Dublin Marathon 2016 - Mentored Novices Thread

JackieChan wrote:

C, did I spot you standing on the shuttle bus with your polka dot balloons?

Yup! That was me! Having a great day so far, even if I have a serious case of race envy! Cheering is a lot of fun too. Everyone off to a great start!

JackieChan wrote: »

Dublin 1/2 Marathon Report

Conditions although not ideal were at least better than the Frank Duffy 10M.
Due to railworks I had to get an earlier train than planned and ended up in Heuston at 8:30.
Strolled up to Parkgate street and took shuttle to near the start line.Got my safety pins ,got changed and through my bag in and did some light running, some strides and some stretches.

Time seemed to pass quick and before I knew it it was 9:45. Took a position about 20 deep from the front and as the race started I started following the 1:30 pacers
They felt quick to me initially but I just stayed a little behind them.
The race was rather uneventful I left the pacers at about the 6-7km mark and ran with another runner I know. This made things a bit easier.
After the 10 mile mark I was eager to pick up the pace and left my friend who wanted a sub 90.
The wind was not as bad as Frank Duffy race and I didn't feel as shattered towards the end.

I was delighted to see the end in sight and crossed in a chip time if 1:27:40(24 secs off pb).
Im now on the train home dreaming of having a long soak in the bath!!

Great time JC, definitely a long soak needed.
That's a nice boost ahead of the big day

It was great to meet some of you today at last, and fair play to TFGR for getting out there on a fairly miserable morning to support. Thanks for the flapjacks.

I left in a hurry to try and catch the football but might as well have stayed and chatted for longer because the traffic was mad and I'm still not home :pac:

Got round in 1:40:09 will do a bit of a race report later.

Either waved at some random person or spotted TFGR at about the 6.5 mile mark....got a nice big wave from her.

Well done all.

C thanks so much for the flapjacks great to see you and singer and meet some of the novices sorry I didn't get back down was ages at the baggage area waiting for my bag. Hope everyone got on well today.

benwed wrote: »

Yes rasta.that runner shud make a full recovery.i am a firefighter/paramedic and myself and a ban garda done cpr on that guy.it worked and he was responsive within 5 mins.he was tajen away concious and breathing to hosp.two lessons here folks are the importance of filling out ur details on ur race number abd cpr training shud be compulsary in school.so as u can imagine it was hard to get going after that so jogged the last 5 miles ti con home in 1 52

He was lucky you were there, I know it's your day job, but that guys family are not getting the dreaded news today because of your intervention. You can be very proud of yourself today.

Well Done All! Good mornings work by all. Got the job done and a great experience.

Will post up more details later but no problems to report. Ran with the 1:50 Balloon in sight then picked it up at 10M and went past them. That drag up at about 12M was a tough one but only dropped off a little. Had to be aware that my brain was telling me to ease up but the legs were surviving (I've been in far worse places..).

Saw the finish and opened up the legs a little to a stride and that helped. Got home in chip time of 1:48.36. Wanted to ensure under 1:50 but didn't want to risk injury and kill myself for 1:45. Think I've achieved that goal as body feels fine.

The event was very well run. Water stations, marshaling and finish line volunteers were great - made it my business to try and Thank everyone I passed.

Overall enjoyed the event and onwards now to DCM. Will post log later.

Again.. well done all! All novices should be proud of their run today. Was a testing day with wind and rain but well worth it.

Congrats to the HM runners today. If the weather was anything like it was down here it can't have been very nice.

Weekly update
Monday 12 miles made up of 6 easy, 4 tempo, 2 MP. All felt good.

Tuesday: 5 miles recovery

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 10 miles easy

Friday: 7.5 miles easy treadmill

Saturday: 18 miles with 15@MP (7:20 ish).
This was supposed to be 16@MP but I ran out of gas and packed it in with a mile to go, was very tired and calf was starting to tighten so stopped and jogged the last mile home. Gels at 7 and 12 miles. Bit of a bonk i think (long time since breakfast) and hope I feel a lot more comfortable at MP on the day. Previous MP sessions had gone a lot better than this. Probably still a decent session overall.

52.5 miles for the week. Starting to get very real now.

Sat 24/9 - Dublin Race Series Half Marathon Race Report

Pre Race
Up nice and early for breakfast and a relatively stress free build up. Essentials taken care of, I did some stretches and went for a jog along Furze Road and OS Road back to the car, to ditch the layers before meeting some clubmates for a run back along the reverse direction.

Murph_D had kindly offered his running company for a stab at 1:35/1:36; I eventually found him and one of his clubmates shortly before the off. After some lengthy deliberations as the rain began to pick up, the hooter finally went, and we were off!

Miles 1 & 2 - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

We'd found a spot between the 1:30 and 1:40 pacers, and weren't hindered too much by congestion, apart from nearly clipping the kerbs as we turned onto OS Road. It was fairly windy, but we were ahead of schedule and feeling comfortable. The buzzword for the Mile 1 marker was "Strong"; I should hope so with 12.1 miles to go!! On the second mostly downhill mile, I was resisting the temptation to push on; I hadn't felt this good early doors in a race in a long, long time. As we reached the Chapelizod Gate, everything was working fine, and all was set for a fine day.

Miles 3-6 - It's Comin Up, It's Comin Up, It's Comin Up - It's Dare!

