DCM 2016 Graduates: Keep On Running

The Black Oil wrote: »

Chunk of toenail fell off, lovely.

I've my half marathon victim hanging on by a sliver.. wife tells me not to pull! Could be bad..:P

I'm sure the marathon victim's will come off in Jan some time.

The Black Oil wrote: »

OK, if I'm reading the calculator correctly, my training paces are:

Very easy 13:06 - 12:13
Easy 12:09 - 11:44
Moderate 10:39 - 10:21
MP 9:34
Threshold 9:04 - 8:51
Tempo 9:32 - 9:17
Aerobic Power 8:17 - 8:07

That's based on Jingle Bells 5k, 26:02.

ETA: Just to clarify, week one of the base plan, Saturday says "40 min easy + 10x100m strides (AP with full recovery)", what's that last bit?

AP stands for Aerobic Power (one of the paces calculated above). As I said previously, the GPS is unlikely to be accurate for such a short distance and by constantly looking at the watch you will defeat the purpose of running with good form. So run fast, but relaxed, no sprinting. Full recovery just means you jog easy after each stride until you're ready to go again.

I lost a lot of motivation after my 3 weeks off and have barely been doing any running, but in the last week, I have managed to get out 4 times in 6 days.

I figure I need a plan to get the motivation back so I started the base plan tonight. I didn't get the very easy pace right tonight but I wasn't far off, about 20 seconds a mile too fast but it's a learning process!

Good to be back!

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Just checking in with (or checking up on ) y'all. By now, everyone should be following a structured plan (having, of course, calculated your pace ranges) and have a goal in terms of what you want to achieve. It doesn't have to be a time based goal. It could just simply be to consistently run X days a week or to build up to X miles per week.

Strength and conditioning post to follow asap, sorry for delay - things be crazy!

I am a little lost.. I feel like its that ad that used to be on the radio for one of the banks or was it the financial regulator.. "What's a tracker.. what's APR etc etc"... Anyway, I am not sure what I need to be doing with the plan?..

At this stage I do not know for sure what I am training towards and don't know then what times I should be training for! Reality is I would like to do maybe 1) 2-3 marathons next year 2) Get a 5k into 20-21min category 3) Get a 10k in under 45 mins 4) Train 1500 miles - so where do I start!

At the moment I think I could probably blast out the 5k target time but what happens then? I could maybe do the 10k time.. but again, what happens then? I could chalk them off and say, Great.. I've done it.. and then move on?

Just maybe need a little help and direction? I am 25 miles off 1000 miles for the year so that's the focus for this week but next week I need a new challenge.. :P. Can feel the jeans getting bit tight already... I need to keep the sanity and keep running.

Anyone else feeling similar and not knowing where to go from here?

Thanks
H

Hey PaddyD - if I may give my €0.02...

First of all, keep the enjoyment of running for running-sake. Not every mile logged needs to build towards a target race or a PB. Running is meant to de-stress, not to add stress. Adding those 25 miles (and hopefully a good few more) this year sounds like an excellent target. For a short-term goal-race, do consider the Raheny 5M race, a super race, with loads of DCM graduates and other boardsies. You can just go and give it a lash - no need to consider special plans for that race (too soon anyway).

Second of all, be choosy about the races to target. Targeting 5-10k PBs and running 2-3 marathons a year, sounds too much to me. I would pick at max 2 HM+ size races to really target. Look at the 2017 calendar and pick the races already. Once you have these, work back from their race-date and determine when you need to start the base-building and target race plan from the BG/MS training plans provided. Keep it very limited tho - and don't limit yourself to just targeting road-races and PBs. How about some IMRA racing?

In the meantime, keep ticking over. At the start of the DCM novices thread, everyone was recommended to have a weekly mileage of at least 20M, of 3-4 times a week. That should remain your minimum workload. But most of all, enjoy it - be glad to be injury free and out there in your lime green finisher t-shirt!

nop98 wrote: »

Hey PaddyD - if I may give my €0.02...

First of all, keep the enjoyment of running for running-sake. Not every mile logged needs to build towards a target race or a PB. Running is meant to de-stress, not to add stress. Adding those 25 miles (and hopefully a good few more) this year sounds like an excellent target. For a short-term goal-race, do consider the Raheny 5M race, a super race, with loads of DCM graduates and other boardsies. You can just go and give it a lash - no need to consider special plans for that race (too soon anyway).

Second of all, be choosy about the races to target. Targeting 5-10k PBs and running 2-3 marathons a year, sounds too much to me. I would pick at max 2 HM+ size races to really target. Look at the 2017 calendar and pick the races already. Once you have these, work back from their race-date and determine when you need to start the base-building and target race plan from the BG/MS training plans provided. Keep it very limited tho - and don't limit yourself to just targeting road-races and PBs. How about some IMRA racing?

