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

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Taper Time!!!!

    With the Columbus Marathon being now 4 weeks away I have started to taper.  I do my taper different than most people. At five weeks out I will start a 2 week taper.  I cut back almost to no running or very little running at all then I will use my next 2 weeks of doing medium range runs with one more long run thrown in. My last week is mostly short runs with a lot of cross training and stretching.  This may not be normal way to most people, but this is what I have come accustomed to and I feel it works best for me.  The only hard part is the 2 weeks in which I do very little running.  My mind says get out and run Shaun but I know I have to give my body some rest.  I am very cranky these 2 weeks.

So this is how training went this week.

MONDAY:  Since I was just coming off of a half marathon, I decided to rest this day.  Normally a long run has very little effect on me the following day, but I had not ran as fast as I did last Sunday in my half for a while.  Needless to say I was a little sore, but for the most part felt really good for having just ran a half marathon.

TUESDAY: I did a short 4 mile run at 8:30 pace.  I felt really good and my body showed no signs of fatigue from the half on Sunday.

WEDNESDAY: I had Pirate tickets so this was also a rest day.  This is where the cranky comes out.  I was happy to be going to the Pirate game, but I feel like I should of some how figured out a way to run even though I am tapering.  I need to work on telling myself it's okay not to run during the taper weeks.

THURSDAY: I ran 7 miles at 8:20 pace. When I returned home I did an arm and Ab workout.  Overall felt really good for the day.

FRIDAY: After work I went to Dave N' Busters to pick up my race packet for the Gladiator Run I was doing on Saturday.  I also was going out to dinner that night so this was another rest day. 

SATURDAY:  GLADIATOR RUN- I ran my first obstacle race ever.  It was a 5K with 17 obstacles. I ran it with my friend Tom @tmcjr412 who has already ran the tough mudder. It was good because he was able to tell me what to expect.  It was a great experience and I had a blast. I will be writing a recap of the race later this week.     Let me just say a 5K with obstacles is hard and I know this did nothing but benefit my training. I used muscles I never knew I had.  

SUNDAY:  Today I will be doing a cross training day.  I plan on doing a mix of workouts to work out a few body parts. It will be hard since I am very sore from yesterday.

Next week I plan on doing a few more runs in the week.  Nothing to crazy or high until Saturday when I take on the Battle Frog Race.  A 15K obstacle race.  I was nervous at first, but now I am actually excited and looking forward to doing it.  

Until next time friends, run strong!!!!
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 21, 2014 at 5:49 PM

    It's crazy to think its taper time for you. Training goes by so fast! I can't wait to read the full recap for the obstacle course. Glad you had fun.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownSeptember 21, 2014 at 5:51 PM

      I know I honestly feel like training just started.

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