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, May 17, 2015

Dusting myself off

It has been 2 weeks since the Pittsburgh Half Marathon for me and the sting is still there. I had such high hopes and it all came crashing down with an injury. I am pissed, but I will survive. I am going to get up and dust myself off and keep looking forward. Normally I would sign up for a fall half right away and make that my goal race. Instead I have decided to hold off and wait till I find a race that I actually want to run. Will it be in the fall? I don't know, it may or may not, I just don't want to jump into a race simply for the fact that I am pissed about Pittsburgh.  I however will be training as if I am running at least a half in the fall. This week was the first week I got back into full training mode, and I even learned some things about myself in the week as well.

Before I go into my training I need to tell you that I was in contact with a nutritionist. I have mentioned before that I am in a group that does 30 day challenges every month, well one of the members offered to help anyone in the group. I jumped at this chance since I am looking to drop a few pounds in hopes of improving my times. The first thing I was supposed to do was log my food for 3 days, just eat the way I would normally. In my mind I thought I was eating good, well when I actually saw it on paper I was embarrassed to even show her. It honestly looked like I logged the eating habits of a 12 year old.  First question she asked was do eat like this when you train? Once again I was embarrassed because I did.  She noticed that I hardly drink any water and her first goal for me was to just drink a gallon of water a day.  So all week I have done just that, well that and run to the bathroom about 1000 times to pee. I have not drank my normal 24 oz. coffee for breakfast, I haven't touched any soda, and I even gave up my crappy snacks throughout the day. I am only a week into this thing but I feel great and now she has given me some foods to eat throughout the day.

MONDAY: I am taking this training cycle slowly at the beginning. I don't want to injure myself again by jumping into something too fast or too hard, so I set out on a 4 mile run. So this is where it hit me how much water plays a factor and how little I was not paying attention to my body. When I was running I felt great, I mean really great. I had no pains at all and even though my time was a 8:57 per mile the run was what I needed.  I couldn't believe it, all this time I must of been running dehydrated because no run has felt that good in so long.

TUESDAY: SPEED WORKOUT: I headed to the track and ran 10 200 meters with a 200 meter walk back to the starting line. I know as a distance runner running the 200 meters isn't going to do much but like I said slow start. I ran each 200 meters right around 43 seconds, which roughly translates to a 6 minute mile. 

WEDNESDAY: REST DAY

THURSDAY: I ran 4 miles on a course that normally gives me problems. Once again I was amazed at how good I felt. It honestly makes me so pissed that I didn't drink water through out the day like I am now. I mean you always hear peoples say make sure you drink this much water, but you never really listen or at least I didn't.  I can tell you this though, I am a changed man. Water and me are best friends, where I go it goes.
 
 
FRIDAY: 3.5 mile tempo run.  I ran the first mile at a 8:30 pace then dropped down to 7:55 for the next mile and a half then finished with the last mile at 8:30.  It was for me because I wanted to go faster, but I had to keep telling myself to take it easy. 
 
SATURDAY: 4 mile run with SCRR crew. I ran with the 8:30 pace group and felt really good except for having to stop and take a pee. I guess my body is going to need some time to get used to this much water. 
 
SUNDAY: Today I went to the gym and did an arm workout and a core workout.
 
I walked away from this week with some much needed confidence. I felt really good all week and my leg seems to be feeling good so this up coming week I will be adding some mileage and going a bit harder on the speed days, and wherever I go I will have my water with me. 

10 comments:

  1. Susan knows her stuff. listen to her and keep training and your goal is going to happen. I lost 20 lbs in a month and increased strength following her diet.Im glad she was able to help the group out. https://www.facebook.com/groups/714324325349597/ if anyone want to join a 30 day challenge group.

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    1. Ya I saw that pic of you at the gym and could tell you lost some weight. I am def. going to keep listening to her.

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  2. I understand about still feeling the "sting". I'm in the same boat over here. Not really sure what I am going to train for next, but you're smart taking some time to really think about it. Water....I feel like I drink so much during the day but just started questioning myself if it's really as much as I think. Good luck with your new nutrition adventure.

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    1. Thanks, I think I am waiting for a race that really sticks out to me. I want to do one I haven't done that is big

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  3. Good that you are moving on! I'm going to start running with SCRR this summer too.

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    1. Awesome, I need someone there to talk too before the runs.

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  4. That was a great week! Great job Shaun!

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  5. Nice job getting back out there. I love the attitude you have about everything right now. When I first tracked my eating I was plenty embarrassed too. It's kinda cool though to see where your calories and nutrients are really coming from. It took me a bit to get used to being so hydrated, so I totally understand feeling like you're in the bathroom all the time. Keep up the good work!

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    1. Thanks Nichole, I just need to get used to the whole eating healthy idea and drinking that much water. My main problem is portion control, for a little guy I can thrown down some food. It's going to be a slow process but I am determined to drop some pounds and make my running easier

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