How Do I Beat My Personal Best At Running A 5k? AKA 'Sublime 23'

Welcome back!

In part 1 of our special 4 part series of Diary Of A Big Lad, Chade takes us through his new project ‘Sublime 23’, aiming to beat his personal best on a 5k run.
 
Chade’s given himself 11 weeks to shave the time off and here he goes through the changes he's making since setting his previous record, and what tech/clothing he’s used to give himself the edge.
 
Hopefully it’ll help you achieve the same, and if you’re not yet interested in running for fitness, hopefully you’ll enjoy Chade chatting through a topic a little more specific than the usual episode we put out.

Chade also explains what 'Sublime 23' actually means...

For more inspiration or just to follow Chade's progress dating back the last 9 or so weeks, check out his Social Media pages below as always.
 
 BUNION WARNING! BUNIONS ARE MENTIONED!

‘Diary Of A Big Lad’ is an Osborne Road Production featuring Chade O’Brien and Nico Diodoro. Theme tune written and performed by Jay Stevens.

For questions and queries please contact us at diaryofabiglad@gmail.com

For more 'Diary Of A Big Lad' Content on Instagram, follow us at https://www.instagram.com/diaryofabiglad?igsh=d29wMWZ1aHVzNDIz

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Now, don't know the name for the he's no superhero. Well, according to his kids he is, and maybe we'll hear from them later. But what I mean is athletically, by most standards, he's a regular bloke. Chad's not a professional sports person or a paid athlete. He works 9-5, he worries how England will do in the World Cup, and more often than not, much like the rest of us, he worries about his health. Over the course of the last hundred or so episodes, Chad's gone into great detail about his ups and downs in the past, his injuries, his temptations, and all the rest. If you're listening to this, you're probably familiar with him. But if you're not, welcome to the pod. The next four episodes will be quite different to how they usually are, and a lot more specific. As on the 18th of April, 2026, Chad O'Brien will be running a 5k, and not only that, he's looking to beat his personal record. Chad gave himself 11 weeks to shave 60 seconds off of his personal best, 23 minutes. Over the course of this very special mini-series of Daru the Big Lad, Chad's going to explain exactly how he's going to beat his PB, that's personal best, not peanut butter. Something else I learned from Chad. With the first two recorded in the next two weeks, we'll be building up to the run, with the second two being released after the event. Me and Chad are looking to document his prep and execution to help you, the listener, achieve all your hopes and dreams. I mean, basically the bottom line is in the first episode here, we'll chat about the difference between the first time he made it to 5k and what he's doing to shave off that integral minute or so to achieve his goal and hopefully give some useful tips on how you can do the same. For the most part, it takes the form of an interview, like a regular episode, only with me narrating over the top, as uh sometimes me and Chad can um disagree on things, as uh I'm sure he'd say.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Like Um I beg your pardon, I think I'm quite the athlete if I might say so myself. No, but yeah, no, that that's right, I'm not. I'm not an athlete, I'm a sports person, famous sport doer, famous runner. I'm I'm no Usain Bolt, though typically don't really do that class runner anyway.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Um yeah, or Mo Farah, no Mo Farah That's Chadders, by the way, if you're not used to his voice already, telling us a little bit about beating his current record.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Uh it's my own challenge. I I just came up with it off off the bat, and uh yeah, it's uh it's a good challenge to have, might I say so. Keeping me busy.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

To clarify the the goal itself, um you've called it the Sublime 23. Your goal is to shave a minute off of your current personal best. Uh what inspired firstly, what is your personal best at the moment? What are you aiming to hit?

