DCM 2018 - Mentored Novice Thread

Hedgehoggy

NyOmnishambles wrote: »

I bailed on the run this morning, partly because I didn't give myself enough time to do the distance but mainly because it sucked

That is my first failure during training and it is annoying

But failure is ok if we learn from it so I will be better organised for the next one so I have no excuse to bail no matter how tough it feels

Hope every one else has a good one

The day isn't over yet!

Dealerz2.0

This morning was 1mile w/u 4mile pmp and 1mile c/d

Found that really tough, all muscles are now burning!

...another one done and dusted off the plan.

Applegirl26

Dealerz2.0 wrote: »

This morning was 1mile w/u 4mile pmp and 1mile c/d

Found that really tough, all muscles are now burning!

...another one done and dusted off the plan.

I found it tough too. When I was running uphill I had to fight hard to keep PMP.

My quads have only now stopped hurting after Saturdays lsr! 😊

Applegirl26

NyOmnishambles wrote: »

I bailed on the run this morning, partly because I didn't give myself enough time to do the distance but mainly because it sucked

That is my first failure during training and it is annoying

But failure is ok if we learn from it so I will be better organised for the next one so I have no excuse to bail no matter how tough it feels

Hope every one else has a good one

You didn't fail at anything. Don't be so hard on yourself. As Hedgehoggy said the day ain't over yet or you could turn it into a rest day and be all set to go first thing tomorrow.

NyOmnishambles

Applegirl26 wrote: »

You didn't fail at anything. Don't be so hard on yourself. As Hedgehoggy said the day ain't over yet or you could turn it into a rest day and be all set to go first thing tomorrow.

I will be out tomorrow alright but just to clear up any confusion I did go for a run this morning just didn't complete it which is why I deemed it a fail

But as I said that is ok and I will plan better in future

aloooof

Applegirl26 wrote: »

Are many people running the 10k in Clondalkin this weekend?

I signed up to the Race series as well, and I think marathon training has fully taken hold; had a dream last night I ran a Park run on Saturday way too fast before the race this weekend.

Applegirl26

aloooof wrote: »

I signed up to the Race series as well, and I think marathon training has fully taken hold; had a dream last night I ran a Park run on Saturday way too fast before the race this weekend.

Great, me too. I'm really looking forward to the 10k with the brand new route.
Marathon training has taken hold here too, these days my thoughts are consumed with what my next run is and when I can go to sleep!!

chabsey

Applegirl26 wrote: »

Great, me too. I'm really looking forward to the 10k with the brand new route.
Marathon training has taken hold here too, these days my thoughts are consumed with what my next run is and when I can go to sleep!!

Am running that 10k as well, forgot the location was such a pain for me to get to though.

On the subject of ParkRuns I'm interested to see how my training will affect my times in them, I haven't run one in weeks. Plan is to work one in later on during the training and see what's changed. I'm already running 10K at PMP which is faster than 90% of the park runs I've done thus far so I'm hopeful of seeing a decent improvement.

racersedge

Half way through this weeks schedule. Changed my runs to early mornings this week to avoid having to do late evening runs in the door from work. A refreshing change. Much quieter and the roads are relatively clear around six in the morning. First runs have felt grand and cooler. However, if I was to judged the my the heart rate monitor metrics, I was working slightly harder at them compared to similar evening runs. Interesting. Wondering if that is down to basically getting out of bed and running! Probably need to wake up more on it!

Slight misjudgement in my distances as well. Usually I double check to plan. Didn’t this morning. Should have ran 10k at pace. Ran 8k easy!! Whoops!! Will be grand though. Must print out the plan as I know as the weeks start to progress, there is more variance in distances.

eyrie

racersedge wrote: »

However, if I was to judged the my the heart rate monitor metrics, I was working slightly harder at them compared to similar evening runs. Interesting. Wondering if that is down to basically getting out of bed and running! Probably need to wake up more on it!

