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Accidental Marathoner - 2012 DCM 3.30 goal
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12-06-2012 9:44am#1Since today is the first day of my "official" training for the 2012 DCM, I thought I'd start a log to record it. A bit of history first, to explain the title. I did the 2011 DCM in 3:59:48, 12 seconds under my goal time. Four hours was an arbitrary figure, pretty much picked out of nowhere by me as a 'respectable' time to complete the marathon in. I was absolutely chuffed that I did it, given the way it came about. ON the 2nd of November 2010 three of us sat in the work canteen having lunch. One of us had completed the marathon the previous day and we were talking about it. He went through it pretty much mile-by-mile, detailing how he felt, how fast he went etc. At the end of lunch, my other mate said that he'd love to do a marathon before he was 40. At that moment, I hadn't really expressed any interest, in fact, I wasn't really that interested. It was only the next day when they were talking about it again and my marathon-running mate put it up to us. It was pretty much a case of "if you want to do it, do it, don't just talk about it".
I'm a sucker for a challenge like that, so I decided that I would. At the time, I was heading slowly towards 14 stone, smoking and hadn't done any exercise of note for many years. Then came the first run. I managed do run 1 mile, before having to stop for air/stretching/puking etc. After a wee break, we went back the mile we had come, so that was two 1-mile runs on my first day. And that was it, I was hooked. I gradually built it up, did the mandatory 10K in the GIR and then another one close afterwards. and then it kind of leveled off. It was coming into the summer and I let it slip a bit. Went on holidays for the first two weeks of July and did a couple of short runs in the heat of the Turkish sun. When I got back, I got in a bit of a panic - I had kind of made my mind up not to do the marathon. I had lots of excuses - I hadn't been doing enough training up to that time, my feet were sore all the time, it was too late to start now etc. While the excuses were comforting to me for that decision, I felt despondent that I had decided not to do it. I was disappointed in myself. The only thing for it was to register for the DCM and that way I'd have to do it. So I did that and then got hold of the HH Novice 1 plan, which had to be tailored for the reduced time I had.
Even though I had a shortened training plan with not enough base, the fact that I missed two LSRs and spent the weekend two weeks before the marathon in Tenerife boozing with the lads, I felt that I had not given enough on the day. I felt like I had done the bare minimum in the run itself to get under 4 hours. Of course on the day, it didn't feel like that, but I think that I ran within myself. I think this was mainly due to a fear of bonking and not finishing, but I know now that I could've done better.
So this year, the goal is 3.30. Now, I know that this isn't a fast time by a lot of people's standards, but if I achieve it, I'll be pretty happy.
Here is the plan
It's tailored somewhat to fit in a family holiday (during which I will run, but just to maintain, not to progress) and another weekend in Span to celebrate my 40th Birthday. Year to date, I have done over 500 miles, so I have a much better base than last year. I have also done a lot more 'quality' miles and a lot more hills.
Week 1
Target Miles - 28
Actual Miles - 5 - first run a day early. 37 mins. Comfortable apart from the new shoes.
Weight - 12st 1/2 ounce
Injuries - niggling sciatica-like pain in right leg. Few blisters from breaking in a new pair of runners last night by going sockless
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outforarun wrote: »Best of luck cambo gueno. Will be following with interest (<3:30 is monkey on my back). One thing about your plan, you've given yourself one week too many, check out week's 17 and 18. I only noticed cause I know there are 20 weeks from this week until DCM.
Ah nice one, well spotted. Thanks mate! I'll have print it again now for the fridge
. Good luck with your own! 0 -
Good luck with the training, good to see you back for another go at the DCM.
Lots from last year back on again for another go this year. Improvers Thread here
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13/6/12
5.15 miles, average pace 8.28 per mile.
Easy jog really. Spent some time wondering about the purpose of the Wednesday run in my marathon plan. Tuesday and Thursday are for "quality" sessions, intervals and tempo. Saturday is a marathon pace run and Sunday is LSR. Wednesday seems like a pointless exercise. I guess it's like a mini-LSR. Plan on using it to practice perfecting my form. Cadence of 180 steps per minute. Arms bent at 90 degrees, working in conjunction with the legs. Back straight and head up. Exhale every 4 steps.
All that and looking at running chicks 0 -
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Best of luck with the plan. Are you including some races in your plan? Good way to see how training is going.
Thanks irfrm. I am doing the marathon series 10k and 10 mile. I am away for the half on 15th September
. I might have a look at the Athlone 3/4 in October too. And maybe the Port tunnel 10k, that sounds interesting 0 -
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up at 6.45 this morning and out the door at 7, headed out to Howth. This has to be my favourite running route(s) of all places. Starting off from the Dart station, you follow the road around to the end of the harbour. Take a sharpish right and you get the first hint of what you're in for with the first of the hills, heading up to Balscadden car park. From there it's up the cliff walk. Fantastic views and a lovely cliff trail. After 2 miles you round a bend to get a stunning view of the Baily lighthouse with Dublin bay and the mountains in the background. Another mile or so and say goodbye to the cliffs and hello to the bush. The next mile or so is really narrow, muddy trails, quite overgrown at the moment. Lots of nettle stings and thistle pricks and an up and down run right down to the beach. From the beach you head back up towards the top of the hill. I find this part really tough and had to walk for a bit. You cross the golf course and through the bog of frogs. This is really quite eerie, you expect to run into gandalf on your way through. After this, you join the red trail, back up towards the summit. This is a pretty dull section, through a quarry down some roads until you get back to the cliffs. From here, it's back down to the harbour and a well deserved carton of chocolate milk. I would thoroughly recommend this run to anyone...
10.15 miles @ 9.30. Tired and mucky afterwards and sore feet, but grand apart from that0 -
25/6/12
5.5 miles with 10 X 300M intervals @ approx. 6.00 pace. I'd say the 6.00 pace is about average for what I did. They started off at around 5.30 pace, but by the end they were more like 6.30 pace
Brought the kids to the playground in Ringsend park and while they played I did laps. The park itself is roughly triangular and the path around it is approx. 900 metres. Once warmed up after 2 laps I ran alternating sides of the triangle at pace slowing to a jog in between.0 -
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Spent the last two weeks (up to Saturday) in Crete. I had great intentions when I went over, bringing my gear and promising myself that I would run every 2nd day, just to keep my hand in. Nothing too stressful. This worked fine for about 8 days, doing between 3 & 4 miles at a very slow pace in the blistering heat (it was 36 degrees in the shade on Friday). This included about a mile of uphill, around the winding roads of the mountain behind where we stayed. The late nights and much food and drink go to me however and I last ran a week ago today.
Got home on Saturday @ 5 a.m. and slept til about midday. Did 5 miles in the afternoon at approx. 7.45 pace. This really took it out of me, assuming the overindulgence of two weeks caused this (I came back 5.5 lbs heavier).
Sunday morning did 10.5 miles at avg 8.30 pace, with two miles in the middle at 7.00 pace.
Still feeling a pain in my right knee. Not too sore, by may need attention if it doesn't go away soon. Possibly related to a pain from my lower back, down my right leg ?
Looking forward to the Fingal 10k on Sunday and then hopefully dropping about 10 lbs over the next few months0 -
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Fingal 10k this morning. Disappointed in myself with my time - 42.45. Started off OK, got the first three miles in @ 6.30 pace, but then I tired very quickly.
Still, it's inside the McMillan projected time of 44 mins that is supposed to be the equivalent of a 3.30 marathon and the t-shirt is very nice 0 -
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25-7 4.5 miles around Ticknock @ a v. slow pace. Trying out a new (to me) trail which goes from Enniskerry road up through Barnacullia up to Three Rock. Nice trail but quite muddy at the start and the flies were a complete pain in the a*se.
26-7 6 miles. Slow warmup, then 4 faster and then a warm down.
28-7 6 (and a bit) miles. An out and back run from my house to the Poolbeg lighthouse @ 8 min pace. 'Twas fine and dandy on the way out, but the wind on the way back in was quite tough to run into.
30-7 12 miles @ approx. 8.45 pace. Out to the end of Dun Laoighaire pier and back made for a pleasant enough run. Got caught in a few showers, but nothing too bad. Brought no water, which might have contributed to feeling a bit crampy on the way back0 -
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I'm repurposing this log, recording a training effort for the Donadea 50k in February. Since it's my first distance over the 26.2, my immediate goal is to finish it. Under 4 hours would be nice, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't achieve that. I have a few goals to achieve in the 14 or so weeks that are left
- Using and understanding training by heartrate. I've studiously avoided this previously as it seemed complicated. Having read up a bit on it, it seems more complicated . I'll just gather some statistics for a few weeks while I try to understand it more.
- Running hungry. I am going to, as far as possible, do all runs on an empty stomach to train my body to use fat for fuel instead of carbs.
- Longer strides. I was doing 1 KM intervals last night and at one stage I realized that although my legs were turning over at a decent rate (180-190 steps per min), I wasn't really moving that fast. I came to the great realization that taking longer strides would mean more speed. I tried lifting my knees slightly higher and was instantly rewarded with what seemed like a disproportionate increase in speed. So one session a week is going to include drills for stride lengthening
Mon 12th - 7km easy.
Tue 13th - 2km warmup, 8x150m "hill" reps. Need steeper hill, going to try Mount Anville next week
Thu 15th - 10km with 4x 1km intervals.0 - Using and understanding training by heartrate. I've studiously avoided this previously as it seemed complicated. Having read up a bit on it, it seems more complicated
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Two hours running, out the Royal canal again. Had intended on not eating after breakfast but came back from Crusaders kid's training to a big bowl of sausages and bread rolls, so had half a roll with a sausage (and brown sauce of course) about 2 hours before running.
Visit to Mount Anville this evening to do hill reps...can't hardly wait 0 -
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Technical Tuesday. 12k in all, made up of a couple of km warm-up and then 8X100m all out or 95% alternating sprints with 600m running recovery then another couple of km warm down.
I haven't sprinted all out probably since I was a kid. I felt a bit nervous for some reason when starting off, probably fear and inhibition, but after a while I got into it and let my self go. I don't think Usain has much to fear though 0 -
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