“It is quite common in Ireland to blame the American route, that the coaches run us too hard or you’re gone off on the drink, people disappear, but people forget that it is easy to get lost, especially coming back from the States.”

Most of his teammates joined professional teams in America upon graduating, Craig Engels for example having joined the now defunct Nike Oregon Project. Others joined the likes of Hoka Northern Arizona Elite, Reebok Track Club, Saucony Track Club and Hoka One One New York New Jersey.

Tobin, however, found himself back in Clonmel, lost, lonely and unsure what he was going to do. He was certain he was going to run. That is his chosen profession. What was not so certain was who he would run with, and how he would fund it.

The next steps after coming home

Coming home from the States people would ask him what was next. If you ask any recently graduated student, you are often met with evasive answers while the student grapples with big life choices and situational changes. This is particularly pertinent for students who don’t have a city base, whose family homes are in rural places with little to no access to people to train with at their level.

For athletes exiting the American collegiate system this transition is particularly challenging. In America, saying you are a full time runner is met with enthusiasm, people back you and are excited for you to join a team and chase your dreams.

In Ireland though, the same culture does not exist, and so outside of immediate friends, family and other athletes, Sean found it quite difficult to explain a career choice that involved making no money. He would tell someone that he was trying to qualify for the Olympics and they would ask “but what do you really do?” Sometimes he would rather just say he was a student.

“You come home after a good percentage of your life, and everything was looked after for you in college, and you’re trying to figure out your own rent and to adjust to running outside of college.” It is common for non-athletes to take their time figuring out their professional career, taking a year after college to do so.

But it seems athletes can be held to a higher standard and if someone is not performing straight off the bat, people can be quick to criticise. If one thing is clear from talking to Sean, it is that life is not straightforward and it is not as easy as just coming home and transitioning smoothly. “You meet other guys who have been through the system and they’re completely lost still”.

On a road to nowhere

In summer 2018 he was racing and hoping for some performance but nothing was clicking. “It all fell to pieces” and he ultimately found himself with his parents in Clonmel, at his wits end, no professional set up, and running out of options. All his friends had moved on and that was difficult.

“Socially it was very tough, it got to the point where going down to the coffee shop was a big deal, just very nervous, very lost. You’d be afraid to go out as people would be asking you what you were doing and you don’t really have answers you know.”

Then, a chance presented itself. “It was like something out of a movie, I remember sitting in bed saying please just give me some bloody sign, and then I got a message from Feidhlim, and there was the opportunity.”

They agreed he would join the Dublin Track Club. “Feidhlim has been wonderful to me and he has been around for years. He is the one coach that put himself out there in positions, he has travelled and linked in with guys like Nic Bideau, and lived in London trying to make it as an athlete, he has done a lot. He is willing to learn and listen, he is so hungry.”

The group has developed and expanded since then, and “it has a lot more meaning for me now, it’s about developing the Irish system.”

Photo: Liam Kelleher

The importance of the right environment

Tobin mentions when he was training in Falls Creek, Australia, there was literally “nothing to do.

The house didn’t have wifi or anything.” Sonia O’Sullivan told him that during her time there they just read books, and one thing she said that stood out to him most was that “you almost have to re-adjust to civilisation when you come down off the mountain, and it’s true.”

“You’re so used to it being so quiet and silent, and everything is so loud and noisy. That is the lifestyle you want for running.” Dublin is not quite the same, but that is not to bash Dublin, “we obviously will make things work here.”

In the Dublin training group, few are full time, most are studying or working with flexible arrangements. “We have to create something ourselves, we can’t just expect the same model as Kenya or the US. As athletes we need to be educated in terms of how can you be a full time athlete and create an income, what job opportunities for someone who is in college and can make money online say.

“There are a lot of opportunities to make things work.” He refers to the Melbourne Track Club who also built themselves up, and when they need money the race. “They work hard and they don’t complain.”

Keep it simple

The life of an athlete is relatively simple. But the simple things are the hardest to secure: housing and food. It’s fine in college, but once you graduate into adulthood you need independence from your parents. If you’re from Dublin it is much easier, of course, the cost of living in Dublin is just so high if you are renting.

It is also hard to hold down a full time job and then ask for 6-8 weeks off to go to Australia to train. Sean has held odd jobs on and off, for example in his local coffee shop, Coffee Works, while he was injured, but as the miles crept up again this was not sustainable either. He considers himself very lucky to be supported with Richard Donovan, he couldn’t be in Dublin without that support.

