English and Mageean prove persistence the key to a brighter future

English and Mageean prove persistence the key to a brighter future

It says and tells a lot about an athlete that when celebrating the highs they can also point straight back to the lows. Nothing succeeds like success, only there’s no successful failure like the bettering of it. 

Along with their bronze medals won at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow, it’s what Ciara Mageean and Mark English now share in common: both overtly successful juniors, both already winning championship medals on the senior stage, there then came a period where it seemed the only thing that mattered was to try again and fail better. 

In the aftermath of a European Indoors where most of the Irish team failed to reach their success point, there is both a lesson and a message in there.

At 26, Mageean has gone full circle already, a few times over, only now she has reached a level of maturity and consistency her 1,500 metres career is only getting going. At 25, English endured more subtle lows but for him the high of Glasgow also represents a sort of fresh start over 800m. 

Neither athlete is shy about admitting that not everything has gone to plan since making that frequently treacherous transition from promising junior to successful senior. English was just 21 when he won previously European Indoor silver in 2015, having won outdoor bronze in 2014; after that things began to level off and then firmly plateau. 

The most important thing, he said, was sticking at it.

“It’s nice to come back after four years, and that’s just the nature of this game, you’ve got to stick at it,” said English, injury playing an unfair hand at times, the Donegal athlete also sticking to his medical studies at UCD.

He finishes up there next month, the immediate ambition being to stay injury free for the summer season while training towards the World Championships in Doha, Qatar at the end of September. 

For English that message is as important as the bigger picture: “You’re not going to win something every year, and I think that’s the lesson for any athlete coming through, just to stick at it, there’ll probably be more tough times than good times. But it’s worth it when you get the good times. The world level is a different game but I’ll be confident now that I could challenge.” 

Only four other Irish athletes had previously won European championship medals both indoors and out: Frank Murphy and Eamonn Coghlan (both 1,500m), Mark Carroll (3,000m/5,000m) and Derval O’Rourke (60m/100m hurdles). Mageean and English bring that number to six having joined esteemed company. 

New direction

What they both also share is the acceptance that sometimes the journey will require a change in direction. Mageean also won outdoor bronze over 1,500m in 2016, only the third Irish woman to medal in the long history of those championships after Sonia O’Sullivan and Derval O’Rourke. The two and a half years since have witnessed a proper rollercoaster of emotions.

In November 2017, realising that new direction was required she stepped out of any comfort zone, perceived or otherwise, and moved away from her coach Jerry Kiernan in Dublin to Steve Vernon’s New Balance Manchester group. 

Before that, she’d left her underage coach Eamon Christie.

“Each coach I’ve had were a great benefit to me, brought me on as an athlete, and he had fantastic results. Then I went to Jerry, and ran my personal best with Jerry, 4:01, and had some fantastic years there. He had a huge impact on my life, and I do miss him, but now I’m with Steve and the Manchester crew, and hopefully this is the start of another very successful part of my career. 

“I’ve had plenty of championships where I’ve walked off the track disappointed, and I’m sure there will be tough times ahead. And I’d a good underage career, constantly on an upward curve, then I’d a really tough injury, but I feel I am becoming a lot more consistent athlete. 

“And to be able to deliver that out on the track means an awful lot. And I just wanted to walk off the track with my head held high. I’ve come off and I’ve beat myself up before after too many championships, but I go out to enjoy my athletics now as well, and a smile on my face.” 

Fresh ambitions

English also stepped out at that comfort zone, perceived or otherwise, when looking for a new direction at the start of the 2014 season, parting with his first coach, Teresa McDaid, who he still credits enormously for guiding him through his development years at Letterkenny AC, and, if you believe the story, was first informed of his talent after he won the egg and spoon race at his school sports. 

Since then, English has been working with Steve Magness, the US-based coach at the University of Houston, sticking with his own motivations.

Over the winter he sought out fresh biomechanical advice to improve his running form, and also resigned himself to running the hard 10-12 mile runs to boost his endurance base. His bronze medal in Glasgow showed signs of both. 

Even with the World Championships in Qatar so far away in every sense, Mageean and English also have fresh ambitions for outdoors. Mageean improved both her 1,500m and mile Irish records indoors in recent weeks, to 4:06.76 and 4:28.31 respectively, and that outdoor best of 4:01.46, set in Paris in 2016, is also now due for improvement. 

Likewise for English, who ran his best 1:44.84 in his Diamond League debut in London in 2013, still short of David Matthews and his national record of 1:44.82 dating back to 1995. That is now surely overdue for bettering?

Klobuchar Jabs Trump for Spending 1 of 5 Days in 2019 at a Golf Club: 'I Spent 0 Days on the Golf Course'

2020 presidential candidate Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar on Wednesday called out President Donald Trump after a report found he had spent one of five days in 2019 at a golf club.

A report, published by CNN on New Year's Day, found that Trump, who ended 2019 with a stint at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, had spent more than 252 days at one of his golf clubs and 333 at one of his properties since he was inaugurated in January 2017. Throughout last year alone, the president was at a golf club over at least 86 days.

