Dublin Marathon 2012 - 'Improvers' thread

Skidrow

No|Name|Plan|Week|Weekly Sessions|Miles/KM This Week| Total Miles/KM | Comments
1|liamog|HH Inter 1|9|0|0.0 km| 232.1 km | Fully fit again, dying to run on Tuesday
2|Micilí­n Muc|P&D:55-70|17|4|51km|1641.10km|My head got really congested. I missed my first two sessions of this whole plan but crossed 1000 miles for the 17 weeks Finding it hard to concentrate on the marathon now - have signed up for the Art O'Neill Challenge so I'm really excited about that!
3|RedRunner|HH Inter 1|17|3|18.36m|423.28m| Only 3 runs but happy that I'm injury free at this stage in the game.Looking fwd to big day now.
4|Mike D|HH Inter 1|17|4|20m|464.1m|only 4 runs this week but feeling good - swim tomorrow - last one!
5|beeduybe|P&D:33-55|18|4|18m|765m|Bring it on
6|Lizzy C|P&D -33-55|18|4|18m|690.39m|Last ever update!
7|Skidrow|HH inter1|18|3|9m|507m|All set, can't wait to start.
8|Younganne|Ecolis plan|17|4|32.47|493.57|Physio sorted me last week with dryneedling session, gioing again tonight for final rub down. total mileage for the year so far is 975.44 so willhit the 1000m makr during the marathon!!:D |
9|run44|HH inter1||5|27m|62mm|Happy to get 5 in this week
10|D Chief|P&D -55|17|3|39.7km|1128.3km|Right knee very stiff and sore after 19km LSR on Sunday. A bit worried that I won't make the start line
11|Sideline warrior|HH Inter 1|5|5|28.5m|135.9m|Avg pace this week was 8.03 so am going to make concerted effort to slow down on the longer runs. Seems to be best practice. Am in France next week for 2 weeks and am concerned that due to heat it will be tough to get in runs especially LSRs. Will try early morning runs but am not an early runner!
13|doledude86|HH Inter 2|13|6|40m|386.70m|Havent updated properly in ages, last 20mile done yesterday!! End up doing 3!
14|irfrm|runners world|15|4|26m|523.5 m| lowest weekly mileage in a long time, missing 2 runs, meet up with other club members yesterday 2 out with injury. nice and genlte run this week. THINK I'm READY
15|shels4ever|just run||9|50|50|Just lots of easy runs last week. Head not in the log runs jsut yet but hope to get to grips with them soon.
16|jester1980|HH IINT 1|14|4|65.5km|619|3 weeks to go yayyyyy
17|Van.Bosch|P&D - 55|14|5|52.21M|499M|Good Week, happy enough with progress. Got 17 Miles done @PMP
18|Mr.Wiggle|RunRepublic sub3.30|14|4|48km|885km| Managed a few 5 milers and a 12 mile LSR after physio. Feeling fine but will worry myself silly till the race !
19|RedB|Part P&D55 & now coach plan|14|6|70M|647M|Peak Week 2. Rest, Aero, Tempo, Recovery,Intervals, Recovery, 35km Long Run incl 12km PMP, 10km PMP-5%. Happy to make the big sessions as planned. Taper time
20|Trigger26 |Club coach sub 3.30|18|2|8M|580M|Off to watch Rocky 1-5! Can't wait for tomorrow:)
21|Jim0 |P&D - 55|18|4|32.63km|1,206.52km|Done and dusted - now bring on the PAIN!!
23|Runningking|Run Republic|14|5|32m|698m|Injured 2 weeks ago, 32miles last week - no high intensity or intervals, mostly easy runs.

Skidrow

This is definitely my last post - I think I an addicted to Boards!

A big thanks to Ray and all the other posters, and all the people I met up with for LSRs - I learned so much this time round.

Good luck all and good night.

