Dublin Marathon 2016 - Mentored Novices Thread

On a more calm note, this week, for one I did almost what I was supposed to do. So really happy!

Monday: 6k -trail trial run - 42'
Wed: 5k - 34'
Thursday: 6k actual trail run - 38'
Saturday : 21.1k - 2h30'

kittyclaws wrote: »

Hi Nop, I feel a lot better energy-wise, I had a lovely break in Rosslare for the weekend and had a few dips in the sea, some lovely long walks - but it feels a lot longer than 4 days since I ran.
I'm heading out soon for my LSR, the plan calls for 12/14 miles and I've a group to run with for 10 of them - I'm feeling pretty meh about this run, last week was a really bad week running-wise so mentally I need this run to go well :S

Hope run goes well at least you've a group for 10 makes such a difference running in company.

Back from my 15m LSR, so joined to those fellow novices who ran the longest this weekend they've ever done. But I'm not so happy unfortunately. Was struggling after 8-10m, the balls of my feet were really-really sore (I'm a forefoot striker), the road was so hard it felt as I was running barefoot. But the worst thing is, my left knee started to hurt during the last few miles. It wasn't a sharp pain, and came and went at the beginning, but then it seemed to stay till the end And now even during walking I feel it being kind of locked.

So I'm very, very, very disappointed and frustrated now! Will try to book an appointment with the physio for Wednesday, and maybe I should get new runners as well with more cushioning on the front for these long road runs...

Szilvike wrote: »

Back from my 15m LSR, so joined to those fellow novices who ran the longest this weekend they've ever done. But I'm not so happy unfortunately. Was struggling after 8-10m, the balls of my feet were really-really sore (I'm a forefoot striker), the road was so hard it felt as I was running barefoot. But the worst thing is, my left knee started to hurt during the last few miles. It wasn't a sharp pain, and came and went at the beginning, but then it seemed to stay till the end And now even during walking I feel it being kind of locked.

So I'm very, very, very disappointed and frustrated now! Will try to book an appointment with the physio for Wednesday, and maybe I should get new runners as well with more cushioning on the front for these long road runs...

I was recently in a similar boat with the balls of my feet. Keeping off the road is helping a lot. I do at least half my running on grass/trail and it's a lot more forgiving on the legs.

Week 5 Boards plan

Monday: cross-training- pilates
Tuesday: rest due to my bandy lungs
Wednesday : 4 miles easy (9:32min/mile)
Thursday: 4 miles easy (9:36min/mile)
Friday: rest
Saturday: 15 miles LSR (10:46min/mile)
Sunday: 3 miles recovery (11:13min/mile)

This week didn't start off great as I'd a bad cough and an asthma diagnosis so I skipped my run on Tuesday & just did easy running on Wednesday rather than the planned 6 mile PMP run. But the cough has eased off a lot now so I managed the rest of this week's planned runs. Felt a good bit better on this week's LSR than previous ones, it felt less humid so that probaby helped a lot. Either that or it was the jellytots I tried out during the run (I usually go with jellybeans but my local shop had none on Friday night). They did coat my hand in sugar though which was a bit of a sticky annoyance.

Szilvike wrote: »

I used to do my runs too on the grass and loved it, but then I thought I should start going on the road to get used to it by the marathon... Apparently it's not really working out. But if I go back to the grass I'm afraid that my feet will die of the pain on the day

I'm deliberately doing half and half. Say yesterday for 16 miles, did 4 there on road, 8 miles of loops around a park and 4 miles back on the road. To me that's enough to keep the soreness away yet get the conditioning needed for the road running.

Hi Nop98 and Paddydriver, how did DLR 10 go for ye?
Weather conditions were great but those hills....think they are still going round in my head, like a roller coaster:) fantastic supporters throughout the race.

Antwerp wrote: »

Hi Nop98 and Paddydriver, how did DLR 10 go for ye?
Weather conditions were great but those hills....think they are still going round in my head, like a roller coaster:) fantastic supporters throughout the race.

Hi Antwerp, went great Thanks.. Yes, the first 5k is tough but weather was ideal and had a tail breeze much of first few K which really helped and then a lovely breeze to cool down in 2nd half. How'd you do and were you happy with result?

I had bets with my kids in the car on the way down and my daughter had me for 48.30 and wife started with 47:00 then revised up to 50:00 when I laughed.. Anyway, daughter won. I came in @ 47:54 and I was delighted with it. The most pleasing bit was that my 2nd 5k was 23mins and my last K was my fastest when I could sniff sub 48min.

As a few have said to me, the inclines I do on my training runs really stood to me and I really made ground on the any hills. Was great support along the whole route and that helps so much as it keeps you pushing on.

Might put together a log later on (never really did one before) as it may help someone else in prep.

Well done to all who took part.

bucketybuck wrote: »

Any ideas on incorporating the Dublin half-marathon with the HHN1 plan?

The plan is supposed to have a 29km run that weekend, which is probably one of the more important runs in getting the distances up. The preceeding LSR was 19km and the following one is supposed to be 22.5km, if the race was a week later it would match perfectly, but it ain't.

