DCM 2023 Mentored Novices Thread

@witnessmenow I agree that Decathlon can be chaotic alright! I don't live far from it and have no kids yet so its not nearly as much of an ordeal for me thankfully.

@MiniMonstera all of the gear worked out really well. I wasn't sure if the belt would be uncomfortable at a faster pace but it was fine. The really like the little 250ml flexible water bottles, their very handy.

The race went really well. It was the longest race I've ever took part in so was sure what to expect. I went flat out and got a PB 15km and 10m. I finished with a chip time of 1:11:49. I started further back than I usually do and I found it allowed me to keep pace better at the start, rather than getting excited and setting off too quick with the pack. As I said above, I ran with the belt. I had 2 250ml bottles, my last gel and my phone on me. I wanted to see how it would all feel at pace and it was fine. I used a high 5 aqua gel for the first time. It is a lot more liquidy than any other gel I've used so far. If anyone is struggling with the texture of the thicker gels then they may be worth a shot.

Over the past couple of weeks I had been feeling as if I could have been doing more kilometers or doing the runs at a faster pace. I have been full of energy at the end of the week and legs haven't been sore. I have stuck to the plan religiously. But withhow well I feel the 10m went, it has reaffirmed to me that the plan is working and just to stick with it.

Cheers but I think I'll stick to the training plan after this run, my first goal of this marathon is try stick the plan as much as possible. At the point, other than picking the right pace, I will feel like I've done all I can.

There was a Half on the plan for this Saturday, which is quite early compared to the rest of the folks, but we'll see how it goes.

It's unfortunate, but its fine, decision is already made. There will be other opportunities to meet up with the team I'm sure and I am very focused on doing DCM for this year.

Yeah, it could well be, the closest thing I have to compare is the MP 12ks which I ended up doing a little fast at ~ 6:15/km. I was not bad after these, but to run basically double the distance at 15 seconds faster seems a lot, so we'll see. I think I'll be happy with any avg pace between 6:00 and 6:15/km

Week 8 Update

- Did you get in all the runs on your plan - if not, then why not? 

Cross training 1 day/ ran 4 days (including FD10m) took 2 days off. Was planning on only taking 1 day off but took a 2nd one as busy with work and didn't mind since FD10m planned for Saturday

- Did you run the runs at an appropriate pace?  

Yes - kept the training runs at appropriate pace.

FD 10m Summary - slightly beat my finish time goal but overall went to plan. 5m32/ km avg

Preparation...Like one of the others commented, I also had a bad sleep the night before, due to the storm. Thankfully, I didn't feel tired at the start but I think it helped that it was around the same time that I leave for my LCM every Saturday. I decided at the last min leaving the car, not to bother with the running belt and water bottle. I was well hydrated at this stage and decided to just use the water stations.

Start...I started a little behind the 90 min pacer so that I would be able to judge my own pace for the first mile or two. The fact that the 90 min balloon was at the start of wave 2 ended up making this the most enjoyable start of any race I had been involved in. There was plenty of room around me with everyone doing similar pace, and not a lot of overtaking.

Main part of Race... I caught up with the pacers at around 1-2 miles and then stayed with them until just before mile 9. I was very impressed with how comfortable running with them made me, both mentally and physically. Without them, I know I would have gone too fast from Mile 3-6 and then suffered. We were constantly kept up to date that we were on track/ that the plan was on coming in 30 seconds early or thereabouts. I didn't look at my watch pace once as I surrendered myself to listening to them and how my body felt. I learned from my hydration problems on the Fingal 10k with the paper cups! Thanks for the tip with pinching the top of the cup and using the top as a funnel. I was able to take the water in much easier. I enjoyed running with the people around the 90 min pacer, so thanks to the others on this group that were running with me and I didn't know. I thought there was a lot of mutual respect with space etc. I am not much of a talker when I run but thanks to everyone that made comments and I hope I didn't look grumpy as I wasn't 😁.

Finish... I was able to leave the pacer for the last mile and finished strong at a pace of around 5.10 for the last km .

Overall - the race gave me even more confidence that this training plan is working great for me! I was hoping it would invigorate me for the next few weeks training and it succeeded. I feel great and I can't wait to complete the half way mark this week 😃

Did you get in all the runs on your plan - if not, then why not? 

Radio Silence the last little while as I had to take 2 weeks off through injury. As happens when injured I drank more, ate more & slept less, but I’m back on the road with 18k & everything seems fine again. All on the flat as I was trying to ease back in. All aspirations of a 4 hour are gone but still going to try get to the start line.

Did you run the runs at an appropriate pace? 

Yes all good.

I did my fake half marathon race this morning, a half marathon at race pace as a training run.

I was actually nervous in ways about this run all week, it's kind of the last opportunity to make a decision about my marathon pace as everything else from here on in will be easy or "marathon pace". I was targeting a 6:00 /km pace

I went out with the run group and joined up with the faster group who were also doing a half marathon so I just tried to stick with them the whole way.

I don't really have a whole lot to report about the "race", we were relatively consistent pace wise the whole way around although started really feeling it around the 18k mark or so but was able to keep going. And really missed a finish line to give me a boost of energy right at the end!

