Coachinginterview

1:47HRS FASTER: MY RAPID MARATHON TRANSFORMATION | MICK CLOHISEY

with Mick Clohisey

1:01:20·22 January 2024

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MICK CLOHISEY

Mick Clohisey is the Irish Olympic marathon runner who cut 1 hour 47 minutes off his marathon PB en route to representing Ireland at Rio 2016 — a transformation built on a long-arc coaching relationship with Dick Hooper, the right event match for his physiology, and the harder-than-it-looks reality of training around a part-time job. His perspective on long-arc development, event selection, and what Olympic-level distance running actually looks like outside the international elite tier is unusually honest. For amateur marathoners and triathletes, his story is a case study in patience.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Mick Clohisey cut 1 hour 47 minutes from his marathon PB en route to representing Ireland at Rio 2016. Coached since his teens by Dick Hooper, a 3x Irish Olympian — the long-arc coaching relationship was central to the transformation.
The endurance profile decision (marathon vs track) matters. Hooper identified early that Clohisey lacked the raw track speed for 5/10k — pointing him at the marathon saved years of chasing the wrong event.
Olympic-level training was sustained around shifts at a local Spar shop. The reality of distance running outside the international elite tier — not the sponsorship narrative.
Selection drama is part of the Olympic story. Clohisey ran 2:15 in Berlin and 2:14-high in Seville with 4 athletes chasing 3 Rio spots; the case went to Court of Arbitration for Sport (not on his side).
Casual hygiene errors at altitude/in dust ruined a marathon: walking around in flip-flops, sweaty feet, sand into the skin. "Not professional enough" — small things cost the result.

TOPICS

CYCLING FOR TRIATHLETES

Mick Clohisey, one of Ireland's best marathon runners and Olympic representative, sits down to discuss his rapid transformation and what it took to get there. From working shifts at Spar to competing at the Olympics, Mick reveals the unglamorous reality of elite endurance sport and the infrastructure of support—coaches, family, community—that makes world-class performance possible.

Key Takeaways

Success in endurance sport isn't just about talent—it's built on an ecosystem of support: a great coach, family involvement, community belief, and a partner who enables your ambitions rather than resents them.
Breaking promises to yourself (staying up late, skipping stretches, not eating right) is a form of self-deception that erodes your mindset; elite athletes must keep the small daily commitments no one sees.
The Olympic experience itself isn't always the pinnacle—Mick found more satisfaction in his 22nd place World Championship finish the year after Rio because he performed at his best without external pressure or illness.
Injuries and setbacks can strip away your identity if you've made sport your entire sense of self; diversifying your life (coaching, music, other interests) provides resilience and perspective.
You can come back to marathon running at 38+ with smart training adjustments; the limiting factor is usually mindset and discipline, not age or past injuries.

Expert Quotes

"People don't see the process, they only see the outcome. They see you at the Olympics, they see you at world championships, they don't see the fact that you're working at Spar to give yourself the headspace and freedom to pursue this."

"Once you're always an Olympian, but I've never been one to say I'm an Olympian—it's just another event. I actually got more joy from finishing 22nd at the World Championships the year after because I redeemed myself and performed at my best."

"I probably didn't realize how much it meant, how much I depended on it for who I was. When the racing and performing stopped, I felt a bit of a void and realized I'd maybe put too much emphasis on it."

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

Each tagged with the strength of evidence behind it.

ANECDOTE
Mick Clohisey, Irish Olympic marathon runner, has been coached since his teens by Dick Hooper, a 3-time Irish Olympic marathoner — a coaching relationship he credits as central to his Rio 2016 selection.
Source: Mick Clohisey, interviewed on the Roadman Cycling podcast
STUDY
Clohisey ran 2:15 at the Berlin Marathon and a low 2:14 at Seville to secure Irish Olympic selection ahead of Rio 2016 — the selection process triggered an arbitration case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport involving another Irish athlete.
Source: Public Olympic selection records and CAS arbitration reporting, summarised on the Roadman Cycling podcast
ANECDOTE
Clohisey trained to Olympic qualification standard while working shifts at a local Spar shop — illustrating the financial reality for most distance runners outside the international elite sponsorship tier.
Source: Mick Clohisey, Roadman Cycling podcast
PRO PRACTICE
Clohisey's endurance profile (high training-load tolerance, weaker raw track speed) was identified by his coach as marathon- suitable rather than 5/10k track-suitable — a diagnostic question all runners should answer honestly before specialising.
Source: Dick Hooper / Mick Clohisey coaching framing, summarised on the Roadman Cycling podcast

KEY QUOTES

“Dick Hooper coached me since I was young and he's three time Olympian in the marathan and Dick always said to me you know you're your strength more than likely a lie and the endurance events so Dem maritan cuz I wasn't I wouldn't had the raw speed for the track say the 5,000 or 10,000.”
Mick Clohisey — Irish Olympic marathon runner

“I got down to 215 in Berlin and then I kind of went 214 high in Seville to back it up cuz there was four of us in In Contention out for three spots and it kind of went down to there was a bit of controversy on the selection it wasn't on my my part but um one of the guys actually took took a case at the court to arbitration of sport.”
Mick Clohisey — Irish Olympic marathon runner

“I was probably too I was walking around a hotel and flipflops and it was very dusty kind of Sandy Place very dry air and I probably was just feet sweating kind of thing and you're going out running the sand and dust getting into I was probably when you look back I you know a little bit careless not professional enough in that.”
Mick Clohisey — Irish Olympic marathon runner

