Rob Murphy

December 30, 2024

15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

Salt Lake City,

Member Since:

Feb 11, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

I had some success in high school and college. Winner 1985 Rod Dixon Run

Had a fair amount of success as a Masters runner for most of my 40s.

Short-Term Running Goals:

Have fun with running, explore more trails, stay healthy.

Long-Term Running Goals:

Keep running and racing consistently for as long as I can. Find what is sustainable for me over the long run.

Personal:

I teach AP European History and other courses at Alta High School. I coached the track and cross country teams at Alta for 16 years.

Married, two kids - Abby and Andy

My Twitter @murphy_rob

Click to donate

to Ukraine's Armed Forces

Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	124.75	Year:	1734.45

Fri, Jan 03, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
17.50	0.00	0.00	0.00	17.50

16.25 miles circling and circling and circling Sugar House Park. Two hours, four minutes.

I have to reccomend a book. Elite Minds: Creating the Competative Advantage by Dr. Stan Beecham. I think it's the motivational sports psychology book I've always been looking for as a runner and a coach.

I'm going to be quoting from this book a lot in the coming days...

Every now and then, I hear someone talking about a backup plan, a "Plan B". The backup plan is what you do if the primary plan, Plan A, doesn't work out. When we create a Plan B, it's not so much of a safety net, but a noose. It's a great way to sabotage yourself. Anyone with a Plan B is not totally committed to Plan A. They are hedging their bets. People with a Plan B are planning to fail - they just don't know it yet.

Kill Plan B or it will kill you!

PM: 1.25 warm-up miles and weights. Did some squats.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00	Weight: 0.00	Calories: 0.00

Comments

From Bret on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 13:01:44 from 216.234.133.229

Clockwise or counterclockwise circles. (just curious).

From Rob Murphy on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 13:07:36 from 24.10.249.34

Always clockwise which is against the one-way traffic flow.

From Jake K on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 14:04:51 from 199.190.170.21

Sounds like an interesting book. I have a couple others ahad of it in my lineup, but plan to get to it at some point based on your recommendation.

Re: that quote.. I get what he's saying, but when it comes to endurance events (ie. marathon), I wholeheartedly disagree. My worst two marathons, by far, were the ones where I only had a Plan A and no Plan B.

In the big picture of training and racing - of course you need to fully commit to get the best out of yourself. But is having a backup plan in a race really planning to fail? That sounds a lot like the totally extreme thinking that sells magazines and books.

From Rob Murphy on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 14:50:04 from 24.10.249.34

Plan A - Succeed a lot.

Plan B - Succeed a little bit.

That's what he means I think. There's quite a bit of info before and after the quote that qualifies things.

From Jake K on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 15:02:06 from 199.190.170.21

Makes sense. I'm sure in context it reads differently.

My point was - if you don't break 2:18, try to break 2:20, don't throw in the towel and jog in at 2:30. So, that's basically what he is saying too.

From Rob Murphy on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 15:22:47 from 24.10.249.34

He wasn't talking about time goals in a specific race. He was talking about where you want to get in life. The author is a sports psychologist who has become popular with runners, but he also has clients in other sports and in business.

I avoid this by not even having a Plan A! That way I'm never disappointed.

From dugco on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 15:30:18 from 68.35.217.251

Dadgummit, Rob - no Plan A, B or Z in the first place was gonna be my comment! Although as Jake says, if your "plan" is to run x time and you realize it aint hapnin, don't jump off a cliff... x plus a bit is still a fine accomplishment. [off to dream of "throwing in the towel and jogging in at 2:30" for my next marathon]

From Rob Murphy on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 15:59:41 from 24.10.249.34

I'm with you Doug. Jake is a bit of an elitist. Doesn't realize how he hurts the feelings of us slow plodders.

From Jake K on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 16:19:32 from 67.128.146.20

It definitely reads differently in that context - bigger picture thinking. And in that case, I agree with how it's written and the point he's making.

From Rob Murphy on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 16:43:06 from 24.10.249.34

I'm kidding Jake. See what happens when I leave out the "emoticons"? :-)

From Laputka on Fri, Jan 03, 2014 at 18:09:17 from 71.199.1.12

I read it the same way Jake did. For I while, I felt like a total failure for usually having an A,B and C goal.

From Jon on Sat, Jan 04, 2014 at 16:24:54 from 107.203.52.135

I had the same thought as the others- for races, multiple goals = good (if you always achieve your Goal A in race, you aren't running hard enough). For long term life goals, 1 goal can be good.

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