Dublin Marathon 2012 - Mentored Novices Thread

career_move

Went for a 4m recovery run today. Everything feels great so have just entered the 3/4 marathon in Athlone on 7th Oct

Younganne

Week 13

Mon| Tue| Wed | Thur| Fri| Sat| Sun| Total|
Rest| 4m/6.5km| 9m/15km (6x100m strides for those who didn't race at weeked)|5m/8km| Rest| 18m/30km| Cross|36m/59.5km|

If you ran a half marathon yesterday, take all of these runs easy because you'll still be recovering.
If you didn't race, you could do some strides (6 x 100m). Be careful not to go too fast in your runs thos week as you should be feeling a bit fresher after last week's recovery, and you might be tempted to push it too much. Remember to conserver energy for this weeks longest run to date.

Remember believe in yourself, we're in the final stretch, keep slow, rest, eat and hydrate well.
Homework for this week::D read up a bit on Taper madness so you'll know what to expect and can warn all those around you!!

Younganne

irlirishkev wrote: »

Well done to all who ran the Half today..

I was pretty apprehensive over the last few days, but this morning, after taking a few days off, I woke up feeling pretty confident.

I had skipped last week's LSR due to knee pain, so I decided today to run the 3 miles from my gaff to the start line. Got there just as the last wave was taking off, so in I went!

Knees were a little sore but once I got into a rhythm with the crowd, they eased off. Pretty much stayed that way til the very end, so I'm pleased with that. Post run - my knees and feet are pretty sore, but I had to walk home after a 16 mile run, so I'm not surprised.

Overall, was happy with my run. I felt I ran strong throughout, although was surprised I didn't beat my last Half, which was a hilly Achill Half Marathon. I came in at 2.04, whereas I did Achill in 2.03. I beat my last Dublin Half by 3 minutes though.

For some reason - and I don't know why - I was expecting small water bottles at the stations instead of cups, and that threw my gel timing off. That was a bit annoying, but probably my own fault.. However, the water stations were pretty badly run (by kids!!??) for those in the later waves. Anyone else experience the abundance of cups with no water in them?? It's a lesson learnt for the big day - I won't be depending on water stations. I'll be carrying my own water bottle.. Something I didn't want to do, but there you go!

Happy enough with my time and I enjoyed the day/experience. 18 mile LSR next week. I'm shuddering at the thought!

yes the water stations didn't run smoothly today for any wave, i was in the second wave and didn;t get much water either.
The marathon will have 250m bottles so you can carry it along with you and sip as you need it.
Well done today. plenty of ice on the knee

sassyj

Did the Dublin half yesterday as well. Started behind the 2 hours pacers, in hindsight probably not the best decision! The pace was too fast for me so dropped back a bit after 4 miles. I had struggled with my 3 runs this week, really tired all week and legs dead. Felt so much better doing the 10 mile, just having one of those week I guess. Hit mile 9 and my legs started aching, probably because i ran out too fast. Legs killed me for the last 3 miles, had a lot of words with myself to keep going Ended up doing 2.09. Am happy with this, first half marathon of many I hope.
At least with DCM we will have tapered so will be fresher. Was debating whether to go with 4.15 or 4.30 pacers at DCM. Am going to go with 4.30 and hopefully enjoy my first marathon for the sake of some minutes. Got a medium t-shirt, if anyone wants to swap for a small pm me Great race, well organised, only niggle would be the water stations as other have said.

ahnowbrowncow

Well done to everyone who ran the half marathon yesterday, it was my first one and I had a great time. My main aim for this was for a sub 1:40, it was a bit conservative but I was trying to be realistic because I hadn't done much training in the last two months because of injuries. In saying that though I did have a good two weeks of running leading up to Saturday and was feeling pretty good.

I started in phase 1 behind the 1:30 pacers, hoping to keep them in sight for the first few miles. The race started and I took off, I no doubt went off too fast as I left the pacers behind but I was feeling good, I did the first two km in 4:13 and 4:07.

In next few km I was starting to feel my breath catch and my pace started dropping into 4:20min/km and people had started passing me. I was still relatively fresh at about 6/7 km so I tried to stay with some of the ones who passed me and it helped me pick the pace up again into the mid 4:1X min/km. I think it was somewhere around the 5m/8k mark in the race that the first 1:30 pacer passed me out and a few minutes later the second 1:30 pacer passed me. I was starting to struggle and slow down a bit. There were a few times I was thinking I can't keep going, just quit, there's no way you can keep going keep this up for another 7 or 8 miles.

