2010 Dublin Marathon Novices/Sub-4:30 Mentored Thread

digger2d2

shazkea wrote: »

Glad to hear it Georgie

But I love you Sharon........;)

slowsteady

OH and kids were off to a dancing feis in Limerick on Sunday so I headed to Dublin for registration with just a big tub of pasta and a fork. The Expo was excellent, had a brief word at the pacers corner to confirm they were running to chip time and not clock time (those 2 or 3 minutes might be vital).

Then had to head back down the road to Carlow for a funeral so lots of driving and standing about. Back in Dublin at 8pm but totally not ‘in the zone’ still eating pasta and drinking water but not able to settle. Finally went to bed at 11.30 unsure of what the morning would bring – into the unknown.

Up 6am shower, porridge, a pint of water, go for a walk, not as cold as Sunday – good, no wind – very good. Head down to Merrion Square, vaseline as instructed, nipples, joints, nipples again (previous scars had healed!!), drop off the bag, queue for the loo, then off for the line.

Lined up behind the 4.00 black balloons, no nerves but no life in the legs either, groin giving a few twitches while warming up – so stop warming up. Chatted a couple of neighbours, French, Spanish, Dubs, crowd piling in, National Anthem, 8.55 wheelchair atheletes off, crowd shuffle up, time to go. Gun, were off!!

Well, we are not actually, a couple of steps and a stop, shuffle starts again, then a jog and then we are off!!

A great fear, emphasised again and again, was don’t go off too fast – fat chance – the crowd were so closely packed that unless you took off along the pavement you were forced to pace along with the peleton. As it turned out this was the best thing that could happen, pace was kept down, the body warmed up, the muscles got going – but the balloons were now a couple of hundred yards ahead and we were only on O’Connell Bridge!!

Every gap that opened up was now taken but the traffic was heavy and Parnell Square, the Mater and up to the North Circular was a blur as I closed up on the black targets ahead. Even pace is what the marathon is supposed to be about but a these short bursts followed by braking to avoid trampling other sloggers was not in the script. Still things were going well, I was comfortable, not even breathing heavily and enjoying the run down to the park.

The Phoenix Park on a cool, clear morning, sun rising on the horizon, dew on the grass, the leaves on the trees a golden brown – what more could you want? – grown adults making a run for the trees, dropping shorts, squatting?

Move on rapidly to 10km - warmed up, running very easily, 57min at the check, excellent work by the pacers.

The best sight of the day was heading down the Furry Glen, a stream of runners curving down the road into the trees, the sun shining on the green and gold of nature and a heavy mist rising like steam above the competitors – magic.

Roars of Ogi, Ogi, Ogi going through the underpass, up the hill, through Inchicore, watch those balloons, take your eyes off them and they seemed to slip another 50 yards up the road. Dolphins Barn, the crowds have been great, the atmosphere fantastic – you could get to like this!!

Then the turn into the dreaded Crumlin Road, but things are good, no wind, just the hill but grit the teeth and work away – follow that balloon – which then took off, 100m, 200m, 300m and still flying upwards to the wild blue yonder. Slight panic, only one balloon left, what if it goes the same way? No watch, paceband, but what use is that without a watch? Close up on second balloon and hope for the best.

Running along I had begun to notice occasionally a slight smell of sewage, it came and went but came again and it finally dawned that it was a consequence of all that intensive feeding in the past 72 hours followed by energetic exercise. Being mortal I indulged on a number of occasions myself, belated apologies to my fellow competitors and the environment.

Halfway, 1.55 I think, my chip didn’t register, so got no confimation, but the pacers were on the ball. Struggle started from here on, watching the mile markers, missing some, tracking the water stations, where is that balloon, slipped another 50 yards, catch up, relax, don’t think about the legs, or the neck, or the bloody shoulder again, the crowd were great - again.

I had Milltown down as a marker, the Arches, memories of Glenmalure Park (remember, I’m in my 50s), and more important the climb. My fear had been that I was heading into the unknown from here on in and if I was in trouble it would show here. But all those hills in training stood to me as the power was in the legs when I asked for it – not too hot on the flat – but good on every climb to the finish.