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT10 SECTIONS

From St Paul's fields to Olympic dreams

Nick welcome to the road man podcast thank you very much Anthony for having me on here today nice to be sitting down lovely to be sitting down here in the studio here in the CL H I've shut off a a little bit M we're saying I had Patty Hulan in on the podcast before and anyone doesn't know Patty MMA voter came up with Conor McGregor and he was sitting there and he was talking about the vision the boys had when they were going to training theyd be going in this speat up card they'd hardly have money for petrol to get into training but they have a vision they were going to be UFC Champions even though they were going in a busted p with no petrol into training they thought no we're in Lamborghinis we're driving down the strip it's we're going to make a 100 million tonight they had that Vision do you ever think when you're running the Back Field up in St Paul's that you be one of the best Irish marathon runners of a generation pulling on the green jersey going to Olympics um I suppose appar you had that that dream you know that when you're when you're young and I was coming into the sport in my kind of mid teens is kind of when I got into running cuz I I like yourself I played a lot of soccer and played GIC football and they were my kind of my main sports when I was younger um but the running kind of became I think it was maybe was in third year in in um third or fourth year in secondary school that I realized you know I can actually start doing something at the running and I never really I never looked that far ahead really you know but it was probably more so when I left school and I kind of gave up the the other sports the soccer and gaic and focus solely on the running and this is when I was 19 or so and I won a a junior cross country National and I kind of said all right this is I can I can do something here with this with this Sport and I was just kind of enjoying it so much then you know I didn't look too far ahead and I suppose the Olympics was was something in the background that um but I never I never thought too far ahead you know I was just in the moment I suppose does the Olympics seem possible well I suppose dick Hooper coached me since I was young and he's three time Olympian in the marathan and Dick always said to me you know you're your strength more than likely a lie and the endurance events so Dem maritan cuz I wasn't I wouldn't had the raw speed for the track say the 5,000 or 10,000 so I kind of had that in the back of my mind you know yeah maybe the maritan I'll move up to it and you know the Olympics is something that could be there but yeah I suppose it was in in the in the back of my mind but you know as I said you're just kind of enjoying like cross country was my mainting in them days and I said give myself time before moving up to the marathan and um I suppose I was in that kind of thing where I didn't look too far ahead and just kind of enjoyed what I was doing in the present but you I would have had something inkling in in my mind that I wanted to to reach them Heights when I came kind of I was when I think about myself I had all these kind of weird inflection points so you know we both went to same school went to same balls then you finish school that's one of those inflection points what do you do next do you go to college do you not go to college how much of a role was running in your thought process there because I remember I was playing football at the time and I was playing League of Orland for Bohemians and I remember coming home to my dad Bohemians had offered me a contract to go fulltime with them at U23 yeah and it was like I can't remember how much it was like 75 a week or 80 quid a week or something like that I thought I was a baller at this money and I went home to my dad and he's saying like oh what's the plan for college and I was like no no I'm going to play football full time and he's like oh cool you getting paid and I was like yeah yeah getting paid 80 quit a week and he's like well I struggle to pay rent on that I was like how do you mean rent I live here he's like no you live here if you're going to college you don't live here if you're going playing football full time so that was like a real inflection point for me where my Dan wasn't making a career at of football because at that point if you're not going to England you're not making a career but did you have those inflection points where you're like should I go to college or should I focus on running or should I get a job yeah I suppose I was kind of like running only kind of took off when I left school so I was kind of didn't know what I was doing when I was did my leave and se you know kind of just did enough kind of thing I wasn't I was never too studious but I had enough to kind of get by like I suppose I was a bit maybe lazy in that department but I I think I had too much fun in St Paul's you remember there as well the crack was mighty so that's that's all a part of it so when I when I left school actually did a year of uh Horticulture down in Botanic Gardens landscape G I kind of had a thing about landscape gardening and you know I I was into a bit of Art and stuff but it was a really full-on course and I just wasn't really into it so I did a year at that but that's when I was really getting into my running and I suppose I missed a boat for a scholarship to America I think I had one offer because I don't it was it was a year after leaving school now I probably could have went over but I managed to get into UCD doing sports management diploma um through the running through a few connections helped me get in there because I didn't have certain points or whatever um and I didn't really know what I was just enjoying making breakthroughs into running so I wasn't really looking too far ahead um I suppose I was living at home at the time as well and doing a bit of college and you know running away and yeah I think I was actually I was working as well actually in The Spar shop around the corner there so I worked for a good few years there so it's kind of combining all that like and in running unless you're really up the very high end you're going to you know to make a living so it's kind of hard to make a living at running unless you're you're kind of international level and um on on the on the state on the circuit kind of so to speak now me on road races you can make you can make money but to to make a full now I went a few years there where I was full-time but I had a few sponsorship things helping me out but I suppose I was kind of a go with the flow type person I never really planned too far ahead and maybe a backfire sometimes but then again it worked out well for me as well so but it's the part that no one sees isn't it like you mentioned sp there and that's the unglamorous reality of being an athlete you know yeah well I mean the year before I went to Rio was it 2015 or 14 I probably only finished up or Spar yeah and I I I kind of lost a few years

Burnout, Spar job, and comeback

In uh mid 20s didn't stop running but I can after after I suppose when I left school I had a good few years of progression early 20s making Irish cross cross country was my mainting under 23 Cross Country teams each year the I Senior Team when the Euro cross country was in Dublin 2009 and then 2010 I kind of just lost a bit of Mojo momentum and wanted to go off traveling and do a few other things I went to the states traveling and um just kind of lost the the hunger a bit I think it was a bit burnt out because I've been training so hard but I always knew I'd come back to it um so I never put took the foot off the gas too much I kind of just let things settled for a year or two and then when I came back um 2013 14 and um yeah I was working in Spar and then I started to make a lot of progression and all of a sudden the Olympics started becom on the horizon so then I was kind of stepped away from the the part-time Spar job and kind of went full-time at at running and but it is the reality being an athlete isn't it where it's like people don't see this people see the especially in this culture we're in with Instagram Twitter Tik Tok they're highlight rails no one sees the process they only see the outcome they see you at the Olympics they see you at our world championships they don't see the fact that you know you C of you know I've known you for years you're a smart lad you could have got a job you know Investment Bank and you could have built a totally different career but you have you're working spur to give yourself the head space the freedom to pursue I mean I had such flexibility there and you know when it was around the corner from where I lived and you know everyone knew me and it was nice kind of local kind of scene you know and look it's a a job is it's a job any job is is a good job you know good job and I enjoyed it there for you know but for the few years and um and then I look I was like I suppose I had small grants through the Sports Council but it was never like I wasn't on the high level Grant you know you get small bits and pieces but that wouldn't have been enough to to uh to go fulltime what I kind of helped out was a bit of sponsorship through Spar actually not because I worked there because my my uncle had a big involvement in them he's now involved in insomnia and I've had sponsorship through them kind of kind of low-key sponsorship but just to kind of keep me going through them years that I could go fulltime and but then I suppose when after Rio I 2016 I kind of said I have to start doing something else as well so that's when I set up my own coaching business bit like what you've done over the years um in cycling terms I've set up my own running coaching and I've had that since 2017 and that's been my main you know source of income and talk to me about the Olympics because the other thing about the Olympics I find looking at it the athletes you talk to you know CH with arish Olympians and you know others that have even won gold medals and stuff on the podcast the unique thing about the Olympics is it's not really just a personal achievement it's something tangible that your entire circle can be proud of like your parents your wife your coach your training Partners your Club I think that's actually the magic of the Olympics yeah yeah like I suppose that all kind of happened very all of a sudden I was I around my first maritan in 2015 in rdam um because it was time to move up and Dick Hooper was coaching me and he said look let's give this a crack and I was just slightly outside qualifying time and that went to Berlin qualifying time well it's actually it's come on so much now like you have to now you have to run a National Record nearly sub 209 to get to the Olympics there's a ranking system as well but they've cut the field in half so it's so much tougher so the time down I think was 27 which was very achievable for few the Irish athletes I got down to 215 in Berlin and then I kind of went 214 high in Seville to back it up cuz there was four of us in In Contention out for three spots and it kind of went down to there was a bit of controversy on the selection it wasn't not on my my part but um one of the guys actually took took a case at the court to arbitration of sport but um any I I'd done I'd cemented my place I was racing regularly to show my form and and probably back fored in the end I was I was kind of known as being fairly prolific racing on the roads even when I was in a maritan block I'd be running five MERS 10ks 10 MERS I loved that that was what I I did every two or three weeks i' go out and blast a race and I suppose when I got to the Olympics then I was a little bit burnt out and that affected my performance but I I felt to get there I needed to show my form and look I probably overdid it a bit is that a bit of insecurity with your first Olympics and you're trying to possibly yeah because there was this kind of uncertainty about the places now I I kind of knew I was there but still I had this I was just in such a rich V of form as well and I Lov going out racing on the roads and perhaps like the way i' probably have to try out and if if I get back up to a decent level is not raced as much but I could do it then and I did it for another good few years and it was I was kind of known as being out there on the roads and it kind of it was great for me as well because kind of even for my um bust the word people knew me on the they said mix down the country running that race and I love that meeting people and the boys of the RO RAC and but back to the as well back to the Olympics um when I look back yeah it was the buildup was great and the community get behind you as opposed to you know bu like you know Athletics highend Athletics is a nichan of thing like people might know the World Championships is on if they don't really follow it or whatever or the Europeans like um so the Olympics everyone kind of buys into it and look I I just treaded it like another it was my first big major championship but I I didn't get too overwhelmed I just wanted to go out and put in a strong performance in the maritan and when I look back now it was a great experience I was sick to week at the race um had a blister in my foot that got infected a week out which wasn't ideal and then I think I got some sort of irus probably connected with that I managed to get to the start line got through it wasn't a good performance but how much that getting sick getting blisters how much of that now with the benefit of hindsight is just bad luck with travel or how much of that you think could have been prevented with easing off the train we were in a holding camp in Brazil for three weeks beforehand and I was probably too I was walking around a hotel and flipflops and it was very dusty kind of Sandy Place very dry air and I probably was just feet sweating kind of thing yeah you know and you're going out running the sand and dust getting into I was probably when you look back I you know a little bit careless

