Breaking the Wall

Week starting Apr 29, 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: 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
79.4011.000.605.2096.20
Green Crocs 3 Miles: 96.20
Night Sleep Time: 46.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 47.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church as usual. Sarah and I were the speakers in the Sacrament meeting today. Our talks were on Matthew 22:35-37 - the two great commandments of the law - love God and love thy neighbor. Then we had a lesson on king Benjamin's sermon in Mosiah 2-4, and a combined priesthood, relief society, and young men and women meeting where the bishop talked about family history.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.800.000.001.2014.00

A.M Ran 6 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia did the first 2 with us. Then did a blood circulation declogging workout. The working theory is that the reason I have a hard time hitting decent HR and particularly struggle with that when the weather is a bit colder is that there is some kind of congestion in the circulatory system. My plan to test the theory - increase intake of fiber, take Dr. Christopher's Blood Circulation formula, and do workouts that maximize HR and keep it high for as long as possible. The thought is that there is some gunk that does not get washed off the walls of the pipe unless you have a particularly strong flow. So I wanted to do an experiment to see what would max out the HR. I heard of some research that showed you get good results with 30 seconds fast/30 seconds slow. So I tried a variant of that - 200 meters fast, 100 meters slow. It did not seem to work too well, 200 of fast running was not enough for me to get the HR too high - I hit around 156 eventually. Fast was 40 seconds into the headwind/uphill, and 36 downhill/with tail wind. Slow was about 8:00 pace, or 30 seconds for 100 meters. Then I tried a 600 after about 300 of rest due to the marks being painted over. Well, I got to rest 300 and figured I needed to go 600 to make up. This time I managed to hit 164 after hitting the quarter in 70, but then I could not hold the HR and it dropped to 162 with the pace dropping to 37 for the last 200, and I ended up with 1:47.8 for 600.

P.M. 2 with Joseph, Jacob did 1 with us. 

 

 

Green Crocs 3 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
13.000.000.002.0015.00

A.M. Started with Jeremy and Ariel. Ariel is from Uruguay so we spoke Spanish the entire time. He speaks English fine, in fact his wife does not even speak Spanish, but his presence gives me and Jeremy and extra boost to work on our Spanish. Based on my observations the day before, I decided to try this workout: 400 fast - 100 recovery - 400 fast - 100 recovery - 500 fast - 100 recovery - 500 fast going out of the canyon because I noticed it is easier for me to hit a higher HR on a mild downhill and without the headwind.  I did 75, 73, 1:33, 1:31 - recoveries were around 8:00 except before the last one when I was going around 10:00 pace.  HR was 157 at the highest. I was not happy about that, but no matter how hard I tried, it was not going higher.

After finishing a bit more than 6 with them I did 6x100 hill repeats starting out at 18.8 and finishing in 17.5. Then I ran 6 with Benjamin. I did a half mile interval on the way back again down the canyon in 2:25.3 with the max HR of 159. I am happy that I could hit 4:50 pace and after half a mile HR was still only 159. It actually got there by 600 and then was staying steady. That is actually a very good result as far as the economy is concerned. What I am not happy about is that I could not go any faster.

Total of 13 miles for the run. 

P.M. 2 with Joseph, Jacob did 1 of them. 

Green Crocs 3 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.201.000.000.0015.20

A.M. Started with 6.7 with Jeremy and Ariel. I wanted to know if Ariel could run a 6:15 mile. So we did a fast mile coming back down the canyon. We opened with a 92 quarter. I sensed that Ariel could go faster and upped the pace a bit with the next quarter in 90. The next quarter was 87. Then I saw that Jeremy could break his mile record and challenged him to kick. We finished in 5:53 with the last quarter in 84, which is his new record. Ariel finished in 5:56 with the last quarter in 87. So that is encouraging, he has more speed than I thought.

Then I ran another 6.5 with Benjamin, total of 13.2.

P.M. 2 with Joseph, Jacob did 1 of them. 

Green Crocs 3 Miles: 15.20
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.002.0015.00

A.M. Started with Ariel and Jeremy. Repeated my workout from Tuesday. did 2x400 71.8, 72.3, then 2x500 1:32.3, 1:30.0 with 100 recovery. HR maxed out at 159 on those. Then back to the house, 6x100 hill sprints 18.8, 18.2, 17.8, 17.6, 17.3, 17.2. Then 6 more with Benjamin with a half mile interval in 2:22.7. Benjamin ran the first quarter with me in 71. HR maxed out at 162. The overall feeling was that I could push more air through the lungs and more blood through the legs.

P.M. 2 miles with Joseph, Jacob did 1. 

Green Crocs 3 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.50Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.400.000.600.0015.00

A.M. Ran with 6.5 Jeremy, did 1000 pickup in 3:18.  Then another 6.5 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia did 2.

P.M. 2 with Joseph. Jacob did 1. 

Green Crocs 3 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 1.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.0010.000.000.0022.00

A.M. 20 mile run. Chad ran the first 9 with me then turned around. On the way back I did the 10 mile tempo. It was windy, the wind was blowing into the canyon again. I think it was stronger than last week - HR was notably higher, while the pace on certain stretches was much faster, while on others only marginally faster, and there was a mile stretch right when I came out of the Vivian Park where I could not even break 6:00. Total time was 58:23, HR hovered around 148-152, maxed out at the end at 160 on the uphill by the house. The 3 mile tempo stretch was 17:26.  Chad waited for me at the 16 mile mark, then tried to join me for part of the tempo, but his stomach was not cooperating so he only lasted about half mile.

Benjamin did 6, Jenny and Julia 2, Jacob 1.

P.M. 2 miles with Joseph. 

Green Crocs 3 Miles: 22.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
79.4011.000.605.2096.20
Green Crocs 3 Miles: 96.20
Night Sleep Time: 46.00Nap Time: 1.50Total Sleep Time: 47.50
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