SPEAKER_03 3:05

Um off the top of my head, I think it's actually a bit longer than me. It's like 24 minutes and like seven seconds. And um let me just verify, but I I started tracking all kinds of new data, so I have actually got all my personal bests in my handy little um handy little uh thing here, which I'll bring up for you, and I'm sure Nico will cut this straight to me giving the personal best, or maybe you'll keep it in, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

I did keep it in, yeah, although I did shorten it a bit. Well, quite a lot.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Um so let's go with this, the new recorded personal best, because it's it's fairly recent, but I actually did this accidentally. Um 24 minutes and 34 seconds. So that was on the f that was on the 40s, the 18th of March. So that was like literally two weeks ago. So we'll call that my personal best recent. I think months and months ago I might have done it a bit faster than that. Um but when I hit originally hit 24 minutes, and I think it was about 10 seconds, seven seconds, something like that. Okay. Um it was the same time I first rolled my ankle. Um yeah. Uh no, yeah. Uh I um I just uh I think I'd just like uh stopped the clock, let's call it, um, to stop the run. Um and I just uh started a bit of a cool down jog, and I just went over and I was on crutches after that um for for a bit of time. Uh but yeah, uh so because also that was only recorded on my phone uh using Strava, so I actually um uh since then I've got new gear that's more accurate. So we're going with my PB at the moment is 24 minutes and 34 seconds. Bear in mind that was accidentally gone as part of me training for the Sublime 23. The first time I did a 5k, um uh it was like it was because I did the couch to 5K.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

For those of you who might not know, Couch to 5K is a free beginner-friendly running plan from BBC Sport and the UK government's Department of Health and Social Care. It became very popular during lockdown as people were trying to get back into fitness sort of one hour at a time. They released an app to help guide beginners from being what the BBC themselves call couchbound spectators to confident runners. It's a nine-week program that helps people run three times a week, starting slowly and gradually building up to 5k in manageable increments. I'll let Chad carry on.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

And so, technically speaking, it involved running and walking. Um and it was uh it was like 33 or 34 minutes, maybe even thirty at ve at the very best thirty minutes. Um and that that's not too long ago. We were only talking uh you know a few few years back. Um but then again, then again, back in high school, I couldn't tell you what the time was, um, but we often did like what like whole year runs where we'd run round the show so many times. Yeah, interform run, I think we called it. And I'm not sure if that was 5k, I highly doubt it. Because I I came sixth way back then. I mean naturally in much better shape when I was 15, but yeah, yeah. I mean, uh at that time I was about probably five stone lighter, even even being in okay shape now, I was five stone lighter back then, and uh so I I must have been able to do uh you know that five. Well, I say I must. Um fitness isn't all dictated by weight, is it? It's uh there's a lot I've definitely learnt recently, there's a lot more to it than um just whether you're holding weight or not, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Absolutely. I mean you've shown that on the Instagram as well. There's been a couple of updates that have been regarding um not just the sort of I think there does seem to be a bit of a chicken and egg thing where you you talked about how obviously training to run to beat a personal best at 5k uh has also resulted in obviously some weight loss, but then you've talked about weight loss contributing to an increase in speed. Was that something that you expected? Is that something that everybody could expect if they were to do the same thing, or is it something you've been very mindful of and aimed towards doing and made sure that's been a result of the training?

