Breaking the Wall

Week starting Feb 12, 2012

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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
71.000.0019.500.0090.50
Green Crocs 2 Miles: 90.50
Night Sleep Time: 45.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 45.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. We had a ward conference. The stake presidency spoke in Sacrament meeting, and in other meetings. The talk was on service, then there was a lesson on the Book of Mormon.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.001.000.0014.00

A.M. Did 6 with Benjamin, then 2 with Jenny and Julia, and 4 more alone. Did a few pickups. Noticed that I really did not like the wind. 500 into the wind was 1:52, barely 6:00 pace. Then on the way back that exact same stretch was 1:36, which is 5:07 pace, with pretty much the same effort.

P.M. 2 miles. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Tobler kids and Mandy joined us. 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.002.000.0014.00

A.M. 6 with Benjamin and Jeremy. 2 with Jenny and Julia. 4 alone. Did some pickups. Total of 12.

P.M. PT session with Sergio. He taped up my back, right buttock, and foot to try to encourage the piriformis to let go of the grip.Ran total of 2. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Had our usual running club with us.

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments(16)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.004.000.0014.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran with Benjamin and Jeremy , they did 6. Did a 4 mile tempo. The road was covered with snow, so it was a battle. Fortunately the headwind was relatively mild. So I managed 6:06, 6:15 (up), 5:42, 5:21 which gave me 23:24 for the 4 miles. As the splits show, there was more snow on the second/third mile. I was rather cautious after I turned around at first, but then I got going in the last mile.

P.M. 2 miles with the kids. Jacob did 1, Joseph 1 as well. Julia ran 1 mile with Mandy. We had a bunch of other kids as well. 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.001.000.0014.00

A.M. Ran 6 with Benjamin, 4 alone, and 2 with Jenny and Julia. Paced Benjamin through a 5:14.5 mile down the Provo Canyon. His splits were 77, 80, 80, 77. He is now a sub-5:15 miler, we are going to work on sub-5:00 next. Crocs are now over 2000 miles. Still no holes.

P.M.  Ran 2 with the kids. 1 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph. Julia ran 1 mile with Mandy.  

 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 14.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.002.000.0013.50

A.M. 6 with Benjamin. 4 alone. 2 with Jenny and Julia. 

P.M. Rescued the Fast Running Blog server and moved it in the process as well. I had very little time to do the job, so I ended up grabbing the family computer that had more or less the same hardware and swapped out the hard drive. Then I had to do the DNS switch as well because I moved it from the old house. I still have not gotten around to diagnosing what exactly was wrong with the old server, but I am suspecting motherboard failure because the power supply fan spins when the motherboard is unplugged and does not otherwise. PT with Sergio. 1 with Jacob and Joseph, 0.5 chasing other kids around. 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 13.50
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.009.500.0021.00

A.M. Started with Gary, but he only ran with me about 3 miles and turned around as he was not feeling well. So I ran alone the rest of the way. It was total of 21. After 4.75 warmup I did a 7.5 mile tempo run - 2.5 down the canyon, then back up and down again. The wind was strong today, but not the worst. My splits were: 5:33, 5:33, half mile in 2:49 - 13:55, then 6:18, 6:22, half mile in 3:16 (15:56, 29:51), 5:35, 5:30, 2:38 for the last half mile - total time 43:34, last quarter in 76. Felt odd, not sure what to make of this run. Definitely struggled into the headwind, and I think more than I should have. Sergio think is has to do with the stability of the pelvis.

Did some more jogging, then ran the last 2 miles hard. It might have been more than 2 miles, but I call that stretch 2. The first "mile" was 5:51. In quotes because I never measured it, but it is close enough to be called a mile, and I timed a measured quarter in 87 in the middle, so it was close. It was down a small grade. Then the second mile was 6:07, and it was uphill. The last two miles were difficult because I was low on fuel, but I got through them.

Then I came home and ate a snack - pita pocket with peanut butter and jam. I remembered the can of jam from The Other Side of Heaven book/movie that helped Elder Groberg survive the famine. Then I ran a mile with Jacob and Joseph.

P.M. Recovered the family computer that was sacrificed to be the Fast Running Blog server.  This involved getting a new system, doing a maneuver to pull the family hard drive out of the running server, which I managed to do without shutting it down, a major mechanical accomplishment for somebody as clumsy as myself, and then putting it into the new computer and sorting out issues. The only issue I had to sort out was the video driver, but it was not too bad. 

Green Crocs 2 Miles: 21.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
71.000.0019.500.0090.50
Green Crocs 2 Miles: 90.50
Night Sleep Time: 45.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 45.50
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