DCM 2017 Mentored Novices Thread

Spirogyra

positron wrote: »

I was thinking about this yesterday myself - I found it hard to sleep after LSR. LSR was not close to bed time, I felt wrecked and definitly wanted to sleep, but in bed I kept tossing and turning with aches all over. It's that very unsettling feeling that just doesn't go away you drink/eat or even sit down for a while - it's deep inside. I felt this way after cyling whole day as well - you just know something isn't right but can't figure out how to fix it. If half is this hard, what would it be like after a full?

But your comment makes a lot of sense - with a lot of running between now and end of October, feeling might be different. Here's hoping!

Also in the weeks leading up to a full-marathon one is resting a lot, letting the body recover so that it's in good shape 'on marathon day'. Last week I had done intensive training sessions Tuesday and Thursday. That won't be the case on the week of 29th October

drkpower

skyblue46 wrote: »

Yeah I think it's something I will decide on the day. I was advised to get into wave 1 for a couple of reasons so I bluffed my expected finishing time to suit. Realistically I'm dreaming of 3:59:59! My reasons were a) less time hanging around at the start if the weather is bad b) I could plod along at my own pace in relative tranquility while all the faster runners belted ahead and c) when the best of wave 2 start catching and passing me I could use them as targets for a bit at a time.

Now though the idea of the 4hr pacer seems a more attractive if somewhat crowded and bustling option. I'll experiment with pacer during the half as I have never tried it before.

Yep, i like the idea of a pacer - even with watches and what not, its still a bit of a PITA to be checking all the time - other than Parkruns ive never done a paced run so ill try it at the half too.

the only problem with letting the faster runners go past you at the beginning is (1) its probably demoralising to get passed by so may people so early and (2) given (1), i would probably end up abandoning the plan to chase the faster ones!

BrownEyes79

muddypaws wrote: »

I know that our bodies are going to struggle the days after the marathon, but maybe we haven't really considered that we will have done a lot of training by then, and so the long runs at the moment, even though they aren't full marathon length, are equivalent with the amount of training we've done so far - if that makes sense. Take it easy, eat and drink lots, and hopefully you'll recover within a few days.

I don't know what to do on the marathon weekend. I'll be travelling up from Sligo, dropping the dogs into a kennel in Kildare, on the Saturday morning, or more likely on the Friday. Should I pick the dogs back up on Sunday evening, drive home and then not have to worry about having to move around at all on the Monday, and just chill out for the day, scoffing my own bodyweight in snacks with some box sets, or stay in Dublin for the Sunday night, then pick the dogs up on the Monday and drive home? It usually takes about 3 hours from the kennels back to the house. Will I be much sorer on the Monday than on the Sunday I wonder? Will I be too tired on the Sunday evening for the long drive? Any advice would be appreciated. It would be nice to be able to go for a pint or two with my fellow boards travellers after the run, if I'm driving home obviously that won't happen, although not sure that alcohol will be the way to go anyway after the run, as one can of cider tends to knock me out these days.

If I were you I'd definitely stay up on the Sunday night, you'll be so tired after the marathon that the last thing you'll want to do is drive especially for 3 hours!

beakerjoe

Did 12 miles yesterday, which is my longest distance so far. Still behind on where I wanna be but its not bad. Felt very heavy legged afterward and though it seems to be almost fine today.

During the run I seemed to finds it difficult when I passed the 10 mile mark but very happy Im up to that mark considering the FD this Saturday.

I did enjoy running down the coast road though. No stopping for traffic and felt good as I went along the road nodding at others thinking “are they boardsies?”.

Horsed the peanut butter sandwiches and bananas out of it when I got back (with some protein milk). Hooked on them.

Felt great doing the 12 miles until I saw others in the strava group doing the IM. Dear lord I feel out of shape reading those.

beakerjoe

Oh and ordered the belt Ariana and Quickbeam recommended. Will try it out on my first LSR after the Frank Duffy. Didnt bring anything with me (no water or gels) on my 12 mile run and felt good until mile number 10.

