DCM 2014: Mentored Novices Thread

menoscemo

AuldManKing wrote: »

Anyone doing Athlone tomorrow, say hello, I'll be the one in the shorts and runners, with a narky git by my side talking about boxing for 2 hrs 45 mins

fyp, the rest is all true...

Firedance

AuldManKing wrote: »

Anyone doing Athlone tomorrow, say hello, I'll be the one in the shorts and runners, with a narky git by my side talking about boxing for 2 hrs 40 mins

I'll be about 50 mins behind you!! Will keep an eye out before the start tho, what group are u pacing?

AuldManKing

Firedance wrote: »

I'll be about 50 mins behind you!! Will keep an eye out before the start tho, what group are u pacing?

3:30 equivalent. Green balloon apparently.

Looking for advice 2013

Let the taper begin!

Did 20miles this morning and it was though but delighted I've completed it and if I never run again I can always say once I ran 20miles. I had a sports message on we'd and took Thursday and Friday off and I felt that really helped. If I can I can finish in under 5 hours I will be over the moon but just to finish would be amazing.

Well done on all the runs.

MLC_biker

Ososlo wrote: »

Fair play to you! That's some run well done!!!!
I'd say you'd be capable of doing a slightly faster marathon time if you wanted but if you're happy to run your lsr pace on the day then that's your choice and you'll have a great day!

Thanks,I have it in my head that enjoying the day is more important than a few minutes quicker...until I'm at the start line :-)

Laois_Man

After all the positive LSR reports, the problem child of the thread has arrived to bring the mood down. Can't you just feel the black clouds starting to take position overhead?

Before they arrive, there are some positives to mention. I set out at marathon start time 9:10am with no idea of how far I would go and the weather was perfect - not a cloud in the sky and a pleasant slight breeze. 21.2 miles was on the plan but I was really only concentrating on getting 18 done and then I would go on from there if I felt up to it.

I felt a lot better and I wasn't suffering anything like last Monday's disastrous 8 miles. I don't know whether this was because of the 5 days off, or because the sports massages are helping me, or because this was a morning run, where I almost always run after 8pm. Probably a combination of all 3.

I got to 6 miles with each mile under 11:00 pace (yes, I have fallen so far, this is actually a success to me nowadays).

And the really positive news is, I got the 21.2 miles done. And I did it more than 15 minutes faster than last weekends 21 miles (although that's not saying much)

Now the black clouds are in place....

The "But" is,....whilest everyone else is going much faster and finishing 20 miles still fresh, I suppose I am paying the price for injuries, many missed runs and so I am still hitting the wall on mile 18.

At mile 7, I started paying for a mistake...my knee hadn't been complaining at me over the last few days and as a result, I forgot to wear the knee stabalizer that helped me so much on last weeks LSR. While it wasn't too bad, it slowed me for 5 miles, then eased and I got the pace back up again for the next 4 (relatively up). Then I just gradually got slower to the point where the last 3 miles were 12:xx pace. I can't even blame the knee coz that was OK at that point - which is why I decided at 18 miles to stay going. But I was exhausted, and finished the "run" in a rather embarrassing 3:59:00 exactly, almost being passed out by auld grannies walking their dogs.

When I stopped, the knee started screaming at me. But I think it's fairly OK now and I recovered my energy fairly well.

Now I am left without a clue what to aim for on the 27th or what pace group to try to go with. I'm half convincing myself that I can pull something out of the bag on race day - cos I always have done better than I thought in every race I have ever done (even in a HM I got badly injured in a year and 4 months ago) - except none of them were marathons!

So now the black cloud is starting to lift, I too can now say "Taper!!!" - although I'm not that sure what exactly I am tapering from!

Now you can all go back to being all happy again.....4v(kers!!

SeanPuddin

Last LSR tomorrow in a 30K race. Was initially down to race the half marathon but the gent behind the registration desk bumped up the distance for free. Going to stay at LSR and not get carried away, I repeat, I will not get carried away! Even though I've avoided gels until now, I'm going to take one at 13.1 mile point just to see what'll happen, I have notions of turning into Popeye to be honest.

