2022 DCM Novice Thread
Comments
-
Well that was fun, felt like perfect conditions for a race. Had a bad week last week, mad with work and felt poor during my LSR so needed a good performance today for my own head.
Prep was spot on food and hydration wise which was good. Can't say the same for my travel to the race, left too late and then forgot my watch so had to turn back, ended up running up to the start line and just got there for the start..
The race itself was fairly uneventful, in a good way. Started at the back of the wave and a bit behind the 1:40 pacer.
First 5 or so I went out quite quickly as remembered the downhill from the FD10. After that just settled into a nice rhythm and concentrated on slowly reeling in the pacer. Finally caught him around the 10mile mark (just after his baloon burst).
Had a little psychological battle with myself just after that and thankfully managed to battle through that c. 2km.
Just tried to tag onto a little group ahead of me then for the last couple of km and managed to finish Well.
Delighted overall, had a realistic 1:40 target and a stretch goal of 1:38 and managed to come in with a chip time of 1:37:36.
See some great times on the strava, well done everyone.
11 -
Happy with this week's running. Did 10k on Tuesday @5.57pace, 6.7k on Wednesday @5.36 pace and the half marathon @ 5.40 pace. Had a finish time of 1:59:53 which I was delighted with as it was my first ever half marathon. Really enjoyed the race but did find the last 1km tough. Was starting to die off at this stage. Took a gel and a banana just before start, at 8k and 15k. Had to travel for the run so brekkie was at 6am.
Found the overall experience great. On to next week's training now!
4 -
Does anyone know where to see the official results from the half marathon?
0 -
-
Hi all, apologies if this is the wrong thread.
Does anyone know if the full marathon has bottled energy drinks at that stations like the rock n roll half marathon had in 2019? I found that I couldn't manage the cups at the half marathon yesterday without stopping so just skipped the water. Do I need to bring my own bottle in my pocket?
The other question I had was related the heath implications of "max zone heart rate" for the duration of the marathon.
I recently bought a Samsung watch that tracks heart rate. According to the watch 170-188 is the max zone.
The problem is if I run at my normal pace it's always in the red max zone over 180 and I have to slow down to get it below 169. I ran fast up a hill during the week at the end of a 10k and it was 201 bpm. During the half yesterday the watch says 80% of the time was in the max zone but I felt fine. Time was 1h47m category was m40.
If I run at the watch max zone pace for the marathon is it a health risk to keep it at this max zone the whole time? No idea what that time will be but hoping for 4 hours.
0 -
Advertisement
-
Drinks information is in the marathon FAQ on website. Mixture of bottles, cups, water and lucozade at various parts of course. Cups in the Park is a requirement of the OPW, so it will probably be bottles everywhere else.
Don’t worry about the HR - if you felt fine you were fine. The watch doesn’t k is your max HR and may not be measuring accurately anyway. Turn the feature off until you know more about HR.
Theres a DCM thread in Running Events subforum.
Post edited by Murph_D on1 -
WEEK 13
And just like that we are two-thirds of the way through the plans . Well done to everyone on this week's running.
Firstly, well done again to all those who raced yesterday. Running a Half Marathon is a great achievement in it's own right - it's something you should all feel very proud of. Keep the race reports coming. Unfortunately, there's no time for self-congratulation as we jump straight into another busy week. Try not to over-react to yesterday's (or last weekend's) HM - a good performance is of course welcome, but doesn't mean it's time to slack off. Similarly, don't go into panic mode if things went a touch pear-shaped - continue to trust the plan. That should be it for the racing now I hope, all eyes on DCM from here on in! A few tough weeks coming up before we reach the taper.
Regarding pacing start slow - we will spend the next five weeks hammering you with this message. And I make no apologies for that - fail to heed this advice and you will be in for a very, very uncomfortable few hours on the 30th of October.