Brendan O’Neill had a big influence on Sean’s decision to stay in Ireland. He noticed that athletes struggle with visas in the USA, then they’re home, and back and forth. It can be all over the place and “suddenly it turns into a three year cycle of trying to find your feet. He said I have to find a rhythm, he was the one that convinced me to stay home and make it work, get settled for a year at home and then the second year is not as bad.

So this is really the second year home, having my own place and being a little bit settled. It has been huge, having my own room.” Having stability, rather than living between places and out of suitcases has been a very positive development.

Funding athlete lifestyles

The funding system here is strange. He lives beside the National Sports Campus and sees the boxers going in, always together for training, “a proper national squad, where as the runners are scattered everywhere. I don’t want cash or whatever, I just want a house and food, as an athlete all you need is your food and your housing.”

“Imagine if Athletics Ireland had invested in houses over the years.” It would be very helpful for someone coming home too, if they could offer a base for six months while they find their feet and figure things out. “Sometimes the simple things go over people’s heads.” It seems that private sponsorship is a better model, evidenced by teams around the world, but it is missing in Ireland.

“As a group, anything that is stressful is always financial, thats a big thing that is stopping athletes going after it. If you look at the people deciding to have a real go of it, they decided to go abroad.” For example, Síofra Cléirigh-Buttner has joined the New Balance team based in Boston which is coached by Mark Coogan.

Tobin chasing down Great Britain’s Marc Scott, a member of the Bowerman Track Club, at the European Champs in Tilburg last year.

Clearly not a lack of motivation

What is clear in the transition from college to professional running is not a lack of motivation or ambition, but the very basics. People can be very quick to say that athletes are burnt out “but really it is just that life hits you, do I get a job, what do I do, et cetera. You can be pulled a lot of ways. And the more you go through the running ranks the tougher it gets.”

The Irish funding system is rewards based, if you compete well on a world stage you will get funding, but “if I finish top 8 in the world I don’t need that then, I needed it to get there. And even this year trying to qualify for the Olympics, if I qualify then suddenly I will be given more funding.”

This is not actually conducive to promoting and supporting Irish athletes development. Sean notes that he is in a very good position, probably better than most in the country because of Richard Donovan’s support and is keen to express that he does not take that for granted.

What can athletes do to help themselves?

“It is something that as athletes we can be very ‘take take take’, we need this we need that, and it is figuring out how can we actually give back to a community or a sport, what can we do to benefit others.” Coaching is the obvious first option of course, Sean coaches the DCU endurance group.

Other athletes have successful coaching businesses. The coaching also gives him a bit of perspective with the variety of levels involved, “we can forget how we got here too.”

Athletes need to look for opportunities to earn money doing online work. In terms of options to do things like grinds, Sean says that he did “an athlete’s degree” at Ole Miss, he wasn’t really study focused.

“I neglected academics and that was a hard lesson for me. As an athlete it is a great opportunity to self educate, read, learn new skills, it is a wonderful opportunity.” He realised a bit too late that he liked studying economics, so now a lot has changed in his mindset and approach to academics.

If he were to go back to University he wouldn’t choose a place purely based on its name, more so on the courses available and professors teaching. He regrets it, “I was given a wonderful opportunity that I tossed away, school is expensive.” But one can only learn the hard way, and if he returns to education he has made it more difficult for himself to get into a programme, but “I understand to make the most of that time now.”

Photo: Athletics Ireland / Sportsfile

Nothing is guaranteed

This sport is hard and cruel, “Feidhlim reminds us of that every day. This is not easy. You can do everything right and not be rewarded. Look at me this summer, I learned that the hard way. I put in one of the best years of training I ever put in, thought suddenly I was going to go out on the track and have this outstanding season, and bang, leg just gone.”

He raced two 5kms on the track with his leg hanging off, and ran personal bests but they were “nowhere near what I could have done.”

After John Travers running 13.28, “I buzz off the idea of the Irish doing well, if I can run 13 and twenty something that’s great now we have two irish guys doing it.” Look at Scullion and Pollock going 2.10 and 2.12. And not to forget the people behind the scenes, “I don’t think anyone is safe”.

When people assume someone is off to Tokyo “that boils my blood because no-one is guaranteed anything. I am not guaranteed anything.” This was the caption of Sean’s strava during the week, it points to an athlete working hard to make it work, and grateful for what he has.