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Uh I think it's a mix of both, but um it it's just the science behind it, really. Uh when you think about um it let's call your fitness level a number out of a hundred, yeah. Um, and let's say that your fitness level is fifty. Yeah. Which means you can run at this speed at that distance or that amount of time when you're at level 50, right? Um now if your fitness remains the same but your weight decreases, then naturally the amount of energy required to um to run the same amount of distance is significantly reduced. Well, depending on how much weight you've lost, but it's reduced because your your body essentially doesn't need to um to use as much energy because it it's not carrying as much weight around. So effectively, yeah, what they're calling a lactate threshold, I think that's the science behind it, is not hit as quite as easily as it would be um if you were if you were heavier. Um and again that's based on your fitness level. So your lactate threshold, regardless of what weight you are, you can improve and increase in some of the workouts I do, aim on increasing that. But to give you like a s simple version of that, let's say that right now I can run uh 10 kilometres um and uh my my threshold is uh eight minutes and thirty seconds a kilometre. If that's my threshold, it means that I can run ten kilometers at that speed without starting to deplete my threshold. So basically I can stay at that level. Now, as you lose weight, even without actually phys improving your overall fitness, um, that that threshold um essentially uh it is is is un unchanged really. Um or rather it's reduced because you you you the energy required um has a direct link to that threshold. It's because as you as you run in, you're obviously using energy and that energy depletes, um, but the amount of energy required is heavily linked to the the weight you are. Um the same the the same can be said if you lose muscle as well though, and because of course muscle uses um energy, you know, in order to fuel your m muscles, you it uses energy. So typically I think your long distance runners are you know beefcakes because I think there's a there's an o optimal level for you know to to make it work. And you'll often I think you often see like, you know, um your USAID votes and things like that. They're they're never gonna take on Mo Farra in a long distance race. But it's just simp to simplify the answer, probably how it should have started, is yes weight loss has been, you know, a natural part of it. Um yes uh as no as usual I'm I'm I'm trying to lose weight. Um and improving my speed uh uh uh in line with the weight loss. Um it it it's kind of a bit of planned, but it is just going to happen naturally. Um from the research I've done that everything that it tells me it was like you could if if you if you just carried maintaining your fitness levels, you can do runs that maintain your fitness levels, like you don't always need to be improving. You could literally just be like, right, this is a speed that I can do a 5k. I just always want to be able to do this speed. If you're dieting at the same time, um and you and you're losing fat, um you're naturally gonna you're gonna be able to do it quicker. Funnily enough, after I'd set that goal, I started researching like averages for men my age, beginning runners, intermediate, advanced, and kinda went at the intermediate level, um, and then started researching you know, pro runners, like athlete like um kind of like one percent club level. And uh sub-20 minutes is the like that's considered like I don't know if you call it um Olympic standard, but uh definitely like gold standard like up there, like that's professional level long distance running. Because some of them records that they've run is ins they're absolutely insane. Um but for uh sub-20 minutes was kind of the the goal I set initially. I thought I reckon I could do this from September to December. Um and anyway, uh so I started kind of training towards that. Um I had a uh I had a a plan set out, um and I know you mentioned about tracking devices and stuff, and sorry if I'm stealing your thunder here.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

You did steal my thunder. I had a question about tech that's coming up in a minute.

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Then uh I spoke to a friend of mine that also uses Garmin. Uh a really long-winded answer this, but there's a whole journey behind it. Uh yeah, sorry. Uh there is a big journey behind it. Um, another friend of mine that he's he he lives uh overseas now, he's from the UK, but he lives um in in Europe. Um he's a doctor, uh scientist doctor though, like in labs and that. You know, he's he's gonna be the guy that cures cancer completely. Anyway, uh, really into his running, and um uh I'll mention him. It's Mr. Hurdis if you're listening. Uh he'll love that, he'll love that. Um and uh he also uses GAM and his his wife does as well, actually. And we're all little friends on GAMI, and we like each other's runs. Garmin mates, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

You like each other's runs, did you say?

