Rob Murphy

Taking the day off today.

Five miles easy to warm-up.

Track workout at Highland High. 8 X 200 w/200 meter walk interval.

1. 36.94

2. 37.01

3. 34.84

4. 34.21

5. 33.66

6. 33.07

7. 32.64

8. 30.81

Two mile cool-down jog.

I felt really controlled on the first six. Pressed a little bit on #7 and went close to 100% on the last one. The last 20 meters of #8 was very hard.

I think if I had only done six I could have dipped under 30 on the last one.

I will be sore tomorrow. 

I was going to head up to Jeremy Ranch this afternoon after work but since it was such a beautiful day and we only had a half day of school today, I opted for a run on the gully trails instead.

12 miles. I went out of my way to find the sandiest trails and steepest hills. Hard run but fun. 

Four and a half miles mostly at 8 minute pace but with some half-mile and quarter-mile pickups.

2 x 1/2 mile in 2:50

2 x 1/4 mile in 1:25

I'm going to take a stab at the Striders Half Marathon on Saturday. I've done just enough consistent mileage and just enough quality runs to think I may be able to run around 1:18.

I don't want to make any predictions though because I'm not used to race stress. I've never run this race but the course is the first half of the Ogden Marathon course and I have run that race. I think I came through the half there in 2011 in 1:18, a time I would be very happy with Saturday. 

Very nice day today. It rained a lot in the early hours which is always appreciated. Had several positive interactions with students which always leaves me feeling good.

I have a couple book recommendations...

Running and Being by Dr. George Sheehan. This is a classic of the first running boom in the 1970s and is back in print for the first time in several years. I saw several copies at my local B&N yesterday on the shelf amongst the many crappy running books out these days. Dr. Sheehan was a first rate thinker who I think was able to capture what this sport means to those of us who pursue it in a certain way. If you are the type of person who can occasionally be accused of putting running ahead of God, country, career, and family, this book is for you. My only criticism of Sheehan is that he frequently over quotes the ideas of other thinkers and philosophers when I think his own ideas are superior. If I want to know what William James or Ralph Waldo Emerson think, I'll read their books.

Hanson's Marathon Method by, obviously, the Hanson's. I found this to be a welcome departure from many other marathon training books mostly because it's grounded in common sense and ideas that have been proven to help lots of top marathoners exceed what was thought to be their potential. It's grounded in science without being too technical They also have a straight forward and opinionated style that I appreciate.

Plan on an easy run plus a few striders with my buddy Steve Anderson today. 

Steve Anderson and his girls came for a visit yesterday and stayed the night which was great for me because Steve volunteered (after I asked him) to chauffeur me up to Eden, Utah for the start of the race this morning. I was up at 4 AM and out the door at 5:10.

My goal was to run each mile in around 6 minutes or, hopefully, a little under. One of the most useful measures for me of decent fitness returning is to be able to run at 6 minute pace for a long time without too much distress. Today's race was all about confidence.

I ran the first mile in 5:52 and was pleased that I was able to avoid going out too fast. My splits for every mile thereafter were right around my goal. Came through six miles in 35:30, Ten miles in 59:30, 13 miles in 1:17:58 (slowed a little bit on mile 11 to have a small confrontation with the high schoolers manning the water stop there. As I approached, I saw the stop with a table placed about 10 yards off the road and four or five kids standing around it talking. I asked them if they had any Gatorade and one of them nonchalantly gestured towards the table. I stopped and told them that I wouldn't want them to tax themselves too much by actually handing the drinks to the runners as they passed and gave them a brief class on how to operate a water stop).

They were not particularly eager students and did not respond well to my sarcasm.

Anyway, I was pretty happy to cross the finish line in 1:18:30 in tenth place and the second master. I don't think I'll ever beat Walter Brown (41 year-old punk) again. Picked up a $50.00 check for my efforts which exceeded my entry fee by $5.00. Always nice to come out ahead.

From what I understand, there was a titanic battle for the win between between Bryant Jensen and Riley Cook. A couple really tough racers those guys. 

This was a really well run race directed by real runners who obviously know what they are doing and care about runners. That always makes a difference.

Stopped by The Habit Burger Grill for a huge cheeseburger with Steve on the way home.  All y'all who live near Sugarhouse that haven't tried that place really should make it a priority. 

PM: Walked three miles around the neighborhood. I ate too much today and needed to burn some calories. 

I took the day off. My legs are pretty sore and I figured that if Jake Krong can take TWO days off after a marathon that it would make sense for me to take ONE day off after a half.

Allie's comment on my race  reminded me... I raced in a new pair of shorts yesterday. I've run every race since 2008 in the same pair and thought it was time for a change mostly because my favorite old pair is getting a little gross.

