DCM 2014: Mentored Novices Thread

adrian522

Some great running today from everyone...

I got out for my LSR this morning. 20 Miles, with the last 4 at M-Pace.

That is even harder than it sounds. I'd run 8 miles yesterday evening so I still had a bit of residual fatigue built up. The run went well except for the route I choose brought me along a busy road with very little room to move out of the way of traffic so amended it mid-run to stay on the safer ring road.

I had a bit of a garmin issue at one stage where I slowed to take a gel, couldn't get it open so (I thought) paused my garmin, took the gel and some water and then started the watch again (actually stopped the timer) and went off again, a little up the road realised my mistake but that is the reason for the weird lap 13 in the garmin data.

The last 4 were tough but I kept up a good pace, maybe even too fast. I cheated a bit by stopping for water and general recovery with 3 quarters of a mile to go.

Glad it's over, I'll need my full day and a half to recover from this.

laura_ac3

Hi everyone,

Great to get home from my own run and see how everyone else is getting on with their own runs this morning. One run less for me this week as I'd added one to last week to jig around my LSR.

Monday: got up at 6 to fit in an easy recovery run pre work. I got one minute down the road and thought no, not today - not happening. Hamstring felt like a plank of wood after the LSR the previous day and felt that I'd be going even slower than normal so tight on time for work. Went back to bed for 40 mins Had a PT session in the pm, worked on a couple of niggles and tightness including the hamstring and general tlc elsewhere.

Tuesday: 4 miles easy. Was 10.30 at night before I got out but loved it. Quiet and cool. Legs felt the benefits of the day before.

Wednesday: football

Thursday: 6 mile pace but like everyone else on Thursday seemingly I struggled with this one. Felt tired and sluggish. Supposed to be 7 but my route naturally had me back at work after 6 and I'd no motivation to string out an extra mile randomly.

Friday: rest.

Saturday: 18 mile LSR. Focused just on distance this week and decided to keep it flat. Headed to clontarf, seafront, st. Annes and back home. Loved my new water belt, happy with my purchase. Looks ridiculous but does the job and not jiggly. Tried a new gel and not sure it agreed with me as well as the others. First 2 miles were a tad too fast but I settled into a consistent pace and again managed a PMP mile at the end. When I finished though I looked like an extra from the walking dead shuffling the half mile walk home! Did some stretching, feeling better by now. Could have done with a third gel and maybe a few sweets in my pocket, was hungry by the end. Good to find these things out now though.

Thankfully - hello step back week

Happy running all

denis160

I'm probably gonna be like a broken record every time I 'conquer' a LSR, but isn't it great to achieve something you never thought you'ld do. 17 miles this morning & I even managed a few at pmp without realising it. Trying to figure out gels & stuff, so went with an isogel at 7 miles & some water from 10 with one of those tabs in it that replace electrolytes. Seemed to work I'm sure the beautiful light drizzly rain we had for the last 4 miles helped also!

Nicsx

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Where did you go? Did you straight up that near vertical hill that has a bridge going over it? Think I made the same mistake before!

Yes, that's the one! At least it's a mistake I'll only ever make once!! :-)

Dub13

I moved my LSR to today as I am off to Liverpool tomorrow to see the future champions play...:). It was also the 20 Mile LSR with last 4 miles at projected marathon pace. Or in my KM head 32.5k Long Slow run, 26,27,28 & 29km @ projected marathon pace.

This was my first time running PMP on tired legs, it was a 94km week plus the 25km before the PMP. I have to say I found it grand, a good bit better than I was expecting. I timed it well, just before the PM KM's for maybe 40 min before that I was running on the beach with a strong wind and sand etc. I had it timed that just after I left the hardship of the beach and got onto a bit of good road (a cycle track) and some shelter from the wind I had to up the pace. So I am sure this helped.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/566577405#

Laois_Man

Dub13 wrote: »

I am off to Liverpool tomorrow to see the future champions play

Aren't you going a bit early?
Everton aren't playing at home til next Saturday!

laura_ac3

YourPaceOrMine wrote: »

Yes she dragged me up that hill was so relieved to hear we'd taken a wrong turn and I never have to do that hill again!

Nicsx wrote: »

Yes, that's the one! At least it's a mistake I'll only ever make once!! :-)

As soon as I got home I looked up the route and map....I was nearly laughing with relief when I realised I took the wrong turn.