Plan|Monday|Tuesday|Wednesday|Thursday|Friday|Saturday|Sunday
HHN1|rest|4m easy|8m easy|5m easy|rest|12m LSR|rest
Boards|rest, cross or 3m rec|6m easy|1m w/u,9m pace,1m c/d|3m rec |rest, cross or 3m rec|16m LSR|3m rec
With all our build up races now behind us, thoughts are inevitably turning towards DCM targets. So, I'm interested to see what everyone is thinking. Please do give the reasoning behind what you've come up with as a target time.
Best of luck with the week ahead! 😊
8 -
Week 12 Report
I very much appreciated the lower mileage this week and it definitely helped me in the HM on Saturday. Got all the training in as per Boards plan so the key learning for me this week was the race on Saturday
Race Report - I ran the 10 mile FD in 82 mins (8.06/mile) so I had set myself a plan of 1hr 50 for the HM. I set off with the 1.50 pacemakers in Wave 2 for the first mile but found it a but chaotic as there was so many people tracking them. I knew mile 2 was downhill so i pushed on ahead of the pacing group and covered the next mile in under 8.00. After that I relaxed and tried to keep a steady 8.00/mile pace knowing that the uphill parts might slow me down.
I was lucky that I got connected to various groups over the next few miles all running a similar pace and found it a good focus to just match the rhythm of their footsteps. I took a gel around 6mile and stopped at the water station to get a drink. I felt really good for the next few miles as I presume the gel and water gave me a boost. After that it was a little bit tougher but every mile seemed to be clocking around the 8.00 - 8.10 without really pushing. I finished with a time of 1.45 which was probably 4-5mins faster than my initial target. Based on this race and the HM I think my target of sub 4hr Marathon seems possible, but I do suffer a lot more once I run over 2 hours. So I was thinking of trying a 9.00/mile pace for the marathon and see how it goes.
6 -
I think I have only 10months of proper running so still not a whole pile of experience! Most of my running before was of the flat out type and pre Covid meant annual injuries!
Re advanced plan hadn’t thought about it but would be afraid of the mileage to be honest. Have only ever done 80+ a couple times as is.
I can only probably do 8k at lunch time and wanting to keep Saturdays free means for example this weeks 29k of easy running I can do 3*8k and I’ll do a very easy 5k at lunch time before that evenings Stength session. My reading of JD was that his plans just focuses on getting the easy mileage done in the week. That was my justification to myself on the double days rightly or wrongly (properly wrongly)
Week 3 review
Didn't get anything done till Friday after the illness. 3 easy runs of total of 32k all around 5:20k pace. Good to get back out there.
0 -
Well there are only six weeks left so I wouldn't be changing the approach much at this stage. Not sure where you are getting your Hanson Advanced - the book version peaks at 63 miles. Are you using the book or a schedule you found somewhere - there are 'elite' versions that have higher mileage that you sometimes see on the internet. I'd say the book version (advanced) would be ok for you if you stick to the mileage and the paces.
0 -
Advertisement
-
I got all the planned runs in this week, it was nice to have the lighter week.
DC HM Report
Having found the previous 2 weeks pretty challenging and not having run in the 10M race I genuinely had no idea where I was at prior to this race, it was quite some time since I last ran any faster than PMP (5:38km). I ran the first 8k at just over 5 min/km pace and felt really good, I pushed on a bit more and never really felt under too much stress. I finished in just under 1hr 43min which I was delighted with as it was nearly a 6 minute improvement on my PB, my final km was my fastest at 4:35 so I think I could have shaved another minute or 2 off the same had I went a bit faster early on.
I thought it was a really good event, the weather was perfect. I had a feeling it would be pretty congested so put myself close to the front of wave 2 so didn't have too many traffic problems. The drinks in the water cups were a good laugh, I spilled far more over my body than I drank (which was pretty nice tbh)
My planned time for the marathon had always been just under 4 hours but it was more an arbitrary number than anything i could back up, I feel a lot more confident now I can go sub-4.
11 -
Like Master K and Dublin334 I was also quite glad of the taper week for the HM on Saturday. Between the poor week last week and a busy schedule this and next week, pulling back on the effort this week was what was needed.
