DCM 2018 - Mentored Novice Thread

Applegirl26

I've loved reading all the race reports coming in today.

So, I got to Clondalkin very early to "get in the zone". From the get go I found the event very well run and it felt that a lot of thought and time had gone into picking that venue. Staff were very friendly.

I did a small warm up and then lined up ready to go. My PB for 10k is 59:30 and I REALLY wanted to hit 58:00. Anyways, I knew I had to be smart about it..the tortoise and the hare... I planned to run negative splits. Don't we all?!

I started off feeling comfortable. The warm up had helped wake the legs up. I could have run faster here at this stage but was afraid I'd burn out so held back a bit. The route was lovely, mainly flat course. I hit the 5k mark and knew I was on target, just. It would be close. I pushed harder slightly at this stage.

When we got to the canal it became tough. I'm not sure if it was the slight incline or the monotony of it but it started to feel hard. This was where I had planned to put the legs in full gear and it was so hard. Around 9k there was a small but significant incline and I slowed for a moment. TG a Marshall and a fellow runner in a Dubs Jersey both yelled at me to "get those legs back!" and I did instantly. Thanks guys!!!! It was just the push I needed.

The final stretch was great. I sprinted the last 200/300 and it felt brilliant. My chip time is 58:51. Slower than I would have liked but a PB so I'm happy tonight.

Fantastic venue. I had a great day.

effibear

The 10K today was so well run and a lovely route. I aimed for a 10 min mile average and got near enough that and came in 1.02. I was secretly hoping to have the energy and push on a bit for the second half but it didn’t work out like that. I picked up some haribo around the village but then nearly choked on a sweet and had to stop!! Oops. Think I need to look into gels !! The race went far better than the others I’ve run this year- I reduced my most recent 10K time by three mins so happy with that.

brownbinman

Good week this week.

Monday - Strength & stretching
Tuesday - 3m easy
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - 1m w/u, 4m PMP, 1m c/d
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 13m
Sunday - Wallpaper stripping!! But generally felt no issues from yesterday.

Touching on the 13m, felt very strong and comfortable throughout. Once I got to 11m I knew I'd make the 13. Really felt strong, overall really enjoyed it

15m next Saturday

Applegirl26

chabsey wrote: »

Good run this morning but arrived late and had no time to warm up. Took it easy for most of the run, wanted it to be an easyish run. Sprinted the last couple of hundred metres and clocked in at a little over 48 mins. A little faster than I hoped for but not bad.

That's awesome! You took it easy and came in just over 48 mins. Can I be you? Ha, ha!!!! 😀
Well done.

skyblue46

chabsey wrote: »

Good run this morning but arrived late and had no time to warm up. Took it easy for most of the run, wanted it to be an easyish run. Sprinted the last couple of hundred metres and clocked in at a little over 48 mins. A little faster than I hoped for but not bad.

I think I might cancel my plans to run DCM and just take up position to cheer you in under 2:50 ;-)

Kellygirl

Well done to everybody today! Sounds like a great day out. Glad you all enjoyed it and congrats to all of you.

Buzwaldo

Time to commit!
Have been meaning to register my interest here, finally getting around to it. Have been cycling last 6-7 years, and started a bit of running two or three years ago, not that much, a few local 10Ks etc, but did a local HM last year. Really got interested in this through supporting my OH. She joined a running club a few years ago,(with no previous sporting history) and completed DCM twice. While she's not a boards contributor, she gained a lot by lurking these threads the last two years and did 4.18 and 4.14 with a lot of help from here.
I really enjoyed supporting her and her clubmates, but said that distance wasn't for me. Changed my mind recently and bit the bullet, registering on the last day!

Have you raced before? If so what are your PBs? (Date and distance please!)
1.55 for HM last September. Can usually knock out a 10k in about 54 (maybe 53) mins if I put my mind to it
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.
Was upping my running to three/four days per week, probably about 15 miles total before starting a marathon plan. Still generally cycle once a week, but that's getting less as the marathon becomes the 'main thing'
What do you want to achieve? Dream finishing time and realistic finishing time? Or just complete it in no specified time?
Primarily want to get to the start, and then finish in good shape. I think I could manage 4.15-4.20 on a good day, (but feel wrong targeting that as it's around her finishing times).
How many days a week can you train? And what plan do you intend to follow?
Should manage mostly four days a week, but work can be a bit erratic. My plan is 'a bit more than the HHN1 and a bit less than the Boards Plan' sticking to the 80/20 principle, and trying to drum into myself the need to train slowly. I started a week early to give myself some leeway for unforseen events.
What is your biggest worry/fear/doubt (if you have any!) in signing up?
Only worry is injury, or that I will miss too many runs and be under-prepared, but thankfully going ok so far.
Why are you running this marathon?
Was inspired by the atmosphere while supporting the last three years, and the sense of achievement from doing it. Plus, you only live once and all that.