RolandDeschain

drkpower wrote: »

Wave changes

FYI, i just spoke to the DCM office about wave changing:

1. On the day, you will be allowed to move down a wave (ie. to a slower one), no questions asked.
2. They are still taking requests to move up a wave ( office@dublinmarathon.ie ); however that will close off in about a week [the website said that wave changes would only be allowed up to 31 July)

Apparently they restrict moving up because they get loads of punters who want to start 'at the start' even if they plan to do a 6 hour marathon, which causes absolute chaos!; that's why they restrict 'up-waving' but have no problems allowing people to drop back. I am signed up to the sub 3.39 group which shows how much enthusiasm and energy i had about 3 months ago...... all the advice i have received since is - for a novice - is to go out very conservatively, and if you are feeling good at half way, up the pace then. Based on that plan, there is about zero chance of me starting in Wave 1!!

Cheers for the heads up! I double checked and realised I was done for wave 4. I emailed them and they moved me up to wave 3 so I can go with the 4 hour pacers. They didn't have any issue with changing my wave.

Sheep1978

Feeling hugely demoralised the last few days so spent the morning reading back over the Novice 2015 race reports (link is posted on page 125 of this thread). Has made me feel a bit more motivated to ensure I at least get to the start line.

beakerjoe

Sheep1978 wrote: »

Feeling hugely demoralised the last few days so spent the morning reading back over the Novice 2015 race reports (link is posted on page 125 of this thread). Has made me feel a bit more motivated to ensure I at least get to the start line.

What has you demoralised?

Sheep1978

beakerjoe wrote: »

What has you demoralised?

injury mainly. knew the hols would impact the training but to have to pull up on my first session back after them has left me on a right downer. Not the first time its happened and hopefully that feeling is reversed as quickly as last time.

beakerjoe

Sheep1978 wrote: »

injury mainly. knew the hols would impact the training but to have to pull up on my first session back after them has left me on a right downer. Not the first time its happened and hopefully that feeling is reversed as quickly as last time.

The similar thing happened to me a few weeks back. I got a viral infection which had me over the toliet for the best part of 9 days. I wasnt sleeping well, wasnt training and felt like crap.

I kept thinking, not only am I not building myself up but Im going backwards by not training at all.

The lack of exercise did hamper my progress in one way, but the rest did my body good too. I felt fresh once I recovered and any niggles were gone as I had done nothing. Im a little behind where i wanna be in training but I tried to see the positives.

What kind of injury have you got. Rest it and dont rush back too soon or you'll most likely doing more damage. Its a pain in the backside but I promise you, your first run back once your fully healed will kick you back into teh right frame of mind.

Sheep1978

beakerjoe wrote: »

What kind of injury have you got. Rest it and dont rush back too soon or you'll most likely doing more damage. Its a pain in the backside but I promise you, your first run back once your fully healed will kick you back into teh right frame of mind.

problem with my knee. Certainly the right advice re rest etc but I'm a stubborn idiot when it comes to this type of thing and will no doubt end up trying something too soon (completely my own fault as per usual)

beakerjoe

Sheep1978 wrote: »

problem with my knee. Certainly the right advice re rest etc but I'm a stubborn idiot when it comes to this type of thing and will no doubt end up trying something too soon (completely my own fault as per usual)

Its not your own fault, injuries happen. Its only natural to want to get back up on the horse. Be patient and try not be disheartened. Just eat right in the mean time and go easy on the leg.

scotindublin

beakerjoe wrote: »

Felt great doing the 12 miles until I saw others in the strava group doing the IM. Dear lord I feel out of shape reading those.

Great effort with getting the 12 miles done; Strava is great for keeping tabs on what's going on with other folks and giving encouragement but is important not to compare ourselves to others as we are all at different levels of fitness and have different aspirations on what we hope to achieve.

