Should Clayton Murphy make some significant changes in his training?

Murphy and Hoppel need find groups ASAP or just start training together. Why are two of our best 800m guys training solo.

I think Murphy’s personal life has gotten in his way more than ineffective training this past year, and that’s not me digging at him I’m happy for him and would hope he’d prioritize family over running.

I think Murphy actually trains pretty well, it’s very inoffensive and unrisky training, Lydiard periodization focusing on tempo and 3k-5k type strength in the fall to early winter, lots of mile pace and Vo2Max volume with a bit of short 800m pace tacked in on the end, training like an 800/mile guy by the end of indoors/early outdoors, and then training like a 4/8 guy while staying on top of aerobic strength for championship season.

Really anyone will run close to their 800m potential doing this effectively for a few years, for Murphy it’s probably THE way to do it. He ran his 1:42 training like that and at this point he’s probably never gonna do that again even if he found some other crazy training strategy that worked for him. I think he can run 1:43 a few more times though, and that puts him confidently in the mix. He just needs to race a bit different in world class level meets. He used to be 24 with a violently fast/strong closing kick that won him a lot of races where he would hang back and people like Amos or Rudisha would go out super fast and cause a bloodbath over the final 200m. I think Murphy is now the guy that will find the most success being in 2-4 place at the bell regardless of who’s leading it. That’s his problem. He proves time and time again he’s in 1:43-1:44 shape fairly consistently so it’s not the training.

Hoppel trains like a miler. I’ve heard of him doing workouts like 12x400m in 65-70 off of short rest which is similar to what I do, I think that workout helps you build a lot of that high end aerobic strength you can even feel in races like 600m or 800m. He just might need to develop his top end speed a bit more so he can finally get that low 1:43 or high 1:42 I know he has the potential to run. He can run a 1:44 51-53 over and over and over again because of his strength, which makes him so good at navigating rounds and staying healthy and consistent during the season, but he needs that last bit of umph to make it a 50.5-53 or a 50-53

That would be a dream. Too bad they have rival sponsors. I think america could make something special forming a group with Murphy, Hoppel, Brazier, Sumner, Harris. Think 2020 Bowerman but for middle distance.

Eight-hundred meter fans were spoiled by Johnny Gray. Eight-hundred meters is usually a young person event. I'm not going to criticize any 800m runners past age 25.

Well said re Murphy's training. He has a good coach & has produced consistently good results for a while now.

Was he hurt heading into Budapest? Haven't seen him on a start list since Worlds.

His problem is he stopped being 21

Both Hoppel and Murphy should move up to the 15. Start doing one day a week of double T. Bump the mileage in the 75-80+ range.

Hot take: Just move up to the 1500m. With today's training, he could really do big things with his speed if he were just aerobically stronger.

Has he confirmed on any of his platforms that he had an injury?

I think he’s had some little nags here and there throughout the season, I think mostly he just wanted to shut it down, spend time with his family and prepare for the Olympic year.

The thing I've noticed is Murphy has gotten worse at the 1500. In 2016 when he ran his best 800 he won NCAAs and ran 3:36, the next year in 2017 he had a great finish in the pre classic mile in 3:51. In 2018 and 2019 he ran 353.

Since then he has not ran faster than 338 in the 1500, and has had some dead last or near deadlast finishes in the pre-classic and Milrose mile. Even when he had a resurgence in 2021 and ran 143, his best1500 that year was 338.

I don't think Murphy is very talented and people who aren't very talented get spotty results in world-class competition. The U.S. has become weak in this event. We keep seeing the same people, which underscores that weakness. Murphy's 1:42.93 was a fluke. Nothing he does in training will make much of a difference.

Murphy is 28, which is old for an 800 runner. Most peak in their early '20s, which was when he ran his fastest 800. Same, to a lesser degree, goes for Hoppel.

Two words. Boris. Berian.

Murphy thought he was a miler when he started college. He thought he was a miler when he ran 1:42 at the olympics, and still thinks he's a miler at this very second.

His current training is plenty aerobic and he races way more 1500m/Mile than any other high level 800m guy.

He's just not good at the mile.

Murphy switches his training to Jakob-mode and he still going to get beat by Drew Hunter, Prakel, Gregorek, old man Centro, Waskom, Thompson, etc. Forget about Hocker/Nuguse.

Easier to make a team where his competitors are Hoppel and guys burnt out from college.

This is the classic Letsrun move up fallacy.

It has seemed to me that since NOP got shut down Murphy has gotten a lot more cautious in general. He went from trying to be a world medal contender to just trying to make sure he's on the worlds team. I do think the family part of it has a lot to do with that. You don't want to risk getting injured and losing that paycheck through aggressive training when if you stay the course you're probably going to be one of America's top 3 800 guys anyways. Especially with Brazier's injury issues these last few years.

guy was such a flash in the pan literally nobody mentions his name anymore even though he won a world gold indoors and made the 2016 team. Into thin air.

Hos biggest mistake was getting married after he gets his first girlfriend. A lot (most) middle distance guys tail off after getting married.