Dublin Marathon 2013: Mod Note #316 NO RACE SWAPS

wowzer

blockic wrote: »

I've done it and it is excellent prep for Dublin. Would recommend as it has a similar profile with a hill at 17 miles similar to the time you'll be hitting heartbreak hill in DCM.

Thinking of doing this myself this year blockic, did you run this at MP?

blockic

wowzer wrote: »

Thinking of doing this myself this year blockic, did you run this at MP?

Spot on, ran it at MP and found it to be a great indicator at where I was at for DCM. career_move done it last year too from what i recall.

wowzer

blockic wrote: »

Spot on, ran it at MP and found it to be a great indicator at where I was at for DCM. career_move done it last year too from what i recall.

Cheers young lad, I'll slot this one into my plan so.

sydneybound

blockic wrote: »

I've done it and it is excellent prep for Dublin. Would recommend as it has a similar profile with a hill at 17 miles similar to the time you'll be hitting heartbreak hill in DCM.

Blockie, Dublin will be my second marathon so still new to this and wondered is the course generally a fast one or average in the general scheme of things?

The hill at 17 miles cant be that bad is it?! Your getting me a bit worried!

ultraman1

sydneybound wrote: »

Blockie, Dublin will be my second marathon so still new to this and wondered is the course generally a fast one or average in the general scheme of things?

The hill at 17 miles cant be that bad is it?! Your getting me a bit worried!

a hill is somthing on a mountain,theres no mountains on the dcm route,,more of a speed bump...

pistol_75

blockic wrote: »

I've done it and it is excellent prep for Dublin. Would recommend as it has a similar profile with a hill at 17 miles similar to the time you'll be hitting heartbreak hill in DCM.

Did it last year and is a good prep for Dublin, good undulating route which is what you want. The hill at the end is also a lot more severe than what they call 'Heartbreak Hill' in Dublin

blockic

sydneybound wrote: »

Blockie, Dublin will be my second marathon so still new to this and wondered is the course generally a fast one or average in the general scheme of things?

The hill at 17 miles cant be that bad is it?! Your getting me a bit worried!

As pistol said, the hill in Athlone 3/4 is a bigger test than the one in Dublin.

The "Heartbreak Hill" in Dublin comes just before the 20 mile mark, and as ultraman said is not really a hill but a steep incline of only about 100 metres from what I recall, its more the point of the race it comes at rather than the actually hill itself that causes it to have the name as people are beginning to tire at this point.

"Heartbreak Hill" is overrating it and is totally manageable.

I would say Dublin is an average to fast route, not pan flat but reasonably forgiving.

MisterDrak

Really been avoiding making a decision on doing the DCM this year...

I swore during mile 11 of the Strawberry Half last month (hurting bad), that I would not do Dublin, no way, not a chance, yet here I am with an itch !!!

I have been enjoying the shorter and faster stuff over the last few months, have got a few PB's, and can do plenty of races in a month mostly at a whim. Most of that relaxed attude to running and racing goes out the window with a marathon training program.

However in the shape I am now, and with 18 weeks I probably could get a decent time, and definitely another PB.

Any thoughts out there ?

pointer28

I think the Strawberry HM did that to a lot of people, one tough day!

This year's DCM will be my first and my training plan starts next week, scared and excited in equal measure.

belcarra

MisterDrak wrote: »

However in the shape I am now, and with 18 weeks I probably could get a decent time, and definitely another PB.

Any thoughts out there ?

As you say you are in great shape at the moment and keep that up for the next couple of months will leave you in PB shape for DCM with 10 weeks to go.
At that stage (Mid August) all you will need to do is start lengthening the LSR for about 7-8 weeks and nothing else needs to differ too much.

Basically what I'm saying is that continue to enjoy your running over the Summer and then you could easily get away with a dedicated 10 week plan for the marathon.

TRR

belcarra wrote: »

Basically what I'm saying is that continue to enjoy your running over the Summer and then you could easily get away with a dedicated 10 week plan for the marathon.

+1

Pronator

blockic wrote: »

"Heartbreak Hill" is overrating it and is totally manageable.

I hear this every year about the HILL at 20 miles. It seems in recent years to have become Heartbreak hill.

