DCM 2013 Graduates - The Journey Continues!

dcorcaigh

Sorry it’s a long one!!
So just over 12 weeks ago I started on training schedule that would hopefully get me a sub 1:45 in the clonmel half marathon. And with a lot of input/guidance from Blockic on my plan I started on it. because of my new family situation I was planning to do a lot of my running before work and at lunch time which would have not have impacted my home time. A typical week was club session Monday (only managed 1 in every 2 of these over the 12 weeks), Tues 4mile easy run, Wed am 6mile pace with 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool done, Wed lunch 4mile recovery, Thurs rest, Fri am 9mile run, Sat am 16 mile with 4 at pace, that was my peek week of 41miles (I never included club session miles in my weekly total as I knew I wouldn’t make all of them). Initially I found the Wed am session with the pace miles very hard to hit the pace consistently but thankfully the last 3 weeks I was hitting them easily so that was a sign I was improving. I even did a 14 mile one Saturday after a feed of drink the night before, only realised when I got back that I had my t-shirt on back to front all the time!!! Overall I was very happy with how my training went and I would like to thank Blockic again for his help all those weeks ago!!

The clonmel half is local to me so I was aiming to get a big improvement on my time from last year, last years’ time was 1:53:15. The days before the race the usual doubts were coming into my head but I am used to these now so I just ignored them! The morning of the race itself had my usual porridge breakie and headed out to get in with loads of time to spare… I hate rushing for races so I like been early which drives the missus mad who is big advocate of just in time!! Anyway the race itself, my rough plan was to take the first 2 miles handyish (gradual uphill and for some reason that section is always into a head wind!!) and then try and catch the 1:45 pacers if they were not too far ahead and then just hang onto to them for the duration. So I positioned myself just behind the pacers at the start and set off. After a few 100 metres found a good bunch of runners to tag onto to shelter from the head wind, after the turnoff at mile 3 at barn I set my goal of catching the pace train with thankfully wasn’t too far ahead and I was onto the back of them by mile 4. Miles 3-4 were downhill and fast. Short climb just before mile 5 mile and then a steep ish downhill section to mile 6 at knocklofty. I was running very comfortably at this stage and I wasn’t finding the pace too difficult and it helped that there was good banter within the group. The next 3 miles are flat (miles 7, 8 & 9) as they follow the suir back into town. It was around mile9 that I started feeling tired and I took my second gel at this stage and prayed it got me over the hill to come. The pacers plan was the have a minute in the bag for the hill at mile 10 and at mile 10 (unofficial 10mile PB also by 1min!!) they informed us there was 55seconds to be used on the hill for the next mile. I knew what was coming and I wasn’t looking forward to it, legs were very tired now. I stayed with the group until the last 200metres of the hill and then I just couldn’t stick with them anymore, and I left them off. At the top I took some much needed water on board , slowed down to get my breath back and then just put the head down for the last 2 miles. I knew I was touch and go to get in under 1:45 after losing the pacers but I kept it going, even managed a little sprint for the finish line. Gun time was 1:45:11 but my watch said 1:44:44, delighted to get in under the 1:45 even if it was by skin of teeth!! The official results afterwards have my gun time and chip as the same as my chip didn’t register going over the startline, I am little disappointed with that but I know I got in under 1:45 so that’s all that matters!! Still it’s an 8.5minute PB… next year sub 1:40!! I quiet like the route, I know some people think it’s a tough course but the only actual hill is at mile 10 but I suppose where it comes in the race is the killer and the route has lots of downhill land flat sections, believe me it’s a lot worse in reverse as I have done that way a few times in training runs!!

As per usual another fantastic race organised by Clonmel AC and the food afterwards was spot on, I think I put back on any bit of weight I lost during the race!!

Splits were
1) 7:58
2) 8:11
3) 7:45
4) 7:37
5) 8:12 (short hill)
6) 7:37
7) 7:45
8) 7:58
9) 7:57
10) 8:06
11) 8:33 (the hill)
12) 8:17
13) 8:14
.1) 6:43

Roll on DCM14….

