S03E101 CAN A CROSSFIT ATHLETE RUN A 3 HOUR MARATHON? WITH GUEST OWEN MORRISSEY
What happens when an excellent CrossFit athlete from @crossfitbison decides to go all in on marathon training and try to qualify for the Boston Marathon with the goal of running a 3 hour marathon? Dave and Sam talk with their friend Owen Morrissey @owen511, law enforcement officer who transformed his body through CrossFit, after he ran his first full marathon.
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S03E101 CAN A CROSSFIT ATHLETE RUN A SUB 3 HOUR MARATHON WITH GUEST OWEN MORRISSEY
[00:00:00] David Syvertsen: Welcome back to the Her Fit podcast. I am coach David Syvertesen here with my co-host, Dr. And Coach Sheem, Sam Rhee, and we have a very, very special guest. We have Sergeant Owen Morrisey of a police department in the local area. We want to give that town away. Owen, an avid listener of the Her Fit Podcast.
I am, I am now. You're a guest on it. You made it in life,
[00:00:20] Owen Morrissey: bro. I know. I feel good. I'm excited.
[00:00:22] David Syvertsen: Um, oh, and thanks for coming. And we are going to kind of dive into what you just did. I'm gonna give you an opportunity to kind of just tell the audience what you did. But before I get into that, I wanna give you a little, some backstory on Owen.
Um, Owen arrived at Bison in our, he's like one of our OG members, and he came to the gym, uh, as Fat Owen. Yeah, that, that was the name. So he came in as a police officer and you never know what you're gonna get with these guys. Police officers are sometimes like the biggest meatheads that come in here. And there's also some police officers that haven't worked out since they've been at the academy.
Correct. So Owen comes in and he is somewhere in the middle. And I would say if I had to list 10 guys, That changed their body the most through CrossFit in a pretty short amount of time. Owen's on the list, he might be at the top of the list. Honestly, when you look at some of the old pictures of Owen, you're like, people that now know him are like, who is that?
Yeah. I'm like, oh, that's that guy. Yeah. So Owen is like a really good classic example. Kidding aside of someone that came in kind of on the out of shape side and worked his butt off. He was always the hardest worker in the room. That's one thing that was a constant from him. No. What the workout was, whether he crushed it or got crushed.
He was always the hardest worker in the room. And it's a good example for everyone that's listening and just watching him kind of walk the walk that that it really is that simple. You come in and work your tail off, you're gonna see massive results. And Owen, over the years, had developed a friendship with him.
Um, got to go to his wedding last night to, you know, beautiful wife. They're, you know, still married, right? Yes. All right. Good. Good. And they, uh, you know, started to like live their life together. It's gonna be fun to follow them and what they do. Cause it sounds like he's gonna have about, you know, eight or nine kids in the next few years.
That's,
[00:02:02] Owen Morrissey: that's what she thinks. Yeah.
[00:02:04] David Syvertsen: So come, come from the guy that has pink eye right now, and I'm gonna just give him some advice on, uh, enjoy it while, while you, while you can, that's just the two of you. But Owen came up to me months. And pulled me aside. And I've been in this business long enough that I'm like, oh boy, something's gonna happen.
One of 'em, it's usually I'm pregnant Owen's, fortunately not pregnant. Mm-hmm. So that wasn't that. The other side of it is usually I'm moving that like when, when I have a serious conversation with someone that, Hey, can we talk for a second? It's usually something like that. Or I'm injured Owen, who has been a staple at bison for a really long.
Um, one of the guys that when he walks in the gym, people notice, they say hi. He is great, you know, great personality to be around, but he also adds a lot to a class when he is in it. Just the, the effort, intensity. Um, and he goes, Hey, I'm really gonna pursue a, a marathon. And I was like, dude, that is awesome.
Like he, you know, we'll get into Owen as an athlete a little bit, I'm sure. But Owen is like, he's a runner. There's CrossFit runners, and then there's Owen type runners where he just, it never slows down, whether it's 200 meters or a thousand meters, mid workout, end of workout, beginning of workout. He's just always, always running hard, always running fast, and I was like, dude, that's awesome.
He goes, but no, really, I'm gonna go all in on this. Like I'm gonna hire coach and yeah, I'm probably gonna be running 40, 60 miles a week. It's gonna mean a lot less CrossFit for me and I as a gym owner, as a coach, as a friend, had zero hesitate. I'm like, dude, that's, that's the way to do it is if you're really gonna pursue something at a high level.
I'm gonna let Owen get into what his goals were. I don't wanna spoil that, but the goal that he was pursuing is unbelievably difficult, like top 2% in the world, difficult and. You know, you have to go all in on that. It can't be something that you do on the side. So he, you know, was almost upset when he told me.
Mm-hmm. It's like, it's gonna be a lot less CrossFit for me. Mm-hmm. A lot less bison. And I had no hesitation in saying this is the way to do it. You know, and I'm not, you know, I've always been that guy as a coach, as an owner, I was like, I am not cross it or die. I never have been. And I think that if you have a serious goal like that, if that means you need to take a step away, like if you're really gonna go after something hard, there will be sacrifices made.
And Owen sacrificed something, he really. To go to pursue this goal. So, Owen, give us a little feedback. Give us a little story side backstory on what you pursued, where you pursued it, when you did it, what happened?
[00:04:25] Owen Morrissey: So my goal was to run a sub three hour marathon, um, which is roughly a 6 52 pace for the whole marathon.
Um, I, it, it kind of goes back to covid really, cuz when Covid hit, when the gym shut down. I really started running a lot and that's when I kind of just started feeling like a runner, cuz I never really felt like a runner. I felt like I was good at running, but I never felt like I fit in with runners. Um, so Covid, I really started running a lot and I really, really, really, really loved it.
