Rob Murphy

I really enjoyed my run today. Did 8.75 miles in about 65 minutes. Just a nice bread and butter mental health run.

I did a lot of thinking about where I'm going with this sport and whether I need to do some re-prioritizing. Is that a word? I want to continue to find ways to improve but I don't want to sacrifice the joy I get from running. 

Four miles on the treadmill in 30 minutes

125 floors on the stairmaster hard enough to breath hard and sweat a lot.

Pretty decent treadmill run on my lunch "hour". He he he....

9.25 miles averaging around 7 minutes/mile with some occasional forays into the 6 minute range. Nice soak in the hot tub after.

Conferences at Abby's school tonight. No doubt we have volunteered to bring food to feed the teachers.

This was the workout I've been waiting for for about two months. In the weeks leading up to Austin, I did some pretty decent workouts, but I never really felt that special "it" that you get when you know you are primed and ready. All of my threshold workouts were a real struggle. Today was different - I ran hard, but always felt I could go harder. Even when I pushed the pace up to 5:18 or faster.

9.6 miles in 60 minutes - treadmill fartlek

6 x 10 minute increments (2 minutes at 7 mph, 2 at 9 mph, 2 at 10 mph, 4 at 10.5 mph)

Kept the speed the same (7, 9, 10) for the first six minutes on all of them, but gradually upped the pace on the last four minutes each time so I was at 10.9 mph on #5 and averaged 11.3 mph for the last four minutes of the run. Felt great!

11.25 total with warm-up and cool-down,

am: Gym workout...

1 mile warm-up

Some general strength training of the circuit variety.

125 floors on the stairmaster

15.25 in 1:55 - New route through East Millcreek and Holladay. Nice morning, nice run, got lots of good thinking done.

Now time to get ready for the Murphy family Superbowl party. 

Liesurely seven on the treadmill at Steiner while Abigail Pumpkin Pie swam.

A big storm blew in while I was on the treadmill and I had a great view next to the window of the heavy, horizontal blowing snow.

Everyone should say hi to Benji Abrams over on the right under "new kids on the block". I was Benji's high school coach in South Carolina back in the 90s.

Ten miles in 71 minutes around Sugarhouse. Cold and windy, but otherwise a good run. I'm just sort of going with the flow right now.

Had a bunch of AP students come in to watch a film today after school. I ran the Best Buy loop while they learned about the digging of the Panama Canal.

Kind of taking it easy as I want to run well Saturday in the SLTC Winter 10k.  

Zero.

6.5 on the treadmill tonight at Steiner. Hopped it on up to 5:27 pace for a quarter mile four times.

While I was running tonight a calm feeling of complete complacency decended upon me. Feeling good and excited about the race tomorrow morning. 10 am at Saltair - the perfect time of day for a Saturday race.

What a crazy race today out at Saltair by the Great Salt Lake. I like to run this race every year as a measure of how my training is progressing compared to the previous year. Also, it's a flat out-and-back course which, unlike a lot of our hilly courses, gives you a true indicator of your fitness.

It was a great race in most ways. I ran 35:32 as compared to last years 36:26. So almost a minute faster which I have to be thrilled with. I lined up on the starting line next to Dennis Simonaitis (nice full page profile of him in the new Running Times) so I knew I was racing for second in the Masters division.

Mile 1: 5:34 - feeling pretty good, surprisingly close to race leaders.

Mile 2: 5:43 - Decided to be a little conservative as I wasn't ready to hurt this early in the race. Tucked in right behind some young guy and drafted for a bit.

Mile 3: 5:43 - Young guy started to falter which really annoyed me because I was enjoying drafting off of him in the slight headwind. Probably stayed behind him a little too long. Finally passed him around 3.4 miles.

Mile 4: 5:46 - Running alone now and slightly struggling to maintain pace. A little cranky at not having any company.

Mile 5: 5:49 - Just trying to keep it together. Could see Neal Gassman (another Master) about 20 or 30 seconds ahead. I wasn't closing the gap on him but it wasn't widening either. I've never beat Neal in a 5k or 10k and this was about the closest I've ever been.

Mile 6: 5:48 - Started closing the gap on Neal and one other guy, but not enough time left.

