Rob Murphy

AM: Easy treadmill run. Topped out at 7:30 pace.

AM: Two mile walk around our hotel with Abby in Laramie. Plan to do a longer run this afternoon either at my sister's house or in Boulder.

PM: Difficult 9.25 miles in the hills above my sister's house in Larkspur, Co, Hotter than the Weather Channel said it was gonna be. 

PPM: Couple more miles walking around the CU campus here in Boulder.

An observation.... Boulder is different from Utah. So close, yet so far. 

"I have very little time to get to the gym so I have to sculpt my guns at the office"

Been thinking about adding Ron Burgundy quotes. They're more funny than running. 

No running today but I did spend the entire day at the Boulder Running Clinic hosted by Jay Johnson. Really valuable presentations but, as always, I learned a lot more at the post seminar social. It's amazing how many top coaches go to this sort of thing. Coincidence?

For those of you who don't know, Jay Johnson is one of the most valuable resources in this sport. Jay was an above average high school runner who walked on at the University of Colorado and became part of its' first NCAA championship in cross country. In baseball there's an old adage that great players rarely make great managers. The great managers usually turn out to be the guys who topped out at AAA or managed a few years in the majors as a utility infielder. These are the guys who had to work hard to maximize every shred of their ability and so they mastered the nuances of the game. When it comes to managing and coaching, these guys have the edge over guys that the game came a little easier to. I think of Jay as this kind of guy in running.

Jay runs a series of camps for high school runners, coaches, and adults who's focus is road racing and marathons. I recommend checking it out.

Some take-aways

1. Ice baths - no evidence that they do anything and they might be harmful

2. Chocolate milk after workouts has real, measurable benefits both for short-term recovery and long-term adaptations 

3. Static stretching is NOT bad. The studies that claim it is are BS.

4. 20 mile runs are critical for marathoners no matter what the Hanson's say.

5. If periodization isn't dead, it is definitely dying. Every relevant performance quality must be worked year around.

6. You must challenge the nervous system during the entire year.

7. Cross county and track and field distance training should be the same.

8. General strength and mobility training should not be viewed as an afterthought, but as an essential part of most workout sessions. 

Tomorrow morning I'm heading up to Magnolia Road for a 14.5 mile run. 

I ran Magnolia Road up in the mountains (Flatirons I think) west of Boulder. Magnolia might be familiar to those of you who have read Running With The Buffalos or Running Tough.

The run is exactly (according to my Garmin) 7.5 miles one way. It's at an altitude of about 9400 feet - predominantly downhill out, uphill back. And these are some LONG uphill portions on the way back. Also some of the most beautiful country I've ever run through. Magnolia is an old dirt road that used to lead to the gold fields in the 19th century. Lots of old cabins and foundations of cabins along the way.

My goal was to run this fairly hard, maybe with negative splits. I ended up doing exactly 56 minutes out and 56 minutes back. I was happy with that considering the uphills and the headwind on the way back.

Has to be an all time top 10 run. 

Overnight in Eagle tonight. The hotel has a really nice gym/health club attached that I'll use in the morning. 

8.25 EASY treadmill miles plus some lifting/core exercises.

I did several sets of leg presses because they were mentioned at my clinic Saturday. For almost 49 years old I'm pretty impressionable. 

Should be home mid-afternoon after the required stop in Green River for a burger at Ray's Tavern 

Stair master "tempo run" today.

Walked to the gym

1 mile easy jog on treadmill.

260 floors on the stair master in 30 minutes. Apparently this equals about 5.4 miles if the machine's data is to be trusted.

Walked home.

Ann and I  are headed up to Alta in a bit to stay at the Alta Lodge this evening. We will do a good hike over to Catherine's Pass this afternoon. Practice is up there in the morning so this will work well.

Mom's staying with the kids! Thanks mom. 

Fifteen miles up at Alta with the team. The run kicked my but today. My boys looked good though. They are flying around the campground at the top of Albion Basin. Flying of course being relative at ten thousand feet. They've made a lot of progress over the past few weeks.