Ososlo

Hey guys
laura_ac3 kindly brought it to my attention that I had the 2 races in the Race Series on the wrong days (Sunday instead of Sat) for the Hal Revised Plan to fit in the 10 Mile and Half Marathon Races. I've amended it now. So sticking with Hal's ethos, we have 2 rest days leading up to the races and one rest day after. Hal always seems to have a rest day on the Monday but I think if you've recovered fairly well from the races you could do 2-3 miles very easy on the Monday, but take the extra recovery day if you need it.
Anything amiss, let me know. Cheers

Pacing Mule

Was sitting at home yesterday debating going for the LSR then or early this morning. (Had been a very early 5am start to the day work wise) Mentioned the dilemma to a very good friend of mine. Response was "get off your hole and go running" So I did and took out my longest run of the year at 14 miles.

Happy days and was very happy this morning not to be getting up early again. Instead got to watch the European championships men's marathon. I am inspired !

Darren 83

Longest run ever for me 18 miles done today.

Nicsx

laura_ac3 wrote: »

As soon as I got home I looked up the route and map....I was nearly laughing with relief when I realised I took the wrong turn.

You should have seen the pair of us, out with the phone consulting Google Maps (more than once!)

Ososlo

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Happy days and was very happy this morning not to be getting up early again. Instead got to watch the European championships men's marathon. I am inspired !

A good lesson in what can happen should you go out too fast too early on lol:D I did feel very sorry for him though. He was a broken man when he pulled out.

Pacing Mule

Ososlo wrote: »

A good lesson in what can happen should you go out too fast too early on lol:D I did feel very sorry for him though. He was a broken man when he pulled out.

I really did feel for the chap. Brave / naieve - mixture of both ! It looked like his legs stopped before his brain had a chance to think to stop. That course too was punishing. 4 laps with a big hill thrown in on each one. Wouldn't fancy it if DCM was similar.

SoundoftheSea

LSR of 13.1 miles done this morning in strong wind and rain.
Mile 1 11.43 Mile 13 11.06.
Had no way of knowing my pace as my phone went crazy in the rain so just ran to how I was feeling.
So very happy with the steady pace.
Again I just had lucozade and some jelly beans. No water. Lucozade definitely gives me a kick.
Not sure whats going on with the bladder but needed a pee stop half way or sooner if it was possible. So only started drinking after that.
Legs tired at the end but I do feel I could run some more.
How long do you leave after eating to start your run?
I had porridge and a banana this morning about 2 hours before running and just at the very end I was hungry but won't like to have to eat on the run.
Also watched the Marathon this morning. Great to see how the experts do it.

neilthefunkeone

Well trying to get some running in while on holidays with 7.5 miles yesterday.. I was so unfamiliar with the area I just ran along the sea front which was just shy of a mile so after passing the same places a couple of times I gave up..

Tomorrow I have a planned 10 mile route which im looking forward to.. I'm taking the bus to the next town and running back basically!! water is he problem.. I went through 1 Litre in 7 miles yesterday..

scheister

My running week

Tuesday run was back to the 6 miles with 5*50 strides considering the week before this was done over 4 miles and returns to that next week this was a nice simple relaxing run. pace was ok ranging from a 9:29 to a 9:57 in fairness so that no strides during the 9:57 mile

Wednesday was the 1st of 3 easy runs this week but the longest of them. paces ranged from 9:44 to 10:05 which is not to bad but really have to find a new route around dundalk as I feel like i'm on a hamster wheel doing the same 2.5 mile route over and over. But i am finding the pace increasing slightly the more mileage that i do and getting to the stage again 10mile seems like a short run.

Thursday run was an interesting one as i've started a new job that is nights. So i decided to so Thursday run when I finished work at 12.30am while strava is telling me i did it on friday im not listening. As i was running at night i found it at cooler which helps compared to the sun of running during the day. Would be safe to safe i enjoyed this run only issue i had was it harder to see the garmin at night even when using the light. But even with that the pace was stable enough ranging from 9.47 to a 10.04 for the 6 miles

Saturday run was back to my usual route in Celbridge the paces was very stable here ranging from 9:49 to 9:57 for the 6 mile and the little bit of rain that i got helped as it cooled me down at the right stage.

Sunday's run was a 16 mile LSR with 6 miles at pmp. the 1st 12 miles were nice relaxing run even with half of them at pmp. But after this stage i was feeling a little sluggish in places assuming this is down to me only having water with me and not my normal sports drink as I left the mixture in Dundalk. I have already had one DNF for a training session this year so ploughed ahead and finished the run. I got drowned at two stages not sure if they were more a help of hindrance. The paces ranged from 10.09 to 10.25 for the easy run miles and for the 6 pmp 8:48 to 9:05.

So thats week 12 covered and another 44 miles to add to the list. Roll on week 13 where i have the decision to either run the Frank Duffy 10 mile and use a local 5km the next day as a recovery run or take it easy for the Frank Duffy and try and smash my 5km PB sure I have the week to think about it.