mr.wiggle

No|Name|Plan|Week|Weekly Sessions|Miles/KM This Week| Total Miles/KM | Comments
1|liamog|HH Inter 1|9|0|0.0 km| 232.1 km | Fully fit again, dying to run on Tuesday
2|Micilí­n Muc|P&D:55-70|17|4|51km|1641.10km|My head got really congested. I missed my first two sessions of this whole plan but crossed 1000 miles for the 17 weeks Finding it hard to concentrate on the marathon now - have signed up for the Art O'Neill Challenge so I'm really excited about that!
3|RedRunner|HH Inter 1|17|3|18.36m|423.28m| Only 3 runs but happy that I'm injury free at this stage in the game.Looking fwd to big day now.
4|Mike D|HH Inter 1|17|4|20m|464.1m|only 4 runs this week but feeling good - swim tomorrow - last one!
5|beeduybe|P&D:33-55|18|4|18m|765m|Bring it on
6|Lizzy C|P&D -33-55|18|4|18m|690.39m|Last ever update!
7|Skidrow|HH inter1|18|3|9m|507m|All set, can't wait to start.
8|Younganne|Ecolis plan|17|4|32.47|493.57|Physio sorted me last week with dryneedling session, gioing again tonight for final rub down. total mileage for the year so far is 975.44 so willhit the 1000m makr during the marathon!!:D |
9|run44|HH inter1||5|27m|62mm|Happy to get 5 in this week
10|D Chief|P&D -55|17|3|39.7km|1128.3km|Right knee very stiff and sore after 19km LSR on Sunday. A bit worried that I won't make the start line
11|Sideline warrior|HH Inter 1|5|5|28.5m|135.9m|Avg pace this week was 8.03 so am going to make concerted effort to slow down on the longer runs. Seems to be best practice. Am in France next week for 2 weeks and am concerned that due to heat it will be tough to get in runs especially LSRs. Will try early morning runs but am not an early runner!
13|doledude86|HH Inter 2|13|6|40m|386.70m|Havent updated properly in ages, last 20mile done yesterday!! End up doing 3!
14|irfrm|runners world|15|4|26m|523.5 m| lowest weekly mileage in a long time, missing 2 runs, meet up with other club members yesterday 2 out with injury. nice and genlte run this week. THINK I'm READY
15|shels4ever|just run||9|50|50|Just lots of easy runs last week. Head not in the log runs jsut yet but hope to get to grips with them soon.
16|jester1980|HH IINT 1|14|4|65.5km|619|3 weeks to go yayyyyy
17|Van.Bosch|P&D - 55|14|5|52.21M|499M|Good Week, happy enough with progress. Got 17 Miles done @PMP
18|Mr.Wiggle|RunRepublic sub3.30|15|3|15km|900km| Training plan 3 weeks to long for me, hard to keep motivation going. Nervous but ready, I think!!
19|RedB|Part P&D55 & now coach plan|14|6|70M|647M|Peak Week 2. Rest, Aero, Tempo, Recovery,Intervals, Recovery, 35km Long Run incl 12km PMP, 10km PMP-5%. Happy to make the big sessions as planned. Taper time
20|Trigger26 |Club coach sub 3.30|18|2|8M|580M|Off to watch Rocky 1-5! Can't wait for tomorrow:)
21|Jim0 |P&D - 55|18|4|32.63km|1,206.52km|Done and dusted - now bring on the PAIN!!
23|Runningking|Run Republic|14|5|32m|698m|Injured 2 weeks ago, 32miles last week - no high intensity or intervals, mostly easy runs.

Good luck to us all, hope its a nice day tomorrow!

RedRunner

Flippin Garmin wrist strap broke again today..out with the superglue again! Nothing going right for me this week!!Aaarrrghh!:mad:

Lizzy C

Skidrow wrote: »

This is definitely my last post - I think I an addicted to Boards!

A big thanks to Ray and all the other posters, and all the people I met up with for LSRs - I learned so much this time round.

Good luck all and good night.

Thanks for fixing up the table T - my update got lost along the way cos we updated at exactly the same time! Best of luck for tomorrow - you will be super!

irfrm

No|Name|Plan|Week|Weekly Sessions|Miles/KM This Week| Total Miles/KM | Comments
1|liamog|HH Inter 1|9|0|0.0 km| 232.1 km | Fully fit again, dying to run on Tuesday
2|Micilí­n Muc|P&D:55-70|17|4|51km|1641.10km|My head got really congested. I missed my first two sessions of this whole plan but crossed 1000 miles for the 17 weeks Finding it hard to concentrate on the marathon now - have signed up for the Art O'Neill Challenge so I'm really excited about that!
3|RedRunner|HH Inter 1|17|3|18.36m|423.28m| Only 3 runs but happy that I'm injury free at this stage in the game.Looking fwd to big day now.
4|Mike D|HH Inter 1|17|4|20m|464.1m|only 4 runs this week but feeling good - swim tomorrow - last one!
5|beeduybe|P&D:33-55|18|4|18m|765m|Bring it on
6|Lizzy C|P&D -33-55|18|4|18m|690.39m|Last ever update!
7|Skidrow|HH inter1|18|3|9m|507m|All set, can't wait to start.
8|Younganne|Ecolis plan|17|4|32.47|493.57|Physio sorted me last week with dryneedling session, gioing again tonight for final rub down. total mileage for the year so far is 975.44 so willhit the 1000m makr during the marathon!!:D |
9|run44|HH inter1||5|27m|62mm|Happy to get 5 in this week
10|D Chief|P&D -55|17|3|39.7km|1128.3km|Right knee very stiff and sore after 19km LSR on Sunday. A bit worried that I won't make the start line
11|Sideline warrior|HH Inter 1|5|5|28.5m|135.9m|Avg pace this week was 8.03 so am going to make concerted effort to slow down on the longer runs. Seems to be best practice. Am in France next week for 2 weeks and am concerned that due to heat it will be tough to get in runs especially LSRs. Will try early morning runs but am not an early runner!
13|doledude86|HH Inter 2|13|6|40m|386.70m|Havent updated properly in ages, last 20mile done yesterday!! End up doing 3!
14|irfrm|runners world|16|3|15m|538.5 m| Training complete, think I'm ready, lets see how it goes
15|shels4ever|just run||9|50|50|Just lots of easy runs last week. Head not in the log runs jsut yet but hope to get to grips with them soon.
16|jester1980|HH IINT 1|14|4|65.5km|619|3 weeks to go yayyyyy
17|Van.Bosch|P&D - 55|14|5|52.21M|499M|Good Week, happy enough with progress. Got 17 Miles done @PMP
18|Mr.Wiggle|RunRepublic sub3.30|15|3|15km|900km| Training plan 3 weeks to long for me, hard to keep motivation going. Nervous but ready, I think!!
19|RedB|Part P&D55 & now coach plan|14|6|70M|647M|Peak Week 2. Rest, Aero, Tempo, Recovery,Intervals, Recovery, 35km Long Run incl 12km PMP, 10km PMP-5%. Happy to make the big sessions as planned. Taper time
20|Trigger26 |Club coach sub 3.30|18|2|8M|580M|Off to watch Rocky 1-5! Can't wait for tomorrow:)
21|Jim0 |P&D - 55|18|4|32.63km|1,206.52km|Done and dusted - now bring on the PAIN!!
23|Runningking|Run Republic|14|5|32m|698m|Injured 2 weeks ago, 32miles last week - no high intensity or intervals, mostly easy runs.