I always find this! I think it's fairly common actually. Down to being a bit more tired so it's more of an effort to get going maybe?

Galaxy191

Hey...

So I gather I am very late in joining this, but all the same it sounds great...and I need the all the support & advice I can get as the first time jitters are hitting me


Have you raced before? If so what are your PBs? (Date and distance please!)
3 HMs (about 3-4 years ago now. PB: 1.44). Some 10kms over the years as well.


Do you still need to take walk breaks in your training? (No problem if you do)
No

How much training do you currently do ? Distances, how many days a week, cross training - whatever you think is relevant to your current fitness level. I'm trying to get in 3- 4 runs a week now, loosely following a training plan. Did 10miles as my LSR at the weekend.
Some cycling and gym classes as cross training

What do you want to achieve? Dream finishing time and realistic finishing time? Or just complete it in no specified time?
Hoping to finish in under 4....DREAM would be 3.45 or better

How many days a week can you train? And what plan do you intend to follow?
3-4 days a week. I'll start incorporating some intervals and hills in there but I'm not really sure what to do!

What is your biggest worry/fear/doubt (if you have any!) in signing up?
The dread of long runs alone. Hitting the wall.

Why are you running this marathon?
I've wanted to do it for years. I don't know why it's taken me so long Here goes...

A couple of things -

Intervals and hills don't look to be in the training plan. What are people doing for these?
Also, I would most definitely be up for joining in on the longer run meet up, like I see was mentioned a while ago.

Thanks in advance!!

blueberrypie

Hi guys
hope there is room for 1 more.

Have you raced before? If so what are your PBs? (Date and distance please!)
6 HMs (PB: 2.07 2013 ). 5 mile (last week PB;45) Marathon (last Dec 4hr 57)


Do you still need to take walk breaks in your training?
No

How much training do you currently do ?
I run 3-4 times a week. 2/3 short and 1 long run. Did 14 miles as my LSR at the weekend 2hrs 20mins
For this week: Mon 5 miles at 10 minute miles, tonight training with club following by 45 min S & C and a LSR at the weekend with my club 15 miles.



What do you want to achieve?

Hoping to finish in under 4hours 30 minutes

How many days a week can you train? And what plan do you intend to follow?
3-4 days a week. An experienced marathoner in my club has set out a plan for a few of us.



What is your biggest worry/fear/doubt (if you have any!) in signing up?
Getting injured beforehand


Why are you running this marathon?
I have done Clon and I want to do the most talked about marathon in Ireland.




Thanks in advance!!

eyrie

Has anyone any thoughts/advice on the timing of build up races? I'm not doing the race series but was trying to roughly match the dates of those events since they seem to work for people as a build up to the main event. But would it make much difference in terms of prediction/training effect/[insert other variable I haven't thought of] to do an earlier 10 mile and half? like end July (10 mile) and mid/late August for a half, and then probably nothing until DCM?

skyblue46

eyrie wrote: »

Has anyone any thoughts/advice on the timing of build up races? I'm not doing the race series but was trying to roughly match the dates of those events since they seem to work for people as a build up to the main event. But would it make much difference in terms of prediction/training effect/[insert other variable I haven't thought of] to do an earlier 10 mile and half? like end July (10 mile) and mid/late August for a half, and then probably nothing until DCM?

I think that's eminently sensible! So sensible in fact that I'm doing something similar. Personally I found the series half to be a bit close to DCM. I have a 10 miler on the 28th of this month, another on 19th August and a half on the 8th of September.

eyrie

skyblue46 wrote: »

I think that's eminently sensible! So sensible in fact that I'm doing something similar. Personally I found the series half to be a bit close to DCM. I have a 10 miler on the 28th of this month, another on 19th August and a half on the 8th of September.

Haha great minds I think I'm eyeing up one of the same 10 milers as you in fact!

