Dublin Marathon 2012 - Mentored Novices Thread

dechol

Twenty miles done and dusted ! Such a good feeling! Roll on the 29th!

tang1

blockic wrote: »

I was also keeping an eye out for a signpost for the famous village (or town?) of Tang. Sure enough at around halfway Tang was signposted 3km in the opposite direction. Sorry for not diverting to it tang1!

Unfortunately its neither, just a parish. Blink and you miss it literally. Thats superb running on those roads, not exactly the flattest route. 3.30 well within your capabilities in 3 weeks, take it easy on the golf during taper! Rest those legs.

Ah_go_on

I'm looking for a bit of advice RE tapering. Following the hh novice 2 program and everything was going great until the week of the dublin half marathon where I caught a bad dose and missed it along with the previous midweeks. Managed the 19 miler the following week but missed all the following midweek runs and 12 mile lsr last week as I got a sinus infection. Got back into it this week with a couple of 5 milers and today's 20 which I really struggled with in the last 3 miles. I'm wondering how to taper now as I've missed a lot of runs over the past few weeks, should I do more this week??
Was originally hoping to finish in around four hours, all my pace runs were geared towards it and lsr's around 10:20/mile but I think I now need to change that target.

Alanm

blockic wrote: »

Think I also might of seen you Alanm stretching said calf outside a house around the halfway mark with another guy as I was past 1/4 checkpoint on a similar time as yourself..was that you?

Sounds like me alright! Great time for you, well done.

blockic

Alanm wrote: »

Sounds like me alright! Great time for you, well done.

Cheers, you would of been sub 2:40 also only for your stoppage.

You should at least consider 3:30 anyway in 3 weeks time, based on your time today it's well on for you! The pacer for 3:30 today didnt come in until 2:50 or so...

Few weeks to think about it anyway!

Alanm

blockic wrote: »

Cheers, you would of been sub 2:40 also only for your stoppage.

You should at least consider 3:30 anyway in 3 weeks time, based on your time today it's well on for you! The pacer for 3:30 today didnt come in until 2:50 or so...

Few weeks to think about it anyway!

Yeah, will definitely consider 3:30 thanks! More likely to aim 3:40 but will think about it during the madness..

LeakRate

Hi all,long time lurcher in this thread(over a year).Great to see all the good support continue through to this years novice's.This will be my second marathon after the DCM last year.Just thought I would share my experience with you all.

First off the best of luck to you all going for it this year,the hard work is done,you have the mileage built up,your biggest problem now is surviving Taper madness,imagining pains in your legs,having the fear of death somebody will sneeze within a 2mile radius of you and of course the crazy marathon dreams that will begin:)

I ran the race series last year,5 mile 34mins,10mile 79mins and half marathon in 1:46.I should have aimed for a 4hr time for the marathon but somehow thought I was quicker than that.I used this thread a lot and it helped me greatly,however I stupidly ignored the biggest advice that last years mentors Raycun and MrSlow gave,I went to fast for my first marathon,aimed for an unrealistic time and paid for it.

All started well on the big day,I was going well until I got to 13miles and i blew up,I was gone,legs were dead,I went from 8:30min/miles to 11min/miles,I struggled big time,I kept going,cursed myself for the next 13miles,swore to myself I would never do a Marathon again,I came home in 4:16,I was disapointed i had pushed myself so much and set such an out of reach time,I didnt get to enjoy the experience half as much as I should have.

I guess my advice to you all is just enjoy the big day,forget about times or pushing yourself,your doing something a hell of a lot of people will never do,go with what feels right.You'll all cross that finish line with a feeling i cant describe,as soon as I finished,even after the experience I had I knew there and then I would be back for the DCM 2012.I cant wait for it,race series went went well this year with the 10mile in 77mins and half in 1:39,Im hoping for a sub 4 this year.

Sorry for the long post,guess i shouldnt have bottled it up for so long
See you all on the 29th when your life's will change forever.

