DCM 2017 Mentored Novices Thread

excitementcity

Best of luck to everyone running tomorrow. I have no doubt it will all go great for everyone! I'll be virtually cheering you on.

I've decided to give this one a skip myself and have signed up for the DLR 10K http://dlrbay10k.ie/ on the 7th Aug instead. So will have to wait a bit longer for my 10K...Good Luck and knock it out of the park!

excitementcity

ariana' I meant to reply to you a while ago regarding your query re estimated time for the marathon based off your training paces.

I meant to say that when I did 4:21 in the marathon my 10K in Fingal that year was 53 and my half marathon time was 2:02 on a very tough hot day in the Phonenix Park. All my trainings for those times were done at an easy run pace of around a 10min mile and a LSR pace of 11min miles +. So that might give you an idea how things translated for someone else. I'd say keep doing what you are doing for now (although I'm no expert) and when you do your 10miler and half marathon see what they are translating into in the McMillian calculator at that stage. I don't think you need to worry too much right now about the 'right' PMP looks like you are flying through your training.

ariana`

excitementcity wrote: »

ariana' I meant to reply to you a while ago regarding your query re estimated time for the marathon based off your training paces.

I meant to say that when I did 4:21 in the marathon my 10K in Fingal that year was 53 and my half marathon time was 2:02 on a very tough hot day in the Phonenix Park. All my trainings for those times were done at an easy run pace of around a 10min mile and a LSR pace of 11min miles +. So that might give you an idea how things translated for someone else. I'd say keep doing what you are doing for now (although I'm no expert) and when you do your 10miler and half marathon see what they are translating into in the McMillian calculator at that stage. I don't think you need to worry too much right now about the 'right' PMP looks like you are flying through your training.

Thanks so much for that great to hear from someone with times/paces I can relate to my own. I've been worrying less this week and as per your advice I'll keep going as I am. Thanks :-)

excitementcity

Of course no worries at all. I just thought that our paces at the time were slightly similar so it might give you some comfort in terms of how it would translate for the marathon. I'd say by the sounds of it you're well under a 4:30 pace just how far under/under 4 will be determined over the next while. I'd say just 'enjoy' the training for now and reassess once you've he race testers done! Exciting times!

ariana`

excitementcity wrote: »

Of course no worries at all. I just thought that our paces at the time were slightly similar so it might give you some comfort in terms of how it would translate for the marathon. I'd say by the sounds of it you're well under a 4:30 pace just how far under/under 4 will be determined over the next while. I'd say just 'enjoy' the training for now and reassess once you've he race testers done! Exciting times!

Ya I'm looking forward to the 10miler at the end of Aug. It will tell a lot. Thanks again, it's reassuring to compare as a guide anyhow.

Off to sleep! LSR in about 8 hrs time :-)

Lazare

Sorry guys, headed off to Belfast shortly after posting, only getting to reply now. Had a bit of a splurge in Decathalon which was great, you could go broke in there.

ariana` wrote: »

Do you have any idea how the courses compare in terms of elevation etc?

And how did you feel about your performance in Dunshauglin?

If the courses are comparable and you feel you have more to give then why not shoot for a PB? But the course could be tougher or there may be other factors to consider?

They seem similar in terms of profile. I definitely felt I could've performed better in Dunshauglin with a better strategy, ran the first 5k too quick and suffered around the 7k mark when the big drag came into play. I'd love to aim for a decent pb but I think practisinig the strategy is a better plan, if it works out I will shave a little bit off.

skyblue46 wrote: »

What time are you aiming for? It's a tricky course to negative split as it's quite fast on the dual carriageway which is from 1km mark to about 4K. I'd say even splits is a better target.

I think I'm going to aim for around 47:30.

Maybe it will be difficult to neg split, would be silly not to take advantage of fast downhills. The GAP will hopefully show a negative though.

Lazare

Running parkrun tomorrow at an easy pace will be a good test of discipline too.

leesider77

Thanks for posting all the info on fingal 10km course. I'm still thinking about my strategy for the race. Had planned to go out a little easy and conserve some energy and if I'm feeling good to give it a go in the second half but not sure that's the right approach given the discussion here on the hills.