SPEAKER_03 14:29

Yeah, you you it comes up as an activity and the you give a little love arts like you're on social media. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Anyway, uh so but he was saying he uses uh a coaching plan as well, or he's used them before for runs. But he uses I think it's uh someone called Coach Greg. He says he's really good and he comes up with all these little videos like during your plan to say, giving you top tips and stuff. And I thought, well, I use a custom plan because you know it lets me say that I want to do strength training and stuff, and it's just easier that way. Anyway, it was a uh I think a couple weeks after that, like maybe a few weeks, uh, because that was just at the end of December. Um I thought, you know what, this other plan ain't working, I'm gonna have to take a look at this uh Coach Gregg plan that um my uh friend of mine was using, and uh that that's where the sort of goal happened. I was like, I'm gonna set a realistic one this time. 22 was it was too difficult. Or um do you know what I didn't give myself enough time? So I'm I'm gonna kind of go in the middle here, I'm gonna say 23, but in my head I'm like sub-23, and that's where sub-23 came from, and that's where um you know sublime 23 came from, and uh I like the thinking of branding is just it yeah, it just kind of um kind of evolved from there, and I set myself a decent enough goal. It was kind of sort of like towards the end of January, um, so I'd given myself like um at least three months to uh well no no uh so February, March, yeah. I think it was about three months, eleven weeks actually in total. I've got the schedules on my Garmin, so it's eleven weeks in total to get up to scratch, and I started loving it immediately because it wasn't just like do this easy run, do this long run, you know, do this kind of run. It it it it made complete sense into what I would expect a plan would include to help you run, and it explained like Coach Greg explained why he's gonna do things, and like when it introduced things like um, which was never on the other plan, goal pace repeats, which essentially you run at goal pace, and this is where it brought me back to the coach 5k thing. So you run at goal pace for a certain amount of distance and then jog uh sl whatever pace you want for a little bit of distance and then run goal pace again. Cool, yeah, it's getting your mind and your body used to running the pace that you're gonna run. But as you go go further in your plan, the amount of distance you run at goal pace will increase, and the amount of sort of like jogging you do will decrease. And then I think one week it was uh doing all that, and then straight after that it was a short burst sprint, like faster than goal pace, and then running into a casual jog again. So it had all these things in that just made a logical sense to me in terms of how is this going to improve my fitness? Because running the you know, running an easy run over and over again um and following the plan it had, it would rarely increase that speed. Like it it bases it so much on what data I'm giving it, like i.e. my run and my heart rate, but like sometimes I'd feel I've got so much more than this, and I completely get that sometimes you've got to do what we call a base run where you don't really give it your all, you know, you're taking it steady because you're maintaining and gradually building up. And sometimes even though it's a 5k run, it has me doing like a 10k run, but building endurance up over time, um, which can also help with you know uh increasing your speed over a shorter distance as well. Um and the lactate threshold stuff I taught you about. Uh so yeah, I kind of just fell in love with the plan. Um and I it just it made logical sense to me, so it was easier to follow because I I believed in it more. Um and and and and the whole reason behind the Sublime 23 goal set, have that set was uh going back to whenever I've got a goal and a date to meet it, I'm so much more motivated to actually do the work. Yeah, absolutely. Uh you know, uh the the thing that frustrates me more than anything with all of this stuff is if I ever miss a run, like because I'm injured or something. Like to be in a place where I'm like getting annoyed about not doing the workout, that's a good place to be, or getting excited about waking up the next day because I've got a run that I like doing, and it's not just a a you know a 40-minute standard easy run, actually, it's a timed run today. Like I've got a timed run at the weekend, which I like because it's different to all the other runs, it doesn't come up often in the plan. I think it's only come up once so far, but it's just like a set distance. Like I think the next one's a mile and a half, just give it your all, and it's completely different because it's like right, so it's a a bit of a warm-up, a bit of a cooldown, so it's like 20 minutes of just like sort of like getting me into the run and then out of the run, but then for a mile and a half, just give it your all, and then I like to get into the sort of numbers side of it and think, right, a mile and a half, okay. So um basically this workout can be done as quickly as I want it to be done. So if I do if I'm running a seven-minute mile, then I'm gonna be done with this workout in 10 minutes and 30 seconds, you know, or 10 minutes and you know, or 11 minutes. But if I try and do it in six minutes, oh, then I'm gonna be done in less than ten minutes. So now my head's thinking, I might see if I can do this mile and a half in less than ten minutes, which is way faster than my goal pace. But because I'm only doing a mile and a half, maybe my body can do that, and if it can't, it'd be an interesting test to see how far I can push myself, and that's what that runs about. It's about how far can you push yourself in a mile and a half. So, yeah, um love the plan, and um I think once I decided on the goal and the the way the plan was laid out, it just made it really easy to do. So that that's where the whole journey behind the Sublime 23 and what it where we've got to from here, um, and why I'm still doing it as well, and probably all the questions you had rolled into one.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

It is a lot of them, yeah. Uh loads of great takeaways though. I think some things to remember for people listening who again are just thinking, even if like we've talked about in other episodes we've done, uh, about any kind of whether it's like changing your diet or learning a musical instrument, one of the things you said there was about normalizing the doing of the goal. So, like you didn't have 23 in your head as the time you're trying to beat, your part of the training is normalizing. Doing the 23 so that like it just almost works in itself, doesn't it? And just beats its own record.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Oh, yeah, 100%. So it's like eating.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Like, if you say I was trying to eat less, I wouldn't be like, oh, I've got to cut this many calories this week. It's more just like, what can I eat that I enjoy that is this many calories? That way you're already doing the thing you're aiming for, rather than that's the end goal. It's not that's the normal bit, and then you can worry about like increasing the end goal later if it's to do with running. Um yeah, you know what?

