DCM 2018 - Mentored Novice Thread

MY BAD

Good morning everyone, I'm just going to leave this here
https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/Lunchtime_Live/Highlights_from_Lunchtime_Live/233015/Marathon_running_is_the_new_sign_of_a_midlife_crisis

Hedgehoggy

Doing the Ratoath Half tomorrow - had planned on doing a brief run with short strides yesterday but didnt get out unfortunately - is it a good idea to go out today or should I just leave it and rest?

skyblue46

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Doing the Ratoath Half tomorrow - had planned on doing a brief run with short strides yesterday but didnt get out unfortunately - is it a good idea to go out today or should I just leave it and rest?

I'd say a couple (as in 2!) of miles with 4/5 strides would be fine if you run at a genuinely very easy pace. I hope it's a good idea as it's what I did :pac:

Hedgehoggy

skyblue46 wrote: »

I'd say a couple (as in 2!) of miles with 4/5 strides would be fine if you run at a genuinely very easy pace. I hope it's a good idea as it's what I did :pac:

Thanks - that's what I was thinking 2 miles with a few gentle 'bursts' - you're running Ratoath tomorrow too?

ReeReeG

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Doing the Ratoath Half tomorrow - had planned on doing a brief run with short strides yesterday but didnt get out unfortunately - is it a good idea to go out today or should I just leave it and rest?

I like to do 20 mins easy with a few strides the day before a race, just to ease nerves and get rid of the antsy feeling! Hasn't done me any harm ... I think...

skyblue46

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Thanks - that's what I was thinking 2 miles with a few gentle 'bursts' - you're running Ratoath tomorrow too?

I am for my sins. I wouldn't leave that run too late by the way. What's your plan for tomorrow?

Hedgehoggy

skyblue46 wrote: »

I am for my sins. I wouldn't leave that run too late by the way. What's your plan for tomorrow?

Aim is to kick off around 8 min miles and hopefully be in a place to ramp it up from around the 8 mile marker or so - All in all would be happy enough to be in around 1.45 and delighted to under this.

skyblue46

Hedgehoggy wrote: »

Aim is to kick off around 8 min miles and hopefully be in a place to ramp it up from around the 8 mile marker or so - All in all would be happy enough to be in around 1.45 and delighted to under this.

Great! Myself and a couple of last years novices are meeting up at about 8.15 and we'll be doing a mile or so very slow warmup if you fancy joining us. Just PM your phone number and I'll give you a buzz when we're there. Anyone else going feel free to do the same.

Safiri

smashiner wrote: »

I now have a 'crunching' sound in my right knee when I go up or down a set of stairs!! Anyone else's body making strange creaking noises??

This has happened to me before in the past and seems to go away after a few weeks of long runs, that can only be a sign that I am doing it properly, right? :eek:

I sound like a shotgun being loaded when I get up off the couch after an LSR these days, I think that I need a can of WD40 for the knees and ankles.....I am fast becoming the Tin Man out of the Wizard of Oz

Seven Seas Cod Liver Oil tablets and the Foam Roller to the rescue.........

Don't forget to stretch after the rolling too. That creaking/cracking noise is the sound of your tendons and ligaments rubbing and snapping over the joints. Foam rolling is great for treating sore and knotted muscles but it doesn't nessacarilly elongate the muscles like stretching. Foam rolling is very similar to a massage from a physio, the idea being release tension from already tight muscles but a physio also gives you stretches to work on those muscles and that is for good reason. Foam rolling/massage is reactive treatment but stretching is a preventative measure and good prehab always beats rehab. a good pre and post stretching run should cut down on injuries and generall tightness before they actually become a problem or need treatment.

Rossi7

Just mapped out my LSR for this weekend, I was feeling confident enough about it untill I saw how much distance 20 miles actually covers :woot: 

coogy

Argh! Was supposed to do a couple of miles this evening but now can't. Well, technically I could but I wouldn't get a chance to head out till after 10pm and I need plenty of beauty sleep tonight.......:D

Strawberry Swan

Best of luck to all running the half tomorrow. I'll try and keep an eye out for ye. I haven't got my number yet. But I'll be way behind anyway. First half in about 8 years so quite scary. I'll try not to push too much too soon.

ted1

Having a disastrous training period. Was injured most the summer.
Anyway I’ve introduced run home Thursday. Managed 3weeks so far.