SamforMayo

dcorcaigh wrote: »

Sorry it’s a long one!!
So just over 12 weeks ago I started on training schedule that would hopefully get me a sub 1:45 in the clonmel half marathon. And with a lot of input/guidance from Blockic on my plan I started on it. because of my new family situation I was planning to do a lot of my running before work and at lunch time which would have not have impacted my home time. A typical week was club session Monday (only managed 1 in every 2 of these over the 12 weeks), Tues 4mile easy run, Wed am 6mile pace with 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool done, Wed lunch 4mile recovery, Thurs rest, Fri am 9mile run, Sat am 16 mile with 4 at pace, that was my peek week of 41miles (I never included club session miles in my weekly total as I knew I wouldn’t make all of them). Initially I found the Wed am session with the pace miles very hard to hit the pace consistently but thankfully the last 3 weeks I was hitting them easily so that was a sign I was improving. I even did a 14 mile one Saturday after a feed of drink the night before, only realised when I got back that I had my t-shirt on back to front all the time!!! Overall I was very happy with how my training went and I would like to thank Blockic again for his help all those weeks ago!!

The clonmel half is local to me so I was aiming to get a big improvement on my time from last year, last years’ time was 1:53:15. The days before the race the usual doubts were coming into my head but I am used to these now so I just ignored them! The morning of the race itself had my usual porridge breakie and headed out to get in with loads of time to spare… I hate rushing for races so I like been early which drives the missus mad who is big advocate of just in time!! Anyway the race itself, my rough plan was to take the first 2 miles handyish (gradual uphill and for some reason that section is always into a head wind!!) and then try and catch the 1:45 pacers if they were not too far ahead and then just hang onto to them for the duration. So I positioned myself just behind the pacers at the start and set off. After a few 100 metres found a good bunch of runners to tag onto to shelter from the head wind, after the turnoff at mile 3 at barn I set my goal of catching the pace train with thankfully wasn’t too far ahead and I was onto the back of them by mile 4. Miles 3-4 were downhill and fast. Short climb just before mile 5 mile and then a steep ish downhill section to mile 6 at knocklofty. I was running very comfortably at this stage and I wasn’t finding the pace too difficult and it helped that there was good banter within the group. The next 3 miles are flat (miles 7, 8 & 9) as they follow the suir back into town. It was around mile9 that I started feeling tired and I took my second gel at this stage and prayed it got me over the hill to come. The pacers plan was the have a minute in the bag for the hill at mile 10 and at mile 10 (unofficial 10mile PB also by 1min!!) they informed us there was 55seconds to be used on the hill for the next mile. I knew what was coming and I wasn’t looking forward to it, legs were very tired now. I stayed with the group until the last 200metres of the hill and then I just couldn’t stick with them anymore, and I left them off. At the top I took some much needed water on board , slowed down to get my breath back and then just put the head down for the last 2 miles. I knew I was touch and go to get in under 1:45 after losing the pacers but I kept it going, even managed a little sprint for the finish line. Gun time was 1:45:11 but my watch said 1:44:44, delighted to get in under the 1:45 even if it was by skin of teeth!! The official results afterwards have my gun time and chip as the same as my chip didn’t register going over the startline, I am little disappointed with that but I know I got in under 1:45 so that’s all that matters!! Still it’s an 8.5minute PB… next year sub 1:40!! I quiet like the route, I know some people think it’s a tough course but the only actual hill is at mile 10 but I suppose where it comes in the race is the killer and the route has lots of downhill land flat sections, believe me it’s a lot worse in reverse as I have done that way a few times in training runs!!

As per usual another fantastic race organised by Clonmel AC and the food afterwards was spot on, I think I put back on any bit of weight I lost during the race!!

Splits were
1) 7:58
2) 8:11
3) 7:45
4) 7:37
5) 8:12 (short hill)
6) 7:37
7) 7:45
8) 7:58
9) 7:57
10) 8:06
11) 8:33 (the hill)
12) 8:17
13) 8:14
.1) 6:43

Roll on DCM14….

Well done, what time are you training for in DCM?

dcorcaigh

SamforMayo wrote: »

Well done, what time are you training for in DCM?

