Training for Dublin Marathon - help\advice

inigo

I did the half-marathon in just 1h58min. That's about 5.5min/km, which I think is not bad considering my training pace is 6.5min/km (can't think in miles, sorry!). It felt good, really good. I finished quite burned, but I think I still had a couple more miles in me. I started a bit too fast with all the excitement, the crowd and all but I noticed it so I slowed down a bit. Then, at the start of the 2nd lap I realized that if I sped up a little I could beat the 2h mark, and so I did. Only 5 guys lapped me, I saw the 6th crossing the finish line behind me. Never run more than 11 miles before, so I'm still delighted with the performance!!

I also have my 16miles this weekend, 20 the next then recovery for the big day...

jasonb

Some bad news I'm afraid...

Just heard from the Marathon Organisers, and they confirmed that the Gatorade will be given out in small cups, not in bottles as they previously said. So don't be depending on the stations for your Gatorade...

J.

Myksyk

If you're not chasing a pb or such like I think it's a good idea to walk through drinking stations ... when you see them ahead grab your gel and swallow then slow to a walk to take water in. It's easier, you actually drink more water, it provides a small respite and loses you only seconds over the whole course. That's my plan anyway.

jasonb

I heard that tip too, it costs very little time, but can make a big difference in terms of getting water on board, and giving yourself a little rest! I'd only be worried that I wouldn't be able to get going again!

J.

comer_97

i've read about walking for a minute through each drink station and the person writing made the US olympic team doing just that! Scary!

Be sure to get out of everyones way at the station if you start walking, the first couple are carnage!

Myksyk

Agreed ... a woman in front of me suddenly stopped during the Dubloin half ... I found it very difficult to react quickly and nearly went arse over head. Drink stations can be very chaotic in that regard ... a good place to pick up a pulled muscle, scraped knee or twisted ankle. Be careful out there people!!

bullrunner

think i'll run with my own water/gatorade bottle...so might skip the first few drink stations and then they hopefully wont be as chaotic when i start using them.

sent my entry for the marathon yesterday...so now confirmed i'm in!!!bit worried now that i might have a bad day on race day and feel like the training is wasted

jasonb

I agree bullrunner, I'm very aware now that my performance on the day depends on so many things out of my control, like the weather, or maybe I'll just not feel in top condition on the day ( you know the way sometimes you just feel a little more tired, or a little less up for a run. ).

My biggest worry though is that I'll get myself injured playing hockey, and that'll be my chance of running the marathon gone. I've only got four games between now and then, so I just have to keep my fingers crossed...

J.

Clum

Just picked up some Lucozade Carbo Gels. Didn't realise they'd be so big! If anybody else is using them how do they plan to carry them for 15 or 20 miles?

All of my shorts have pockets on the inside but I'd doubt I'd fit the gel tube in them.

inigo

Clum, where did you get the gels?

Myksyk

Clum, you can get special belts. Go to science in sports (SIS) and see their Go Gel Marathon belt (they have similar sized gels to Lucozade so I'm sure it would do for them). I have a nice pair of shorts which have a long zipped pocket at the back which can hold 2 gels comfortably. I'm hoping to have a couple of people strategically placed on the course to help out. If not I'll consider the belt.

Clum

inigo wrote:

Clum, where did you get the gels?

Boots in Stephen's Green shopping centre.

I've never used them before but after explaining to a co-runner how I hit the wall running London a few years ago (my only previous marathon) I was told Glucose supplements would help avoid that so I'll willing to try them. I'll test them this Sunday during my 20 mile run...

inigo

Thanks Clum. Went there yesterday. I've already posted here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=52126926&posted=1#post52126926

davidhamilton

I got a fuel belt which carries some gels in a pouch and a big holder for your water. The only problem is when I've taken half the water on board from the bottle is swishing around and throws me off my stride a little.

An old guy who was at the half marathon on Saturday was running with a belt that had 6 holders for smaller amounts of water. It seemed more balanced looking than any of the other belts. Has anyone seen these around can't find them on the net.

bullrunner

try this website for the multibottle belts

http://www.irishfit.eu/index.htm

jasonb

Did my 16 mile run yesterday, and the last 5 miles saw me basically running in pain, from my feet, knees and hips. I know there's always going to be some pain involved in running a marathon, but if I can only get to 11 miles before it kicks in, that gives me 15 miles of pain, and to be a bit of a wuss, I don't think I can handle that! My energy felt ok ( Gatorade and some Mars Bars! ), just found it so hard from the pain. I think it's back to the physio for me...