In bed but think I'm in for restless night, up for 5:30, will have broke 3 hours for the marathon by then (in my dreams)

RunningKing

3:23, delighted! Report to follow.
Thoughts of food an pints after the race wasn't appealing, so headed home with the family.
Great being part of this community, will have a void now for a while!

sideline warrior

Hoping for sub 3.45 but was thrilled to go 3.41.17 and smash my PB. Was with the 3.45 pacers for a while but felt good so decided to take a chance and push on. Delighted I made this decision. I thought the crowds were brilliant throughout but were amazing in places and definitely pushed me on. I put my name on my numbers and to hear the crowd call out my name was a huge boost. I checked in on this forum every day for the past few months but only occasionally put my thoughts on the forum. All the advice, encouragement and positive vibes here are priceless and this and the more races I do make me love being part of the running community even more. Thanks to everyone. Keep on running.

hardCopy

Delighted with today, went off with the 3:45 pacers and felt good until Heartbreak Hill, I had forgotten how many ramps there were on the hill and let the group get too far ahead. Didn't have the legs to chase them on the downhill. Managed to keep moving and avoid a meltdown like last year to finish in 3:52:xx. 36 minutes faster than last year, chuffed.

BigBadTom

Ducked under my goal time by ~45 seconds at 03:14:16.
which is 10 mins off my PB
And I didn't need to go for a pee on the course, which is a marathon first
So very happy.
Found the pacers to be a great help (if a bit fast over the first few miles.)

Would just like to echo "sideline warrior's" comments.
I didn't ask many question but they where all answered quickly and in depth.
I guess I got the most out of just reading what others where thinking and the questions they ask.
I really found the crazy taper time banter very useful, in convincing me that I was not the only person going insane
All my marathon ending niggles disappeared in the first 2 miles!!

RedRunner

4:27...disappointed not to hit my goal time of 4:15.wheels came off at 20 miles, not sure why as was going reasonably well and stick with the pacers. Still, took 18 mins off last year's time so have to be happy with that.Will analyse that one later.Thanks Marthastew,Kurt_Godel and Digger. You did a great job and had a nice group there. Your pacing definitely improved my splits this year compared to last year as you can see below.

The foot injury I had, made its presence known at 10 miles but I was able to run through it and I don't think it made a huge difference to finishing time.
Made it to McGrattans but only managed one pint with some friends then had to head home . Spoke briefly to Skidrow before I hit the road. Till the next gig....

2012 2011
1 09:17 09:25
2 09:49 09:23
3 09:36 09:38
4 09:31 09:25
5 09:32 09:40
6 09:36 10:22
7 09:45 09:37
8 09:39 09:39
9 09:25 09:33
10 09:26 09:57
11 09:28 09:37
12 09:42 10:10
13 09:39 10:30
14 09:41 10:44
15 09:31 10:47
16 09:37 11:29
17 09:33 11:23
18 09:31 12:36
19 09:54 12:26
20 10:53 12:39
21 11:46 12:20
22 11:27 11:43
23 11:35 11:31
24 11:44 12:30
25 11:17 12:19
26 11:48 11:28

