DCM 2017 Mentored Novices Thread

RasTa

The Muppet wrote: »

Loving this thread, bringing back so many memories between dreams or should that be nightmares and eating like a horse the day after long runs.

Yeah following this thread has made me sign up for the Frank Duffy 10m.

skyblue46

RasTa wrote: »

Yeah following this thread has made me sign up for the Frank Duffy 10m.

I had a look back at the 2016 thread a few weeks ago and saw your name a lot. How was the whole experience for you? And congrats for getting it done!!!

The Black Oil

There's a programme* on BBC Radio 4 Extra at 9am tomorrow.

A much-disputed version of history claims that in 490BC, the Greek messenger Pheidippides sped from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated. He ran the whole way without stopping, burst into the assembly and declared the victory. He promptly collapsed and died, but marathon runners don't tend to focus on that bit of the story. The word 'marathon' has become synonymous with any epic event.

The classicist Natalie Haynes is a keen runner. She is no stranger to half-marathons, but the full 26.2 miles still looms like a Colossus. She wants to find out what special kind of steel is required to take on a marathon - particularly for the ordinary, non-elite runner.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0902g4w

*It is 3 hours long, mind you.

After three hours of sweat, grit, glory and blackened toenails, will Natalie be persuaded to sign up for her first marathon?

The Muppet

RasTa wrote: »

Yeah following this thread has made me sign up for the Frank Duffy 10m.

Brave Man, I still have the mental scars from last years:D

Cant do it this year as i have other targets but I think this time next year i will be doing it in training for my second crack at dcm.

ariana`

D3PO wrote: »

same here. Ariana should be on commission lol

Hope it works out well for you both :-)

Did my PMP run last night. Didn't enjoy it at all. Just couldn't settle on the pace. I was either 30 seconds/km too fast or 30seconds/km too slow. Found I was constantly looking at the watch and as a result felt every minute of it. No fun... Not doing lsr til Sunday this week as Sat is chocabloc. And have to do next week's lsr on Friday so not ideal that they will be 5 days apart and with other runs in between. Feeling a bit disheartened this week... funny how the mood/form can change with 1 run :-(

muddypaws

ariana` wrote: »

Hope it works out well for you both :-)

Did my PMP run last night. Didn't enjoy it at all. Just couldn't settle on the pace. I was either 30 seconds/km too fast or 30seconds/km too slow. Found I was constantly looking at the watch and as a result felt every minute of it. No fun... Not doing lsr til Sunday this week as Sat is chocabloc. And have to do next week's lsr on Friday so not ideal that they will be 5 days apart and with other runs in between. Feeling a bit disheartened this week... funny how the mood/form can change with 1 run :-(

But the good side of that is that the next run will hopefully change your mood again. It's definitely a rollercoaster ride this training lark

The Muppet

ariana` wrote: »

D3PO wrote: »

same here. Ariana should be on commission lol

Hope it works out well for you both :-)

Did my PMP run last night. Didn't enjoy it at all. Just couldn't settle on the pace. I was either 30 seconds/km too fast or 30seconds/km too slow. Found I was constantly looking at the watch and as a result felt every minute of it. No fun... Not doing lsr til Sunday this week as Sat is chocabloc. And have to do next week's lsr on Friday so not ideal that they will be 5 days apart and with other runs in between. Feeling a bit disheartened this week... funny how the mood/form can change with 1 run :-(

It's all part of the journey ariana, you'll have good days/weeks and ones you perceive as bad ones . It's all new , the tiredness' trying to juggle schedules to fit the runs in , no names mentioned but one of last years novices tried to get a 20 mile lsr in on the deck of a cruise ship:D Everyone here will face those challenges before October,just embrace them and work through them. It's all so worth it. .

Omeceron

16 Miles done. It went great. What a difference a week makes. I struggled last week to finish 15 miles but I had no issues at all this week. Sluggish start but after 2 miles really got into it. A couple of miles were at PMP, not intentionally!

It only took me 1.5 mins longer to do the 16 than last weeks 15 miles which shows how much of a struggle it was and how things can get better.

Lazare

Ran by a bus stop today towards the end of my LSR that had a road safety ad on it. In big letters were the words 'If you're feeling tired, Stop, take a rest'

Was like it was there to test me.

