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, June 14, 2015

Feeling the urge to run? just get a lazy friend!!!

Last week I made a promise to myself to not run at all this week and try and let my calf muscle heal up. It was a lot harder than I thought. Everyday I would have to tell myself "No Shaun, today you are not running."  My goal for the week was to hit the gym or stretch. Let me take you through the week so you can see how I coped with not being able to run.

MONDAY: Since my leg was still sore from my Sunday run I decided to just use this day as a stretching day. I used my roller from Medi-dyne and tried to work out what I am calling a knot in my calf muscle. It felt really good and after the stretching and rolling I felt no pain.  What was real nice is someone from Medi-dyne even reached out to me to see if I was okay and if I had the roller already.  Once again class act move from a class act company to go out of their way to make sure I am healing properly.

TUESDAY: This is when I first got the itch to run, but I was able to hold it off with a nice chest workout at the gym.  It has been a real long time since I went that hard at the gym and when I left I felt so good. 

WEDNESDAY: All day at work I just kept thinking I need to run, but I kept saying "it's still to early to test out the leg". When I got home from work I was really getting the itch so I decided to take my dog Kia for a walk. If I had any hopes of running I knew her lazy ass would hold them back. She can go for about a mile then feels the need to lay down and take a rest, she is not a runner by any means.



This is me telling her we would be going for a walk. She gets so excited when she hears that.


so excited for what turned into a 1 mile walk before she called it quits

 
I think I will stay here for the rest of the night



Since our walk didn't go as planned and she got tired at the 1/2 mile mark and forced me to turn around I still felt like I needed a good workout, so off to the gym I went. I did shoulders and back and I felt great once again. I also was really happy I fought off the urge to run

THURSDAY: After work my wife and I had to go do a final walk through of the house we are buying. Ya I haven't said much but we have our closing on Monday June 15th. I am pretty excited and the house is perfect. It has a huge fenced in yard so that Kia can go run around and tire herself out. I am going to miss my apartment but I am happy to be moving into a much bigger space. The house is in Verona and it also means I am closer to work and all of the running trails I like to hit up.

FRIDAY: After work I decided maybe I could just try a short 2 mile run and see how I feel.  I started out slow and did my first mile at 9:08. As soon as I turned around to head back to my car I felt my calf muscles tighten up and I knew I wasn't going to be able to push it any harder. I decided to walk and do short intervals of jogging back to the car. As soon as I got home I rolled out the muscle and it felt good, but I was pissed because it wasn't healing up yet.

SATURDAY: Since I couldn't run I helped my friend do some landscaping and I think it may have even helped loosen up my calf muscle. I cant say for sure since I didn't run on it though. Saturday night my wife and I had a wedding to attend and I knew no one, so what else was there to do but throw back some beers and drink my misery away.  Here is a pic of me and my wife at the wedding. I know what you are thinking... that Shaun sure cleans up pretty nice.  You are absolutely right!!!

SUNDAY: I went golfing this morning and while walking around aimlessly looking for one of my balls, I felt like my calf muscle was really loose. I am not sure what that means or how to describe the feeling but it felt weird in a good way. I still plan on rolling it tonight and using my electric massager to try and get deep into the muscle.

This week coming up I plan on taking it off again from running and will continue to hit the gym hard. If I get the urge to run I will just take my lazy friend Kia for a walk. Like I said if you get the urge to run just find a lazy friend and they will hold you back.  I will test the leg out on Friday and if it feels okay then I plan on running a 5K on Saturday, but I will not make it a priority. I have bigger goals and don't want to risk a further injury.

How was your week?
How do you cope with being injured and wanting to run?

4 comments:

  1. Congrats on buying a house! It's so tough to not run when you want to. Sounds like it may be getting better though. Fingers crossed. I love lazy Kia!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kia turns lazy after any thing longer than a 5 minute walk. Kid has no stamina

      Delete
  2. CONGRATS on the new home!! I remember you saying that you were looking - so happy you found one :-) ! I'm sure Kia will love it too!

    The one thing I tell myself when I'm fighting an injury or potential injury and dying to run is "it's easier to take a week or two off than to have to take MONTHS off". Putting it into that perspective helps me remember that it's not worth it to push it You even said - it's not worth it. You have BIGGER GOALS!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is what I have been trying to tell myself, just rest up and look toward the bigger goal rather than rushing to get in a 5K race that doesn't mean much

      Delete