Jimh

30 Minutes off my PB and a Sub 4 to boot - Delighted - Training went really well this year
3:58:27 - started to struggle from 20-25 and I started to drift from my sub-9 Minute mile pace - I reached 20 Mile in 2:59. My tactics of starting behind the 4:00 pacers and then slowly overtaking them worked - at 25 miles I heard someone say they were right behind me so I kicked on and did not let them pass so I knew I was a good minute inside 4 hours -Bit of a sore hip but no pain no gain :D:D

Mike D

Must have been close to you JimH as I finished 3.58.20! PB for me by 30mins. Delighted to get under 4 hours. Up to 21 miles I felt good, 2 loo breaks which was a bit annoying coz I had to catch up with the 4 hour pacers twice!. Atmosphere and crowds was teriffic. Last 5 miles was torture and the last mile was so tough- Its funny that there was no sense of elation crossing the finish line - just relief!
Thanks to the Pacers for such a great job - great laught when one of them had to make a toilet stop!

Well done to everyone on here, its been good keeping up with training progress over the last few months - see you next year?? (I dont think so!)

MD

Jimh

Mike D
Depends where you started from - the official clock time for me was 4.00.15 as I started near the back of the second wave. If you started with the 4 hour pacers you probably finished a few minutes before me

trigger26

Got home in 3.15.31, very happy with the result and thanks a million to everyone for contributing to this thread, it really did help as did the magic support out there on the streets, a great day:)

deckyn2

hi all, thanks for all the advice posted here over last few months. this was my second DCM and i finished in the exact same time as last year which was a bit of a disappointment as i had aimed for sub 4 but came home in 4:15. I got a stitch at 8 miles which gave me trouble for pretty much all the rest of the race. I have never experienced a stitch like that in training so does anyone have any idea how to A: stop a stitch when it starts B: avoid getting one in the first place
I had porridge at 6am and banana at 8am. Took water at 8 miles then the stitch kicked in ...
any advice greatly appreciqted

Red Belly

4:23:19 a five minute PB and absolutely delighted. Had been aiming for a crack at sub 4 until a fractured wrist and shinsplints/calf problems derailed me during the summer.

After a two week lay off in August I eased back into training using my own twist on the Galloway run/walk method and I'm blown away by the results. A PB while walking every sixth minute of the race and coming off an injury disrupted build up is not to be sneezed at! Since September I've only done two 30minute easy runs and one longer VERY slow run per week using the 5:1 Run:walk ratio for the long ones.

I think the method might well help me stay fit, and progressively lower my PB over time. My mistake earlier on may well have been aiming to take a full minute per mile off my time in one go and/or training to an over ambitious time goal rather than to my real current capabilities.

rb

Younganne

3.57.46, 30min PB and sub 4 so delighted with that.
LizzyC was my running buddy and she got in 3.57.36 so delighted she got her sub4 too.

The crowds were fantastic and i think they'll never know how a shout out to someone really helps when they are having a bit of a struggle. so thank you.
The threads here are also a great help and the information and advise received is second to none so thank you to one and all.:D

career_move

Younganne wrote: »

3.57.46, 30min PB and sub 4 so delighted with that.
LizzyC was my running buddy and she got in 3.57.36 so delighted she got her sub4 too.

The crowds were fantastic and i think they'll never know how a shout out to someone really helps when they are having a bit of a struggle. so thank you.
The threads here are also a great help and the information and advise received is second to none so thank you to one and all.:D

Fantastic running by you both. So glad I went to McGrattans and got to meet you and all the others Thanks again for all the help on the novices thread

Lizzy C

Sorry for my very long race report!

So after not much sleep (awake on the hour from about 3am on Monday morning) I headed into town and made sure to go to the toilet (for about the 10th time that morning!) and headed up to the starting area (needed to use the toilet again almost straight away!). I positioned myself beside the 4 hour pacers, hoping that I could keep up with them for the duration – even chatted to one of them – Tom I think his name was. Anyway, before we started I moved over to the side to deposit the old t-shirt I had with me when the crowd started moving. I tried to move back in but there were too many people and already the pacers were a good bit ahead of me. So already I had lost the pacers and the race hadn’t even started! So much for my strategy.

Anyway, I moved back in towards the centre of the crowds and noticed a girl bending down – it turned out to be Emer911 who was with Rachel and beside them Younganne, who I had been looking for earlier but couldn’t spot. So off we went the four of us, Emer and Rachel moved ahead fairly quickly, and myself and Anne got stuck in the crowds so had a slow first mile (9:48) but didn’t panic (from here on in it’s like a joint race report with Younganne, as we were thankfully with each other every step of the way). Onward we went, slowly picking up the pace, but by now the 4 hour pacers were out of sight, so it looked like we were running our own race.

