Rob Murphy

16.25 miles in 2:02:37 (7:33). First 10 miles was on the roads around Sugarhouse Park and East Salt Lake. Last six on the wood chip path at Liberty Park. Saw Utah Jazz center Mehmet Okur running at the park as well rehabbing his ruptured achilles. Jogged with him for about 50 yards and wished him luck.

My girls did a good job at Bob Firman considering the circumstances. They were up at 2 am for the six hour bus ride to Boise. Barely got the the meet in time to pick up packets, hand out numbers and chips and get in a short warm-up. No time to check out the course. Meanwhile, our chief competition all traveled up the night before, lounged around the hotel until 9am, had a good breakfast, and were at the course in plenty of time to relax beforehand. Still, the girls finished 5th out of 18 teams in the Varsity Elite race. Counting the teams in the two other varsity races, they were 5th out of 84 teams. Ryan Fuller ran a 17:04 in the boys elite race after a week of battling bronchitis.

It occurs to me that some people might think "what kind of stupid coach gets his team up at 2 am for a 300 mile bus ride to compete against some of the best teams in the country when those teams went up the night before and are rested"? See, the thing is, our school district allows each team only one overnight trip per year. We are using ours for the Nike Southwest meet in Tempe, Arizona in November. Other districts (Davis, Park City, Ogden) don't have those restrictions.So, if I want my team to race the best teams from out of state, I have to deal with these restrictions and hope for the best.

We didn't get home from Boise until 1 am this morning. Very tired today. Now, to enjoy my one day weekend.

10.5 miles in 1:17:08 (7:21) out and back on the Porter Rockwell Trail with Ryan Fuller, Tyler Ross, Brandon Gardenhire, and Brad Biggs - my top four guys.

88 degrees!

Two easy miles on the treadmill plus some really hard lifting. Lots of plyo box jumps. Legs are rubbery now.

Off to parent-teacher conferences until 9 pm. Fun. 

Early in the morning. Seven miles in 55:27 around Sugarhouse Park. More p-t conferences tonight, so won't see my kids for the second day in a row. Bummer.

Pretty sore from the weights yesterday which is a good thing. 

It was a beautiful day today an I hated being confined to my classroom so I busted out. Ran 6.5 miles in the gully between my 2nd and 4th period classes. I'll probably run a few more tonight at cross practice.

Mostly timing intervals on the state meet course at Sugarhouse Park in the pm.

I'm a little cranky with the new Powerade Fab 50 national cross country rankings that came out yesterday. The Park City girls got ranked (32nd in the US I believe) and we did not. We've had a really close rivalry with them all year and have beaten them twice. Yet we didn't get a mention.

Oh well, we're going to the Park City Invitational on Saturday and I assume they will be there. We can put up or shut up.

I'm 46 years old today. Officially in my "late 40s". Nice to have the day off from work.

I ran seven in 54 minutes early this morning. After that, I walked with Abby to school and jogged the half mile back home. Ann and I dropped Andy off at preschool and then went to Alta High for 9:30 am cross country practice. Just had the kids do a couple easy miles then some ATP regeneration speedwork. Then Ann and I went to breakfast at Mimi's on State Street by the Southtown Mall. Sort of a breakfast date with the schools doing the babysitting.

PM circuit/strength training workout:

1 mile warm-up on treadmill

1 x 30 push-ups, 1 x 25 incline sit-ups, 1 x 8 pull-ups, 1 x 10 back extensions with 45 lb. plate, 1 x 15 dips, 1 x 25 hanging leg lifts, 1 x 8 chin-ups, 2 x 12 plyo box jumps onto a 30 inch box, 1 x 10 back extensions with 45 lb plate, 1 x 30 push-ups, 1 x 30 v-crunches, 1 x 8 pull-ups, 1 x 12 single leg box jumps (each leg) on 14 inch box, 1 x 10 back extensions with 45 lb. plate, 1 x 25 calf raises with 110 lbs., 1 x 30 crunches, 1 x 10 dips, 1 x 20 calf raises with 110 lbs., 1 x 30 push-ups, 1 x 15 one-arm dumbell cleans with 30 lbs., 1 x 25 incline sit-ups, 1 x 12 deadlift with 125 lbs., 1 x 25 push-ups, 1 x 15 back squats with 145 lbs.

1 mile cool-down on treadmill

This is pretty much the strength training workout I have done, with some variations, for the past year and a half. I think it's one of the reasons for the improvement in my half-marathon and marathon times the past couple years. I think it builds a lot of strength and muscular endurance without adding bulk and weight which could be detrimental to my running. In fact, my weight is down from 5 to 7 pounds since starting this workout.

am: 2.25 miles around the cross country course at the Park City Invitational.

Went to the race anticipating a showdown with #36 in the nation Park City and my Alta girls. Everything went pretty much as I had hoped - all my girls ran great with the exception of my #1 runner, Sierra Knapp, who rolled her ankle badly at the 1/4 mile mark and hobbled the entire way finishing as our #5 runner. She ran a really courageous race, and a mere freshman. I figure it cost us about 17 points. Park City got us 71-81. Today's race was a hilly 3 miles at 7000 feet! My #1 girl, Carolyn Webber finished 4th overall in 19:13.

I guarantee anybody that if you lined my girls up with the supposed national top 50 according to ESPN Rise that they would finish nowhere near 50th.

pm: 10 miles in 1:13:55 (7:23) around Sugarhouse.