Last .22: 1.08 - Averaged 5:17 pace. Sort of had a kick.

Finished 8th overall. Since Dennis was there, and Neal, I didn't win the $50.00 gift card to Salt Lake Running Company that I was counting on to help me buy my next pair of shoes. So I compensated by taking about 20 coupons for a free loaf of bread at Great Harvest that they were giving away. Have to make back that entry fee some way right? Here's the bummer though. Last year I ran a minute slower and won the masters division. Two years ago I ran 5 minutes slower and won!

So now I think I should be able to run 2 minutes faster at the Salt Lake Half than I did last year. That would put me in the mid to high 1:13 range.

Good day planned. I'm not sure why, but Ann has decided to make a turkey for dinner. So we are having turkey, stuffing, and all the Thanksgiving stuff. No football though!

Really beautiful day here in sunny Utah. Low 50s and absolutely perfect for running. If I wasn't a little achy from yesterday's race I could easily have run for 3 hours. As it was, I had to settle for an hour around Sugarhouse Park zig-zagging around the many thousands of runners, bikers, walkers, dogs...on second thought, maybe it is nice to have some typical winter weather so I can have MY park to MYSELF.

No school tomorrow so I should be able to get in a good, quality day. I will be running the mile and the 3000 meters at the USATF Masters Indoor Championships in ABQ ( 3 letter airport code for the city in New Mexico that I could spell if I wanted to, but am way, way, way too lazy to sit here at my computer and type out that ridiculously long name).

So, I will be reducing my mileage and training like a middle distance runner for a couple weeks to se if I can avoid complete embarassment.

Also walked 3 miles today.

9.5 on the treadmill at Steiner. Started out at 7 mph and worked my way up to 10 mph over 65 minutes. Felt pretty good. I know I need to do some fast 400 and 200 meter intervals, but it takes me more than two days to recover from a hard 10k.

Our Valentine's "date" consisted of breakfast at Ruth's Diner up in Emmigration Canyon after the kids went to school. I have a really good wife.

After work I went to the gym mostly because of our 50 mph wind today.

13.25 miles on the treadmill with an interval workout sandwiched in the middle

5 x 1/2 mile in 2:36 (11.5 mph) with a 1/4 mile jog recovery.

Went to Abby's annual swim team swim-a-thon after. She swam 82 laps. Fun team pizza party after. Crazy weather here tonight. Very windy, snowing hard, thunder and lightning. "Thunder Snow" I think they call it.

Nine miles around Sugarhouse Park

6.25 on the treadmill. Varied the pace from 8 to 10 mph.

2 miles on the elip. after just to burn some more calories.

Fun weekend planned. My old high school friend and teammate, Bret (bret.fastrunningblog.com), is in town to ski. We have a long run planned for tomorrow morning and then dinner tomorrow night.

Ann and Abby are going tonight to watch the Ute gymnasts take on the University of Michigan.

Most excellent run today.

Ran about a mile and a half around the neighborhood before driving up to The Canyons near Park City to pick up Bret. Ann dropped us off in East Canyon and we ran down through Emmigration to my house in Salt Lake. 16 miles in 2 hours even. Bret really hung in like a trooper on the hills for a Florida boy.

Nice mix of rain and snow and high winds most of the way, but didn't really notice it.

Ann had some pankakes ready for us when we finished. Great run - like all long runs, better with company.

pm: Went to the gym to sit in the sauna for a while and decided to hop on the treadmill and make it a 20 mile day. 2.5 more.

Ridiculously easy four miles in the snow.

am: 8.5 miles on the treadmill in 60 minutes.

pm: Worked on being speedy again...

1.75 mile warm-up

5 x 1/2 mile in 2:36 with 1/4 mile recovery jog

Cool down

Now off to TCBY to celebrate George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays. The kids wanted Ann to make a cake but she refused to do so for "dead presidents". So we're going to TCBY instead.

Just read an interesting post on the letsrun.com message board from Renato Canova, the famous Italian coach of Kenyan runners. Said one of their favorite marathon workouts is 5 x 5000 meters at pace with a 1000 meter recovery. Might have to try that one...

Ran 6.25 miles on the treadmill today with a short, but pretty hard strength/plyo workout after. Tired now. Need to focus on getting 7 to 8 hours sleep every now and then instead of my normal 6.

