DCM 2014: Mentored Novices Thread

ChadHogan

adrian522 wrote: »

I'm starting to come around to this way of thinking after tonight's LSR. 20 Miles of pure effort and misery.

Absolutely vicious wind and horrible driving rain, wet T-shirt, shorts socks etc. But the wind nearly did me in, I could barely get moving at all in what were supposed to be M-Pace miles but couldn't get near that pace. That was around mile 12 and I was pretty spent.

On the way back through 8 miles and no energy I started to re-evaluate my target for October.

Glad to get it done though, I believe character building is the term I'm looking for.

Fair play Adrian, sounds like you were pushing hard, even it it didn't go the way you wanted.

adrian522

Don't think I'll be doing any more 20-milers after work !

menoscemo

ccrccs wrote: »

When u register to pay for dcm you have option of add ons...video n pictures etc....if i choose to decline can i choose to get them at a later srage..if i change my mind..it comes down to money...just wouldn b able to afford the extras this month

none of those extras are worth the money IMO...

Dub13

I got my High 5 pack in the post today, went for 2 of them to get the free post. Looking forward to trying the gels on the 20 mile on Sunday.

Casey78

adrian522 wrote: »

I'm starting to come around to this way of thinking after tonight's LSR. 20 Miles of pure effort and misery.

Absolutely vicious wind and horrible driving rain, wet T-shirt, shorts socks etc. But the wind nearly did me in, I could barely get moving at all in what were supposed to be M-Pace miles but couldn't get near that pace. That was around mile 12 and I was pretty spent.

On the way back through 8 miles and no energy I started to re-evaluate my target for October.

Glad to get it done though, I believe character building is the term I'm looking for.

Yep I'm also starting to think my aim should be to just finish this one and not worry about getting in under 4hrs. The longer my lsr runs get the more I realise how long 26 miles actually is!
And sure whatever time I do it in it will be a PB and something to beat next year!

Ososlo

adrian522 wrote: »

I'm starting to come around to this way of thinking after tonight's LSR. 20 Miles of pure effort and misery.

Absolutely vicious wind and horrible driving rain, wet T-shirt, shorts socks etc. But the wind nearly did me in, I could barely get moving at all in what were supposed to be M-Pace miles but couldn't get near that pace. That was around mile 12 and I was pretty spent.

On the way back through 8 miles and no energy I started to re-evaluate my target for October.

Glad to get it done though, I believe character building is the term I'm looking for.

Well done on the 20 adrian. That's great going. Bear in mind we all have the odd very difficult run. Your next 20 might be a totally different story and you might be feeling a lot more positive about it.
For what it's worth though, I think it's really sensible to not put too much pressure on yourself for the first marathon and try to just really enjoy the experience. People went on and on about this to me last year too. I took it on board and had an amazing DCM.
You'll run many many marathons in the future if you want to, but you'll only get one shot at your first. That should be as good an experience as possible.

menoscemo

Ososlo wrote: »

Well done on the 20 adrian. That's great going. Bear in mind we all have the odd very difficult run. Your next 20 might be a totally different story and you might be feeling a lot more positive about it.
For what it's worth though, I think it's really sensible to not put too much pressure on yourself for the first marathon and try to just really enjoy the experience. People went on and on about this to me last year too. I took it on board and had an amazing DCM.
You'll run many many marathons in the future if you want to, but you'll only get one shot at your first. That should be as good an experience as possible.

+1, the fact that you are doing 20 miles already is fantastic.
Believe me when I say all future 20 milers will be better.
1st you do the distance, then you do the distance easier, then you do the distance faster, then you do the distance faster and easier....

Ososlo

menoscemo wrote: »

+1, the fact that you are doing 20 miles already is fantastic.
Believe me when I say all future 20 milers will be better.
1st you do the distance, then you do the distance easier, then you do the distance faster, then you do the distance faster and easier....

Also, in six months or a year or whatever after your first marathon, you won't really care very much whether you did it 10 or 20 mins slower than your original goal. However, your overall experience of the day will be something that will stick in your head for a long long time, whether it be a good one or a bad one.

Ososlo

ChadHogan wrote: »

LSR done! Only managed 19 miles though id targeted 20. Legs were gone. 19 miles was on the plan but the route happened to be 20 miles so i thought i may as well try run 20, just didnt have the last mile in me today. Really had four seasons in one run. Glorious sunshine at the start, a swirling wind, and a substantial downpour from about 13 miles.

Average pace was 10:06 minutes per mile. A few weeks ago, i'd done 17 miles around 9:45 minutes per mile but found this one infinitely more difficult. Felt like I was struggling from about mile 10. Training had been going well up to now despite a few interruptions and set backs and this was the first day the run felt painful. I'm not injured, I have no niggles to complain about, it was just hard! I suppose it was inevitable at some point.

Overall though, feeling positive that I dug in and got it done. I'm going to put my struggles down the cumulative effect of more miles in the legs, pulling the run in by a day and feeling tired before i even went out.

