dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

Week starting Sep 29, 2013

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Location:

Alpine,UT,USA

Member Since:

Jan 01, 2008

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

3K: 8:58 Pocatello, ID 2003 (indoors at Idaho State)

5K: 14:55 Salt Lake City, UT 2010 (Law Day 5k)

10K: 29:33 Salt Lake City, UT 2010 (Des News 10k)

1/2 marathon: 1:06:59 Provo, UT 2010 (Utah Valley Half)

marathon: 2:21:59 St. George, UT 2009 (St. George Marathon)

Short-Term Running Goals:

To get running higher mileage more consistently without getting injured

Sub 2:19:00 marathon

Personal:

I used to run competitively, and maybe I will do so again someday.  Right now I am primarily running to try and get in better shape, and to maintain both physical and emotional health, but also for the simple joy that comes when I run.

I am also the proud daddy of five little ones.  I love the opportunity that I have to be a daddy, and my challenge is to balance my family responsibilities with work and running.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Asics Speedstar Lifetime Miles: 2020.05
Asics Gel Ohana Racer Lifetime Miles: 2332.20
Adidas Adizero Lifetime Miles: 1375.45
Barefoot Lifetime Miles: 183.10
Nike Free 5.0 Lifetime Miles: 2221.85
Saucony Kinvara Lifetime Miles: 795.92
Puma Faas 200 Lifetime Miles: 381.50
Puma Faas 250 Lifetime Miles: 466.10
Altra Adam Lifetime Miles: 1836.85
Baretrek Lifetime Miles: 290.15
Hoka Conquest Lifetime Miles: 41.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
38.004.000.000.0042.00
Altra Adam Miles: 21.00Asics Speedstar Miles: 7.00Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 7.00Saucony Kinvara Miles: 7.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

I ran 7 miles today, running the first part of the run with my running class, and then finishing up the run on my own.  Total time was 51:17.  My back still felt kind of tight and painful while running, but it did not hurt too bad.  I think that sleeping on the floor the last couple nights has been helpful.  I stretched out my hamstrings and low back after running as well.  I am already noticing that my hamstrings are getting more flexible than they were previously (although I still have rather poor flexibility).

Altra Adam Miles: 7.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

I ran approximately 7 miles this morning in 52:15.  I ran to school and met up with Tyler, and after running about 4.5 miles with him I ran home.  During the run home something unexpected happened.  I stopped to do my business in some tall grass near the road.  In order to remain invisible to the cars I had to hold a rather awkward position, squatting down really low to the ground while keeping my feet far enough forward to avoid soiling them with my excrements.  When I stood up to run again my back did not hurt as much as it did prior to performing the squat.  This made me wonder if squatting in that fashion somehow caused my pelvis to realign itself naturally.  Now, this wasn't some sort of miracle cure, as my back still hurts while I type, but it did enough to make me wonder if there is more to explore there.

Asics Speedstar Miles: 7.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

I ran 7 miles this morning in 53:27.  I ran the first part of the run with my running class, and I ran the rest of the run on my own.  When I woke up this morning my back felt the best that it has felt in a while.  This persisted through the first part of the run today, but unfortunately it did not last.  My back started to get stiff and hurt a bit partway through the run, persisting until the end.  The positive that I am taking from all of this is that things are getting better.  Progress is painfully slow (literally), but at least I can say that I am making progress.

Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 7.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

I ran approximately 7 miles this morning in 54:30.  I was supposed to meet Tyler, but he never showed up so I ran alone.  My back felt decent but not great this morning. This is a positive for me because I helped a neighbor move a couch into his apartment last night and my back was fairly sore afterwards.  I was worried that I would experience a fair amount of pain, which never materialized.

About 5 miles into the run I performed a little experiment.  I mentioned on Tuesday that while hiding in some tall grass I had to squat super low in order to remain unseen while doing my business.  Upon commencing running once more I noticed that my back felt better.  Today I decided to see if there was something inherently special about holding a super low squat, so I stopped, spread my legs out a little wider than normal (to simulate the attempt to avoid getting my nastiness on my shoes when in the bushes) and I squatted down really low, holding the squat for about 20-30 seconds.