Blister disaster at the marathon

Not professional enough in that but look and you know something like this is can be a freak thing at a blister that kind of just all of a sudden you think it's okay and then it's not looking great and you have to get doctors looking at it and um it actually healed up for the maritan but the damage was done like it missed a it wasn't that i' missed training really because the week out from Maron you're not doing very much but my whole energy reserves are depleted but I saw out to Mar and finished it cuz my family had I mean family had traveled down my dad and it was yeah so my dad and my Uncle and Cousin had traveled down my wife croner we were only gone out a few months then she actually didn't come down but I know in rahini the Watermill Pub was packed with people watching and you know I said I have to finish this out and I crawled across the line everyone like the local school the local look do you know I don't know if you've met my dad too many times but he knows who you are so well give me give a wave the car going by yeah so like even people that are that far removed from you have such a sense of Pride when you running that race like he would have been boxing off that morning oh no mix running this morning I know it's amazing like even a few last week I was running on the beach and I overheard someone talking to someone else and said that's the lad who ran in the Olympics now it's going back eight years now I don't know how long you can but as I suppose as Pat Hooper um great rahini man dick Hooper's brother another Olympian um from Moscow 1980 P sadly passed away he was massive part of hany sham but he said you know once you're you're always an Olympian and um or once an Olympian always an Olympian but I've never kind of been one to you know to say I'm an Olympian it's just you know it is what it is it's just another event I know people have a special thing with it but I I was more happy with my the year after the world championships in London when I kind of redeemed myself and finished 22nd in quite a strong field um and I I actually got more joy from that but when I look back now at the Olympics it was great experience cuz at the time think oh I'll get to the next one but sure that didn't happen and now it's like it's so hard to get to the Olympics in maritan so yeah but even circling back to that it's like so much of what happens in high performance sport it's in the shadows it's you know the local Football manager going up and marking the pitch on the wet morning it's the local R putting out the con the unglamorous yeah the unglamorous stuff you never see and I think that Olympics it gives those volunteers meaning to go forward and even for a story for the rest of their lives to say you know a coach lad who went to the Olympics you can almost justify the Wednesday night where you're not at home with the wife you're out putting the cones in cuz one of your Lads got to the Olympics yeah I know it's absolutely and it's because it means so much to the community and I'm I'm for my like as well as mainly was my family and the club and then the community and you know I'm just glad that I I did what I could in in the event and look at sport you know you you can't control everything as well so um but it was it was a great experience and it means like I suppose for my My Two children are only one and four now but like I've you know I've kit or memorabilia from it they said you know better keep that stuff for them when they're a bit older to see it and sure maybe one of them might follow in in my footsteps or something but isn't it a weird thing where you're saying there like you went to the Olympics and you think oh there's going to be another one like I've had this experience as well where my best day on bike kind probably in the past but at the time you don't realize I'm only coming into my Prime and then I suppose what happened was Co came and delayed the Olympics a year and then yeah sh can go into all my my recent years but yeah you kind of think at the time I'll come back and redeem myself in four years or whatever but like it's not that's not the way sport works or life you know in general did did you suffer at all after the Olympics with any mental health stuff I read a statistic that 85% of Olympians suffer for some form of depression post games I know on stage races we call it the Poke stage race Blues but that's just a software saying I'm mly depressed yeah I I was I was a bit down because I I didn't perform but I to be honest I don't think I I went away to California on a holiday for two week weeks with Corona and we were only going out a few months so it was kind of that was a good feeling at the time you know so I think I was I I switched off from running for maybe a month which I needed to um but I knew that I was coming into good I knew that I was building in my running career so I wasn't really too I was looking forward to push on there was cross country was coming then there was the world championships in the maritan the following year so I was kind of didn't dwell on it too much you know I just wanted to say right that's that done and move on because felt I was coming into stronger vein of form and I I don't think I put I didn't put so much focus on the Olympics like this is it to be all in end all because I kind of knew this was only all going well was going to be the start of a few good years of of uh progression so I mean look like anything you get a bit down for but I I think when I got on a holiday in California and forgot about running I was I was Grand you know you reckon looking back you should have enjoyed it more yeah I suppose I like at the time I did I enjoyed being over there and like with some good friends good good crack with the the the crew over there and I suppose just a week of the race getting sick and all that that wasn't pleasant and you're in the Olympic Village and you're getting your blister dressed every day and you're kind of like all right six days five days now and you're kind of I couldn't stomach the food then either cuz it was feeling sick and everything was you know you're way away from home and as well as at that thing you're like she uh probably didn't enjoy the Olympic Village side but too much could have done been single for the Olympic Village heard all that yeah but um that was a a nogo obviously but um the one thing I wanted in the Olympic Village because I had this bit of a virus related to the the blister I presume it was probably about three or four days before the maritan there's the McDonald's in the Olympic Village but it was always packed because people when they finished their event had to thing they were going to go to McDonald's but I was craving like a strawberry milkshake or something you know when you have sign to something you wanted and I could anytime I'd walk down to it there was just a massive queue I said I forget it you know but you saying bothal k for a strawberry he probably would have been there any on the chicken nuggets or whatever but but yeah I look it was when you look back you know it's it