Bláithín is a middle distance and cross country athlete who has been known to accidentally run into trees. She is in total denial about having to work for a living – you can follow her attempts at run-commuting to work on Strava.

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The post Sean Tobin is taking nothing for granted appeared first on Fast Running.

Cross country, indoors, outdoors, indoors, more cross country and road. In under five months I’ve covered every season – in that order.

In this short space of time, I’ve learned five key lessons, most of which I attribute to the Melbourne Track Club.

This group has opened up my eyes to professionalism. In this article, I will do my best to share these insights.

Lesson 1: The group

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, working together is success” – Henry Ford

Melbourne Track Club’s most powerful asset is simply the training group. Yes, there are days the guys may be out there training alone but for the most part the guys are training together.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are the workout days, it’s simple: be there at 9:30am. It’s a massive help when you have a set time for training.

The guys don’t complain, they make it work, they show up ready to train and willing to help each other out.

Running can be a very lonely sport so it is a massive help when there is a social aspect to it, having fun is essential for one’s sanity, especially on the tough days.

View this post on Instagram

First week done in Falls Creek. Looking forward to learning as much as I can from these lads over the next month @ryangeard #lovethepain #getitdone

A post shared by Sean Tobin (@theirishhammer) on Jan 4, 2019 at 11:39pm PST

Lesson 2: The coach

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus” – Martin Luther King Jr

Nic Bideau has set the tone for the group, everyone knows that if you want to train with the group, Nic expects high standards. No one questions if he’s a good coach, the man has managed over 20 Olympians.

It’s simple, believe in the coach and do what you’re told. Everyone in the group has faith in Nic and they know if they listen and follow his guidance, they’ll be successful. Recognising a competent leader and putting your trust in them is fundamental.

Nic is a tough man and no one wants to piss him off but if he’s mad at you, be happy because it’s a sign he cares.

If you find people like this in your life, you better goddam hold on to them, whether they are your friends or your coach, they want the best from you, they want to see you succeed, if they are upset or disappointed in you it’s because they respect you enough to see you for what you could be, not just what you are.

Lesson 3: Ego is the enemy

“Impressing people is utterly different from being truly impressive” – Ryan Holiday

If you turn up thinking you’re better than everyone else or come in boasting about what you want to achieve you won’t last long in the group.

It’s very simple, everyone knows they are there to work hard and everyone has their own intrinsic goals in mind. Telling people your goals does not correlate with actually achieving them.

There’s no need to run your mouth, just show up and do the work. The guys are very good and leave their egos at home when doing sessions.

You may not be having the best day at training and instead of working yourself to death to stay at the front, they know when to let their egos go and pull back.

It’s not going to kill you to run a few seconds slower per rep, what will kill you however is smashing your body just to make yourself look good.

Lesson 4: The simple stuff

“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook” – William James

The guys keep everything simple, in their training and in their lifestyles. There’s no secret formula, nothing is overcomplicated.

Train, eat and sleep (although I also use my rest time to self educate, my young legs won’t last forever).

You train to get fit, you eat to refuel and sleep to recover. We can often over complicate everything in life and it is such a great feeling when you keep things simple. The no clutter approach frees the mind.

Lesson 5: The work never stops

“Don’t count the days, make the days count” – Muhammad Ali

No matter the time of the year, the Melbourne Track Club are working. They will keep the sessions and volume going all year round.

They are most likely only a few weeks from a strong performance all the time. There’s no major drop in workload when coming into a race and after a race no matter the result, you are back at work. Consistency is key.

Sean Tobin features in the ‘Fast 10: class of 2019’ and over the course of the year will share his running journey. You can follow Sean on Twitterand Instagram, while further information about the ‘class of 2019’ can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post 5 key lessons I learnt at the Melbourne Track Club appeared first on Fast Running.

Before reading my blog and to provide some context, watch this post-race interview after I ran my first sub four minuted mile. It was January 2014 and I was 19 years old.

I started at Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) in January 2014 where there was no NCAA cross country appearances, no distance tradition, school records of 3:44 1500m/ 4:04 mile and a team looked down upon by other NCAA teams.

Five years later a lot has changed, there now has been five straight NCAA appearances, a distance powerhouse, school records of 3:36 1500m/ 3:54 mile and a team that’s now feared by other NCAA teams.

Five years ago top high schoolers wouldn’t even consider Ole Miss, now it’s one of the first they’ll look at. I now have moved on from Ole Miss and the NCAA.