Monday 4.2K, I pulled the plug on this as I was feeling a bit wobbly in the head and legs and decided not to stray too far from home
Wednesday - 10K with strides which was better than last week.
Thursday was 9.5K Easy and was starting to feel better in my running at this stage.
Tuesday & Friday Rest
Sunday 14k easy in the sunshine
Race report FD HM
Based on how the 10 mile had gone I put a goal in my head that I could hold a 4.20m/k pace for this. I wasn't overly confident considering how the previous week had been training wise but with an easy week I felt the legs should be there or there abouts.
Cycled over again and the event was well organised. Now being familiar with the course I knew what to expect which settled any nerves. I was a bit cold though as I should have worn gloves on the bike. I lined up somewhere behind the 1.30 pacers, not too far back but far enough. The gun went and it took a good minute to get across the line and a medium level of traffic at the beginning which is good to keep the pace in check for the first 1km or so.
The first few kilometres were fairly un-eventful, most people were moving around the same pace and were aware of their surroundings which was good to see. I didn't have a defined group to run with so I just kept picking my way through the field as I went along. Kept my eye on the HR and which it got to effort pace fairly quickly but remained consistent. Caught sight of my wife again as I was exiting the 15 acres and she was entering which was a good boost for both of us.
I took a gel just as I was exiting the 15 acres which was fine but my hand was very sticky afterwards. Started to motor again after this and got to the OS water station where finally I could get some water to wash my hand down. I lost a little momentum with all the faff and next thing you know about 5 or 6 people passed my who I'd passed at various stages over the last 4 or 5 k. This was a bit of a key moment as I made sure to pick up my pace and latch myself on as my pace had drifted down with concentrating on getting un-sticky.
The downhill when well and I leaned into it so that I was picking up the pace but getting a little rest bite on the HR. I came down the bottom at Saint Mary's and I was still tracking some of the guys who had passed me and was starting to pick off people dropping off the pacers. It was here in the turn up again into the 15 acres that I could have done something different as I could have put in another spurt to latch myself onto the pace group as they were only 20 to 30 meters ahead but I didn't and saved the effort for the hill. Which I got up but not as fast as the pace group and it was here that I started to struggle.
From 17/18/19 it was tough (which considering the previous comment maybe I didn't have it to make it to the group), I was feeling the legs and the pace group were getting away from me. On the turn onto chesterfield ave on the narrow path was the worst, I was starting to doubt myself here and the pace was slipping. For the first time people were starting to pass me and I was in danger of letting the head drop. However I stuck with it and decided to keep going as it was so close and up ahead I knew there was a turn for the OS and a little bit of downhill. Picked it up and coming around on the OS road I looked at the watch and now I was starting to realise that I was very close to a benchmark time so I gave it everything I had to get across the line.
Chip time 1.30.01. Overall very happy with the race. I PB'd in all distances from 10K upwards for the race. I was aware that sub 1.30 was on and thought it was gone at 18k after the climb and thought the wheels were coming off and only the rally at the end got me close. You do play over the 2 seconds but it's only an arbitrary time and I think I ran a very good race overall. Splits (in 5K's) were 21.16 21.21 21.22 21.22 and change. So very consistent over the race. I think I could have pushed for sub 1.30 but I did remember a saying that gets repeated here often, keeping the main thing the main thing, and this race wasn't the main thing so there was no need to push myself into a danger zone for it.
Nice to meet you @Lambay island , cracking time on Saturday, well done you.
Lessons learnt:
The gel was very sticky on my hand. I'm going to carry some wet wipes for the marathon as it was a bit yuck and distracting
These gels (Torq) didn't seem to kick in like the ones I had before (on the LSR's in any case). I didn't really feel any kind of boost from it. I had intended to take another at around 1hr 10 but I didn't and maybe I should have. Some more work is needed on the nutrition side. Perhaps that flagging at 18k could have been prevented if I'd taken another one, although I was taking some chews. Off to see if some maurten gels will work once I get a chance.