What are everyone's goals for the race? Originally I wanted to better my super fast 10km PB of 58:40 but given my recent training runs where I felt very sluggish I think a more realistic goal will be to finish under the hour. My 'c' goal is just to finish the race injury free.
Best of luck to everyone.

Newbie xx

leesider77 wrote: »

Thanks for posting all the info on fingal 10km course. I'm still thinking about my strategy for the race. Had planned to go out a little easy and conserve some energy and if I'm feeling good to give it a go in the second half but not sure that's the right approach given the discussion here on the hills.

What are everyone's goals for the race? Originally I wanted to better my super fast 10km PB of 58:40 but given my recent training runs where I felt very sluggish I think a more realistic goal will be to finish under the hour. My 'c' goal is just to finish the race injury free.
Best of luck to everyone.

Go with you feel comfortable, this my third time doing this race, my 1st ever 10k back in 2015 in a time of 50:38, first 1k was my slowest & kept a steady even pace for the rest of the race, I loved it and it really boosted my confidence.

Did it last year, went out too fast and crashed at the 4K mark, it was horrible, I hated every moment of it, dragged myself around the course, finished 50:45.

Tomorrow the plan is take it handy 1st k, it's a incline can be tough on tired legs & settle into my pace at the 1k mark. The goal posts have moved and I would be very happy to come in at a sub 55. ( here's to hoping)

Good luck to all.

skyblue46

Lazare wrote: »

I think I'm going to aim for around 47:30.

Maybe it will be difficult to neg split, would be silly not to take advantage of fast downhills. The GAP will hopefully show a negative though.

Hoping for about 48 myself if the stars align! Looked at our IR5 splits and I see we ran totally opposite paces. I'm the cautious and conservative old dog and you belt off at the start with the enthusiasm of youth! Haha

positron

Ran SOSAD 5k for life in Drogheda yesterday evening. Picked up the race number 5 mins before race and didnt realise it wasn't chip-timed. It was a nice small crowd, couple of hundred people perhaps, and a decent run in beautiful evening sunshine, and I felt comfortable enough to push on. I think I did around 24m 40s, which would be a PB but not recorded anywhere unfortunately.

Looking forward to Fingal 10k now.

Omeceron

I've picked up a cold and cough this week. Headache, blocked nose, cough and sore chest. Spent the night awake from coughing.

Would I be mad to consider racing tomorrow if it doesn't improve?

RolandDeschain

So what better way to prepare for tomorrow's race than drinking your weight in booze on a Friday night 🙈

skyblue46

RolandDeschain wrote: »

So what better way to prepare for tomorrow's race than drinking your weight in booze on a Friday night ��

I went with a bottle of Casillero del Diablo Merlot....sure isn't red wine good for the heart!

quickbeam

leesider77 wrote: »

What are everyone's goals for the race?

Just to finish it upright

Are there starting waves at this race?
How do we get our time afterwards - do we get it online?

Newbie xx

quickbeam wrote: »

Just to finish it upright

Are there starting waves at this race?
How do we get our time afterwards - do we get it online?

You can check out the tracker app- RTRT.me

I think they text pretty soon after as well.

Lazare

skyblue46 wrote: »

Hoping for about 48 myself if the stars align! Looked at our IR5 splits and I see we ran totally opposite paces. I'm the cautious and conservative old dog and you belt off at the start with the enthusiasm of youth! Haha

:pac:

I'm trying to change.

Tomorrow will be my fifth race, it's taken me four of them to figure out how it's supposed to be done.

BrownEyes79

Best of luck to everyone running the 10k tomorrow. Enjoy every second, looking forward to reading everyone's races reports!

Dealerz

Lazare wrote: »

:pac:

I'm trying to change.

Tomorrow will be my fifth race, it's taken me four of them to figure out how it's supposed to be done.

Just curious on this, tomorrow will be my 3rd 10k race, is there a strategy?

Unthought Known

Omeceron wrote: »

I've picked up a cold and cough this week. Headache, blocked nose, cough and sore chest. Spent the night awake from coughing.

Would I be mad to consider racing tomorrow if it doesn't improve?

In a word yes. If it was just a head cold then you could maybe do it, but I'd give it a miss if it's gone to your chest.

skyblue46

Dealerz wrote: »

Just curious on this, tomorrow will be my 3rd 10k race, is there a strategy?

