DCM 2017 Mentored Novices Thread

muddypaws

Best of luck to everyone doing the 10k tomorrow, have fun.

Lazare

Beautiful grey misty morning anyway.

deisedude

Great week running this week

Monday - Tough track session. 6×800m with 400m jog recovery. Cool down and warm up. About 7.5 miles altogether I guess

Tuesday - 5 miles easy

Wednesday - 1 mile warm up, 4×3 mins with 2 mins recovery in between and cool down. 4 miles altogether

Thursday - Off

Friday - 7 mile race. 49:33 finish time and 10 k PB to boot. 1 mile warm up and cool down

Saturday - 30 minute Tabata strength workout

Sunday - meant to do 12 miles but miscalculated and did 12.75. Great run though

statina

Weeks running

I was on holidays for part of it but I managed to get in most of my runs.

Monday- 5 mile- 11.26 per mile (Ran the wine out of my system!)

Tuesday- 5 mile- 12.09. It was really warm and I was wrecked tired so this run was just about pounding it out.

Wednesday- rest

Thursday- 5 mile. 11.02 per mile

Friday- Rest.

Saturday- 11 mile LSR. 13.06 per mile. It was a tough run cos I ran up (multiple!) hills and tracks through woods but it was very enjoyable from a scenic perspective.

Plan for this week is to push on and incorporate some speed work. My pace seems to be getting slower which is slightly concerning but not going to worry too much about it at this stage.

Looking forward to reading the race reports from everyone :-)

Omeceron

Week 4. Disappointing end to the week but better to happen now than October!

Day | Run | Pace
Mon | 3.11 Miles Easy| 10:39
Tue | 6.22 Miles 4 @ Pace| 10:16
Wed | 3.11 Miles Easy| 10:25
Thu | Rest |
Fri | Rest |
Sat | 3.11 Miles Easy 5 Min @ 10k Pace | 10:03
Sun | Sick |

skyblue46

Just back from the Fingal. It was a great morning to run. Had a look at our Strava page and it looks to be that there were fantastic runs by everyone with lots of PBs! I'm sure it's a fantastic boost to us all and a sign that the training and the plans are paying off. It certainly puts a spring in my step as the next ramp up in miles begins.

Once again well done to everyone this morning:-))

heebusjeebus

Felt great at the Fingal 10k. Had so much stamina and was able to keep a great pace until the last kilometer.
Delighted with my time, more than 4mins 30 seconds better than the 2015 attempt.
I put it all down to the DCM training plan!
Roll on the 10 mile!

Sheep1978

Enjoyed that this morning. Good experience and good morning for it. Was starting to struggle with 1 / 1.5k to go but someone I know came alongside and helped me through. Fair play to him

leesider77

Thought I'd write this down now while it's still fresh.
I'm so thrilled - 55:43 is my official time - nearly 3 mins off my PB so far. Never thought I'd ever see a 55 on the clock. My prep was not ideal. Few too many glasses of vino on Friday followed by sleepless nights with sick kids. Lots of lessons learned. I didn't have my breakfast sorted so ended up looking for open shops at 7am. Also i was not prepared for rain ( it was beautiful leaving my house) so ended up looking for a cheap raincoat in the pavilions. Maybe it was better for me as I was distracted and not much time to think about things. Didn't bother with a bag drop - tied my new jacket to a railing and hoped for the best.

The rain stopped and we started off slowly - read here somewhere not to waste energy weaving at start so went with the crowd and this was my slowest km. We spread out along the motorway and started off at a good pace - figured if I could do a few kms it would put less pressure on me for the hills.

Kept plodding through the next few kms - felt really good passing people out and surprised to see walkers already. Water stations were a disaster - you just can't drink out of a cup and keep at a decent pace and at the second one in particular I found it really hard to get going again.

I knew at 5km (PB also) that if I could keep it going I could do a good time but then the doubts started creeping in - what if I'm not able to keep up the pace - but I started to remember what I'd read in one of the marathon books about flow and positive mantras and smiling - so focused on 2 girls ahead of me from a club and kept in their rhythm.

Was tricky winding through the groups on the narrow roads - definitely lost a few seconds and priceless energy here. Last 2kms were tough - didn't really feel the hills though that I had been dreading - I felt really strong and no aches and pains but again the doubts started.

I didn't have much left to kick at the end and actually ended up being a few people in front of me that I couldn't get around so it didn't matter anyway.

