How Do I Overcome Setbacks When Trying To Beat Personal Best? AKA 'Sublime 23 - Pt. 2'

Challenges! Pitfalls!! Setbacks!!! Stomach bugs!

This week, in the second of the 4-part Diary Of A Big Lad mini-series-inside-the-main-series, Chade O'Brien takes us through some of the things that have set him back in the build up to beating his 5k run personal best time (23mins).

There's positivity too though, in words of encouragement from a previous guest and pod favourite (we'll give you a clue, it's one of Chade's biggest fans).

Next week it's the big run itself, so follow Chaders on all the socials mentioned below as always for updates on the buildup and payoff of....SUB23!

WARNING: THIS EPISODE DOES NOT CONTAIN TALK OF BUNIONS, BUT SOME GORY INJURY RELATED DETAILS DO LURK WITHIN!

‘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_02 0:08

Welcome back to episode two of this very special mini series inside the main series to talk of the mini series thing revolving around Chad's upcoming attempt to beat his personal record running at 5k. If you listen to the last episode, you'll be all clued up. If you haven't, Chad's looking to complete the run in 23 minutes. That's 5k in 23 minutes. It's an ongoing project dating back 11 or so weeks. He's titled The Sublime 23. If you're not following Diary of a Big Lad on social media, I'd recommend getting caught up at Diary of the Big Lad on Instagram. Okay? So now you've done that, good. If you haven't, hold on tight because much like Chad's PB, there's no time to waste.

SPEAKER_05 0:52

Quite relevant. This is me doing a little warm-up walk seven days before the sub-23. So um it's kind of my fault if uh if you don't quite do it. Also my fault if you do do it, because I must have nailed the the upcoming workouts to the race, so taking all credit.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

That was Chad himself in the past with a message of encouragement for himself in the future. It's pretty apt though, as this week we're talking setbacks. At time of recording, we're six days away from the run, and Chad has had more than a few challenges along the way. And as the purpose of recording this podcast is helping folks like you set, manage and achieve goals, Chad talks about the issues he's run into, no pun intended, and how they may have helped him overall, so hopefully you can do the same. Or if you're a horrible person, you can just sit back and enjoy listening to Chad's struggles.

SPEAKER_06 1:45

Like this classic cut from the last week, about the very first time he I think it was um You'll hear it was around about the second week in um in December. And I started out on my run and I went a completely different route. Right? Right. I planned on going to uh Potty Frat Racecourse, which is basically a popular running route. Um but because we had plans that day, Charlotte didn't want me going off to Charlotte my wife, by the way, didn't want me going off to another town just to do a run. She said, Can't you just do one around here? I said, I suppose I could, but like this is supposed to be a timed run. And yeah, I'm just gonna have to figure out the route, but I just thought, you know what, I'll just go with it, I'll just keep running until I hit at the halfway point and then run back. And honestly, I was on track to come at the very least under 23 minutes, right? Yeah, but I was aiming for the 22 mark.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Sure, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:46

I was on track for some of it, and then sort of towards the end, I was like way behind. I was like, oh buddy, I I need to pick up the pace here if I'm gonna get anything close to it. This is gonna be a failure, but at the very least I can fail and then try again. And anyway, I'm running I'm I'm running toward like on on on the pavement and um it's dark. This is like 6 30 or 6 o'clock in the morning in December, so it's really dark. Um and I kicked uh a huge breeze block that had fallen off of a wall um and I went over. And that was the uh second time I rolled my ankle while I started my ring journey. Um luckily I've learned from my experiences and pretty much picked myself up, got home, and I was on to recovery fairly quickly. Um but um I was that mad because I was sat down for a good few minutes in pain that I uh uh I left the the watch running so the the time wouldn't been recorded, so I just deleted the run. I didn't even sort of like try and justify it to myself to see what went bad. I just went on just deleted the run. Um so that was the first stage that um kind of set me off into setting the goal.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

It's not all bad news though. We'll also get some words of encouragement from Pod fan favourite, Chad's daughter Ray, giving a new interview to the big lad and clarifying a false claim I made last week in the opener. Is Daddy a superhero?

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Of course, he helps me.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

But before all that, even the most confident personal best beaters have concerns about things they're worried about coming up against. So what's Chad's most concerned about?

SPEAKER_06 4:45

Injury.

unknown 4:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:47

Rolling my ankles, getting a stomach bug. Basically anything that stops me running. Yeah. Anything that stops from running, especially leading up to it. Because whilst you you're not gonna immediately stop being fit overnight if you don't do runs. One of the biggest things with running, I found, is consistency is so key. And if you have a week off, it's gonna take you at least a week to get back into it.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_06 5:16

Not gonna get back into running, but get back to kind of where you were. Um and not just from a physical point of view, it's more like from the mental point of view as well.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

Um and then on the day it's not quite getting the uh the nutrition right like before.