Fosters Avenue, lovely downhill, Stllorgan Road, RDS (looks familiar), Nutley Lane, Merrion Road all good but struggling to hold on to the back of the pacers. Tempted to walk a few steps but knew if I stopped I was gone, so gritted the teeth and kept going - for a mile – for another mile.

Shelbourne Road, 50 yards off the pace group, need to close up if hope to break the 4 hours. Two and a half miles to go and for two of those tried to get those 50 yards back - but they wouldn’t come, gain a few yards, lose a few yards, gain again, lose again – try harder, legs ache, arms ache, shoulder aches, heart aches at the idea I won’t make it.

Into the last half mile, barriers and crowds close up the running space, traffic issues, leg issues, need to step it up but can’t. Around by Trinity, into Nassau Street, widens out, go, go, go! Squeeze past the pacers, get an encouraging slap on the back and a shout. Sprint (OK, stagger) for the line 4.01.56 overhead, confirmed as 3.59.01 chip time.

Feeling – fantastic, legs good, arms good, shoulder fine – why wouldn’t they be, just did the impossible, finished, didn’t walk, kept going the whole way and got a 3 on the clock!!

Job done.


I have thanked the 4.00 pacers earlier in the week but they were great and most of the credit for that 3.xx.xx must go to them. Thanks again lads.

Mr Slow

Your race report diminishes the efforts of everybody on this thread.

slowsteady

mrslow wrote: »

Your race report diminishes the efforts of everybody on this thread.

Idle mind, sore body

Seriously, going through Monday in my mind it was easier to put it down on paper so to speak.

Trying to decide what to do next, hard to avoid Waterford - 10 minutes from home - and most of the training done

Perkina3

Marathon report from Perkina2:

I suppose I am going to start from the very start and basically I decided AI was going to do this marathon a year ago after I decided 6 weeks wasnt enough time to train for the marathon lol....

So a year ago I started running 4 km (with no running before...in fact I have had a whole lot of my friends say that I was the last person they could see doing the marathon...) Anyway move forward to the the 5 miler..... Funny thing was by this stage I had numerous injuries... missed about 4 months of training and ran the 5 miler..... did it in 36.15....I was absolutely delighted and thhought yeah I can actually do this!!!!

So moving forward to the sunday before the half marathon...... by this stage.... the longest I had ever run was 10 miles.... was no beingnning to think.....hmmmmm probably should get a long run in....so a friend of mine rang me and said perky....you want to go out for a long run in the park and I was like yeah lets go for it....went out and ran 16 miles in 2.20 or so with no gels and a little bit of water..... This was my first run in amonth and the longest I had done since the middle of july when I had run my 10 miles....

So onto the half marathon....I ran it with a mate and one of her mates and sure wasn't I dragged along to run a 1.43 half....I was dead chuffed and was like yeah I am going to be able to do this **** actually ....So after the half I did another 15 miler, 20 miler and then a 10 miler and began my tapering!!!! Obviously I had been doing my shorter runs as well but I got a severe dose of taper madness while working my 70 hour week being an account *don't go down that route.....tooo much work *

Perkina3

PART 2 - RACE DAY

Ok....Up at half 6.... no wait... Feck that I am sleeping in until 7.... turned over and went back to sleep.... I got up then and checked my gear for probably the 10th time that weekend.... I picked up my bag and stuffed myself with banana's, porridge, orange juice and toast... then into the taxi for half 7 and a taxi ride I thought would take 20 mins took bout 6/7 and there I was waiting for my buddies for 20 mins..... bad start to the morning....

Met my buddies at 08.00 and then we made our way down to the the baggage area where pictures were taken of my semi hairless legs....then it was rush to make the first area and see if we could put ourselfs as close to the 3.30 ballons as we could....

So the race began and I was keeping easily with the 3.30 ballon and I was delighted at how I was feeling....I was like this till mile 9 when literally the energy jus went from my legs...I dunno why cuz I was following my fuel strategy and water one too....

