DCM 2017 Mentored Novices Thread

ariana`

leesider77 wrote: »

I'd like to also echo the thanks for the all the expert advice the past few days. I'm not one of the speed demons of the group and have low expectations on time but it's good to be reminded that the main thing is to enjoy the day first and foremost.

Snap. Brilliant posts thanks so much for all the experts giving their time and attention to us mere novices!


Time isn't a huge issue for me either but I'd just like not to be running for longer than I need to be either if that makes sense. My LSRs are at 4:30 pace give or take a few seconds, I'd like to run with a Pace group so I can switch off so I will most likely stick with 4:30 or maybe go to 4:20 but I'm sure I'll be looking for advice on this decision nearer the time.

Kellygirl

Yes, thank you for all those posts. Great reading and great advice.

I think I’ve been running my LSRs too fast. Each week I’m getting faster too. Last saturday’s 29kms was at 6:10min/km which would give me a 4:20 on the day. I do plan on slowing down for the last two and I plan on going with the 4:30 pacers and hopefully pulling away from them either in the 2nd half or after the 20 miles. I’ve been running my LSRs at a faster pace but I want to finish comfortably and enjoy it as much as possible.

positron

scotindublin wrote:

Where are you travelling from Positron? I was lucky in that I was dropped at the back of Trinity and just walked down to Merrion Square. I didn't hear of any issues with reaching the start line last year......the only issue I remember was a stray Guarda Motorbike left on the road for the elite start!

Drogheda. Trying to avoid getting Mrs and kids involved, I suspect kids are a bit too young for the early start and spending a day in Dublin. I had a look at Sunday train schedule and the first one gets into Pearse St at 9:05. Too late even for Wave 3 I think?

I will check coaches. Good to know traffic was normal last time around. Thanks!

The Muppet

positron wrote: »

Last few pages have been exceptionally informative. Thank you all for these.

Just a quick question about the more mundane aspects of the big day itself, especially since how it all played out around Newbridge.. What's the 'getting to the start line' situation for the Marathon day. With 20k running, are trains etc going to be touch and go to get in? Specials buses perhaps for us in the commuter belt? How was it dealt with last few years? Also getting out after the big jog is also a concern. Trying to find a solution that is least bother, other than staying in town the night before. Thanks!

Last Year there was a special 7.30 Dart (unscheduled) from Malahide early enough to get you there on time, you'd still have to get to Malahide but parking shouldn't be an issue. I'm not sure if they are doing the same this year.

brownbinman

The Muppet wrote: »

Last Year there was a special 7.30 Dart (unscheduled) from Malahide early enough to get you there on time, you'd still have to get to Malahide but parking shouldn't be an issue. I'm not sure if they are doing the same this year.

According to irishrail, there's a dart from malahide at 6.30, 7, 7.08, 7.24. All should get you into town in plenty of time

The Muppet

brownbinman wrote: »

According to irishrail, there's a dart from malahide at 6.30, 7, 7.08, 7.24. All should get you into town in plenty of time

On a Sunday?

brownbinman

really weird, now it's coming up blank. Wonder if they are planning engineering works and I had the day wrong (which I probably did to be fair)

The Muppet

brownbinman wrote: »

really weird, now it's coming up blank. Wonder if they are planning engineering works and I had the day wrong (which I probably did to be fair)

Those are weekday times , got this from the dcm page.



Irish Rail Information for Sunday 29th October. Specials for the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon:

Depart Greystones at 06.45hrs – Arrive Grand Canal at 07.30hrs

Depart Malahide at 07.05hrs – Arrive Connolly at 07.29hrs


Lusas Marathon Bank Holiday Sunday 30Th of October.

Both lines start as Sunday Service at 7.00am and Finish at 11.30pm Trams are every 10 minutes.

http://sseairtricitydublinmarathon.ie/traffic-information/

clickerquicklic

Amazing how quickly you can go from feeling like your flying to feeling like sh*t ! in this game.
Took on some advice from the guys here and did some marathon pace miles this morning. I'll get the excuses out of the way first , set garmin up wrong wanted 1 mile w/u , 2 x 5km with 800m rest between at 4.30 pace (3.10MP) , 2 mile cool down , I realised after about a mile of the marathon paced session I had actually set it up as 2 x 5 miles , Excuse number 2 I had no water or breakfast and was going to be out longer than anticipated , Excuse number 3 maybe my legs are still feeling the half marathon effort from Saturday.