Once an Olympian, always an Olympian

Is you know at the time you're so in inv and focused on what you're doing you kind of don't really but then I look at the pictures back or whatever and you know hopefully be able to tell me children about it and when they're a bit older um but yeah look it was good experience to have and um but as I said I I always said like the World Championships is coming there's European championships as well so that was that's the great thing you know like in in cycling as well there's always something coming down the line you can you know feel a bit down for a bit and then you move on don't dwell on things you know what I think that's also why we don't enjoy those moments enough like even the biggest races I've won like I remember winning stage three of Ross Mill which I used to train all winter for specifically for this stage like it's the queen stage I loved it so much there's so much romance and glamour around it I remember getting Texs off previous winners and Olympians going like welcome to the club after I won it where is that stage it's down at curry in Waterville oh yeah and it was one I targeted for years and all my training Partners we'd work towards this one and then I won that stage and instantly my mind moved to well I got to win tomorrow stage stage four and I got second on the stage the next day and I remember driving home my girlfriend at the time and I was like soing going home cuz I got more that's the nature of you know of the highend sport as well or any you know you kind of want more you feel there's more there and you're going to push again and and it's it's hard to settle and be happy with something you know because you want you feel that's something that like just athletes have I don't know if that's normal it's probably other walks of life you know as well like business or in you know different things people it's it's a human condition you know you're not happy with what you have sometimes and I think that's where you have to get back to as that's our mindfulness even comes in or being in the present as best as best you can as opposed to I think right have to do this next one now was coming and but like as suppose when you're in a highend level of sport you can't really rest on your your laurels too much you know I know that a great thing with having dick Cooper as my coach he he never got too you know over the top with celebrations stff like right you've done that let's push on you know and you need you need there's a balance of that you know you have to enjoy the moments obviously but you can't get too carried away with the you know successes and then you know the lads are training and you're getting a bit too too blasé about it or whatever because you've won something so that's I suppose that's the nature of it you want to keep yourself uh moving but there's a balance I think two sides to that when I look at your success there's obviously there multiple different factors of play You're super talented you've worked super hard you've so I don't know if it's accidental or quite well engineered a really good infrastructure and Community for Success around you like you've mentioned dick Hooper like he's won Dublin City Mar been to the Olympics without people like that in your corner maybe you don't even realize it's possible to get to the Olympics and I've also seen your dad have ridden past you in the Phoenix Park your dad be on the bike handing your bottles and pissing I know 70 now how important is that having that infrastructure for Success it's it's it's a massive part like and I I do appreciate all the help I've had like I suppose my dad has been probably the main you know because he's up there I in recent years more so as well I've done a lot of my training on my own and so right we're up to Phoenix Park on a Monday morning or something because it's quiet he I'll drive up and this what I'm doing my long run or whatever he'll cycle up here from clun harf and then he'll be up there and I'll hand him the drinks bottles and we have our few little spots on in the park where I know he'll be grab I grab the bottle off me he'll say throw it on the ground up there i' throw it down so he picks it up sometimes you get saying what are you doing throwing your bottle on the ground and said I give us a break I'm going to pick it up you know but um giv a reg three4 P but uh yeah that's you get a bit cranky as well if someone say shouts something to you up the park when you're running but um but like that's a massive part of it because I mean when he's not there it's harder you know and to have that support and just to see him in different spots and then the same with dick like over the years Dick had be up there at sessions like like so many different volunteers um Wind and Rain whatever just standing there you know could be just me and him on the hill of Hope doing a hill session um and you know he's there and it's the presence that's a big part of it like because if I'm KN there's a c there's a session out how to Cork screw you probably know the hill on the bike you know well um it's one of the key sessions over the years it's a funny one it's kind of nearly a mental toughness session so we go up four times basically um you take a stop halfway it's what distance is the hill for someone who hasn't so yeah the hill is about a a k or so from the bottom so you start down at the bottom we do about 500 you stop for a minute um and then you take the second half which is the corks so the really steep part which is another 500 you you know it wh it on the bike yeah and then we jog all the way back down recovery about 5 minutes and you do four times so it doesn't it's not actually that much it's just the mental toughness of it but it stays like that when you have dick there I like right I have to do I have to do this properly here you know and then you switch into it so it's all them little things and um there's so many other people like my my uncle has been a massive par and he's traveled to all the races as well with my dad he's helped me out with sponsorship my cousin as well has been there and obviously my wife Crona um in recent years as well going back from when we first started going out she's been at all the events as well really um so it's it is massive and then just to allow you to do the train and and now things have changed now with two children and I haven't been I haven't been trained the way I used obviously with injuries as well in recent years but um it does take a lot of people around you know yourself from from from being away training and stuff you need the support and I do appreciate it and um you know I'm lucky to have like I'm lucky that I've had people that are I actually think it's the number one thing like when I talk to athletes who are successful and athletes who are like had potential but they never fulfill that potential I actually think a supportive environment is the number one thing because if you have a partner who every time you lace up your shoes or every time you put on your cycling kit to head out the door she's looking at her watch going oh when you going to be back or do you have to go today you're f frictions heart overcome oh I know and I'm looking

Identity, balance, and single-minded focus

At my wife Brown as it runs as well and but I know I can understand some people like the let the lights are running and cycling they can be a selfish sport like you know and people can get carried away with and I think I know I've trained hard over the years but I've always felt I've had kind of a good balance of known you know don't get too carried away with it um don't get too obsessed with the whole thing into your own world but that do other things I'm lucky I've been into music and different things and and D my dad plays music as well so you know I've always felt I can kind of step out of it a bit and not get too into it and be always thinking run now look when I was training and running well you're you obviously always have that in the back of your mind so you know thinking about your next training run or your next set but it's trying to step away from it a bit as well to do you ever have a not a chip on your shoulder isn't the right word but like a a nagging voice to say how different would it have been maybe I'm I'm projecting my own insecurity onto you here a little bit because even in the years I was full-time on the bike I always kind of hedged where I was either building a business on the side or I was doing a college course on the side cycling was never fully my identity so when I had a bad race or I had a bad season yeah it wasn't like oh my life is [ __ ] it was just like oh that aspect of my life isn't gone super well I have all these other aspects but I often wondered if I had been just just cycling nothing else in the world mattered to me only cycling could I have made more of a career of it did you ever have that yeah like suppos well I was all running really like I mean I just had other interests but when it's actually it's funny I always say I could step away from it but in when I really think about it when I got injured and when Co came they kind of coincided the whole all the races sto and I kind of kind of lost a bit of what I did because I was so prolific racing all the time and being out there and I kind of I didn't really know like I had my coaching and that was going great and actually during Co that kind of Blossom blossomed a bit because there wasn't much else happening so we were able to organize little things low key things and people started like getting more people coming to my groups or whatever but when my racing and Performing kind of stopped there on and off for the last few years I have felt a bit of a void of you know you lose a bit of what you did or did you lose a bit of who you are well I probably didn't realize how much it meant how much I depended on it for who I was so to speak you know um the being out there running and see that's the thing with you know injuries are so frustrating but but when I out race and and you know be up the top and um I probably didn't realize at the time that it probably wasn't I maybe put too much emphasis on it in a way so to speak that when it was gone away it was a bit kind of bit lost at see a bit as to who what am I what am I doing kind of you know that kind of way but that's you hear that a lot with different sports people when they're when they step away from or you know when injuries come or whatever but um yeah when I when I T I taught that I was okay I could I yeah sure I could step away from running but then when you realize when it's gone for a while so you're trying to navigate now a different situation cuz now you're a family man two young kids you're married you've had the injury setbacks and now you're trying to get back to the top again but when you're thinking about getting back to the top how do you differentiate between the the boxer we've all seen the boxer who takes two fights to many you think a Tyson's last fight he's just getting embarrassed and he's on his back by some nobody versus the guy who is on the brink of an amazing comeback and launching part two of his career how do you think about yourself in terms of which one of those two year yeah like I know I I feel like if unfinished business definitely in the marathon the shorter distances might be harder like the 10ks and whatever Five Mile and all that kind of stuff for track like I probably won't be running on the track anymore just for training and doing sessions or whatever but I definitely feel the thing with endurance running as well you can be like I'm going 38 now in a few weeks um I look at some guys in their early 40s and they've come back and run PBS they've had bad injuries there's an English athlete Chris Thompson who's had lot of years of bad injuries and he came back and ran a 211 PB at 42 so you're it is possible and I looked at fena mccormmach in the Euro cross country last week and she she's 39 and she has three children now she's I have no excuse I'm not I'm not a m I'm you know but but she she ran Olympic qualifying time in the maritan and then a week later on the European cross country finished fourth and that's exceptional like I don't any any people who could do that but I do look and see that it is possible to come back um I haven't let myself like I haven't stopped running I've been kind of stop start over the last few years obviously there wasn't much happening during Co um I won to Belfast marathan kind of it was a national championships in 2022 or 2021 2021 I remember seeing you the day before that I'm not sure if you remember this I seen you at the coffee shop across the road and maybe the day before two three days before and I was like Mickey watching you're like ah a little bit not a whole point real modest down key as you always it was a low it was a definitely lower key maritan like it I wasn't at the highest level but still I I was I was able to to get a win there which is a rare to to actually win a maritan on the RT news then two days later and the Belfast City see it was the only one that went ahead pretty much that year in Ireland anyway because of Co they managed to get it across the line so um but I I had a few little bits like that and then I won a national t last summer summer for last in in Phoenix Park and a 10 mile but i' running slower times and stuff but I had been stop start with injuries um kind of chronic injuries I just kept eventually I think I'm over them now um I've had small little niggles lately that have just been hindering me but I've when when that happens then you lose your momentum your mojo confidence starts to go you can get a bit casual um lifestyle uh you know whereas in the past i' be like right a hard session coming up be in bed early you know but now you're like ah I just go out for a run I can stay up a bit later or whatever and then as well with two two young children things are different as well but I know to get back I can but it'll be a mind setting more than anything and it'll be a discipline thing but once I get that kind of momentum again and get back enjoying it I feel I can push back and give it another shot but it will take a lot of work