To top it off, I ended up spending the day up at Snowbird zip lining, alpine sliding, tram riding, and such when I really just wanted to come home and nap.

AM: Three miles of run-walking timing intervals at Sugar House Park.

That's it for today. I'm running the 15k trail race up in Park City on Saturday.

Just got my new issue of Outside. Park City is apparently the best place to live in the U.S.A.

Number two? My previous hometown of Greenville SC. 

Six treadmill miles with 4 X 1/4 mile at 11 MPH.

A former student/runner of mine, Joah Spearman has an excellent new start-up called Localeur. The main purpose of Localeur is to help travelers experience a city the same way a knowledgeable local would. If you are planning to travel to Austin, Houston, or the San Francisco Bay area, you should check it out. 

So far it's only three cities but New York will be added soon and it's growing fast. If you check the site out you will see that it's much more focused than sites like yelp and trip advisor. If I had a few days to spend in one of these cities, I would find localeur to be a lot more helpful. 

You can also follow localeur on twitter and Facebook. 

Trucked the whole family up to Park City for the third  race in the R-U-N events trail series, the 15k.

The course is laid out on the Quinn's Junction/Round Valley trails. The first couple miles are well groomed trails - almost like dirt roads. Three through seven become a lot more technical, hilly, and challenging. Lots of switchbacks, loose rocks and gravel, more uphill than down including a 1.5 mile climb. The final couple miles are a lot like the first couple with lots of downhill.

I ran 6:10 for the first mile and 6:30 for the second. Then I settled into about a 7 minute pace with mile five, all uphill, close to 8 minutes. I was working hard to catch the guy in front of me and I'd generally close on him on the uphills and he would pull away on the downhills. Unfortunately, the last couple miles were mostly downhill. Still, I'm happy with my 6th place finish.

I really enjoyed this race. Trail racing is a welcome change from road racing. I also like the pint glasses they give out instead of t-shirts.  

PM: Frozen yogurt at TCBY. 

Rested today. Worked in the yard and around the house.

8.25 miles in the gully before XC practice with Jake.

Kramer broke the Alta XC school record for the Gully Long Run (6.3 miles). 39:12 on hills, sand, and wood chip.  

Strong PR times for Blake and Alec as well. 

AM: 4.25 easy miles in the neighborhood. Then a mile walk with Abby.

First day back at school. Summer's over. 

PM: 2 miles with Abby. 

I feel compelled to admit that as a runner and a coach I have a bit of a crush on Nick Symmonds. You know, in a purely athletic sense.

I could go on at length about the disciplined way he has gone about this season and his whole career for that matter and about how he has done everything to maximize his potential. A true professional. 

13.25 miles in 1:47 up at Alta Ski Area. Last Alta run of the summer. Thanks to my principal, Dr. Fidel Montero, for letting me slip out for a couple hours to do this!

9.25 on the treadmill to avoid the 101 temp. outside. Some half marathon pace running.

In the men's 5000 meter final today...

3 Kenyans

3 Ethiopians

3 Americans

4 from 4 other countries

We're not doing so bad. 

15 miles on the Jeremy Ranch Road in 1:57. Ran with Garrett Jones, one of my 08 state championship guys.

Treadmill run. Worked up to 6 minute pace then backed down for a bit. Then did 4 X 400 at about 5:30 pace. 

I did a total of five miles of walking as well. I'm a walker and a runner. Someday, no doubt, I'll just be a walker. 

No running. Rough day in every way.

10 X Flying 40s on the Alta track with 800 recovery jog. 8.25 miles total with the warm-up and cool-down.

Flying 40s at 100% effort.

5k type workout for my half marathon on Saturday. 

Much better day. Smoothed out things with my boys after their lackluster effort at practice yesterday. Much improved attitudes today.