SPEAKER_03 22:30

And especially on the eating the calories thing, it's really a good point because I'm doing that all the time. Like, because I'm running more, and I am trying to make sure that I get enough carbs in, because obviously really important for your rules and energy and replaying yourself. Um, but sometimes like I've just because of what I've eaten earlier in the day, sometimes like, oh man, I had a lot of carbs today. I'm gonna be knackered. Like, ooh, what can I have that's got loads of carbs? And just like, oh, get me some potatoes, get me some bread, and I'll just make a sandwich. I'm just like guilt-free sandwich coming my way.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:09

Perfect ham, ham and pastrami. Um ham and pastrami sanny, and it was absolutely fantastic. Um, but my body needed it.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Yeah, absolutely. And that again is something you covered in the thing where you were saying about enjoying the minute and a half run. Like you'll make it like that you talking about the sandwich is enjoying the challenge. If you weren't doing the challenge, you wouldn't be getting the pleasure of enjoying eating that sandwich. Uh, which again is another reason to again if you're thinking about it and thinking, I don't want to run, but that sounds hard, I'm gonna be tired and sweaty. It's like, well, I think of the good bits, like hey, you'll learn to enjoy it. But the yeah, the upside is like you said, for me, it's the uh yeah, the carbs like any excuse to eat more potatoes.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

Hey, listen, as well, you know, people say that about oh well, I can enjoy food without doing the run. It's like I'll enjoy it anyway, mate. I was like, You think I have it? No, no, but let me tell you, you go for a 10k run, right? And it doesn't even matter what the meal is, yeah, that food you eat next is gonna be sensational, right? And um usually your body's craving things like for me, it's always craving salt after the run, naturally. That must be a sweaty salt. A sweaty salter, a salty salt, a sweaty salt sweater. I have a sweaty salter, a salty sweater, um sweaty sweat. Oh my god. Um but yeah, it just tastes so good. Like, yeah, you have a slice of toast after a long run. Mmm. Slice toast good anyway, after a long run. Oh baby. Peanut butter on that bad boy. Put some banana on it. Oh my days, I love that anyway. Like toast, peanut butter, banana. So good. Toast, peanut butter, banana after a run. I like porridge with a bit of protein powder and peanut butter after a run. Before a run, oh so good, so good. And before is sometimes really good. You give yourself enough time because protein sits on your stomach in a bad way if you're running, but okay. Like banana is great before a run. Uh porridge can be a bit iffy, so you gotta give yourself enough time. But um I like prepping food sometimes for like workouts because it it it's like a mental thing. I'm just like, right, I'm I'm giving myself some uh some nitros boost for this run. Sure, sure. You know, like my battery's at like 40%, right? I'm gonna eat this, it's gonna top it up to 75%, and then I'm gonna be able to hammer this work out. Um and I like thinking like that sometimes. Um in the right way, don't just do it to eat crap.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

