The following is taken from my weekly newsletter that you can subscribe to by clicking HERE

One of the things I get asked about a lot when I do long runs is what the hell I think about.

And the answer is whatever pops into my head - but it wasn’t always that way.

It took a lot of running to get to that stage. I still remember when I trained for my first marathon in 2017, running around the Phoenix Park, favourite albums on to keep me going, only to look at the watch tick by in super slow motion.

As soon as I would get to the hour mark, the time would get slower and slower. Each minute more pain staking than the last.

I wish I could say that this leads to a trick or hack I found to overcome this.

The only ‘trick’ was to keep doing it over and over again. And, because of how inconsistent I was with running (I only ran at that time to say I could do a marathon in under 4 hours and be done with it), it took a long time for me to be able to zone out during a run.

Now, when I run, I probably couldn’t tell you the previous 3-4 songs that were playing on the headphones. My mind zones out to so many different things or coming up with solutions to different problems/thoughts in my head.

This newsletter from a few weeks back came to mind during my, we’ll say long, run over the weekend, specifically when I talked about how it’s not about how bad you want it. And while I’m not going to do a complete 180 on that, I found out that sometimes you do have to have that drive in you to keep going. And it helps when you are in the right environment, surrounded by the right people.

No, it doesn’t necessarily mean the answer is always gritting the teeth to grind it out… though I learned that sometimes that is just what you have to do. There are sometimes those uncomfortable pain barriers you just have to push yourself through if it’s leading towards a goal you want to achieve. There are sometimes exercises on the programme that will benefit your goal, and you just have to get on with it and do them.

If it was easy, everybody would do it.

Sometimes, you just have to keep forcing yourself to turn up over and over again, knowing that the result you want may not come up this time, but with each attempt, you are getting closer to it—even if you can’t see it at the time. It shouldn’t, however, feel like that all the time

So, what is your fitness goal?

And what do you know you have to do, that you’re not doing, to get there?

ANY GIVEN RUNDAY PODCAST

On this week's episode of the Any Given Runday Podcast, we welcome Joanne Murphy

Joanne is an International Sports Announcer, including being the first female announcer at an Ironman World Championships event in 2022 to lead announcer in 2023. She also has two Irish Race Records, founder and owner of Tri Talking Sport and was one of Sport for Business's 50 most influential women in Irish Sport

We discuss how Joanne got into announcing IronMan events, how she juggles her announcing around the world with her own fitness journey, Ironman events she has participated in, the Race Around Ireland, Donegal 555km with the Galway Baybes, announcing and competing at Mondello24, and much more!

You can follow Joanne on Instagram: @Joanne.murphy
As well as the Tri Talking Sport Podcast Instagram: @TriTalkingSport
https://tritalkingsport.com/

As well as her website, you can find more details on Joanne's Tri Talking Sport Podcast and more through her link tree: https://linktr.ee/JoanneMurphy

You can follow us on Instagram: @anygivenrundaypodcast

For those interested in doing Mondello24 this year, here are two episodes recommended by Tri Talking Sport:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1XZEzsf7TrwwXm2HVkDXzu?si=3D6qPdUQSaWIw52d6q3UAg

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7qhWvKIVRdFdzCGaoFjUSj?si=a08281c586a94962 

You can listen to this week’s episode on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NFsoQzJqNGq3MKipKdnlJ?si=BhQ5k6VtRIuN8wsA8mWvJw

Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/210-joanne-murphy-international-sports-announcer-race/id1493778874?i=1000655369317

or wherever you get your podcasts from

#AnyGivenRunday

You can also follow our podcast page on Instagram: @AnyGivenRundayPodcast
and see our other social links at: https://bio.site/anygivenrunday

Cardio for Heart Health

I wish I had this stat for last week’s newsletter when I talked about thinking about cardio for heart health as opposed to burning calories but the University of South Australia found that in a very recent study that performing cardio exercises can reduce your risk of death by 11-17% and heart disease by 18%

The recommended time for exercise seems to be 150 minutes spread out over the week.

That could be two one-hour training sessions and three 10-minute brisk walks, or however you feel you can split it into your lifestyle.

Do you have any burning questions about cardio, heart health or specific fitness goals? I'd love to address them in our next newsletter. Simply email me at sean@coachseanc.com, and I'll do my best to provide you with the answers you need.