I think it was around the 10km mark that we came back into the park and there were quite a few people cheering, it gave me a big boost and I picked up the pace again and seemed to have a bit more energy. I think it was just the fact that the encouragement stopped the negative thoughts running through my head.

10-14km went ok, the pacers were still in sight, only about 100m ahead, and I was comfortable enough. But from then on it just got worse, I really started to struggle, legs were getting sore and tired, breathing was getting heavy. My pace started to slow down and my splits were into the high 4:20's. And it was only getting more difficult, those last 5km were torturous, I honestly could of collapsed but I had to keep telling myself you can't give up now or all those previous kilometres were for nothing. I somehow managed to keep my splits under 4:30 apart from a 4:32min/km on the 18km.

When I got to 20km I tried to pick the pace up a bit and finish strong, my legs were weaker than ever but I tried stretch my them out and swing my arms faster. I somehow managed to do the 21st km in 4:03min. I nearly fell in a heap when I crossed the finish line.
My chip time was 1:31:09 , I'm absolutely delighted with that. Hopefully it will kick start my marathon training now and get me out running because that was rough, probably the toughest physical thing I've ever done and I want to be far more prepared and comfortable for the marathon than that. I had to sit down a few times on the walk back to the car my legs were so weak

A big thanks to everyone involved on the day and especially those people on the side who encouraged me as it really did help me to finish the race

blockic

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

My chip time was 1:31:09 , I'm absolutely delighted with that.

That is very impressive running for your first half marathon. Well done. You aiming for sub 3:30 for the full?

ahnowbrowncow

blockic wrote: »

That is very impressive running for your first half marathon. Well done. You aiming for sub 3:30 for the full?

Yeah I'm hoping for under 3:30 but I've a lot of running to do between now and then because I doubt I could have ran another mile after the half yesterday let alone another 13.

Are you aiming for under 3:30? First time looking at this thread since Friday so only seeing everyones half marathon posts now. Well done on your pb in Athlone blockic

Deedee2012

Just put my half time into McMillan, he says 4.34, he's clearly delusional, I had heard he was overly optimistic, I'd have to agree now. I have thought all along the aim is to finish and under 5 hrs is a bonus, Is going with the 5 hr pacers the way to go and push on later if I've anything left?

blockic

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

Yeah I'm hoping for under 3:30 but I've a lot of running to do between now and then because I doubt I could have ran another mile after the half yesterday let alone another 13.

Are you aiming for under 3:30? First time looking at this thread since Friday so only seeing everyones half marathon posts now. Well done on your pb in Athlone blockic

Good stuff, pace wil be a good bit slower for the marathon so you won't feel half as bad after 13 then.

Thanks, hoping for 3:29:59 alright! I'll have to keep an eye out on how you are going so as we have the same target!

blockic

Deedee2012 wrote: »

Just put my half time into McMillan, he says 4.34, he's clearly delusional, I had heard he was overly optimistic, I'd have to agree now. I have thought all along the aim is to finish and under 5 hrs is a bonus, Is going with the 5 hr pacers the way to go and push on later if I've anything left?

Definately I think that would be the best approach.

mcMillan has me at 3:13....absolute madness!

peggysue2

Well done to everyone who raced yesterday it's great to read all the race reports and gain some really valuable 2nd hand experience! My hubbie is abroad next week so I had to get a long run in today - 21 miles eek!

Woke up to the worst morning in weeks - rain, wind - just horrible but had no choice but to head out. During the 21 miles I got soaked, dried, soaked again and dried again - just in time for a hot shower The run went well I was able to keep a slightly faster pace (8.50 average) that my other long runs (9 min average) but there was no way I would have been able to keep up that pace for another 6 miles. I swear I could bearly lift my legs to step into the shower! The pain in my hip area (flexors?? ) really kicks in when I stop running and I find it a really tough area to stretch - anyone have the same problem and found a really good stretch?