Yep, just a hard one for whatever reason. It happens us all. Maybe you were a bit tired or just not recovered from recent runs. Sometimes it's hard to pinpoint one reason. Well done though for pushing on through and doing the 19. Great going! Make sure you keep things easy for a few days now to recover well.

Ososlo

Laois_Man wrote: »

Have many people booked hotels for the night before the marathon, particularly culthies?

I'm thinking the best chance I have to relax the night before is to stay in my own bed and have breakfast in my own kitchen, drive up from Carlow, park at the Red Cow, Luas to George's Dock and walk over to the start area from there. Similar to what I did last Saturday.

Or get the 6:10am bus from Carlow arriving at Busaras at 7:30am and walk from there. Leaving the car for the wife to follow me up and be around later in the day to cart me home in a heap.

Or I might end up traveling up with a gang from Kilkenny if I ask them nicely to pick me up on their way!

Might seem early to be talking about the logistics of that morning, but I'd say the hotels are heavily booked already?

Yep I'd go up that morning if you can. I know it's not possible for everyone, but if you have the choice between sleeping in your own bed the night before or a strange bed, I'd chose my own bed every time.
Get the lift if you can. Make sure to check out Luas Bank Holiday schedule if you're going to Red Cow.
Also, I had a look at some hotels and while there are rooms available, many are very expensive.

Laois_Man

I too had an utterly miserable LSR tonight. Really didn't wanna go out there tonight but glad now I did. Although the weather down my way was grand.

18 miles for me.

Very slow too. Ridiculously slow. 11:34 mins per mile.

That last mile. I swear, an auld one walking her dog would've passed me out. If it weren't for the fact that it was 11:40pm and all auld ones and their dogs were sensibly tucked up in bed.

And I too was reevaluating my aims as I ran. From about a 4hr - 4:15 to........oh about 3 days!

Ososlo

Laois_Man wrote: »

I too had an utterly miserable LSR tonight. Really didn't wanna go out there tonight but glad now I did. Although the weather down my way was grand.

18 miles for me.

Very slow too. Ridiculously slow. 11:34 mins per mile.

That last mile. I swear, an auld one walking her dog would've passed me out. If it weren't for the fact that it was 11:40pm and all auld ones and their dogs were sensibly tucked up in bed.

And I too was reevaluating my aims as I ran. From about a 4hr - 4:15 to........oh about 3 days!

Laois_Man, most of my runs this time last year were around 11:30min/mile. I ran 10:20 pace avg. easily on the day. You can target your original goal above no problem imo. It's all about time on your feet and effort in these long slow runs, not pace. Like the others, you're probably a bit fatigued still, between being tired from the last race and an accumulation of all the training building up over the weeks. Give yourself a break. You've just run 18 miles for feck sake!!!! Congratulations:D

frash

Ososlo wrote: »

Laois_Man, most of my runs this time last year were around 11:30min/mile. I ran 10:20 pace avg. easily on the day.

This is really good to hear!!

Ososlo

frash wrote: »

This is really good to hear!!

And that was running with a strain in my leg that I picked up on the startline and was with me for 20 miles. I had to keep things really comfortable so the above pace felt like lsr effort. I had to forget about running pmp as it just aggravated the leg.
Race day does make things feel so much easier with the crowds and the atmosphere and the other runners carrying you along.

Ososlo

How are all the legs of the guys who did the very long runs yesterday? Sleep well?:D

adrian522

Not great, usual after a long run, more about recovery than sleep.

I got into to bed last night, started to type up my log, spent a solid 10 mins on it then somehow accidentally pressed back and lost the whole thing.

Wrote it up again this morning.

No running today.

Ososlo

adrian522 wrote: »

Not great, usual after a long run, more about recovery than sleep.

I got into to bed last night, started to type up my log, spent a solid 10 mins on it then somehow accidentally pressed back and lost the whole thing.

Wrote it up again this morning.

No running today.

Yeah it can be hard to wind down after being on your feet like that for so long. Hope you managed to get some good food into you after the run. You had a particularly tough one with the mp work too.
Sorry you lost your report on your log:(
Hope you can take things really easy today.

Good luck to all the others doing their long runs today. Hope the weather plays ball.

SoundoftheSea

Celebrated Hubbies birthday last night with one to six drinks so putting LSR off until tomorrow!
So jealous of those of you that have it done.

Note to self, need to be more disciplined.

adrian522

Ososlo wrote: »

Yeah it can be hard to wind down after being on your feet like that for so long. Hope you managed to get some good food into you after the run. You had a particularly tough one with the mp work too.
Sorry you lost your report on your log:(
Hope you can take things really easy today.

Good luck to all the others doing their long runs today. Hope the weather plays ball.

Didn't really eat a whole lot. Had snickers when I got back to the office. Got home about 30 mins later and had a shake with protein powder, milk, frozen berries and peanut butter. That should have helped with recovery.