Stuck me middle finger up at it.

The Black Oil

muddypaws wrote: »

Has anyone else noticed more runners out now?

They even say hello. :eek:

quickbeam

My week:

Monday - LSR, 11.36km @ 7:22 - very happy to have a step back this week after a tough 16km last week, and this felt perfectly fine.

Tuesday - leisurely 6.41km walk

Wednesday - 7.85km @ 7:10 (a PB on that route)

Thursday - moderately brisk 6.11km walk

Friday - 5.17km @ 6:49 (a PB on that route)

Saturday - Parkrun in 32:19, a PB

Sunday - planned rest day

So, weirdly and not planned, I had three PBs in the week (Wednesday's was only by a few seconds but the other two were decent enough improvements). Perhaps not such a good idea to have so many PBs, but if it's to happen any time, on a step-back week I guess it's the week to do it. Each of them were done without *too* much effort too, ie, I felt reasonably comfortable while doing them, so maybe it's just a sign of the benefits of more running and better fitness since starting on the plan.

I guess when people talked about PMP I've never really got what they were saying. I've been pretty much running each race at whatever speed will get me through it - so slow on the long ones, and a bit faster on the shorter ones. But as I'm so new to running, and racing, I was never really sure what my PMP was. Having done the Fingal 10K, and using McMillan and the likes, I'm only now getting a better idea of that. And since next week things are starting to get very serious, I think I'll have to take my PMP a lot more serious too, especially on the long runs. PMP will be a *lot* slower than the 7:22 I did this weeks LSR in, and slower even than last week's 16km was done in (7:41). Something I'm promising myself to take more care of from next week onwards. So, no more PBs, except, maybe, hopefully at Parkruns, if I'm lucky....?

My Thursday walk was a reccy to Phoenix Park to check out some of the FD10 route that I was less familiar with (Acres Road, Military Road and Wellington Roads). Those hills are scary :eek:. I checked back on last year's thread to see how people coped with the hills .... then I realised everybody had much worse to deal with the hills. My sympathies!! I hope the weather behaves this year - not a scorcher like the IR5-mile this year, and not a perfect storm like last year's FD10. Next week I plan a reccy on the other side of Chesterfield on one of my non-running days.

BrownEyes79

The Black Oil wrote: »

They even say hello. :eek:

I'd say 70% of runners said hello to me today!! Usually I just get blanked and I end up feeling stupid but today most people were so friendly:)

BrownEyes79

My Garmin forerunner 15 won't sync with my computer, just noticed it hasn't synced since last Saturday! Garmin Connect recognises the watch but it keeps saying sync failed!
Does anyone know how to fix this??
Thanks

quickbeam

Bluetooth turned on?

Baby75

Great report Quickbeam its great you had such a good week, I am looking forward to my LSR well it won't be that slow as I have a charity run tomorrow but I am approaching it the same as the Irish 5 mile and the Viking quarter in Waterford.
I think I will be reading up on what is ahead for the FD 10 mile :eek:

If that's the case I will be adding in a few on my runs, I try to anyway but not this week so far.

juke

BrownEyes79 wrote: »

My Garmin forerunner 15 won't sync with my computer, just noticed it hasn't synced since last Saturday! Garmin Connect recognises the watch but it keeps saying sync failed!
Does anyone know how to fix this??
Thanks

Happened to me once. Try uninstalling and then re-installing Garmin Connect.

BrownEyes79

quickbeam wrote: »

Bluetooth turned on?

Thanks quick beam. Yes Bluetooth on but the forerunner doesn't automatically sync with Bluetooth you have to plug it into the computer to sync

BrownEyes79

juke wrote: »

Happened to me once. Try uninstalling and then re-installing Garmin Connect.

Thanks juke. If I uninstall will I lose my data up to now or does it stay with my account??

juke

BrownEyes79 wrote: »

Thanks juke. If I uninstall will I lose my data up to now or does it stay with my account??

Stays with your account.

BrownEyes79

juke wrote: »

Stays with your account.

Still not working so annoying, it not even a year old

quickbeam

BrownEyes79 wrote: »

Thanks quick beam. Yes Bluetooth on but the forerunner doesn't automatically sync with Bluetooth you have to plug it into the computer to sync

Same with my FR35, so I manually sync after each run using bluetooth which works for me. On the watch go to menu and scroll down to sync. I presume it's not too dissimilar with yours?