It's a bit of a drag, nothing else. If uve trained properly you won't even notice it.

It's Loch Ness monster stuff - it's something about nothing.

nerraw1111

Pronator wrote: »

I hear this every year about the HILL at 20 miles. It seems in recent years to have become Heartbreak hill.

It's a bit of a drag, nothing else. If uve trained properly you won't even notice it.

It's Loch Ness monster stuff - it's something about nothing.

Definitely, it’s not as bad as you think. In fact, I think it has a positive effect rather than negative as once over it, you feel like you’re on the home straight with a nice downhill stretch.

Dig deep to get to RTE and there’s another downhill and you have just four miles to go.

elvis jones

ultraman1 wrote: »

a hill is somthing on a mountain,theres no mountains on the dcm route,,more of a speed bump...

Its rare............but we agree;)

TRR

Pronator wrote: »

I hear this every year about the HILL at 20 miles. It seems in recent years to have become Heartbreak hill.

It's a bit of a drag, nothing else. If uve trained properly you won't even notice it.

It's Loch Ness monster stuff - it's something about nothing.

Totally agree

I actually really enjoy this "hill", as has been described it gets a good crowd and so long as you haven't done anything crazy you will hardly notice the drag. In fact my fastest mile split last year was on this section.

There was talk of the organisers cutting this "hill" out and bringing the route through UCD instead. I hope they don't as it adds a little mystique and atmosphere to the course.

TFBubendorfer

Pronator wrote: »

I hear this every year about the HILL at 20 miles. It seems in recent years to have become Heartbreak hill.

It's a bit of a drag, nothing else. If uve trained properly you won't even notice it.

It's Loch Ness monster stuff - it's something about nothing.

When I stay with the in-laws, I do run that "hill" from time to time. Most time I don't even notice it. It's not even a hill, just a drag, and not a very big one at that. Heartbreak Hill it ain't, that's for sure.

BUT, it did cost me a sub-3 once, back all the way to 2008. At the bottom of that "hill" I thought I was still in with a chance of breaking 3, by the time I had reached the top it was all over, time to wake up, face reality and slog the last painful miles home.

Speed bumps have a tendency of growing with 20 miles in your legs.

JamJamJamJam

I decided last week I'd like to do this. Something like 3 and a half hours would be great, but if I can manage 4 hours I'll be happy! (Is that too optimistic for my first marathon? I've no idea, but it sounds okay to me!)

I'm a total beginner with running races, although I'm not 100% unfit because I've played a bit of GAA since I was a kid. Then again, this was a year of college with very little activity! I've started training, with two 8 km runs just on a treadmill. I'll have to start running outside because treadmills are a bit too simple I think. Both took about 45 - 50 mins (to be honest that was the length of the albums I put on!) set at 10 km/h. I thought that was pretty okay, but since googling some marathon training schedules, I've come to realise that there is a LOT more training to be done! This could be interesting!

jester1980

The hill in Dublin isn't even a hill, just a drag as said before and comes at a tough stage, few hills at the end of Athlone that are tougher. But they have a lovely down hill finish.

DBK

Dusted off my runners last night after 6 years and got out for a jog. Came back and signed up for this. Spent the rest of the night thinking "What have I done??" but in reality, I cant wait

The hill at Roebuck isn't that bad if you've included hills in your training. I thought it was like going up over a railway bridge type hill. But being at 19 mile mark people, I think, fear it. Put one foot in front of the other and suddenly you're over it :P

sydneybound

DBK wrote: »

Dusted off my runners last night after 6 years and got out for a jog. Came back and signed up for this. Spent the rest of the night thinking "What have I done??" but in reality, I cant wait

Good man yourself. Sometimes thats the best way to do it, 'the hell with it just sign up'. If you over think these things it gets a little bit harder to fill in that online registration form!

Loads of time to get your training plan in order, wish you all the best of luck.

Murph_D

TRR wrote: »

There was talk of the organisers cutting this "hill" out and bringing the route through UCD instead. I hope they don't as it adds a little mystique and atmosphere to the course.