In response, Klobuchar shared the article and said: "For the record, I spent 0 days on the golf course in 2019."

Trump is not the only U.S. president to have been repeatedly criticized over his golfing habits. Former President Barack Obama was also part of a long line of American leaders who have demonstrated a love for the sport. In 2016, Trump repeatedly criticized his predecessor for spending time on the golf course during his campaign trail.

"I mean he's played more golf than most people on the PGA Tour, this guy," the president said once said at a rally in New Hampshire. "What is it, over 300 rounds? Hey, look, it's good. Golf is fine. But always play with leaders of countries and people that can help us! Don't play with your friends all the time."

Klobuchar's remark comes weeks after the sixth Democratic debate in Los Angeles, during which she attempted to make an electability argument as a senator from a purple state who can "bring in the rural and suburban areas." After seeming lost on the debate stage throughout last summer and autumn, Klobuchar left the smaller stage in December having had a more relaxed and assured performance.

"She's gotten better as these debates have gone on," political analyst David Axelrod said on CNN after the senator fire back at South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg over his experience and political resume.

The moderate candidate, who's is currently polling among the second tier of presidential candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic nomination, has recently declared that she's well-positioned to defeat Trump in the upcoming general election.

"I can appeal to independents, too," she told supporters during a visit to Mount Washington Valley this week. "I'm from the middle of the country, where I can win with steel workers in northern Minnesota and with farmers."

In this week's Economist/YouGov poll, Klobuchar came in fifth place in the crowded Democratic 2020 field, with four percent support. Former Vice President Joe Biden maintained his longstanding lead with 29 percent, while Senator Bernie Sanders came in second with 19 percent. Sanders was closely followed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who garnered 18 percent.

Social media stressing you out? A 5-day 'reading deprivation' challenge helped one woman take back control

For years, Sam Kimberle didn’t realize how much social media was distracting her from what mattered most — work and family.

“Social media is really some of the most mindless reading that I do,” says Kimberle, 31, a freelance writer and artist in Baltimore, Maryland.

Kimberle turned her attention to more mindful reading: “The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity” by Julia Cameron. Kimberle, who read the book with a reading group she started in August, committed to following the book’s fourth chapter: “Reading Deprivation Week.” The classic book, written in 1992, challenges readers to give up all reading materials for a week so they can be more productive. Kimberle and some members of her reading group extended the challenge to social media.

Sam Kimberle says the 5-day challenge helped her find more time for her writing and art.Courtesy of Sam Kimberle

For five days in August, Kimberle gave up her favorite social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

“I was nervous because I had not signed off of my social media accounts for years, and they had just become so ingrained in my daily routine that it just felt like changing my entire life to not be completely devoted to my social media accounts,” says Kimberle.

But Kimberle, a regular contributor for Medium.com and a clay artist, says she found she was able to devote more time to her writing and art.

“I thought that would be the most difficult time, and honestly, it wasn’t,” she says. “It was probably the easiest time, because I just put my head down and got so much work done and got into this creative flow, creative trance,” she says. “I was able to get a lot of my clay work done. So it was just a really productive time, a really beautiful time in the beginning.”

Here’s what Kimberle discovered after freeing herself from social media for five days.

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Kimberle knew it would be hard to resist the urge to look at her phone, so she turned off notifications on social apps and put the apps in a folder labeled “NO.” She also turned off notifications on her Gmail app.

If you don’t want to give up social media completely but want to read less, there are ways to limit how much you use it, according to Kimberle. iPhones, for example, contain a “downtime feature” that will let you set a timer that will block you from your phone when you want to limit your usage.

Kimberle recommends creating rules around where and when you can use your phone.

“I’m really looking into not having my phone in my bedroom at all when I’m sleeping,” she says. “I’ve become a lot more aware generally how much my phone impacts my life, and how distracting it is from my own creative energy.”

Those app-free days in August allowed Kimberle to see what a distraction her phone can be. During that week, she spent three days at Deep Creek Lake in Maryland. She found herself spending more quality time with her husband Keith instead of snapping photos for Instagram.

“I was really a lot more present in the moment throughout the five days that I did it,” she says.

A social media-free week can be easier said than done when your phone is always with you. Kimberle says her reading group encouraged her to stay motivated. She recommends asking a partner or friend to do the challenge with you for encouragement.

“I think that really doing it in community is very helpful and allows you to stay connected and accomplish your goals and priorities and really get the most out of it,” she says.

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Now that Kimberle is using social media again, she says she is more aware of how mindless reading can lead to decision fatigue — constantly choosing which articles and posts to read and respond to.

“I’m constantly making decisions that, when I was not using social media, I didn’t have to make, and that energy was so palpable when I wasn’t using social media,” she says. “I was able to refocus that energy and use it towards my own creative productivity, and that was such a huge piece of why I feel like I was significantly more energized and more creative during that time period.”

She says she continues to limit her reading by keeping notifications turned off for both social media and email.