Random Running Questions

Cadence: I see lads running much faster than me on Strava but their cadence would be similar to mine or even lower, could that be possible?

Yes, of course. Cadence just measures how often your feet hit the ground. The other variable is the length of each stride

Didn't say that. You asked if it was possible that people running at the same cadence could be running faster than you. The answer to that is yes, because they have a longer stride length. That doesn't mean the way for you to get faster is necessarily increasing your stride length. What if you're 5ft6 and the person you're comparing yourself to is 6ft4? Your stride length will never match theirs.

It's generally not a good idea to attempt to force a change to either your cadence or your stride length. Cadence and stride length are outputs of your running, not inputs. Concentrate on your running form: running drills, mobility/flexibility exercises, and strides are all good for this. If you do these, you may see your cadence or stride length increase, but those are symptoms of becoming a better runner, not a cause

Vaseline I think...

This is great. Rolls on easily and stays on.

Ultimate Performance Skin Shield,https://amzn.eu/d/djp3W2K

Get yourself a foam roller or firm ball like a hockey ball, and target the areas around the hip, specially the TFL anf Glute Med. Lying on your side and supporting yourself as best as you can with your other leg, apply as much pressure as you can ( suggest 6/7 out of 10) on these areas, there's no need to consistently roll, just apply pressure until you feel the tension ease out. Do it every other day for a few days it should help to ease the pain. Of course this doesn't get to the reason why you got it or may not prevent it coming back, but it certainly will help it.

No haven't seen a physio or had it diagnosed yet, I'd be fairly sure that's what's it is but I may be wrong.

Can someone recommend good physio in Galway? Struggling with pain for month now so need to get it checked out.

Of course you could run the marathon - that's if you do really want to do it. Running the recent race though wasn't the best idea at all, given that you had been sick and not training properly for weeks beforehand. Nothing can be judged from that race, apart from learning not to do something like it again so soon after being unwell. That, if anything, was the biggest risk in terms of recovering from the infection.

With the heat we had last year for Cork, that 4.08 was probably a 3.58 in normal conditions. It was brutal that day.

Did you get an MRI on the leg?

Hi, How have people handled 2 marathons close together? Any tips? I had Dublin number but was trying to get a Berlin entry so was thinking train for Berlin and then try enjoy Dublin after as a not flat-out expectation. I loved the buzz of it last year. I didn't get a Berlin entry so now have joined a friend for a Valencia one which is 5 weeks after Dublin. I'm wondering do I

- use Dublin as a long run but target Valencia
- Target Dublin as normal and hope I recover in time to be able to race Valencia also?
- Forget Dublin and just go for one in that period?

My issue with dropping Dublin is that something could happen prep wise for Valencia and it doesn't go great and I'd regret not having done Dublin. I'm leaning toward the second option.

I've seen people do Berlin followed by Dublin and have been able for both but just wondering if people have experience or advice

Hi, I'm looknig to complete a marathon before I'm 40, so probably October when weather cools down a bit. I ran the wexford half marathon last month and was 1:49. I ran 25km a couple of weeks back keeping to a 5:30 per km pace. I can't find a marathon organised that suits me time wise as i'm away for Galway marathon. I'm thinking of just doing 42.1 laps of a local park. That way i could leave water out for myself, if I get injured I can stop and not be in the middle of nowhere, it would be about a 1.3km run home in case I need toilet (reducing lap number by adding this to the run) Would the last 10 laps kill me mentally without a crowd or other runners to motivate? I'd hope I'd be stubborn enough to keep going, listening to my music.

Just wanted to see if anybody has done something like this before. I know a lot of ultra runners would run long distances alone all the time but I would be on the more casual end of running. I'd do a proper training plan, it would be just that on the day I'd do my own little race. I like the idea that there'd be no hassle getting there, wondering where to go. I just turn up and start without any waiting around concern for parking etc. It would be very monotonous but it's only (hopefully) about 4 hours of my life.

There is a marathon in Kilkenny in September if timing worked, but I'd also strongly suggest Dublin if you can get an entry. There should also be "The last long run - DCM 24" which is looped runs in Donadea Forest. Its not a race so you can run however long you want. They will have pacers for 2 hours. Water on course, so might work.

Doing 42 laps of a local park sounds like an incredible mental achievement, but I'm not sure I would be able to do it as my first marathon attempt.