I struggled from the outset felt tired breathing heavy legs heavy, holding marathon pace for a 3.10 marathon felt like half marathon pace , first 5 miles was such a tough battle mentally but I got it done had to fight myself to restart after the 800m jog second 5 miles started ok but last 2 I was hanging on and by last mile I had nothing left legs and breathing all over the shop.

Positives are I managed to complete the session and hit the splits exactly , negatives are I am now doubting weather I can hold 26.2 miles at 3.20 pace I know its a bit slower but maybe today was a bad day , ended up been around my second fastest half marathon ever which is not ideal a few days after my fastest. Lesson learned 3.10 is way beyond me

skyblue46

clickerquicklic wrote: »

Amazing how quickly you can go from feeling like your flying to feeling like sh*t ! in this game.
Took on some advice from the guys here and did some marathon pace miles this morning. I'll get the excuses out of the way first , set garmin up wrong wanted 1 mile w/u , 2 x 5km with 800m rest between at 4.30 pace (3.10MP) , 2 mile cool down , I realised after about a mile of the marathon paced session I had actually set it up as 2 x 5 miles , Excuse number 2 I had no water or breakfast and was going to be out longer than anticipated , Excuse number 3 maybe my legs are still feeling the half marathon effort from Saturday.

I struggled from the outset felt tired breathing heavy legs heavy, holding marathon pace for a 3.10 marathon felt like half marathon pace , first 5 miles was such a tough battle mentally but I got it done had to fight myself to restart after the 800m jog second 5 miles started ok but last 2 I was hanging on and by last mile I had nothing left legs and breathing all over the shop.

Positives are I managed to complete the session and hit the splits exactly , negatives are I am now doubting weather I can hold 26.2 miles at 3.20 pace I know its a bit slower but maybe today was a bad day , ended up been around my second fastest half marathon ever which is not ideal a few days after my fastest. Lesson learned 3.10 is way beyond me

To be fair you probably learned no lessons today. Attempting a fast MP run 3 days after a raced half is asking far too much of the body. There has not been enough time for muscle fibres to repair fully or for your system as a whole to recover. It's unlikely you can read anything of relevance into today's run. You are also mid training block. No need to be so hard on yourself

choons

Hey all, another race update!

First half marathon and no strategy apart from aiming for 1:40. Start was messy, didn't realise we had started until everyone started shuffling forward. I was still fumbling setting up Strava and had to stop to tie my shoes after 15mins! Anyway, enough excuses. I paced well and time was 1:38 which I'm happy with. I can confidently revise my target marathon time to well below my original 4hrs.

Overall training is still on track but I took last Tuesday off. Had a lot going on and felt I needed a bit of a break before the half. Keep up the good work all.

Link to my training plan

Damo 2k9

choons wrote: »

Hey all, another race update!

First half marathon and no strategy apart from aiming for 1:40. Start was messy, didn't realise we had started until everyone started shuffling forward. I was still fumbling setting up Strava and had to stop to tie my shoes after 15mins! Anyway, enough excuses. I paced well and time was 1:38 which I'm happy with. I can confidently revise my target marathon time to well below my original 4hrs.

Overall training is still on track but I took last Tuesday off. Had a lot going on and felt I needed a bit of a break before the half. Keep up the good work all.

Link to my training plan

I remember reading your plan before, love how detailed it is, fair play to you. Well done on the time too.

Got a sports massage today, hopefully loosens me up from Saturday! Knee isint too bad thankfully, its definitely been worse! Will 99% make the start line on October 29th, heres hoping.

jamule

positron wrote: »

Drogheda. Trying to avoid getting Mrs and kids involved, I suspect kids are a bit too young for the early start and spending a day in Dublin. I had a look at Sunday train schedule and the first one gets into Pearse St at 9:05. Too late even for Wave 3 I think?

I will check coaches. Good to know traffic was normal last time around. Thanks!

Ask around in oldbridge, ddac always have a bus or two going, Matthews dont go on sunday until 9. The 101 goes at 7.30am

positron

Actually that's a great idea. Clearly jist like my legs, my brain also hasn't recovered from the half.

Swashbuckler

Just read this interesting section in Mcmillians weekly newsletter/article. Thought it was worth sharing with you guys and gals and it ties in with El C's advice last week;

Consequences of "Banking Time"
i.e., running faster than goal pace early in the marathon:

1) You burn more of your limited muscle glycogen stores. Lowered glycogen stores have been associated with hitting the wall.

2) You burn blood glucose at a faster rate. This requires more frequent feedings to keep the blood glucose level from "crashing" and thus introduces more gastro intestinal challenge. Low blood glucose has been associated with hitting the wall.

