2022 DCM Novice Thread

I think iirc, it was only at Roebuck Rd, 22 miles or so.

Just got this from the Marathon life website:

Lucozade Sport will be provided at 9½, 13, 19 and 22 miles, and in goody bags at the finish.

I think they're only in plastic cups though, the water is in 250ml bottles

So my last long week was not good. I had to delay my lsr to Sunday last weekend and then didn't get any run in on Tuesday or Wednesday due to work commitments. I only got a quick 5k in on Thursday. So set out yesterday for my 20miler/32k.

I felt good during it so I ended up doing 36k. The good thing about it was I felt yesterday I could have gone the whole distance. The day was a lovely day for running and I actually really enjoyed it. Feeling fine this morning but a tad stiff! My times were

22.5k @5.49 pace

5k @5.18 pace

36k @6.07 pace

Wore my flipbelt yesterday to carry my gels and some vaseline so feel like I'm almost there now. Will definitely try to get my runs in this week starting with the 13k on Tuesday. It should be less chaotic this week.

Anyone have any tips for me at this stage? I'm not planning on aiming for a time as such on the day but I'm starting in wave 4 (going with the 4.30 pacer) and feel if all went well on the day I could be able to finish around the 4.20 mark. Maybe even slightly under...as a first timer any tips on a race plan would be great!

Let the taper madness begin! Delighted to have made it this far and feels like it’s downhill from here on in. Thanks again to all the mentors for your guidance.

Last week- 60k total (boards plan): Skirting the line of getting sick this week- judged it just about right to train through a headcold. Took mon/tues off running. Work in healthcare so lots of contact with sick kids means lots of exposure. Like to think it’s getting the immune system in shape before the marathon.

Wed- 7.3km @ 5:37

Thurs- 11.1km @ 5:24

Fri- 5.1km @ 5:31

Sat- 8.4km @ 5:21 - fairview parkrun before call shift in afternoon

Sun- 28km @ 5:50 - weather held up nicely. Around st Anne’s, tough headwind along the seafront down through North strand, along the quays and back up through east wall.

Well done all. The majority of the hardwork is done. Some big weeks noticeable on the group. The end is in sight.

Its still of vital importantance that plans are now still followed closely. The volume is coming down to allow your bodies to be in peak shape for the marathon so its not the time to be adding anything extra or cramming some late speedwork. Legs will feel heavy but that is natural now. The idea is that they won't be fully fresh until late on in race week.

A big up to fellow mentor @Murph_D who achieved his sub 3.20 target in Chicago with a great performance after an excellent block of training.

Another week down for me as well and feeling ok after it.

Monday - rest

Tuesday 50 mins easy

Wednesday 10K at PMP effort - this hovered around 4.45 m/k pace on a windy evening with HR in the 150's

Thursday - 45 mins easy

Friday - 1.15 Easy

Sunday long run - did the second half of the DCM course to get a feel for it. Started at Merrion square and down to the Liffey and then cut across to Inchicore and followed the route from there. Felt the drag up to Crumlin Children's hospital. Was good to run Milltown and Clonskeagh and get familiar with those hills for the day. Had company so the run flew by and probably wasn't concentrating on the route as much as I should have!

Now looking for some advice on the pacing. Having looked at a few calculators etc and trying to get a comfortably ambitious time to settle on. I think from some reading that it would seem that HM time plus 15 to 20 minutes for a first time outing would seem reasonable? This would put me at 3.15 to 3.20. Looking at that from a pacing perspective that is somewhere between 4.38 - 4.45 m/k. Which is about 25 to 30 seconds slower than HM pace. How does this seem? I've read this and a a few other threads so will definitely have a pacing strategy around this. Looking to go easy until Castleknock (4.55 to 5 pace), pick it up on the downhill, again easy on the drag up to Crumlin, and likewise manage the hills and hopefully have a strong finish. Once I have a plan I'll stick to it. I'm in Wave 1 so the intention is to go to the back of the wave, like I have in the last couple of races and work my way up the field. I'll be watch the HR as much as the pace to check that I'm in the right place.

I was in a very similar position to you in 2019- I was approx 60-90 seconds slower than yourself in the half.

I ran an enjoyable(bar the last 2 miles) 3.25 off that half. I think half plus 20 minutes is more realistic than plus 15 under the strategy you describe above. I started a bit back from the 3.30 pacers but slowly worked my way up to them by the time we entered phoenix park and then naturally stuck to my plan which was similar to yours. I kept shelter with the pack for a few miles through some of the drags after chapelizod before slowly creating a gap between those pacers. I naturally picked up after that crumlin drag you mentioned - again making sure i wasnt isolated there. In hindsight, i probably should have remainded a bit more patient and I would have had a better closing 2 miles in my opinion. It wasnt a terrible finish but had to decrease pace a bit. You could learn from that. By keeping the effort simialr you will pick off people like the half on the route towards rathgar and miltown so patience is integral. You have the skill set to run a faster 2nd half in the region of 1.35-1.40 if you got out to half circa 1.42-1.45. You know the route now and that closkeagh drag doesnt seem short at 20-21 miles of MP so you need to have a little bit left in the tank for this. Hope that helps!

I missed my recovery run on Sunday but otherwise had a pretty solid week.

Mon: 5km @ 6:16

Tue: 11km @ 5:28

Wed: 8.3km @ 5:57

Sat: 32km @ 5:52 per km

I was only due to run 29km for the LSR but got my course a bit wrong thinking there was a bridge across the canal where there wasn't but it was all good in the end, felt really comfortable after the 32km.

I think I'm pretty settled now on gels, pre-race meal, clothing etc. For pace I'm planning going off around 5:45 for the first 10-15km and taking it from there, hoping I can bring that back towards 5:30 as the race goes on but being a first marathon I'll have to see how it goes on the day.

Congrats @Murph_D on your Chicago run

Ah, you can ignore that - just worded poorly.. I should have put a full stop after plus 15. I would be of the opinion that double plus 15 mins theory is not impossible but very optimistic for a first timer. Your strategy seems good and sensible

Absolutely agree, my main goal is to enjoy the marathon (see if i'm still saying this at 40km haha) but time wise i'm not too pushed. As you said there's other days to aim for a better time.

In terms of getting your pace right for PMP after a warm-up. You could separate the warm-up as a separate run or change setting in your watch to show current pace as opposed to average pace if that function available. Working out the maths is a distraction you don't need.

Week 14/15

W14

Mon 6,8 km 45:36 6:42/km

Tue 6,1 km 39:27 6:26/km

Thu 9,0 km 56:33 6:17/km

Fri 30,6 km 3:32:40 6:57/km

W15

Mon 5,9 km 41:05 6:59/km

Tue 8,1 km 52:42 6:32/km

Wed 10,4 km 1:02:48 6:04/km

Thu 5,0 km 31:55 6:22/km

So had a poor last 2 weeks due to work and family stuff.

The high lights or probably called low light are 30k run Friday week ago after work. This run end up breaking me, it was after work and I didn't eat enough early in the day and it was the end of the week. So when I went for this run there was little to no energy in the tank when I started.

Last week I only got 4 runs in as we had a family trip planned I had planned to go for a long run but it was far more active than I had thought it was going to be so didn't get the long run or any run in.

Asking for advice should I do maybe 16 miles this weekend to balance this out or keep it at the 14 miles?

Is anyone else starting to suffer from tired legs