No, well, like you said, it there's some logic in there, which again I think we could probably go into later, not necessarily in this chat. But the food-wise, that's obviously a big part of it, fuel, because like you said before, if you're at this point you're looking at minutes, seconds really. So things like what you eat before, or even the night before, is making that sort of difference, isn't it? Because it is going to be the energy that pushes you over the edge. Um, as I'm sure most of the people listening have done some kind of exercise, they'll know that like it makes a huge difference depending on what you've eaten before you've gone. So the takeaways there, no pun intended, are uh you're a big fan of bananas, potatoes, are doing it for you. Um, you feel the need for salt afterwards. So that's an interesting thing to keep an eye on. Like, if you're aware of that, I'm sure it means you'll probably eat less. I think if you weren't thinking about it and would just like you know, we've all done it where you've had too much to drink and then just want to eat like six kebabs, whereas like the reality is you're dehydrated on it. So if you're a bit mindful of it, you know that like okay, I don't need necessarily this much. Um, it's making up for the lack of water, which again you touched on with sweat. Um, another major thing you touched on there, which I was definitely gonna ask about, um, and this is your excuse to kind of get your Tony Stark on. Um, in comparison to the first time we did it, what tech are you finding helps, or have you added any tech to your uh sort of arsenal of things to help, or have you is it all the same? It's just little changes, like you said, diet and the way you're running and the program. Uh in short, what tech are you using for the Sublime 23?

SPEAKER_03 27:31

Uh a Garmin 455. It is so good. Is it the 255? Let me just double check the model number. Yes. The Garmin 4 on a 255. This was an absolute bargain. I got it for£199.99. It was on offer at Curries. And do you know what helps with this piece of tech? It's kind of like going backwards to go forwards a little bit. So it's got a screen, a digital screen. It is not touch screen. Right. Perfect. I use it to aid with this goal only. Like that is literally what it's used for. I use it for the alarm to wake me up for the runs. That's the only thing it's used for. Um and uh yeah, for granted, uh you know, so I do use it uh to check incoming messages every now and then to see if I need to ignore it or not. Um wife is calling. The wife is calling, right? We'd better pick up the phone then. Um yeah, that that's the biggest thing. And then um, I mean you might have caught like a social post I put out there, and you may remember Nico, and if anyone's listening remembers, um I I suffer uh badly with bunions. And these little fellows can get big fellows, uh, especially if you don't wear the right shoes, and uh especially if you're on them quite a lot or if you're overweight. Um and they get inflamed so bad that sometimes I can't walk. Oh so the only trainers I wear, especially for working out in, is sketches. They're the only ones that um that really uh hit the nail on the head in terms of not me having not having issues with them. And way back when uh my wife bought me a pair of sketches and that were a size too big, I think they were size 11s, and I'm a 10, right? I'm a 10. But these were size 11s and wide fitting, right? So they were like big. But because I planned on using them for working out, I figured feet swell when you run. If I'm running that'll be fine. Um and so I just got some heel grips in, so that uh so there's another piece of tech to um fill a bit of the space in. Um but they were huge and I've been running with them and working out in them for quite some time. Um but not so much running it like like let's say 18 months ago, um, but fairly recently uh running a lot more in them. But they were battered, like really, really worn down. So I I recently invested in a new pair of sketches trainers, so I'll call that a bit of tech. Um and I was nervous with these ones for two reasons. One, because of the issues with my feet, and I got a size 10 thinking it'll be alright. They're not wide fitting, they're designed for running, yeah. They're called go runs. Yeah. But I figured because of sketches, they're usually pretty flexible, so it might be alright for the bunions. Now because they're a size ten though, I was like, uh wearing a size 11 and I'm a size 10, but if I'm using them for running, maybe they won't be right because they're kinda pointed at the front because they're designed to be better for running. Um and I just wanted to get them. They didn't have any wide fitting versions of them in stock, so I was like, alright, we'll go for it, we'll go for it, figure it out. And they were tight. I I went for a run in them and I um okay, so the some people might switch off at this point. But I had slightly long um a little toenail. Right, okay, let's see where this is going into the the side of my other toe or rubbed against it or whatever, because they were closer together because it were a tighter fitting shoe. Um, and then I had to like like put powder, talk powder or uh cream or whatever on it, or a plaster or whatever I did. And then the next time I went for a run, I got blisters on the other foot. And I was like, oh, this is an absolute nightmare. This so it's obviously the shoes. So I started putting a bit of Vaseline on my toes, which I read about can help with friction. I thought maybe I just need to break them in. So he said to wear them around the house. So um didn't invest any tech for this. I just put some really thick socks on and started wearing them around the house to sort of expand them out. Oh, cool, yeah, yeah. That's it. And it kind of worked a little bit, but I was still feeling like they're you know not quite there. Um, so I invested in another piece of tech, which is basically a shoe stretcher, which you leave them in your shoes for so long. Worked best with leather, but it said they worked on trainers, and that has worked a little bit, kind of. I think it's probably maybe uh a little bit of space in the toes and a little bit wider, but I've still got that. So if it if it ever feels like it's a bit tight, I can probably widen them again because I didn't go full, you know, full out on them to preserve the trainer as much as I can. Um, so yeah, so there's been a fair bit of tech invested in getting me to this stage. Um, but running-wise, because I started doing it in colder months, I've got a couple of running hats. Ah, nice, okay, yeah. Which have been great for capturing sweat. But I tell you what, yeah, I mean, we know how much um uh the big lad sweats, but like I ring those hats out and they're like after every run, um, especially if it's a long run. Um invested in a couple more hoodies, I'll call them tech again because it's cold, but I also like to pretend I'm rocky.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Oh, yeah, if it helps.

