Rob Murphy

May 2014

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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

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Miles:This week: 12.50 Month: 92.75 Year: 502.72
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
273.252.003.001.00279.25
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.0011.50

11.5 miles around Sugar House Park. Threw in a few striders on the track. Almost got a little heat acclimatization today. Did I spell that right?

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.250.000.000.0012.25

10 miles around Liberty Park and then 2 miles on the Stair Master at a speedy tempo.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.500.000.000.008.50

Around BYU and the Provo High track during a lull in the meet.

I have four runners under 2 in the 800 now

Kramer Morton - 1:55.79

Braydon Lavery - 1:55.87

Alek Sperry - 1:59.59

Conner Nance - 1:59.90

I think that will get them into New Balance Outdoors in the 4 X 800.

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Day of rest. Went to church.

Seriously.

I actually planned a longish run today up in Park City but after church the kids and I went by The King's English bookstore here in Salt Lake. I picked up this new book called American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church by Alex Beam and I haven't been able to put it down. The early history of the LDS Church and how it ties into Jacksonian Era America is just flat-out fascinating to me.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

Nine gully-wompin miles after track practice.

Registered my boys and their smokin 7:51 4 x 800 time for New Balance Outdoor Nationals today. I won't be able to go with them. Bummer.

Spent two hours this evening with my old friend Jack Bauer.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.500.000.000.007.50

7.5 miles - once again, rompin and stompin through La Quebrada (in honor of Seis de Mayo).

Hot tubbing after.

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Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

14 miles around the Foothill Loop and Sugar House. Very early! Region track meet tonight and tomorrow night, swim meet Friday night, AP practice exam Saturday, Ann working Friday and Saturday nights... might be hard to squeeze runs in.

Good meet tonight at Copper Hills High School. All three of my girls set PR's in the 3200 and Kramer won the region championship in the 1600 outkicking Bingham's Andrew Brewer (the defending 5A state champ in the 1600) in the last 100. It was good for Kramer to get a win against a tough opponent. Slow pace for the first 800 made it hard for anyone to run a great time but my guys all ran tough. Kramer's 800 splits were something like 2:18, 2:07.

3200 and 800 tomorrow for the boys, 1600 and 800 for the girls.

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Too tired to get up this morning which probably means I'll take a zero today. Track meet after school and then Abby's orchestra concert tonight so unless I can drag myself out at 8:30 or 9:00 tonight, I won't run.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.250.000.000.003.25

Good meet yesterday. My boy's team came in second to Bingham. Kramer won the 800 in 1:55 and finished 2nd to Brewer in the 3200 in a photo finish. I couldn't tell the difference on the tape but they gave it to Brewer. Then he rested for seven minutes and anchored our 4X4 (which got DQed) in 50.5.

Blake and Davis both ran well and Braydon finished 2nd to Kramer in the 800. We went 1,2,4 in the 800.

No run. Foiled by lunchtime meetings and swim meet in Orem until 9 pm.

Managed 3.25 miles on the treadmill at the Orem Aquatic Center before my timing duties began. Is this better than nothing?

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.500.000.000.007.50

7.5 miles on the treadmill. A woman on the treadmill next to me fainted and got shot off the back of her treadmill and I had to call 911. I thought she was dead the way she literally flopped to the ground. Turns out she was just anorexic and had skipped a couple meals.

Wow! I made it to 40 miles for the week.

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Comments(8)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

Fourteen combination treadmill and stairmaster miles. I did 551 floors in 60 minutes which is a new PR. There was a small pond of sweat under the thing when I finished. Why do I sweat so much more on the stairmaster than the treadmill?

As a bonus, I got to watch the Clippers - OKC game while running. Another advantage of treadmills.

Legs are wobbly now.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.250.000.000.004.25

4.25 miles plus some push-ups, sit-ups and assorted core stuff. Was going to do more but I was feeling flat and a little sore from yesterday. So, opted for some easy recovery.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

Nine miles in the gully on a beautiful afternoon.

We had the JV region track meet this evening at West Jordan High School. This meet is open to all the kids who didn't place at the region meet last week. It's tough to watch some of my seniors like Jacob Allred run their last high school races. Jacob will go down as one of my all-time favorite runners. I hope he's one of the ones that "gets it" and that he will stick with running for a lifetime.

Finished watching The Rookie with Dennis Quaid tonight with Andy. Fun.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.000.000.000.0016.00

Eight miles around Sugar House Park at a civilized hour for a change. The sun was up!

I took a half personal day today since my kids are taking the AP exam and I don't have a class until 11 am. So I'm taking Andy to school and going to the Blue Plate for breakfast with Ann.

PM: Eight more miles around the neighborhood.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.000.000.009.00

Nine "lunchtime" miles in the gully.

Spent most of the evening pouring over that Steve Magness discussion thread Jake linked to today. Good stuff for a high school coach.

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Deep funk today... Richard Sherman is definitely better at life than I am.

Will try to get in a run around 8 pm when I get back from Andy's Cub Scout meeting.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
18.250.000.000.0018.25

AM: Easy run around Sugar House before heading down to Provo. I'll do another run with a few of the coaches after the 3200 this morning.

PM: 13 miles in Provo with Timo, Ashton, and a couple other guys.

Track will be over after today and I'll be able to re-claim my weekends!