RunningKing

Advice on tapering;
http://www.pfitzinger.com/labreports/marathontaper.shtml

Mrs Noc

I did 21 miles LSR yesterday morning. I was feeling strong so decided to do the extra mile. There was a 10km race in and around Dulwich Park, London. I was happy to continue doing my own thing but the atmosphere was excellent with lots of cheering and helped me continue on my way doing my laps. It helped me imagine the big day.

I average 12 minutes a mile in the LSR. I'd love to go just under 5 hours. After yesterday I'm thinking it just might be possible. Taper time now.


Sweep, everyone has a bad day, or two or three. Keep going!

folan

last long run is now finished. thank god.

It was a struggle. if thats how i am after a 20 mile, and it was the same for the other one, then im terrified of the marathon. I can see alot more walking in my future.

Murph_D

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

I've also added another sheet which may be of interest. It's basically a sheet that you can fill in (if you want to of course) if you're planning to run with any of the pace groups. My idea here is it might make sense motivation wise on the day if the members of the group here know each other in advance as being aiming for the same time / running in the same group. This would be completely seperate to Blockics idea to make ourselves recognisable in general.

14,300 entrants suggests that there could be at least 1,000 in each pace group though - might not be too easy to find people!

docrock

Did my 32k yesterday morning - felt great all the way through really but felt this sort of a pop behind my knee after about 10 miles.It was sore more than a pain if you know what I mean - as you know everyone thats running has aches & pains all he time so i didnt take a lot of notice of it but i knew it was there. Anyway, like a good soldier I carried on, finished , did my stretching & iced it etc but as the day went on it was still sore so I went to the local chemist & he gave me a few anti inflam's & this morning I have the stars & stripes where my hamstring connects to my knee. In fairness its not as sore as it was yesterday & I can walk fine so I dont think its anything major as i did give it a good going over yesterday evening & the meds probably worked as well. I'm sitting here now with an ice pack strapped to the back of my knee & if it doesnt feel better by tomorrow then its off to the physio:(:( I've never been through taper madness but this is real it isnt in my head & whats pissing me off is that it should happen on my last lsr with only 10 miles to go - the good thing about it is that weve 3 weeks to go & we're supposed to be doing less & less mileage which is going to help.Its strange because other than that i feel great - bar for a small ache here & there I feel fine.The other thing is that I ran 10 miles on it so it cant be too bad - or can it???

BTW, well done everyone on the lsr over the weekend - it seems to be coming together for a lot of people & it WILL turn out right for everyone on the day!!!!!!

Donal112

Great running everyone!! Some really great LSR's done, and well done to all on making it to Taper time, the hard work is done now. I am very jealous of you all because I still have 1 more big week to do as I missed nearly 3 weeks recently through injury.

So while you are all wrapping your feet in cotton wool next weekend I will be slogging through my 20 miler :eek:

miguelk

Wahey, time to taper.

Haven't anything interesting to write about my final high milage LSR - not as great as some of the runs reported but thankfully it went to plan and feeling good.

Good idea on the section for pacing groups PM. Haven't access in work but will update myself on it later and see who else is with me.

Fantastic running in Athlone, very impressed.

I feel for those who had bad runs, had one on my last LSR too.
But, as mentioned, you need to take a step back and look at the whole plan (print it out and mark off good/bad ones if needs be!). Or read through the thread and see how most people hit a bump on the training at some stage. Keep looking to the next run and doing what you can to get it right.

Doctor this lunch time for check up/bloods (should have done it before but better late than never) and physio tonight for a taper-start-reward of a sports massage.

NoelJ

I ran my 20 miles in 2:53 with not much problem. Do you think I would be pushing it with the 3:45s? I have a few friends running at that pace so think I could do it. The other option is to just get the 4 hour marathon but don't wanna run at that pace if I can do better?