The first few miles went by very pleasantly – good crowds in the park, though the course itself still felt quite congested. We kept the pace steady enough and we were gaining maybe about 5 seconds on the sub-four pace every mile. We decided not to speed up to make up the time – we had three hours to catch the pacers after all - poor Younganne I was citing Pfizinger and Douglas at her (chapter on race day strategy which I had read the night before). We hit the half way point just 30s down on what our target time should be, (miles 2-13 paces were 9:10; 8:59; 8:58: 9:00; 9:04: 9:01; 9:07; 9: 20; 8:58; 8:51; 9: 14; 9: 19). So if we were going to do the sub-4, we would need a negative split.

Onward we went – this was the time that I had started to feel crappy last year, so I was waiting for it to come again, but every mile that went by and I didn’t feel like that made me a feel a bit more confident. Anne was chatting away to people, which was a great distraction – even though I kept telling her to conserve her energy. At one point she vowed not to talk again until we hit the next mile marker – she lasted .14 of a mile – hilarious! She was obviously well distracted as well – not having distance on display on her Garmin she would say, are we nearly at mile 15 – even though we’d be coming up for mile 17 (this happened two or three times).

Things got a bit tough around Clonskeagh, but as I was running as opposed to shuffling which I did at that stage last year, I kept telling myself I was doing better and even though the legs were in pain the breathing felt comfortable enough. Kept telling myself that once we got up that hill on Roebuck we were downhill and on our way back into town – we honestly powered up the hill and just started feeling stronger and better. Among the more random thoughts that popped into my head at this stage was: I must email Pfizinger and Douglas and tell them how brilliant their training plan is!

Mile splits for miles 14 to 21 were 8:57, 8:54; 9:09; 8:54; 8:55; 9:04; 9:08; 9:00. By the time we got to the dual carriageway we had decided that we were going to do it – no matter what. We were just behind the pacers but (perhaps too conservatively) decided to run with them and not be too ambitious – after all we still had five miles to go! By the time we got to the RDS we were still feeling strong and eventually we said let’s go for it. I had great support along the way with friends and family positioned along this part of the route, so that was a great boost. As we came down Grand Canal dock with two miles to go we just went for it (splits for miles 22-25 8:59; 9:05; 8:57; 8:44). By the time we turned onto Westland Row for the last mile we were practically sprinting (well it felt like that but that’s probably an exaggeration at 8:32) and the last bit was just brilliant (7:51) – by the time I crossed the finish line in 3: 57: 34 with Younganne in tow we just couldn’t believe what we had just done and we both were in tears with the emotion of it. Thanks Younganne – would not have done it without you.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing our marathon journeys on the thread and it’s fantastic to be able to share about the destination itself. Had to fly to Arizona yesterday for work and I don’t recommend 20 hours of flying and hanging around airports the day after a marathon (though I did see a few people walking funny and with their marathon tops on and one guy with his medal around his neck at the airport!) – thank god for compression socks is all I can say.

RedRunner

Younganne wrote: »

3.57.46, 30min PB and sub 4 so delighted with that.
LizzyC was my running buddy and she got in 3.57.36 so delighted she got her sub4 too.

The crowds were fantastic and i think they'll never know how a shout out to someone really helps when they are having a bit of a struggle. so thank you.
The threads here are also a great help and the information and advise received is second to none so thank you to one and all.:D

Delighted for you Younganne. How you found the time to train,look after a family, work and mentor on the novices thread is beyond me. Well deserved and congrats to LizzyC too.

Funnily enough I notice your last year's time is similar my time this year so I may be in touch to get the "magic formula" for taking 30 mins off for next year:D I'm going to start my own training log so look out for that.

RedRunner

Lizzy C wrote: »

Sorry for my very long race report!

So after not much sleep (awake on the hour from about 3am on Monday morning) I headed into town and made sure to go to the toilet (for about the 10th time that morning!) and headed up to the starting area (needed to use the toilet again almost straight away!). I positioned myself beside the 4 hour pacers, hoping that I could keep up with them for the duration – even chatted to one of them – Tom I think his name was. Anyway, before we started I moved over to the side to deposit the old t-shirt I had with me when the crowd started moving. I tried to move back in but there were too many people and already the pacers were a good bit ahead of me. So already I had lost the pacers and the race hadn’t even started! So much for my strategy.

Anyway, I moved back in towards the centre of the crowds and noticed a girl bending down – it turned out to be Emer911 who was with Rachel and beside them Younganne, who I had been looking for earlier but couldn’t spot. So off we went the four of us, Emer and Rachel moved ahead fairly quickly, and myself and Anne got stuck in the crowds so had a slow first mile (9:48) but didn’t panic (from here on in it’s like a joint race report with Younganne, as we were thankfully with each other every step of the way). Onward we went, slowly picking up the pace, but by now the 4 hour pacers were out of sight, so it looked like we were running our own race.

