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

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Step out of the comfort zone

I am sure most of you have heard a person use the saying “I am in my comfort zone.” What exactly is this so called “comfort zone?” The comfort zone is a logical area that makes a person feel safe. Going out of the comfort zone is uncomfortable for many people and dreadful for others. Many people fear change, and just the thought of change sends them into a panic. People who fear change prefer to stay in their comfort zone because of not being able to withstand the uncertainty of doing something that they are not used to. Change does not always have to be scary and it most certainly does not have to be a bad thing.

 Recently I have started to notice that I am hitting a plateau in my training. It seems like no matter what I do or how hard I train I am not making any gains. I started to feel frustrated and I kept searching for an answer as to why this was happening, then I ran the BattleFrog obstacle race and something happened. First I noticed that during the race when most people had to walk I was able to run still. Even with the monster hills and the rough terrain I was able to control my breathing and run a nice pace. I give all the credit to marathon training, the long runs, the hill workouts, and the speed workouts all contributed to me having fresh legs and being able to control my breathing. I also noticed that I need to take strength training more serious. Let’s be honest here, I don’t have the body of some of these athletes with the 6 pack and the ripped muscles. I have your average build with a 6 pack of beer in the stomach. If I want to really do well in the little obstacle races I do, I need to build my arms and back more and drop a few lbs. Road running is my main priority and will continue to be, and less weight to carry and having a stronger frame will also help on the road. Finally what I really noticed and made me really realize that I need to change up my training came on Monday. I headed out for a short 4 mile run since my body was still bruised and sore from the weekend. As I started to run I noticed that my legs were feeling great. It was like the lower part of my body had a mind of its own and wanted to keep going, while the upper part was sore and beat down. I started to think about the BattleFrog and I had an epiphany.


 The hard and demanding course may have beat the shit out of me, but it made my legs so strong. I don’t run trails often but now I am thinking I need to dedicate one day of trail running into my cycle. If I can run some trails that are very hilly and make me work the way I had too over the weekend, I feel that my legs will get a lot stronger and be able to hold up in the later parts of the half marathon in October.

As much as I wanted to choose a plan and stick with it like I did for my spring half, I think by changing up this cycle it will benefit me, and it will break the training plateau that I have hit. So here is what the new plan looks like.


MONDAY’S: 4-5 mile recovery run. Run it at medium pace where I am not pushing myself but don’t go as slow as I would for a long run.
TUESDAY’S:SPEED WORKOUT: hit the track and do my normal speed work out I would do on the track.
WEDNESDAY: 3 Mile run on treadmill at gym, followed by lifting
THURSDAY: Trail day- 4-5 miles of trail running
FRIDAY: Cross train and lift at gym
SATURDAY: rest
SUNDAY: LONG RUN

This is the plan I will be using from here on out until Race day Oct. 17th. I will be updating my progress every Sunday so you will be able to see if it is working for me or if I should go back to using the Hal Higdon method.

"We all need change"-2Pac
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

2 comments:

  1. UnknownAugust 13, 2015 at 5:25 PM

    What types of gains are you not seeing that you think you should be? Running during Battle Frog when most people are walking seems like a gain to me. And maybe feeling great on Monday after the tough run is really a result of the gains you've made throughout training already. I do think trail runs are good to add.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownAugust 13, 2015 at 6:05 PM

      I am looking at times, distance on long runs where my legs are starting to feel fatigue, and my breathing..I agree that running in battle frog was good and a confidence booster, but that was only because I am used to running and train to run where as they train for the obstacles. I feel like by switching things up and throwing in the trail runs it will help the legs tremendously and by dedicating one day strictly to strength it will help my frame

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)