Breaking the Wall

Week starting Jul 28, 2013

Previous WeekRecent EntriesHomeJoin Fast Running Blog Community!PredictorHealthy RecipesSasha Pachev's RacesFind BlogsMileage BoardTop Ten Excuses for Missing a RunTop Ten Training MistakesDiscussion ForumRace Reports Send A Private MessageMonth ViewYear View
Graph View
Next Week
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
198619871988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024
15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

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:

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
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
75.132.004.751.1283.00
Green Crocs 6 Miles: 83.00Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00
Night Sleep Time: 42.50Nap Time: 3.00Total Sleep Time: 45.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. During the Sacrament meeting my attention was drawn to the hymn we sang - Oh, Ye Mountains High. I read and re-read the words. I noticed it was written by Charles Penrose, so when I came home I studied some about him. This hymn made me feel a special connection to the early LDS pioneers. The times are different but the principles are the same, and I can feel it. 

Felt very tired in the afternoon, took a 3 hour nap. 

Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 3.00Total Sleep Time: 10.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.001.500.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran with the kids. Benjamin did 8, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 0.5. William asked me if he could get a paint set. I told him he had to break 10:00 in the mile without holding somebody's hand and without stopping. He agreed to try. In his first attempted he ran the first 400 in 2:08, very well ahead of pace, but at around 500 decided he was too tired to run further. Then he wanted to try again. This time we slowed him down but he was still going sub-9:00 pace. But shortly before the 400 mark he decided to stop. It will take him some time to learn to focus - he is only 4. Benjamin was worse at that age.

I did 1.5 miles on my nasty course from the Provo River bridge to the house in 8:42.9. It was warm, and I struggled. But at least I could finally run normally for the first time after the marathon. 

Green Crocs 6 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
14.750.000.000.2515.00

A.M. Total of 12 miles. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1. Joseph did a mile time trial on the track. The reason was that he broke his Android tablet and I told him that if he broke 6:30 in the mile I'd get him a replacement. So it went like this. 

First lap was 96, then 97, then 95. He kicked in 95 and got 6:26.0. Benjamin and Logan helped with the pacing. Andrew ran with the assignment to stay with Joseph and kick at the end. He ended up kicking in 42 for the last 200 and finishing in 6:21, which is his official mile PR - if you can call our time trials official that is. While not officially recognized, they are at least more official than the majority of the fun runs because in ours the distance is accurate and so is the time - no chip malfunction and other problems. 

I am quite happy about this time. Benjamin's fastest time at the age of 8 was 6:43 and he did not break 6:20 until he was 9.5. Joseph it seems will be going under 6:20 this year.

Did some strides with Benjamin. 

P.M. Rode the Front Runner to Ogden, and then ran to Midas, which is about 3 miles from the station to get our van. Then drove it back to Orem. Timed both ways. With Sarah taking me to the Orem station and the train leaving on time and arriving 1 minute early my time was 2:40 on the way out. On the way back in spite of quite a bit of a congestion going through Salt Lake I made it in 1:33. I have to say that while Front Runner is great for people that do not have a car, I am thankful to be able to drive one. And I am also thankful I do not have to commute.

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 15.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.300.001.500.2012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 4, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, Julia 3, William 1. Benjamin and I paced Logan through 1.5 miles on my nasty course from the bridge to the house. The target was to break 9:00. We hit the first mark which I call the mile in 5:37, and the next uphill quarter in 85. Then Logan started to fade. We slowed down trying to encourage him, but he was not responsive. So Benjamin wanted to run ahead and I said, let's go. So we went, and Benjamin dropped me over the last 100 meters. He finished the whole thing in 8:30, I got 8:33, Logan got 8:42.9. Then Benjamin and I did some strides.

Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00Green Crocs 6 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
11.380.000.250.3712.00

A.M. Total of 12. Ran with the kids. Joseph and Andrew did a 400 meter and 100 meter time trial. Joseph got 19.0 in his first 100 meter attempt, then 18.6 in the second. Andrew ran 16.6. In the 400 Joseph ran 83.4 with the splits of 20.0, 21.0, 20.9, and 20.5. I was quite impressed by the negative split while running fast. He has even split before while bumming it, and when he ran fast he crashed in the second half. 

Andrew also did a fairly even split - 18.8, 18.9, 19.3, 18.7  with the total of 75.7 - new record for him.

Logan and Benjamin helped with the pacing. Benjamin did 9, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1. 

Green Crocs 6 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
8.202.001.500.3012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Benjamin and I paced Logan through a confidence building time trial on my nasty 2 mile course from the 800 N bridge at the mouth of the canyon to the house. Logan's track 3200 PR is 12:01. So we wanted him to see that he could break that on a course that is significantly slower than the track. He ran 11:54.8. He did OK in the first mile which we hit in 5:44. Then he started struggling. So I eased off the pace to 94 in the next quarter followed by 95 (a slow quarter) and a 93 (another naturally slow one). Logan kicked at the end in 84 for the quarter, and 88 to actually make it to the house. My course actually may be a little more than 2 miles - I need to measure all of it with the wheel - I've measured only parts.

Logan now moved to 6 miles a day. Benjamin did 9, Jenny  4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1. Towards the end of my run I did a pickup for 500 in the fast direction in 1:39 - legs felt strong but I felt sluggish at the same time. Then I also ran the nasty 1.5 in 8:34 feeling the same way. It got warmer, that may have been the cause of the sluggishness.

Green Crocs 6 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
20.000.000.000.0020.00

A.M. Total of 20 miles in 2:39:55. Benjamin is working on his Eagle Scout. He had a requirement for his hiking merit badge to do several hikes of 10 miles and one 20 mile hike. He read the rules and discovered that there was no restriction on the terrain, and the only stipulations were that the distance is covered on foot and that the breaks are short. So we figured that running counted. He used two of his 10 mile training runs, and the half-marathon race to cover three 10 mile hikes, then he had enough actual 10 mile hikes for the balance, and now he had to do a 20 mile hike. We took care of that today.

Now a 20 mile run did not exactly fit into his training plan, but we did some things to minimize the negative. First, we kept the effort low. I finally got around to getting him an HRM and he wore it today. Last night I was quite surprised to discover that his resting HR is 52, almost as low as mine (48). Maybe it should not be so surprising - for my level of aerobic fitness (I can run 6:00 pace at 4500 feet on flat ground at around 145 and 5:00 pace at 170 - the only problem is that I cannot hit 180 and run 4:30) my resting HR is abnormally high. Through trial and error in the early miles I determined that his optimal HR was around 140. So I made sure that it was there in the first 14 miles of the run. We stopped at 7 miles for him to drink the magic mix of EmergenC and dextrose, and again at around 9 - he also needed to go to the bathroom.

At 14 miles we returned home to run with the other children. He drank more of the magic mix while they were getting ready. Jenny did 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob  2, William 1.

Our last 3 miles were again without the other children. His HR climbed to 150 at the end, and in the last 200 meters which is uphill it hit as high as 174. His total running time was 2:39:35 because he ran ahead of me with the faster child when I stayed back with the slower child during the little kid runs. The real time including all of the logistical breaks for 20 miles was 3 hours and 10 minutes. I think that qualifies as having short breaks.

He handled it quite well - he said it was much easier than racing a half marathon. 

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 6.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 6.50
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
75.132.004.751.1283.00
Green Crocs 6 Miles: 83.00Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00
Night Sleep Time: 42.50Nap Time: 3.00Total Sleep Time: 45.50
Debt Reduction Calculator
Featured Announcements
Lone Faithfuls
(need a comment):
Recent Comments: