Dublin Marathon 2011 Novices Mentored Thread

Mr Slow

BrokenMan wrote: »

I'm thinking that myself lookign at soem of the times and its certainly something that happened to me, and others, last year.

RayCun do you think it would be worthwhile to try and do up somesort of table where people from last year or anyone for that matter could put in their 10K best, 1/2 marathon best, McMillan Predicted time, Goal time and Actual time, maybe with a column for a comment as well. It might help peopl eto set their targets 'better' if they see a good spread of real data from real people. In general it seems that the Mcmillan calculator is a bit optomistic for a first marathon.

That's not a bad idea but you'd have to compare like for like with training and running history, Ray went sub 4 on novice 2 with some extra work thrown in, I ran 4:15 doing the novice 1 thread. He also had a few months more mileage in the legs.

rainbow kirby

mrslow wrote: »

Ray went sub 4 on novice 2 with some extra work thrown in, I ran 4:15 doing the novice 1 thread. He also had a few months more mileage in the legs.

For my first: (off the top of my head)

Month - Race - Time - Predicted marathon time (McMillan)

January - Raheny 5 - 46:37 - 4:34:14
March - MSB 5k - 26:22 - 4:17:02
April - Great Ireland Run (10k) - 58:02 - 4:32:21
June - Cork relays (non-standard distance, 6.4 miles) - 58:00
June - Clontarf half - 2:17:38 - 4:50:16
July - Irish Runner 5 Mile - 42:35 - 4:10:30
August - Frank Duffy 10 Mile - 1:37:45 - 4:33:47
September - Pearl Izumi 10k - 53:55 - 4:13:02
September - Dublin Half-Marathon - 1:58:55 - 4:10:48
October - Dublin Marathon - 4:24:56

Clearly, I like racing. 2 races in September probably wasn't my smartest idea, but the Pearl Izumi 10k is my local race so I couldn't *not* do it.

Since then - we won't talk about my second marathon (*blush*), but I ran 3:59 in my third.

Mr Slow

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Since then - we won't talk about my second marathon (*blush*)

That was the one where you kept going back for survivors, right?;)

Woddle

BrokenMan wrote: »

I'm thinking that myself lookign at soem of the times and its certainly something that happened to me, and others, last year.

RayCun do you think it would be worthwhile to try and do up somesort of table where people from last year or anyone for that matter could put in their 10K best, 1/2 marathon best, McMillan Predicted time, Goal time and Actual time, maybe with a column for a comment as well. It might help peopl eto set their targets 'better' if they see a good spread of real data from real people. In general it seems that the Mcmillan calculator is a bit optomistic for a first marathon.

I think if you're going to do a table of some sort, it should be in a seperate thread. Tables are big page fillers and important info/advice could get easily missed.

As regards racing completely agree with raycun. Racing also gives you a nice confidence boost when you can see the improvement. You can also use your race finishing time to adjust your interval and temp paces.

Nules10

rainbow kirby wrote: »

For my first: (off the top of my head)

Month - Race - Time - Predicted marathon time (McMillan)

January - Raheny 5 - 46:37 - 4:34:14
March - MSB 5k - 26:22 - 4:17:02
April - Great Ireland Run (10k) - 58:02 - 4:32:21
June - Cork relays (non-standard distance, 6.4 miles) - 58:00
June - Clontarf half - 2:17:38 - 4:50:16
July - Irish Runner 5 Mile - 42:35 - 4:10:30
August - Frank Duffy 10 Mile - 1:37:45 - 4:33:47
September - Pearl Izumi 10k - 53:55 - 4:13:02
September - Dublin Half-Marathon - 1:58:55 - 4:10:48
October - Dublin Marathon - 4:24:56

Clearly, I like racing. 2 races in September probably wasn't my smartest idea, but the Pearl Izumi 10k is my local race so I couldn't *not* do it.

Since then - we won't talk about my second marathon (*blush*), but I ran 3:59 in my third.

Rainbow Kirby some of your times above are similar to times i have run like the GIR except mine was the aware 10k in Jan and a bit slower of 59. xx and then your half in clontarf same as mine for cliffs of moher. So it was re assuring to see this. Thanks. Can you tell me which plan did you follow for your first Marathon? I was thinking Hal H novice intermediate but not sure if its too advanced. Any advice appreciated. need to decide on a plan soon

rainbow kirby

I followed Higdon Novice 1 for my first.

LaHaine

Right guys looking for an honest answer if possible.

Today I ran 21.57km in 2 hrs 11 minutes. Following hal higdons novice 1/2 (not sure which yet) do I have much of a chance of getting under 4 hours in october or am I deluding myself?

RayCun

Yes, you do have a decent chance of going under 4. I don't know what I'd have run a half in this time last year.
But you've got big dreams, and...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWoyNgfY6Dc

Mr Slow

Showing your age there Ray!

RayCun

mrslow wrote: »

Showing your age there Ray!

I'm not the one who went to see Rush the other night! :eek:

ecoli

LaHaine wrote: »

Right guys looking for an honest answer if possible.

Today I ran 21.57km in 2 hrs 11 minutes. Following hal higdons novice 1/2 (not sure which yet) do I have much of a chance of getting under 4 hours in october or am I deluding myself?

No reason why you cant as long as you stick to it and remain injury free. sure in a half marathon race you would have got closer to 2 hours than you think

LaHaine

Right thats all I needed. Sub 4 it is!!!:D

rainbow kirby

RayCun wrote: »

I'm not the one who went to see Rush the other night! :eek:

Oi, I resemble that remark! :pac:

(and am quite a bit younger than Ray)

ger664

A lot of talk about can i run a marathon in x:xx:xx.

If this is your first marathon your main objective is to finish it. You will have a better idea of your time between mile 20 and 21 on the day.

LaHaine

Nothing wrong with setting the bar high. I'm a young healthy male. Not like I'm aiming crazy high. Want to do my best

RayCun

Sure, train for a sub 4 - have that as your target and if you are running any PMP miles, run them at 9.00. But be ready to reassess that target through the year. If your times in the race series (or other races) aren't in line with sub4, don't think you can go faster on marathon day.

jprender

Hi folks,

I'd love to get involved in this training program if I may.

I am not really convinced about attempting the DCM this year, but I am definitely going to do it in 2012. I am 38 now, and I always promised myself that I would complete a marathon before I hit 40. I will be 40 in November of next year, so I can just about squeeze this goal in if I do the 2012 marathon Who knows though, if training is going well this summer, I may just end up trying it this year, we'll see.

So, I started to run in early March of this year after a long period of doing nothing. Rugby was my sport, and I was fast, not one for running about the pitch all day

My training lacks any real structure at the moment which is why I would love to get involved. Every couple of days or so I'll go for a run and just decide about 5 minutes before hand how far it is going to be.

On Tuesday night, I ran for 10k for the first time. Finished in 57:02.
I reckon that I just went out a little fast, had the first 5k done in 26:35. The only thing that made me finish the 10k was that I was 5k from home at this point Still, I didn't stop, and kept moving for the full distance. I wasn't out of breath or anything, just my legs hurt (and still do):(
My best time for a 5k training run is 25:19, and it felt quite comfortable.

Up until now, I run about 20-30k per week, a mixture of 5/6/7/8 km runs, all on the open road.
I'm 197lbs right now, and would love to get to about 172 come the end of the summer. I always felt really fit when I was close to this weight.

I haven't run a race yet, but I have signed up to do an 8k next month just to see what it is like running in a big group.

All my running is done on my own. I think being a part of something like this will provide me with a lot of motivation. All my sports playing in my early years were team sports, and I find running is just so damn lonely
But, I think that my plan would be to just keep running the way I am until this kicks off, or should I be doing something a bit more constructive ?

RayCun

I would say that if you've just started running in the last couple of months, and 10k is the furthest you've run so far, that this year is too soon for you to run a marathon. It's not impossible, but there's a very good chance you'll pick up an injury during training.

You could target some shorter races, maybe a half-marathon this year. There's one in Dublin in September, Waterford in December (I think), and moe around the country.

If you'd rather run with other people, join a club! Most clubs will have people of around your level, and proper training sessions will really improve your running.

jprender

Thanks Ray.

2012 is really the one that I have my eyes on. I like the idea of doing a half marathon this year.

However, I really do feel the need to run to some sort of plan.
From your experience, do you think that this particular training program would be too tough for me right now ?

RayCun

jprender wrote: »

However, I really do feel the need to run to some sort of plan.
From your experience, do you think that this particular training program would be too tough for me right now ?