Still I ended up at 30km in decent shape at 2 hours 40 and well within my target time of 4 hours..... but then disaster hit....Had to drop the kids off.... didn't have an option cuz I had a limited timeframe so went straight for the apple green petrol station.... got over that little problem and started running again..... but nope that wasn't working.... my knee had seized up and I stumbled the next half mile.... At this stage I was beginning to get seriously frustrated..... I was now hobbling along at a snails pace and I could see the 4 hour pacer balloon coming ominously up on me and there was nothing I could do as it streamed past.... I then picked up a guy who was struggling and on the verge of quiting and puished him on until we hit 25 miles where I was met by one of my best mates who ran with me afor a couple 100 metres....at this stage I knew I was nearly there and I pushed on and staggered over the line in 4 hours 6 minutes....

Don't get me wrong I felt a serious sense of achievement to finish the marathon!!! but I was soo disappointed cuz it took me 86 mins for the last 12 km.... I was so frustrated!!!

Soooooooooo...... Me and the Dublin Marathon have some serious unfininshed business cuz I was well on my way to a 3.50 marathon up until mile 20!!!!

jaytobe

They've got pacers this year for the Waterford 1/2..1.30, 1.40, 1.50...good to get over the post marathon blues....check out the thread..

chinabob

Hi All,

im new to boards as such, i been reading your logs with keen interest over past few months - i thought i would join in on your valuable discussions.

I ran the 5 mile in Pheonix Park and was signed up to run the 10mile & 1/2 marathon but due to getting a new job out here in Shanghai that was knocked on the head.

I have been trying to get back into things and have signed up for the shanghai marathon on the 5th December - its my first marathon im aiming for sub 4.30.

if anyone has ever ran the shanghai marathon maybe you could let me know how you got on - and for all you sub 4.30s if anyone has any words of wisdom for a newbie i would appreciate.

Cheers

Mr Slow

chinabob wrote: »

Hi All,

im new to boards as such, i been reading your logs with keen interest over past few months - i thought i would join in on your valuable discussions.

I ran the 5 mile in Pheonix Park and was signed up to run the 10mile & 1/2 marathon but due to getting a new job out here in Shanghai that was knocked on the head.

I have been trying to get back into things and have signed up for the shanghai marathon on the 5th December - its my first marathon im aiming for sub 4.30.

if anyone has ever ran the shanghai marathon maybe you could let me know how you got on - and for all you sub 4.30s if anyone has any words of wisdom for a newbie i would appreciate.

Cheers

Welcome Bob, you'll find loads of wisdom here. What plan are you following?

digger2d2

chinabob wrote: »

Hi All,

im new to boards as such, i been reading your logs with keen interest over past few months - i thought i would join in on your valuable discussions.

I ran the 5 mile in Pheonix Park and was signed up to run the 10mile & 1/2 marathon but due to getting a new job out here in Shanghai that was knocked on the head.

I have been trying to get back into things and have signed up for the shanghai marathon on the 5th December - its my first marathon im aiming for sub 4.30.

if anyone has ever ran the shanghai marathon maybe you could let me know how you got on - and for all you sub 4.30s if anyone has any words of wisdom for a newbie i would appreciate.

Cheers

Hi chinabob,

Welcome...

How much Marathon training have you done to date? Are you following one of the training plans? I have a pal in Shanghai (don't think he's on boards.ie) who is running with a mixed ex-pat group from Ireland and UK and could put you in touch with him for your LSR's if that was of interest...? Whereabouts in Shanghai are you living?

Can you give more info....Age? General level of fitness? Time for your 5 mile? etc. as there are lots of people on here who are vastly more experienced than me and can give you good advice!

digger

marrona

Confucius, he say, marathon runner with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet

marrona

is marathon running good for anything other than running 26 miles in a row? cos i still get out of breath climbing stairs and running for a bus - the two classics always cited by fatties for why they were spurred to "change their lifestyle". rings run round me at football last night. i needed oxygen!

Mr Slow

marrona wrote: »

is marathon running good for anything other than running 26 miles in a row? cos i still get out of breath climbing stairs and running for a bus - the two classics always cited by fatties for why they were spurred to "change their lifestyle". rings run round me at football last night. i needed oxygen!