Best of luck to all racing Athlone and anyone else doing the last LSR of the DCM 2014 novices cycle. It's been emotional

ciaranmac

AuldManKing wrote: »

Anyone doing Athlone tomorrow, say hello, I'll be the one in the shorts and runners, with a narky git by my side talking about boxing for 2 hrs 40 mins

Leave the immersion on, I'll be around about an hour after you.

crisco10

Woohoo!! final LSR done before taper...was a bit of a struggle and needed thought of tapering to get me through it at points. Like last week, I tried to replicate the marathon morning. So had my marathon kit on, gels in pocket, light breakfast and out the door. Only non-marathon piece of kit was small bag with small water bottle in it. I will just take water at water stations on the day. It was cold this morning; hands were freezing for first few k!

Had decided to slip in the second half the DCM course into my run. Very glad I did! I actually didn't know any of the roads up around crumlin etc so nice to get a gander at them.
As someone said previously, the hill from Dolphins Barn to Crumlin hospital is a bit of a drag...into the wind too! But yes, it's fairly flat and slightly downhill all the way to UCD then and I hardly noticed the hill at Rosebuck it was so short!

Lovely quick finish too, down Shelbourne road then a left right turn and there is fitzwilliam square! Nothing else really noteworthy, Kimmage Road west has quite a camber on it so might make an effort to stay out of the gutter there....

Here is the link to my garmin for the run. The marathon section I did spans from about 5.5km to 27.5km if anybody is interested!

Feeling much better now about DCM than I was 4 weeks ago, strong 18, 21, 22 milers this last 3 weeks has increased my confidence. Also had a few tough mid-week sessions. Body is tired tonight but in a good way! Fingers crossed taper madness isn't too oppressive! I will just occupy my time putting together spreadsheets to try and find my target time!

Good luck to anyone running tomorrow!

skittles11

20 mile LSR done yesterday morning, let the taper begin! It's weird thinking of next weeks 12mile LSR as a nice short run!!

LSR went well bar going a little too fast. My GPS watch finally gave up last week so I decided to run at a pace that felt slow but as usual that pace crept up and I ended up running 9min/miles instead of my intended 9.25's

Now I have some pain in the inside of my left knee, by inside I mean on my inside leg. Its far from severe but it's fairly constant. Going to take today and tomorrow as full rest days then see how it feels and maybe take a couple more rest days if necessary. Would icing help? There's no swelling or surface pain when I touch it, just feels like a sore tendon.

On the plus side, my wife bought me "an early Christmas present" of a Garmin Forerunner 110 so the sooner my knee recovers the sooner I can play with my new toy!!

Ososlo

skittles11 wrote: »

20 mile LSR done yesterday morning, let the taper begin! It's weird thinking of next weeks 12mile LSR as a nice short run!!

LSR went well bar going a little too fast. My GPS watch finally gave up last week so I decided to run at a pace that felt slow but as usual that pace crept up and I ended up running 9min/miles instead of my intended 9.25's

Now I have some pain in the inside of my left knee, by inside I mean on my inside leg. Its far from severe but it's fairly constant. Going to take today and tomorrow as full rest days then see how it feels and maybe take a couple more rest days if necessary. Would icing help? There's no swelling or surface pain when I touch it, just feels like a sore tendon.

On the plus side, my wife bought me "an early Christmas present" of a Garmin Forerunner 110 so the sooner my knee recovers the sooner I can play with my new toy!!

Well done on the run! Fantastic if a little fast. Take it very easy with the pace on the remainder of your runs.
Yes ice it and elevate it.
Let us know how it is...

flogen

Hey folks... hoping to get some advice (and hopefully a bit of reassurance!)

I'm following a programme on the RunKeeper app (I'd started before I found this thread!) and it's a bit different to what most of you are doing.

The main difference (and the bit that's starting to worry me) is that the maximum LSR is 16 miles (you do that 3 times in all before the taper) rather than 20 - but you it the day after one of the shorter mid-week runs (so I did 8 on Friday & 16 on Saturday - last week I did 6 & 14 etc).

