Breaking the Wall

Uneventful Provo Canyon 10 K

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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

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 12.00 Year: 655.87
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
58.794.2515.210.7579.00
Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00Green Crocs 6 Miles: 79.00
Night Sleep Time: 45.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 47.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. Learned about the LDS pioneer trek through Wyoming. I finally figured out why they had to go so far north to get to Utah - there was no other way in that was better. This helps me appreciate just how much work they had to do to build I-80 and I-70. Talked to the old timers in our ward that still remember when I-15 did not exist. Now we drive those roads, and take them for granted complaining when we have to slow down to 55 in a traffic jam or when there is construction.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.001.500.0012.00

A.M. Ran 12 miles total. Did pickups of 0.5 and 1.5 at around 5:45 pace. Benjamin did 8, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1.

Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.005.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Did a workout. First ran the 3 mile tempo from Nunn's Park to the mouth of the canyon. The splits were 5:24, 5:28, 5:20 - total time 16:12.8. The first two miles were comfortably hard, the last mile required some grit. Then I jogged three quarters of a mile and ran a cool-down tempo of sorts to build the sub-6:00 pace mileage - 2 miles down the canyon in 11:28.

Kids ran a little warm-up in anticipation of the cross-country race later tonight. Benjamin did 4, Jenny, Julia, and Joseph 1. William and Jacob rested.

P.M. Benjamin won the 3 K in 11:07, Jenny ran 15:27, Julia won her division in 15:12, Joseph won his in 13:57, Jacob ran 15:00 and got second in his division, and William outperformed my expectations running 17:48 which was good enough for 5th place in the 8 and under division. I think something was up with the course again - everybody ran slower that I expected, not just our kids but their regular competitors.

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.001.500.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Benjamin did 8, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1. Joseph and Jacob had some zip in their legs in spite of racing last night ran their fastest times on our nasty 2.04 mile course - 15:18 for Joseph, and 15:27 for Jacob.

Benjamin and I did a pickup for 1.5 down the canyon at 5:50 pace. I was pushing the stroller. This puts me at 8 sub-6:00 miles for the week so far.

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.002.250.000.7512.00

A.M. Total of 12. Did a workout with Benjamin - 4x300 with 500 recovery jog in the canyon on the same stetch as last week - flat, but downwind. My times were 48.5, 48.1, 47.6, 47.5. Benjamin got 48.2, 46.9, 44.9, and 44.0. The last one was on pace for a sub-59 quarter. His speed is starting to break through.

Afterwards I did some tempo pickups at 5:50 pace - 2.25 total of those to hit 3 miles of sub-6:00 pace for the day.

Benjamin did 8, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, Jacob 2, William 1.

P.M. Benjamin and I went to the chess tournament and came back with new rating PRs - 1777 for him, and 1669 for me. He is so far on pace for achieving the National Master standard as an adult (rating 2200). Then maybe if my brain can stay healthy I have hopes that he will pull me up to the expert level (rating 2000).

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.002.000.000.0012.00

A.M. Total of 12. Took Jenny and Joseph to the track for a time trial. Joseph did 800 in 3:03.2 missing his goal by 3.2 seconds. We were trying to break 3:00, but it was too cold and too wet. He opened in 88, then lost steam and his legs were not responding. Jenny was doing the mile. She ran the first 400 in 92, then decided she did not have the mental strength to run hard for another 3 laps and stopped even though she was ahead of pace by 2 seconds. We'll try next week.

Jacob did 2, Joseph 3, Benjamin 8, Jenny 4, Julia 3, William 1. Benjamin and I did a pickup for 0.51 in 2:51 and then for a mile in 5:51.

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
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Race: Uneventful Provo Canyon 10 K (6.214 Miles) 00:34:42, Place overall: 2, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.790.007.210.0019.00

A.M. Benjamin, Chad and I raced the Unenvtful Provo Canyon 10 K. Benjamin won with 34:41, I was second with 34:42, and Chad third with 35:23. For those unfamiliar with the term "Uneventful" it means we ran a time trial. The origin of the term comes from the idea that a rather unventful training run for a faster runner could happen at race pace for somebody else, so if they got together the faster runner could help the slower one run a fast time. Except in our case we did not have a faster pacing runner - I am too slow now to be Benjamin's pacer, but he is not yet fast enough to be mine. So we just raced.