Um, then the gym opened back up and I was like, all right, I'm going back to CrossFit. You know what I mean? Because I love this place and I love CrossFit, like so. I was, you know, I went right back to the gym. Um, then in September, last September, my wife 2021 of, not this past year. Yeah, yeah. 2021. Yep. Um, my wife and my two friends were running the Jersey City Half Marathon, and I was like, all right, maybe I'll do that.
So I signed up for it and I ran like two or three times and I ran that in one hour and 28 minutes. That's so
[00:05:43] David Syvertsen: amazing by
[00:05:43] Owen Morrissey: the way. So Well, so then after that I'm like, you know what? Like cuz the sub three hour thing was in my head for years. Yeah. Where did that come from? I don't know. I was just like, it happened during Covid.
I was following like runners on Instagram and stuff like that and I was like, that would be so cool to do because sub three hours from the ages of 18 to 35 for men gets you into Boston. So that was like my main motivation. That was the goal. Okay. That,
[00:06:13] David Syvertsen: that's where it really, that's where the three hour number came from.
Yeah. Some inspiration from others, but also there is an objective goal that comes from being sub three. Yeah.
[00:06:19] Owen Morrissey: So that qualifies you for Boston. Wow. Um, so I ran the half marathon and I ran it in 1 28 and I really didn't train for it, so I was really happy about it, but I didn't really think anything of it.
And then a couple of my friends were like, you know, if you really put the time in, you, you, you might be able to do this. A couple more months went by and that was, I got married in October and then I was like, you know what, I think I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna try to do this. And I did it with, uh, one of my best friends.
So then I hired a coach in November and started from there. Can
[00:06:53] David Syvertsen: you give the coach
[00:06:54] Owen Morrissey: a shout out? Hillary Schmidt. She is a great, she's like a freak, uh, iron man. She knows Reno actually. Okay. Figures. Uh, yeah, so she, she was awesome. I, you know, I, I was texting her constantly. She, she was great. Is she
[00:07:08] Sam Rhee: local or is she
[00:07:09] Owen Morrissey: a remote coach?
I think sh she lives in South Jersey. It was through everything was through this app called Training Peaks. Okay. And like we would, you know, text and, you know, phone calls and things like that. Cool.
[00:07:21] David Syvertsen: So you had this three hour goal. Boston Marathon is the prize. If you get to that goal, you start really training for it.
Was it right after the wedding? October.
[00:07:29] Owen Morrissey: October, November. It was pretty much right after the wedding. Yeah. Okay.
[00:07:32] David Syvertsen: So, so we're, look, we're sitting here in, uh, in April. So about six months. And did you have a race already lined up for that goal?
[00:07:41] Owen Morrissey: Yeah, so me and my friend picked the one we did. It was called The Cheap Marathon in New Hampshire.
We picked it because it's a small race and um, they start unlike regular marathons, they started two people at a time every seven seconds. Wow. So there's no like huge crowd you're trying to get around. That's intense. And uh, it was a smaller course. It's a Boston qualifier course, meaning it's properly you.
Measured out. Got it. And things like that. Got it. So that's the one we picked and that's the one we did. It was a great, it was a great race, honestly. It was awesome. What was the weather like? It was pretty perfect. I think it was like in the morning, it was high forties, and I think when the race started it was low fifties.
[00:08:20] David Syvertsen: Okay. So that's, that's something I would wanna think about a little bit, is if I make a goal and I start training for it in November, and I live in the northeast, Did you think at all that hey, I mean, we had a pretty mild winter, so that probably helped out a little bit with training. It did. Did all of your training, was it outside, outdoor running and where, if so, where was it?
So,
[00:08:40] Owen Morrissey: so the one thing, the, I think the biggest struggle for me a lot was mental, because A, all of it was outside and a lot of it was done at like 4 45 in the morning. Um, so where, you know, I would do pavement, running on the roads, pavement running. I would do at least two track workouts a week. Um, I think I used the treadmill when we were on our honeymoon.
I ran on the treadmill and I used the treadmill once. It was like eight degrees outside. Hmm. And I called Fitness 19. I said, I need to use your treadmill. I think I paid 'em like $20 when I went and used the treadmill. But other than that, it was all outside. Nice. Okay. You know, so yeah, it was, you know, we had a mild winter, but you know, I, there were days where I would wake up at four 30.
Get to the track at four 40 in Waldwick, start running by four 50, run 10 miles on the track. Oh, geez. And then go, and then have to go to work at six 15. I never want to go to the track like again. I'm gonna end up doing it. But you don't ever wanna look at the track again. Yeah, exactly. So, but yeah, it was, it was just a lot.
Everything was pretty much outside.
[00:09:50] David Syvertsen: So tell me about the mental struggles here. Because CrossFit, you're very used to crowds your friends going after it. Mm-hmm. Knowing that it'll pretty much never be more than 20 minutes. I do think you are one of few though, that have the mental trait that is required to train for a marathon because you are very mentally tough.
You are someone that gets the most out of their body, um, every single time you work out, and that's, I think that's a trait. Can you touch on a little bit CrossFitter here talking that. The mental training that you do get in CrossFit, whether it's a snatch day, a handstand pushup day, Cindy Murf, those kinds of workouts.
Do you develop mental traits that's helped you train for something like a marathon where you are by yourself, I mean mm-hmm. Like, and I wanna like touch on the good and bad here, right? The good is, you know, love to hear it, but also the bad of do. Do you think it's possible to get too reliant on other people?
Like was there any kind of like learning curve?
[00:10:46] Owen Morrissey: There was. Yeah. You know, it's, it's, it's very, it's a lonely training cycle cuz you're by yourself and, you know, you go on these long runs, you do these speed workouts and nobody, you know, nobody cares. Right. You know what I mean? Right. So like, like I'm, you guys have talked about it on the podcast probably a hundred times about the whiteboard and things like that.