9 x 1/4 mile in 75 seconds (12 mph) on the treadmill. 2% elevation on the first 5, 2.5% on the last 4.

1/4 mile jog recovery.

Warm-up and cool-down was a total of 7.5 miles.

Why nine quarters? Because I didn't feel like doing ten and I try not to be obsessed with round numbers.

Rested. Hung out with the family. Didn't run.

TEN THINGS I MOST LIKE ABOUT UTAH (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

10. Close driving proximity to about 15 National Parks.

9. Fish tacos at Lone Star on Fort Union Blvd.

8. The Red Iguana (rediguana.com)

7. Jerry Sloan. I've decided to replace the coach with the new Epic Brewery downtown.

6. Trail running at Alta.

5. The Fabulous Alta Peruvian Lodge.

4. Train stuff - Heber Valley Railroad, Golden Spike National Monument.

3. The Utah running scene and people.

2. City Creek Canyon.

1. "Quirky" state history. 

I posted this list because I have had several conversations lately with friends from out of state where the "why do you live in Utah" question came up. I would say that these are the little things (except #3 and #10 - those are pretty big for me) I like most about Utah. 

Oh yeah, my run. Just an easy seven with six 1 minute efforts at about 5:30 pace to loosen up a bit for the SLTC Winter 15k tomorrow.

Only one week until the USATF Masters Indoor T&F Championships in Albuquerque. I'll be running the mile and the 3000. A huge change from my normal routine! I'll probably reduce my mileage down to 30 or 40, focusing on rest and speed.

Steve Anderson will be joining me as well along with my good high school friend and Best Man at my wedding, Doug Covert from Tallahassee Fl. dugco.fastrunningblog.com. Doug is a sprinter and will be running the 200 and 400. It will be fun seeing all us old guys trying to run fast. And, believe it or not, I haven't seen Doug since July 2, 1994 - the day I got married. Although we have kept in touch it will be great to reacquaint in person.

Wrapped up the Salt Lake Track Club Winter Series today with the 15k. When I went to bed last night I was doubtful that I would run today. Lots of snow and very windy and I didn't want to race if it wasn't possible to get a quality time that I could compare to previous efforts. When I woke up this morning it was still snowing but the wind had calmed down quite a bit.

Met Steve Anderson at the start and warmed up with him. Also saw Dennis Simonaitis once again so it was a loaded masters field. OK, the race...

My time was 54:50 which was 29 seconds faster than last year with this years race being run in vastly inferior conditions. The course is out and back and there was a strong headwind the first half and I was, as usual, all alone. I was pretty fired up about having the wind at my back for the last half of the race though. But when I hit the turn-around I was bummed to discover that it was more of a right to left crosswind. Oh well.

Splits: 5:46, 5:54, 5:56, 5:52, 5:54, 5:59, 5:58, 5:51, 5:53, 1:47 (5:36 pace).

Enjoyed a nice 4 mile jog after with Dennis and Bill Cobler. Always nice to talk shop with a guy like Dennis. The snow and wind really picked up during our cool down jog and, as bad as the conditions were during the race, we were all happy that the race didn't start an hour later when it would have been way worse! 

Times for the last 3 years in this race:

2009 - 56:48

2010 - 55:19

2011 - 54:50

Nine miles in 1:06:26 (7:23) around Sugarhouse Park. Beautiful day today in Salt Lake.

Legs are slightly sore from the race yesterday.

Five easy miles plus some weights/strength training. Lifted pretty hard but only about half the sets of my normal workout.

Had a really nice dinner last night up in Park City with my old Furman University track and cross country buddy Chris Farmer. Chris and his sister Beth are skiing with their families this week in Park City. Beth was a 5 time All American at the University of Florida and at one time, the U.S. 10000 meter record holder on the track.I actually hadn't recalled this, but she ran the marathon in the Olympic Trials in 1984 - the first year they had the women's marathon. Beth ran 2:36 as a 19 year old to finish 18th. More amazingly, she ran the race with a cast on her broken arm. That is hard core old school!  She had some really great stories.

It's really cool how easy it has been to keep in touch with friends who live on the other side of the country. So many are now coming out here each Winter.