Absolutely delighted with myself - really feel for first time that I have a sub 55min 10km in me. Has done wonders for my confidence. Bring on the 10 mile!!!!

Damo 2k9

What a race
Kept the 4:45-5:00 pace for the first km, 2 and 3 were slightly faster and then I settled back down for 4,5 and 6. Felt really good going down the smaller roads, even if they were a bit crammed. Probably what helped me slow down a bit actually! Took a stitch on literally right after the start, thought the race would be ruined but I just kept battling through it. The tight roads from 4k onwards were jammed, found it hard getting around people but I knew I had to if I wanted to get a decent time in. As Leesider said the water stops were a disaster at a decent pace, ya just can't get a proper drink haha.

I said I was going to pick it up a bit from 7km onwards.
4:19, 4:12, 4:02, and 3:41 were the last 4km splits. Lost my mate shortly after 8k, I had reserved some fuel for the last bit and he was burnt out and couldn't keep the pace going. The uphill in the last km killed me but ended up sprinting the finish.

My goal was to do sub 50, and I ended up getting sub 45 with a chip time of 44:55!! Absolutely delighted with myself!

Well done everyone!! Strava page is booming with pace haha.

Sheep1978

Final time came in at 41.54 which very happy with. Even enough split from what I can work out. Kept the watch on miles and splits for the 6m were :
6.45
6.31
6.50
6.58
6.41
6.47

Wubble Wubble

Week 5

Some fantastic performances reported already from the Fingal 10k! Even at this early stage, you're getting the benefits of having more people to run with and against and (helped by your training of course ) achieving better results than you thought possible. Keep those reports coming in!

And of course non race reports are also more than welcome here training is coming on a ton here too!

Let's not leave it to all the same people either some who were fairly prominent earlier seem to have disappeared? and there's always room on the Novices bus for any lurkers out there :pac:

Can't rest on our laurels as another week is rapidly coming around.

HHN1: 3m easy + 5m easy + 3m easy + 10m LSR + cross
Boards: 4m easy + (6m with 5 x 100m strides) + 4m easy + 15m LSR + 3m rec

For the session, the strides should where possible be done towards the end of the run, at 80-85% effort.

Good luck!

Omeceron

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Boards: 4m easy + (6m with 5 x 100m strides) + 4m easy + 15m LSR + 3m rec

For the session, the strides should where possible be done towards the end of the run, at 80-85% effort.

Are those 6 miles at PMP?

Battery Kinzie

Well done to all today. I got a PB myself, pretty happy with it. Will give some more details later, going to eat a ton now.

Lazare

What a great race, on such a high right now.

Plan worked perfectly, went through 5k in 24:17, did the second 5 in 23:39 to finish on 47:56, one second behind Dunshaughlin.

Some difference between the two races though, in DS I bursted out the gate and struggled for the last few k with people passing me left right and centre. Today I spent the last few k breezing by people with the last k being my fastest. Such a buzz.

Planned to do the first 4 or 5 in 4:55 pace, the stretch along the dual carriageway was perfect for regulating it, then pick it up to around 4:40 until 8k before putting the foot down. Didn't stop for water which I think is important in a 10k as it disrupts your pace too much.
Went pretty much to plan which is a great confidence boost. Didn't hit the 47:30 that I said yesterday but not bothered at all, just delighted to run a negative split.

Well done everyone.

quickbeam

My week:

quickbeam wrote: »

So, sticking with the HH plan for next week (for once)

Well, more or less. I did the distances, but swapped things around a bit:

Monday - 6.24km @ 7.04 pace
Tuesday - 5.11km @ 7.10 pace (thought it interesting that the shorter distance was actually slower though maybe I could put that down to running two days in a row)
Thursday - 6.23km @ 7.13 pace
Saturday - leisurely 5.37km walk
Sunday - Fingal 10K - report ...

quickbeam wrote: »

Just to finish it upright

Well, that I did at least.

I found it grand for the most part. I enjoyed the country roads. It wasn't a bottleneck when I was going through, but then I was slower than others who've posted so far so the crowds had thinned out by the time I was passing, and I wasn't doing much overtaking either (some though). I actually felt, while running that section that I was at a "going all day" pace, which worried me a bit as I felt I should be pushing myself a bit harder with it being a race and all. However by 8.5km to 9.5km I was pretty shattered with that incline - not in the lungs, but in the legs for sure. The last half kilometre wasn't too bad, and I got over the line in pretty good shape. Was very thankful for good weather too.