The claim is that by doing a mid-length back-to-back with the LSR, the fatigue you carry over in your legs gives you the effect of a longer run with less of the injury risk... I can see the logic in that, though I don't know how sound the science is... and as the big day approaches I'm starting to get a bit nervous about those extra 10 miles I'll be facing down!

I'm wondering if anyone here can let me know what they think about the set-up of the plan (bit late now, I suppose, but worth asking!) and if people think it will put me in good stead for the day itself.

I've been happy with my progress on the plan itself, but just need a bit of reassurance so I don't psyche myself out when it comes to race day.

Ososlo

flogen wrote: »

Hey folks... hoping to get some advice (and hopefully a bit of reassurance!)

I'm following a programme on the RunKeeper app (I'd started before I found this thread!) and it's a bit different to what most of you are doing.

The main difference (and the bit that's starting to worry me) is that the maximum LSR is 16 miles (you do that 3 times in all before the taper) rather than 20 - but you it the day after one of the shorter mid-week runs (so I did 8 on Friday & 16 on Saturday - last week I did 6 & 14 etc).

The claim is that by doing a mid-length back-to-back with the LSR, the fatigue you carry over in your legs gives you the effect of a longer run with less of the injury risk... I can see the logic in that, though I don't know how sound the science is... and as the big day approaches I'm starting to get a bit nervous about those extra 10 miles I'll be facing down!

I'm wondering if anyone here can let me know what they think about the set-up of the plan (bit late now, I suppose, but worth asking!) and if people think it will put me in good stead for the day itself.

I've been happy with my progress on the plan itself, but just need a bit of reassurance so I don't psyche myself out when it comes to race day.

Hi flogen
well done with the training.
You have to have faith in your training and plan so at this point I'd get rid of any negative thoughts. The plan is set up that way for a reason so it obviously works.
It's completely normal to be feeling this way at this point by the way no matter what plan you're following
You said yourself that you're happy with your progress so that in itself speaks volumes

smashiner

Yippee did a 20 mile lsr today!
Time was 3:04, so on the cusp of sub 4 hours for the DCM......so conflicted what to aim for on the day!!
Feel really happy about the run as my last 6 miles was faster than the first 14. Took a few gels (made my hair a bit sticky), and a few jelly babies with lucozade which worked well I think. Might make that my last lsr and aim for a comfortable HM next weekend....

Great running BTW guys, keep it up!
Have to dash, there are auditions for the local Christmas Panto "The Wizard of Oz", reckon I am a shoe in for the Tin Man after that LSR:-) :-) :-)

smashiner

Yippee did a 20 mile lsr today!
Time was 3:04, so on the cusp of sub 4 hours for the DCM......so conflicted what to aim for on the day!!
Feel really happy about the run as my last 6 miles was faster than the first 14. Took a few gels (made my hair a bit sticky), and a few jelly babies with locozade which worked well I think. Might make that my last lsr and aim for a comfortable HM next weekend....

Great running BTW guys, keep it up!
Have to dash, there are auditions for the local Christmas Panto "The Wizard of Oz", reckon I am a shoe in for the Tin Man after that LSR:-) :-) :-)

Pacing Mule

Need new legs installed before DCM

RunRoryRun

22 miles yesterday. Took it REALLY easy at about 1 min / mile slower than MP. Obviously felt wrecked at the finish but was able to speed up at the end and the last 3 miles were my fastest. Legs are a bit sore today, but nothing too bad. TAPER!!!

Casey78

20.3 mile lsr done....!
Picked a route that followed some of the Marathon route all the way up Chesterfield Avenue out into Castleknock,back into Park at Mount Sackville school and down upper glen road and out into Chapel Lizod. Then down towards Kilmanham. At this point I headed back towards Island Bridge and down back into Park at the Court House.
I did this loop twice which brought me up to 18miles so just found two more miles running around the Park.
Found the last mile tough but the run went well and I finished in an average of 9'53 pace.

I tackled the hill on St Lawrence's Road twice(just as you come out of Chapel Lizod). Found it easy enough first time which was at about 6 miles but the second time at about 14 miles was very tough.
Nearly got killed by a OAP who opened the car door just as I ran past the Church in Chapel Lizod...that was a close call...