ariana`

Buzwaldo welcome to the club! The atmosphere is unbelievable alright, i'm not surprised you were inspired as a supporter. Are you following a plan you devised yourself or from a different source?

Huzzah!

Well done to all who raced yesterday. I'm a tad jealous reading the reports, I have to say. I love the race series.

kittyclaws

Right so, I've put my most recent times into the McMillan calculator and I'm even more confused
It's now telling me I'm capable of a 4.31:xx marathon. Should I start training at the new pmp and aim for that or stick to my currant goal of 4:50?!! I'm still thinking that 4.50 will suit me better on the day - and then at mile 20 see if there is anything left in the tank to kick it up a notch, would you agree this is the best strategy?

chabsey

Applegirl26 wrote: »

That's awesome! You took it easy and came in just over 48 mins. Can I be you? Ha, ha!!!! ��
Well done.

Thanks! I am regretting the sprinting today though. I don't know why but in every one of these organised races I have to really force myself not to sprint at the end. I failed badly yesterday and ran the last 300 meters far too fast. The result is that my ankle hurt afterwards and continues to slightly hurt today.

Taking today off and we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. There's a slight chance it might be my IT band and not my ankle at all but I don't think so. Hopefully it's nothing bad.

So the moral of this particular story is that for all my 'took it easy' and blah blah blah...I ended up with a possible injury due to pushing myself too hard.

coogy

Huzzah! wrote: »

Well done to all who raced yesterday. I'm a tad jealous reading the reports, I have to say. I love the race series.

Me too!!!

whiskey_sour

Well done to everyone who ran the 10k, sounds like a great race! I have a 10k planned for this weekend so had my 15mile LSR on Saturday but it was a disaster. As I'd mentioned last week I've been having stomach issues the past week or so and I was just in crippling pain for most of the LSR, decided to call it a day after 10miles. So now I'm thinking I should just forget about the 10k and try the 15miles again this weekend?

Rossi7

Great reading the reports from yesterday, well done guys

I had a good day at the office myself, was hoping to come in either side of 45 mins and came home in 45.20 so happy enough with PB. I had a bit of a wobble / brain fart between 7 & 8k along the canal. Seemed to just go on for miles, was glad to finally get off it and get back on track. 10K is a distance I could learn to love, on a cooler day and not having walked miles around Poolbeg the day before dipping under 43 is on the cards by the end of the year. Just a small matter of getting a marathon out of the way first.
Have a good week folks

P.S Mon the Jober to my fellow Tallafornian

ariana`

kittyclaws wrote: »

Right so, I've put my most recent times into the McMillan calculator and I'm even more confused
It's now telling me I'm capable of a 4.31:xx marathon. Should I start training at the new pmp and aim for that or stick to my currant goal of 4:50?!! I'm still thinking that 4.50 will suit me better on the day - and then at mile 20 see if there is anything left in the tank to kick it up a notch, would you agree this is the best strategy?

Lol it's a double edged sword getting a PB :pac: To be honest those predictions tend to be quite optimistic especially for novices who's times tend to drop quite a lot as the distance increases. You could consider training for 4:40 for now? Are you planning to race the 10m and/or HM? Your times at these distances will be a better indication of you current fitness at the time. Your plan for seeing how you are at 20m is spot on - there's a saying that a marathon is a 20m run and a 6m race or something like that! In an ideal world all of us will be running within ourselves for the first 20m and then hopefully have something in the tank for the last 6 to give it welly and finish strong and smiling.

ariana`

whiskey_sour wrote: »

Well done to everyone who ran the 10k, sounds like a great race! I have a 10k planned for this weekend so had my 15mile LSR on Saturday but it was a disaster. As I'd mentioned last week I've been having stomach issues the past week or so and I was just in crippling pain for most of the LSR, decided to call it a day after 10miles. So now I'm thinking I should just forget about the 10k and try the 15miles again this weekend?