Wubble Wubble

Week 7

So now we are one third of the way through our marathon journey. Already the progress being made is outstanding. You're going further and feeling more comfortable with it. Those on the Boards plan got to 16 miles for their LSRs this week, and the good news is, it doesn't go above this for a few more weeks

As the weeks go by, you should also hopefully be feeling more comfortable with the paces at which you have been running. If not, it may be time to slow down again, and possibly have another look at your PMP. There is still plenty of time for matters to improve, indeed a whole 12 weeks to go

To those of you injured at the moment, try not to panic too much, as losing a week or two isn't usually too bad at this stage. Just remember that when a week is gone, it's gone. Chasing lost miles when you come back running again is only going to make things worse.

Some super holiday runs being reported as well. Don't too much pressure on yourself in these situations. If you can get out, great although if you're away somewhere warm, try to have plenty of water handy and get out for your run early.

With all this extra time we need to devote to our marathon training as the weeks go by, I wonder how many of you are having conversations similar to this at home

Keep the reports coming in!

Schedules for next week as follows. HH starts going through the gears on the mileage front, with all those shorter LSRs setting you up nicely for the next step.

HHN1: 3M easy + 6M easy + 3M easy + 12M LSR + cross
Boards: 4M easy + (1M w/u, 5M pace, 1M c/d) + 4M easy + 14M LSR + 3M rec

Best of luck to those of you running the Rock 'N' Roll HM. If you're in for that one, do it instead of the LSR next week.

Good luck everyone!

The Black Oil

@BE79, keep trying. I've a Forerunner 305 which has to be synced manually (no bluetooth) with Garmin Express. It rarely works the first time (though it does recognise the device) and can take 3-5 attempts before 'there was an error syncing with Garmin Connect' will go away. If it's continually annoying I usually close GE and start over.

Omeceron

Week 6. Good week of running. Felt really strong during the 5 miles and the 5 pmp miles. Tired legs on the recovery run today but that's to be expected.

I might have to move the LSR to Thursday due to a busy weekend ahead.

Day | Run | Pace
Mon | Rest|
Tue | 5 Miles Easy| 10:36
Wed | 1wu 5 PMP 1 cd| 10:14
Thu | 3.11 Miles Recovery| 10:36
Fri | Rest |
Sat | 16 Miles | 10:41
Sun | 3.11 Miles Recovery| 10:45

skyblue46

The Black Oil wrote: »

@BE79, keep trying. I've a Forerunner 305 which has to be synced manually (no bluetooth) with Garmin Express. It rarely works the first time (though it does recognise the device) and can take 3-5 attempts before 'there was an error syncing with Garmin Connect' will go away. If it's continually annoying I usually close GE and start over.

I have a 225 which I connect manually. On a couple of occasions I had this problem and I found the root of my problem. The contacts on the watch may be dirty or be covered with a salty deposit from sweat. Each contact serves a different purpose and while mine was recognised and charged it would not sync. I cleaned the contacts thoroughly and it synced straight away.

BrownEyes79

skyblue46 wrote: »

I have a 225 which I connect manually. On a couple of occasions I had this problem and I found the root of my problem. The contacts on the watch may be dirty or be covered with a salty deposit from sweat. Each contact serves a different purpose and while mine was recognised and charged it would not sync. I cleaned the contacts thoroughly and it synced straight away.

Thanks for all your suggestions Quickbeam, The Black Oil & Skyblue, I've tried everything a this point but will try it all again. I've deleted some files and now instead of error message it's just continually trying to sync so hopefully eventually it might work!

BrownEyes79

The weeks are flying by, can't believe we are on week 7 already!!

Monday: strength + conditioning DVD
Tuesday: 5 miles easy @ 9.52
Wednesday: 7 miles @ 8.58
Thursday: 3 miles @ 10.21
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 16 miles @ 10.38
Sunday: stretch video and maybe so foam rolling later

Good week all in all. I was delighted with myself after Wednesdays session.
This weeks LSR was so much better than last weeks although I really need to work on my mental strength, I keep doubting myself in the final mile or 2 or my LSR, if anyone has any suggestions on how to deal with this I'd love to hear them!!

