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, October 4, 2015

2 Week Countdown: Buffalo Creek Half Marathon

It is actually less than 2 weeks until the Buffalo Creek Half Marathon, which means one more full week of practice and then one week of tapering.
This week brought colder temps. and some rain so a lot of my training was done on a treadmill. I kind of anticipated this at the beginning of the week and I was worried. I was dealing with shin splints and for some reason the treadmill seems to make the pain worst. I had been wearing my compression socks at night hoping to kill any pain and help recover, but I wouldn't actually know what was going to happen until I was actually on the treadmill.

MONDAY: Rest Day: I was just coming off a weekend of an obstacle race and a 10K. My body felt like it got hit by a Mac truck. Sitting down during the day actually hurt from all the squats and leg lunges I did. This was one rest day that I actually was happy with.

TUESDAY: 6 Miles: I jumped on the treadmill and decided that if I started out slow and built my speed up that maybe my shins would not hurt at all. WRONG!!!! 2 miles into the run and my shins were burning up. I kept trying to think of everything I could to keep my mind off the pain, but it didn't seem to work. I still was speeding the machine up every mile though and every mile was a fight. I managed to get through the whole run and as soon as I got home I threw my compression socks on.

WEDNESDAY: 5 miles: After the pain on the treadmill I decided to run outside no matter what the weather was. The colder air actually felt good and I was able to really let loose on a fast course. My shins felt great on the road and there was almost no pain at all.

THURSDAY: Rest Day: STEELER GAME: I wasn't planning on using this day as a rest day but I ended up getting tickets to the Steeler game and there was no way I was missing that. It was a shitty game and we ended up losing in overtime but I had a good time.
FRIDAY: HILLS: The wife and I were meeting some friends for dinner so I decided to stay close to home and run a hill that is close to the house. I would sprint up the hill and jog back to the bottom. The hill was about a quarter mile long and was a gradual hill rather than a straight up and down. My legs felt really good and once again the shins were feeling good.

SATURDAY: Woke up with the intentions of heading out for my long run. It was raining and I just was not in the mood to get soaking wet. I checked the weather for Sunday and decided to switch my long run till then, so it was back to the gym for the treadmill. I set the machine on a timer for 1 hour and decided I would start it off at 6.5 miles per hour. Every mile I would speed it up. Mile 1 felt great, mile 2 still no problems, mile 3 the shins started to slightly burn. I started to focus on my foot strike and it seemed to help keep the pain away. Anytime I would feel the pain I kept saying to myself "Whoever can fight through the most pain will come out on top", it really seemed to help with the mind games. I finished the run with 7 miles in the hour.

SUNDAY: LONG RUN: The weather was perfect, nice and cool with some overcast. I ended up running 15 miles on a course that is very challenging. I realized that the down hill is when my shins start to feel sore. Kind of sucks when the race I am doing is mainly down hill. I am thinking I will wear my compression socks this week during my runs too see if they help with my shins on the down hill. I kind of went away from wearing them on runs but I will do whatever it takes to reach my goal.

I know a lot of people are running a race in 2 weeks, so how is your training going?
I am thinking after the fall races that most of us are doing we should all get together for some beers on a weekend, obviously this is for the Pittsburgh people, would anyone be down for that?
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2 comments:

  1. Gretchen BraunOctober 5, 2015 at 4:36 AM

    Sorry to hear about your shin problems! Hopefully resting them and wearing compression and ice will help. You'll figure it out! I would definitely be up for a Pittsburgh get together..I've been thinking about planning one as well. You can count me in!

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    1. UnknownOctober 5, 2015 at 4:45 AM

      Awesome!!!! Ya the plan is ice and compression for the next 2 weeks and I am hoping next week will give me just the right amount of time to get them back to normal. I figure the week with less running will be nothing but icing them down

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