I left Ole Miss and the NCAA frustrated, upset and feeling like a failure, but I have come to peace with it, and now look back at the fun times and the hard-learned lessons.

I experienced every type of emotion, extreme highs and extreme lows, but I couldn’t have asked for a better coach and teammates.

Ole Miss is now left in the hands of a younger generation. They have seen some of the hardship it’s taken to build the program and a have coach who’s now five years older, smarter and continues to learn.

New beginnings, but a lot of similarities

Well, here I am five years later in a similar position, starting all over with a new group full of talent, hunger, passion and led by a young coach with a big heart.

However, the Dublin Track Club will face many more challenges than Ole Miss. No scholarships, no free kit, no budget just the drive to bring Irish distance running back to respectable standards.

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Like a bridge over troubled water. Brothers in arms for an 8x1k kind of day. Good to have Kevin Maunsell and the schoolboys join us at the bridge. No midterm break here #DTC #crosscountry

A post shared by Dublin Track Club (@dublintrackclub) on Oct 30, 2018 at 4:35pm PDT

We have some advantages though, we start with great leadership from athletes like Shane Healy who’s been to the biggest show on earth, the Olympic Games and Gary O’Hanlon the man who continues to improve with age.

I have faith in the Dublin Track Club becoming one of the best training groups in the world, but it’s not going to happen overnight.

There will be challenges, along with the highs and lows. But the group, that just started over a year ago with the vision to create a world-class training group, has already made some major steps.

Ireland has been missing a major training group for years and now we are building something that is open to all who are willing to come with an open mind, wanting to improve, willing to work together and an ego that’s left at home.

Thanks to Richard Donavan of Global Running Adventures I was fortunate enough to start 2019 training in Australia with the Melbourne Track Club. I have spent the last month in Falls Creek working hard and learning as much as I can from the world-class training group.

Already I have learned countless lessons from the group and look forward to bringing them back to the Dublin Track Club. This year has started with lots of passion, hunger and a drive to not only develop myself and a group but to also raise the standard of Irish distance running.

The work will be put in this year and we hope to be rewarded with the opportunity to compete at the world greatest show in 2020.

Sean Tobin features in the ‘Fast 10: class of 2019’ and over the course of the year will share his running journey. You can follow Sean on Twitter and Instagram, while further information about the ‘class of 2019’ can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post Building training groups from Mississippi to Dublin appeared first on Fast Running.

After an athletic scholarship at the University of Mississippi, Sean Tobin returned home to Ireland in 2018. The Irish miler teamed up with the newly formed Dublin Track Club and concluded the year with a top 10 finish at the European Cross Country Championships.

Tobin is a firm believer in the importance of the group, and along with his own personal goals in 2019, he hopes to help raise the standards at the Dublin-based training group.

Profile

Name: Sean Tobin
Age (Jan 2019): 24
Hometown: Clonmel
Club: Clonmel AC
Main discipline: 1500m/mile
Other disciplines: cross country
Full-time athlete/work/studying: Full-time athlete

Goals or targets for 2019

1) Learn and adapt to the full-time athlete lifestyle
2) Continue to help build and raise the standard of the Dublin Track Club
3) Make the most of the opportunity I’ve been given
4) Give back and help our sport grow

Running highlights

1) 2017 – NCAA DMR (distance medley relay)
2) 2016 – SEC mile & 3000m sweep
3) 2014 – First time running under four minutes for the mile

Personal bests

1) 800m: 1:47.99
2) 1500m: 3:41.78
3. Mile: 3:57.00
4. 3000m: 7:55.05

Interesting or fun facts

I have the goal of visiting 100 countries in my lifetime.

I run because…

Running has become a big part of my life which continues to challenge me. It also allows me to travel, meet people and help others.

Favourite training session

Definitely threshold runs.

Least favourite training session

Spending time in the gym, but I am learning to enjoy it.

Favourite pre-race food

It is usually pasta and mince.

Favourite post-race food

Post-race, I like to treat myself with some ice cream.

Brands or organisations that support me

Global Running Adventures.

RELATED: Sean Tobin: “I would love to see the mile replace the 1500m”

Sean Tobin features in the ‘Fast 10: class of 2019’ and over the course of the year will share his running journey. You can follow Sean on Twitter and Instagram, while further information about the ‘class of 2019’ can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

The post Fast 10: Sean Tobin appeared first on Fast Running.