The first few miles went by very pleasantly – good crowds in the park, though the course itself still felt quite congested. We kept the pace steady enough and we were gaining maybe about 5 seconds on the sub-four pace every mile. We decided not to speed up to make up the time – we had three hours to catch the pacers after all - poor Younganne I was citing Pfizinger and Douglas at her (chapter on race day strategy which I had read the night before). We hit the half way point just 30s down on what our target time should be, (miles 2-13 paces were 9:10; 8:59; 8:58: 9:00; 9:04: 9:01; 9:07; 9: 20; 8:58; 8:51; 9: 14; 9: 19). So if we were going to do the sub-4, we would need a negative split.

Onward we went – this was the time that I had started to feel crappy last year, so I was waiting for it to come again, but every mile that went by and I didn’t feel like that made me a feel a bit more confident. Anne was chatting away to people, which was a great distraction – even though I kept telling her to conserve her energy. At one point she vowed not to talk again until we hit the next mile marker – she lasted .14 of a mile – hilarious! She was obviously well distracted as well – not having distance on display on her Garmin she would say, are we nearly at mile 15 – even though we’d be coming up for mile 17 (this happened two or three times).

Things got a bit tough around Clonskeagh, but as I was running as opposed to shuffling which I did at that stage last year, I kept telling myself I was doing better and even though the legs were in pain the breathing felt comfortable enough. Kept telling myself that once we got up that hill on Roebuck we were downhill and on our way back into town – we honestly powered up the hill and just started feeling stronger and better. Among the more random thoughts that popped into my head at this stage was: I must email Pfizinger and Douglas and tell them how brilliant their training plan is!

Mile splits for miles 14 to 21 were 8:57, 8:54; 9:09; 8:54; 8:55; 9:04; 9:08; 9:00. By the time we got to the dual carriageway we had decided that we were going to do it – no matter what. We were just behind the pacers but (perhaps too conservatively) decided to run with them and not be too ambitious – after all we still had five miles to go! By the time we got to the RDS we were still feeling strong and eventually we said let’s go for it. I had great support along the way with friends and family positioned along this part of the route, so that was a great boost. As we came down Grand Canal dock with two miles to go we just went for it (splits for miles 22-25 8:59; 9:05; 8:57; 8:44). By the time we turned onto Westland Row for the last mile we were practically sprinting (well it felt like that but that’s probably an exaggeration at 8:32) and the last bit was just brilliant (7:51) – by the time I crossed the finish line in 3: 57: 34 with Younganne in tow we just couldn’t believe what we had just done and we both were in tears with the emotion of it. Thanks Younganne – would not have done it without you.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing our marathon journeys on the thread and it’s fantastic to be able to share about the destination itself. Had to fly to Arizona yesterday for work and I don’t recommend 20 hours of flying and hanging around airports the day after a marathon (though I did see a few people walking funny and with their marathon tops on and one guy with his medal around his neck at the airport!) – thank god for compression socks is all I can say.

Great running LizzyC & Younganne. I'm so envious. Hopefully that will be me next year.:)

rasher_m

Lizzy C wrote: »

Sorry for my very long race report!

So after not much sleep (awake on the hour from about 3am on Monday morning) I headed into town and made sure to go to the toilet (for about the 10th time that morning!) and headed up to the starting area (needed to use the toilet again almost straight away!). I positioned myself beside the 4 hour pacers, hoping that I could keep up with them for the duration – even chatted to one of them – Tom I think his name was. Anyway, before we started I moved over to the side to deposit the old t-shirt I had with me when the crowd started moving. I tried to move back in but there were too many people and already the pacers were a good bit ahead of me. So already I had lost the pacers and the race hadn’t even started! So much for my strategy.

Anyway, I moved back in towards the centre of the crowds and noticed a girl bending down – it turned out to be Emer911 who was with Rachel and beside them Younganne, who I had been looking for earlier but couldn’t spot. So off we went the four of us, Emer and Rachel moved ahead fairly quickly, and myself and Anne got stuck in the crowds so had a slow first mile (9:48) but didn’t panic (from here on in it’s like a joint race report with Younganne, as we were thankfully with each other every step of the way). Onward we went, slowly picking up the pace, but by now the 4 hour pacers were out of sight, so it looked like we were running our own race.

The first few miles went by very pleasantly – good crowds in the park, though the course itself still felt quite congested. We kept the pace steady enough and we were gaining maybe about 5 seconds on the sub-four pace every mile. We decided not to speed up to make up the time – we had three hours to catch the pacers after all - poor Younganne I was citing Pfizinger and Douglas at her (chapter on race day strategy which I had read the night before). We hit the half way point just 30s down on what our target time should be, (miles 2-13 paces were 9:10; 8:59; 8:58: 9:00; 9:04: 9:01; 9:07; 9: 20; 8:58; 8:51; 9: 14; 9: 19). So if we were going to do the sub-4, we would need a negative split.