3) You stress the muscle tissues more. Marathoners walk around with severe limps and soreness because the muscle tissues get damaged. Running too fast early introduces more damage sooner and muscle damage has been associated with hitting the wall.

4) Your brain becomes unhappy. Recent research shows that if the brain feels threatened by your pacing or by the physiological changes in the body, it will send more feelings of fatigue and/or even cut the power to the working muscles. Running too fast, too early can be threatening to the brain, which has been associated with hitting the wall.

The bottom line? Don't run too fast, too soon in the marathon. Pace yourself properly so you have lots of physical and mental energy over the last few miles. After all, most athletes lose all their time in the final few miles of the race.

Lazare

Given the last meet up didn't go to plan, what do you all think of meeting up for coffee and banter at the expo?

I assume everyone's going to it.

Lazare

How do I go about changing waves?

I'm in wave 2, but I think now after gaining some respect for this beast I'm more suited to wave 3.

I want to go with the 4hr pacers.

quickbeam

Lazare wrote: »

Given the last meet up didn't go to plan, what do you all think of meeting up for coffee and banter at the expo?

I assume everyone's going to it.

Up for that!

Unthought Known

Lazare wrote: »

How do I go about changing waves?

I'm in wave 2, but I think now after gaining some respect for this beast I'm more suited to wave 3.

I want to go with the 4hr pacers.

Pretty sure you're allowed to move down a wave on the day. Only thing you can't do is move up a wave.

skyblue46

Lazare wrote: »

How do I go about changing waves?

I'm in wave 2, but I think now after gaining some respect for this beast I'm more suited to wave 3.

I want to go with the 4hr pacers.

You just go to the Wave on the day I think. They have no problem with people dropping down waves. It's moving upwards that takes a bit of effort.

Lazare

Cool, thanks. I knew it was possible to move down just wasn't sure what the process was.

AuldManKing

Great reading the posts over the last few days - great interaction & engagement.

Interesting about the pacing questions and just running the marathon without the pressure of a time goal - I was just thinking this point today on my run.
My one regret about my 1st marathon was not enjoying it from mile 16 onwards. Had I been slower in the 1st 16 miles, I would have enjoyed it more and possibly finished faster or similar time. And what if it had of been 10 mins slower? So what. I spent a long time trying to get the pain of those last 10 miles out of my head.

Sorry I haven't been around too much last few days, but great to see the engagement from everyone - hopefully I'll be online a bit in the coming days.

AuldManKing

skyblue46 wrote: »

You just go to the Wave on the day I think. They have no problem with people dropping down waves. It's moving upwards that takes a bit of effort.

yep - thats it - no issue dropping down on the day.

skyblue46

Lazare wrote: »

Given the last meet up didn't go to plan, what do you all think of meeting up for coffee and banter at the expo?

I assume everyone's going to it.

Yep I'd be ok with that. Also I'll be going for a LSR on Saturday 7th in the PP, early morning. 18 miles @ 10 min miles approx if you or anyone else wants to join up.

Damo 2k9

skyblue46 wrote: »

Yep I'd be ok with that. Also I'll be going for a LSR on Saturday 7th in the PP, early morning. 18 miles @ 10 min miles approx if you or anyone else wants to join up.

Will Deffo try meet u for this Skyblue, I've a scheduled 20 so ties in near enough with this.

skyblue46

Damo 2k9 wrote: »

Will Deffo try meet u for this Skyblue, I've a scheduled 20 so ties in near enough with this.

That's on HH is it? On boards we have 20 this weekend, and 18 the week after.

Damo 2k9

Yep HH I'm on. Will let u know if I can get the time off anyways, hopefully a few more could make it also.

Unthought Known

Lazare wrote: »

How do I go about changing waves?

I'm in wave 2, but I think now after gaining some respect for this beast I'm more suited to wave 3.

I want to go with the 4hr pacers.

I went with them last year and I'm sure I remember them (and me) being in wave 2.

skyblue46

Unthought Known wrote: »

I went with them last year and I'm sure I remember them (and me) being in wave 2.

They are definitely wave 3 this year. Still can't decide whether to run with them.

The Muppet

Lazare wrote: »

How do I go about changing waves?

I'm in wave 2, but I think now after gaining some respect for this beast I'm more suited to wave 3.

I want to go with the 4hr pacers.

You don't have to notify them if you are dropping back a wave to a slower pace group , you can just enter that wave on the day.

If you wish to move up a wave to a quicker pace group you have to contact them to request that.