On another topic, a friend of mine is also doing the marathon, and she had to stop at mile 12 of her 16 mile run yesterday as she's got a cold at the moment, and it's taking it out of her. She's now planning to do her 16 mile run this coming weekend ( when she had her 20 mile scheduled ) and her 20 mile run the weekend after. I was thinking that maybe she shouldn't do 20 miles 2 weeks before the marathon. Maybe the training advantage of doing 20 miles is out-weighed by how close it is to the main event? What do you all think?

J.

Myksyk

I can empathise. I did an 18 miler yesterday and began to feel the pain at mile 16 ... that's ten miles to go!! I had an ice bath after to ease the pain (bloody ITB still giving me a bit of jip in the left leg ... aaargh!). A little while later I went to the gym for a sauna/steam. By the time I got into the jacuzzi I was faint and nauseus ... stupid really raising my body temp after taking so much out of myself. Anyway, I was completely knackered for the rest of the day despite 2 hours sleep when I got home. My stomach only settled down this morning. Knee/ITB quite tender this morning too so a bit of a wreck.

Re your friend's 20 mile ... I'm in the same boat. I may only do my 20 on the w/e after next. I think if she tapers well and minds herself for the remainder she should be fine. Training programmes differ on how long they taper anyway ... some two weeks others three.

quozl

I'd be inclined to do more than 16 this weekend if I were her. She only bagged part of a run because she was sick. If she's been fairly faithful to the rest of her training schedule she should be able to go 18+ this weekend. I wouldn't be happy at all not having run further than 16 miles until 2 weeks to go till the marathon. That'd weigh on my mind to be honest.

Cutting it down to a 2 week taper doesn't sound great either but if she has the choice between not running more than 16 or cutting down to a two week taper I'd take the two week taper.

However I'd probably go 18-19 this weekend and 18 next weekend in her shoes. Running nice and slowly, the important thing is to cover the distance and to train her body to be on her feet for a number of hours.

Does she have a time goal or is it more of a 'get around' type thing? If she has a time goal she may need to give some thought to reassesing it around now.

Sorry to hear about the pain Jason, that's ****. I've had one run like that, ITB agony. Hopefully the physio can help. You are doing your long-runs at at least 45 seconds per mile slower than marathon pace right? The reason I had that17 mile run of ITB agony was I was feeling great and ran the first 10 miles at well sub marathon pace because I'm a ****ing idiot sometimes

jasonb

Yeah, I was thinking that myself. Something like two 18 mile runs might be better than a 16 and then a 20, especially with the 20 only two weeks from the marathon. Her goal, like mine, is 4hr 30, and we'll be running together, which always helps!

Hoping to get to the physio in the next day or two, and maybe some stretches etc. can help me. I actually ran the 16 miles at marathon pace ( 10 min miles ). I know we've had this discussion before, about what speed to train at compared to what speed to race at. My worry is that if I train at a slower pace, then on the day I'll feel even more wrecked cos I'll be going faster than normal ( for example, if I'm used to 10m 30sec mile pace, and then I run 10 m mile pace in the marathon, it'll be like your run, when you started fast cos you felt well, and I'll be dying after 10 miles ). The worry for me of course is that I ran at marathon pace yesterday, and after 11 miles was in pain. I couldn't have done 15 more miles of that. Really disappointing, considering I felt ok after the half marathon.

J.

quozl

Well best of luck with it however you approach it. All of us first-timers are kind of feeling in the dark as we go

Remember you'll hopefully be in the best condition of your running career after your taper, and a lot of those aches and niggles will be gone. That's the aim of it anyway.

hunnymonster

talking of niggles, for the first-timers. Beware of the phantom niggles. I got them before my first few races. Thought I'd never make it because I was imagining shin splints/ ITB problems... you name it. I stood on the start of my first Dublin marathon almost in a coma, I was so lethargic. Once the race starts you'll forget all about it. For 20 miles at least. There is the old saying. A marathon is a race of two halves. The first 20 miles warm-up and the 6 miles of holding on. Good luck everyone.

StaggerLee

Hi All,

I did a 21 mile testerday, went pretty well considering, it took me 3:45 mins with pit stops in a couple of shops. 3:45 is the longest I've ever ran for.

