Great Limerick Run Marathon

kookiebrew

Wondering how many people are doing this run in May and what marathon plans are they doing.

Started The Hanson Method advanced plan yesterday, did the beginner last year for the same run and found it great.

brickysession

No really a runner myself but I plan to give it a go myself, did a half last June in Waterford but nothing since.

Might give your training plan a look over

TFBubendorfer

I'm doing Manchester in April as my goal marathon but I'll run Limerick as well, 3 weeks later.

If the legs feel okay I will give it another good go, otherwise it will be a training run for my next goal race.

kookiebrew

brickysession wrote: »

No really a runner myself but I plan to give it a go myself, did a half last June in Waterford but nothing since.

Might give your training plan a look over

Good stuff, the training plan is pretty intense though, running six days a week with a lot of miles. I was lucky working partime so had time on my hands. It is a great plan though well worth doing if you have the time.

kookiebrew

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I'm doing Manchester in April as my goal marathon but I'll run Limerick as well, 3 weeks later.

If the legs feel okay I will give it another good go, otherwise it will be a training run for my next goal race.

Love that, using a marathon as a training run. Would love to get there some day although time is against me.

opus

I'm running it as part of a build up to an ultra in Germany on May 21st & am using a training plan from the Comrades ultra to try and whip myself into some sort of shape. Will be taking it handy on the day needless to say

NoelJ

I'm running this as well. Does anyone know of good hotels or anything? One that would do a late checkout so I can shower after.

JohnDozer

NoelJ wrote: »

I'm running this as well. Does anyone know of good hotels or anything? One that would do a late checkout so I can shower after.

If you give an idea of budget and how close to the start line you want to be I'll probably be able to point you in the right direction.

kookiebrew

NoelJ wrote: »

I'm running this as well. Does anyone know of good hotels or anything? One that would do a late checkout so I can shower after.

Don't have to worry about that, will stay at my parents and get my brother to collect me, could be a busy weekend around town too, prob busiest of the yr I'd say so would wanna book early. Limerick city hotel off the dock rd might be a good choice or absolute hotel off athlunkard st .

paulers06

The George and the Savoy hotels are about as central as you'll get. The Strand is very well located too with underground car parking. The other 2 have parking arrangements v close to the hotels

Limerick91

Would recommend Clarion Hotel. It has a leisure centre so even if you don't get late check out you could have shower there

Gillo

I hadn't heard of the Hanson method, I'll check it out, I was planning on following a training plan I found on the Asics website. Not the most scientific method but I googled "sub 4 hour plan" looked at a few and the schedule seemed to work for me so choose that one. I'm already doing much more distance than the plan suggests at the start so I'll stick around that and gradually increase it as the plan suggests.

As for hotels, I had booked the Maldron Hotel, but am seriously thinking of changing to somewhere closer; cheap and cheerful may not have been the best choice.

What's the route itself like? I've looked at it a few times but to be honest it's years since I've been in Limerick and don't know the area at all.

Originally I'd planned for a sub 4:15, but the way I've been running lately I may revise that to a sub 4:00. (I picked a sub 4:00 plan as that's my target for DCM)

JohnDozer

Gillo wrote: »

What's the route itself like? I've looked at it a few times but to be honest it's years since I've been in Limerick and don't know the area at all

The route is fine in terms of hills. 3/4 drags at roughly the 6/7 mile (UL to Vistakon) 14 mile (Greenfields Road) 18 mile (Flyover and O'Connell Avenue) and around 21 (Gaelic Grounds). The one at 21 could be tough depending how things are going. There could be one or two more but they're the ones I remember. In general a gently rolling course.

Start with a small lap of town and out to UL through Rhebogue. Lap of UL and out to turnaround point at Vistakon. Back in to town and up across via Johns Square and Parnell Street. Out to Greenfields Road and up through Raheen. Lap of the industrial estate and head for town passing the hospital and the Crescent flyover. Back in town and out over Sarsfield Bridge and over to Thomond Park via O'Callghan Strand. Out through the the estates to the Gaelic Grounds and turn for home. Except... Hang a right at the Union Cross and around the North Circular Road, crossing Sarsfield Bridge again.