The paper cups are a disaster. Luckily for this length of race I don't tend to need much but for the marathon I wouldn't be able to cope. Thanks @Murph_D for pointing out the DCM FAQ's where it says they will be giving out 250ml water bottles. Lucozade will be in the cups. Still think I might bring my 250ml soft flask just in case and I could fill it if needs be as a back up.
I still haven't decided on my pace for the full yet, I know I probably need to err on the conservative side considering it'll be brand new territory. I am thinking that I may need to move up a wave, does anyone know if that's possible?
This is a busy life week as I'm best man at a wedding on Friday, I'll fit in what I can when I can, one week won't break a good block of training (hopefully)
Post edited by MisterJinx on13 -
What a great performance despite all this messing with sticky gels. It's important to be testing your nutrition strategy at this stage and yesterday was the ideal opportunity as it was a race environment (although the gels were probably not making any difference from a nutrition viewpoint over a 90 minute race - but that's another story. They are certainly important for the marathon).
Great running, I'm not sure you realise what a good performance that was, and your next HM will undoubtedly be even better.
3 -
Thanks D.
I know the gels probably don't make a huge difference at this distance but I tend not to eat before a race, I can't drag myself out of bed early enough! So only ever a slice of toast maybe an hour before so the chews at least help with this distance.
It's been going well thankfully and the races so far have gone my way tactically so I can't be unhappy at all. That's only my 3rd race at HM so maybe the forth will go well too and we'll see where it brings me. It's all about the main thing now!
2 -
Solid week, great racing and also nice to meet you, hope u made it back to finish line in time
Post edited by Lambay island on1 -
That sounds like a really well executed race, congrats. Don't be worrying too much about slowing down over 2 hours mark- still plenty of endurance training runs left!
0 -
Great racing, well done! I hear ya on the cups front!
0 -
Bit of a mixed week training wise. 12k run on Monday was uneventful, but on Tuesday when I got to work I realised I'd tweaked something in my back, probably in my sleep - I was in a fair bit of discomfort. A week of heat packs, hot water bottles, Nurofen and Voltarol followed, didn't run for the rest of the week.
Saturday came and I agreed to meet one of the gang from our club for an early run, and I ended up running 30k - the first time breaking that distance. I broke it down to 3x10k stages - first 10k a loop to and from the car, where I got water and a gel and some jelly beans on board, then a 10k run to the opposite end of town, stopped in a garage to pick up a bottle of lucozade sport and water, drank half of each and topped up the lucozade with the remaining water, for the rest of the run, another gel, then 10k back to the car.
The last few KM were a bit of a battle but I was delighted to get over the 30k mark - feels like a big milestone and really made me think I might actually be able to make Dublin - when the back flare up happened I was convinced that was it. Averaged 6.12/km.
Was feeling it in the legs yesterday but not so bad today. Will head out for a few KM today at some stage.
5 -
Last weeks boards plan worked out incredibly well for me as I had a very hectic week in work (12 hours days) so the lower mileage fit in well.
Unfortunately, life events after the marathon ruined my recovery due to an ambulance trip to Crumlin with my young lad who broke his wrist in rugby.
DC HM
I chanced my arm and parked in the Zoo car park about 7:30. Loads of spaces so relieved. Realised I forgot my BodyGlide but didn't fret as didn't think it was long enough a run for it to impact me.
Goal was to finish in 1hr 56 (5:30 min/km)to keep on track for a 4 hour marathon. I wasn't familiar with the route so pleasantly surprised with the long opening downhill. I didn't know whether to hold back to use the hills. After a couple of k slightly faster than plan, I decided to give it a go as was feeling good, so settled into a pace of 5:20 min/km and felt comfortable. The uphills weren't a bother.
Gel plan was about 45 min and again 1:30. Took first around a water station but second took most of it without water. No issues.
A few minor problems with the route/participants. Paths at time were too narrow so was getting held up. People running 4 abreast was a pain. One of the water stops towards the end had no water ready so had to skip. Wasn't an issue though.