I've only done one, the Fingal in 2015. But at my level there is no point in over complicating it for a relatively short race. I pick a realistic target time and divide it by the number of Kms to get my pace per km. I then try to run 10-15 seconds per km slower than that in the first couple of km, pick it up to the target pace for the next few Kms and finally empty myself in the last km. I find the biggest danger to good pacing for a novice like myself is getting carried away by the stampede at the start and not noticing the speed or falling into the trap of being fooled into thinking that its not taking much out of you!

I have run about 10 races in total and while I'm far from the fastest I have been able to pace myself. That being said my mind is like a calculator as I run. I practically watch the pace using distance and time rather than trusting the pace shown on the watch! Total OCD!!!!! :pac:

skyblue46

positron wrote: »

Ran SOSAD 5k for life in Drogheda yesterday evening. Picked up the race number 5 mins before race and didnt realise it wasn't chip-timed. It was a nice small crowd, couple of hundred people perhaps, and a decent run in beautiful evening sunshine, and I felt comfortable enough to push on. I think I did around 24m 40s, which would be a PB but not recorded anywhere unfortunately.

Looking forward to Fingal 10k now.

Well done! It's a PB whether it's recorded or not.

Lazare

Dealerz wrote: »

Just curious on this, tomorrow will be my 3rd 10k race, is there a strategy?

My strategy is exactly as skyblue said above.

RolandDeschain

skyblue46 wrote: »

I went with a bottle of Casillero del Diablo Merlot....sure isn't red wine good for the heart!

Red ale & rum was my own poison of choice.

Somehow managed to get an easy run in....clean out the dirty diesel!

Red_Open

So for a nervous novice what time should we arrive in swords for tomorrow?

skyblue46

Red_Open wrote: »

So for a nervous novice what time should we arrive in swords for tomorrow?

There will be plenty milling about from about 9. A coffee, a warm up and get towards the line for 9.45 ��

Damo 2k9

First actual proper race tomorrow apart from the Dublin Staff Relay a while back, buzzing for it. That was what got me hooked on this running stuff, although I sprinted the first 2km at that (3:33 and 3:37) and had to stop twice for the rest of it, still managed 21 minutes haha.

Hope to stick for around 4:45-5:00 for the first 5k then after that knock it up a gear. From what time to have breakfast and what to actually eat, to what time to leave and the decision of earphones/no earphones I havent a clue what to be doing!

Wishing everyone the best of luck!!

skyblue46

Damo 2k9 wrote: »

First actual proper race tomorrow apart from the Dublin Staff Relay a while back, buzzing for it. That was what got me hooked on this running stuff, although I sprinted the first 2km at that (3:33 and 3:37) and had to stop twice for the rest of it, still managed 21 minutes haha.

Hope to stick for around 4:45-5:00 for the first 5k then after that knock it up a gear. From what time to have breakfast and what to actually eat, to what time to leave and the decision of earphones/no earphones I havent a clue what to be doing!

Wishing everyone the best of luck!!

The organisers always ask that people don't use earphones for safety reasons. For the other things just do whatever you feel is right so that you get there relaxed. No extra food needed for a 10k.

Damo 2k9

skyblue46 wrote: »

The organisers always ask that people don't use earphones for safety reasons. For the other things just do whatever you feel is right so that you get there relaxed. No extra food needed for a 10k.

Yeah I read that in the letter, although someone asked on one of the social media platforms and they said its fine once people dont listen to them for the safety briefing. I normally always run with music/podcast, thats the only reason im thinking about it, but will leave them at home I reckon.

I just dont know when to eat before a run, theyre normally done fasted or else a couple of hours after dinner.

skyblue46

Damo 2k9 wrote: »

Yeah I read that in the letter, although someone asked on one of the social media platforms and they said its fine once people dont listen to them for the safety briefing. I normally always run with music/podcast, thats the only reason im thinking about it, but will leave them at home I reckon.

I just dont know when to eat before a run, theyre normally done fasted or else a couple of hours after dinner.

I'd say just have a breakfast at 8ish and you'll be fine.

Re earphones I think it's general safety. You wouldn't hear runners behind you, wouldn't hear shouts if an ambulance was coming through etc. It takes away one of your senses while among a large crowd.