JohnDozer

Gillo wrote: »

What's the route itself like? I've looked at it a few times but to be honest it's years since I've been in Limerick and don't know the area at all

The route is fine in terms of hills. 3/4 drags at roughly the 6/7 mile (UL to Vistakon) 14 mile (Greenfields Road) 18 mile (Flyover and O'Connell Avenue) and around 21 (Gaelic Grounds). The one at 21 could be tough depending how things are going. There could be one or two more but they're the ones I remember. In general a gently rolling course.

Start with a small lap of town and out to UL through Rhebogue. Lap of UL and out to turnaround point at Vistakon. Back in to town and up across via Johns Square and Parnell Street. Out to Greenfields Road and up through Raheen. Lap of the industrial estate and head for town passing the hospital and the Crescent flyover. Back in town and out over Sarsfield Bridge and over to Thomond Park via O'Callghan Strand. Out through the the estates to the Gaelic Grounds and turn for home. Except... Hang a right at the Union Cross and around the North Circular Road, crossing Sarsfield Bridge again.

Hilden

I've done it twice and it's where I do most of my training. I've started throwing in sections for my Tralee training and you notice that is a very varied race in terms of scenery and terrain. There's a fair bit of concrete though so be prepared for a hammering. Raheen industrial estate and the drag from after Hassets Cross through Mayorstone. This is especially punishing because you go from this section into the drag at the Gaelic grounds so if you handle it badly it'll knock the stuffing out of you for the last crucial 5k.
It is a great race and try if you can to stay over cos the session afterwards is usually mighty!

Gillo

Hilden wrote: »

It is a great race and try if you can to stay over cos the session afterwards is usually mighty!

I booked a hotel for the Saturday and Sunday night as I really didn't fancy the trek back to Dublin on the same day. A session afterwards sounds like a nice bonus!

So basically the route itself, pace it well and save a lot for the last few km?
The concrete doesn't sound great:(

Hilden

Gillo wrote: »

So basically the route itself, pace it well and save a lot for the last few km?
The concrete doesn't sound great:(

Basically the last 5k is great. Pretty flat and fast but definitely leave plenty in the tank for the second half. Like Cork the first half is deceptively quick and you can easily think you've gotten away easily by the second half. It gets tougher about mile 15 (nice handy downhill after the industrial estate though) through to mile 23.

Jesus I kinda feel like doing it now! It's a great race (my first marathon) and I am moving away at the end of the year. Ach sure we'll see. Enjoy the race!

Spirogyra

I had planned to do the 'full' but have been sick so much . That combined with horrendous weather that I've gotten hardly any running in. I'll probably be good for the half though. I will miss the experience though of doing the full. Reading this thread has really made me envious. But I haven't gotten the runs in and its probably too late now....😨

Hilden

Spirogyra wrote: »

I had planned to do the 'full' but have been sick so much . That combined with horrendous weather that I've gotten hardly any running in. I'll probably be good for the half though. I will miss the experience though of doing the full. Reading this thread has really made me envious. But I haven't gotten the runs in and its probably too late now....😨

Don't forget if you are up to half distance already and throw on 2k per week on your long run, you'll be up to a pretty good distance before taper time. I would definitely recommend it as a first. You're going to get the training in as the weather is starting to improve, the field of runners is much smaller than Dublin so its much less intimidating and the support is great. Go on! Give it a lash!

kookiebrew

8 weeks from today, can't wait now. I'm 10 weeks of the plan finished with 8 left including my 10 day taper. Haven't missed a day of the plan yet although it was tough in the weather we've had. This week I'll be hitting over 60 miles, haven't ran that amount before in a week so looking forward to it. Speed intervals finished and starting strength intervals this week too so this is where the marathon training goes up a gear.

Hope everyone else is on track with their plans.

opus

kookiebrew wrote: »

8 weeks from today, can't wait now. I'm 10 weeks of the plan finished with 8 left including my 10 day taper. Haven't missed a day of the plan yet although it was tough in the weather we've had. This week I'll be hitting over 60 miles, haven't ran that amount before in a week so looking forward to it. Speed intervals finished and starting strength intervals this week too so this is where the marathon training goes up a gear.

Hope everyone else is on track with their plans.

Didn't realise it was that soon :eek: Sounds like you're well on track though.

Whereisgalway

Did anyone group with the 4hour pacer last year? What pace did they run the first half to second half?

ger664

Whereisgalway wrote: »

Did anyone group with the 4hour pacer last year? What pace did they run the first half to second half?

