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, February 1, 2015

PHASE 2 OF TRAINING

13 weeks may seem like a lot of time, but i can guarantee that time is going to fly by before the Pittsburgh Marathon.  I changed my training up a bit this week and decided to break the training up into two phases. Phase one was only a 4 weeks. I called it the base phase. all my runs were basically just getting my body ready for phase 2. Phase 2 is a 12 week training program using the Hal Higdon advanced schedule for the Half Marathon.   This past week was the last week for phase 1. I did more cross training and resting than running this week in hopes that my body will be nice and rested for the hard phase 2.
I am a person who likes to run alone. Let me rephrase that I am a person that doesn't like to be coached. I have always felt I know enough that I can make up my own training schedule. Well I was wrong. Can I coach someone? No problem, but when it comes to myself I have noticed that I am winging way to many runs and the runs have become way to jumbled up. Choosing a set method is a great way to have the plan laid out in front of you and you can see what is on the horizon. I looked at a few and got input from a few coaches that pointed me to this method. I even have a few elite runners that I will be staying in contact with to help me with some changes later in the training.

So this week my training looked something like this:
MONDAY:  Cross Train - 80 burpees with an arm workout thrown in.
TUESDAY: 4 miles on the treadmill at a 9:30/pace
WEDNESDAY: REST DAY
THURSDAY: 3.5 Mile run at 8:30 pace followed by a chest workout
FRIDAY: REST
SATURDAY: 6 Miles at a slow pace. I did not time this run because in the Hal Higdon method I will be using, on long runs you don't go for mileage you go by time.
SUNDAY: TODAY- REST DAY from running, but since I am in a 30 days of hell group where we do a different challenge every month, today was day 1 for squats. I did 50 squats.

What I took out of Phase 1 - I am definitely faster this year than I was last year at this time. I did a few runs where I dropped the pace to the low 7 minute per mile and I felt really good and know I can go harder.

I know the Hal Higdon method is a 12 week program and there is 13 weeks left, but I figure I will just double up week 6 or 7. From everything I studied about this method and crossed it with what my goals are I am very confident this will give me exactly what I need to hit my goal time for the Half Marathon.

What this week has in store for me:
MONDAY: 3 mile run with strength training
TUESDAY: 6 x Hill
WEDNESDAY: 3 mile run with strength training
THURSDAY: 40 minute tempo run
FRIDAY: REST
SATURDAY: 3 mile run
SUNDAY: 90 minute run.  (3/1)      the 3/1 means progressive, each half hour I am to increase speed

JANUARY TOTAL MILES= 59.23 This is right where I wanted to be for a solid base. I am going into phase 2 with just about 60 miles of all different types of workouts and I feel really good and most of my runs were successful.

How is your training going? Are you using any training method?

8 comments:

  1. I felt the same way about a coach for a long time. This time last year, after fighting knee pain/injuries for much of my running career, I decided to get some advice. I hired a coach (online) who gave me workouts & to whom I was accountable. I was with him for 3 months and I have to say, it was the push I needed to learn how to train smart. As I have been training for this ultra, I have incorporated many different plans & am focusing on endurance, not speed. I still throw one day of speedwork in just to make sure I still have it, but I don't obsess over it. I know many people think I'm crazy for doing this so close to Boston, but I know my body and will have 3 weeks to taper from the 50 miler. I would love to do a relay some day like Ragnar.

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    1. I don't think you're crazy. Like you said you know your body and you know what you are capable of. I think using this plan is going to help me cause it will keep me accountable and it will let me see what is coming up and I can better be prepared than just going out and guessing what I am going to run

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  2. I really like the Hal Higdon plans. I used it for my last half and am using it again for this one, though the one I'm using now is modified and has some of the marathon training it it too.

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    1. I plan on doing some modifications to it as well. The people I have been talking too said later in the training I will need to do some different things, nothing major just small adjustments

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  3. I am using Higdon's Novice 2 plan for my milage plan and crossing it with Gipis's pace/type of run plan. I needed guidance for my pace progression and wanted to have a milage plan clearly laid out. I finished January with 58 miles (with missing the first week of the month because of my stomach ailments). I think it was a successful month for us both for sure. 13 weeks will fly by.

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    1. Not a bad month at all Don. I like having the mileage plan laid out, I think its really going to help me this time. I guess we will see In 13 weeks

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  4. Gah! Race day will be here before we know it, and there is so much work to do!
    Great job on laying that solid foundation! Now it's time to build on it - let's do it! :-)

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    1. Thanks Amanda!! There is so much more to work on, but we will both get there and be ready

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