Also a thing to note is that not all of us in the Strava group are novices or in my case not marathon training.....just helping WW and trying to give some advice to you all where possible.

Keep up the efforts and you will be rewarded on the day!

ariana`

muddypaws wrote: »

I don't know what to do on the marathon weekend. I'll be travelling up from Sligo, dropping the dogs into a kennel in Kildare, on the Saturday morning, or more likely on the Friday. Should I pick the dogs back up on Sunday evening, drive home and then not have to worry about having to move around at all on the Monday, and just chill out for the day, scoffing my own bodyweight in snacks with some box sets, or stay in Dublin for the Sunday night, then pick the dogs up on the Monday and drive home? It usually takes about 3 hours from the kennels back to the house. Will I be much sorer on the Monday than on the Sunday I wonder? Will I be too tired on the Sunday evening for the long drive? Any advice would be appreciated. It would be nice to be able to go for a pint or two with my fellow boards travellers after the run, if I'm driving home obviously that won't happen, although not sure that alcohol will be the way to go anyway after the run, as one can of cider tends to knock me out these days.

I found myself thinking about this in the last few days as well. One of my little ones has his birthday the day after, we usually have a Halloween fancy dress party in the house for his birthday!! I'm not sure I'll be able for a kid's birthday party 24 hours after finishing a marathon!! Also undecided about whether i'll even make it home or be better off staying in Dublin to enjoy the pints etc!

clickerquicklic

beakerjoe wrote: »

Felt great doing the 12 miles until I saw others in the strava group doing the IM. Dear lord I feel out of shape reading those.

I was looking at that myself! Some serious runners on there I seen one guy doing Rock and Roll half marathon as a marathon paced session and came in well below sub 1.30!
In DCM novices 2020 group they'll probably be looking at us thinking who are these lads flying along ! In fairness if you look at strava most guys that are running fast are putting in the miles, 100km a week seems standard if your a decent runner.

sillymoo

Hi everyone, haven't posted for a few weeks but have been following the thread with interest. Glad to see the progress of everyone!

I did 14 mile LSR on Saturday, the furthest I have ever ran. I was completely doubting myself at the beginning as I had missed the LSR the week before due to work commitments and was terrified of the jump in distance. But I started slowly and around mile 6 I began to believe that 14 miles was achieveable. All was well until mile 11 and then the last 3 miles were torture due to aching tired legs. But I got through much to my surprise and delight.

I have a lot more confidence now in my running. I am now running in the evenings mostly, nearly always have toilets planned along the route - I took a stop about 4 miles into LSR at the weekend but actually would have been ok if I didn't, I suppose my confidence was knocked so much earlier in training that I still have a fear of having an accident. I'm delighted I didn't give up after that day and call it quits, kept going despite the embarrassment and fear that it would happen again.

I will try to switch back to morning runs soon I think and also will have to try some fuel for the long runs, with toilet breaks as needed! The marathon is on in a morning so I need to be able to know I can run in the morning without any disasters. Hopefully things will go ok from that point of view over the next few weeks.

Im not running the FD 10, had signed up but unfortunately have to work. I think I will step back to 10mile LSR this weekend as I don't think my body will take 14 miles again this week. What are everyone's thoughts on this?

Thanks for all the help and support so far - it's amazing how much support you can get from reading posts and learning from others

ariana`

Hi sillymoo delighted to hear from you and all going well. I don't think it's any harm to step back the long run if you feel the need but then I'm no expert. I did 16m, 12m, 16m the past 3 weeks. And I found the 12m so short and the 2nd 16 miler much better than the 1st. The next few weeks are going to be 14, 18, 16, 20.... Or something along those lines is the plan at the moment, the 14 is part of a 10m race and the 16 is part of a half marathon! I like when I'm doing a really long run that I know the following week will be "shorter", it helps to get me through it when the going gets tough.

