Breaking the Wall

Week starting Apr 04, 2010

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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: 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
82.722.451.751.9588.87
Eva Clogs Army Miles: 88.87
Night Sleep Time: 38.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 38.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Listen to General Conference. Heard a lot of good stuff, now it is time to do it. I particularly liked Elder Christopherson's talk on scriptures. What I got out of it is that the people like William Tyndale knew enough to sacrifice their lives to make the scriptures available, I could perhaps exercise my faith and learn a portion of what they knew. Their is value and power in the scriptures that we just do not understand. 

I also liked President Uchtdorf's  talk on patience in the Priesthood session. Back in the 60s an experiment was conducted that tested the patience of four year old children. They were given a marshmallow and told if they could wait 15 minutes to eat it, they would get another. Only 30% of them made it to 15 minutes. The children were followed throughout their lives and it turned out that those who demonstrated patience at the age of four were more likely to get good grades, make more money, have more stable relationships, and avoid depression than the ones in the other group.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.930.000.001.0012.93

A.M. 10.18 with Jeff in 1:19:56. Did an experimental mile in 5:20.8 to test Jeff's sense of pace. He thought it was around 5:32. Jenny ran 2 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:20. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:21. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:08. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:46. 

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.130.000.000.0013.13

A.M. 10.38 in 1:16:58.

P.M. 2 with Jenny and Julia in 17:48. Benjamin ran ahead and finished around 17:20. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:30. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.13
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.730.000.000.2012.93

A.M. 10.18 in 1:13:50. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:53. Last 0.2 at around 5:20 pace.  Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:24. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:28. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:29.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 12.93
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.300.200.000.5013.00

A.M. 10.2 in 1:18:53. Met Jeff on the trail. We did an experiment. Without telling Jeff I ran on and off squeezing the big toe and the one next to it on the right and alternated that with normal form during short pickups. The only thing I told Jeff was "form one" and "form two".  I showed him "form one" and "form two" once to see if he would notice a difference. He did.  Then we did a sequence of four pickups with Jeff setting the pace and me randomly choosing either "form one" or "form two".  At the end of the pickups I asked Jeff to identify the form types for each pickup, and he got all four correct. So that provided some evidence that indeed there is a difference. Without being told which form was normal, he pointed out that he liked "form two" better, which was the one with the squeezed toes.

Now, before anybody gets too excited about squeezing the toes to get a better form. I suspect this works only for me and only on the right side. The reason is that it just happens to give me a cue to reduce wobbling on the right side. I hope to learn to avoid wobbling eventually without that cue.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Ran about 2.8 with the kids running group. Benjamin did 2 in 16:55. Julia ran 1.5 with a mile in 8:35. Jacob did 0.25 in 2:45. Joseph ran 0.5 in around 4:30.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.530.000.500.0013.03

A.M. 10.28 in 1:09:50. Last 0.5 in 2:47. Practiced the toe squeeze and was trying to learn better cues.. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:02. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:12. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:30. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 13.03
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
20.102.251.250.2523.85

A.M. 21.1 in 2:32:17 with Steve Ashbaker. Jeff ran around 15 with us. He had an issue with his hips. We did a couple of pickups. About 6 miles into it I paced a mile in 5:24 without splits thinking it was 5:38. Steve paced a mile in 6:01 thinking it was 5:48 around 17 miles into it. His sense of pace which is usually near perfect was messed up because we were too far into the run. Then we did a wild half mile that was supposed to be at 5:40 pace, but we opened with an 84 quarter, and then Steve got feisty and made me run 77, so 2:41 for the half mile. Then we ran the last 1.25 in 7:25 to test fuel reserves.

Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah.

P.M. Benjamin was sick and did not run. 1.5 with Julia in 13:24.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:21. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:40.

Eva Clogs Army Miles: 23.85
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
82.722.451.751.9588.87
Eva Clogs Army Miles: 88.87
Night Sleep Time: 38.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 38.00
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