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DCM 2013 Graduates - The Journey Continues!
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So, time for my race report. After the scare with the achilles on the LSR last Sunday and the tempo session on Weds I completely rested up and focused on strengthening exercises for Thu, Fri and Sat, drank lots of water and ate lots of pasta. I did get out for a cheeky 2 slow miles yesterday evening which felt great and ended up going to bed not much later than the kids last night.
Race Day. Up just before 7 for a couple of espressos, shower, followed by porridge and a bagel. Mrs D was also running the HM and offered to drive to let me rest the foot but being the big stubborn fool that I am I refused - well actually I assumed the worst and told her she'd probably have to do the drive home :pac:
Roads were empty thankfully so we were parked up, changed and at the start line for 10am. I probably should have paid better attention to all the pre race literature as I just assumed there would be portaloos near the start - unfortunately they were none (later discovered they were all located at the finish) so we both joined the queues in the hotel which fecked up the warm up routine. Back at start for 10:20 so got a bit of dynamic stretching and positioned myself a good few bodies ahead of the 1:45 pacers.
Miles 1-3 (3:39.2, 3:40.2, 3:36.1, 3:46.9, 3:48.9, 3:45.4)
Kicked off bang on time and straight out of the traps I was doing 7:20 min pace. I had studied the profile and though this HM is pitched as a flatter race I knew that from 1.5 miles in we were going to hit a 3 mile incline. Felt absolutely fantastic for these.
Miles 4-6 (3:46.7, 3:42.8, 3:33.6, 3:51.2, 3:45.6, 3:39.3)
Felt comfortable enough with the incline at this point of the race - got chatting to a bloke at the 5km point about the supposed flat terrain :pac: he reckoned he was aiming for a 1:38 finish. Told myself perfect I'll tag along with this fella for awhile but about 1 mile later felt this was holding me back a bit so decided to push on without him. Took a gel just before we entered the grounds of Johnstown Castle. Bit bendy around the gardens but a beautiful break from the roads.
Miles 7-9 (3:38.1, 3:34.2, 3:40.0, 3:47.2, 3:35.0, 3:43.9)
Had a good study of the garmin as I hit 6.5 miles. Knew I was well ahead of myself - didn't feel like I'd gone out too fast and had just been told by the lovely stewards as we left the Castle grounds that it was all downhill from here
Tucked in behind a couple of lads that seems to be running well, grabbed a bottle of water at the drinks station and tried to focus on form etc. Knew at this point a good PB was on the cards and had a bit of a chat with myself to stay in control as the first signs of pain began. This 3 mile stretch though downhill is undulating which takes you by surprise as you expect it to be a bit easier considering what you put in for the climb in the first 1/4 of the race. Took on my second gel at mile 8 at which point I kicked on from the two lads I was behind and spotted a couple of targets ahead that I wanted to get closer to :pac:
Miles 10-12 (3:43.4, 4:00.2, 3:44.1, 3:45.9, 3:49.4, 3:47.3)
9.5miles in you take the final turn back onto the N25/Rosslare road for the home stretch. You could feel the wind coming before you take the turn and the sun had broken through at this stage. Had to take a quick stop to tie the shoelaces which accounts for the 4min split. There had been a fella I'd been chasing down for a little over 1.5 miles that I lost at this point but in hindsight it was actually a healthy little break as it helped me focus in on the fact that I only had a little over a 5km race left and I was well on target. My god though this stretch is a slog - side of a main road into the wind dodging the HM walkers, cars and the sun :P Debated taking another gel around mile 11 as I was starting to suffer but I hadn't been taking much water on and felt it might disagree with me so forged on.
Miles 13 and 13.1 (3:54.0, 3:46.3, 0:35.7)
Had hoped that the final surge of energy might kick in a bit earlier but it took to around 12.7 miles before I could really dig in and picked the pace for the final 0.5 mile ... managed a sprint finish for the last .11miles @ 5.28 pace
Garmin Time:1:37:40.4
Chip Time: 1:37:41
Finish area was really well managed - also got to see Mrs D get a PB off the back of a mixed cycle of training for her. Then drove like a lunatic for home to catch the Liverpool game ... not the perfect end to the day.