Wubble Wubble

ariana` wrote: »

Hi sillymoo delighted to hear from you and all going well. I don't think it's any harm to step back the long run if you feel the need but then I'm no expert. I did 16m, 12m, 16m the past 3 weeks. And I found the 12m so short and the 2nd 16 miler much better than the 1st. The next few weeks are going to be 14, 18, 16, 20.... Or something along those lines is the plan at the moment, the 14 is part of a 10m race and the 16 is part of a half marathon! I like when I'm doing a really long run that I know the following week will be "shorter", it helps to get me through it when the going gets tough.

@ariana`, Next three after this are 15, 16, 12....HHN1 only has one 20 mile LSR which in fact is the only one over 16 miles.

@sillymoo, welcome back!!!

How is your pacing for the LSRs? If you're running them too fast, I'd rather (if possible) run another 14 at a slower pace, than 10/12 at the same speed as last week. The fact that you've got through 14 already, means that you know for a fact you can do it again. Sorry you're missing the FD10, that would have been great experience for you.

sillymoo

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

@ariana`, Next three after this are 15, 16, 12....HHN1 only has one 20 mile LSR which in fact is the only one over 16 miles.

@sillymoo, welcome back!!!

How is your pacing for the LSRs? If you're running them too fast, I'd rather (if possible) run another 14 at a slower pace, than 10/12 at the same speed as last week. The fact that you've got through 14 already, means that you know for a fact you can do it again. Sorry you're missing the FD10, that would have been great experience for you.

Thanks for the advice ariana and wubble wubble, pace is very slow for the LSR, about 11.45/mi average according to Strava. Will aim for 14 again this week, will be running after work on Saturday so will depend on what shape I'm in after work! Might need the 14mi rather than 10mi to destress

ariana`

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

@ariana`, Next three after this are 15, 16, 12....HHN1 only has one 20 mile LSR which in fact is the only one over 16 .

I'm doing boards I think! Though admittedly I have modified it slightly around my holidays & my husband's travel committements and I'm doing a differnet half to the race series... so maybe it doesn't look like I'm doing Boards anymore, oooops! But I've already done 2x16m and I'm planning on doing 2x20m and an 18m as well... They will be my longest 5 runs.

ariana`

drkpower wrote: »

Yep, i like the idea of a pacer - even with watches and what not, its still a bit of a PITA to be checking all the time - other than Parkruns ive never done a paced run so ill try it at the half too.

I like idea of a pacer too but going to try it out at the half as well if the half i'm doing has them

drkpower wrote: »

the only problem with letting the faster runners go past you at the beginning is (1) its probably demoralising to get passed by so may people so early and (2) given (1), i would probably end up abandoning the plan to chase the faster ones!

And also you'd be annoying to the faster runners, as they'd be tripping over you... Ok maybe it's their issue more than yours but it's something i'd still be aware of, karma and all that jazz, what goes around comes around.

skyblue46 wrote: »

Yeah I think it's something I will decide on the day. I was advised to get into wave 1 for a couple of reasons so I bluffed my expected finishing time to suit. Realistically I'm dreaming of 3:59:59! My reasons were a) less time hanging around at the start if the weather is bad b) I could plod along at my own pace in relative tranquility while all the faster runners belted ahead and c) when the best of wave 2 start catching and passing me I could use them as targets for a bit at a time.

Now though the idea of the 4hr pacer seems a more attractive if somewhat crowded and bustling option. I'll experiment with pacer during the half as I have never tried it before.

Whoever advised you has obviously not had the experience of tripping over people at the start of a race who have no place being where they are

Wubble Wubble

Omeceron wrote: »

Week 8. <br />
<br />
Day | Run | Pace<br />
Mon | Rest| <br />
Tue | 4 Miles Easy| 10:19<br />
Wed | Rest| <br />
Thu | 1WU 4PMP 1CD| 10:16<br />
Fri | Rest |<br />
Sat | 16 Miles | 10:41<br />
Sun | 2 Miles Recovery| 10:40 <br />
I am going on holidays next Monday and weather and roads are not ideal for running. I will have access to a gym so I will be able to keep up with some runs. Best intentions are to do the 19 and 20 Mile LSRs but that might not be realistic. With that in mind what should I do for the Frank Duffy 10 miler? <br />
<br />
In order of preference:<br />
A. Race<br />
B. 9 Miles before and run as LSR<br />
C. A session?