Anyway I'm delighted I have the 21 miles done, will be taking it easy next weekend as I'm housebound with the kids and will hopefully do two more 20 miles before the big day :eek: Best of luck to everyone doing their long runs next weekend!

docrock

Great stuff yesterday guys,there was some great reports & times in there & the one thing that stands out more than anything else is that everyone got past the finishing line:):)
I was to go for a run today but went out for a few pints last night & didnt feel the Mae West all day so felt sorry for myself & stayed at home & ate nothing but rubbish all day:mad::mad: I knew that I'd be all over the place today but couldnt go yesterday either so I'm a bit pi**ed off with myself now - I'll be back out tomorrow though.

Great reviews & well done everybody;)

Murph_D

Great reading all the race reports - well done y'all. Would love to have done the HM yesterday but holidays got in the way... So having had to miss out I decided to try running the Dublin HM course today at my hoped-for marathon pace, i.e. 5:40/km for a total of 2 hours even.

Wasn't feeling too great this morning having spent all day yesterday travelling from Greek islands. On the plus side, was happy to have done all the midweek runs over there, early morning of course because of the heat. Tough enough what with the usual holiday (over)indulgences.

So I headed out Sunday afternoon with a copy of the course map in my pocket. Set the watch for 5:40 and promptly did the first two kilmometers under 5 mins - downhill but still too fast. Struggled in km 3 but was fine after that up the North Rd to Castleknock. There was a fair enough headwind which made things more difficult, something which could easily happen on the big day.

Had to do a bit of a detour after Farmleigh as the gate out onto the Tower Rd was closed, so by the time I got back up to Chesterfield was about 400m ahead of the official route. Pacing was going well, reeling them off between 5:35 - 5:45 more or less. Was very comfortable on Chesterfield. Decided long ago that the Military Rd hill is harder on a bike but was tough today with the headwind so slowed down a bit around this stretch to S-bends and beyond. Felt a bit of a twinge in right hamstring at this point which I probably over reacted to, slowing some more. But hit the 21.1km mark at 1:59:41 so happy to have kept the pace steady.

Like many, can't imagine doing another 21.1 on top of that at same pace. But will trust the schedule. Hanging in there...

rasher_m

murphd77 wrote: »

Great reading all the race reports - well done y'all. Would love to have done the HM yesterday but holidays got in the way... So having had to miss out I decided to try running the Dublin HM course today at my hoped-for marathon pace, i.e. 5:40/km for a total of 2 hours even.

Wasn't feeling too great this morning having spent all day yesterday travelling from Greek islands. On the plus side, was happy to have done all the midweek runs over there, early morning of course because of the heat. Tough enough what with the usual holiday (over)indulgences.

So I headed out Sunday afternoon with a copy of the course map in my pocket. Set the watch for 5:40 and promptly did the first two kilmometers under 5 mins - downhill but still too fast. Struggled in km 3 but was fine after that up the North Rd to Castleknock. There was a fair enough headwind which made things more difficult, something which could easily happen on the big day.

Had to do a bit of a detour after Farmleigh as the gate out onto the Tower Rd was closed, so by the time I got back up to Chesterfield was about 400m ahead of the official route. Pacing was going well, reeling them off between 5:35 - 5:45 more or less. Was very comfortable on Chesterfield. Decided long ago that the Military Rd hill is harder on a bike but was tough today with the headwind so slowed down a bit around this stretch to S-bends and beyond. Felt a bit of a twinge in right hamstring at this point which I probably over reacted to, slowing some more. But hit the 21.1km mark at 1:59:41 so happy to have kept the pace steady.

Like many, can't imagine doing another 21.1 on top of that at same pace. But will trust the schedule. Hanging in there...

That was a decent pace to keep up running on your own without a race group with you.

career_move

Younganne wrote: »

Remember believe in yourself, we're in the final stretch, keep slow, rest, eat and hydrate well.
Homework for this week::D read up a bit on Taper madness so you'll know what to expect and can warn all those around you!!

Preparing for Taper Madness

by Sarah Waterman


"The first rule is to ...... Admit that you are likely to be grumpy, snappy and even a bit (or a lot) irrational...."

.....This is just me with PMS.....it happens every month....people should be used to it

Dilbert75

rasher_m wrote: »

murphd77 wrote: »

Great reading all the race reports - well done y'all. Would love to have done the HM yesterday but holidays got in the way... So having had to miss out I decided to try running the Dublin HM course today at my hoped-for marathon pace, i.e. 5:40/km for a total of 2 hours even.