We continued up the hill away from Chapelizod together, but as we went through the S bends, I gradually eased away from the Cru two. Still feeling strong, mind. Wellington Road and the azoo still saw me feeling in good shape; I had that mile marked down as potentially one of the toughest. The Mile 4 marker had "Dare" thereon; the second I saw it I was reminded of the tune by Gorillaz with the Shaun Ryder vocal above. Miles 5 & 6 along the North Road are always tricky, but I was keeping my head in the game and keeping pace with the group I'd settled in with.

Miles 7-9 - Inspired By Flapjacks?

After Ashtown Gate, we got a bit of respite on the downhill towards the Mountjoy roundabout. It was along here that I saw TFGR and gave her a shout. How good would those promised flapjacks taste at the finish? Can I just say (again!) how much I hate "racing" along the paths in PP. Everyone scrunched up here, and I was well p!$$ed off by the time we got back on the road at Castleknock Gate. However I smiled as I passed my car just before the 7 mile marker; the buzzword here was "Inspire". Going through Farmleigh, I got isolated for a stretch, and had to work my a$$ off to catch up to the group ahead. The downhill past Mount Sackville brought some respite; thankfully the guy we passed on our way back into the park seems to be in the clear. The hill coming up to the 9 mile marker took more out of me than I was expecting; I stopped for a few seconds to sort out the Lucozade cap and actually get some fluids into me before continuing.

Miles 10-13.1 - Daydream Believer

Going back along OS Road, I could feel the wheels starting to come off the wagon. Although I was still keeping pace with most of those around me, I was having to work much harder to stay in the game, even along the flat downhill section back on Chesterfield. At Mile 10 (Goal) I thought to myself "Just a parkrun to go. How long left...21, 22 minutes?" Turning along the Acres Road, it didn't feel as windy as the FD 10, and I actually passed a good few people as we approached St Mary's Hospital, but unfortunately that's not how it continued.

Turning onto the Glen Road, I was really feeling the pace, as anyone I passed along the Acres Road passed me back, and quite a few others joined in the fun, as I seemed to be everyone's target. Mile 12 - Dream. Of what? Getting a PB, or beating my shocking time from two years ago? The second of those was in the bag, provided I finished! I couldn't pick up any momentum as the road levelled off, and even though I passed one or two on the home straight, I was passed by, shall we say, more than two? I could see the finish line clock ticking through 1:37, and tried to pick it up from Mile 13 (Believe) to the end. If I look sore in the photos, it's because I most certainly was!

I had to lean over the railings and try to get my head right, as I was feeling a bit woozy for a minute or two afterwards. As I was making my way out, I bumped into Murph_D again. He told me that he passed me with about 50 metres to go. I didn't even notice. Just shows you how much my concentration levels - and everything else - had dropped off.

Analysis - PB Or Not PB

Chip time of 1:37:30, and here's where I have a dilemma. Do I take this as my PB, as it beats all my HM times, bar a 1:37:07 which was over 12.8 (!) miles in Carlingford in 2014. For a more recent comparison, it's over 3 minutes quicker than my Connemara time in April. Thoughts?

Other than that, should I have just stayed with D? Maybe we would have helped each other to faster times on the day, as opposed to me just shooting off when the mood took me. Perhaps my holiday, with all the eating and drinking involved, and an abandoned LSR included, had an impact in the closing stages. Having said all that, there's only 5 weeks left and I still haven't got injured; and as I type this it feels like a good morning's work; the legs certainly got a great oul' workout.

Next

36 days to DCM. 3:40 feels like a reasonable target on today's evidence. Next week's 20 mile LSR could change that though.

PS - I never found the flapjacks!

aquinn wrote: »

Well done all today and to WW who actually tipped his hat to me.

A lot of thanks so cheers to Nop for recognition of Marshalling at these events.

I was the loud one under the polka dot umbrella before the water station at 5.5 miles.

Thanks A, I thought that was you, but wasn't 100% certain? Bonus points for correctly identifying me

Antwerp wrote: »

Great to hear you all did well. Race report may follow later but my DCHM summary:

Awful lot of casualties this year I thought but hopefully they are ok now, believe the guy rushed to hospital will be fine as per one of the medics I met near the end.

Big shout out of thanks to all the stewards as always they were brilliant. Also the pacers, never ran with them before, but my, I was very impressed particularly the 2.10 guys (Andrew & Joe if I'm right) they were great craic and full of positivity so they helped me through the first half of the race but then I had to leave them go as my hip was playing up however I still managed to finish a couple of minutes behind them so delighted as PB

Lessons Learned:
A) Don't go out too fast (one day I'll learn)
Have the belief in yourself that you can do it (for some reason I felt stronger for the last three miles (than at any other time) so easily moved up the field and sprinted the last few 100ms)
C) Bring a change of clothes (now sitting in about ten layers as if it was middle of winter, half considered throwing on Bord an Mona but maybe it's not really fire time
D) Its ok not to carry water and just rely on drinks given out
E) Had bad cold all week, now it's magically gone, looks like the solution is run 13.1m

Right enough said off to take it easy for the rest of the day and maybe even have a sneaky

Thank you for your tip with the cold - I am dying here - so much for my nutribullett - didnt run today as was feeling so bad but as per advice above I should have actually ran 21km and my cold would be gone !