It is my first one though so just want to finish.

menoscemo

NoelJ wrote: »

I ran my 20 miles in 2:53 with not much problem. Do you think I would be pushing it with the 3:45s? I have a few friends running at that pace so think I could do it. The other option is to just get the 4 hour marathon but don't wanna run at that pace if I can do better?

It is my first one though so just want to finish.

If you are running 20 miles conmfortably in 2:53 in training then 4hrs seems soft enough. 3.45 would certainly sound about right? Any recent race times?

ultraman1

blockic wrote: »

The pacer for 3:30 today didnt come in until 2:50 or

2:47:;)

blockic

ultraman1 wrote: »

2:47:;)

Great work yesterday ultraman, sorry I didnt stick to my plan and join you in the pace group! Was just an eager beaver as per usual on the start line!

midnightrun

hi guys newbie on this. fantastic thread just wish I knew about it earlier anyway off to do my second 20 miler LSR tonight. plan is to run some of the marathon route. I would like to run one more 20 mile lsr in about 8 days time is that too close to the marathon? i know i should be tapering off after tonight but would really like to get one last 20 mile runs in (bringing my total to 3). it's my fault for leaving them so close to marathon date.

Walkedit

A bit late making a post but did last 20m LSR on early Sat AM. I was going to Wexford for weekend so had to get run done crack of dawn, up at 5:15 for brekky and into car to start point by 6, running by half past, finished in 4:03 is just over 12 mpm, would have loved to slip inside 4 hrs. Generally it felt good, tired at end. My knees had felt a bit sore night before but were alright on the road. Pretty sure after that about making the trip on 29th and at under 5:30 which is what I've said was my target. (1:27 ahead of last year and mu current PB)

I'm doing the recording of runs with Runkeeper on android which s great and a really cheap an easy solution, phone in shorts pocket and headphones in it's no big distraction and I've been listening to radio between audio cues.

http://runkeeper.com/user/601655936/activity/122955120

What I d see when I look at the splits is that my pace is very up and down even though it worked out to right number at end. Some slow miles are showing pit stops, twice into hotels for bathrooms (@6 & 16). With this is even the average pace over all never went to far out >12, TBH I normally think if it's between 11-12 mpm then its' grand. I'm wondering is there a better android app that would provide better pace support with audio cues. I think 5 hrs the slowest pace group, I wish there was a 5:30 min one.

Well done to everyone with what seemed to me amazing runs, If it wasn't great remember you'll have better days and also slowing up a small bit makes a bit difference to how it feels.

PS Slipped into a shop half way around to get some sports drink to refill my bottle and couldn't resist a muffin which I ate during next half mile, can't say I'm recommending it 'in race' nutrition but it cheered me up, it fitted with the idea of not getting too serious about to and enjoying teh moment :-)

Walkedit

A bit late making a post but did last 20m LSR on early Sat AM. I was going to Wexford for weekend so had to get run done crack of dawn, up at 5:15 for brekky and into car to start point by 6, running by half past, finished in 4:03 is just over 12 mpm, would have loved to slip inside 4 hrs. Generally it felt good, tired at end. My knees had felt a bit sore night before but were alright on the road. Pretty sure after that about making the trip on 29th and at under 5:30 which is what I've said was my target. (1:27 ahead of last year and mu current PB)

I'm doing the recording of runs with Runkeeper on android which s great and a really cheap an easy solution, phone in shorts pocket and headphones in it's no big distraction and I've been listening to radio between audio cues.

http://runkeeper.com/user/601655936/activity/122955120

What I d see when I look at the splits is that my pace is very up and down even though it worked out to right number at end. Some slow miles are showing pit stops, twice into hotels for bathrooms (@6 & 16). With this is even the average pace over all never went to far out >12, TBH I normally think if it's between 11-12 mpm then its' grand. I'm wondering is there a better android app that would provide better pace support with audio cues. I think 5 hrs the slowest pace group, I wish there was a 5:30 min one.