Now, I'm probably a bit of a dope, this being my first ever chipped event and all, but I don't know yet my official time. I have a time from https://track.rtrt.me/e/TDL-FINGAL10K-2017 that tells me 1:12:25, but it also says it's unofficial. My own timing was about a minute slower than that, but, again being a total newbie to races, I didn't know not to start my timer until crossing the line, and instead started it as soon as we started moving (is it crossing the ramps that gives the official start and end times?? )

If the above is my official time, or close to it, then I'm very pleased. It's about five minutes quicker than I'd predicted based on my LSR training sessions thus far.

As for next week, I know HH has tomorrow as a rest day, but I don't like starting the week off with a rest, as it sets a bad example for the week (in my head), so thinking of doing the 3 miler on Monday and the LSR 10 miler on Wednesday. Will obviously depend on how I feel those mornings though.

Edited to add that I did the Fingal 10K on empty except for some water that morning. Felt fine doing that, though I'd brought emergency raisins with me just in case but I didn't need them. I did take an apple and a banana at the finish line and ate them, but I actually felt a bit nauseous doing so, so maybe I'll avoid that in future, and wait a bit until the excitement of finishing as waned and the stomach settled. I also avoided the water stops, though I know at longer distances I probably won't have that luxury, but at least I kept my rhythm going. I did appreciate the Fire Department out with the hoses to cool us down at around the 8km mark.

skyblue46

Lazare wrote: »

What a great race, on such a high right now.

Plan worked perfectly, went through 5k in 24:17, did the second 5 in 23:39 to finish on 47:56, one second behind Dunshaughlin.

Some difference between the two races though, in DS I bursted out the gate and struggled for the last few k with people passing me left right and centre. Today I spent the last few k breezing by people with the last k being my fastest. Such a buzz.

Planned to do the first 4 or 5 in 4:55 pace, the stretch along the dual carriageway was perfect for regulating it, then pick it up to around 4:40 until 8k before putting the foot down. Didn't stop for water which I think is important in a 10k as it disrupts your pace too much.
Went pretty much to plan which is a great confidence boost. Didn't hit the 47:30 that I said yesterday but not bothered at all, just delighted to run a negative split.

Well done everyone.

Well done on the pacing! I think that course was a little over distance, it was on my watch anyway. Strava seemed to agree and has given everyone faster times than the chip times. I'd say you weren't far away from the 47.30 ;-)

Lazare

skyblue46 wrote: »

Well done on the pacing! I think that course was a little over distance, it was on my watch anyway. Strava seemed to agree and has given everyone faster times than the chip times. I'd say you weren't far away from the 47.30 ;-)

Just spotted your splits and time on Strava, wow, excellent stuff man, very well done.

skyblue46

Lazare wrote: »

Just spotted your splits and time on Strava, wow, excellent stuff man, very well done.

Thanks :-) I'll do my little race report here. Hoped to do a PB of about 48 in this based on my IR5 as I honestly didn't feel I could ever run so fast again!! With that in mind I headed off pretty steady and did the first half in 24:07. I decided to lift the pace but kept having to slow myself as I felt I'd blow up if I didn't!!! I did the second half in 22:07 for a 46:14 and it's fair to say I'm beyond thrilled. Even that last 5k was a 43 second PB for 5k. Wish I had found this running lark 30 years ago!

Looking forward to reading more reports. Strava shows how many lurkers we have!

clickerquicklic

Well done to all who ran Fingal today.
I found the race tough , I had that pressure feeling that I last experienced when I was trying to go sub 20. As such I didn't really enjoy the race ,I felt it was just something I had to get done and I had to be sub 40 regardless of how i felt. I didn't feel great woke up at 9:20 and ran straight out the door over to start line.

First few km's felt tough I was breathing harder than I wanted to and by 6km I was already planning on stopping and thinking of excuses I could use for stopping , I felt weak minded and I was getting down on myself . Between 6 and 7km I think I was running under trees I looked at my lap splits and it showed current lap as 4:35 a gap started to open up in front of me and the person that was nearest me pulled up and stopped. I really had to dig deep , my mind was telling me how bad a runner I am and I was thinking to a cycle I did up over Howth a couple of weeks ago where I was dropped by someone on the way to summit. I started to question my cardio .