I had the car parked on Chesterfield Avenue so at mile 10 I was able stop for about 30 seconds to get a new bottle of water and more gels which was handy.

So that's the last of the long runs for me! Well done to everyone who did their lsr this weekend,great reading all the success stories.!

locombia

20.3 miles done this morning too! Average pace of 9.46 and felt comfortable throughout (although the first 3 miles in the wind and rain were not that pleasant). Got my stride after that for the rest of my run and was even able to pick up pace for the last 3 miles, very much to my surprise :-) Took gels at mile 7,13 &17 with a few jelly babies in between.Had diluted lucozade with nuun tablet which I sipped at on every mile. Did my run around county Sligo as I'm up visiting the folks and planned my finish at Rosses point where I jumped into the sea afterwards. Three words- I FELT ALIVE :-) Feeling confident to be able to run the full 26.2 now. Well done to all here on their training. Nearly there!!!!

Firedance

Woohooooo! Athlone done, sore tired & still have to drive home but I survived & did the time id hoped which was around 3.30, TAPER yay. Will do a report tomorrow & catch up on everyone else's later :-)

flogen

Ososlo wrote: »

Hi flogen
well done with the training.
You have to have faith in your training and plan so at this point I'd get rid of any negative thoughts. The plan is set up that way for a reason so it obviously works.
It's completely normal to be feeling this way at this point by the way no matter what plan you're following
You said yourself that you're happy with your progress so that in itself speaks volumes

Thanks for that - I know you're right... I'd probably feel something similar even if I'd hit the 20 mark, just final stretch nerves I guess.

I was comfortable enough running 16 at a good pace yesterday even with 8 in my legs - have to remind myself that the legs should be a lot fresher on the main event too, which should help in the last quarter.

Just need to focus on the positives and enjoy the next few weeks!

Thanks

laura_ac3

Hi all,

Well done on the lsr's folks - reading about everyone yesterday was great preparation for mine! After last week's slightly disappointing training and some miles a touch on the fast side this week was all about time on my feet, slow miles and making sure my niggles got no worse.

Sunday: 5 very slow and very easy recovery miles, alot of tightness.

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 8 miles at lsr pace. Legs feeling a good bit better and a reasonably enjoyable run.

Wednesday: another pt session mostly working on hips, hip flexors etc.

Thursday: 5 miles easy, a bit of tenderness from the previous day.

Friday: rest.

Saturday: unplanned rest day due to cold. Stupid bus germs.

Sunday: 20 mile lsr. Feeling much better so said I'd chance this today. Much preferable to finding a safe 20 mile route in the dark midweek. I did need to stop a few times in the second half to do some stretching to loosen up. Stuck to a fairly flat route this week to focus on the distance and to not aggravate anything. I did manage to pick up the pace to do 4 pmp miles at the end.

So here is taper. Hopefully a chance to let the legs freshen up, and niggles a chance to recover. I have another PT session this week too. Alot to reflect on (and probably worry about) in the last couple of weeks before the big day but that can be left for another day I think. On a final note I think my taper madness has started early - I dreamt last night that I forgot to charge my Garmin before dcm and only realised a couple of miles in that the battery was low. I think my OH may have lost some respect for me when I told him about it. Oh well

Happy running - and tapering

Corrib man

Down there too, hills were tough as hell! Did 2.58 so happy out. Gud run all the same and very well organised.

SamforMayo

Corrib man wrote: »

Down there too, hills were tough as hell! Did 2.58 so happy out. Gud run all the same and very well organised.

Great run on a tough course, it will stand to you, well done.

KillianByrne

Athlone done, enjoyed it a lot. Nice to discover there is more to running than the race series.
Ran it all and finished 3:28, a bit faster than my plan but not much.

