had a cold, but no fever. Not sure how much it affected me. Probably 20-30 seconds.

Went through the first mile in 5:27 in a pack with Jeff, Seth, Brian Summers, and James Moore from the blog. At that point we did have some traction as evidenced by the time. Then around 1.25 the pace felt too fast, and I decided to back off. In restrospect this was a mistake. The lack of traction eventually became my number one limiting factor. So the right way to run would have been to run my guts out from the start, and then do my best once the slippage became the main problem. This would have been effective because the fatigue from the early aggressive pace would not have been sufficient to make it impossible to run the fastest the friction would permit.

Unfortunately today I became painfully aware of the formula F = k*P, where F is the maximum achievable friction force, P is the ground contact force, and k is the friction coefficient that is dependent only on the properties of the surfaces in contact. With that in mind my strength became my weakness. A runner needs to put a decent amount of P into the ground to get a forward propulsion force. Over the years I happen to have learned how to get a decent amount of forward propulsion  with a very low value of P. This is very good. It helps me do well in long races and not get injured. However, today was a bad day for low values of P. k started out small and kept getting smaller. Eventually the forward propulsion force began to be limited by friction.

My second mile was 5:39, and I was actually quite happy. The pack was about 10 seconds away. 5:48 for the third mile, not stellar, but respectable for the conditions. 17:34 at the 5 K, 17:06 for the leaders, they are still together.

And then the surprise came. Quite a headwind. However, I would have taken double that any day if only I could have decent traction. My next mile was 6:32. I would have normally blamed this on the misplaced mile markers. But I knew they were in the right place because I had checked them going the other way. So I doublechecked the math instead. I never make time calculation mistakes during a race, calculating a split is second nature to me, as easy as noticing the color of the shirt of my competors. But the split was so off the wall today that I had to double check, and sure enough it was right.

Mile 5 - a glorious split of 6:34. Beautiful. Minus the cold, I am feeling great, though. OK, last mile, lets see if I can reel somebody it. Not with a 6:28 mile, though. I do not know how Jeff and Seth maganged to run it in 5:35. Their values of P must be quite a bit higher than mine, that makes sense given Seth's great performance on Ragnar.

Glorious closing 5 K of 20:12. After opening in 17:34 that did not hurt too bad I never thought I'd be closing that slow in the most pessimistic analysis. Live and Learn.

Seth won with 35:12, then Jeff 35:14, James 35:35 (I think), and Brian 36:30.

Mary Ann ran a very solid 38:53 going through the 5 K in 18:36. Second 5 K was rather bogus for everybody due to the traction and the headwind. But the first one shows she is capable of sub-36:00 on that course in good conditions.

Cooled down 2 miles.

P.M. Just to be cautions and not make the cold worse I did not run. The kids ran with Sarah.




Saucony Type A Miles: 11.61
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
72.850.006.210.2079.26
Brooks T4 Racing Flat Miles: 47.10Saucony Type A Miles: 11.61
Night Sleep Time: 47.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 47.50
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