We trained for endurance, bursts of speed are dealt with anaerobically as far as I know.;)

JEmily

mrslow wrote: »

We trained for endurance, bursts of speed are dealt with anaerobically as far as I know.;)

True, although our Fartlek training would be anaerobic aswell (although didn't do much of it:rolleyes:)

Mr Slow

Check out Hal Higdons 'running up stairs' and 'running for the bus' programmes, after the marathon you should be able to jump straight in at intermediate level :P:D

James Howlett

marrona wrote: »

Confucius, he say, marathon runner with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet

If all of your jokes are of the above quality then marathon training must surely help you with running away from angry mobs:D

RayCun

Completely off-topic, but before I forget... mrslow was asking about running books in the pub after the race, and I'd have been hard pressed to recite the abc at that point, but the books I have are

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]The Runner's Handbook - by Bob Glover
Advanced Marathoning - pftizinger and Douglas
Road Racing for Serious Runners - also P&D
[/SIZE][/FONT]
The first one is a good general guide, covers everything. The second one is more advanced - the easiest programme in there is up to 55 miles per week - I'll use it next year. Third book I haven't started yet, but it has programmes for shorter distances.

Mr Slow

RayCun wrote: »

the easiest programme in there is up to 55 miles per week - I'll use it next year. Third book I haven't started yet, but it has programmes for shorter distances.

I thought you clocked at least 80 per week this year?

rainbow kirby

RayCun wrote: »

Completely off-topic, but before I forget... mrslow was asking about running books in the pub after the race, and I'd have been hard pressed to recite the abc at that point, but the books I have are

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]The Runner's Handbook - by Bob Glover
Advanced Marathoning - pftizinger and Douglas
Road Racing for Serious Runners - also P&D
[/SIZE][/FONT]
The first one is a good general guide, covers everything. The second one is more advanced - the easiest programme in there is up to 55 miles per week - I'll use it next year. Third book I haven't started yet, but it has programmes for shorter distances.

I have the second one. If I'd been able to get more base mileage in early in 2010 I would have strongly considered using the 18 week 55 mile program for Dublin - unfortunately it wasn't to be. Menoscemo did use it for Dublin though, and took about 45 minutes off his previous time.

Sorry, have been off studying in Aberdeen. Haven't been on the thread much since September. Did the marathon in 3:58:32
All the help on the thread was invaluable. Thanks guys:)

RayCun

mrslow wrote: »

I thought you clocked at least 80 per week this year?

I wish! 40 was my biggest week...

digger2d2

Banana boy is back....I had a nice 2 miles at 9:12 pace this afternoon and although my foot felt sore for the first mile or so it went away and now strangely enough I seem to have zero pain it at all.....Maybe it needed stretching out Anyway, was great to get out and I'm looking forward to easing back into it!

jcsmum

digger2d2 wrote: »

Banana boy is back....I had a nice 2 miles at 9:12 pace this afternoon and although my foot felt sore for the first mile or so it went away and now strangely enough I seem to have zero pain it at all.....Maybe it needed stretching out Anyway, was great to get out and I'm looking forward to easing back into it!

Horay!

jcsmum

My brother in law brought over the 5 minute DVD he made of me during the marathon. It's so funny & mostly unflattering, but I love it .

Perkina3

Yup I am back training today now as well.... First weights session in 3 months...Light warm up jog of a mile.... weeights and then some rowing to warm down.... nice handy session to return..... 5 mile run tomorrow or sat.....haven't decided yet

the boss of me

I started back on Tuesday with a 3 mile run. Did my first ever interval session today, total of 5km with 8x400m at 5 mins per km. My aim is to set a new pb at the Aware 10k on Dec 11. My current pb is 55mins for 10k but now I'm a marathoner* I expect to take couple of mins off that and hopefully go sub 50 in the Spring.






* I'll never tire of saying that :)

nachoqueen

Digger its great u r back on form ! Great things ahead

Mr Slow

Hey Missus, I was wondering had you stopped talking to us?

Mr Slow

the boss of me wrote: »

I started back on Tuesday with a 3 mile run. Did my first ever interval session today, total of 5km with 8x400m at 5 mins per km. My aim is to set a new pb at the Aware 10k on Dec 11. My current pb is 55mins for 10k but now I'm a marathoner* I expect to take couple of mins off that and hopefully go sub 50 in the Spring

My pb was 54 and during training I ran 48:30 the day after running 12 miles, so you can expect to fly through your 10K

nachoqueen

After five weeks off running and five weeks of depression I'm back running . Did 3 miles