Really over the moon though with the result. Its only my second Half Marathon the previous being the RnR in Dublin last August which I'd ran in 1:44:39. At that time a good friend ran the same race and ran it in just under 1:39 and I remember being in awe of him thinking I could never run that fast for a HM :P
Gonna enjoy the next couple of days off and will just run for fun this week. Plan then will be to pick one of the Daniels 10km plans for the DLR Bay 10km run on the August bank holiday weekend.0 -
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So did the Great Limerick Run half on Sunday. Came home in 1:38:30 which I'm reasonably happy with and is what the training had pointed to. Only back 8 weeks from the injury layoff so the fitness is still building. Time wise I'm more or less where I was this time last year. Hoping there'll be improvement over the next few months!
Splits as follows
7.26 7.25 7.28 7.25 7.15 7.28 7.35 7.21 7.40 7.47 7.37 7.34 7.24 1.10 (.2 of a mile)
Next up I hope to do a 10k in Sixmilebridge at the end of the month with the hope of breaking my softest pb 43.19.
You must be delighted with that after only 2 mths back into the routine. Looks like a sprint finish also
Whats the target for sixmilebridge?0 -
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You must be delighted with that after only 2 mths back into the routine. Looks like a sprint finish also
Whats the target for sixmilebridge?
Yeah happy enough - was kinda hoping to better last years time of 1:36:57 but not to be. It's going to take a while and some graft to get back to where I was. Yeah 5.50 pace for the last fifth - not sure if this means I left a bit out on the course or not.
Really enjoyed meeting up with a load of boardsies afterwards.
On the 10k I'd love to do 42:xx - we'll see0 -
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Galway 5km Series
Race #2 Loughrea chip 20:43 (13 sec PB)
Ok, so race #2...
Left it a bit late going to this so it was a bit frantic trying to get to the start line in time. Had a bit to much of a run up the road to start line, I didn't plan the trip well at all At least I remembered my watch
This was billed as a tougher 5km than last weeks by a couple of people who ran it last year. That, with the fact I was starting a bit too far back lead me to believe that this wouldn't be a PB run.
This seemed to be confirmed when we set off and I was immediately held up. For what seemed like the first 800 meters I was continually dodging and weaving (the road was very narrow), trying not to blame others as I knew it was my own fault for being late.
I just worked off the people around me, passing who I could and didn't bother too much with the watch. Plenty of little hills on this course meant pace was a bit up and down.
They had a clock on the 1 mile mark for the 60th anniversary of Roger Bannister breaking the 4 minute mile, I thought it a pity they didn't have a split time there as I passed it before I knew it
Anyway the splits...
1. 4:18
2. 4.03
3. 4.18
4. 4.29
5. 3.40
(yes, the last km was a downhill section)
Overall happy with that given the start I had. My breathing is fairly laboured rapid throughout, but I'll just put that down to effort and me not being to used to that pace..
Next weeks race is in maree, but I have a confirmation that day so will probably be having a beer instead of racing 0 -
martyboy48 wrote: »Galway 5km Series
Race #2 Loughrea chip 20:43 (13 sec PB)
Ok, so race #2...
Left it a bit late going to this so it was a bit frantic trying to get to the start line in time. Had a bit to much of a run up the road to start line, I didn't plan the trip well at all At least I remembered my watch
This was billed as a tougher 5km than last weeks by a couple of people who ran it last year. That, with the fact I was starting a bit too far back lead me to believe that this wouldn't be a PB run.
This seemed to be confirmed when we set off and I was immediately held up. For what seemed like the first 800 meters I was continually dodging and weaving (the road was very narrow), trying not to blame others as I knew it was my own fault for being late.
I just worked off the people around me, passing who I could and didn't bother too much with the watch. Plenty of little hills on this course meant pace was a bit up and down.
They had a clock on the 1 mile mark for the 60th anniversary of Roger Bannister breaking the 4 minute mile, I thought it a pity they didn't have a split time there as I passed it before I knew it
Anyway the splits...
1. 4:18
2. 4.03
3. 4.18
4. 4.29
5. 3.40
(yes, the last km was a downhill section)
Overall happy with that given the start I had. My breathing is fairly laboured rapid throughout, but I'll just put that down to effort and me not being to used to that pace..