My concern was that it makes them less useful as predictors to base goals off, since there's a lot of training still to be done. But I don't really think that's a major issue, I'm trying to avoid getting too focused on goals anyway. Mostly I just don't feel ready to race a 10 mile very soon and I'm looking for excuses not to, but it would suit way better than the later ones. Thanks!

coogy

skyblue46 wrote: »

Personally I found the series half to be a bit close to DCM.

I was thinking the very same and was worried about suffering a setback if I ended up injured and not having time to recover.
I havent actually signed up for the half yet but part of my reasoning for running it was to get a taste of the atmosphere of the event itself and to get some race experience.
May have a rethink.....

skyblue46

coogy wrote: »

I was thinking the very same and was worried about suffering a setback if I ended up injured and not having time to recover.
I havent actually signed up for the half yet but part of my reasoning for running it was to get a taste of the atmosphere of the event itself and to get some race experience.
May have a rethink.....

It's a good idea to do it for the reasons you mention. Maybe do it as a PMP run.

Mr. Guappa

Really enjoyed the PMP run today. The midweek sessions are definitely my favourite, I treat them as a "reward" for the LSR's and Easy runs. Miscalculated my route and ended up doing a 2nd cool down mile. At least I now know a perfect route for when it's 5 miles of PMP.

I found it difficult to slow back down to an Easy pace for the cool down. Felt like I was crawling, then I'd check the watch and I'm closer to PMP than Easy.

Also on pacing; my route today was reasonably flat, but with the odd drag or downhill section along the way. Say I have a target pace of 9min/mile, should I increase the effort on uphill sections to try and maintain that pace, then dial back the effort on downhill sections so that I'm not going too fast? Or, do I take a more moderate pace on uphill sections and take advantage of the downhill sections to go faster and bring my average back down to 9mins/mile?

skyblue46

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

Really enjoyed the PMP run today. The midweek sessions are definitely my favourite, I treat them as a "reward" for the LSR's and Easy runs. Miscalculated my route and ended up doing a 2nd cool down mile. At least I now know a perfect route for when it's 5 miles of PMP.

I found it difficult to slow back down to an Easy pace for the cool down. Felt like I was crawling, then I'd check the watch and I'm closer to PMP than Easy.

Also on pacing; my route today was reasonably flat, but with the odd drag or downhill section along the way. Say I have a target pace of 9min/mile, should I increase the effort on uphill sections to try and maintain that pace, then dial back the effort on downhill sections so that I'm not going too fast? Or, do I take a more moderate pace on uphill sections and take advantage of the downhill sections to go faster and bring my average back down to 9mins/mile?

To me that's entirely up to you. Some would prefer to keep the effort even which would mean slowing down on the drags. I prefer to keep the pace even myself.

Mr. Guappa

skyblue46 wrote: »

To me that's entirely up to you. Some would prefer to keep the effort even which would mean slowing down on the drags. I prefer to keep the pace even myself.

Yeah I try and keep the pace even as best as I can, without killing myself on the uphill bits.

The man in red and black

I'm late to spot this thread and have been training away based on the training plan on DCM website so will stick with that as it's 15 weeks. Great resource to have here on Boards for support and questions!

Have you raced before? If so what are your PBs? (Date and distance please!)
I have never done a marathon before. I did a 10k about 6 weeks ago now in 48mins 15seconds approx.

Do you still need to take walk breaks in your training? (No problem if you do) No.

How much training do you currently do ? Distances, how many days a week, cross training - whatever you think is relevant to your current fitness level.
I am in week 2 of the DCM training plan after spending the 4 months prior gradually building up to 6-8 miles 3-4 times a week. The DCM plan has me on 6 out of 7 days a week minimum of 6 miles from here on in pretty much. Managing to keep to 8:10-8:40/mile on most days. Managed a 9 mile run at 8:00/mile just prior to starting the DCM plan.