And like, I've always loved the, I think the whiteboard is one of the greatest things. Cause I. Gets people fitter than what they would be if it wasn't there. Yeah. In my opinion. You know what I mean? Because I think everybody, to some level, um, even if they're looking at one person's score, it's making them work harder.
Right. In a sense. You know what I
[00:11:25] David Syvertsen: mean? And even the fact that to build on that, the fact that your number's there Yeah. For others to see. Yeah. Not that you're walking around saying, I hope everyone sees my score today. Yeah. But the fact that you, it's like it validates the fact that you were. You put your effort in.
Mm-hmm. And no matter what, whether you were feeling it or not, that's your number. Yeah. Like imagine you went to a track workout and everyone that went to the track today saw Owen's number up there. Yeah. Could that add some intensity? And then you could also bring up, is it a bad thing? Like do you think it, was there any time that it took to overcome the fact that no one knew what you were doing?
You didn't have anyone else to chase after?
[00:12:00] Owen Morrissey: Yeah. Yeah. Um, especially at the. You know, like I, so before the marathon, I came to 5:00 AM sporadically, but the people who do 5:00 AM here, like every day. It's, it's insane. Like it's extremely hard. Yeah. Um, to wake up at 4, 4 30 in the morning and come here every day.
I reme. There were some mornings where I would wake up and I was like, you know what, maybe I'll just go to the gym. I'll be around my friends, the music will be playing. You know what I mean? But I, I just had to remind myself of like what I was trying to do. Um, yeah. So it, then I'd be out, you know, it's 25 degrees and I'm by myself and nobody knows and nobody cares.
You know what I mean? It's very different.
[00:12:41] David Syvertsen: Sam, I have any opening thoughts or questions for Sam? Are you pondering running a. No, I will, I
[00:12:45] Sam Rhee: will probably never run a marathon, honestly. But,
[00:12:48] David Syvertsen: um, some of the things that he's saying, what, what's getting your voice sweating? Well, you
[00:12:51] Sam Rhee: know, o one's a unique personality in a lot of ways.
I would say as a CrossFitter, you, we always say the mind
[00:12:59] David Syvertsen: breaks before the body.
[00:13:01] Sam Rhee: And he's one of those guys where I literally have seen his body break before his mind. Like, you know, we always say about going dark or sending it. And I have seen Owen do that. Honestly, I think harder. Maybe
[00:13:13] David Syvertsen: you Dave. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
And
[00:13:16] Sam Rhee: uh, and he's one of those few people that I've seen who routinely can go to that place. And, and I don't really know what's going on in your mind cuz it scares me a little bit when you do that. But, um, but you are remarkably healthy and mentally like reasonable for a person who I've seen do that many, many times.
So I figured anyone who would be able to do that in cross fit. Would be able to translate that kind of effort and discipline and motivation into something like marathon training.
[00:13:46] David Syvertsen: Yeah. See, I appreciate it. Yeah. The mental traits are there. I, I think we, we can all both agree on that, Sam, physically though, you're, you're a pretty big dude, especially for a runner, right?
Yeah. Let's get away from the, you know, the early bison days of Owen once you like, kind of lost that weight and started to, you know, really started to crush. You were never a small guy. I think you're just naturally a thick dude and you like to lift. Yeah. You have a lifting background. Yeah. There are not many runners, especially that are going for sub three hours.
Mm-hmm. Like I did a little bit of research from what I could mm-hmm. That if you finish top, uh, under three hours, you're top one and a half percent in the world. All right. And the average runner males, weight of someone that runs sub three hours is under 160 pounds. Yeah.
[00:14:31] Owen Morrissey: Yeah. And what do you weigh? So definitely I.
Sit I li I was sitting at, so I'll never, I'll never forget in two, I think it was 2016. Okay. We did the Lorong challenge. And I will never forget I was in, this was like a point in my life where I was like, holy, you know, so we're in the old gym, in the lobby and Ashley is doing like the measurements and stuff and.
Puts the scale out and I stand on scale and I'm, and I look down, it says 236 pounds. And, and at the time I didn't think anything of it. I felt, you know what I mean? And then I lost the weight and I got down to like two 10. 2 0 7. Mm-hmm. And I was like, oh my God. Like, yeah, this is how you know I'm supposed to feel.
Yeah. And then from that point on, I sat at like 2 0 5. Okay. How tall. Like five 11 and change. Okay. So I sat at like 2 0 5 and then now I'm at two, pretty much 200 flat. But there was definitely, so in this training I did a 5K and two half marathons leading up to the marathon. Okay. And I definitely had like some imposter syndrome.
Like I would, I'm a big guy, but I'm not a big guy here, like Right, right. You know what I mean? Nobody's ever like looking at. Strength numbers here, you know what I mean? But when I stand at a race, I'm a big guy, huge guy. You know what I mean? So I look around, I'm like, oh my God, I, because then it plays with your head like, you shouldn't be doing this, you know, you're not to do this, this.
So it plays tricks with your brain.
[00:16:07] David Syvertsen: Absolutely. I mean, and there's probably some truth to it. Not to the, not to the respect of can you go sub three hours? Like I know for a fact you're gonna go through three hours. I would bet my life on it. Yeah. Um, but Hinshaw, when he talks about condition, I did his programming for a little bit.
Oh, nice. And he's very big on the best form of conditioning is running, and it's not because he likes running. Mm-hmm. His reason is pretty obvious. He says it's better than biking. It's better than rowing. It's better than skier because you were supporting your body weight while, while you're moving.
Mm-hmm. When you're sitting on a rower, you're sitting on a bike, skier gets kind of a little different cause you're not really moving the legs that much, but. You're sitting. Yeah. You're, you're not supporting your structure. Mm-hmm. So if you're 200 pounds, it actually helps you on those machines. Yeah. I always tell my classes.