Keeping promises to yourself

And who knows like I'll have to train a lot smarter now with the injuries won't have to do the tra won't be able to do the training I used to do but do it slightly differently so I'll have to have a lot of thinking and planning on how to how to get myself back but it will the Ming will be hard work and discipline you know what I think around that which I've heard many podcast guests talking about this and from the outside looking in if you do your 100 mile a week or whatever you're I know dck Cooper's big on 100 mile a week you do your 100 mile a week from the outside looking in it's like if someone your training diary and says okay make 100 but there's different ways to do that 100 because you as an athlete you make promises to yourself you say I'm going to go to bed at this time yeah because it's going to help my session tomorrow and then you don't go to bed at that time or I'm going to eat this meal because it's going to help my recovery and then you don't eat that meal or I'm going to stretch because I need to be loose for tomorrow and you don't stretch when you break those promises to yourself that puts you in a different mindset when you set those promises and you keep those promises absolutely no one sees those only you I know and then you you're the one know as yourself you're lying to yourself or you know you're saying like have that extra craft beer or whatever it is you know so it's it's committing to and you know it will take work to get back into that mindset I'm not far off it like and I think the thing when you're when you're running half injured you're frustrated but when you get back like last few days I felt a lot better and like all right I've missed this so much you know just this feeling of being free like just G out for a spin on the bike you know I've just been running easy but just running down Dolly Mount strand up to St in St an's on the coast just like I just missed this feeling of running without having a nigle you know cuz when you're like on the bike but when you're running so it's just it's so frustrating now look there's worst things obviously in the world but if you go for a run and you're hobing and you just kind of want the run to end but you realize then when you're injury free just that Simplicity of just going out and that's what I'm doing at the moment I've kind of put off saying right try and get a race in now in a few weeks because I know if I put myself under that pressure like I'll probably just annoy Myself by underperforming because I haven't done enough training of late so it's going to be a kind of a longer process and I think I just need to be patient in that regard I want make this a little bit tangible Mick for people listening that want to improve their running whether it's for a little bit across training or they're currently a runner and they just want to get faster like how do you think about somebody approaching their first marathon like how do they start to build a training plan like is this it's like for cycling anyway let me tell you how I would approach it and see if it's similar so for cycling I always use this analogy the GPS where if someone comes into me like hey want to do the Ross tour of Ireland like okay cool let's assess where you are right now like the GPS needs to know where are you right now and it needs to know where you're going and once I have that where you are and where you're going then I can start to plot the journey how do you sort of conceptualize that idea if someone comes to you says Hey I want to do a marath well it be it's very similar to that as well you have to know where they're at of course what they've done in the past you know is obviously if it's their first marathan what kind of base of running have they behind them um how many years have they been running going straight in from not running um and I suppose it depends on the time frame they're looking at like there is an element of people maybe feeling pressure not a well like I'm going to run a maritan and they've just jumped straight in and you know maybe they just want to complete the maritan they don't care what they do in it or whatever but I think if you want to do yourself if you're looking for a performance or to do you know have you a Target like a time or whatever it's a patient thing and it's not jumping in too soon so I would always think you know get a few years of 10 miles half marit or you know a year or two maybe look it depends on what the person is talking about if someone's looking to say I run run this time and they haven't done anything I would be of the longer term you know get shorter distance under your belt do your Park runs every week or whatever it may be build gradually and then be ready for a Maran it's a hard one to jump into it is and that's why it's such a gradual thing I think that's what the park run around the country and you know has been brilliant for like say for my coaching group there people that would never really ran and they started doing the park runs which is 5K which is very manageable for people you know of all all levels and then they've come down to my sessions and then all of a sudden they're doing some of the longer races and it is a gradual thing so I think with a maritan you have to be careful not to jump in too quick and it all depends on the person's level where they're at and but I would think if like anything if you're if you want to do it well and enjoy it to give it time so say it does depend on where you're at but like say if Dublin marit's next October and people now but is December like that's plenty of time to build so it'd be just a very gradual thing and I suppose it's an individual thing as well then so you know you can't just say this certain distance this far out for template plant don't work for run they can be a Rough Guide I think you know but everyone's slightly different I think you can't be too rigid either with with plans like that you know you see these plans everywhere and they they're good to follow they have the the what the the idea is right but just because it says do whether it's 30k or whatever 20 odd miles certain week out and you're not feeling well you feel you have to do it like people need to be flexible in that regard but they are good to follow and they they all come from a lot of the stuff comes from the same kind of thought idea you know and my I mean my training approach for for my own running on coaching as I was saying earlier to you like it's it's kind of a simple old school approach and a lot of it's going off fi you know I know these days we've so much technology you know I'm I'm sure in cycling there's so much stuff you know all your stats and everything and it's the same in running with the watches and everything and heart rates lactates and these are all beneficial I'm absolutely you know I think there's so much benefits from all this stuff but there's an element of running off field that's been lost you know of just going out on your easy days and just running and saying look just put the watch on stop start or whatever you know just get your time or if you know your Loop or distance or whatever but there's just too much um Reliance on everything has to