What do you want to achieve? Dream finishing time and realistic finishing time? Or just complete it in no specified time?
Would love to get under 3:20 but would be happy with anything under 3:45 provided I can stay injury free.

How many days a week can you train? And what plan do you intend to follow?
I am training at 6-6.45am before work to get it out of the way as evenings free are at a premium. Made up my own plan for first 4 months but started DCM 15 week program for 3:15-4:00 runners last week.

What is your biggest worry/fear/doubt (if you have any!) in signing up?
Injuries as this happened both my friends that ran it the last two years, IT band issues, shin splints, heel spurs they had it all.

Why are you running this marathon?
Turning 30 in August, two of my best friends have done it, doing it for fitness plus to show I can do it.

Question: Could anyone recommend trails or grass routes in South Kilkenny? I'm trying to stick to roughly 2/3 of my training on grass/trails and the other 1/3 on the roads. Have been running in Mount Juliet but it is seriously hilly and I'm reading too much hill training is bad for your calves/achilles.

yido1882

Hi there,

I'm new to this thread too. I've been reading through it recently and have got loads of great tips.



Have you raced before? If so what are your PBs?
10km - 44:11 (June 2018)
HM - 1hr 48 mins (March 2018)


Do you still need to take walk breaks in your training?
No


How much training do you currently do ?

I'm now ruuning 4 times a week. I cycle 5 times a week(125km in total)



What do you want to achieve?

To complete the marathon, hopefully in a reasonable time!


How many days a week can you train? And what plan do you intend to follow?

4/5 days a week. I'm following HH1 plan, I'm on the 8th week of the plan now



What is your biggest worry/fear/doubt (if you have any!) in signing up?
Getting injured or sick before the marathon


Why are you running this marathon?
I wanted to try keep healthy and needed something to aim for to stay on track


The thing I'm struggling most with at the moment is what pace I'm supposed to be running at....

OOnegative

The man in red and black wrote: »

I'm late to spot this thread and have been training away based on the training plan on DCM website so will stick with that as it's 15 weeks. Great resource to have here on Boards for support and questions!

Have you raced before? If so what are your PBs? (Date and distance please!)
I have never done a marathon before. I did a 10k about 6 weeks ago now in 48mins 15seconds approx.

Do you still need to take walk breaks in your training? (No problem if you do) No.

How much training do you currently do ? Distances, how many days a week, cross training - whatever you think is relevant to your current fitness level.
I am in week 2 of the DCM training plan after spending the 4 months prior gradually building up to 6-8 miles 3-4 times a week. The DCM plan has me on 6 out of 7 days a week minimum of 6 miles from here on in pretty much. Managing to keep to 8:10-8:40/mile on most days. Managed a 9 mile run at 8:00/mile just prior to starting the DCM plan.

What do you want to achieve? Dream finishing time and realistic finishing time? Or just complete it in no specified time?
Would love to get under 3:20 but would be happy with anything under 3:45 provided I can stay injury free.

How many days a week can you train? And what plan do you intend to follow?
I am training at 6-6.45am before work to get it out of the way as evenings free are at a premium. Made up my own plan for first 4 months but started DCM 15 week program for 3:15-4:00 runners last week.

What is your biggest worry/fear/doubt (if you have any!) in signing up?
Injuries as this happened both my friends that ran it the last two years, IT band issues, shin splints, heel spurs they had it all.

Why are you running this marathon?
Turning 30 in August, two of my best friends have done it, doing it for fitness plus to show I can do it.

Question: Could anyone recommend trails or grass routes in South Kilkenny? I'm trying to stick to roughly 2/3 of my training on grass/trails and the other 1/3 on the roads. Have been running in Mount Juliet but it is seriously hilly and I'm reading too much hill training is bad for your calves/achilles.

