Breaking the Wall

Week starting Oct 17, 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
70.804.506.500.0081.80
Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 69.80
Night Sleep Time: 44.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 44.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Day of rest. Went to church. The talks in Sacrament were on prayer and faith. One story was told in the prayer talk. A boy is asked if he prays at night, he answers yes. Then his teacher asks if he prays in the morning. The boys says : "No, I ain't scared in the morning!" Of course, the point of the story is that we should pray not only when we are in trouble.

The talk on faith was interesting as well. The speaker was Caucasian, but had served a mission in Taiwan. He was talking about Christ, and was about to quote John 3:16, but half way through the verse he realized that he did not have it perfectly memorized in English. He admitted that, and the proceeded to quote it in his language of comfort - Chinese. It sounded like a bunch of forks falling on the floor to me, but I marveled that to over a billion people that noise means: "For God so loved the world that he sent His only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish but have everlasting life." At the same time, what most Americans would consider a noise of a tractor plowing in the field means the same thing to me and over 150 million Russians.

The lesson in Sunday school was on eternal marriage, and the Elder's Quorum lesson was on faith.

In the evening we had an adventure. We noticed a mouse in the house earlier and set up a glue trap for it. It got caught. So Jenny and I escorted it to a nearby park and released it there. Jenny loves animals and insisted that we trap the mouse without killing it and release it.

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin in 24:56. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Jacob and Joseph.

Gold Crocs 1 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
13.800.000.000.0013.80

A.M. 9.3 with Mike, 1.5 with Jenny and Julia, then 3 with Benjamin starting the first 0.25 with Jacob and Joseph. Jenny and Julia ended up with 2 miles, Jacob and Joseph did 0.5.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 13.80
Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.003.000.0012.00

A.M. Tempo run with Mike. 3 miles, out and back on the trail starting at the 5 mile course start. Something was wrong today. We opened with a 5:19 mile, and that felt OK, Then I ran into a branch in the dark during the second mile, and we did a 180, but that should not have thrown me off so bad. Second mile was 5:34. I thought that was bad, but the third was 5:47! 16:40 total time. I told Mike to take off with about 500 to go and he finished in 16:27.

The legs felt weak. Probably a combination of glycogen depletion, accumulated lack of sleep, and lack of running at 5:20 pace. Total of 9 miles. 3 more with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 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
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 12.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

A.M. 9 with Mike. 3 with Benjamin. Jenny and Julia ran 2 including 0.5 with Joseph and Jacob.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.004.503.500.0020.00

A.M. Wanted to get a better understanding of the fading on Wednesday, so did the same workout at the start of the long run after the last 3 days of more eating and somewhat better sleep. A MySQL upgrade job for a client last night did not help with sleep, but there was really no better time to do it as we had to avoid disruptions during peek hours, but it was not too bad, I still got over 7 hours of sleep.

This time the 3 mile tempo run went better, although still with problems. Splits but quarter: 79 - 80 - 80 - 81 (5:20) - 79 - 81 - 86 - 82 (5:28) - 85 - 84 - 84 - 84 (5:37) - total time 16:25. Mike pulled away from me in the last quarter and finished in 16:22.

Then we jogged for about 7 miles, during which time we caught up to Kirk and he gave us a lesson on Arabic culture. He teaches Arabic at BYU. Then we did a 5 mile tempo. The target was 6:00 pace, but we picked it up after 2 K mark, and ended up almost a minute ahead of pace with 29:09. The splits were 6:02 - 5:48 - 5:50 - 5:50 - 5:39. Last two quarters were 85 and 79.

Here is what's interesting. The last half mile of the 5 mile tempo (from 12 to 17, so you would expect lower glycogen) run over the exact same stretch as the 3 mile tempo was 5 seconds faster than the last half mile of the three mile tempo which was done from 2 to 5, so essentially primed for racing a 5 K. It also felt easier. The difference, of course, was that I had not run 1.5 miles shortly prior at 5:20 pace, but what I find surprising is that was enough to negate the difference you would expect from not being in the out-of-fuel zone.

So one thing is clear at this point. 5:20 pace temporarily puts me in a state of misery more that it should. The mechanism of that is debatable. If VO2 max tests I've done in the past are any indication, the lactic acid levels would be quite low at that effort - maybe 1.02 RER (respiratory exchange ratio), which is a good way to estimate lactic acid buildup without stopping to poke yourself, in other words not a whole lot. There is some unknown villain at work. If somebody with a lab wants to track him down, I'll be happy to participate.

The antidote to the villain, however, is to do intervals that are longer than a mile, or possibly shorter ones with very little rest at 5:20 pace. I'll give that a try.

My Crocs are over 1000 miles, and still no holes, although one is about to develop.



Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 20.00
Night Sleep Time: 7.50Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 7.50
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
70.804.506.500.0081.80
Gold Crocs 1 Miles: 69.80
Night Sleep Time: 44.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 44.00
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