SPEAKER_03 33:39

Uh, and then uh some gloves, so some proper running gloves, which I'm annoyed about because I love them, they're great gloves, right? But I've got a hole in one of them now, so I like to replace, replace and replay. Um, and then the final piece of tech that I invested in for running is a running band, an armband. You put your phone in, uh, especially because I'm going out early in the morning, means I've got nothing in my pockets pulling my trousers down. Um, I've got my uh my uh my phone in there uh and my key. Oh and I almost forgot. In fact, this is like one of the best pieces of tech I've uh you know invested in. You can probably see them on my head, Nico. Okay um open shocks. They're called open shocks, and it's basically I don't think they're true bone conducting headphones, but they're very close to it if they're not. Um essentially, you know, uh I have issues with my ears, uh, so they're really handy for that. Um I've got one hole bigger than the other, so headphones are always falling out. I've had headphones that go over my head to try and solve that, but because I sweat so much, it it's a nightmare. And these, yeah, they basically sit on top of my ears, uh band all the way around my head, um, and they don't actually go in my ears. So they're also really great um for running by roads and stuff, because despite even though like you can block out a lot of the sound as you turn them down, um you're you you're still aware of your surroundings.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

So nice, yeah, very important, especially if you're on out in the wild.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um, so yeah, a fair bit of tech I've invested in to get into the running, and like those bit those those things have come in bits and bats as well. So it's not something you need to invest in to get started, but I kind of did a lot of them to reward myself and to keep myself going as well.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

That's true, and also I think it's important for people to know that sometimes yeah, that no one's expecting, you know, if you're looking to break a record like that, you don't have to just rely on what you've already got. You can explore the possibilities of improving things like the trainers. Like you said, you might just have the wrong running trainers. I think most people, you know, unless you're into running from an early age, you just kind of run in whatever trainers you've got. It takes a bit of time to realise there's ones with extra bounce, there's ones that can take the terrain that you're running on better than other ones. Um, so yeah, that's everything. I will ask, is there a kind of do you use any tech in prep for the the sort of food that you put together and things like any kind of neutral bullet type situation or yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