It was after 10:30 when I thought about actual food, just managed some toast and peanut butter.

Casey78

Just back from a 10mile pace run. Done the same course as the Frank Duffy 10m last week where I blew up and struggled home in 1'35. Paced myself better today and did it in 1'27
Delighted with myself. Wish I had paced myself better last week but maybe it was the best lesson I've learned so far.

Casey78

Just back from a 10mile pace run. Done the same course as the Frank Duffy 10m last week where I blew up and struggled home in 1'35. Paced myself better today and did it in 1'27
Delighted with myself. Wish I had paced myself better last week but maybe it was the best lesson I've learned so far.

Ososlo

Casey78 wrote: »

Just back from a 10mile pace run. Done the same course as the Frank Duffy 10m last week where I blew up and struggled home in 1'35. Paced myself better today and did it in 1'27
Delighted with myself. Wish I had paced myself better last week but maybe it was the best lesson I've learned so far.

Jeepers creepers that some going! Well done! You'd go sub 1:25 no problem if that had been a race today! That's just brilliant and will give you lots of confidence going forward!

Laois_Man

Ososlo wrote: »

How are all the legs of the guys who did the very long runs yesterday? Sleep well?:D

Sore in new places.....in the general vicinity of the left knee and above. Never bothered me before.

Sleep was crap.

Gavlor

Laois_Man wrote: »

Sore in new places.....in the general vicinity of the left knee and above. Never bothered me before.

Sleep was crap.

*Not medical advice but it sounds like common itb tightness

ChadHogan

Didn't sleep at all last night. Enjoyed a nice take away and a few beers to ensure I wasn't calorie deficient. Legs feeling good today though once I got up and moving.

Tweaking the plan slightly today. Replacing my recovery run with 568ml repeats.

Nicsx

Just in from 21m LSR with YourPaceOrMine. No wrong turns today but managed to get caught up in a 10k in the Park for Breast Cancer awareness. We got a couple of funny looks as run against the body of runners (staying well out of their way, of course).

Decided to try 2 gels today, 1st at 7m & 2nd at 14m & regretted it almost immediately. I spent the last 7miles fighting the feeling that a good puke would sort me out (sorry if tmi) & a thumper of a headache. Anyway kept going and thankfully YourPaceOrMine was feeling good so cajoled me home. Thankfully if one of us is feeling bad, the other feels good & offers words of encouragement. Heaven help us if both of us feel rubbish at the same time!

Anyway, I'm glad to have it done but like many others here I'm seriously doubting my ability to run on the day at a pace faster than training pace!!!!

Tigerandahalf

22 mile LSR done. Furthest I have gone so far. This week I decided to change my garmin to miles as the DCM will be marked in miles. It will also help to understand the paces in mile terms as I am always trying to convert in my head, not always with success. I was feeling fairly good for the first 10 miles or so I decided to put in 3 MP miles from mile 15. Felt fine doing them, around 7min/mile, a little faster than I needed to go but let the body dictate the pace. Once I slowed down at mile 18 it was hard to keep the legs ticking over and the last few miles the legs were feeling it. I took two gels. I carried them in a little double pouch thing I got on amazon and it worked very well. I will put up the link later. As an aside I weighed myself before and after the run, lost 2kg. When I came back I took a nuun tablet for the first time. I definitely feel better as sometimes I was very fatigued and the mood would drop after a long run. These tablets contain electrolytes. I may decide to take one with me in DCM and pop it into a 250ml bottle of water if it fits in. I sweat a lot and would fear that losing electrolytes could undo me in the last part of the race. I will see. Another week down.

Belt is called 'friendly swede 2 pack running belt'. You get two belts and they are pretty cheap. Be very handy for travel or hiking as well.

yaboya1

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Felt fine doing them, around 7min/mile, a little faster than I needed to go but let the body dictate the pace.

7 min/mile is sub 3:04 pace. I think you should be ok for your sub 3:30 bid

Pacing Mule

After learning from last weeks disastrous attempt at a LSR I decided not to attempt one today after being at work since 5. Instead we have a family trip over to my parents house on the other side of the city due tomorrow. So my plan is to run there and get a lift back. I am following HH2 which schedules a 17. I reckon it may be 18/19 in total so may have a long cool down or hop onto the dart if needs be.

Actually looking forward to the run on roads I have never ran on before and the novelty value of running home as such.

gingersnap

26km (16 miles) done this morning, my longest run ever. I guess a lot of us from now on will be setting longest distance records every week.
Ran with someone else and kept a comfortable pace throughout so it felt fine until the last mile or so when I started to feel a bit tired.
I'm following my own plan and I don't reach 20 miles for another three weeks, looks like a lot of people here are at 20+ miles already!
I have been constantly hungry since I got back about 3 hours ago despite continuously eating.
Good luck to everyone else with LSRs later on today and tomorrow!