McMillan predicts 3:40 after that race but I know that's not realistic, so sub 4 is the goal and anything better will be a bonus. Did 4:19 last year

SamforMayo

dcorcaigh wrote: »

McMillan predicts 3:40 after that race but I know that's not realistic, so sub 4 is the goal and anything better will be a bonus. Did 4:19 last year

Ahh Id say sub 4 is soft enough target really if training goes well!

blockic

Just catching up here, well done dcorcaigh! Great effort. Agree with Sam. Don't sell yourself short. 3:50 is definitely on at the least.

Bulmers74

So who's heading to Athlone on Saturday? How r ye fixed & what kind of time r ye hoping for? A bit weary from marathon training myself, hoping for sub 1:32.

MiketheMechanic

Its fairly quiet in here folks ;-)
Everyone busy with training, now that they're graduates I suppose.

I've been meaning to post on here for ages.
I followed the mentored novices thread for my first 2 marathons, (and I'm still following it!), but it's time to post here too.

Did the Dingle Half on Saturday as a scheduled prep race for DCM 2014.
It couldn't have gone better. Felt strong all the way around and got a new PB. Has given me a confidence boost for DUblin and an incentive to stick to my training plan and succeed.

Altius et Fortius.
MtM

Woden

Timely post Mike. Just signed up for Dublin today and booked flights this evening! Not as motivated as last year but we'll give it a go sure!

martyboy48

Bulmers74 wrote: »

So who's heading to Athlone on Saturday? How r ye fixed & what kind of time r ye hoping for? A bit weary from marathon training myself, hoping for sub 1:32.

Well I'm signed up anyways Had/Have a bit of knee pain lately but I'm keeping a close eye on it. Did a couple of short easy runs to rest it a bit and gave it a 27k LSR on sunday. It held up well but still have a slight dull pain at times. Don't know how it will be if I put race effort into it but sure I suppose I'll see soon enough If I go to Athlone I'll be racing, and if I'm racing God knows what will happen Goal sub Bulmers74 See ya there

MiketheMechanic wrote: »

Its fairly quiet in here folks ;-)
Everyone busy with training, now that they're graduates I suppose.

I've been meaning to post on here for ages.
I followed the mentored novices thread for my first 2 marathons, (and I'm still following it!), but it's time to post here too.

Did the Dingle Half on Saturday as a scheduled prep race for DCM 2014.
It couldn't have gone better. Felt strong all the way around and got a new PB. Has given me a confidence boost for DUblin and an incentive to stick to my training plan and succeed.

Altius et Fortius.
MtM

Do me a favour and help keep this thread alive
Good to get a good result like that, it puts you in good shape for Dublin, it takes a lot of worry from the next few weeks
Hope it goes well for you, you've most of the hard work done now

Woden wrote: »

Timely post Mike. Just signed up for Dublin today and booked flights this evening! Not as motivated as last year but we'll give it a go sure!

You better start getting motivated, we're nearly there :pac: I'm sure you secretly chomping at the bit to get to the start line Have a good one

rob w

Bulmers74 wrote: »

So who's heading to Athlone on Saturday? How r ye fixed & what kind of time r ye hoping for? A bit weary from marathon training myself, hoping for sub 1:32.

I always seem to forget about this thread until it pops up every so often!

Ill be in Athlone too, but similarly to martyboy I have a little niggle at the moment which Im trying to shake!

If im in good shape come Saturday ill be hoping for sub 1.35! Otherwise ill just totter around and collect my goodie bag/beer at the finish as I have been looking forward to this one for quite a while now!

Bulmers74

martyboy48 wrote: »

Well I'm signed up anyways Had/Have a bit of knee pain lately but I'm keeping a close eye on it. Did a couple of short easy runs to rest it a bit and gave it a 27k LSR on sunday. It held up well but still have a slight dull pain at times. Don't know how it will be if I put race effort into it but sure I suppose I'll see soon enough If I go to Athlone I'll be racing, and if I'm racing God knows what will happen Goal sub Bulmers74 See ya there

Very coy - you're not giving away too much on tactics there;) & just for a bit of downplaying you throw in the auld I've a bit of a dicky knee

Bulmers74

rob w wrote: »

I always seem to forget about this thread until it pops up every so often!