Tank was empty when I finished though so not sure I could have done a whole lot more on the day.

Finished in 2:04:28, a 8 min pb over kilkee and a 5:54/km pace so very happy with that. I feel a bit more comfortable about the 4:30 marathon target now, still going to be a challenge, but hopefully possible

I'm also fully convinced I have done this whole running thing backwards, I basically reached the ability to run 5k, then started training for a half marathon and now marathon. On today's run I pb'd my half, 10mile, 10k, and apparently set my third fastest 5k.

Half Way ! Delighted to have made it this far relatively unscathed. I got 6 runs in this week for 38 miles (61 Km), 1 gym and 3 tennis games. I have tennis matches every Sunday in September so I'll have to juggle the runs about a bit and hope that our opponents are either really bad or really good so the matches are over quickly 😂. I enjoyed the MP miles this week; got them done in the Phoenix Park on the first half of the Half Marathon route. LSR was tough enough, really feeling it in my feet for some reason, calves might be tight. I made the mistake of going too far out along the Canal and ended up doing a couple of miles on the 'Deep Sinking' section between Castleknock and Clonsilla which wasn't great underfoot (mucky, rocky) and I was lucky not to go splat. It's also narrow so I had to keep stopping to let people by. My belt was packed when I set off and I didn't need everything I brought but got through 500ml water, 150ml Lucozade Sport, a Decathlon gel (caramel flavour, surprisingly ok), a jelly bar (ok), a Decathlon salted date bar (vile 🤮) and a small pack of Moams (tasty). Still don't think you can beat Jelly Babies for mid-run snacking.

Hopefully the feet will sort themselves out. Otherwise all good.

Week 9

Planned: 6.5K | 8K | 6.5K | Rest | Rest | Half | Cross

Actual: 7K | 8K | 7K | Rest | 3K | Half | 5K Walk

Everything as per the plan other than the 3K on Friday, in my vast longer race experience of 1 race, this has worked for me before just to loosen up the legs so I decided to stick with it.

Pace has been appropriate based on HR, but it has been getting a bit quicker as the weeks go on.

Favourite moment definitely was finishing the half on Saturday, nice to see some pretty clear evidence of the impact of the training.

This will be a tough week coming up as my legs are very tired from Saturday, but I'll do what I can to keep the recovery going. Definitely find the massage gun helps, although last night's session was not pleasant!

Congrats to all who have made it half way! It's not really half way for me yet as I only started properly week 5. So I have another week or two for my halfway point.

It is an exciting and slightly scary thought that this day 9 weeks from now it will be done and hopefully just be a happy memory! Maybe its too earlier to be thinking about it, but I do wonder what I'll do post Marathon, going to bed later than 10PM and not feeling bad about it might be nice :D

Week 9 - All runs as per Boards plan, 53km in total. Weeks flying by.

Rested Monday and ran Tues. Pace run on Weds was about 15 secs per km slower as I was still feeling it a little from Frank Duffy so didn't want to push too hard. Used the Thurs run as my pace run instead and felt great in both.

Used Friday for 15 mins on bike in gym to stretch the legs, stretching, resistance bands and foam rolling then.

Long run on Sat with the club then which was split in to 3 laps to work on water and fuel intake. At end of each lap was a quick stop and off again. Pace was in line with previous runs and club are out next Sat for 30k split into 3 x 10km routes to work on water and fuel intake again.

Feeling good at the moment, have enjoyed hitting the higher distances in long runs and knowing you are capable of doing more and feeling a bit of progress each time. Frank Duffy was great for race experience and a good barometer as to where you are and reminder that it's a process!

Have a rub booked in week of Dublin half also. Is there a particular day that week that would work best? Looked at the plan for that week so guessing you wouldn't run until 24 hours after massage?

On to another week..

Week 9.

Did you complete all the runs on your plan - if not, then why not?

Yes. After an unavoidable late start my plan is a compressed mix of boards and HHN1 and a bit makey-uppy based on feel, but I'm hitting the weekly volume now with the next major milestone the Medieval half in Kilkenny on 16 Sept.

Did you complete all the runs at an appropriate pace?

I think so. My HR was a bit high on the easy runs as I came back from the break, but that seems to be sorted now.

At the halfway point, what has been your favourite moment of the training to date?

I love the long runs; the time just flies. Managing a perfectly paced and comfortable 22k yesterday felt really good, leaving me today tired but unbroken. This would have been unimaginable a couple of months ago.

Despite not following the boards plan for unavoidable reasons, as time goes on I am more and more impressed with how carefully and thoughtfully constructed it is. There's loads of little details that weren't immediately obvious when I started out.

- Did you complete all the runs on your plan - if not, then why not?

Yes

- Did you complete all the runs at an appropriate pace?

Yes, don't find myself having to correct the pace as often now so think I'm getting used to it

- At the halfway point, what has been your favourite moment of the training to date?

10 mile was definitely great, can't beat running at an event with other people, just positive vibes all around.

Bit anxious about the upcoming long run as well as the other person who mentioned, legs were definitely feeling it towards the end of the long run this week