Oh sugar, that's crap. You may get conflicting advice but if it was me i think i'd do as you suggest and ditch the 10k and try to get the 15m done, the long runs being the priority for marathon training and especially as it seems you may need some extra practice to get the stomach issues resolved. Best of luck whatever you decide, let us know how the week goes.

Sheep1978

whiskey_sour wrote: »

Well done to everyone who ran the 10k, sounds like a great race! I have a 10k planned for this weekend so had my 15mile LSR on Saturday but it was a disaster. As I'd mentioned last week I've been having stomach issues the past week or so and I was just in crippling pain for most of the LSR, decided to call it a day after 10miles. So now I'm thinking I should just forget about the 10k and try the 15miles again this weekend?

what about incorporating the 10k into your LSR. Rather than race the 10k, use it as part of your run and for experience purposes etc.?

cullenswood

Been off on holidays for the last two weeks but managed to get all my runs done. 3 weeks into the meno plan and it is going grand so far. The mid week scheduled runs are good fun, and I like the variety. The long run yesterday was 26km and was longer than I had previously done, but kept the pace easy and it went well. Had company for the first 21km of it and that makes a massive difference.
This week is actually a step back week and that is welcome, as have a niggly abductor (groin) twinge, which I am managing. Got some exercises from the physio which I am doing on it so hopefully it clears up soon.

aloooof

Well done everyone who raced yesterday! Great to see some PB's rolling in.

Was hoping to come in under 52 mins, managed 52:30, still a PB by 8 seconds so overall pretty happy. Particularly as I was nursing a cold all weekend. Noticed after my 10:54 min/ mi pace 3m "easy" run on Saturday that my HR had averaged 166 for it. Pretty much the same as for the race itself. On a side note, I'm loving all the new stats that the new Garmin is giving me!

So, race report in the things I noticed / learned format:

1. I probably lined up too early, and it felt like there was a lot of waiting before we were off. I was mad to get going! Can't imagine what that'll feel like on the morning of the marathon.

2. Once we got underway, I realised I had forgotten to set the watch to Km. No matter, I knew what pace I was aiming for in miles as well.

3. Bunching at the start can be tricky to manoeuvre. Tried to bide my time as best I could and not weave too much.

4. Wasn't very familiar with the course, but knew it was relatively flat. I must familiarise myself with the courses for the other races, just to be aware of the profile / elevation.

5. Was doing some mental arithmetic throughout every time we passed a km. This lasted til about 7km's as from then on, all I could concentrate on was putting one foot in front of the other!

6. Watch beeped for 5 miles and soon after I saw the sign for 9km. Tried to up the pace at this point with whatever was left in the legs.

7. Nearly there, just keep going! Got some encouragement from the ambulance guys with 400m to go, kick dammit! Then a huge cheer from my fiance at 200m to go, kick some more! Always amazes me how much a bit of encouragement can help.

8. Overall very happy. New PB, I'll take that every day!

sumsar

Rossi7 wrote: »

Great reading the reports from yesterday, well done guys

P.S Mon the Jober to my fellow Tallafornian

Yeah I'm glad to see today reading through this that it went well for everyone, very well run.

Ps from tallaght too ha

Ps ps Ehm I think yesterday has given me a bug for event racing again ha dying to get the marathon out of the way to do loads of races :pac:‚

Buzwaldo

ariana` wrote: »

Buzwaldo welcome to the club! The atmosphere is unbelievable alright, i'm not surprised you were inspired as a supporter. Are you following a plan you devised yourself or from a different source?

Hi Ariana and thanks for raading.
I looked at both plans here and thought that the HHN1 plan was all easy runs, and I feel I can go a bit longer. The boards plan looks a bit ambitious for.me, particularly with the ramp up in LSRs. Hence I'm going for the 'Goldilocks plan' which is loosely a happy medium between the above two, depending on how I'm feeling and my work rota any given week. I hope to have 'pullback weeks' after three weeks of solid training and generally did all easy stuff for the
first three weeks, but incorporating some strides/ ipace runs/ intervals from boards plan from now on., keeping in mind the 80-20 rule.
Just need to find one 10 mile or HM race later on to check progress.

roosterman71

Anyone any stretches they could recommend for a lower back pain? Grand when sitting, bit sore when I stand. Got a twinge near the end of my 21k yesterday

chabsey

I should know this but is it chip time or 'time' where that 10K is concerned?