If you're heavier, rowing and biking should be easier. Mm-hmm. Then it comes down to conditioning, running. You have to support all that body weight. Mm-hmm. Like, let's imagine, right. Some of these guys that are 160 pounds, 170 pounds, if we told them to do run their marathon with their 30 pound vest on, what do you think that would do?
Now, maybe that's a little unfair because percentage of their body weight. Mm-hmm. But there's still the principle there that someone that is running at 200 pounds. Versus someone that's running at 170 pounds Yeah. Is doing a, a lot more power production over the course of three hours. Mm-hmm. It's incredibly a, an incredible margin.
Has there been any thought in your head, because I still want to get into some of your future goals with this mm-hmm. After running your first one after training. Do you go down that path at all? Like, I can, I go down the path sometimes of I need to be a little lighter if I wanna compete at a high level.
Do you, do you go down that path at all for yourself? I did.
[00:17:41] Owen Morrissey: So going into it, my goal was to get down to like 1 94, 1 93. Um, and I did get to like, I think I got to like one, I was like 1 95 for a week or two. But I don't know if I didn't do it the right way or I did it too quickly where I felt. Powerful in my legs.
Like I, you know what I mean? Exactly. I didn't have that like energy like I did. So then I, I think I did the marathon at like 1 99 or 200 pounds. Okay.
[00:18:12] David Syvertsen: How do you feel elsewise, flexibility, energy, sleeping, like recovery? Has this been tougher or easier to recover from day-to-day than CrossFit?
[00:18:22] Owen Morrissey: The recovery was very, very hard.
My. The training consisted of a lot of speed workout. Like I remember I, Dr. I came in in March. I remember telling you like the month of March, my leg. I felt like I was a hundred years old. Right. You know what I mean? But that's just because I was leading up to a taper. So I, I was kind of supposed to feel that way.
Um, but it was, it was hard to recover. My legs were sore a lot. Um, as far as like how I felt, I. You know, and not doing this kind of plays with your head too, cuz I, I do feel weaker and Right. I wanna lift and Right. Things like that. Um. Yeah, the my legs were like, I had to walk downstairs backwards a couple times to I knew that.
Yep. You
[00:19:09] David Syvertsen: know, we still had
[00:19:09] Sam Rhee: faith in you. We drafted
[00:19:11] Owen Morrissey: you for our team. I know. Oh, don't even talk about my open forms so quickly on that. I don't get embarrassed easily. Especially like around my friends and Adam Ramson is my friend, and he judged me on the first open workout and I can't even look him in the eye anymore.
Like I, he, I think I had like, how many wall balls were in that workout? 40. I think. I know. I think he nore me like 15 times
[00:19:36] David Syvertsen: because like he's a stickler
[00:19:38] Owen Morrissey: judge. Well, my, the squat just felt so foreign to me and I was like, I never want to see Adam again. I was like, this is terrible.
[00:19:47] David Syvertsen: That's hilarious. So no.
Yeah. Credit to Owen. He still comes in and does the open. When you saw the shuttle run burpee polo pork guy, you're like, yes, I'm Prime.
[00:19:56] Owen Morrissey: And then the thruster came and I was like, oh my God.
[00:19:58] David Syvertsen: Good old thrusters. Yeah. That's the one movement when Owen said, uh, I'm still gonna try to CrossFit, maybe at the start of my marathon training.
But I'm not doing any thrust. Yeah. No, no, no, no. Because you've had some knee issues in the past. You and I have had a similar knee issue. Mm-hmm. Kind of patella tendon type issue where I remember you telling me years ago, like if you sat in your car during work at night, it would start to throb. Yeah. And you'd have to get up and walk around a little bit.
And I know exactly how that feels. It's, I haven't had that in a long time either, but that sucks. Yeah. That, that kind of pain. Did that play at all in the
[00:20:27] Owen Morrissey: training? No. So funny. That went away. I did. Bike ride from the World Trade Center to Washington DC for the Police Unity tour. And after that bike ride, I never had the pain ever again.
Interesting. I, I don't know what I did, but, but you bring that up. Um, like injury wise, when I started doing the marathon training, my wife and like a couple other people were like, you gotta relax. Like, you're gonna get hurt. You're gonna get hurt. And I was like, yeah, you know, you're right. You're right.
Because of like the torture that I've been through at this place. Like I knew that I was not gonna get hurt, right? I just, my legs just like felt great, you know what I mean? So I do think CrossFit really, really. Helped me like the background helped me with injury prevention a hundred percent. Yeah. I'm sure
[00:21:18] David Syvertsen: there's some stabilizer muscles that you trained.
Mm-hmm. Just from lifting weights and Olympic lifting and jumping that we do here, that there probably is some value in your background that helps you as long as you now overdo it and actually get an injury. Yeah. But I do agree. Coming from across a perspective that it was smart to take a step back from cross the two tramp marathons.
Yeah. I couldn't recover. I think if you tried to do both, you wouldn't be singing that tune, like being healthy to be able
[00:21:42] Owen Morrissey: to recover. I went into it thinking I would be, and then I quickly realized that I, my body just can't recover. Like I couldn't handle it. And I want
[00:21:50] David Syvertsen: to tie this to a CrossFitter that's out there listening, that if a muscle up is your goal, if getting stronger is your.
You know, I, if you really have a specific goal and we have that, a lot of that this time of year I wanna get stronger. I wanna get muscle up or get a mus, my first muscle up. There might be, sometimes you need to skip the, that day's wad for the sake of your training session tomorrow. If you can't go into that training session, that is meant to help build you your muscle up or build your strength.
Even though you feel better mentally going through every single wad and trying to crush it and being like, Hey, I'm moving the needle because I'm quote, 1% better. If you're gonna constantly just take something out of your body every single time and you can't really go all in on that specific goal, I think it impede you from actually getting that goal.
