Who Am I?

I am an avid runner and have been running since I was 15 years old. I began running low to medium distances while on my high school track team, running the 800 meter and 1600 meter races (I was a sub 5 miler and a 2 minute 800 runner). In addition to the track team, I also joined the cross country team. After high school I still wanted to run and decided to start doing road races. I have probably ran a couple hundred 5k races (16.29 PR)along with many 10k's as well. In 2009 I decided to step up my game and try to tackle my first marathon. I will be honest; the only reason I did this was because my father ran a few and I wanted to show him that I could do what he did. I trained poorly for my first one and regret it. If you are going to run a race, train like you want to win. I still continue to run marathons and other distances as well, and every race is a chance for me to better myself.
I started this blog to hopefully communicate with other runners and to shed any knowledge I may have about the sport that can help other runners. I believe running is the best sport and can be a great stress reliever. I encourage all runners to spread the word of our sport and show people why running is so good and why the community of runners has such great people. You can follow me on twitter @byrne1324 or find me on facebook- Shaun Byrne

Thursday, January 30, 2014

When To Make Your Move

     Today while working out I started to think back to when I would run track in high school. My main event was the 800 meters.  Whenever I would run that race I would let who ever was leading the race dictate how fast I was going to run it in.  I would tuck behind the leaders and on that last turn I would explode to the outside and sprint my way to a victory.  One thing I am blessed with is very few distant runners can sprint as fast as me.  I am fast enough that I could of been a sprinter but chose to go with long distance instead. Even In the mile race I would start out to set the pace and then drop back and wait for last turn.  My times would vary from the low 5 minutes to mid 4 minutes, it all had to do with how fast the leader was pushing the pace.
     As I begun to cross over into cross country and running 5K's, I soon figured out at what point in a race I could use my speed to my advantage.  In a 5K race when there is a mile left that is when I usually will make my move and try to put a gap between anyone who is close to me. One thing I also realized is no matter how tired I am when I see the finish line its like a switch goes off in me and I am able to do a all out sprint.  People have even accused me of holding back and saving energy for the finish.  I never hold back, I honestly can't explain how my body does it.  
    As I start to mainly focus on marathons I really don't worry about my 5 and 10K times as much. I use those races to practice my pace running.  But today I started to think about the marathon coming up in May and this race I am training harder than I ever have before and I honestly feel like I am in the best shape I have ever been in at this point in my training.  I also started to picture the course in my head and I was wondering at what point to I make a move.  I have no intentions of being near the lead pack but I do like to run a competitive race even if its with myself.
    My goal for the race is to break the race down into 4 sections and every section I want to speed up. I also want to throw one really good burst in.  I just am not sure at what point to do this though.  Like any other race when I see the finish line I am able to pick up the pace.   Maybe not to an all out sprint but I will be going faster than I have all day. Once again don't know how I do it. So as I was thinking about all of this and I am still left with the question: At what point do you know this is when you make your move.   I think I am going to rely on natural instinct and hopefully I will just get that feeling telling me when.

My question for you then is, at some point do you make a move and throw in a surge, and If so when and how do you know when to do it?

2 comments:

  1. I think I'm the same way. Like to stay in or behind the pack then take off. Works in shorter races (sometimes). I like to know my main competition in the longer races and will throw in surges here and there just to test the others. Sometimes it allows you to put that gap in place that is too great for the others to close. Sometimes I've used too much energy and get dropped. Definitely haven't mastered it but I feel if I'm close with 800 to go I have an advantage. You have to have that feeling that it's your race or it won't happen.

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  2. Totally agree with you on you have to think it's your race. Can't doubt yourself even if it doesn't go the way you want

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