If your 10k is 48min 15secs your running those runs way to fast, your easy runs should be no quicker than 8.45min/mile and long run pace should be about 9min/miles or bit slower. You don’t slow down you will get injured.

brownbinman

No run this evening, pain in shin...that and wallpaper needed stripping. Bloody house!

hillsiderunner

eyrie wrote: »

Has anyone any thoughts/advice on the timing of build up races? I'm not doing the race series but was trying to roughly match the dates of those events since they seem to work for people as a build up to the main event. But would it make much difference in terms of prediction/training effect/[insert other variable I haven't thought of] to do an earlier 10 mile and half? like end July (10 mile) and mid/late August for a half, and then probably nothing until DCM?

skyblue46 wrote: »

I think that's eminently sensible! So sensible in fact that I'm doing something similar. Personally I found the series half to be a bit close to DCM. I have a 10 miler on the 28th of this month, another on 19th August and a half on the 8th of September.

I'm planning to do my HM early Sept for the same reason as you two - maybe RosGoRun in Loughglinn on 9th Sept if I can arrange to be there, else i'll find something over here for 9th or 2nd...

Of course that's all assuming I keep the show on the road until then and don't meet an injury!

eyrie

hillsiderunner wrote: »

I'm planning to do my half early Sept for the same reason as you guys - maybe RosGoRun in Loughglinn on 9th Sept if I can arrange to be there, else i'll find something over here for 9th or 2nd...

Of course that's all assuming I keep the show on the road until then and don't meet an injury!

Fingers crossed for you! I'm thinking of possibly the Longford half at the end of August. There's a couple of appealing sounding ones in September but I'm away a bit for work then.
If it turns out to be a terrible idea doing them all a good bit earlier then at least there'll be a few of us in it!

hillsiderunner

eyrie wrote: »

Fingers crossed for you! I'm thinking of possibly the Longford half at the end of August. There's a couple of appealing sounding ones in September but I'm away a bit for work then.
If it turns out to be a terrible idea doing them all a good bit earlier then at least there'll be a few of us in it!

Was discussed on this thread a couple of years ago I seem to remember ... and the feeling from that year's mentors was that DCM half is always a wee bit later than ideal .... so we won't be making too desperate a mistake I think.

Indeed I'll be happy to even make it safe to the HM :pac:. Fingers crossed.

skyblue46

OOnegative wrote: »

If your 10k is 48min 15secs your running those runs way to fast, your easy runs should be no quicker than 8.45min/mile and long run pace should be about 9min/miles or bit slower. You don’t slow down you will get injured.

What's your opinion on my training paces? My 10k is 40:07. I run easy at 8:45 and majority of miles very easy 9:20-9:40

racersedge

eyrie wrote: »

Has anyone any thoughts/advice on the timing of build up races? I'm not doing the race series but was trying to roughly match the dates of those events since they seem to work for people as a build up to the main event. But would it make much difference in terms of prediction/training effect/[insert other variable I haven't thought of] to do an earlier 10 mile and half? like end July (10 mile) and mid/late August for a half, and then probably nothing until DCM?

Like yourself I’m not doing there race series. Thought about it alright but that would be three treks up to Dublin. Also have my brothers stag on the weekend of the HM so... yeah! My plan is as hoc in terms of races. I do have the Tullamore HM pencilled in. Sits perfectly half way into the training programme on week 9. Also helps it’s just down the road.

Currently I don’t have a 10 Mile race planned. I am doing the Kilcock one but running that with my wife (and that’s a week before Tullamore so two in a row isn’t conductive). Using Dun Laoighaire 10k on the August bank holiday for my 10k (or my hill practice, whichever suits!).

I do keep checking the calendar to see what fits but don’t want to overdue it. Keep getting tempted by wanting to run Mondello again (love my racing) but that requires shoehorning it in. Avoiding temptation so far!

**Timbuk2**

I know some people prefer the Rock n Roll HM in mid August as it's sooner (vs Race Series HM). Route looks quite tough - knees feel stressed just thinking about going down some of this hills!