So just think like, let's say I have, uh, I'm a mus. I want to try to get my muscle. Right. And tomorrow I have a session plan to work on my muscle loves and look all the strength development that is needed for it. If I came in and did today's bison wad with 60 toes a bar, 30 chesta bar, and then I scale the last one to 10 strict muscle ups.
And then I come in to, and I felt great, got to see my friends, worked out, got that endorphin rush right? And then I come in tomorrow and try to work at my muscle ups, it won't be there. And I think that's a good example of Owen saying he probably could have survive. By doing his running and still coming to cross it.
But his end goal of going sub three hours probably would've been lot less likely to attain if he came in and crossfitted every day. Mm-hmm. Even though he would've been happier in the moment. Yeah. Correct. So that, that's something that I think everyone could kind of take away from Owen's experience.
Let's get into the actual race itself. All right. So this, it was this past weekend. Yeah. In New Hampshire. Mm-hmm. Decent running weather. Mm-hmm. Um, did you actually run with your. I saw a, that was your, I
[00:23:35] Owen Morrissey: saw a picture. Is that your buddy? Yeah. So I'll talk about him real quick. Yeah. He, we grew up together.
Um, he was like, you know, the best athlete in high school growing up, great athlete. Um, but you know, he did the typical after college, all he did was lift. He never ran. Then Covid hit, we did the David Goggins four by four by 48 together. Nice. And. He could barely run. But since that time we did that, he never stopped running.
Can you just
[00:24:05] David Syvertsen: tell the audience what the four by four, just really quick? Is
[00:24:07] Owen Morrissey: it, it was four miles every four hours for 48
[00:24:11] David Syvertsen: hours. So for two days straight, every four hours you go for a full mile run. Yeah. Got it. Yeah.
[00:24:15] Owen Morrissey: Crazy. Yeah. But since then, he kept doing, and this is his fourth marathon I think, and his, whoa.
He's been trying, we, you know, he's been trying this. Okay. Since his first marathon. Okay, so that was who I did it with. So you
[00:24:30] David Syvertsen: guys go up there, the race was on a Saturday, Sunday. Sunday. When did you go up? Friday. Friday. Go see the course. Saturday. Anything specific that you did the day before to prep? Like food wise?
All the day
[00:24:41] Owen Morrissey: before was torture. It was, so the taper was like kind of like two weeks. Okay. And you go. Like high intensity workouts, like running, you know, all this stuff to slowing down and your body starts to feel good, but your brain is, you're like losing it. You know what I mean? When you don't work out for a few days.
Yep. That's how it felt. Okay. Um, are you ready?
[00:25:03] David Syvertsen: Is this gonna mess with you?
[00:25:04] Owen Morrissey: Yeah. So then the day before I had, oh God, I woke up. What did I eat? I had a bagel, I had oatmeal. I had, oh God. I had pizza. I had a, I just ate carbs all day. Yeah. Which smart it, it worked. But you, you feel awful. Yeah. Yeah. You feel like bloated almost.
Oh, yeah. When I li, when I stood at the starting line, I felt like I was like 215,000
[00:25:30] David Syvertsen: standing next to a bunch of 160 pounders. Yeah, yeah,
[00:25:32] Owen Morrissey: yeah. But, uh, yeah, so we. Got there Friday. We just hung out really. Saturday. We woke up, we got our bibs, we went to the course, then we sat on the couch for like six hours.
Okay. And just hung out. Cool.
[00:25:47] David Syvertsen: That's awesome. Sounds like a little vk. Yeah. Um, day of race, you guys start together. Did you guys have a plan to stick with each other pace wise?
[00:25:56] Owen Morrissey: No. So what happened was we both put down the same pace and we got lined up next to each other by chance. Oh, okay. So it just worked out that way.
Nice. Um, did you guys stay with each other the whole time? So this is where my inexperience. Killed me. Okay. So we were running, I'll forget what the splits were, but we were together for the first about 10 miles. Okay. And then I do what I usually do here, which always bites me in the ass. I start going a little faster.
So I was running miles at like 6 36, 6 42, 6 42, 6 41, where I should have. Running at six 50. Okay. He, my friend Jim stayed at six 50, you know what I mean? I kept going cuz I felt amazing. Yep. And that, uh, so those five seconds a mile makes a difference. Yeah. Oh yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, because when I got to mile my slowest mile was 6 52 until mile 23 and then everything just shut down.
And I, if I paced myself. From mile 10 to 20, I think it would've made a huge difference. Okay.
[00:27:09] David Syvertsen: Can you
[00:27:10] Sam Rhee: feel that pace even without looking at your time or
[00:27:13] Owen Morrissey: watch? Yeah. So that was when you get into the training a lot like I, you learn to feel what. Marathon paces. You learn to feel what tempo paces, you know, you learn to feel what a recovery pace is basically without even looking at your watch, you know, what
[00:27:30] David Syvertsen: is, what causes you to start to pace a little bit more?
Is it leg pain? Is it breathing? Is it a combination? Is it lungs? Like do, are you listening to your breathing cadence? What is it that you're really paying attention to
[00:27:41] Owen Morrissey: in the run? It it just, when you. Like the training was a little bit different, but when you line up on that day after the taper, like it, I felt like I was like flying, like I felt the first 20 miles I felt incredible.
Like I was like singing D M X songs, like people thought I was crazy. Like I, I felt unbelievable. But the inexperience, you know, I should have known that it could change at any moment. So it changed at mile 20. You know what I mean? I, I felt like I could have ran a hundred miles that
[00:28:16] David Syvertsen: way. What was the, what was, when you said My body started to shut down, what was the underlying thing that really made you slow down?
Was it the,
[00:28:24] Owen Morrissey: was it the legs? It was the legs. Yeah, it was the legs. Um, you could probably breathe your way through the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was the legs. That's, that's what killed me. So it, it went from 6 52, being the slowest mile to, I think 8 0 8, then like seven 30 s and then an 8 0 9 at the.