In the meantime, keep ticking over. At the start of the DCM novices thread, everyone was recommended to have a weekly mileage of at least 20M, of 3-4 times a week. That should remain your minimum workload. But most of all, enjoy it - be glad to be injury free and out there in your lime green finisher t-shirt!

Thanks Nop.. yep I like sound of that. I was just throwing off some figures randomly but like you say I want to keep enjoying the running and keeping the miles up. Its important I keep my relatively long run going on Sat mornings too as that makes it so much easier to ramp up then for a marathon program.. and of all the runs going, I really enjoy the early Sat run.

At moment I am aiming for 25-30 per week.. not last week due to 2 x Christmas parties at weekend but hoping to be back to it this week.

I need to get the calendar out and see what's on for next year.. I am still a novice to all this running but if I have targets that keeps me motivated.. plus the wife is still buying into it too..

tailgunner wrote: »

Maybe for the sub-3 attempt in 2019!

I like your style.

Sorry for the delay with this post. I blame the silly season .

Now. S&C. Strength and Conditioning. Very very important for runners. Not just to avoid injury but also to improve form and make you a more efficient, and therefore faster, runner. And while every runner should be doing some sort of S&C, if you’re 30+ it’s even more important.

I am a big believer in the benefits of strength & conditioning, when it is done regularly and done well. I have been more or less injury free, bar the occasional niggle, for over three years now, and I firmly believe that a S&C routine (along with, in my case, early intervention by physical therapist and osteopath when required) has been the main reason for not succumbing to injury, even when training hard.

So what should you be doing ? Everyone is different and you will all choose your own routine based on a number of factors including time, money, gym/equipment access and so on. I hope the guidelines here will help you select a routine suitable for you that you can do regularly and progress as required. These suggestions are based on distance focussed runners. If you’re a sprinter you would have different needs.

Personally I think every runner should be doing Pilates and there is no substitute for a good instructor. In addition a gym routine is an excellent supplementary workout for runners. You can lift weights, or use bodyweight, but either way you should be doing the exercise with perfect technique to momentary failure i.e. the point where you can’t complete another rep with perfect form. Consider investing in a session or two with a S&C coach or a good personal trainer who has experience with runners so you can ensure your technique is correct. After a warm up*, include 2-3 exercises each for the upper body, 2-3 for the lower body and some exercise for hips, glutes and abdominal muscles. Aim for 3 sets twice a week. Compound exercises that target more than one muscle are ideal and will boost running economy.

Sample exercises for a starter plan could include a selection from the following basic exercises : Squats, multi-directional lunges, single leg deadlift, press up, plank, hip bridges, swiss ball knee tucks, med ball rotational throws, squatted band rows, lat pull downs, dumbbell rows and so on.

Any routine should be progressed as you improve e.g. by increasing weight, or the number of reps. And the entire routine should be changed every 6 weeks or so.

A simple stretch of the muscle groups should follow every gym session.

*Warm Up to include 2-3 sets of 4-5 exercises using lighter or no weights (e.g. squats, side lunges, chops, front lunges, lying straight leg raises)

Gym sessions are ideally after a run (not before) on the same day as a hard session so you can keep the hard days hard and the easy days easy (sound familiar?). If you’ve an important race coming up you can scale back in the preceding weeks and don’t do any gym work the week of the race. This would apply to a goal race; you would proceed as normal with gym work for less important races.

Expect some muscle soreness if you are new to S&C but this usually disappears within a couple of days and if you are consistent in your training muscle soreness will reduce as time goes on. Make sure to recover well and help with muscle repair by getting sufficient protein in your diet.

Common sense should always prevail – if you have never done any strength and conditioning work start slowly and build gradually. Don’t jump into a new routine with massive weights and expect to achieve anything except a serious case of the DOMs for a week :eek:. Be sensible, seek advice, be consistent, be patient and the results will come.

Be careful with frost on paths if we get a cold spell , especially if you run in the dark like I do and don't become despondent if you fall off the wagon over Christmas re training , to err is human , to run is divine, Merry Christmas folks !!!

Parkrun this morning, lovely freshness, another practically windless day (it seems to have disappeared the last few months!!).

Quite a few fallers out there, at least 6 (I was very nearly 7), I'm sure there were others as I'd left pretty much straight away and was 11th in the race. It can be a risky business.

7 miles done this morning....hit the 1000 miles for the year mark.

Now for present wrapping!