Um well yeah, we we know the tracking apps, um, I use all them, which are helpful because then I can record my meals, what I've got in. It's just helpful to have uh meals planned, um, which obviously helps with the dieting side of things, but also from an energy point of view uh as well. Um and then Neutrabullet, yeah, I have it's been an absolute um gem. Uh just because it's so easy to prep, really you know, compact. Uh I I I have pretty much a smoothie every single day, and I drink my smoothie straight from the Neutra Bullet cup, so it's just nice and easy. Um so yeah, that is absolutely banging. Um I I was using like some quite old style scales, you know, the ones where it's got like a little metal hand and you put a bowl on it and you make sure for measuring. But I've got a digital scale and I never rated them. I I didn't I didn't know like used them for anything. But honestly, it's so good. Like you you know and and you realise you were for some things way overestimating and then for other things way underestimating, like um because the other scales just weren't getting it quite right. Um and I I put I was uh using way too much peanut butter, like way too much peanut butter. Yeah. But then I I was using uh way too little things like if I was having porridge, not enough oats, like I was using a scooper to measure out my you know, oats thinking like I'll get one scoop of it, two scoop, that'll be fifty grams. It's like nowhere near. And all of a sudden I've got this big b uh porridge bowl of oaks, and wondering why every time I have porridge, everyone says it's filling, it's not filling for me. I'll put like two scoops in, it ain't filling. Um it's because like these little measuring cups typically are not like and I measure them using the old scales and it kind of says, Oh yeah, they're about right. But they ain't and same goes for like your protein powder and stuff like that. Like I'll get a scoop out of protein powder and on the digital scale, and it's bang on almost every time um with the weight and it's like I've not been putting enough in. So uh for a a lot of a lot of things. Um and very accurate for things like even measuring liquids and milk and all that kind of stuff. Um so yeah, it's been like really bang on. Because uh you know, I I tried and tested it out, I'd use an actual measuring cup and then the grams against it and for most liquids, the gram to milliliter measurements were pretty much the same. Uh so it's been really, really handy uh for you know the the food side of things like digital scale. Uh so yeah, so I haven't invested in low to tech recently, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

Well it explains it, doesn't it? Like I said, you'd sort of shaved off over ten minutes, you know, from I know it wasn't like uh an intentional thing, but I thought that that obviously has to have been changes. So again, a good bit of advice to someone who's done it doesn't have to be a specific 5k, but done a 5k and is trying to knock it down. If they were to do the the Chad O'Brien Halloween costume and get all the bits, they'd be wearing a Garmin watch, they'd have sketches go runs with heel grips, they'd have a tub of Vaseline handy just in case there's any toenail related incidents, shoe stretcher, just in case their sketches didn't quite fit, running band for getting the sweats on, hat for the same reason, uh open shocks headphones, so they don't have to worry about the headphones falling off, and again just hold them to the head while they're listening to music while they run, tracking apps for meals and food intakes, uh a neutral bullet for prepping said meal and sort of the intakes and to sort that out a digital weighing scale. Um so yeah, quite uh quite a lot of bits, but even then, if you just had half of that stuff, it's all adding it's all taking off the seconds, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 40:33

Absolutely, absolutely. And you got to think of the knock-on effect to a lot of that as well, like naturally, you start weighing your food and you're looking at what you're eating, you're gonna start trimming the fat, so to speak. So going back to what I said previously about um getting your weight down will naturally help you go faster anyway, in whatever time run you're doing. Um especially for long distance stuff is um i i is gonna naturally happen. Bear in mind you're talking about 10 minutes shaved off there, Nico. Uh 10 minutes and 40 pounds. 40 pounds of weight um from back when you know I was doing those kind of couch to 5k runs. Like I had a look today earlier based on recent ways. Um, yeah, 40 pounds lighter at the minute. Nice. That's me.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

Um you know, I'm not just saying some random guy I know's 40 pounds like. I just saw someone outside the window, he's like, it's 40 pounds lighter now. Next time on Diary of a Big Lad, Chad goes into some of the setbacks he's found doing the sub-23.

SPEAKER_03 41:41

I kicked uh a huge breeze block that had fallen off of a wall, um, and I went over. And that was the erd time I rolled my ankle.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

Chad goes into detail about what he's worried about the most.

SPEAKER_03 42:03

Needing a dump needing to do a number two.

SPEAKER_00 42:07

And the other problem he ran into during training. I uh lost two.

SPEAKER_03 42:13

Right, nightmare. First of all, I didn't realise that was gonna be out of action for nearly a week.

SPEAKER_00 42:19

To hear all this and more before anyone else, hit subscribe and get the pod directly to your player. But until then, as the big lab always says, keep on sweating.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

Anyway, the big lab is an Osvone Rome production featuring Shadow Brian and Nico DRL theme tool written and performed by J Stephen. Anyway, the big lab content, find it at anyway the big lab on TikTok. Facebook is Instagram.