[00:28:42] David Syvertsen: So where are you mentally at that point?
Like do you start to feel this three hour goal start to slip away from you at some point? Like yeah. Does that make you slow down further?
[00:28:50] Owen Morrissey: So I thought I would still be able to do it up until the last mile, and then I realized, but I had this conversation with Alyssa, like going into this whole thing. I knew that if I hid it, it would be incredible.
But I also knew how highly unlikely that was, but I was still trying my hardest. Yeah. So like my biggest fear was to try to run a sub three hour marathon and then run like 20 minutes off that, you know what I mean? But with the 3 0 2, like I, I was th for my first one, I was thrilled
[00:29:25] David Syvertsen: about it. Awesome. Yeah, no, definitely that, that is, it's big time.
I don't think we need to keep hammering like that's top 2% in the world. If you did that. Sam, any more thoughts or, or questions for Owen in terms of like, just mindset and what happened during the race? Cause I kinda wanna get into what his next steps are. So your next steps, you know, you're, you're 3 0 2, you're a couple minutes away.
Do you start looking like, how soon? Because I know, I just know you. Mm-hmm. Like, like mm-hmm. You're, you probably already have one lined up in your head. Yeah, I do. Okay. Do, do you look at a timeframe first and say, Hey, I need to recover. I need to train more. I need to kind of. You know, retrain my brain, retrain my body.
You still have that like motivation. So you want to take advantage of that while it's there. Yeah. Right. We see that a lot with people that compete. Mm-hmm. Or after the open you, do you wanna take advantage of that, that motivation, discipline that you currently are feeling? Do you go right back into training or do you sit back and just wait and try to find that, that perfect timeframe for you to run another race?
So
[00:30:25] Owen Morrissey: my plan now is, so I'm taking two weeks off completely. Okay. I'm not working out for two weeks. Um, I'm going to Ireland on Saturday, so when I get home, yeah, so when I get back it'll be May and May. I'm going to be back here and I'm going to do just recovery run. So I'm just gonna do run the whole month of May.
I'm gonna run at like an 8 39 minute pace just. Slow, keep the legs going and then
[00:30:52] David Syvertsen: if you need, if you need some partner, Sam and I can, can hang it outta the only for a mile or two. That's,
[00:30:57] Sam Rhee: I was about to say, that's a
[00:30:58] Owen Morrissey: recovery page. And then, uh, I'm looking into something in September, so I would probably start up with the coaching again in June.
Sweet. Where would that say before September? Um, we're looking at a, I'm looking at a couple different ones right now. Does climate
[00:31:13] David Syvertsen: weather temperature factor
[00:31:15] Owen Morrissey: in? Yeah, the temperature in September kind of scares me, but. But you should be okay. Okay. You know,
[00:31:21] David Syvertsen: and then, I mean, I guess if you're training in the heat throughout the summer, you should be acclimated.
You'll probably just have a little bit, I mean, your coach will probably talk to you about, have a little bit more attention on hydration and
[00:31:31] Owen Morrissey: whatever. I learned, oh my god. Sodium is, yes. I was like a maniac with
[00:31:35] David Syvertsen: that. Yeah. Because your big sweater, you sweat a lot. Yeah. So that, that's a big deal for someone that runs the, because these workouts, I don't think, I don't know if anyone is fully appreciating.
How long is an average session for you? Um, on the long side? Like once you get to like, the longer sessions, how long does that take? So every
[00:31:51] Owen Morrissey: week consisted of one long run on the weekend. Um, usually anywhere from 14 to 20 miles.
[00:31:59] David Syvertsen: So close to two
[00:32:01] Owen Morrissey: hours. Yeah. So it was, it was two, two hours, two and a half hours.
She would, it was always kind of, she would program like. Progression run where I would start my first mile would be like seven 30 and then try to negative split to the last mile being like a tempo mile, like at like a six 20. Mm-hmm. Um, so there was always a long run. There was always a track workout and there was always a tempo runs.
The tempo runs were my favorite. It would be, you know, like a 10 minute warmup. So you're just kind of jogging for 10. Then it would be two miles at a tempo pace. So two miles from like six 10 to six 20, then a three minute rest four times. Wow. So that would be like a workout. So much. Do you listen to
[00:32:49] Sam Rhee: music or anything when you run or?
No,
[00:32:52] Owen Morrissey: I go, so I did half my training without music and half, so I would do most of my runs without music and I would do my recovery runs. With either music or a podcast. Like I, I listen to your guys sometimes when I was running too, so. Mm-hmm. Um, like the slower runs, I would listen to stuff and then the longer runs I would listen to stuff.
But if I, you know, like the speed workouts and, and anything like an hour, hour and a half, I usually didn't listen to music.
[00:33:19] Sam Rhee: And were you keeping macros or keeping track of macros or anything like that during your
[00:33:24] Owen Morrissey: training? No, but I was, Eating very differently. I was eating a lot of carbs. Um, I, you know, I probably wasn't eating enough some days.
Mm-hmm. Especially when I was working and stuff like that. Yeah. But I was eating j I was trying to eat healthy whole foods with, with a good amount of carbs. And what kind of
[00:33:43] Sam Rhee: recovery treatments have you been doing this, uh, past year? Anything?
[00:33:47] Owen Morrissey: Well, so a couple of weeks ago, I, I wish I bought this, you know, four months ago, but I was sitting on the couch and my legs.
I was in pain. Like I, I, like, I, I felt like I was a hundred years old and I'm looking at Instagram and I see this stupid ice, ice bath mm-hmm. That everybody's doing. Right? Yep. And I see it and I'm like, I click on it and it's a hundred bucks. I'm like, I just bought it. Is it one of the inflatable ones?
Yeah. It's the best a hundred dollars I've ever spent in my life. Okay. So I've done it every single day since then. Every morning. And
[00:34:20] David Syvertsen: I, what's the process? You have to put ice in it, or is it cool the water.