Wasn't feeling too great this morning having spent all day yesterday travelling from Greek islands. On the plus side, was happy to have done all the midweek runs over there, early morning of course because of the heat. Tough enough what with the usual holiday (over)indulgences.

So I headed out Sunday afternoon with a copy of the course map in my pocket. Set the watch for 5:40 and promptly did the first two kilmometers under 5 mins - downhill but still too fast. Struggled in km 3 but was fine after that up the North Rd to Castleknock. There was a fair enough headwind which made things more difficult, something which could easily happen on the big day.

Had to do a bit of a detour after Farmleigh as the gate out onto the Tower Rd was closed, so by the time I got back up to Chesterfield was about 400m ahead of the official route. Pacing was going well, reeling them off between 5:35 - 5:45 more or less. Was very comfortable on Chesterfield. Decided long ago that the Military Rd hill is harder on a bike but was tough today with the headwind so slowed down a bit around this stretch to S-bends and beyond. Felt a bit of a twinge in right hamstring at this point which I probably over reacted to, slowing some more. But hit the 21.1km mark at 1:59:41 so happy to have kept the pace steady.

Like many, can't imagine doing another 21.1 on top of that at same pace. But will trust the schedule. Hanging in there...

That was a decent pace to keep up running on your own without a race group with you.

And fair play for being able to find your way around that route - I've looked at my Garmin data a few times and still can't quite follow the route we ran!

Just on the water - I carried a bottle (Powerade is great - wide neck makes it easy to refill quickly) with me yesterday. Started off by pouring cups of water into the bottle - stopped for about 20 secs at 1st station. At the 2nd station they weren't well prepared, so I just grabbed a bottle of water and poured it directly into my bottle - much quicker!

rasher_m

career_move wrote: »

Preparing for Taper Madness

by Sarah Waterman


"The first rule is to ...... Admit that you are likely to be grumpy, snappy and even a bit (or a lot) irrational...."

.....This is just me with PMS.....it happens every month....people should be used to it

...Not me! I'm on the evening primrose oil + starflower oil with vitamin e...I have it figured out now, if everyone starts taking that course tomorrow it should kick in around taper time

Walkedit

Well HM been and gone, it was a good day all in all. We chose to start at the very back. Well actually we left getting to the loo's until to late and with the Q's we were late getting to the start so decided to make it a virtue: no matter what happened we'd pass more people then passed us. Of course we had the worst of the congestion but it did allow us an easy start/warm-up! We saw the chap with big bike thingy who was a big memory from our first outing 2 years ago. ( Back then we pushed him up that big hill near at about 19m ). Anyway we kept it easy but the youngun was in trouble from early days so it was clear that it'd be a success to get the trip without incident. The race crew were all good natured and the support was nice but thin on the ground, looking forward to the crowds on the big day.

Basically we trudged our way through, took a good few walk breaks thru all the water stations and in between as well. It was distressing to see the girl who'd fallen at the end of the road outside the park near Knockmaroon - she'd clearly scrapped her knees and also banged her face. It reminds you how easy it is to come a cropper as you get tired.

Eventually we got to the hills near the end there was some grit required and cajoling, as foot blisters had started for my buddy. We were really encouraged by all the support at the finish line and it spurred us on to finish stronger. It looked like 2:30 would be hard to get but we just managed it, coming home in 2:28:xx a la Runkeeper anyway, just inside the expected range, with the MC saying their were 400 more to come in.

We collected our goodie bags and headed walking thru the park towards taxi land. As someone said those walking miles are hard going!

Not sure what this all means, training has worked well as I had an easy time although was only marginally faster then LSR, headed for 5:30 at DCM.

I'm a bit worried about the coming LSR as that's new territory but that's a week away so bring it on ......

Mr Slow

Symptoms of Taper Madness

sassyj

Mr Slow wrote: »

Symptoms of Taper Madness

That is hilarious

folan

ive run for longer and over greater distances, but finishing the HM at the weekend just proved how much work is left. i was sore, i was tired, and i was feeling great. but i was worried. If thats how half the distance goes, how am i going to finish twice it.