I'm going to start a taper now, its about a week early but doing the 21 mile run this week suited. I felt OK considering, obviously was very tired afterwards but didnt feel sick or anything. I could even kick a little bit in the last mile.

I did 17 mile run about 2 weeks ago, it was awful, I was a reck after about 14miles, felt sick, couldn't lift my legs, was in pain from my toes up etc etc. It was really disheartening... so the moral of the story is... keep on going everyone.

From the schedules I've been looking at its recommended that you dont do a 20 mile run two weeks before the race

I have an 17/18 mile next week, then going down to 14 and finally 10 the week before the race, hopefully all will go well.

Clum

jasonb wrote:

The worry for me of course is that I ran at marathon pace yesterday, and after 11 miles was in pain. I couldn't have done 15 more miles of that. Really disappointing, considering I felt ok after the half marathon.
J.

Jasonb, unless you think you've injured yourself don't worry too much about yesterday's run.

I felt really bad running the Longford half, was so gutted with my time I skipped my next two longs runs. Then I went out and ran 16 miles going through the half marathon distance 5 minutes faster than what I did in Longford...and I still had 3 miles to go! Felt great after that run.

There's good days and bad days...hopefully yesterday was one of those bad days.

jasonb

Good to read some positive posts, thanks guys! ( and girls, depending on who you all are! ).

Good point quozl, we are all trying our best to get through the 'first marathon' minefield. And like you said, hopefully I'll be feeling raring to go after tapering down coming up to the marathon.

20 mile warm up and 6 mile hanging on, I like that hunnymonster!

And you're right StaggerLee, there can be good runs and bad runs, and I'm not giving up! I've been training since April for this, and with only 4 weeks left, I'll definitely hang in there. Have to remind myself that a few months ago the idea of running 3 or 4 miles seemed very daunting! Congrats on getting to 21 miles, that's definitely the back of it broken, and 3hr 45mins is an impressive amount of time to be spent running! Yesterday's 16 miles in 2hr 40mins is my current longest, though the 20 miles in 3hrs 20min ( hopefully ) this weekend will beat that. After that, the only one longer than that will be the big one...

J.

jasonb

P.S. StaggerLee...

What drinks / gels / food to you have on the 21 mile run? I had approx. 1 and a half bottles of Gatorade and a couple of Mars Bars during my 16 miler yesterday, and I definitely felt a bit off from the sweetness of it all. My stomach etc. wasn't too bad, and I didn't get cramps etc., but for the rest of the evening I wasn't great. Not sick, just not fine either, you know? I know it varies from person to person, but just wondering what you had. Thanks...

J.

Odysseus

Don't know if this is any help to people and it really depends on wheather you want to run the whole marathon, I've done two so far this year, and my training for an ultra put me on to this approach, I gernerally walk at a fast pace at the half marathon stage for 20mis, I find I don't I done hurt as much, and keep a good pace for the reminder. I not the fastest, I've gotton 3.47 and 3.40 this year. I hope to be a non-smoker by Dublin so I hope to beat the 3.40. I use the 20mins to get a mars bar and some drinks down my neck. Best of luck to everone inanyway.

StaggerLee

I went through 1.25 litre of water, 500ml of Gatorade and about 60ml of energy gel. I drank most of the water(750ml bottle) in the in the last 4 miles, I couldnt get enough of it into me.

jasonb

Yeah, it was the water that I was missing yesterday, just to wash the sweet taste from my mouth. I'll bring some with me for the 20 mile run, and of course there'll be water stations during the race itself...

J.

jasonb

Me again...

Tried the Go Gel last night, and found it much easier to use, as it's not quite as concentrated, so not too sweet. I can order more online, but any idea where I might be able to get some in Dublin?

Using the gel made me wonder, when are you all taking energy on while running? So far, apart from drinking Gatorade / Powerade while running, I've only started to take energy ( gels, Mars Bars etc. ) near the end. So in my 16 mile run, I didn't start with the energy until around mile 10 or so. Is this a good idea, or should I really be looking at using gels from the first hour onwards? What do you reckon?

J.

hunnymonster

It's part science part magic I'm afraid Jason.

When running your digestive metabolism slows right down as most of the blood is diverted to your legs. As a result your stomach can only digest 250-400 kCal per hour. If you've been sipping a sports drink before the start, don't immediately start taking gels if not go with whatever your stomach can handle.