I'm more happy with my race yesterday the more I think about it. My main goal for this year has been to run as fast at the Gary Bjorklund half in June as I did two years ago (1:15:56).  For most of the year that has seemed a stretch but now I know I can average 12 seconds/mile faster especially dropping down four thousand feet. As a matter of fact I think I'm going to make 1:14 my goal which would be a PR. I haven't done any threshold workouts or longer intervals yet this year and I still was able to dip under 6 minute pace yesterday.

I think I've found the right mix of training and workouts that is working for me and I'm going to continue to tweak it a little more. Not making the marathon the focus of my training is the best thing. I've been looking a lot at what worked for Kramer last cross country season and reading about the kinds of things Rupp and Salazar and all the rest do to build real speed and endurance. A lot of this is nice to do if the marathon is your focus but essential to do if shorter races are your focus. 

Today's Workout: 3.25 mile walk. 

5.25 easy treadmill miles.

Followed that with a good strength/core workout. Included 3 X 10 box jumps and some other plyos.

I feel a scratchy throat coming on. I need to dodge that bullet. Mega Vitamins and lots of sleep tonight hopefully. 

I wanted to do a morning run today but I just couldn't get out of bed. Sore, snotty, feverish today.

I plan to drug myself and get in some easy aerobic miles this afternoon. 

PM: 6 slow, cold, windy miles. Winter is back. 

Well, at least I got some miles in even if they were on the treadmill. I'm still battling a cold although I'm much better today. I'm having a hard time regulating by body temperature and even though it was 50 degrees out this afternoon, it felt more like 30 to me. So I opted for indoors.

10.25 miles at 7:20 - 7:30 pace. I still feel Saturday's race in my legs and I'm having to adjust my planned workouts. It's funny how when I put together workout plans I act like I'm 25 years old. I'll give myself a day to recover from a really hard effort and then I end up having to take three or four.

Mild squabble between two old guys at the gym. One, obviously an old Marxist, wanted to watch MSNBC while the other, obviously a tea partying Republican, favored FOX News. It got quite heated until they figured out that there are about 20 TV's - more than enough to cover every ideological extreme. Before that I thought they might resort to fisticuffs. 

Something I was not fully aware of...

 My daughter recently found out that her best friend in the neighborhood (who is LDS) is moving away and will not be attending the same middle school as her next year all because the girl's family does not like their LDS ward and so they have to move to find another one. They like everything else about our neighborhood and their kids are happy and well adjusted. This is especially sad since this is Utah and there is an LDS church every quarter mile or so. But apparently going to one of those is not an option, they have to relocate the whole family. 

Does this sort of thing happen a lot? I guess it would be good for those in the real estate business. 

PM: 6.5 easy miles that didn't feel so easy at 9 PM. Only time I could fit it in today.

AM: One mile warm-up, weights/strength training, one mile cool down.

Sad news.... the latest edition of Utah Running is out and, one again, I was not profiled. 

PM: 8.25 excellent running miles in the gully with my former stud runner Garrett Jones ( now 21 years old) who arrived home from his LDS mission in Denmark about 18 hours ago. I hope to write much more about this later.

AM: 1.25 easy around the neighborhood.

Around 9 AM I drove down to Sandy with Jake for a run in the gully. I did 11 miles in 1:24. We came across Justin Park about 5 miles into the run and he joined us. When we got back to the parking lot Jake and Justin went for a couple more miles in the lower gully and I went into the gym and did a couple more on the treadmill.

I cant get my chest congestion and snottiness to go away. I really feel it on the uphills. 

16.25 miles this morning up and down City Creek Canyon and around the Capitol Hill neighborhood some. What a beautiful run! Going up the canyon I turned back at exactly seven miles due to deep snow in the road. I had the canyon mostly to myself early on a Sunday.

I made it a point to run the steepest hills very hard.

Good run, hopefully the beginning of a good week.

Didn't feel like running this afternoon.

 New plan for the upcoming year. Des News Marathon in July (bummer it's not on the circuit!) and the Boston Marathon next April. As a matter of fact, I'm going to make hotel reservations in Boston for 2014 tomorrow. 

Couldn't sleep last night. Woke up a little after 2 AM, had a cup of coffee and a banana and then went for a run. I was out the door at 3 AM - a nice time to run I must say if you don't like noise or traffic.

17 miles in 2:15.

Maybe I'll try to leave work a little early and nap this afternoon. I'm already sleepy sitting at my desk at  7:50 AM. Good thing I still have $6.00 on the Starbucks gift card in my wallet.

I hope all of you in Boston have/had a safe trip home and that you hearts aren't too heavy. 

Easy four plus some striders. Huge time crunch today.