Felt strong going into the second half so pushed on with about 8km to go, passing quite a few people and was really happy to put the strides I learned in training to use - striding past groups to get open road to settle back to a nice pace. The last 2km were done at 4:56, 4:47 pace to give me an overall pace of 5:17. The last 300m were particularly enjoyable as I went all out and felt like I had a huge kick in me, so finished in 1:51:46, so about 5 mins faster than goal. With that, I feel very confident of doing sub 4 hour.
Now, afterwards headed straight to see my son play a rugby match. Early in second half, he went over on his wrist so went to Crumlin to get it set. Didn't even get a chance to get a shower, so luckily hospitals still require everyone to wear a face mask :-) Had to go back yesterday to get it reset only to be told after a 4 hour wait that he would not be seen and we would have to come back again hopefully today.
10 -
Week 12 done!
Tuesday 6.5km w/ strides x5
Wednesday 5.2km easy pace 6:05/km
Friday 3.4km easy pace 5:59/km
Saturday HM - average pace on phone - 5:06/km
Sunday 3.3km rec pace 6:28/km
Like the guys above, I was more than happy with the reduced mileage this week! Really happy with how the Half Marathon went. Coming into the week I really wasn't sure but the reduced mileage was a big help I think for this and I felt pretty good on the morning. Found a parking spot a bit closer this time and it was a nice walk/jog to the start. Couldn't believe how cold it felt first thing. I had a loose plan after the FD10 to try for a pace of around 5:10 for the HM. I only did the maths last week realised that would be just under 1hr50 so I positioned myself at the start with the 1:50 pacers. I had run the 2019 HM(my first) but there seemed to be a lot more runners this year(probably wrong on that!). Like @Dublin334 above, I found it tricky going with the amount of people jostling for position especially around the pacers so got ahead of them and it was a bit less chaotic after about 3km. I was happy with my pace at around 5:04/km at this point. I took a gel around the 8km mark and the pacers had caught me at this point. This was the narrow path section and it got a bit hectic again with the amount of people(what's 20,000 going to be like :)). At this point I must must have been slowing a bit so I was really glad the pacers were there to keep me focused. I ran with them until just before the U-turn at Castleknock gate. Was delighted to get on to Chesterfield again and have a bit more room. I didn't really push at this stage and was kind of expecting to be reeled back in by the pacers at the next big hill. But I stayed ahead of them. I took another gel around 16km. I had enough in the tank to make a bit of a push at the end. The last km was easily the quickest of the day. Finished in 1:47:3x for a PB. The whole thing was a real confidence booster after a few tough weeks. I know there are more tough ones ahead too! But a lot of positives from the day. It was my first time running with pacers - well for some of it at least. They were brilliant and good craic too. I'd say if it wasn't for them around that 5 mile mark I might have slipped back a bit and not finished under 1hr50 - so big kudos to them!
I'm still hoping for around the 4 hour mark for the marathon. I hope it's not too unfair of a question to ask the mentors but is this realistic? I'll be honest, I haven't done much homework as regards online predictors and calculators. Based on the 2x HM time and add 20 minutes(mentioned on the thread a few weeks ago) I don't think it's too unrealistic(fingers crossed). I know there's a big PMP run this week - would trying to keep to a consistent late 5:30s pace per km be a good target for me?
Well done to everyone this week. It was great seeing all the activity on strava especially on saturday.
7 -
Advertisement
-
My week leading up to the Half marathon was as follows.
Monday 5 x 1.5km @ 5.20 with 0.5 easy in between
Tuesday 10km @ 5.25
Weds 5 x 3km @ 5.20 with 0.4km @ 6.00 in between each.