21.7 km first week
23.4 km second week
25.5 km this week, but set PBS for 5,10, 15,20 and half so delighted.

I reckon if I keep it up I’ll be grand. Must try to fit in shorter runs throughout the week

RayCun

ted1 wrote: »

Having a disastrous training period. Was injured most the summer.
Anyway I’ve introduced run home Thursday. Managed 3weeks so far.

21.7 km first week
23.4 km second week
25.5 km this week, but set PBS for 5,10, 15,20 and half so delighted.

I reckon if I keep it up I’ll be grand. Must try to fit in shorter runs throughout the week

You are running once a week, and going as fast as you can on that run?

MY BAD

ted1 wrote: »

Having a disastrous training period. Was injured most the summer.
Anyway I’ve introduced run home Thursday. Managed 3weeks so far.

21.7 km first week
23.4 km second week
25.5 km this week, but set PBS for 5,10, 15,20 and half so delighted.

I reckon if I keep it up I’ll be grand. Must try to fit in shorter runs throughout the week

You'll be injured again if you keep running like that

ted1

RayCun wrote: »

You are running once a week, and going as fast as you can on that run?

I really only have 1 pace!! I’m just running

ted1

Mellow Yellow 26.2 wrote: »

You'll be injured again if you keep running like that

The injury was a shoulder from coming off a bike

I’m swimming 1.2km 5 days a week and cycling 60km each day except the day I run

Dealerz2.0

First ever 20 mile run-absolutely buzzing- enjoyed ever mile. Pacing was reasonably where I wanted it to be.

A taxi driver soaking me head to toe through a puddle at mile 4 couldnt even “dampen” the spirits!!!

....now let’s eat!!!

TFBubendorfer

ted1 wrote: »

Having a disastrous training period. Was injured most the summer.
Anyway I’ve introduced run home Thursday. Managed 3weeks so far.

21.7 km first week
23.4 km second week
25.5 km this week, but set PBS for 5,10, 15,20 and half so delighted.

I reckon if I keep it up I’ll be grand. Must try to fit in shorter runs throughout the week

That's not training. That's just messing around until the inevitable next injury strikes. Sorry, but you won't be grand.

racersedge

There are runs that you know inside the first kilometer are going to be bad. Today was one such day for me with my LSR.

Got up nice and early to have a bit of brekkie before the run. Held off going out until after 7am to avoid the worst of the rain. While I don't mind running in the rain, didn't fancy getting soaked through and potentially picking up a cold from it. That said, the weather did see me out with extra gear out - a light rain jacket, beanie hat, hi-vis vest etc. Anyway - started out, taking it relatively handy and such for what was planned to be a 29K run. As I began, within the first klick I knew things were going to be awkward. Heart-rate was running higher than it usually would be. I have noticed on my early morning runs, it tends to be this. But the difference this morning was that it was a good 45mins between waking up and heading out this morning. I mentally questioned myself maybe if it was the anticipation/excitement/nerves of the long run that was causing this - much like a race day feel to it.

Anyway, I plodded on through the rain. It started to ease off around the 10K mark. I was steady and consistent, although if I was judging by the HRM, I was still well over what I would be expecting for the pace and effort. Things felt grand up until around the 16K mark. Took a gel on board, trying the High5 Berry one. The good thing was that it went down no problem. Although I did feel a bit of a light stitch a few klicks after it. (Admittedly, I could be adding 1+1 and getting 11 there. There might be no correlation). Overall I didn't feel any extra long-run benefit from it. Of course given I was starting to feel not at my best at the run, maybe my mental questions quelled any influence it had.

I was beginning to feel a bit weighed down with the rain jacket and the beanie. Actually, by now, the beanie was stuffed in my jacket pocket. Felt like the rain had added plenty of extra weight for it. I like the hat and didn't really want to chuck. Closing in on 20K, I decided I had enough of the jacket. Whipped it off jacket (which in the process of, I briefly stopped by bloody watch) and proceeded to carry it along. This was cumbersome and like the beanie, it felt like the rain had added some extra weight to the jacket. I seriously considered finding an secluded, accessible stop to stuff it and come back for it.