Onward we went – this was the time that I had started to feel crappy last year, so I was waiting for it to come again, but every mile that went by and I didn’t feel like that made me a feel a bit more confident. Anne was chatting away to people, which was a great distraction – even though I kept telling her to conserve her energy. At one point she vowed not to talk again until we hit the next mile marker – she lasted .14 of a mile – hilarious! She was obviously well distracted as well – not having distance on display on her Garmin she would say, are we nearly at mile 15 – even though we’d be coming up for mile 17 (this happened two or three times).

Things got a bit tough around Clonskeagh, but as I was running as opposed to shuffling which I did at that stage last year, I kept telling myself I was doing better and even though the legs were in pain the breathing felt comfortable enough. Kept telling myself that once we got up that hill on Roebuck we were downhill and on our way back into town – we honestly powered up the hill and just started feeling stronger and better. Among the more random thoughts that popped into my head at this stage was: I must email Pfizinger and Douglas and tell them how brilliant their training plan is!

Mile splits for miles 14 to 21 were 8:57, 8:54; 9:09; 8:54; 8:55; 9:04; 9:08; 9:00. By the time we got to the dual carriageway we had decided that we were going to do it – no matter what. We were just behind the pacers but (perhaps too conservatively) decided to run with them and not be too ambitious – after all we still had five miles to go! By the time we got to the RDS we were still feeling strong and eventually we said let’s go for it. I had great support along the way with friends and family positioned along this part of the route, so that was a great boost. As we came down Grand Canal dock with two miles to go we just went for it (splits for miles 22-25 8:59; 9:05; 8:57; 8:44). By the time we turned onto Westland Row for the last mile we were practically sprinting (well it felt like that but that’s probably an exaggeration at 8:32) and the last bit was just brilliant (7:51) – by the time I crossed the finish line in 3: 57: 34 with Younganne in tow we just couldn’t believe what we had just done and we both were in tears with the emotion of it. Thanks Younganne – would not have done it without you.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing our marathon journeys on the thread and it’s fantastic to be able to share about the destination itself. Had to fly to Arizona yesterday for work and I don’t recommend 20 hours of flying and hanging around airports the day after a marathon (though I did see a few people walking funny and with their marathon tops on and one guy with his medal around his neck at the airport!) – thank god for compression socks is all I can say.

Well done Lizzy! You should get one of the pacing jobs along with Digger and the crew.

Younganne

Lizzy C wrote: »

Sorry for my very long race report!

So after not much sleep (awake on the hour from about 3am on Monday morning) I headed into town and made sure to go to the toilet (for about the 10th time that morning!) and headed up to the starting area (needed to use the toilet again almost straight away!). I positioned myself beside the 4 hour pacers, hoping that I could keep up with them for the duration – even chatted to one of them – Tom I think his name was. Anyway, before we started I moved over to the side to deposit the old t-shirt I had with me when the crowd started moving. I tried to move back in but there were too many people and already the pacers were a good bit ahead of me. So already I had lost the pacers and the race hadn’t even started! So much for my strategy.

Anyway, I moved back in towards the centre of the crowds and noticed a girl bending down – it turned out to be Emer911 who was with Rachel and beside them Younganne, who I had been looking for earlier but couldn’t spot. So off we went the four of us, Emer and Rachel moved ahead fairly quickly, and myself and Anne got stuck in the crowds so had a slow first mile (9:48) but didn’t panic (from here on in it’s like a joint race report with Younganne, as we were thankfully with each other every step of the way). Onward we went, slowly picking up the pace, but by now the 4 hour pacers were out of sight, so it looked like we were running our own race.

The first few miles went by very pleasantly – good crowds in the park, though the course itself still felt quite congested. We kept the pace steady enough and we were gaining maybe about 5 seconds on the sub-four pace every mile. We decided not to speed up to make up the time – we had three hours to catch the pacers after all - poor Younganne I was citing Pfizinger and Douglas at her (chapter on race day strategy which I had read the night before). We hit the half way point just 30s down on what our target time should be, (miles 2-13 paces were 9:10; 8:59; 8:58: 9:00; 9:04: 9:01; 9:07; 9: 20; 8:58; 8:51; 9: 14; 9: 19). So if we were going to do the sub-4, we would need a negative split.

Onward we went – this was the time that I had started to feel crappy last year, so I was waiting for it to come again, but every mile that went by and I didn’t feel like that made me a feel a bit more confident. Anne was chatting away to people, which was a great distraction – even though I kept telling her to conserve her energy. At one point she vowed not to talk again until we hit the next mile marker – she lasted .14 of a mile – hilarious! She was obviously well distracted as well – not having distance on display on her Garmin she would say, are we nearly at mile 15 – even though we’d be coming up for mile 17 (this happened two or three times).

Things got a bit tough around Clonskeagh, but as I was running as opposed to shuffling which I did at that stage last year, I kept telling myself I was doing better and even though the legs were in pain the breathing felt comfortable enough. Kept telling myself that once we got up that hill on Roebuck we were downhill and on our way back into town – we honestly powered up the hill and just started feeling stronger and better. Among the more random thoughts that popped into my head at this stage was: I must email Pfizinger and Douglas and tell them how brilliant their training plan is!