Thurs - Hurling training (very easy - made sure not to tackle anyone)
Fri - Rest
Sat Half marathon @ 5.1km 1.49.18
Sunday 8km @ 6.25
Half Marathon went well for me. Lovely morning & felt good at the start. I had aimed to do it in 1:53:30 but started out with a pal who had said he wanted to follow the 1 hour 50 pacers. I was confident I'd be able to meet my goal time so I just went along with the pace. The company definitely helped me. Although we fell back a fair bit from them I did feel quite strong with 4/5 km to go & pushed on to catch up to the pacers & finished a lot stronger than I expected. Might have been in my head but felt the Kms that I expected to struggle at were a little downhill which certainly helped.
I brought a bottle of water around with me for the race & was glad I did as I found it hard to drink the water from the cups (was trying to pinch them - but still spilled as much as i drank) & also good to wash my hands after the gels. The stickiness was annoying me.
I was chuffed afterwards (& for the rest of the weekend). I didn't think id manage close 1.50 so a timely boost with 6 weeks to go. Plan for marathon was to get down to 4.14 (2019 was only previous effort & I came in at 4.28). So I thinking that if I keep up the training that I will be able for that - & hopefully a bit faster.
6 -
Well done, really well executed negative spilt you ran to get your sub 1.50. The training is paying off! @killiank
0 -
Yes I did and she PB'd :-) Happy day all round
1 -
Week 12
Tue 6,0 km 39:01 6:30/km
Thu 7,0 km 41:58 6:00/km
Sat 21,1 km 1:56:09 5:29/km
HM Report
Ended up getting to the race a little later than I wanted and didn't really get any chance to warm up. Ended up starting behind the 2 hr pacer my original plan was to be somewhere between them and the 1:50.
Ended up staying behind them until 15 k (really wished i had got ahead of them earlier as between 6 - 9 k it was really packed been that near a pacing group). Pushed on at 15 k to try and get under 1:55 but I had given myself too much to do finished at 1:56~.
Overall happy enough with the race and starting ahead of the pacing group I probably would have got the result I wanted.
3 -
Re: target for the DCM I am quite torn to be honest. Training has gone better than I could have initially hoped for - I started out with a somewhat arbitrary target of sub 4hours as realistic but a desire to go close to 3:45 (didn't think I'd get there), but as of now I am somewhat aggressively thinking that I could push for sub 3:30 if things go right for me.
Rationale somewhat limited but -
I have improved have been trending in the right direction and improving week on week, hoping there is another few % improvement over the next hard 3 weeks of training
Still have about 3-4kgs to lose, realistic to lose this given while the diet has been good there has still been a take-away, dinners out, beers etc.. which will be cut out from here on out
Online calculators have my DCM half marathon time equivalent of 3:23 - quite wary of this given I haven't got a history of long distance running so unlikely to be able to translate the half time as efficiently into a full marathon performance - but it still gives 6-7mins off leeway in that regard.
The benefit of the taper for the big day, while scaled back in the weeks of the races there was no real taper so hoping this gives a couple % in terms of readiness/preparations versus other races to date (time below for ease of reference).
Is this too aggressive targeting 3:30 or does it feel like a realistic (albeit very challenging) target? Would love to hear any and all thoughts.
10km - 48:30 - (c. 4.52 per km), FD10mile - 1;14:40 (c. 4.36 per km), DCM Half - 1:37:39 (c. 4:36 per km)
2 -
Well done on the HM, always a nice feeling to finish ahead of your target time!
Sorry to hear about your son, hope he's ok.
0 -
Honestly, I think 3:30 is just a touch on the optimistic side. Given that you are fairly new to running it's a big ask to convert a 1:37:36 HM to a 3:30 full. Your weekly mileage, while entirely appropriate for someone new to running, is not at the type of level that most 3:30 runners would have. The last thing you want on the day is to have a miserable marathon by going out chasing an aggressive target.
2 -
Looking at this week I'm going to struggle to get the pmp and long run session in. I might get lucky but I doubt it. I will aim to squeeze in some easy runs.
I should free up on Sunday at some stage, which is better to target, the long run or the 9m at pmp?
0 -
You just did 13 at faster than PMP. Recover as much as you can and do the LR.
0 -
Advertisement
-