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

I was going to do a long run up at Jeremy Ranch this afternoon. Nothing went right. Freeway like conditions on the road, hot and dusty, strong headwind in both directions, plus I felt drained and depleted. To top it off, I was unable to conjure up a single positive thought on the run -mostly focusing on my poor performance at my job.

So I aborted at three miles and turned around and jogged back.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.250.000.000.0012.25

A little better today...

Six times around Sugar House plus some extra up to 2300 East for a total of 12.25 miles.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.000.000.000.004.00

I just ate my lunch at 9:30 am. What will I eat at noon?

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Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.000.000.000.0015.00

Rob's book notes...

So for my summer reading list I've decided to re-read three books that have had a great impact on how I think about history.

A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan

Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1941-1945 by Barbara Tuchman

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald

All three of these books are really about much more than their titles imply. They are literally self contained educations. You feel smarter when you're done.

The first time I read A Bright Shining Lie I was blown away by this John Paul Vann guy, just filled with admiration to the point where I think I'd decided to name my first born after him. Then you get to the point halfway through when he sleeps with the 14 year old babysitter. I was devastated! But if you want to understand Vietnam, there is no better book.

Lincoln is unique among Lincoln bios in that Donald doesn't start out assuming Lincoln will end up an icon. You come to appreciate how his path to greatness was anything but assured.

Tuchman's Stilwell is a little dated and suffers from the fact that Tuchman was writing about World War II in 1970 and her judgement is clouded at times by her feelings towards the war in Vietnam. At times she paints with a broad brush. But as a biography of Stilwell and an introduction to America's complex relationship with China, it's the best.

PM: Two continuous hours of warm, dry, windy gully running in both the upper and lower gully. No watch. Garmin broke. I'm giving myself 15 miles.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.500.000.000.006.50

Why aren't more people paying attention to Dakota Lange's blog. He's a stud.

6.5 miles around Liberty Park plus 8 X 100 speedy striders. Also did some core stuff and explosive burpees - inspired as I was by watching one of Hobie Call's workout videos on youtube last night.

Busted out the Ab Wheel when I got home.

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Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.500.000.000.006.50

6.5 treadmill miles. I was tired and a little sore. I suppose from doing those striders yesterday and not doing them frequently enough.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Try to remember that it's about more than cookouts and matress sales.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.0013.00

Today I did a couple miles on the treadmill to warm-up then I headed over to the stairmaster for an EPIC session. 545 floors in 60 minutes.

I think I'm ready for Everest. If Eversst had stairs.

I just realized I haven't been sick this year. No allergies, not even a cold.

PM: Chopped down the dead aspen tree in my front yard. I was going to go for a second run to reach 70 for the week but the dead aspen was calling. I will miss it and so will the hummingbirds since our feeder hung from it. Sad that it's just a bit too warm in the Salt Lake Valley for aspens these days.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.500.000.000.0016.50

16.5 miles in 2:02 around Liberty Park and the surrounding neighborhoods.

I spent some time afterwards staring at the ducks at the pond. I just really like ducks. 

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Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
20.000.000.000.0020.00

20 miles at Jeremy Ranch in 2:26. The last four miles were hard. I ran them in 30 minutes but got dropped by about 2 minutes by the rest of the crew. More thoughts later...

I'm just happy and thankful that I can train as hard and consistently as I have been lately. I definitely try not to take it for granted. Sometimes I get a little wistfull out on 20 mile runs with guys like Jake, Fritz, and Josh - wondering how many more years I'll be able to do it but at the same time, just trying to enjoy the moment. I'll turn 50 in five months but it seems like just yesterday I was turning 40. I know the next 10 will fly by as well. You can't assume anything at 50. When I was 40, I assumned I would be running and racing at 50. I hope I will be training and racing hard at 60, but I certainly don't assume...

Not sure where I'm really going here. 36 years I've been doing this. I hope I will have the brains to know when to swallow my pride and make concessions so that I can keep doing it in a serious way.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(12)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.000.000.000.002.00

Two mile easy jog. Some walking.

Alta XC opening social tonight at 6 at Rock Creek Pizza. Can't wait!

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I surveyed my first period class of 11th graders on what they had for breakfast.

1. granola, yogurt, coffee

2.eggs and sausage

3. frosted mini-wheats with raspberries

4.Mango Tango Odwalla with toast

5. Two PB&J sandwiches. Chocolate milk.

6. cream cheese on pita bread. Chocolate milk

7. Bowl of Lucky Charms. Orange juice.

8. Cinnamon bun. Cinnamon sugar toast. Milk.

9. Nothing.

10. Toast.

11. Ham and Cheese Hot Pocket

12. Water

13. Ensure and a Banana

14. Nothing

15. Nothing

16. A pear.

17.Lucky Charms, strawberries, pop tart, apple juice.

18. Lucky Charms

19. Nothing

20.Nothing

21.Nothing

22.Nothing.

PM: 10 miles on the treadmill. Kept it at about 7 minute pace or a little faster.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(13)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.252.003.001.0011.25

Did a pretty hard treadmill fartlek - working up to 5:20 pace for a couple minutes at the end.

Andy brought home a pile of his art work from school today. Here's the conversation...

Ann: That's really good Andy. Is it a plane or a fish?

Andy: It's a boat.

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Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.250.000.000.006.25

Just a leisurely 10k around the neighborhood. Need to keep my easy days easy.

It will be a challenge to squeeze in a run around swim meet and Ann's work tomorrow.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

Am 6 on the treadmill at the Kearns pool.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
273.252.003.001.00279.25
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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