For a lot of the back half of the run I found mentally draining. As I have noted a few times, I do all my runs solo. I seriously need to look into changing that because when you have time to talk to yourself, you can really question things. I know another option is to have podcasts or whatnot playing, but given that I run on country roads, I'd rather not place myself in a position to dull my senses. But I feel like on the remaining long-long runs I need to change things around a bit. I got to almost 23K and looked at a fairly sizable and steep hill. Attempted it and eventually said 'enough'. Queue a loud 'Damn' from myself.

Really annoyed with myself over it. It started off as a not great run and maybe over time, I let that mentally become a focus for me which influenced the rest of the run. The elevated heart rate hardly helped. Had to call the wife to come and pick me up from outside of Killenard. I faced a few silent conversations with myself while I waited. I know it's not the end of the world, but it doesn't help in building up the overall confidence of hitting my targets come to the day. Anyway, I ended up been so annoyed with myself that after a few hours at home (and after my wife had gone up to see her mother), I laced back up and finished the final 6K. I know it's not perfect and probably a bit silly to do. But for my own ego and mental well-being, I felt a need to do it. Heart-Rate remained a tad high, which has me thinking maybe I need to watch out that I'm not coming down with anything. My wife has been str.uggling with a chesty cough for a few weeks now (and can't take anything for it because of the passenger on board) so I've been wary of potentially catching that. Anyway, that is my tale of woe. I'm still slightly annoyed with myself, but next week is another week. It's more to detail things in case people think I've gone off the deep-end doing two runs on one day if they are checking it out!

Regarding the mid-week runs. They went to plan. Actually enjoyed a lovely 13K run early in the week. I did my long mid-week run earlier to allow for more time with the wife. Balanced the other two between an early morning run and a late evening run.

So now the eyes are forward to next week. I have my (or I am supposed to have, I should say, since work has rostered me on Friday) my graduation on Friday and trip up to Belfast with the wife. So I am hoping to get my mid-week runs in early enough and either tackle my (at least) shorter LSR either on the Friday morning (or if I have to go in to cover some hours in work) on the Sunday when I get back. Going to look into maybe changing how I go out for my LSR's. My wife has kindly offered to trail me on her bike to hand out the water to avoid me having to go with excess weight when running. I've also got a quick check-up with the physio to make sure everything is all good and get a massage on the potential problem areas. So a busy week ahead!

Supercell

Amazed at all the successful 20 milers done on the Strava group today, well done to one and all!
Have to say I'm a bit jealous of ye all having it behind you with mine tomorrow, though I'm enjoying the carb loading today
Hope I can report the same tomorrow and injury free.

bucketybuck

I've had a really long week, late home from work every day, very little to eat when at work, trouble sleeping at night, and today I had a 20 mile run to do.

It went great! Lovely cool day for running, it stayed dry the entire way, my pace was good and at the end I did the last KM at race pace and still felt there was more in me.

Might have to give some credit to the Tailwind for that, today was the first long run that relied solely on it and I have to say, at no point did I feel dehydrated or low on energy. I had a few of the normal aches you get from running 3 hours plus, but I ever felt drained or struggling. I carried a litre bottle from the start with about half a stick pack poured into it, didn't drink from it until around 10k, then sipped and drank the full bottle over the next 12k. At 23k I stopped at a garage, bought another litre bottle and poured a full stick pack into it, then drank that over the last 9k.

I still need to find a cast iron way of ensuring I can use Tailwind on the day of DCM itself, but fairs fair it really seems to work and I would recommend any novices to maybe give it a try.

On another note, at 21k I had one of those awful moments, I was ticking along nicely and then out of nowhere both my hamstrings seized up at the same time! I stopped and stretched for about 30 seconds and everything went back to normal, but for that one moment I had visions of my entire marathon dream hitting a brick wall. It'll keep me honest about stretching and recovering properly, thats for sure!

skyblue46

There are a few pending requests to join the Strava group. In order to keep the group for users of this thread could you please let myself, ariana or Kellygirl know that you have made the request so that we can accept it. A PM will do just fine.