I was able to achieve a workout today....

2.5 mile warm-up then 4 X 1 mile. Easy quarter mile jog recovery.

5:58, 5:45, 5:38, 5:38

Finished with a short cool down jog. Felt pretty good. Close to two weeks of chest congestion and sinus gunk still bothering me. 

AM: Chilly 7.5 mile run with by buddy Jeff Shadley who is in town for a conference. That's one way to get my butt out of bed for a morning run. Jeff is the master of the early morning run.

AM: 7.25 miles in a cold rain. 6 X 100 meter striders after. More this afternoon hopefully.

PM: 7.25 more miles in 54:30. Loving those 7.25 mile runs lately.

Just got my Time magazine "100 Most Influential People in the World" issue. I didn't make it again. 

My good friend Bret Jardine (bret.fastrunningblog.com) just broke 3 hours at the London Marathon. Bret needs lots of congrats when he posts a race report.

15.25 miles. Started at my house, circled around Sugarhouse once and then dropped down to Liberty Park to do the last 10 miles on the wood chip. Liberty Park was working on a new record for crazy this afternoon. There was about one parking place opening up for every four cars that wanted it. Hundreds of thumping car stereos. Tempers were running high. I felt certain that if I circled the park enough times I would see a drunken Tongan shoot a drunken Redneck or vice versa leaving their pit bulls to fend for themselves. Good times!

Rested

AM: Easy run in the crisp morning air around suburban Sandy, Utah. Very enjoyable.

I took the day off of work to hang out with my mom who is in town for the week. So I was able to do a late morning run around Sugarhouse.

10.25 miles plus some striders on the grass at the park.

Mom graciously offered to pay for a room at the spiffy Spring Hill Suites at Thanksgiving Point Friday night. So I'll be staying down there prior to the race on Saturday.

I'm almost through with Bill Rodger's new book. There are a couple things about it that separate it from the standard sports/runners bio in a good way. I'll try to post a detailed review in the next couple days.

One thing I didn't know about him was that his 2:09:55 win at Boston in 1975 was a 10 minute PR.

Why has Rob Rhode deleted his blog? One of my favorites to read.

Took myself up to the gully today for some trail running. Did about 7 and a quarter. 

Went to Fiddler's Elbow for dinner with Ann. Had a Bacon, Tomato, and goat cheese pizza. Pretty tasty. 

Today is my son Andy's adoption day. It was on this day seven years ago that the State of Utah declared him legally ours. We will celebrate, as always with a huge dinner at Bucca di Beppo in downtown Salt Lake.

I'll do a short, easy run and some striders this afternoon ahead of the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon tomorrow at 7 am. 

I picked up my race packet before checking into the hotel last night. I'm bib number 5. Clearly the race organizers have a high opinion of my abilities. It probably has nothing to do with the fact that they transferred Jake Krong's entry to me.

Checked out the course a little last night. Not fast. It's also pretty windy out but I don't usually notice that in a race. Temperature seems perfect. I had no idea this race had almost a thousand runners.Pretty big expo and all. Half marathons these days!

OK. Good race. Loved the course after I adjusted to the fact that a fast time was not possible. I've never run a cross country half marathon before today. Lots of twisty paths, golf course etc. I only ran three sub six minute miles the whole way. First mile in 5:59, Third mile in 5:57, and 13th mile in 5:52.Most splits were in the 6:15 to 6:20 range with a couple 6:30s. I stopped worrying about them after a while. That fast last mile made the race a pretty good workout but the hills in the middle beat me up a bit as I was dueling it out with Kassie for a while.

Won the Masters division. Thanks to everyone for not showing up. $300.00 cash in an envelope after the race is nice! Thanks again to Jake for the entry.

This is a great race. I will put in on my calendar every year.

PM: 3 mile walk around the neighborhood. Beautiful day. I love walking. If and when my running days come to an end, I will be a good walker. 

Zero miles running.

Plenty of lawn mowing and associated yard work though. Plus a nice walk around the neighborhood with Ann.

Did anyone here listen to a band called The Replacements back in the 80s? One of my favorites. They had a song with a line that went, "the plan was to sweep the world off its' feet so you sweep the garage for the neighbors to see". Happy Town I think the song was.

That's how I mostly am. I'll get ambitious sometimes, but just a little bit. 

Seven miles in 55 minutes. I wasn't able to get out of the door until 8:30 PM. Nice run though.

8.5 miles in 1:02.

It would be accurate to say I'm less than motivated to train hard this week. I'm happy to be getting in some minimal miles. I did run into Jon Kotter tonight and ran a couple with him. Passed the time quicker.

They're talking about 32 degrees tonight! Tights in May if I do a morning run.