SPEAKER_06 5:40

I think um I'm playing around with what I'm having day before a little bit at the minute. Um I think I'll end up probably just being having a banana before the run. Uh you know what I mean, and doing quite an early run. Um And what about prep the day before though, food-wise? I don't really think the day before impacts me too much unless it's it's messed with my body in general, like if I'm not feeling well in myself in general. Like, you know, if I've got a bellyache because of what I ate yesterday, not I can't do a run because of what I ate yesterday. Like um like it's not like uh I ate this yesterday and today while I'm running that's having an impact on me because of what I've ate. If I've ever, you know, had a bit of a crap run, it's normally because I'm just not feeling right because of what I've ate in general. And I can already feel that before I start running if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

It does. But what's Chad actually worried about happening on the day?

SPEAKER_06 6:48

The other thing about on the day is needing a dump. Needing to do a number two.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Um like 23 minutes. I suppose if you work, make sure you go in the morning.

SPEAKER_06 7:00

Should be I go in the morning, I can need it twenty ten minutes later. Sometimes my body just takes its time to catch up. Like uh I've got like a three-dump rule sometimes that happens before before I start work. Like it's like my body's knows I'm busy.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

I think there's people listening that wouldn't have expected that as an answer to what are they you're worried about the most. Uh I'm assuming the plan isn't to just run out the front door and then back again. Are you running from somewhere?

SPEAKER_06 7:31

Is it part of a a group of people doing it or I'm planning on doing it at Pontyfrat Park like I did plan before, and that is what I'm doing. So there's no if, ands, or buts about it this time. That's the plan. I'm sticking to the plan. No one's deterring me from the plan.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Um it's happening there. You might find if you're attempting a similar feat, you'll run into problems. And as promised, here's what Chad had to say about his main setbacks in the build-up to the run in the last couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_06 8:03

Yeah. So I had a tooth extracted. Yeah. I lost a tooth. It's right nightmare. First of all, I didn't realise that I was going to be out of action for nearly a week. Um because when you have a tooth out and an adult tooth, it's the first one I've ever had out. I've I've I've kept all my wisdom teeth because it didn't cause me any issues. Um and yeah, you you can't run the next day. No. Um you basically need to let the blood clot do its work and heal completely. Um so yeah, that that caused a few issues. So um my next my next day run I had to not do. And then Thursday's normally a rest day, so I kinda, you know, left it at that. Uh and then Friday, I thought, well, Friday, we've had like sort of three days since it happened, and I kept trying to research whether it would be okay, and it kept telling me now. So I kept waiting for other answers. Yeah, typically, all the medical advice is don't do it really, because you could it's not fully healed and you could dislodge it and you're gonna be in more pain. But then uh when I was looking on forums and things, and basically everyone did run it, you have people being like, I ran a 10k on the day I did done, and I ran it the day after I was fine. And it was like, you know, but me, I I just kept panicking about it because I was just like, but if I do mess it up, I'm just gonna be out of action for longer. So I I went in with a happy medium and I didn't do my usual Friday morning m run. I did a steady Friday evening run instead, and I was fine. I basically just listened to my body for you know throbbing. Um and so that so that was one thing. And and then uh well just before all that happened, probably like a week or so, uh before I'd rolled my ankle for a I think this was the fourth time.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Um and not all four doing this though, like this is like you've historically um rolled it, haven't you?

SPEAKER_06 10:18

Well in the last call it six months, yeah. Oh wow, okay. About four times. Um different ankles as well. Oh but luckily this time well was this uh uh no so this was yeah, I think it was either the fourth or fifth time because just a couple of weeks before that I rolled uh my ankle again, like a couple weeks before that. Um and I remember doing this because it was like literally a few minutes into the run, um, and I was down on the floor after it. It I didn't fall over from it, but I was down on the floor. It was like something like half five in the morning, and there was some trades trades guy in his van passing by, and he actually stopped him. He was like, Are you alright, mate? Uh I was just like, Oh, that's nice of him. I says, Yeah, I'm fine, mate. I've just twisted my ankle. I'll I'm gonna live around the corner. He was like, You sure? You need a lift? I was like, No, honestly, it's fine. I was like, I literally live around the corner. He was like, Alright, mate, as long as you're alright. And then kind of went on his way. Um and then this time I rolled my ankle like literally maybe a week or so before the tooth extraction.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Um It it it kind of happened during the run.