[00:34:23] Owen Morrissey: I put, so the hose water gets it to like fifties and then you put some ice in it, it gets down into the forties.
Okay. Yeah. And it's like,
[00:34:32] David Syvertsen: explain the best thing ever. What did it do for
[00:34:34] Owen Morrissey: you? The soreness went away, so I ran the marathon on Sunday. I've been doing it every day since I'm, my soreness is completely gone.
[00:34:42] David Syvertsen: Did it help you sleep? I did you do it at night? Yes. The only time when I, no, in the morning. And it helps you sleep.
Okay. Because I'm big on like the, uh, Ramson will talk about this sometimes too, but I do do some. Cold bass or contrast hot cold. Mm-hmm. That when I do it before I go to bed, I get a good night of
[00:34:58] Owen Morrissey: sleep. I do it right when I wake up and I've been like, I usually wake up in the middle of the night once or twice to go to the bath.
Like I don't wake up at all night. That's awesome. I don't what it does to your, Adam could probably tell you the signs behind it, but Huberman is good on
[00:35:11] David Syvertsen: that. He's big on that stuff too. How long do you sit in it for?
[00:35:15] Owen Morrissey: Three to five minutes. Wow. Usually just three minutes. Um, on Monday when I got back, I sat in there for five
[00:35:21] David Syvertsen: minutes.
Yeah. Gotta make sure you don't overdo it too. There's probably a limit on how much you should be doing. Yeah, I, I bet, I bet The next move for you, if lets, lets you do it, is, uh, a sauna that an own personal sauna. I've heard really good things about having both. I would like that. And there, there is a market for them now.
They're not as expensive they as they used to be. I'm not sure about your PS u g bill after Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's something that I, you know, would either look into personal, if you would use it a lot, or there's a couple places. There's one right down the road that I've used multiple times when I was training high volume that it didn't make a big difference.
Oh yeah. Um, so just look into that as well. So what is your, is your training going to look any different? Okay. Because you have a lot of, you're like a case study now for your coach. Mm-hmm. Right? You guys did X, Y, and Z. You executed that plan. Mm-hmm. You got to there and I think you got closer. Then you are anticipating, like I'm big on what you did, you set a goal that's a little beyond your reach.
Yeah. Oh yeah. I was
[00:36:16] Owen Morrissey: huge on that. I was definitely
[00:36:17] David Syvertsen: scared of it. I bet if you were, your goal was three hours and 20 minutes, you would've been 3 22. Like I really do think the fact that you almost overshot the goal mm-hmm. Is what made you very successful. Mm-hmm. In this race. So I think that was a really smart move.
And does this change, have you talked to your coach?
[00:36:35] Owen Morrissey: Uh, little training for the next. We're gonna talk on the phone tomorrow. Okay. Um, yeah, so one thing I learned, like when Covid hit and I was running a lot. Yep. I was, and I, it was doing the same crap that I do here, which is again, you know, immature of me and, but I just always do it.
I always go as hard as I can. Mm-hmm. So when I was running, I was running as hard as I can every. And if I ran one mile like in the sevens, it pissed me off. Right. Which is not good. You know what I mean? Right. And then I started doing research and you, you listen to all these people and to get faster, you have to run slower.
Mm-hmm. You know, you talk, it's the same thing in CrossFit, you, you know what I
[00:37:16] David Syvertsen: mean? Like mm-hmm. If you want to get more work done, you have to, yesterday's workout is an example here, Sam, that 22 minute workout with the overheads told everyone, if you really, if your goal really is to get the most work done in X amount of time mm-hmm.
You do. Be slower. Yeah, yeah. Don't crash and burn, right? Yeah. We, we often associate Wow. Wow. I'm, my lungs are, my lungs are burning, my legs are fried. I must be working hard. And you are, yeah. It is, uh, it's very admirable when people do that. Mm-hmm. But if the goal is performance centered, most need to slow
[00:37:44] Owen Morrissey: down.
Yeah. So, and when I started, I would, she would program like two or three runs a week that were at like a nine minute pace. And I was like, I don't understand like why I'm doing, and then, yep, you read all this stuff and you, and you. So I think the next move for me is I'm gonna do more like 20 mile runs just at like a zone two pace.
You know what I mean? Yep. Just to like,
[00:38:09] Sam Rhee: awesome. I think Hinshaw talked about coaching Matt Frazier and making him go slower. Yeah. And he didn't understand that either. Yeah. What kind of hinshaw program did you pull for your training?
[00:38:20] Owen Morrissey: I signed up for, I, I did this, I wanna say last summer. Mm. I think it was the Froning program, the Froning running program, uhhuh, I forget what it was called, but it had Froning name in it, Uhhuh, and it was basically just a lot of, a lot of track work and I loved it.
You know what I mean? It would be like a mile for time and then it would, he would take that. Or his company, whatever it was. Mm-hmm. They would take that number and base the workouts off of Right. That, you know, so it was just 800 s, 400, you know, like mm-hmm. 32nd intervals, things like that. How
[00:38:55] Sam Rhee: long does a pair of
[00:38:55] David Syvertsen: shoes last you now?
Oh, good question.
[00:38:58] Owen Morrissey: So I went through three training shoes and I ran the marathon in the Nike Vapor Fly Carbon. Shoes. Like the, is that your favorite? Yeah. For the race. They were awesome. Yeah. But I ran, I used Sacony for my training shoes. I used three pairs, I think.
[00:39:21] David Syvertsen: Yeah.
[00:39:22] Sam Rhee: And how long, how much were you used to get
[00:39:23] David Syvertsen: out of 'em before you're like, this is
[00:39:25] Owen Morrissey: like, I think around 250 to 300 miles.