Oh yes - you're more likely to get injured in the training programme than in the marathon itself.

there was a half marathon support thread, which seems to have gone quiet now but might be worth reading/restarting.

And there are training plans for half marathons as well as for full marathons. (for example)

If you join a club, the coaches there would make sure each session had a structure, and could help you draw up a full training plan.

jprender

RayCun wrote: »

Oh yes - you're more likely to get injured in the training programme than in the marathon itself.

there was a half marathon support thread, which seems to have gone quiet now but might be worth reading/restarting.

And there are training plans for half marathons as well as for full marathons. (for example)

If you join a club, the coaches there would make sure each session had a structure, and could help you draw up a full training plan.

Ok, I'll duck out this time around then.

But I'll be back for the 2012 version, oh yes I will :cool:

Good luck to all.

kit3

Hi - thought long and hard before I posted this but I'm going for it :eek: I'm 43 and have been running/plodding just over 2 years. I've done 6 half marathons in that time - 2 in '09, 3 last year and Kildare last week. I'm a pure plodder - my fastest time was last week at 2 hrs 16 ! My main problem has been with consistency - will get out 4 times some weeks and only once other weeks so I'm going to work on that for the next few weeks and take it from there.

Mr Slow

kit3 wrote: »

Hi - thought long and hard before I posted this but I'm going for it :eek: I'm 43 and have been running/plodding just over 2 years. I've done 6 half marathons in that time - 2 in '09, 3 last year and Kildare last week. I'm a pure plodder - my fastest time was last week at 2 hrs 16 ! My main problem has been with consistency - will get out 4 times some weeks and only once other weeks so I'm going to work on that for the next few weeks and take it from there.

Welcome to the group! It's all downhill from here

RayCun

Welcome on board kit3. There's another month before the plan properly starts, so plenty of time to settle into a 4 run routine.

RayCun

So how is training going for everyone? What have you done in the last week?

Concerned2

RayCun wrote: »

So how is training going for everyone? What have you done in the last week?

Only did 4 easy runs just to keep the legs ticking over from the half-marathon in Kildare last week to the start of my marathon plan which will be this week. I'm starting the plan around 3 weeks early to allow for any time off with minor niggles. If I pick up no minor injuries (very unlikely) I'll repeat a couple of weeks around the middle of the plan to get the legs used to moderately long runs before the really scary runs start towards the latter part of the plan. This week the plan has a 45 min fartlek run, a short interval session & 4 other runs which should total 29 miles , piece of cake really

Bally8

Last week was not good for me:mad: 3.5 miles total. I had a very bad stomach bug so could barely walk- no way I was going to even attempt a run until Saturday when I did a nice fast session to see how the legs were feeling. Hopefully this week will be lots better- I'm in training for the Cork relay on 6th June and things have not gone to plan at all this year!

Mr Slow

Concerned2 wrote: »

Only did 4 easy runs just to keep the legs ticking over from the half-marathon in Kildare last week to the start of my marathon plan which will be this week. I'm starting the plan around 3 weeks early to allow for any time off with minor niggles. If I pick up no minor injuries (very unlikely) I'll repeat a couple of weeks around the middle of the plan to get the legs used to moderately long runs before the really scary runs start towards the latter part of the plan. This week the plan has a 45 min fartlek run, a short interval session & 4 other runs which should total 29 miles , piece of cake really

I'd consider keeping one of those spare weeks for an extra one of those 'scary' runs towards the end of the program.;)

Edit: Long runs are hard, if they weren't everybody would be doing them, look at it this way - when you started running 10 miles seemed an impossible goal, the same applies to 20 but they're just arbitrary distances that your programs are designed to help you meet.

tHE vAGGABOND

I did 37 miles total last week over 6 days [1 speed session, 1 LSR, 2 tempo runs and 2 recovery type runs].

Doing 6 in one week was bold as I normally have 2 rest days, but Im working to get down 10k and Half time this far away from the marathon. My legs are a bit like lead today, maybe as a direct result. So I have to keep in mind moving forward, need to look after myself, feck all use over training and getting injured :eek:

RayCun

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

I did 37 miles total last week over 6 days [1 speed session, 1 LSR, 2 tempo runs and 2 recovery type runs].

That's four tough runs in a week, it will wear you out. I'd pick either the 10k or the half as the goal and train for that - the other will improve anyway, but trying to combine the training for both could be too much.