Edit: Ok from looking online it appears to be that chip time is the one to trust, so I misread my time.

RayCun

chabsey wrote: »

I should know this but is it chip time or 'time' where that 10K is concerned?

Time/Gross time/Gun time is the time between the race starting and you crossing the finish line.

Chip time/net time is the time between you crossing the start line and you crossing the finish line.

For your personal records, you are probably more interested in chip time.

Gun time is the official time, and used for deciding positions and prizes.

whiskey_sour

roosterman71 wrote: »

Anyone any stretches they could recommend for a lower back pain? Grand when sitting, bit sore when I stand. Got a twinge near the end of my 21k yesterday

I find the 'cat/cow' stretch quite good for lower back, and also the piriformis 'figure 4' stretch is great. If you're looking for stretch routines I find yoga with adriene on youtube great, she has videos for lots of specific issues that are good!

Mr. Guappa

I have a stag (2-nighter) coming up at the weekend so have to juggle this weeks runs around a bit. Got the Strides session out of the way today. As I've said before I really love the "midweek" sessions (strides, PMP, hill sprints).

I'm really enjoying the training. When I'm not running I'm thinking about running! If someone asks me to do something, go somewhere or if I've an event coming up my first thought is how will that impact my training schedule. I may need to work on my running/life balance!!

Applegirl26

chabsey wrote: »

Thanks! I am regretting the sprinting today though. I don't know why but in every one of these organised races I have to really force myself not to sprint at the end. I failed badly yesterday and ran the last 300 meters far too fast. The result is that my ankle hurt afterwards and continues to slightly hurt today.

Taking today off and we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. There's a slight chance it might be my IT band and not my ankle at all but I don't think so. Hopefully it's nothing bad.

So the moral of this particular story is that for all my 'took it easy' and blah blah blah...I ended up with a possible injury due to pushing myself too hard.

Ah I hope that you're feeling better by now and you're back out running tomorrow.

It's difficult trying to find that balance between giving the run all you have and not going so hard that you get injured. I struggle with that all the time.


Is anyone else feeling absolutely exhausted these days???

Applegirl26

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

I have a stag (2-nighter) coming up at the weekend so have to juggle this weeks runs around a bit. Got the Strides session out of the way today. As I've said before I really love the "midweek" sessions (strides, PMP, hill sprints)


I'm really enjoying the training. When I'm not running I'm thinking about running! If someone asks me to do something, go somewhere or if I've an event coming up my first thought is how will that impact my training schedule. I may need to work on my running/life balance!!

Im loving it too. I've promised myself that after DCM, I'm joining a club.

skyblue46

chabsey wrote: »

Thanks! I am regretting the sprinting today though. I don't know why but in every one of these organised races I have to really force myself not to sprint at the end. I failed badly yesterday and ran the last 300 meters far too fast. The result is that my ankle hurt afterwards and continues to slightly hurt today.

Taking today off and we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. There's a slight chance it might be my IT band and not my ankle at all but I don't think so. Hopefully it's nothing bad.

So the moral of this particular story is that for all my 'took it easy' and blah blah blah...I ended up with a possible injury due to pushing myself too hard.

I wouldn't be blaming the sprint to be honest. Your 3 recent race paces have been fairly consistent, the problem is the number of training runs you do at that pace or within a minute of it. The average pace of your training is faster than lads who will be aiming for 3hrs in DCM. I also think you should throw in at least one run a week at recovery pace, 10 min miles approx for you.

You have the potential to do a cracking marathon but I really think you need to take the intensity down a bit.

chabsey

skyblue46 wrote: »

I wouldn't be blaming the sprint to be honest. Your 3 recent race paces have been fairly consistent, the problem is the number of training runs you do at that pace or within a minute of it. The average pace of your training is faster than lads who will be aiming for 3hrs in DCM. I also think you should throw in at least one run a week at recovery pace, 10 min miles approx for you.

You have the potential to do a cracking marathon but I really think you need to take the intensity down a bit.

Thanks, I agree I need to slow down / lower the intensity. I'm thinking (hoping) now that this ankle issue which I've been obsessing about today is more to do with tight muscles than an actual injury. Ibuprofen doesn't do much...so maybe rolling or trigger points might work it out.