Ososlo

Ososlo wrote: »

Hey guys
laura_ac3 kindly brought it to my attention that I had the 2 races in the Race Series on the wrong days (Sunday instead of Sat) for the Hal Revised Plan to fit in the 10 Mile and Half Marathon Races. I've amended it now. So sticking with Hal's ethos, we have 2 rest days leading up to the races and one rest day after. Hal always seems to have a rest day on the Monday but I think if you've recovered fairly well from the races you could do 2-3 miles very easy on the Monday, but take the extra recovery day if you need it.
Anything amiss, let me know. Cheers

HH1 people doing Frank Duffy and Half:
Following on from the above, feel free to swap the 6 on Wed with the 3 on Tuesday if you feel you'd be more rested going into the race on Saturday.

laura_ac3

Ososlo wrote: »

HH1 people doing Frank Duffy and Half:
Following on from the above, feel free to swap the 6 on Wed with the 3 on Tuesday if you feel you'd be more rested going into the race on Saturday.

Hi ososlo - I'm doing hhn2, and am a week ahead of schedule, but need to reduce the plan to accommodate the race. Looked at the modified Hal and the boards one and was thinking of the following:

Today was rest, tomorrow 3/4 miles easy, Tuesday 5 miles easy, Wednesday football, Thursday 3 miles easy and Friday rest. Too much? Will keep paces very easy. Or I could take Thursday as rest and just do 2 miles on Friday if that would be better.

Ososlo

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Hi ososlo - I'm doing hhn2, and am a week ahead of schedule, but need to reduce the plan to accommodate the race. Looked at the modified Hal and the boards one and was thinking of the following:

Today was rest, tomorrow 3/4 miles easy, Tuesday 5 miles easy, Wednesday football, Thursday 3 miles easy and Friday rest. Too much? Will keep paces very easy. Or I could take Thursday as rest and just do 2 miles on Friday if that would be better.

I think that sounds perfect laura. I always like to do a few (2-3) very easy miles the day before a race, just to make sure my legs are still working properly:D
If it were me and I was taking a complete rest day I'd take it on Thursday.

laura_ac3

Ososlo wrote: »

I think that sounds perfect laura. I always like to do a few (2-3) very easy miles the day before a race, just to make sure my legs are still working properly:D
If it were me and I was taking a complete rest day I'd take it on Thursday.

Thanks a million it's crazy how quickly the weeks are flying by!

Ososlo

Hey guys, there was a bit of bother with the spreadsheet. At some point recently someone removed their name and mileage and it screwed things up a bit for a few people I think. I had to get the Ososlo IT Dept to review it:o

Can everyone check their details at some point this week and if any discrepancies are noticed (I have a feeling there will be), let me know or ideally put your own details (mileage) back in if you can.

Should be ok now....

Ososlo

Week 9 up on the Spreadsheet. Almost half way there:eek:
It's a nice way to punctuate the half way point with the 10 mile race this weekend. Good luck to all doing that and make sure not to do anything too hard this week to ensure you're nice and fresh on the start line.

Great long slow running going on and not too many complaints at all which is wonderful! If you're interested in meeting up with some fellow novices or other Boardsies, post up your details here to meet for some of the long runs coming up over the next few months.
Lots of positivity from everyone!
Keep it up!

Nicsx

70 days to go till the Big Day!!!!!

Mimojo

Hello!

First off AMAZING thread, I am just so annoyed with myself that I didn’t find it sooner! SO much super information in here. I posted over here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=91779036&utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=notification#post91779036 & Frash was kind enough to point me in yer direction! I am trying to read though it all and already have gotten so much great information, seriously fair play!

Basically I posted back in Dec about doing a marathon this year. I have continued working out in the gym, playing on a sports team and running. Had been doing interval running on the treadmill 2 to 3 times per week since Jan. In late May I have gotten out on the road. At the moment I am doing Monday Interval Run (approx 5-7km, either inside or outside), Tuesday: 10km steady run, Friday: Hill Sprints and Saturday: Long Run. Also doing weight training in the gym, pilates and sports. This weekend my long run is up to 27km.

I have completed the Race Series 5 Mile, and am doing the Frank Duffy 10 Mile next weekend, and the Half on 20th Sept. Feeling good about these events and feel like I am ready to complete them. I am also doing Tough Mudder on 5th October which is a different kind of event, but feel like my training has being going well.
I am really just wondering if I have enough running (outdoor) experience under my belt to do DCM2014? My long runs started in June with about 14km, and have steadily added 2 or 3km each week. I have been training consistently and out running 3 or 4 times per week in addition to gym work, with only 1 missed week as was on holiday.