Next weeks race is in maree, but I have a confirmation that day so will probably be having a beer instead of racing
You are flying Marty, it will be all out for Tuam so!0 -
SamforMayo wrote: »You are flying Marty, it will be all out for Tuam so!
Might try to improve in Claregalway and galway city(racecourse) as well before tuam
We'll see how it goes but fingers crossed.. Cheers 0 -
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Hi dcorcaigh,
Yes indeed I'm still here albeit very rarely! Worst mentor ever!
Ye seem to have been flowing along nicely and no questions were being asked so I saw no need to intervene!
Plus I've been up to ninety myself but thankfully things are settling down now!
I can give you some guidance here, what has been your mileage the last 6 weeks?
Apologies if you have posted it above already!
Overall the structure of the plan looks good but maybe have the Tuesday run at a recovery pace following the Monday session.
What are other peoples goals for the remainder of the year..how many of you are doing DCM?0 -
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Thanks Blockic, up until 3 weeks ago i was running between 20 and 25 miles a week, then the last few weeks due to a few factors (laziness some times!!) i have dropped back the mileage to about 10-12 miles a week but i am back on wagon again now!!
Hope things are going good in the states?
Ok, yes the plan looks good but just a couple of suggestions which you don't have to implement..just thinking out loud!
1) The more miles you get the better really, have it consistant week in/week out. and if you could build up to a bit higher that 32 it would be very beneficial (obviously this would depend on work / family etc). A peak of late 30s or 40 miles would be optimum for you at the moment. This would be done by adding warm-up and cool down miles on the Monday session and extending the shorted mid week runs as you say. Tje Tuesday run should probably not surpass 4 miles but the Wednesaday and/or Friday could extend up to 7 or 8 if you had the time!
2) For the Wednesday afternoon run (3 miles pace) this pace run (half marathon planned pace) should peak at 6 or 7 to have you ready for the half marathon. However I would advise not to start straight into the pace miles on this run...have a 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down at a minimum. The pace and cold muscles at the start is not a good combination.
3) the reason for the need to increase the midweek miles is that once to get to the peak weeks the LSR will be 50% of your weeks mileage which is not a great breakdown. The LSR should ideally be for me, 25-30% of your total weekly mileage..
Plus the more miles you do for this plan the better base you have to step up to the marathon plan after the half.
I would advise that you do once 16 mile LSR in the lead up. You can put pace miles at the end of the odd LSR if you wish but i would not advise you to do it for all of them, the midweek pace run should be your key run for the pace aspect.
4) As the weeks progress, If you feel the mileage and 2 sessions a week are taking a big toll, don't be afraid to step back, listen to your body and while the plan is a guidance, don't feel the need to stick very strictly too it.
But as I say you have the structure nailed down..be sure to tell us how it is going..0 -
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Attend confirmation and then go on the beer
Galway 5km Series
Race #3 Maree chip 20:05 (38 sec PB)
Ok I had originally planned on giving this one a miss but as I wasn't in form for beer(shock horror) I said feck it and went home early to get gear sorted.
Up to the start area I went and placed myself in a "not to bad" area, as in where I thought I'd finish kinda thing. There was a good few earphone wearers around my which slightly concerned me but not to bad I thought. As the race prepared to get underway I noticed a procession of people push up on both outer edges of the bunch. These weren't just accomplished runners, there was a fair amount of music listeners as well. I don't mean to sound like a dick about it but it kinda put me off a bit, I thought my chances were fecked up again
Sure I was held up a bit and was dodging about the place at the start but soon forgot about it and ploughed on.
Splits 4:15, 4:06, 3:57, 3:53, 3:57 (chip 20:05)
Happy camper. It was a lovely course which was a nice surprise, not sure how Tuam will compare. People say Tuam is the fastest but I'm not sure there's a faster route on this series but i'll give it a go
Plans for the rest of the year are Portumna half next month, streets of galway 8km aug, maybe run my first 10 miler simon 10k or 10mile, probably athlone half, athlone 3/4, DCM '14... Besides those there will be other 5-10-half inpromptu races when I feel I need a burst..0 -
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