Myself and Ankers99 paced 4 hours last year. I am down to pace again this year but have not been told what time i am assigned. 100% sure like other years that this will be even paced miles from start to finish. So for 4 hours it will be 1:59:45 and 3:59:30 as target times for halfway and the finish,

Whereisgalway

ger664 wrote: »

Myself and Ankers99 paced 4 hours last year. I am down to pace again this year but have not been told what time i am assigned. 100% sure like other years that this will be even paced miles from start to finish. So for 4 hours it will be 1:59:45 and 3:59:30 as target times for halfway and the finish,

I hear ye were very animated, supportive and charismatic throughout, fair play.

kookiebrew

ger664 wrote: »

Myself and Ankers99 paced 4 hours last year. I am down to pace again this year but have not been told what time i am assigned. 100% sure like other years that this will be even paced miles from start to finish. So for 4 hours it will be 1:59:45 and 3:59:30 as target times for halfway and the finish,

Probably a stupid question Ger but what's the best way to pace the race. Last year I went by my watch but the difference between watch time and chip time was 2minutes. At the Galway bay half in October same thing happened, was pushing for a sub 1:35, timed it perfectly by my watch but chip time was over 2mins slower, was gutted even though I pb'd the race.

Galway one was a strange one, no trees or buildings that would have put the gps off either. Is it better to run on the left, right or middle of the course.

ger664

kookiebrew wrote: »

Probably a stupid question Ger but what's the best way to pace the race. Last year I went by my watch but the difference between watch time and chip time was 2minutes. At the Galway bay half in October same thing happened, was pushing for a sub 1:35, timed it perfectly by my watch but chip time was over 2mins slower, was gutted even though I pb'd the race.

Galway one was a strange one, no trees or buildings that would have put the gps off either. Is it better to run on the left, right or middle of the course.

Start your watch when you cross the line. Ignore the distance of the GPS watch and time yourself off the mile/km markers however some of these can and have been out in the past so if the 10 Mile mark is 10.7 on the watch you can safely ignore it. In general if you are taking a good racing line each mile will show as 1.01/1.02 on a GPS watch unless there are outside factors like tall buildings and Tree/underpasses. I always keep the average time displayed and make it ~5 sec/mile faster to compensate for GPS error. Stop your watch when you cross the finish line.

I have never ran/paced a marathon where my watch measured less then 26.4 when I crossed the line.

kookiebrew

Thanks, was gonna go by the mile markers this time so good to know some may be off.

Always start the watch as I pass the start line anyway, I'll have to pick a goal time that has pacers in future, will make it easier haha

Ocditsme

1st limerick Marathon... can't wait. Previously ran Dublin 3.49
Hoping for a sub 3.30 this time round. Anybody that's run b4... is their different start times or is it just 1 start time. Also. What time will I need to be their to get a good start position. ??
Cheers.

McNamarathon

Ocditsme wrote: »

1st limerick Marathon... can't wait. Previously ran Dublin 3.49
Hoping for a sub 3.30 this time round. Anybody that's run b4... is their different start times or is it just 1 start time. Also. What time will I need to be their to get a good start position. ??
Cheers.

There is just the one start time in Limerick. There is only about 500 running the full marathon so everyone heads off together. If your at the start half an hour before the start you will have loads of time. It's very relaxed compared to Dublin and once you start running there is little or no congestion.

Best of luck in Limerick. It's a great race. I've ran it twice but I'll miss it this year as I'm running Paris instead.

Ocditsme

McNamarathon wrote:

There is just the one start time in Limerick. There is only about 500 running the full marathon so everyone heads off together. If your at the start half an hour before the start you will have loads of time. It's very relaxed compared to Dublin and once you start running there is little or no congestion.

McNamarathon wrote:

Best of luck in Limerick. It's a great race. I've ran it twice but I'll miss it this year as I'm running Paris instead.

Can't wait, cheers for your reply. Didn't realize it was so small. Ran 1st half few weeks back seems good course. Best of look in Paris.

Spirogyra

I ran 14.5mi!es today the first 11 miles were under 10minutes, however my lower back 'kicked' and the final 3 were a limp. I've done 2 fulls in limerick. Don't think I could give a good account of myself in 7 weeks time though. I may aim for the Galway Bay full or Dublin later though ☺