Mile splits for miles 14 to 21 were 8:57, 8:54; 9:09; 8:54; 8:55; 9:04; 9:08; 9:00. By the time we got to the dual carriageway we had decided that we were going to do it – no matter what. We were just behind the pacers but (perhaps too conservatively) decided to run with them and not be too ambitious – after all we still had five miles to go! By the time we got to the RDS we were still feeling strong and eventually we said let’s go for it. I had great support along the way with friends and family positioned along this part of the route, so that was a great boost. As we came down Grand Canal dock with two miles to go we just went for it (splits for miles 22-25 8:59; 9:05; 8:57; 8:44). By the time we turned onto Westland Row for the last mile we were practically sprinting (well it felt like that but that’s probably an exaggeration at 8:32) and the last bit was just brilliant (7:51) – by the time I crossed the finish line in 3: 57: 34 with Younganne in tow we just couldn’t believe what we had just done and we both were in tears with the emotion of it. Thanks Younganne – would not have done it without you.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing our marathon journeys on the thread and it’s fantastic to be able to share about the destination itself. Had to fly to Arizona yesterday for work and I don’t recommend 20 hours of flying and hanging around airports the day after a marathon (though I did see a few people walking funny and with their marathon tops on and one guy with his medal around his neck at the airport!) – thank god for compression socks is all I can say.

great report Lizzyc and you made me laugh, glad i wasn't imagining the miles i missed out on...we make a great duo, any chance you'll come to London and pace me to a 3.45?? I'd forgotton about you saying how much you loved P&D

Safe travels:D

Younganne

RedRunner wrote: »

Delighted for you Younganne. How you found the time to train,look after a family, work and mentor on the novices thread is beyond me. Well deserved and congrats to LizzyC too.

Funnily enough I notice your last year's time is similar my time this year so I may be in touch to get the "magic formula" for taking 30 mins off for next year:D I'm going to start my own training log so look out for that.

Thanks Redrunner, all i can say is that i changed a couple of things since last years marathon
1. I continued to run through out the winter. All the plans followed are on this thread, if you want to check it out.
2. i started my own log which i hightly recommend because the days i was not feeling like a run i just thought of the excuse i'd have to put on the log, not that anyone would pass any remarks, but just having to put it in writing got me out running.
3. I also added intervals and hills into my training, and i just did what i was told so its all about getting the right plan..!!
4. In Jan i signed up to the 1000m challenge so again that ghot me out the door when i didn't really want to. And i think fittingly enough i got the 1000m during the marathon.
5. I signed up to the Meath running group which was one night a week running with others but its a great motivator.

Hope that helps!!! I know you are a bit disappointed with your time but you shouldn't be, every race is a learning experience and i bet you learned for it. Im convinced that running the LSR slow is the key, which i know the lads have been saying for years, but 4 marathons done and thankfully i've never hit the wall and i reckon thats the reason!!! Keep plugging away at it and it will all come together for you!

Younganne

my Long report is here

RedRunner

Younganne wrote: »

Thanks Redrunner, all i can say is that i changed a couple of things since last years marathon
1. I continued to run through out the winter. All the plans followed are on this thread, if you want to check it out.
2. i started my own log which i hightly recommend because the days i was not feeling like a run i just thought of the excuse i'd have to put on the log, not that anyone would pass any remarks, but just having to put it in writing got me out running.
3. I also added intervals and hills into my training, and i just did what i was told so its all about getting the right plan..!!
4. In Jan i signed up to the 1000m challenge so again that ghot me out the door when i didn't really want to. And i think fittingly enough i got the 1000m during the marathon.
5. I signed up to the Meath running group which was one night a week running with others but its a great motivator.

Hope that helps!!! I know you are a bit disappointed with your time but you shouldn't be, every race is a learning experience and i bet you learned for it. Im convinced that running the LSR slow is the key, which i know the lads have been saying for years, but 4 marathons done and thankfully i've never hit the wall and i reckon thats the reason!!! Keep plugging away at it and it will all come together for you!

Thanks Younganne for the advice, much appreciated. Onwards and upwards:D

RunningKing

Ok, 1st port of call post marathon is to come up with a decent name that I wouldn't be embarrassed introducing myself to next years 3:15 pacers at the expo.........hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmm

2nd is to get a witty title for my log (that sounds inappropriate after a few glasses of wine).

career_move

RunningKing wrote: »

Ok, 1st port of call post marathon is to come up with a decent name that I wouldn't be embarrassed introducing myself to next years 3:15 pacers at the expo.........hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmm

2nd is to get a witty title for my log (that sounds inappropriate after a few glasses of wine).

Dude you don't need to change the name; you need to become the name

RunningKing

I like that ^^^