Then Sunday came and i looked at my splits et al, and i fuggin pelted it for alot of the run, well above race pace. And my legs didnt really hurt at all!

nearly there now.

elPadrino

Alanm wrote: »

Be interested to hear what you decide on/what your thoughts are right now - I had a similar time yesterday. The McMillan calculator puts us at 3:28; 2 * 1/2 time + 10% is around 3:38 both of which sound much faster than I thought I could do. I'm starting to think about trying to hang onto the 3:45 pacers or maybe I should cop on and be happy to go with the 4 hr guys in the hope of finishing...

Mr Slow wrote: »

Be conservative for your first, make sure to enjoy it, there's nothing surer to make it a nightmare than heading out with too fast a pace band.

Go with the 3:45's, (Menoscemo was the rear 1:40 pacer yesterday, he'll be in the 3:45 band for the full) if you're feeling good at 22 miles you can push on, if not you won't be suffering......a lot

I hadn't really thought about it until the last few days but now I'm inclined to follow Mr. Slow's advice and start with the 3:45s. Incidentally AlanM, I'd say we'll be well able for 3:45 based on our half time, although I'm no expert at judging this. I'd be grateful for any input from any other experienced runners.

menoscemo

elPadrino wrote: »

I hadn't really thought about it until the last few days but now I'm inclined to follow Mr. Slow's advice and start with the 3:45s. Incidentally AlanM, I'd say we'll be well able for 3:45 based on our half time, although I'm no expert at judging this. I'd be grateful for any input from any other experienced runners.

All things being equal (long runs done, a natural ability for the longer distance) 3:45 should be very comfortable for somene doing a sub 1;40 half (even a novice). A more experienced runner might even try to squeeze a 3:30 marathon out of that half time.

If everything goes right on the day you can push on and get into the low 3:40's and if it goes badly you should still make it under 4, so it seems like a solid plan to me.

overpronator

elPadrino wrote: »

I hadn't really thought about it until the last few days but now I'm inclined to follow Mr. Slow's advice and start with the 3:45s. Incidentally AlanM, I'd say we'll be well able for 3:45 based on our half time, although I'm no expert at judging this. I'd be grateful for any input from any other experienced runners.

Yeah add me in as interested in this, came home in 1.40 in the half, Mcmillan has me down for 3.32 or something similar but I know in all seriousness that its well beyond me (8.05 average pace I think). I'm thinking im gonna loosely stick with the 1.45 pacers too but will let em go if I'm struggling late on. 8.35 miles seems doable to me now but as they say the marathon starts at mile 20 and that pace could really hurt by then! Thoughts?

Mr Slow

sassyj wrote: »

That is hilarious

Ha, you won't be laughing in a few weeks. :pac::P

folan

ive just realised its 6 weeks today

Pacing Mule

Went out this morning for a kind of LSR - My normal Monday LSR (scheduled as a 12 miler) was brought forward for Saturdays half marathon race. So today I was running the 8 mile run I skipped during the week just gone.

I was aiming to run it slightly faster than marathon pace as it was a relatively short distance for a LSR. Felt the going was a bit tough around mile 2 and seriously considered making it a 4 mile run - doubts were in my mind about the fact I had raced the half on Saturday having also ran my longest ever run last Monday. Decided to keep going and thankfully everything settled down. In fact by mile 4 I was very comfortable and covered the 8 miles non stop at an average pace of 6:47 per km (7:05 is marathon pace to come in at 5 hours) I have to say I am getting more and more confident for the big day.

sassyj

Mr Slow wrote: »

Ha, you won't be laughing in a few weeks. :pac::P

Evil

Mr Slow

sassyj wrote: »

Evil

Poacher turned Gamekeeper

docrock

folan wrote: »

ive just realised its 6 weeks today[/QUOTE

The same thought hit me when I woke up this morning:eek::eek:

In relation to the times, I would be over the moon to do a sub 4 hr - I have averaged just less than 9 mins miles on my latest HM & my LSR's are slightly more than 9 min miles but my problem like a lot more doing their first is whether I will blow out or be able to keep the 9 min pace going???? I generally dont stop unless its a P stop so I can picture myself sprawled across a barrier somewhere around the RDS with a few St Johns ambulance men giving me oxygen:eek::eek: Taking into account that I have 2 more 20+ milers to do & about 4 weeks more decent training - i'm undecided whether to follow the 4.00 or 4.15 pacers or tip along at my own pace & whatever happens will happen.

Any thoughts????:o