Race report to follow when I escape my mother in laws in Ballinasloe and get home.

martyoo

Athlone went really well. Slowed it down a lot due to injury and actually enjoyed the run which is a first for me. Stuck with the 4hr pacer for the most part. Sound lad and it really helped having him there keeping pace. Finished about 3:08.

sca21

22 miles done at 9.43 pace. I chose an uninspiring 1.5 mile lap route today because it was well sheltered from the elements. Nevertheless, it wasn't as bad as I thought and it was great leaving water gels etc at the side. Set off slowly gradually building it up to 9.45 pace. Took two gels one at 7 and 14miles. Haven't checked my splits yet but I was surprised with miles 18 to 22 were done at 9.30 pace so I finished well which is always a good sign. I'm glad that's over now as I felt it hanging over me all week. Might squeeze in a 16 lsr next week then I'm done. Reading the reports yesterday was a great encouragement to get out and just do it. So well done all. Nearly there!

Firedance

home at last and waiting for the water to heat for a nice long soak in the bath. Athlone was a very tough course I have to say, hill after hill after hill with not many of them coming down it felt like!! We were blessed with the weather in the end though and although chilly at the start & a 'cool breeze' blowing throughout I think I'm happy with my race outfit even if cold on 27th. Good crowd there so didn't get to see any of our pacers, started close to the back in a group that seemed to have the same idea about taking it handy enough although we were going slightly faster than I'd have done if alone.
The first 10 miles were ok although my foot was letting me know its not 100% healed and also had some hamstring/lower back pain on my right which I really need to work on with physio/foam roller etc in the next few weeks. One of my club mates was running with me and we were joined by another girl who was a friend of a friend, the company made all the difference. Second 10 miles were tough for me but I kept going only stopping once on one of the final hills which was practically horizontal!!! So while I found it tough and I've pain in lots of new places (I obviously need to run more hills!) I'm much happier with today than the half in Athlone a few weeks ago. Was able to sprint to the finish (so to speak) and I think if i had to I could keep going for another few miles provided I can win the battle that was going on in my head.... Well done to the organisers, the water stops had the most amazing selection of food! oranges, water melon, fruit cake, jellies, the only thing I took was water melon though conscious of not trying anything new on the day - would have preferred the fruit cake at the end :-) My splits are not what they should be and I don't seem capable of ever doing a negative split but here they are:

9.55, 9.57, 10.21, 10.15,10.37, 10.20, 10.25, 11.11, 10.17, 10.30, 10.44, 10.26, 10.20, 10.41, 11.12, 11.26, 11.36, 11.05, 12.27, 6.25

the 12.27 one was the last hill which was a total killer so I'm ok with that! the last split was not a full mile obviously.

I'm really counting on the taper and the whole 'fresh legs' thing....

Well done to everyone on their long runs this weekend, I've been pretty much off the beer/wine for the duration but I'm having a beer this eve, reckon I've earned it :-)

p.s. watch time was 3.30 but text from organisers says 3.33(?) their splits for me are Q1 1.08, q2 1.10 q3 1.14

Dub13

22m LSR done today, went out only intending to do 20 but felt good near the end so pushed on for my second 22 mile LSR. Was at 6:01 min/km but that's because I put in a few MP KM'S in the run.

SoundoftheSea

I am so happy to report that I completed my 20 mile LSR.

I wanted to head out at 9.30, DCM time,as most of my runs were midday or evening. I had hydrated well over the previous few days and had a pasta and chicken dinner the evening before. Woke up feeling crap, dodgy tummy and headache. I wanted to stay in bed but I went for it. I knew I needed to get it done psychologically and physically and if this was D day I wouldn't give in.
First 3 mils were very tough kept feeling like I was going to puke or pass out. Held off as long as I could to take gel and just sipped on the water.
Stock to my planned route with plenty of inclines. Last few miles pace had dropped even more but I just didn't want to aggravate my knees and ankles that were really hurting at this stage. Legs were very sore during the week so only did two 5 mile runs. I wanted to get massage before my run but I couldn't get an appointment so I had one booked for after the LSR.
I ran very very slowly average pace 13.01 and took me 4hrs 20 mins : ( I just kept telling myself I would be further on the day, hopefully!!
So I know I will finish DCM but time wise I just don't know. Went for my massage and she worked on me for 2 hours. It was very painful but felt really good.


I have another appointment with the physio on the 17th. So hopefully with fresh legs and good tapering I will finish within the 5 hrs ish!!

See you at the bar, if you haven't all gone home for bath : )