I didn't notice anything special at first, but I remembered that on Tuesday I had also bent forward at the waist to get my torso lower to the ground.  When I did this I felt like there was a slight stretch in my low back, and when I stood up I felt less discomfort.  It made me think that my pelvis rotated just slightly when I squatted like that, prompting a slight decompression on one side of the vertebrae.  Unfortunately, whatever happened did not last and within a mile I felt no different than I had felt previously.  The positive is that I felt better after I held the squat, while the negative is I still do not know what actually happened to make things feel better.

I may try squating as such on occasion during my runs or while at school/work if my back is feeling off.  Maybe I will get a better idea of what is happening through repetition.  I also think that I should name the squat.  Since I discovered this while doing my business maybe I should name it based on it origins?  Something like "nature's squat", or maybe the "squatting dog", or "excreta's squat".

Altra Adam Miles: 7.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

I ran 7 miles this morning in 53:51.  I ran the first half of the run with my running class, and I ran the second half on my own.  During the second half of the run I picked up the pace four times for 10-20 seconds.  The point of doing this was to see how my back and leg would respond to running fast without risking injury by running hard for long periods of time.  Picking up the pace a bit actually caused me to wonder if the problems I have been having with my left quad are partially due to some sort of nerve impingement.  I still feel a pinching sensation in my quad (at the proximal end just below the ASIS) despite the absence of pain for the last week or two.  I actually notice this sensation more when walking than when running.  Sometimes this pinching sensation actually radiates upwards into my pelvis and low back as well.  I will have to look more into that.

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 7.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.004.000.000.007.00

I ran 7 miles this morning in 45:16.  I got out the door later than planned and as a result I decided to run a little faster so that I wouldn't miss any of general conference.  I didn't want to risk hurting myself, but recently I have felt like the pain I have been feeling is not muscular, but maybe nerve related and as a result I felt like I was not taking too large of a risk by running a little faster.  What I did not realize was how fast I would naturally start to run without really trying to run fast.

I started the run, and I figured that if I started below 7:30 for the first mile I could then speed up to sub 7:00 pace, maybe even 6:30-6:40.  Still worried about potential injury I did not feel comfortable going faster than that.  I ran the first mile in about 7:20, and a little over a minute later when I hit the trail (where there are markers every quarter mile) I started timing my splits.  I felt like I was running around 6:40 pace, maybe a little faster, so I was rather surprised when I hit the half mile mark in 3:05.  The pace felt so easy that I decided to just keep going.  The next half mile was 3:00, followed by 2:53 and 2:51 for the next two half mile segments after which the trail ends (so, 6:05 and 5:44 mile splits, 11:49 for 2 miles).  I felt like I was maxing out aerobically at about 5:40 mile pace, which is unsurprising considering my training (or lack thereof), but I was happy that the effort did not feel too taxing from a muscular standpoint.

After using the port-o-potty nearby I ran a little extra until I hit my turn around, came back, and started heading back on the trail towards home.  On the way back I was running slightly uphill (vs. slightly downhill on the way out) and I ran splits of 1:29, 2:51, 1:26 (5:46 mile), followed by 2:48, and 2:47 splits (5:35 mile, 11:21 for 2 miles).  I definitely felt like I was going anaerobic near the end of the second mile when I was running up a steeper uphill grade and I was going faster than I had run early on.  Overall, running hard today felt really good.  It has been a while since I have run hard, and I was missing it (no hard runs since I got mono in July).  To top things off, my back was feeling better today than any other day this week, and the different focus during the run shifted my focus away from my back and I was able to ignore things for all but the first mile of the run.

On a side note, I figured it would be good to post a few more pictures of my little people.

Anita holding baby Kamran

Anita holding Kamran #2 (she loves holding him, it is very cute)

Kamran doing what he does best, sleep!

Kamran smiling in his sleep while wearing the blanket that Grandma McClellan made for him

Shayon taking a nap on the living room floor

Altra Adam Miles: 7.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
38.004.000.000.0042.00
Altra Adam Miles: 21.00Asics Speedstar Miles: 7.00Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 7.00Saucony Kinvara Miles: 7.00
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