We warmed up about 2.7 miles to the start a little bit past Bridal Veil Falls. The course went from the magic mark there to our house. First 4 miles down the canyon, then another mile that looks flat but has a small net drop, and the last mile a very unpleasant uphill.  Net elevation drop is 380 feet or about 1.1%. So roughly your Top of Utah Marathon compressed into a 10 K.

Our splits were 5:32, 5:35, 5:34, 5:30, 5:34, 5:48 for Benjamin, 5:49 for me. Chad stayed with us up to the 3 mile mark then started to slowly drop back. I was surprised to see how strong he was - I was expecting him to fall off around 2 miles at this pace. Benjamin and I ran side by side for the first 2 miles or so, then I tucked behind him and hung on for dear life. I set a goal to not be gapped by more than 10 seconds at the finish which meant I needed to make it to the quarter to go. Benjamin made it a little easier for me by periodically taking his foot off the gas and running the uphill at the end a little slower. Our goal was sub-35:00, so I think both of us stopped really pushing it once we saw we had it securely in the bag. I must admit I had an small desire to kick with 200 to go, but there were two things that held me back - 6% uphill grade and knowing that if I challenged Benjamin and he unleashed his kick 100% he would gap me by 3 seconds instead of just 1.

Benjamin improved his time from Apr 23 this year on the same course by 49 seconds. We should probably add into consideration the fact that back then I pulled him the entire way, while now he had to take the lead. For him this is a huge factor - he responds to competition. I still cannot tell if he honestly ran his guts out, or just barely fast enough to make Dad miserable. Also the temperature was 28F today and it was dark which made us a little sluggish at the start. No big deal if he did not run his guts out - at the tender age of 14 caution is good.

We dropped Benjamin off at the house and took the other children for their runs. Benjamin ended up doing 9, Jenny 4, Julia 3, Joseph 3, and Jacob 2. Chad and I did a mile down the canyon at the end in 5:26 with 18 miles total for the run. This is a very good sign for Chad - in the past he would be lucky to break 6:00 at the end of an 18 miler especially if there was some hard running early on. I was also happy that I could do that 5:26 mile. I reached my goal of 20 miles at sub-6:00 pace this week.

Then Chad went home and we listened to the General Conference together as a family. I really liked Elder Uchtdorf's talk. One thing that stood out to me in particular was - "doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith". This is very profound. It takes somebody who understands faith to put it in those words.

P.M. Took William for a run in between the General Conference sessions. He wanted to go to the track and run a mile time trial. This was signficant - he does not usually volunteer for that. Track running is tedious for a 4-year-old kid. Especially the one with William's personality. But somehow he got the idea, so this was an opportunity not to be missed. He went through the first lap in 2:02. So far so good. Slowed down a little on the second, but that was expected. Then comes the unexpected - his Croc came off. He could not find his and wore Jacob's. I had seen him run in those before, and did not recall them causing any problems, lazy as I am I allowed him to run in Jacob's Crocs. I told him to keep going without a Croc, and he did. Soon after the other one came off as well. Good thing we are on the track. Second lap in 2:11, followed by a respectable third lap in 2:07. He reached the 300 meters to go mark in 6:54 and then his 4-year-old lack of maturity showed - he stopped and said he did not want to run anymore. I told him he only had to run less than a lap to get his record and a prize with it, so he started going again losing a few seconds there, probably about 7. He reached the 200 to go mark in 7:33 and the 100 to go in 8:04. Then for some odd reason he stopped right at the 1600 meter mark with the time being 8:30. It took me some time to explain to him that he was not done, but he still managed to finish the full mile in 8:40.0 which is his new record by 2.7 seconds. I think I am going to call this "William's Beer Mile". But this does show that with a little bit of purely mental training and with the Crocs that are the right size he is capable of around 8:20 and very soon will be breaking 8:00. Then we'll be able to say - "In our family if you cannot break 8:00 in the mile we put you in a diaper!"

 

Green Crocs 6 Miles: 19.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
58.794.2515.210.7579.00
Schwinn Double Stroller Miles: 3.00Green Crocs 6 Miles: 79.00
Night Sleep Time: 45.00Nap Time: 2.00Total Sleep Time: 47.00
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