Applegirl26

20 miler done and it feels sweet!

As I was having some breakfast early this morning, I was thinking of my Strava buddies who were probably doing the exact same thing I was. It made me smile.

There was something quite soothing about running in the rain. Listening to it gave me a lovely peaceful feeling. I kept the pace slow. I kept sipping away at my water, lesson learnt from the 18 miler.

I reached halfway in the PP where I had a decision to make about the route I would take. I could do loops in and out of the PP (the safety route, not far from home if I had problems) Or I could run the route I really wanted which was out to the Poolbeg lighthouse. I just had gels, water and money with me. Would that be enough? My gut told me to take the route that scared me the most. That was the route that would teach me the most lessons. So, off I headed to Poolbeg...

The run into town was great. There wasn't many people about and I didn't get as delayed at traffic lights as I had thought I would. I took a gel at 5 miles and kept drinking. It was still raining and I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

I passed the strikingly sad statue figures of the famine, along the end of the Quays. I took a breath as I ran alongside. For an instant I felt compelled to touch the face of the figure who was carrying the small person on his back. It was overwhelming.

Back to the running and once I passed the East Link bridge Google maps had to take over! I was coming up to halfway in my run and I still felt good. When I saw the lighthouse in the distance I was like a little kid, I felt so happy with myself. I finished my first bottle of water here and as I hit 10 miles, I took another gel. I didn't hang about for too long as the hardest part of the run was still to come.

Halfway back up the South Wall, I tripped and went flying. I knew it was bad before I even looked. I applied some pressure initially but I knew as long as I kept moving, my knee would keep bleeding and there was no way I was cutting that run short. So I just got on with it. "keep the main thing the main thing" and there was a run to finish!

Town was busier now as I headed back towards the park. I took a gel at 15 miles and bought a bottle of water. I also made a quick pitstop into a hotel before I entered the PP. Hitting 18 miles felt surreal. I still felt good and I was hoping a crash wasn't waiting around the corner for me. I must be getting used to the drag that is Chesterfield Avenue as it didn't feel as tough as it has on previous runs. I finished my third bottle of water here.

In the 19th mile, I started to think about DCM and how running the final mile must feel. Oh my gosh, I welled up just thinking about it!

Then I hit mile 20 and I was home. Brilliant. My cool down today was a walk. My legs were like nope, we just gave you 20 miles, that's it for today!

There's many more runs to complete in the training plan and not all of them will go as well as today but today went great and it has allowed me to think that maybe, just maybe, I can do this... Yay.

skyblue46

Delighted for you. That early morning devotion to training is paying off. Keep it going.

ReeReeG

Applegirl26 wrote:

20 miler done and it feels sweet!

Love that entire post! So descriptive of long run emotions! Well done 😀

Hobbyjogger

Well done to all who did Ratoath today, and also to those who did their first 20 miler! It’s a great feeling, we’re well on the road now.

Wondering if anyone out there is taking on the hills of danesfort with me at the jj reddy half next Sunday? Would be great to see some other boardsie novices

skyblue46

Hobbyjogger wrote: »

Well done to all who did Ratoath today, and also to those who did their first 20 miler! It’s a great feeling, we’re well on the road now.

Wondering if anyone out there is taking on the hills of danesfort with me at the jj reddy half next Sunday? Would be great to see some other boardsie novices

How did you get on today?

happyfriday74

Got out at 7 and knocked out my 18.5. Feel great now. Bit sore but not as bad as thought. Aimed for 20 but wife needed me back to take kids but only 1.5 out.

Burned down from stillorgan to killiney via ballybrack and went alomg the coast stopping to run both piers in dun laoghaire.

Ran into a lot of other people judging from their kit doing the same thing so lots of understanding "nods" as some.of them passed.

Going to put the feet up tonight now and have cold beer. Cant wait to do it again next weekend and pushing the distance out past 20

Hobbyjogger

skyblue46 wrote: »

How did you get on today?

I wasn’t running today, doing the jj reddy as my half marathon at PMP next week