Rob Murphy

Week starting Mar 17, 2013

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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: 31.75 Month: 142.00 Year: 396.22
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
65.002.004.000.7571.75
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.000.0011.25

Yes! 

I just read on the Running Times website that the number of U.S. marathon finishers declined last year for the first time since 2001. I have been so ready for the current running boom to end. Hopefully we can all look forward to the day when we don't get shut out of our favorite races in favor of the Oprah wannabes and we don't have to commit to a race 12 months in advance just to be assured a spot.

That's my elitist end zone spike for the week.

PM: 11.25 miles on the treadmill. Started slow, worked up to 6 minute pace.

While I was running I was watching this show called Man vs. Food and all I have to say is WTF is wrong with us as a society? I actually could feel my blood pressure rising as I watched. There was this very fat man trying to consume seven pounds of food while a crowd cheered and encouraged him as if he were accomplishing something worth celebrating. I swear it was like watching a guy slowly committing suicide. If we keep on our present de-evolutionary trajectory I wouldn't be surprised if we are soon watching people play Russian Roulette on The Travel Channel. I mean why make it take a couple decades with a stroke or diabetes? Let's have some instant gratification right before our very eyes.

I should add that I did not choose to watch this show. It just happened to be on the TV in front of the treadmill I was running on. 

Happy Sunday! 

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(16)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.500.000.000.007.50

Cross training day...

1.25 mile warm-up on the treadmill.

300 floors on the Stair Master in 36:21. This CRUSHED my old 300 floor PR of 36:52. Once again, 300 floors is supposedly the equivalent of 6.25 miles and by the perceived effort I would say that's pretty close. I was breathing like a hard tempo 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
12.500.000.000.7513.25

6.25 miles around Sugarhouse Park in the early AM.

 

PM: Kind of a workout...

4.25 mile warm-up.

6 X 200 meters on HH track. 36, 36, 35, 34, 32, 31

2 mile cool down. 

I always enjoy 200s. They require zero mental fortitude but they make you feel really good. No one ever wimped out in a 200. 

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(10)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.000.000.000.004.00

Four easy miles.

Interesting article in The Atlantic this month entitled "Why the Rich Don't Give". Apparently the rich donate only 1.3% of their incomes to charity whereas the poor donate 3.2%. This is especially interesting since the rich tend to itemize their deductions and can write off their charitable donations while the poor do not.

Interesting theory as to why this might be true from the article... "the personal drive to accumulate wealth may be inconsistent with the idea of communal support". 

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
5.502.004.000.0011.50

I did it!

My patented treadmill fartlek. 60 minutes divided into 10 minute increments - 2 minutes at 7mph, 2 at 8 mph, 2 at 9 mph, and  4 at 10 mph. Actually worked up to 5:50 pace for the last couple minutes.

I tried to do this last week and failed. 

I'm also down to 147 pounds. Down about 10 pounds from December. 

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
6.250.000.000.006.25

Planned trail run in the gully this afternoon...

Had to bag the gully this afternoon due to the all-day snow event.

6.25 miles super easy around Sugarhouse. 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups. 

 The #1 mistake most runners on this blog make is neglecting their speed. There is also a tendency to label workouts "speed workouts" that are not speed workouts. Mile repeats are not speed workouts. VO2 max, while critical, is not speed so don't call it that. A good rule of thumb is that true speed is not improved with efforts over one minute in duration. All runners should remember to include a steady diet of fast striders and short hill sprints into their training at every phase of the training cycle. When working on your speed it is critical to recover fully between each effort.  

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(25)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
18.000.000.000.0018.00

Eighteen miles through Sugarhouse and Holladay, many of them with guys way more fit than me. Fun though.

I posted a radical idea on here yesterday - that runners should run fast occasionally if they want to maximize their potential and it generated 23 comments. Later today I will post something equally controversial.

Topped 70 miles for the first time in almost a year. I will max out at 80 this year. All my masters PR's were achieved with me running about 70 mpw so I'm not going to push it. 

OK, here we go...

Any running you do in the three or four days following a hard marathon is a waste of time and potentially harmful. You will not be able to accomplish anything that has any positive impact on your fitness and you slow down your recovery time and risk injury.

Go for leisurely walks instead and monitor your diet closely so you don't gain too much weight.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments(11)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
65.002.004.000.7571.75
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
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