Ill be in Athlone too, but similarly to martyboy I have a little niggle at the moment which Im trying to shake!

If im in good shape come Saturday ill be hoping for sub 1.35! Otherwise ill just totter around and collect my goodie bag/beer at the finish as I have been looking forward to this one for quite a while now!

From reading your log sub 1:35 is there for you. Having 1:35 pacers should help big time. Might join ye for a couple of miles!

Bulmers74

Woden wrote: »

Timely post Mike. Just signed up for Dublin today and booked flights this evening! Not as motivated as last year but we'll give it a go sure!

Haven't signed up yet - will wait & see how I get on at the weekend. I've also looked into the possibility of Frankfurt on the 26th but will probably be Dublin.

jmcc99_98

Havent posted in here in ages and ages, tried to catch up on the last few pages, well done to all, everyone seems to be going well.

I wanted a sub 4 in DCM2013 but missed it by 4 minutes. Im not doing DCM this year but I am running the Berlin Marathon in 19 days! Training has gone well and again the target is sub 4.

Best of luck to you all doing DCM, I had thought about doing it aswell as Berlin but I decided against it as the gap between the two races was too short.

martyboy48

Bulmers74 wrote: »

Very coy - you're not giving away too much on tactics there;) & just for a bit of downplaying you throw in the auld I've a bit of a dicky knee

Thought that would bring you out of the long grass :-D.
I'll be going with 1:30 and hanging on for dear life.... ➕ :-D

Bulmers74

martyboy48 wrote: »

Thought that would bring you out of the long grass :-D.
I'll be going with 1:30 and hanging on for dear life.... ➕ :-D

All summer I thought I'd be doing the same for this race but after blowing up in Clonmel I'm thinking of taking a more cautious approach. Then again all that could go out the window on the start line with the smell of competition in the air Forecast looking good - dry with little wind, could be hot.

SamforMayo

martyboy48 wrote: »

Thought that would bring you out of the long grass :-D.
I'll be going with 1:30 and hanging on for dear life.... ➕ :-D

Marty I have every faith in you, but if that knee starts giving bother pull up! You don't want to be facing DCM carrying an injury again!

martyboy48

Bulmers74 wrote: »

All summer I thought I'd be doing the same for this race but after blowing up in Clonmel I'm thinking of taking a more cautious approach. Then again all that could go out the window on the start line with the smell of competition in the air Forecast looking good - dry with little wind, could be hot.

If I get something printed on my top like "are you chicken", will that tip you into full on race mode No, seriously though, like you 1:30 was the plan before the little setback. Still planning on giving it a go if nothing flares up though. Best of luck with the race anyways, hopefully it will set you up nicely for Dubin or Frankfurt

SamforMayo wrote: »

Marty I have every faith in you, but if that knee starts giving bother pull up! You don't want to be facing DCM carrying an injury again!

Well here come the pressure from the Mayo woman Ya, no worries about that, if there's any sign of trouble I'll pull the reigns in alright. I'm not that stubborn/stupid to risk further problems.....or am i

Facing DCM carrying an injury again:eek: I wasn't injured going into it last year:D You thinking of Martypk??

SamforMayo

martyboy48 wrote: »

If I get something printed on my top like "are you chicken", will that tip you into full on race mode No, seriously though, like you 1:30 was the plan before the little setback. Still planning on giving it a go if nothing flares up though. Best of luck with the race anyways, hopefully it will set you up nicely for Dubin or Frankfurt



Well here come the pressure from the Mayo woman Ya, no worries about that, if there's any sign of trouble I'll pull the reigns in alright. I'm not that stubborn/stupid to risk further problems.....or am i

Facing DCM carrying an injury again:eek: I wasn't injured going into it last year:D You thinking of Martypk??

Ah sorry Marty , it's old age setting in! Best of luck with it! Looking forward to the race report!

SamforMayo

Best of luck to all tomorrow! @ Marty Boy, I can't be waiting half the day to find out how you did so put the foot down good man and bring Bulmers with you. (The runner not the drink)

martyboy48

Cheers SfM, I'll give it a lash anyways and see what happens, hopefully I'll be up for it when we set off... But don't be believing Bulmers soft chat and sandbagging. He'll be well up and probably ahead of me. He's the 2013 graduates king of mind games Coming back from injury my ass, I heard he was out in foreign training camps earlier in the year Cute whoore

Good luck to the rest of the crew here doing it

blockic

Best of luck to all racing!