Well done to everyone with what seemed to me amazing runs, If it wasn't great remember you'll have better days and also slowing up a small bit makes a bit difference to how it feels.

PS Slipped into a shop half way around to get some sports drink to refill my bottle and couldn't resist a muffin which I ate during next half mile, can't say I'm recommending it 'in race' nutrition but it cheered me up, it fitted with the idea of not getting too serious about to and enjoying the moment :-)

RayCun

midnightrun wrote: »

hi guys newbie on this. fantastic thread just wish I knew about it earlier anyway off to do my second 20 miler LSR tonight. plan is to run some of the marathon route. I would like to run one more 20 mile lsr in about 8 days time is that too close to the marathon?

Yes, that's too close. All through taper people are going to be thinking that they need to get in one more long run, that they need an extra few miles for a bit of a confidence boost. What you need is to give your body a chance to recover before the marathon, to let those niggles ease away and let your energy stores build up again, so that at 9am on the 29th you are ready to go.

2 x 20 mile runs is fine, you don't need any more.

sweep22

Trampas wrote: »

sweep. everyone has a bad day. it is impossible to run 70+ runs in a plan and not have a bad day. especially on a few hours sleep. Try and forget about it and move on.

I'll reiterate that this was not an isolated incident. Something similar happened in the 16m, 18m as well as the 20m LSRs. So while I'd love to use the "bad day at the office" brush-off, I know it's more of a physiological issue. It's clearly the distances over the half marathon that are proving to be difficult for me.
Reading Duzzie's recent posts makes me think I should try more water and maybe some electrolyte tabs. Nothing to lose at this stage!

Duzzie

Does anyone know what the elevation gain over the marathon course is. I've seen the vertical profile but it doesn't give a total for the elevation change. I've seen a figure of 550m which seems a lot, I thought it was flatter than that.

Duzzie

sweep22 wrote: »

Trampas wrote: »

sweep. everyone has a bad day. it is impossible to run 70+ runs in a plan and not have a bad day. especially on a few hours sleep. Try and forget about it and move on.

I'll reiterate that this was not an isolated incident. Something similar happened in the 16m, 18m as well as the 20m LSRs. So while I'd love to use the "bad day at the office" brush-off, I know it's more of a physiological issue. It's clearly the distances over the half marathon that are proving to be difficult for me.
Reading Duzzie's recent posts makes me think I should try more water and maybe some electrolyte tabs. Nothing to lose at this stage!

Sounds very similar to my story, how much would you be drinking on your LSR

midnightrun

Thanks Raycun that's exactly what i wanted to hear. I just needed a little convincing. Sometimes people just need to hear some common sense !

sweep22

Duzzie wrote: »

Sounds very similar to my story, how much would you be drinking on your LSR

betweeen 500ml and 1l..

Duzzie

sweep22 wrote: »

Duzzie wrote: »

Sounds very similar to my story, how much would you be drinking on your LSR

betweeen 500ml and 1l..

I've seen a figure of 500ml to 1l per hour. The water stations on the marathon course would be about 500ml to 600ml an hour. I'd say that you need to up your intake

RayCun

Duzzie wrote: »

I've seen a figure of 500ml to 1l per hour. The water stations on the marathon course would be about 500ml to 600ml an hour. I'd say that you need to up your intake

I disagree, drink more water and you'll be sloshing around the course. If you're not feeling thirsty with your current intake don't force yourself to drink more.

RunningKing

RayCun wrote: »

Yes, that's too close. All through taper people are going to be thinking that they need to get in one more long run, that they need an extra few miles for a bit of a confidence boost. What you need is to give your body a chance to recover before the marathon, to let those niggles ease away and let your energy stores build up again, so that at 9am on the 29th you are ready to go.

2 x 20 mile runs is fine, you don't need any more.

Some plans call for a 15-17m run this coming weekend, all depending on the plan your on, you could get a ego boosting 17m run while tapering at the same time.