Rob Murphy

am: Three mile walk-jog around the neighborhood. Mostly walk.

lunch time: Two miles on the treadmill along with some heavy lifting for about 45 minutes. Our recent warm weather has some of my trails open again, so I'm hoping to scurry over to the Dimple Dell Gully after work for a few miles.

pm: Check that. Five miles on the treadmill at the Salt Lake Sports Complex while Abby was swimming. Ann got called in to work tonight so that was my only option. Legs felt heavy and sluggish.

My dad died one year ago on this day. Among other things, I credit him with my life-long interest in sports and fitness. When I was nine or ten, he came home with one of those old 110 lb. weight sets from Sears. Remember the plastic ones filled with cement? I got really into it and my dad really encouraged me. I'd always be lifting in our garage in Anaheim California and my dad would sit with me, coaching. Cigarette in one hand, Pabst Blue Ribbon in the other. In high school he almost never missed my meets. I hope that I will be able to pass along a passion to my kids that means half as much.

I don't think he really got why someone would want to run and he thought marathons were for the insane. But whenever I finished one, he'd be the first person I'd call. As I continued into my 40s he's always ask when I was going to "hang it up". But I could tell he was proud. A couple months ago when I was doing the Grand Canyon run with Jon and Cody, I thought about him a lot the last few miles - wondering if he was aware of what I was doing and shaking his head. When we made it back to the North Rim I really wanted to call him but had to content myself with the hope that he knew and was happy. He was a really great dad and I will run this afternoon thinking of him the whole way.

Robert L. Murphy (1934-2009). Retired from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. He would definitely want me to mention that last part.

Now, for todays workout. Kind of complicated.

1.75 mile warm-up

2 minutes at 7:35 pace, 2 minutes at 6:44, 2 minutes at 6:03, and 2 minutes at 5:30 - did this for 52 minutes, so...

14 minutes at 7:35 pace, 14 minutes at 6:44, 12 minutes at 6:03, and 12 minutes at 5:30. 7 minute cool down at 8 minute pace. Kept the incline at 1.5% but lowered it to 1.0% on the 5:30 segments towards the end.

Total of 9 miles in 59 minutes for the hard run plus the warm-up for 10.75 miles.

I fell pretty good about this workout. It was hard without being too hard. I have to get comfortable with running at 5:30 pace for an extended period.

Squeezed in some miles during lunch. 6.5 in 49 minutes. Probably my only chance to run today.

Food discovery of the week: Veggie Burrito at Barbacoa. They have whole wheat tortillas. I get it with black beans, all three kinds of salsa and guacamole. No sour cream.  It's ridiculously healthy and yummy at the same time. A rare combo.

am: 7.25 cold, dark miles at 5 am. But like most such runs, it was really tough the first few minutes, then not so bad, then kind of nice. Got back around 6 am and found Abby in the kitchen trying to make waffles!

Two treadmill miles plus some strength training at Steiner while Abby swam. Took it easy today. I have 16 days off and I have it in the back of my mind that I want to run 200 miles over that time.

11.25 easy miles. I started out at 8 mph and worked up gradually to 9 mph at the end. The workout seemed harder though because of my sore leg and butt muscles from the squats I did with 150 pounds last night.

pm: 5 easy miles