Intuitive training versus the science

Been be paced and get and it looked as I suppose it can be beneficial for not overtraining as well but I've always learned off field and I think if people can get that intuitiveness to they're running they'll run better because you're getting you're more relaxed if you know you know yourself on the bike as well like I mean if you're too bogged down about all the paces all the time and um the way we trained was we trained hard and then you you recovered and it might be the most scientific approach but it worked as well you know and it worked mentally for how to race um and I know a lot of these days training is thres training is seems to be the way to go and that might be the way I'll have to go for to avoid aggravating injuries from going too intense but the training I used to do you might blast a hill session out in h and then 2400s on the track or whatever you know you were you were on the edge but it was great because you were so fit and you were enjoying it but it also created a mentalness mental kind of toughness that you needed in a race so you have to kind of weigh up the two sides so then look with injuries and stuff you have to be careful but um What A Catch Ro man you know how serious I take my goal setting and I know how serious you take it too so whether you're chasing Fitness or lifestyle goals and you're looking for a powerful alloy to support you on this journey look no further than heal heal has become my secret weapon for when I don't have time to repair a balanced meal it means I get the nutrition I need without sacrificing time or taste plus it stops me from reaching for the takeaway menu I always throw a bottle of disc banana into my backpack when I'm heading into the City and it stops me eating junk convenience foods that don't support my training goals it's handy it's nutritious it's 22 g of protein it's perfect for athletes that don't have time to cook or prepare food before a training session it's convenient nutritious fuel at your fingertips ensuring you hit your daily fueling needs hu ready to drink has over 26 essential vitamin and minerals in every bottle making sure you get 175 health benefits plus it's made from amazing natural ingredients like sunflower seed coconut and more and the best part eight melt watering flavors my favorite's the banana that's what's in my backpack at the moment you can get hu direct to your home by going to hu.com roadman that's hu hu.com roadman what I found with running transitioning from cycling to do a little bit of running in the offseason is you know I have the G Watch On And even subjective fa like I'm very big Like You on fa I I think atlet's going on this journey where you start off and you only have fa and then we start getting into it a little more and we start thinking we need gadgets we need to go and get lactates done which one of the best trackon coaches in the world actually I'd even parked our Tron there one of the best coaches Full Stop in the world Olaf Alexander boo podcast and absolute genius he's one of these guys that comes along and just moves a sport you know not talking toct because Eden and bl are famous for lact he said it's just such a polluted metric to be used for anyone that's using lactates that isn't highly skilled in using lactates and using in a very controlled environment they're getting bad data and now they're starting base their sh assumptions on bad data but all of this stuff whether it's heart rate variability lactates speeds you know morning reports in your G and watch it's all a proxy uh for how do you feel exactly and people forget to ask themselves how coer said it's a fancy way of saying how fit you know yeah but like there's nothing wrong and I can see the benefits as well and people might need them tools but but like say for example sometimes in my training I could be doing a long run up to Phoenix Park wherever it is and I might aim for it so I could say I'm going in mile Pace 530 mile Pace or something average um but then the next day I'll be going out for 8 to 10 miles or something say but I'd be running 7 to 30 mile pace like could be two minutes slower and then you know I could run with anyone a different I could slow it right back so it's having that variability in you're trying to known how to run easy without with being disciplined to do it not have feel and as supp us with straa and the likes of that where I see it where people might people are watching what they're doing and they have to explain every run and then they're I'm running very slow here that's the bit discipline is to be able to do that to hit the easy hit the hard days hard and then the easy days it's a discipline but confidence as well confidence to do it but that's like so like stra is brilliant for a community people get encouragement absolutely it's brilliant but I think people can fall in the Trap of everyone's watching them all the time and they feel they have to as I said explain it and you know run fast every day so to speak and that's the danger like and I falling into traps of running hard every day as well especially coming back from injuries you think yeah I need to go out and pick it up but then at the moment I'm just approaching I'm just going to run easy for a while and it can be a little bit boring as well because I feel do appar to me wants to just let loose and just Pi up the pace but I know I just need to be careful so it's it's it's all learning it's like anything you know you learn all the way and it's trial and error a lot with running as well and there's so many different approaches there's so much information out there but a lot of it is all coming from the same thing and it's it's about I suppose my is about simplifying it back down and um I think you enjoy it more when you've simplified it back to to what it really is you know so suppose I'm coming in quite aerobically fit from being on the bike Abol but what I found is I'm getting out and I'm doing a 10k run and my heart rate's quite low it's like Zone one zone to for what it would be on the bikee and run along at 120 beats I actually can't go any F like it's like my tendons aren't used to that repetitive motion so aerobically I could push on and you know the garm watch gives you all these mad predictions of times you can run a five counts like I can't do a 5k at that time like if I do I'll be in a wheelchair tomorrow like my tendons aren't able how long does it take you to adapt to that the strain of just hitting the ground yeah I suppose where you're coming from like I mean you've had a lot of years now on the haven't you yeah probably 10 plus years you know and the intensity of your train as well so it's probably hard to you know it's a total different type of movement isn't it like I I I I wouldn't like I suppose I've done a bit on the bike just for when injured you know nothing like what you would be doing but just spins around and I went up to Hills a few times and I actually thought you know oh je my fitness isn't too bad but then when I got back running I realized i' actually lost a lot of my running Fitness and and it comes back then but it it's just a total different kind of mechanism like I wouldn't know that the the science behind behind it but a lot of running is conditioning like on the bike is

Did Pidcock really run 13:48?