While I was novice enough to be done in by the hill- which is more than a drag, let's not fool ourselves here - I agree it would be appalling to cut it out. The Roebuck hill is formidable more for where it comes in the race than it's actual gradient, but it's a decent challenge to the majority of DCM participants and should stay.

PaulieC

It would be a hill if you turned right instead of left at the top of it ��

dechol

Had decided not to run dcm this year but everytime I go for a run I am thinking about it. Did it last year for the first time and loved every minute so signed up last night! Let the training begin!!!

Ososlo

it'll be my first time doing DCM this year. Would people who have done it before think it's a good idea or bad idea to know the route really well? I live in Dublin and would know the route very well from the start to the exit at Phoenix Park but wouldn't have a clue after that. Would it make it more beneficial on the day to know the route really well or not know it at all or something inbetween? I'm particularly interested in checking out that mountain of a hill!
Cheers!

Kurt Godel

Ososlo wrote: »

it'll be my first time doing DCM this year. Would people who have done it before think it's a good idea or bad idea to know the route really well? I live in Dublin and would know the route very well from the start to the exit at Phoenix Park but wouldn't have a clue after that. Would it make it more beneficial on the day to know the route really well or not know it at all or something inbetween? I'm particularly interested in checking out that mountain of a hill!
Cheers!

Personally, I'd say that knowing the course really well for your first time, is a bit of overkill. There's nothing horrendous on the route, no huge surprizes that you'd be better off banking time for... far too much is made of the hill at Roebuck (I was expecting a big hill the first year I ran it and didn't realize until a mile after that I'd already ran the "big hill";)). It's all subjective though, I find the long slow drag along Clonskeagh much tougher.

By all means check out as much of the route as you like. But I think if you are training around Dublin, your legs will be well prepared for the slight undulations on the day without too much prior route analysis (it'd be a different matter if you were training on undulating routes, and targeting a super flat marathon, for instance).

RedRunner

^^^ I'd agree that alright. I ran the second half as an LSR last year and no real benefit to be honest. As Kurt says no real surprises and both years I've done it ,even though I was wrecked by the time I got to Roebuck I was still able to run up it( made a point of it to do it). The clonskeagh drag and the Crumlin Rd drag are worse.

It's kind of interesting running on strange roads though in your first marathon, all part of the experience.

dechol

Ososlo wrote: »

it'll be my first time doing DCM this year. Would people who have done it before think it's a good idea or bad idea to know the route really well? I live in Dublin and would know the route very well from the start to the exit at Phoenix Park but wouldn't have a clue after that. Would it make it more beneficial on the day to know the route really well or not know it at all or something inbetween? I'm particularly interested in checking out that mountain of a hill!
Cheers!

I ran second half a few times last year as LSRs and thought it really helped. Mentally I had broken the course into two halves. When I hit crumlin /Walkinstown I felt I was on home stretch! Knew the second half so well that it felt quicker for me. Hill at roebuck is over before u know it. Nothing like some of the hills in park.

tHE vAGGABOND

The hill in Dublin isn't even a hill, just a drag as said before and comes at a tough stage

Even tho I have done the marathon a couple of times now, I cycled this part of the course saturday. What struck me was that "the hill" itself is seriously short and not that steep to be honest, and there is a great long slow decline on the far side of it.

You cant even begin to compare it to the hill at the end of Athlone 3/4 or one of the couple of hills on the course in Connemara..

So stop worrying, if we [and I say we, as I will be racing it again this year] prepare for the race properly, we wont even notice it

TJC

€95 to enter the race before the last deadline....???? A bit Steep!!!

TJC

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

When I stay with the in-laws, I do run that "hill" from time to time. Most time I don't even notice it. It's not even a hill, just a drag, and not a very big one at that. Heartbreak Hill it ain't, that's for sure.

BUT, it did cost me a sub-3 once, back all the way to 2008. At the bottom of that "hill" I thought I was still in with a chance of breaking 3, by the time I had reached the top it was all over, time to wake up, face reality and slog the last painful miles home.

Speed bumps have a tendency of growing with 20 miles in your legs.

Agree that the drag/hill is not too bad provided you have left a bit in the tank for it....however....if you have overcooked it too early on then the drag definitely becomes a hill