I fought the will to stop and pushed on faster to catch up to a group about 20 metres ahead of me , I hung on in and at 8km tried to drink and run at the water station -same as at 4km, I realised afterwards this is pretty pointless I got very little water in and probably slowed me down. I was doing the maths in my head and knew I was on target for just under the 40 mark so I ddin't kill myself I just paced myself in to a 39:50 which I am over the moon with , I set out to run just under the 40 mark my target splits where almost exactly what I had planned , I felt positive splitting was the best way to do it with the downhill from 2-5km.

I met Singer at the end (a gentleman ) whom I had met previously at River Valley Parkrun the day before , I was delighted to see he got a pb and he offered me some sound on how to pace Fingal.

Thanks to all the help in this thread , next target is sub 1:30 half marathon !

Spirogyra

15 miles slowly jogged, walked 1.5 home, stopping for tea and a scone along the way, doesn't go down very well after a long run but I need some 'reward'...... Company today made it a lot more enjoyable.

Supercell

Great course, ran 13.25 miles on a training run on Friday so legs were a bit tired, was debating whether I would do this or not, but am a sucker for punishment and then of course the promise of another running t-shirt pulled me back in!

Que for the portaloos were long and by the time i got out it was almost time to start so just joined the crowd beside them which turned out to be the 50+ group whereas I was planning to do around 46-47 min, doesn't sound like much but it is a step up in pace so i spent the first couple of miles catching up to where people were running around my target pace. Legs surprising felt pretty good after the first mile or so and decided to keep pushing. Last mile was pretty tough but the course was much flatter than the Waterford half a few weeks ago so kept going.

Ended up with a chip time of 44:57 which I am delighted with , over a minute better than my previous pb and surely another 20 seconds at least possible if I had started with the right group so very encouraging. Funny enough, my strava time is much faster at 44:22 which suggests I was doing a lot of weaving (which I definitely was for the first 3-4 miles catching to where I should have been) or the course was long (or the gps was much less accurate than previously??). Anyhow, all in all a great day and a great course for setting a PB on.

The Muppet

Really enjoying the race reports , well done to all .

quickbeam wrote: »

Now, I'm probably a bit of a dope, this being my first ever chipped event and all, but I don't know yet my official time. I have a time from https://track.rtrt.me/e/TDL-FINGAL10K-2017 that tells me 1:12:25, but it also says it's unofficial. My own timing was about a minute slower than that, but, again being a total newbie to races, I didn't know not to start my timer until crossing the line, and instead started it as soon as we started moving (is it crossing the ramps that gives the official start and end times?? )

If the above is my official time, or close to it, then I'm very pleased. It's about five minutes quicker than I'd predicted based on my LSR training sessions thus far.

The 1:12:25 is your time . The race starts on the line and the chip in your race number records you crossing the start and finish line and calculates your time from that.

Congratulations on a good run today.

Lazare

One thing I learned this morning is not to wear hair gel on the big day.

Didn't get in my eyes today but it threatened to.

Imagine going through all that training for something so stupid to feck it all up

quickbeam

Lazare wrote: »

One thing I learned this morning is not to wear hair gel on the big day.

Didn't get in my eyes today but it threatened to.

Imagine going through all that training for something so stupid to feck it all up

Now that you have a bandana there's no more need for hair gel!

choons

Week 4 done and still on track

Day: Planned/Actual

Monday: 3/3km – Discovered another little park nearby with outdoor gym gear which is cool.
Tuesday: 5/5.1km – No probs.
Wednesday: 6.5/6.7km – No probs.
Thursday: 6.5/6.5km – No probs, felt great.
Friday: Rest / 100m swim and a few light weights.
Saturday: Rest / Rest and ate carbs
Sunday: 10k / Fingal 10k - well that was fun. First proper race and learned so much! Started off way back in the crowd which was a huge mistake. Felt grand and sprinted when I saw the finish line because I had some energy left - should have pushed earlier. Beat my target time of 45mins, coming in at 44:21 and have had a smile on my face all day.

Well done everyone!

skyblue46

quickbeam wrote: »

Now that you have a bandana there's no more need for hair gel!

I found another solution.... Baldness!!! :pac::pac::pac:

AuldManKing

Some great times today folks. Well done!!

Take note of the things you done that worked well and those that didnt.

Eg. Starting slower/ not too far back/ no hair gel

The Frank Duffy 10m is a different beast.

For those who didnt race, great to see the long runs being ticked off.

Take confidence that the plan is working!

Lazare

quickbeam wrote: »

Now that you have a bandana there's no more need for hair gel!

Is that what it is? :pac:

Thought it was some sort of scarf.

Battery Kinzie

It's a bandana and a scarf.