You start to feel it in your le you, you know, you start to get little aches and pains. Mm. You know, you could tell when, when they start to go a little bit. I think that's a good
[00:39:37] Sam Rhee: tip for CrossFitters is like, At some, like I have really old running shoes and I remember, was it maybe Marni, one of the PT was like, you gotta get rid
[00:39:46] David Syvertsen: of these shoes.
Yeah. You forget because
[00:39:48] Sam Rhee: you don't always run so much, but you get to, I think you should put a number on it and keep track and say, okay, after X number of miles mm-hmm. I, I gotta change
[00:39:56] David Syvertsen: out my shoes here. Yeah.
[00:39:58] Sam Rhee: Even before you realize that it hurts. Yeah.
[00:40:00] David Syvertsen: Like you don't want it to hurt. Yeah. In that same breath, is there anything about your running technique, posture, foot strike?
That you work on, or is it just go wrong?
[00:40:10] Owen Morrissey: Yeah, I didn't really pay attention that I, I tried to focus on like breathing and like, I didn't really get too sciencey with the heart rate stuff, but as far as form, um, not really. Honestly. I've been running like my whole life pretty much. Yeah. Like I, like I said, I never really, like, I used to just go on runs like, no, watch nothing.
Like I always loved running. Yep. Um, so I, I didn't. Fix anything.
[00:40:37] David Syvertsen: Okay, cool. All right, well let, let's wrap this up and, um, do you have just any, kind of put you on the spot here. Do you have any advice for someone that would want to maybe take this on because I, I do think that, We work in this fitness industry and as much variety as we see in CrossFit, I do think at some point it helps someone to just switch it up.
Mm-hmm. Whether it's pursue a Spartan race, a marathon, a different way of working out body building, Olympic lifting. Right. Like, I've been in this long enough to know that people just need to change sometimes. Mm-hmm. Do you have any advice for someone that is going to inevitably at some point get there?
Mentally it's just sound like, ah, I, I need something other than CrossFit for a little bit. What would you guide them towards? You know, not specifically running or this or that, but just mentally how to approach it.
[00:41:22] Owen Morrissey: So for me, like CrossFit, I'm always gonna be here. Like I'm never gonna stop doing CrossFit.
Like yeah, it, but if things are interesting to you, like you wanna do a bodybuilding, show this, that. I, I would say just, just go for it, because CrossFit's still gonna be here when you're done. Right. You know what I mean? And Yeah. Does so go all in on it? Yeah. Yeah. And, and does it suck? Like, do I miss people here?
Mm-hmm. Like my friends and shout out to the stable boys, um,
[00:41:51] David Syvertsen: who,
[00:41:53] Owen Morrissey: you know, and Yeah. Like I missed a lot of things, uh, from here. Like, especially when I came to 23.2, I was like, oh my God. Like I miss it so much. You know what I mean? Right. Yep. But I think chasing a. Makes you a better person no matter what goal it is.
And it's, it makes you better all around, I think. I think it changes your life, you know, to all, like, I, I always want to be setting goals, you know, whether they're small or big or whatever it is. Um, I think goals are just one of the most important things you could do as an athlete. I love that. No,
[00:42:23] David Syvertsen: that, those are really good words of wisdom.
Thanks dude. Sam, anything else? When are you gonna do your marathon, Dave? I did a half back in. I think it was like 2011. I used to run a lot too. Okay. I used to like, same thing as I would just like to do it. So you will do a full at some point? I, I never wanna say never. I just don't like saying that word.
Um, but I, I like Owen, I'd have to walk away from training to compete to, to do a marathon. I just don't think I could do both. I don't think I have the ability or the time or the lifestyle to do, um, both. But I would never say never. I think running a marathon is, to me right now, it does not look attractive.
But I do think that it's probably one of the most respectable things, especially if it's a perform. Type, right. Yeah. Lifetime goal. You think you'll do it in your lifetime? I think I'll do it in my lifetime, for sure. Yep.
[00:43:06] Owen Morrissey: Yeah, I think you could do, if
[00:43:07] David Syvertsen: you, I'll probably get like 3 0 1 or something.
[00:43:12] Owen Morrissey: I think like you could, I think people could manage a marathon and CrossFit.
Definitely. I think when you add. Of number on it and performance, then it comes like, okay, I need to scale it back
[00:43:23] David Syvertsen: on it. I know for a fact that if I'm signing up, it would be, there would be a performance goal. Yeah. There would be, I don't think it'd be anywhere near three hours. My half was an hour 50 and I thought I was gonna die after.
So to do that again right after faster. Um, but yeah, I mean, I, I, what I like about what a Owen did, That is, you have to put so much time, effort into it. Like, what do I always say about the competing here? Like the process is what you have to like mm-hmm. It it's not just the, the result. Yeah. You know, Owen would probably be in the same mind space right now if he hit 2 59 in that marathon.
Mm-hmm. Because the process, he really put himself into the process. Yeah. And that, I think that's what he got the most out of. Mm-hmm. Now we just,
[00:44:03] Sam Rhee: did you watch the Boston Marathon this year?
[00:44:06] Owen Morrissey: I didn't, so we went to Boston Sunday night just to like celebrate and have drinks and stuff. Mm-hmm. And the energy there and, and just, it's, it's unbelievable.
I, I definitely, I will be a part of it one day. I'm very excited. Like it's, it's, and with the history behind, you know, with 10 year, it's the 10 year anniversary of the bombing and everything, it's just a. It's a cool, cool thing to experience and I'm excited one day. Yeah. We'll, we'll,
[00:44:32] David Syvertsen: we'll see you there, dude.
No, no question about it. All right. Thanks so much, Odo. I'm gonna have a story coming your way on Instagram. Just, uh, be, be ready for that. We haven't done that in a while. Uh, that we'll see you at the gym soon and, uh, can't wait. All right. Thank you. Thanks.
[00:44:44] Owen Morrissey: Awesome.
[00:44:45] David Syvertsen: Thanks.