Now my time is very slow, 27km took me almost 3 hours on Saturday so I am certainly not going to be breaking any records, and if I could finish DCM I am not going to worry about the time as its my first marathon. I am not following any plan in particular, spoke to my gym instructor who advised on intervals and hills most weeks, in addition to a 10k and then the long run at the weekend.

What do people thing? Am I ready to enter the marathon, is it achievable based on my training to date? I dont want to take it on if I am not ready, but on the other hand my training has been consistent and my long runs are progressing nicely, and it would be a huge personal achievement for me.

Have you raced before? If so what are your PBs? (Date and distance please!)
Only run I have done is the 5 Mile in the Phoenix Park in June – My time was 43:17
I am doing the Frank Duffy 10 Mile on Saturday, and the Half in September

Do you still need to take walk breaks in your training ? (No problem if you do) No

How much training do you currently do ? Distances, how many days a week, cross training - whatever you think is relevant to your current fitness level. Currently run 4 days a week, one interval session, one hill sprints, one 10k & one long slow run on a Saturday. KM wise its prob about 40-45 km. I also play sports a few evenings a week, pilates once a week & gym strength training twice a week.

What do you want to achieve? Dream finishing time and realistic finishing time? Or just complete it in no specified time? Would be aiming to finish in 4:30, but really as long as I can run the entire thing I don’t mind, realistically would be more like 4:40, 4:50 I would imagine.

How many days a week can you train? 5-6
Why are you running this marathon? It would be a massive personal achievement. I have lost 8 stone since Jan 2013, and have been maintaining my weight for over 8 months now, and if I was told in Jan 2013 I would even be considering this I would have laughed, very hard!! It would be the icing on the cake to think that I could complete a marathon!!

Any advice very much appreciated!!

Pacing Mule

Was about to reply to you on your other thread

Your LSR pace looks very good to me. It's about 10:45 pace (miles that is) You would typically hit that pace now if aiming for an actual on the day pace around 9:45 / 10:00 which would take you home in a very respectable 4:15 ish. Don't knock that at all. It's a super goal time given your history.

Quick edit. I would be wary of the gym instructors advice. Intervals and hills plus a long run is effectively 3 hard sessions a week. As mileage increases in coming months I personally think that is a recipe for injury disaster. Have a look at the plans linked in first post. The base novice 1 HH plan will have no sessions at all just concentrating on building mileage, the slightly more advanced boards plan you will see still has a majority of easy runs. It's about mileage building now which takes a lot to get over. Throwing multiple sessions in on too of that is probably not a good idea.

Gavlor

Nicsx wrote: »

70 days to go till the Big Day!!!!!

Sh!te

Joleigh

Well done on the long runs everyone!

I ran 15 miles yesterday. Had a bit of a bug during the week. Stomach wasn't great before starting off yesterday morning. I had to stop in mcdonalds and use the loo at 4 miles and when I left there decided to take a different road thinking it would bring me out at another point on my route, but got lost (again) and ended up on the quays running through town instead of phibsboro/drumcondra which I had planned. Anyway it was a nice scenic route but I reached the 15 mile mark before I got home so rang the hubby for a lift! My legs were like lead. The upset stomach probably didn't help. And it was very windy. I think I got wind burn on my lips, they are really dry and chapped today. I felt after the run like I couldn't rehydrate. I still feel the same. I drank water and lucozade sport on the run and some jellies. Still haven't braved the gels and not sure I want to after a previous bad experience. I drank plenty when I got home, water, chocolate milk, green tea, berroca but I still feel dehydrated.

Average page 10.22 mins per mile, with a few sets of traffic lights and tourists thrown in!

Wondering how I should taper this week for the frank duffy 10 mile. My hhi1 plan says cross train today so I will just walk this evening, tues 4m, wed 5m, thurs 4m, rest fri and sat with half marathon sunday, but I will be doing the 10 mile on sat.

Ososlo

Hi Mimojo, I have no doubt you can do it but you need to take a very different approach to marathon training than you are currently doing, especially for a first marathon where half the battle is getting to the start line injury free.
Have a look at week 9 of both plans listed at the end of post one and read post 2 about pacing your runs very closely and see how you might slot into one of those plans. As PM stated, you currently doing too much hard stuff when the focus should be on the easy stuff and building up the miles and time on your feet.
Have a read of posts one and two and check out week9 of the plans and get back to us with your thoughts. Personally I think you could easily do dcm if you take the correct approach from here on.
Well done on all you've achieved so far. Pretty impressive stuff!!!

Ososlo

Hi Joleigh. I have created an amended version of hh1 to work around Frank Duffy and half marathon. If you go to the shared spread sheet you'll find a new sheet called 'halwith10&half'

AuldManKing

Gavlor wrote: »

Sh!te

that means you have 60 days messing left and then 10 days training. You'll be grand.