Breaking the Wall

Week starting Feb 10, 2013

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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
73.350.400.750.0074.50
Green Crocs 5 Miles: 74.00
Night Sleep Time: 44.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 45.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church.

Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. We are still recovering from the sickness, but I ran 12 miles today. Benjamin did 3, Jenny 2, Julia 1, Jacob 1, Joseph 2, William 0.5.

Green Crocs 5 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Another day of recovering from the cough. 12 miles total. Benjamin did 4, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5.

Green Crocs 5 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Finally found a good algorithm for GPS correction in the Fast Running Friend. It worked great in the profiler on my test case which was rather nasty. Started implementing it in the app itself.

 Total of 12 miles today again. Benjamin did 5, Jenny 3, Julia 2, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5.

Green Crocs 5 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.750.000.250.0012.00

A.M. We are slowly recovering. I ran 12 again today. Benjamin did 5, Jenny 3, Julia 2, Joseph 1, Jacob 1, William 0.5. I did a pickup for 0.25 and felt like I was choking in my mostly dry cough, if there is such a thing as choking in dry cough.

Green Crocs 5 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.500.0013.00

A.M. We are slowly recovering from the cough. I still have one - it is quite violent after I finish the run, but it is dry. I ran 12 miles this morning.  Benjamin did 6, Jenny 3, Julia 2, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5. Did a pickup for 0.5 uphill in 2:51. Felt like I was going to choke from coughing as I went.

P.M. Finished the main coding of the Fast Running Friend new GPS algorithm and started testing it. I was too lazy to make a testing simulator with pre-loaded GPS data, so my development cycle was fix->build -> go for a jog -> fix ... At first I was getting some interesting results and found myself having traveled the distance to the sun in a matter of seconds. After bug fixes it worked better, correctly reported the distance and pace for 0.25 miles, but then bugged out around 0.3. I ended up doing about a mile of jogging during the testing cycle.

Green Crocs 5 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.100.400.000.0013.50

A.M. 12.5 miles total. This morning was the Fast Running Friend test/debug/fix morning. I ran some with the kids and some alone. Benjamin did 6, Jenny 3, Julia 1, Joseph 2, Jacob 1, William 0.5. Once the bugs were fixed (it took 5 miles), the Fast Running Friend produced near perfect readings, just about as good as it gets for a GPS-only distance/pace estimator. During the last 4 miles with Benjamin it reported 3.99 miles for the distance that I believe to be 4 miles from my calibrated pace-based estimates, and the immediate pace (sampled over 0.08-0.15 mile segments) never contradicted my intuition. Then I dropped him off and went for 3 more. It reported 2.99 on my course, and again the reported immediate pace  never contradicted my intuitive estimate. I was quite impressed with how it noticed that I slowed down on the uphills and snow-covered parts, and sped up on the downhills.

P.M. Added a time of day sync with the GPS clock, as well as a separate debugging log to the Fast Running Friend, and ran another mile for the final pre-release test. Then made the official release. You can download it from the official Fast Running Friend site (see link on the left in my profile). 

Green Crocs 5 Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
73.350.400.750.0074.50
Green Crocs 5 Miles: 74.00
Night Sleep Time: 44.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 45.00
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