Just doing all that easy stuff and getting your body used to it and it probably takes a good bit of time to cuz like as suppose I think back I was running in my teens I used to run up the football train and run back you know um and it's just this constant constant and your body just adapts to it so like it may be because you've been on the bike for so long that your your whole gate and everything might be slightly different you probably feel maybe feels awkward does it yeah it's it's a definitely a foreign move and you're coming from the highend you know you're from Elite cycling I know there maybe some people try athletes and all that because they're doing it all the time they're mixing up the two but I suppose you went a lot of years you probably wouldn't have run at all like so yeah and you know what you're seeing in cying a lot now is you're seeing top sist I actually done a podcast on this not too long ago you're seeing top cight lists which I know for a fact they're in the shadows trying and running they're doing you know proper structured running training but then they're coming back and they're posting a straa file and it looks like oh they've just jumped from bike season into do this run Tom pitock pokes at a 5k I'm not sure if you seen this 1348 for a 5k ser and you know he just the caption is like race it no him help for a run so he deci he posted this 1348 decided to do a 5k like it kind of gives that impression that oh he's just off the bike and he's just at home one day and he's decided to do a 5k no one's doing that time unless they're getting out down some run sessions 48 is it's getting so he did that as a time trial was it I guess the picture is it 100% like I'm pretty sure as you we have to start getting way to fact check this stuff but it's it's so far I'm nearly 100% sure that we we dig it out after yeah but I was looking at it I sent it on some few friends or Runners and they like no that's International level like that's it is yeah it is that's good running he didn't do that he wasn't sitting on the couch and said jump out and do a got incredible um natural reserves he's one of the best athletes in the world but still to get that crossover it's and then you see Club cyclists kind of going out and thinking I can just jump in and do a 5k full gas but you don't see that buildup that was probably done in the shadows I think you need to be doing a good bit of running behind the scenes because it's just such a different a different ball game the two you know the change of muscles and um the whole movement isn't it but um what's the common injuries people are picking up well well I suppose yeah was going to have a lot of knee injuries and you know impact injuries hips strains and the you know tendons and the like what I've had my injuries have been um I've had osteitis pubis what's that which is basically all around the pubic symphysis area and the groin at micr terorism we AB ductor tendon so this is kind of chronic it's just overuse it's just like from a grinding all the time and as well as in the bike you're probably spared of a lot of this stuff because it l i no there other injuries until you get the B CR but it's it's all just overuse stuff so I had that on and off for two years three years maybe um I think I've finally got it at Bay but what actually fixed it was just doing the simple exercises that I was told to do three years ago I went to a few different people I got a cortisone injection which settled it but it didn't fix it just masked it for a while and I knew even when I got it I felt no pain but I wasn't still running free enough so this has been over the last few years and then I went back into I ran the Boston maritan in April now I went over just to kind of enjoy it it was my slowest maritan but it kind of backfired on me because I was half training and I said I have to do it properly if I'm if I'm going to do you know I went over for the BOS but either do it properly or don't cuz I just felt I was under you know under disrespecting my marit i' done in the past so I said right look that's it so I was pretty sore afterwards with the is kind of like a gradual thing you know it grinds you down and so I was fairly sore so I went into s Country Sports Clinic and said look the cord Zone will just cover that up again do the band work the glute Bri or the bridges the clam all the real basic exercises with with a rubber band and I did them for five or six weeks through the summer and the thing cleared up it's so you know some of the simple stuff like that um helps and I was told to do this as I said a few years ago and I just wasn't diligent enough to do them something I probably have to keep down um but then I've had a glute strain of L which thankfully is settled but I think it's probably all connected and another one that's common enough is planter fasciitis in the foot I had that last year that's one that can kind of come and go that's it can be a hard one to treat but um do look to so many different running injuries but I think what I always encourage for people especially if they're coming new to running um obviously as well is get a good pair of Runners obviously maybe go into a Running Shop get a gate analysis to see what way your stride is if you need more support um and you know don't run run run the runners into the ground so to to speak where they're falling apart you know have them know when to change them that doesn't mean you have to change them every few weeks or whatever cu the marketing tells you that the runners will be gone after a certain amount of miles but that's marketing you know they get you get more out of them but I always encourage to stay off the hard concrete as best you can the Pats get onto either grass Trail tarmac like I tarmac is fine because it's a bit more bounc I do a lot of my sessions Road stuff on tarmac you know like your your black tarmac as but say the concrete PS there's no return on them and you see people running around and there's the little ups and downs as well and that's where I think you're more likely to pick up I've even found that on the local foot pths and this again feeds into kind of I wouldn't be big on the straa culture like because I maybe as you said like on 10 years cycling and when I started it was almost like you were trying to hide your Shina you know people would be saying to you no I'm doing very little and you're just back from altitude Camp you haven't eaten in three weeks you're like about to fall over you're hemoc crit so high and you're like not doing nothing but now everyone's like trying to pretend they're Shing more than they are with straa but so I'm still kind of maybe hiding the straa stuff a little bit but I found leav on the Garmin watch where I'm chasing an average pace and I'm coming up close to the house and I'm still running hard on these foot paths that are kind of undulating and I can even see especially when it's getting dark very easy to misplace a absolutely but it's just the impact as well there like what I would say if you're coming back from the park if you got or

Super shoes and marketing myths

If you're out on the coast or whatever like ease it up coming back you know just at home when you get onto the the foot paths as opposed to pounding it back down because then at least you're giving your you're giving your legs a little bit of a flush out then as well as opposed to just belting it up to the door and then the blood pooling up and stiffening up so with Runners like there's a weird thing in cand where Markin I think is totally detached and this is going to be quite maybe controversial for people listening to this uh Markin is to totally detached from the reality of actually cycling where if you go into the local bike shop they have these terms like a climbing bike like a aob bike the reality is there's no such thing as a climing bike there's no such thing as an a bike these are marketing terms they have invented like a climbing bike is you put a light Rider who can go up here well on any bike and it's a climbing bike so there's marginal differences in these bikes but they've built it into this industry where you see people coming out on our club running they get dropped down on a slight uphill and they're like oh I'm not on me climbing bike today and it's like I'm on me mountain bike I'm on gravel bike I'm not even meant to be on the road is it the same in run like do you get running shoes I know we're into this era now of these Super Shoes and you know I was looking at a brand on on yeah they're coming you know so overwhelming with how many choices there was I was just like oh it's probably is if you're coming into it new there so much now like I kind of just new the basic kind of shoes like I've kind of wore Nike a lot Nike Pegasus or the training shoe just a reliable trainer um and then the racing shoes obviously in the last few years years the Super Shoe started with the Nike 4% with the carbon plate that's for racing now so what when you wouldn't wear them in your training some people are wearing why wouldn't you wear the train they were designed for a racing shooter lighter um so your training Sho should be slightly heavier because you're running more miles you're getting more support from them um and then when you come to racing you should feel a bounce and a you know like a it's like putting on a what's the word like because do your racing shoot or make you Propel you forward more so so speak like I know mentally you know it's like your Racing shoes for racing I'm trying to think just like training wheels and race wheels for cyclists yeah probably simar similar but it's nearly like a psychological thing a placebo thing that your racing shoe is kept for racing because and then it's going to give you that extra bit of you know you put them on they feel great and you feel so Life wearing them as opposed to when you're running with your trainers you feel a bit heavier you know um when you're doing your easy runs so but in the old before the Super Shoe we we call them Flats rice and flats they were called so there were minimal amount of um cushioning in them they were so and they were so light so you kind of kept them up you'd wear them for your hard sessions on the tracker so you might have a couple of pairs on the go and you'd have a fresh pair especially for am Mar I always had a fresh pair like a new pair but You' K stick to the same model now the problem is they're always changing shoes which is tricky because you'd always like the certain trainers over the years you wish they never changed the model or they Chang buy nearly 10 of them so you have them for the next years them on and then they they're not as I find they've gone backwards some of them you know but um but the racing shoe like I when the super shoe came in I was a bit late coming to it I ran in the doubl mar 2018 I was in the old style Flats the lightest shoes you could get and that's what everyone used to racing and I realized jez everyone has these 4% now with the big massive heel on them so I better get on board with you know because for if everyone else has them you know you might as well and they did they they when I first started wearing them yeah you feel definitely feel like they're they're helping you forward but then the novelty kind of runs off out of them you know and four seconds a kilometer or something like that they're reported well that's what they say yeah look the maritan times have come down now I've improved my time slightly with wearing them but I actually think I would have ran that time prior to that in certain Marans if I had a things had have gone my way um if you're not feeling good they don't you know I've had days yeah they do help they do help with recovery so to speak because there's more cushion in them now the other side is they've changed people's Style you're up higher now it's funny my injuries have come a lot during this period when I started wearing them so I'm wondering like my style of running has probably changed a bit from them because they're they're just a different type of type of shoe you're running up much higher and maybe propelled forward a bit more so what I really found was when I went and ran a track race a few years ago I had to wear track spikes um because them shoes are banned on the track and normally I'd wear Racin Flats on the track for a 10,000 because spikes would leave your calves really sore for 25 laps at the track so I had to wear Racin spikes we were like slippers and I felt really awkward running because I wasn't up high yeah so it's there is a lot of I mean the studies probably have to take a while there's probably ones coming out I don't really follow all that kind of side of stuff but I think the injuries for certain people there could be more because of these Runners and then you see people wearing them all the time and I don't think it's good to I think you should go back to wearing just the the normal trainer you know your stability trainer or your your neutral cushion tra it is probably a mindfield for people coming in first all the different Runners but um it'd be like me going into the bike scene I wouldn't know what what stuff to you know yeah you got caught with the mark But there is so much and all the brands are competing against each other you know so it's um it's finding what works for you and then maybe trying to stick with it as best you can and chopping and changing looking ahead I know you've said you've been pretty old school and you've been working off F and you haven't really embraced lactates and her right when you're looking at the comeback now and you're looking you know oer sess on PB is trying to win a doublin marathon at some point possibly maybe it's a stretch I don't know your thoughts on it but do you need to embrace the way sport has gone where it's just Uber professional do you need to be going down long altitude camps now do you need to be getting into lactates embracing the 4% Runners just looking for marginal gains even I look at the singlets you guys using could they be more Arrow they're starting to get more Arrow fueling can you start hitting 120 140 G of carbs do you need to become that new version of the atlete or can you still balance that traditional approach with I think I can get a balance you know I I mean if I just get back to more structure you know and I have always had a sensible enough approach with food and um recovery and stuff