I'm going to preface my comment with this: no-one here is going to be able to tell you what's right for you. We don't know what performance elements matters to you, or how you would mentally cope with your proposal. Everybody is different, there's no "one size fits all" approach to running.

With that said, I'd tend to agree with @event, it's likely not a good approach (to put it a bit more mildly). Couple of reasons:

• Performance - 95% of runners (completely made up figure, but I believe it's somewhere in that ballpark) will perform better in an event scenario than a solo run. The crowds, the fellow runners, the option of pacers, the adrenaline etc. Don't underestimate the benefit of these
• The mental element - running a marathon to the best of your ability is a difficult task under the ideal circumstances. A marathon isn't (or at least, IMO, it shouldn't be) just a long training run. I've run many 30+km training runs. For lots of them, it would have been relatively easy to tack on 10k or so to have run 42k. But that's not a marathon. I'm not pushing myself to the max on a training run, I'm not racing. If all you want to do is cover the distance, just go on a long hike. At least you'd get to see interesting things.
• The "opt-out" - having the temptation to just easily drop out at any time is going to be a absolute killer, mentally. You'll tell yourself you can just have another crack at it in a few weeks, or that today wasn't your day, or that you've picked up a injury (regardless of whether it's true). When the going gets tough, there's a huge mental difference between being at an event and doing a solo run
• Verifiability, or bragging rights - this may or may not be important to you, but if I'm talking to someone who says they did a marathon, and then they reveal they ran 42 loops of a park for it, I'm going to roll my eyes (internally, at least). Marathons are measured and timed by third parties. Unless you have an independent measurement that says your loop is 1k (to an acceptable standard), you're just guessing - consumer-grade GPS is not accurate enough to measure something like that. What if the lap is only 950m? That's only a 50m difference, yet over 42 loops, that's enough that you would barely break 40k, well off an actual marathon

Maybe none of these things matter to you. Maybe you don't care about performance, you know you can handle the mental elements, and you don't care what anyone else thinks about your marathon, but if any of them do matter, you should find a marathon race to enter

Thanks guys for the feedback, maybe it is a bit ridiculuous 😀

Edit: I did find in my half marathon though I got carried along by the crowd and the occasion and started too fast…was cruising till about 13km in, so the occasion can be a disadvantage when not used to it….as normally I'm used to running alone!

I agree that whilst for safety reasons I don't want to be forced to stop 20 miles away from home, the converse is true that it would be very easy to stop….that was one of my fears all right!

Ye won't have to stop. Do the training and you'll be dead on

Thanks @Murph_D and @corcaigh07 . Originally the Valencia was to join a friend and enjoy a race abroad but since people have told me it's a flat course and one to target. What you've said makes a lot of sense, If I race Dublin, Valencia time would suffer so I guess I'll kick off with the plan for both and make a call closer to the end of the Dublin transfer period. Dublin was my first last year and I did love the buzz, not sure I'd want to miss that again for the sake of a potential faster Valencia. Thanks for the advice

It might seem ridiculous, but the Wexford Festival of Running was just held last Saturday and Sunday, and that's running around a 1.3km track for 24hours!!!

My wife is organising a birthday party the day of the dublin marathon so that's why I can't do that one……that was an oringal plan - she had invited some people from abroad already so I won't change that.

It wouldn't really bother me that it's not a race , I'd just enjoy the achievement of running the 26.2 miles which to me is a marathon. I saw somebody in the dull mens group i'm in on facebook ran one on a treadmill one evening😀 sort of got me thinkging.

I've booked accomodation for galway as i might be able to do that but as i back up if I've the training done i was toying with the idea of running one alone. Worst case scenario after for example 36km i'd not be able to keep going but that to me would still be somewhat of an achievent and i could train more and try again. I was happy with the achievement of running 25km a couple of weeks back as i'd never run that far before. It would be worse to have the training done not be able to do Galway and then not even try to run one myself, that was my thinking.

@mp3ireland2 what about the Medieval Marathon in Kilkenny - mid Sept?

I'm worried it could be too soon after the Edinburgh festival :-D but maybe i'd be all right if I take it handy at the festival!

I did 84 laps of a park a couple of years ago , (500meter laps), nothing to it. Had great crack altogether. Go for it.