I'm going away on Monday evening until Friday. So not sure how much running I'll get done this week! (I do have my runners packed though)
I could fit a run in on Monday and also my LSR in on Friday evening before I go away again.
Wubble Wubble what type of run would you suggest I do on Monday, I don't want the week to be a complete write off!

ariana`

Another week done. A bit up n down for me but got there in the end. Found the 16m lsr tough to be honest but great to have it done. I'm trying not to dwell on 26.2 and instead telling myself only another 4 miles/6.5km to our longest training run!!! Doesn't sound like a lot really...does it!!

Day|Distance/km|Purpose|Time|Avg Pace|Avg HR
Monday|8.1|Easy|51:02|6:18|138
Tuesday|6.1|Easy|37:27|6:11|140
Thursday|11.3|PMP|1:06:29|5:51|155
Saturday|26|LSR|2:51:38|6:36|150
Total|51.5|||||

clickerquicklic

Another week done , great reading well done all.
I'm starting to feel a lot fresher after dropping the cycling altogether, i'm almost feeling lazy just running.

Monday : Rest day
Tuesday : 7*800 reps with 1min rest ,this was tough, I didn't jog the rest just stood still and tried to recover.
2:59/3:01/3:05/3:06/3:08/3:11/3:00 two nice things was figuring out the loop in local park is exactly 800m and that I got top on strava segment :P.
Wednesday : Run to work 15k @ 5.23km
Thursday: Plan said 4miles at lactate threshold (had to google this) used Mcmillan paces which told me 4.04km is pace to go at, I did a 2k warm up then 6k @4.03 around trinity track , it felt comfortably hard could of upped pace easy enough but kept it within range.
Friday: Restday
Saturday: I got up early to do my long run which was 15miles , I drove to parkrun and parked there and then ran a loop so I could finish off with Parkrun.
Decided to try a progression run starting slow and finishing at PMP. Felt great throughout no problem upping the pace.
8.50/8:30/8:29/8:13/8:19/8:02/7:51/7:42/7:36/7:56/7:32/7:40/7:17/7:26/
6:36 (mile splits last few parkrun).
Met Singer afterwards who smashed his PB on the course.
Sunday: Today will probably be a rest day

Total 57km for week
Overall a decent week, still following a 3:15 plan but with a 3:30 marathon goal. The progression run splits went well ahead of PMP but hoping that will stand to me on the day and PMP will feel easy.

Candamir

Week 7 (or 5 for late starters like me!)

Monday: 5x800m @ 8:00, 200m recovery jog between each interval, 1mile w/u and c/d. 5.6m total. This was tougher than it looked on paper! My 5mile race pace was 8:00, so I thought this would be fairly easy - I was wrong! I went off way too fast on the first interval doing it in 3:30 instead of 4 minutes, and I found them tough although managed to do them all in less than the 4minute target. Will try harder to get the pace right for the next time I do them and give myself a chance!
Tues: 6miles @ 8:50. + Pilates class. Run was as planned a bit faster than PMP. Felt a bit harder than usual due to legs being tired from Mondays intervals!
Wed: 3.5miles recovery @9:25. Weather was wet and windy so felt a bit harder than 'recovery' on the way out - wind mostly at my backbonnthd way home so that was more enjoyable!
Thurs: Rest
Fri: LSR 12.2m @ 9:15. This was a bit faster than it should have been. I didn't pay much attention to my watch for the most of it and just ran at what felt a comfortable pace but the first few miles ended up being way too fast - sub 9 when I'm aiming at somewhere between 9:30 and 10. I started feeling hungry after about 7 miles and had a bit of a panic! I was a bit later than usual getting out and run on empty so I thought I might have snookered myself. Legs began to feel tired after mile 10, but felt ok again after another half mile and in the end I didn't notice mile 12 until my watch told me I'd finished,so all in all fairly happy with how it went.
Sat: had planned on doing a bike for cross but a combination of torrential rain, tired legs and what I hope isn't the beginnings of a cold made me ditch that idea and I just had short walk instead.

Looking forward to hill repeats and 14mile LSR this week�� I'm planning on running it a bit later and getting breakfast in first, so it'll be interesting to see how that feels in comparison to running first thing on empty. Also good practice for race day I'd imagine. Really need to get my bike session in too. Lessons learned from this week - pace pace pace!