Normally I'd just stick to the plan but I've avoided all other races and I'd quite like to do the half marathon mainly to get some raceday practice, to experience all those things that aren't actually the running part! The experience of running Phoenix park would help too, I've made a point of including stretches of the marathon route into my training runs but I never be over as far as the park.

Any thoughts? I could switch the 22.5 and the 29km runs, but the next week again after that is the longest training run of 32km, I suspect I should really have the step back run between them?

Hi bucketybuck, I'm doing the HHN2 plan and it has the half scheduled for end of week 9 (same as HHN1 I think?), for me that is August 27th, I looked up half marathons for that weekend and Tullamore have theirs on which I believe is a good one. So that is the one I entered, at the time never thought about the race series but am now happy to have one fitting in with the plan I'm doing. Hoping, of course, all goes to plan:D

Update since last Wednesday's club session....

Thu 28/7 - 8 mi. @ 8:45
Fri 29/7 - Rest
Sat 30/7 - Porterstown parkrun 24:18 (PB 20:36) + 0.5 mile "cooldown".

I deliberately started at the very back, and slowly worked my way through, each lap (of three) quicker than the one before. No idea re: splits, too busy acting the eejit for the camera to be listening to anyone calling out times as I passed the finish line. Overall, a lot faster than I planned; maybe I'll volunteer for the next one to make sure I stay in line.

Sun 31/7 - BHAA Dublin Fire Brigade 5k 21:30

I ran with Marthastew at the beginning of this; she was completing her own LSR. Trouble was, the competitive gene kicked in again around the 1k mark, and off I went. Without feeling like I was going anywhere near full tilt, I passed at least twenty along the rest of the way, while only one guy passed me; he's a lot faster than me anyway, so even if I was "racing" I wouldn't have gone after him. I enjoyed it (and thanks for the advice afterwards O, if you're reading!) but couldn't help thinking I was setting myself up for a major fall, because the next day was to bring...

Mon 1/8 - LSR - 17 miles @ 11ish p/m

This was delayed by several hours, due to late night poker with lots of beer and junk food added. Did I ever mention that I tend to step outside the plan boundaries from time to time?

The route was to be the Frank Duffy 10 mile course, followed by a clockwise loop of the Park with the extra side bits included to bring it up closer to 17 miles. The first 6 or 7 miles were done at mega shuffle pace, I think closer to 13 minutes per mile! Note to self, get out earlier next time; traffic around the azoo in particular was unreal, I thought I'd never get past the crowds. I didn't feel hungover or anything, just the culmination of a lot of miles and unscripted madness in a kind of perfect storm. It took a return to Chesterfield Avenue to knock me out of my slumbers and pick up the pace a bit. Even so, on more than one occasion the thought came into my head "Just go back to the car. Nobody needs to know what *really* happened."

However, even though various body parts were acting up periodically, I actually started feeling a bit stronger as I made my way around the clockwise loop. Clearing the azoo again was a major relief, and I felt no regrets about doing the full loop to finish. Even the hills on the way back didn't bring about as much hardship as I expected.

Finally back at the car, over three hours after I started (phone died along the way) my longest run of 2016 was in the bag. Such a relief! A few stretches and I was back behind the wheel for the short drive home to a well deserved(?) bath to close off a week of roughly 43 miles. Just don't try it at home kids!!

90 days to go....and we've said bye to July....it's getting closer :eek:

paddydriver wrote: »

Hi Antwerp, went great Thanks.. Yes, the first 5k is tough but weather was ideal and had a tail breeze much of first few K which really helped and then a lovely breeze to cool down in 2nd half. How'd you do and were you happy with result?

I had bets with my kids in the car on the way down and my daughter had me for 48.30 and wife started with 47:00 then revised up to 50:00 when I laughed.. Anyway, daughter won. I came in @ 47:54 and I was delighted with it. The most pleasing bit was that my 2nd 5k was 23mins and my last K was my fastest when I could sniff sub 48min.

As a few have said to me, the inclines I do on my training runs really stood to me and I really made ground on the any hills. Was great support along the whole route and that helps so much as it keeps you pushing on.

Might put together a log later on (never really did one before) as it may help someone else in prep.

Well done to all who took part.

Great running pd, impressive time. Looking forward to the log, Not only do they help somone else its helpful to look back to guage your own progress.

RasTa wrote: »

Isn't that in the plan?

The Dublin 1/2 marathon is on September 24th. The HH1 plan has a 29km LSR that weekend, and a 22.5 km LSR the week after.

RasTa wrote: »

The HHN1 on the first page of this thread has it factored in, although that's the novice one.

Ah, so it does. Guess thats why its called a modified plan, the original HHN1 is different. That does answer my question of a way to incorporate the HM in the plan though!

The modified plan loses the 29km run though, not sure how I feel about that, losing the 2nd longest training run seems counter productive? (Not that I'm mad keen to run 29km in fairness).

Guess I have a choice to make!