Abby had her forst day of middle school. Watching her nervousness and uncertainty about a new school has given me a new empathy for the kids I teach. As a teacher I have a reputation as a bit of a hard a _ _. But I'm definitely mellowing the longer I do this. Part of it is the fact that I taught at a pretty rough school my first six years in South Carolina and you had to get that way to survive. I was always breaking up fights, catching kids selling drugs in class, committing deviant acts in the restrooms etc.... but that sort of stuff happens rarely at Alta High. This stuff makes me generally happy that I moved to Utah.

We had back to school night at Andy's school. Second grade this year. Mrs. Lemon, his teacher, is possibly the calmest person I've ever met. This will serve her well with Andy.

First cross country meet is Thursday at the Highland Invitational at Sugar House Park. A lot of big question marks for my team with the exception of Kramer  who will be in everyones top five in the U.S. lists. We'll see how things shake out. The first three meets will be key. This is my favorite time of year - fall and the start of a new XC season. 

4.75 miles at 6 AM with my team. Did a barefoot lap and some barefoot striders at the end.

5.25 on the treadmill early in the AM.

Pipe ruptured under my house yesterday so no water for the last 24 hours. That's the kind of week its been. Lucky to get in any miles this week with the first week of school.

Maybe a couple more miles this afternoon at Sugarhouse Park for the XC meet this afternoon. 

Stat of the day...

80 percent of all U.S. families did not buy a single book in 2012. 

One easy mile around downtown Logan

I had no right to expect to run well today, but I did.

I registered for this race months ago back when I planned to make a serious run at the masters division on the USATF Circuit. Before I failed to properly register on time for the Murray 5k and before I stupidly decided to do the Des News Marathon instead of the 10k.

So, even though my training has been spotty and my mileage low, the family and I trucked up to Logan last night and stayed at the posh Weston Inn which was free due to out massive accumulation of Best Western rewards points over the past decade. Had a nice dinner and walked around the downtown area amongst all the newly returned USU students. Watched a band who's lead singer reminded the kids of Shel Silverstein from the back to their book, The Giving Tree.

I slept awesomely without any mistakes for a full 5.5 hours which might be a pre-race record and might account for my decent time.

Got to the starting line, milled around, hung out in the POP's for a while and ran two miles for a warm-up. More than usual.

The race went well from the start. Ran around 5:45 pace for most of the first 10 miles including one 5:31. Struggled a bit the last couple with a 6:31 mile between 11 and 12. Regrouped for a 5:57 for the last one. I ran alone after I left by buddy Steve Anderson a little after mile six. I could at least see Sasha for most of the race and I was hoping maybe he would roll his ankle or something in his Crocs so I could catch him. No such luck.

I stopped my watch when it said 13.1 even though I wasn't yet at the finish line which is my new policy. I believe the race time said 1:16 45. I like my 1:16:31 better so I will go with that. Either way, it's my fastest half marathon in the last two years.

They doubled the announced prize money so I picked up $50.00. It lasted about two hours before Ann and I went to the new flatbread pizza restaurant in Downtown Sugarhouse for lunch where I had a delicious pizza and a couple BEvERages. Then I went home and napped. 

I have to say that my award for winning the 45-49 age group might be the best ever. It's a big rock-trophy that weighs about 20 pounds. I got tired carrying it to the car.

Up next, the Fabulous Alta Peruvian Downhill Dash and BBQ Bash 8k. Many people refuse to run the APDD&BBQB citing the quad punishing nature of the decent. That means more food and beverages for me after.

Oh yeah, I've learned how to insert links. 

Walked a lot today. 5 miles

Had to drive back up to Logan and back because Abby left her English textbook in the hotel. 

4.25 miles on the treadmill. Still a little sore.

Nothing. 16 hours at work.

9 miles in the gully at 3 PM. Hot.

5.25 miles at AM practice.

Included 8 X Flying 40s. Nice run. 

Andrea has a thought provoking post today.

PM: 4.25 miles of wicked hard ellipticalling.

AM: 2.5 miles of walk/jogging.

PM: 5 96 degree miles around the neighborhood. Not the most enjoyable run.

Two miles around the course in American Fork at the cross country meet.