SPEAKER_06 11:31

Um, but because I I kinda got my balance back okay-ish. In fact, this this time that I rolled my ankle, uh, I don't know if it's a week or two back, it might have been longer. Um it was it was just before I think that was the decision to get some new trainers. Because okay, maybe it's the trainers, man. Maybe the trainers are too big and they're clunky. And funnily enough, I think I've been running with the new trainers maybe just over two weeks. And I haven't had any sort of like issues. Um maybe a bit longer I've been running with the trainers. Um, but I haven't had any issues or kind of near misses, like with the other trainers, there were loads of near misses where it'd like be a bit unsteady. Um and when I've had let's call it a near miss with these trainers, like I've lost my balance a little bit, or I've gone into a pothole or over a hump. Like it's literally like I I can almost feel it straight away, so I'm just like reacting.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

So uh yeah, uh that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Yeah, that's I mean, that's a big enough set, but I mean just I think the tooth extraction alone is enough for some people to just be like, forget it. Then but of all the things you mentioned as well, none of them are things that you could have really stopped in the time that you've been training. So I think that's really interesting. That have you found that you having them happen, it's gonna make you work harder, do you think, to try and make up for the time that you lost, or do you really think it's a case of just keep as is and hope for the best and assume the programme's gonna work because, as we said last week, your sort of average is the time that you're trying to get on the day?

SPEAKER_06 13:14

Yeah, I mean, um I typically don't run that time, by the way. I don't run my goal pace time um at all. Most runs are way below it. Um which kind of scared me at first because I was just like, I'm gonna get to run, but I'm not gonna be able to do it. And every time I'm doing one of these goal pace runs, like, I'm bastard. Like I'm really struggling to keep up to that pace. And I'm really grateful for the the slow jogs. But um what I've actually realized with uh the the running is when you're training for let's call it a race, it's not really a race, it's a race against me or an event. Yeah. You don't want to be hammering the same um the same pace as what you're gonna be doing all the time. Because when it comes to event day, it's kinda like where's the motivation to get the extra game in place or to push harder? There isn't any. On the day, that's where you're really gonna push it. So I kind of typically give it maybe 90% like e even if I'm pushing goal pace. So on the day, I'm just like, yeah, this is the day that I've said I'm running this pace and I go for it. Still, you know, maintain the pace, but maybe the last mile, I'm just kinda like, time to hammer it. Uh I'm making sure that I'm hitting this this goal today. This isn't isn't an option. But you can't do that during training, in my opinion. Because you you just wear yourself down.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

We spoke a little bit last week about dietary changes during the prep, but what about in the specific days leading up to the run? I asked Chad if he had any tasty plans up his sleeve.

SPEAKER_06 14:58

It's more so just before the run, as opposed to uh like the days uh leading up to it. Um I I am trying to drop a bit of fat as we go so that um it it makes that run a bit easier. Uh so it's just general look sort of like uh the general diet right now. There's nothing specific I'm cutting out to stop it impacting the run. Um just generally trying to be healthy with what I'm eating and um getting the macros in that I know that help me shift the weight and whilst maintaining the muscle that I'm building on the side. Uh so from a food point of view, n not really. I I I do think a lot of it's myth, like don't eat this, don't do that before or wrong. Um like days leading up to it. I think it's more about uh at my level as well, you know. A c a competitive level, yeah, maybe there is like a food training plan that's very different. But at this level, it's really not required. Typically an hour up to an hour before you run, you need to be careful what you're eating. But if you're like two hours before you run, it's just what w what what your body how your body's digesting, you know. Uh 45 minutes after having it. I don't think so. Then you will beat yourself.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

Um to spend on a night note, uh have you got a reward planned for when you inevitably beat your record? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:35

Good friend of mine is gonna come to Yorkshire and go for a beer with me. Must be an exciting friend. No, uh probably just that. It's my birthday, like a couple of weeks after, so we'll just drink loads of beers.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

As promised, a little bit of positivity. Chad's daughter Ray agreed to answer some questions that I sent Chad to ask her. So, in case you think it's him kind of building his part up, it really isn't. I was just kind of kind of into cut them into the episode, but I thought she answered so honestly, it was best to just keep it in the original format. So, do enjoy.

SPEAKER_06 17:06

Is Daddy different when he's trying to achieve a goal like me running this 5k in under 23 minutes, or do you not even notice?

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Yeah, because you're working really hard and you're trying to do your best.

SPEAKER_06 17:24

Do you have any ongoing goals at the moment, Ray?

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Uh to try and get better. I do not stick and grab it.

SPEAKER_06 17:36

Do you have any words of encouragement for the upcoming attempt?

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Uh like keep on going.

SPEAKER_06 17:52

Do you think Daddy will beat his personal record?

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

As I said, honest and genuine. So that's it for this week. Uh next episode's gonna be a little bit different because I'm as Chad mentioned, I'm gonna go up to Yorkshire and we're gonna record it on the day. Uh some of it will be on site, on the run, when Chad inevitably achieves his goal. So I look forward to catching up with you then.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

Um unless there's anything else you want to add while you've still got the time. Did I do it? You can do what you like.

SPEAKER_06 18:27

Alright, well, if you're listening to this, my best advice to you, if you're trying to keep running and keep doing the work, is tell yourself every single day to just keep on sweating.

SPEAKER_04 18:45

Anyway, the big glass is not born round product, don't bribe and go to the R.