SamforMayo

martyboy48 wrote: »

Cheers SfM, I'll give it a lash anyways and see what happens, hopefully I'll be up for it when we set off... But don't be believing Bulmers soft chat and sandbagging. He'll be well up and probably ahead of me. He's the 2013 graduates king of mind games Coming back from injury my ass, I heard he was out in foreign training camps earlier in the year Cute whoore

Good luck to the rest of the crew here doing it

Well is nt Bulmers the little devil, Marty I'm giving a direct order - take him
Down or die trying! The good news is there are no referees at theses events!

skeleton_boy

Best of luck over the weekend lads.

DOCO12

Best of luck Marty and gang.

martyboy48

A quick one... Report that is

Plan was to go with 1:30 pacer and have a right go at it. Knee rested previous 2 days and took painkiller before race with a dose of deep heat as I love that smell
Bumped into Bulmers74 around briefing area and had a bit of a chat. As with most runners there, the main thing to talk about was the weather, fuk but it was warm A 500 meter warm up jog had me wiping sweat from my forehead

Summary of the race itself.... To friggin hot

Went with 1:30 pacer and stuck fairly close to him, no more than 25 meters behind. Tough going but kept at it.
Was kind of finding it tough going, but nothing alarming up to 15k. There was times when I started to fade a bit, but thoughts of SfMs pressure made me pick it up again A few times during the race when I was struggling a bit I thought of some of the peeps here supporting me and though of some others who unfortunately picked up injuries lately. Enough to get me to pluck every bit out of me.... But then......

It all came to ahead around 19k. Suddenly I notice them pulling away. Went to give it a bit more but nothing there. Realised then that it was me that was dropping off at an alarming rate. By 19.5 I had to pull up for a bit. A bit of dizzyness and the "just ran out of steam" feeling had me reeling. Went to press the lap on the garmin to mark the spot where it went bad for me but think I stopped it even though the time continued to when I noticed it while having an erdinger at the finish area

After my brief walk break, I went and jogged a bit to try to get going again and not lose to much time. Not to bad albeit at a slower rate. Caught up with a Mayo lad at around the 20 mark and ran with him for a bit. Just before the final bend he told me to give it a sprint to the finish and after dismissing his idea to start with, I gave in and had a go. To my surprise I managed it

Splits(until I turned the effin thing off grrrr)
4:06, 4:15, 4:17, 4:14, 4:14
4:10, 4:15, 4:18, 4:12, 4:15
4:11, 4:16, 4:12, 4:10, 4:14
4:07, 4:11, 4:14, 4:22.................................

Result 1:31:04 (PB of 2min 04sec)

Thoughts.... TOUGH GOING.. surprised how fast it was snapped from my grasp And how helpless I felt

Very warm out there and a lot of people suffered it seamed.Few decent runners I know from work ect all struggled, and it seems like a lot around here did to.
Heat was probably the biggest factor today and I saw a lot of activity with ambulances and order of malta guys looking after a lot of people. Hope they are all recovered by now.

A great well organised race again this year, hats of to the organisers. They all seem very enthusiastic and loved what they were doing, well done to all. Will be back next year

career move

That's a super time Marty in the conditions. Well done

SamforMayo

Jes that's a fantastic result especially given the heat! I'm so proud of you! That sub 1:30 would be guaranteed on a day with better conditions. Delighted for you, go celebrate!

skeleton_boy

That's lots of smilies Well done you should be delighted with that pb with still more to come.

Bulmers74

career move wrote: »

That's a super time Marty in the conditions. Well done

A big +1 to this. A great performance Marty - well done. Enjoyed catching up. Hopefully next time we have a beer it won't be sans alcohol!

As for myself I suffered badly today. Not sure what it means for me and DCM but I'll mull it over during the week. Have been finding mp very tough over the last few weeks. Next weekends 10 easy + 10 @ mp should tell a tale