Chasing a marathon PB as a dad

But I suppose in recent years with the two children as well you kind of just a lot of it just goes out the window you know and that's why probably the injuries are there as well because you're not recovering properly um I mean I do have aim hope run a PB again in am maritan um the national championships would be one to want to win back which is Dublin but it's obviously they have they've International athletes come over it be very hard to win a Dublin outright um but I feel like could be up there now might be a year couple years down the line before I get back back up there like it's going to take a a consistent period like consistency is the key in running um but I don't like I've been on camps over the years and altitude and I mean I can't really do that now with a young family just go off and I don't really want to you know and I'm happy maybe to go down to Portugal on and off and do a bit of training in the heat um you know even a week or two you know it just freshens the mind up but I think with where I'm at like I can get like I'm not going to go breaking records but I can improve my times and you know get back up there nationally winning races break the record I think that's out of Out Of Reach was it 209 209 stepen sco like that would be if I got I'm 213 is my time and I feel I should have had a 211 or 12 I still feel I could get down it's going to be hard I think my first if I run a maritan in the spring or whether it's later on if I even got back to a 215 or 16 I'd be delighted just to get myself back in there and then push on but it's going to even that's going to take work um because the more you leave stuff to hard it is but I know I've so much built up that once I get consistency and just get into that mindset so I don't think it's about changing up stuff and you know as in going Ultra or Uber professional as you say because I can't really do that now but it's just being sensible and smart and I know from the years of experience that a certain type of training should be able to do that but with her at work so I I don't think I need to be going off and leaving the family and you know stuff like that and I wouldn't be able to do that so it wouldn't work I wouldn't want to do that either so I think it's just um it's about consistency and discipline there to there to two and hard work maybe they're not sexy words no but that's that's that's what it takes and but the thing is you know yourself when you're when you're running well or cycling well or what whatever it may be and you know the stuff becomes second nature to you you know you can go out and do a session and it's just like might be a little bit Dar but you're just so in the in the zone and your fit and you know you just do it I always think momentum goes both ways you know when you're good momentum with TR it just seems automatic you lay out your kid the night before next morning you don't think about you just go I never get up in the morning and thought about and like think on two tet morning to brush my teeth and that's the way training to becomes it's just automatically do it recover your rhym momentum goes the other way as well at least what happened with me as well I think that's part to the cycles and the roller coaster of sport you know it's and you have to you have to embrace them sides of it as well and I suppose you learn more even from a coaching perspective you learn so much more from the times when you're you're not going to you're not on the up but you're on the down and I I had a lot of years where I thought jez I'm not going to get injured like I went from after taking a bit of a break from 2013 basically to 201920 I pretty much went straight through just racing and training had maybe a month injury of tendonitis in my hip that I thought that was a long injury two weeks IT band they were the only injuries I had and I just had such momentum and it was just be coming so easy to me and you could even when my son Paul was born the first few months I ran a PB in every race from Four Mile Five Mile 10 Mile and then marathan as well and it was just but it was nearly effortless you know and it's it's it's I suppose you have to enjoy them times when you have them but like it's I suppose that brings you back to the Simplicity of it as well and just being able to get into that that zone so to speak and um but yeah like that's the the the nature of sport is up and down it's how how you come back from The Falls like you know yourself is is H you've had a few Falls but you know they're they're the the real challenges of it and if you come back in here Mick next year and we doing our podcast what have to happen between now and then for you to go you wouldn't believe the year I had absolutely beyond my Wild stream obviously you know wining World Championships and stuff they're not no that's you know it's not going to happen but what's when in reality what's the a stretch great year for you well if we came in here this time next year and I'd got myself back up at National level and maybe won the national championships in Dublin in the maritan I'd be or even be on the podium again in in the Nationals um got close to my PB in the maritan again that might be further down the line I think of getting back up to that level but if if I would I would be delighted to be back up there kind of in the mix and maybe on some of the road races around the country you know 10 MERS and stuff getting back out trying to win a few and it be I think when I go back I just want to get back and join the whole thing and um there' be no pressure to you know really make International Teams and things you know but you know you never know in this sport or you know what could happen down the line if I got a few years of progression again but um it's it's all very well sitting here saying you know I have to get out and do it but I will I will it's coming you know and I feel it in there and I mean once the injuries I kept that bay as well that's the the key to it as well sure we'll do a podcast next year and we check in where you've been check in yeah well hopefully now the pressure is on me now to to go out and get it done so um yeah we we we'll keep our word with that Nick thanks for sh H thanks for having me appreciate it everybody thanks for tuning into today's interview if you like this interview I'm going to put another interview up here which I know you're really going to enjoy and please click on that subscribe button talk to you soon

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How did Mick Clohisey improve his marathon time so dramatically?+

Mick Clohisey cut 1 hour and 47 minutes from his marathon personal best through years of consistent, structured training under coach Dick Hooper, a three-time Olympian who guided him from his teens. His endurance profile made him better suited to the marathon than shorter track distances, and committing fully to that event accelerated his progress significantly.

Who coached Mick Clohisey to the Olympics?+

Mick Clohisey has been coached since his teenage years by Dick Hooper, a three-time Irish Olympian. Hooper identified early that Clohisey's physiological strengths pointed toward long-distance running, and their long-term coaching relationship was central to Clohisey representing Ireland at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

How do elite marathon runners balance training with a full-time job?+

Mick Clohisey trained to Olympic level while working at a local Spar shop, which reflects the financial reality for most distance runners outside the very top tier of the sport. Consistent training around work commitments, rather than waiting for ideal conditions, is what allowed him to make steady progress over many years.

Should I specialise in the marathon or shorter distances to improve my running?+

Your endurance profile should guide that decision. As Mick Clohisey explains, some runners respond far better to marathon training than to track-based work, and identifying that early saves years of chasing the wrong events. If you recover well from high mileage and find your performances improve as race distance increases, the marathon is likely your best focus.

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1:47HRS FASTER: MY RAPID MARATHON TRANSFORMATION | MICK CLOHISEY

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

KEY QUOTES

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

READ THE GUIDE

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