Two weeks holidays?

A. I would still only race the FD10 if not racing the Half.
B. and C. above both seem to be perfectly valid.

+1 regarding holiday LSRs. If you can get them done, fantastic. But don't put too much pressure on yourself to cover everything. Plus of course, when running in warmer conditions than we're used to, the importance of being properly hydrated before and during LSRs is far greater. Enjoy the break either way

skyblue46

ariana` wrote: »

Whoever advised you has obviously not had the experience of tripping over people at the start of a race who have no place being where they are

Whoa there, rein in the horses! I would be well able to place myself at the very back of the wave and not be a nuisance to the elites, thank you.

ariana`

skyblue46 wrote: »

Whoa there, rein in the horses! I would be well able to place myself at the very back of the wave and not be a nuisance to the elites, thank you.

Horses

I didn't mention elites... a lot of people train for various goals, sub 3:30 and sub 3 hrs being 2 big milestones i hear thrown about on this forum. Place yourself anywhere in wave 1 and the runners should (theoretically anyhow) be faster as the wave is intended for sub 3:39 runners and maybe i'm wrong but i thought i read that your dream finish time is 3:59:59 but i did get advice here previously that it's easier to move down a wave than up a wave so from that perspective you are better of in wave 1, maybe your goal will change during the training.

Anyhow it's neither here nor there as obviously we can all decide for ourselves what wave to go in, i was just throwing in my opinion that if it was me i'd prefer to start in the wave i genuinely thing i belong in so as not to be in the way of faster runners than myself.

Ok, I'll shut up now

RasTa

If going for a 4hr don't start in wave 1, you'll just piss people off.

Wubble Wubble

From the FAQ page...(my emphasis)

"Entrants pick one of three time zones when registering. Runners will start according to their allocated Times Zone. This is to ensure that there is less congestion in the early part of the race and all competitors achieve a smooth and prompt start. The wave system successfully blends participants in mutually competitive groupings. There are 4 wave starts. 08:55 : Wheelchair entrants 09:00 : 1st wave Sub 3:39 09:10 : 2nd wave 3:40 to 3:59 09:20 : 3rd wave 4:00 to 4:29 09:30 : Final wave 4:30 +"

I'm not sure how easy it would be to change waves, given that the deadline officially expired at the end of July. I didn't bother last year. You could ask at the expo perhaps, or maybe you'll be lucky on the day if trying to move up. They do have people checking bibs as they're going into the pens.

skyblue46

RasTa wrote: »

If going for a 4hr don't start in wave 1, you'll just piss people off.

I've noticed :cool:

kilns

I got a foot injury a few weeks ago which totally stopped my training.  I am back running but feel I have lost momentum, last night did 8km very hilly, now with the Marathon just over two months away would it be foolish to try and get training in just to complete it now?  Considering I have now missed a few weeks of training, I had been starting from a low base previously

Wubble Wubble

kilns wrote: »

I got a foot injury a few weeks ago which totally stopped my training. I am back running but feel I have lost momentum, last night did 8km very hilly, now with the Marathon just over two months away would it be foolish to try and get training in just to complete it now? Considering I have now missed a few weeks of training, I had been starting from a low base previously

If you've only lost a few weeks, I'd say you'll still be good to go on the day. You'll probably have to revise your time targets downwards, although if all goes well over the next 9 weeks, you shouldn't have any problem finishing. What sort of mileage were you doing before the injury?

kilns

I was doing about 25/30km per week before the injury
My initial plan was to finish in 4 hours, maybe now I should just look to finish in around 5 hours