dublin city marathon 2005

joe.

hi folks. i'm considering giving this a go next year. i wouldn't call myself fit in the slightest. not my ideal weight but not obese. could anyone give me a few pointers on where to start.

i know the obvious answer is go jogging. but how much should i pace myself and how often should i run.

thanks for any help

Always in black

Looking for info as well. All app

Genghis

Running 2005 is an excellent idea, marathons are grueling, difficult, and you have to put in the training - there is no hiding from it on the big day.

That said, the sense of achievement at the end and the sense of 'the project' as you gear up for it is fantastic.

My advice would be to train slowly at first, especially if you are new to running, and even more so if you are new to any sport activity. Also, rather than trying to focus on one event in 12 months time, pick out a few smaller events on the way, building up your endurance and time along the way. Some of the events I suggest are listed below.

At first simply try to build up your ability to run continuously for certain periods of time - there is no need to be concerned about distance, or speed, or indeed how long it takes to achieve this first step. You might pick a 2-3 mile course and start walking it at first, gradually adding in periods of running, and then reducing the time between 'walk' periods so that you are running the 2-3 miles all together.

It is most important at this time that you establish routine at this point - after your first month training you should try to be getting out 3-4 times a week (build this up according to how you feel after each walk / run in the . Begin to consider it as critical to your goal that you establish such a routine - in reality while 'slacking off' a night or two a week in the early stages will have a certain impact on your performance in a years time, not committing to 4 sessions a week will.

After you can run for (say) 30 minutes continuously, your 4 weekly runs will become different. One should become a 'long run' - with this you will try to add 10% per week to either your distance or time while holding your pace. Every 4 weeks do a 'step-back', whereby you run a shorter distance in week 4 than in week 3.

Of the other three runs, you will maintain one as a shorter distance, faster pace run (20 minutes to 30 minutes is fine). The remaining two runs will become tempo runs - do these at a comfortable pace that is faster than the pace of the long run but slower than that of the short, fast run. The traditional test is the 'talk test' - run at a pace which is challenging, but so much that you couldn't speak to a training partner as you go.

With the two tempo runs the idea is to also increase the distance, but much more gradually than the longer runs. By next summer you would probably want to be able to do about 60 mins on these runs, so start out at 20 mins and add maybe 5 minutes a month between now and then.

With about 4 months to go (i.e. next June), you should be in a position to begin marathon training for the event itself. At this point you would expect to be able to handle a 10-mile 'long run' and be capable of 6-7 miles twice a week on your tempo runs. You can then follow any marathon training plan (do a Google, there are stacks of them). Remember that you must have a fairly good base built up if those programs will work properly.

Some of the events you might consider:

Jingle Bells 5k in the Phoenix Park (December 5th) - even to walk it
Womens Mini Marathon / May day for Men 10k (May / June)
Adidas race series 5 mile (July)
Adidas race series 10 mile (August)
Adidas race series half marathon (September)

trotter_inc

Am really interested in doing this too!

daymobrew

The BUPA 10k in the Phoenix Park in April 2005 is good.
http://www.greatrun.org/events/event.asp?id=6
Nasty long hill toward the end but some good fast downhills along the way.

I looked up a calendar on Irish Runner and BHAA websites for an extensive list. Don't have URLs right now.

plodder

bmarley wrote:

hi folks. i'm considering giving this a go next year. i wouldn't call myself fit in the slightest. not my ideal weight but not obese. could anyone give me a few pointers on where to start.

i know the obvious answer is go jogging. but how much should i pace myself and how often should i run.

thanks for any help

I was in the same situation about a year ago, but I managed to do it this year, and it was a great experience. I agree with Genghis's advice. Here are some additional tips from a newbie perspective (some obvious but no harm in saying them)

- buy a decent pair of running shoes before you start any running

- Opinions may differ on this, but I never ran on any two consecutive days. I really needed significant recovery time between all runs.

- Find someone else in the same situation (with the same goal) and do a regular run together.

- If you have access to a gym it can help (beginners) to do some work strengthening the legs. I did it around once a week for the first few months and I think it helped avoid injuries later on. At this stage I was only running 1-2 times per week.

- Buy a book on marathon running. There's a lot of important stuff you should know, and it can be hard to find it all in one place.

- I used the 100 day program on www.dublincitymarathon.ie for the last few months. It seems to be a fairly typical beginners program.

I'm no expert, but that's what worked for me

p.pete

Unfortunately I had to pull out of my place in this years Dublin marathon so I want to do one next year but I don't want to wait until October!

Anyway, I've decided it's too hard to get into the London marathon (April) - although I may apply anyway - so I'm going to do the Madrid marathon (end of April). The hard part will be trying to maintain a decent level of fitness over the Winter and then step it up in February and March.

I'm probably going to end up running the race by myself so if there is anyone else interested in giving it a go a little earlier then next years Dublin marathon, please let me know