Dublin Marathon 2016 - Mentored Novices Thread

bucketybuck · 17-10-2016 08:56AM

I'm sorry to hear that but don't give up. This is actually my third year in a row trying to run a marathon, twice now I've gotten injured during the training, it sucks and mentally it has been a long slog trying to meet that challenge I set myself 3 years ago.

But that long slog also means its going to be all the sweeter should I finally get across the line, so don't get too down, get yourself sorted and go at it again.

budhistmonk · 17-10-2016 09:04AM

I'm so so sorry to hear this CFR. It must be devastating for you. There but for the love of God.... Good luck with the recovery and hopefully massive success next year.

PauloMN · 17-10-2016 09:33AM

I echo the above comments CFR, so sorry to hear that.

Very hard to take after so many long hours of running.

Is there any chance of keeping at least some of the base you have worked up and doing a different marathon in a couple of months time?

Tessie13 · 17-10-2016 09:33AM

Hi All,

I have never posted here before, and I am only raging I didn't find this sooner! I have been reading back through the posts and the information, support and advice would have been invaluable throughout this process. I hope you don't mind me jumping in as we near the end of this journey!

This will be my first marathon. I hoped to do it last year but had to pull out after tearing my calf muscle at the DCHM. I struggled through the training up until that point with plantar faciitis and I've no doubt that contributed to tearing the calf muscle. I didn't run then until May this year, the plantar took a long time to sort out, several different physio's , injections etc.

I found it so hard to get back into running after been off for 8 months, really felt I was starting back at the beginning. But after a couple of months I was starting to enjoy it again and started to think that maybe DCM might be possible this year. I knew I had to get a few races under my belt before even contemplating it. I did a couple of 5ks and 1 10k, not back to where I was before injury but happy enough. (5k PB 24.59 (this year 26:36) 10k PB 53:21 (this year 56:23)

I entered without telling anyone for a while and downloaded an Asics plan for a 4:30 marathon. It's a pretty conservative plan and I have added more to it as time went on and I was feeling stronger. I missed 10 days training recently due to a chest infection including an important 20 mile (I did 19 1.5 weeks before followed by 16 miles 4 days later as I was going away, in the rain, my own fault I know!). Did 21 miles just after finishing the antibiotic and found it very tough !! Really worried after this and had my doubts I would be able for the marathon at all, while all the LSR's have been challenging this was definitely the toughest run I had ever done, was very emotional after it!

I did my last LSR at the weekend, 15 miles, again challenging but felt better than the 21 miles.

While I am so grateful to be at this point injury free I am very apprehensive. I want to get excited but remain focused. I am still unsure what to do about pacing for the race itself, I am doubting whether I should start with the 4:30 pacer, the 21 mile I did would suggest I wouldn't be able for the 10.13 min/mile required, or should I just start with 4:40 pacer and pick up if I can!

Sorry for long post, I really am raging I didn't find this earlier. Love reading all your training updates, hope you don't mind me jumping in at this late stage!

kittyclaws · 17-10-2016 09:46AM

Gutted for you - hopefully next year will be your year. Mind yourself.

budhistmonk · 17-10-2016 10:03AM

Hi Tessie, welcome. I think a lot of us have the same doubts re. pace etc so you're not alone. I am planning on trying for 4.30 myself but one small thing - you mention needing to run 10.13 min/mile for 4.30. I think the pace you need is actually 10.18 (maybe 10.16 or 10.17 to ensure you are under). 10.13 will have you over 2mins under 4.30. Those few seconds per mile might not sound much but can make a big difference for your pace decision. Anyway just thought I'd mention in case it makes a difference to your planning. Good luck with everything.

robinwing · 17-10-2016 10:24AM

Very sorry to hear that , its happened to me a couple of times in past years , the only really safe way is to do the bulk of your training on grass . You will bounce back

aceygray · 17-10-2016 10:54AM

Heartbreaking

I'm so sorry CFR. I hope you have a speedy recovery, and are able to get back to training soon. And I hope you have better luck next year.

Tessie13 · 17-10-2016 11:27AM

Hi Tessie, welcome. I think a lot of us have the same doubts re. pace etc so you're not alone. I am planning on trying for 4.30 myself but one small thing - you mention needing to run 10.13 min/mile for 4.30. I think the pace you need is actually 10.18 (maybe 10.16 or 10.17 to ensure you are under). 10.13 will have you over 2mins under 4.30. Those few seconds per mile might not sound much but can make a big difference for your pace decision. Anyway just thought I'd mention in case it makes a difference to your planning. Good luck with everything.

Thanks budhistmonk. 10:18 sounds a little better alright! To be honest I'm not too worried about the time, I'd be delighted just to finish it but would like to have a plan on the day just to stay focused. I did Athlone Half in 2:03 so am thinking I should be ok to start with 4:30 plan but don't want to blow up with 10 miles to go ...

tailgunner · 17-10-2016 11:46AM

I've seen some advice given here previously to start off between the two pace groups, keeping the 4:30 balloons in sight. If you're feeling good, you can slowly start to reel them in over the course of the race. If not, you can let the 4:40 group catch up to you and stick with them.

EDIT: As budhistmonk points out, the 4:30 and 4:40 pace groups are in different waves, so this strategy won't work!

UM1 · 17-10-2016 11:51AM

Boards heads and non boards heads(NB) doin pacin this year ,Do come over and say" hello",Dont say "are we goin too fast"..

3hrs. Frank Q.marty ,cannine runner
3:10 .dublin runner,Paul,some dude from la galaxie..
3:20 beepbeep ,GChris
3:30 NBCharlotte,NbRolando, fboto1
3:40. PauliC , yaboya,snailsong
3:50. NB Olie, Ankers , NBRex Brillantes
4:00.. Gary "red shorts" Reinhardt,martastew,Mr stew
4:10.. meno,bostondave,NBPeter
4:20.. Jbski1. RayLanigan , Davedanon
4:30. UM1,NB,pascal ,NB,Alison
4:40 NB andrew, hoganstand,charliechapman
4:50. Cassin40,Paceymule,NB Ann
5:00. NB anne,,ultrarunner,QunniP

The Muppet · 17-10-2016 11:59AM

Hi Tessie, your pbs are very similar to my own , I've ran all my paced training runs fro a 4.30 marathon at 10.18 or less but on the day I've decided I'm going to go out with the 4.40 pacers based on my 2.12 HM x2 plus 20 minutes. Not very competitive i'm afraid but I'm not set on any time tbh just finishing is my goal.

Safrongirl · 17-10-2016 12:06PM

Feeling like a total fraud - 2 weeks before the big one and I am out prancing around doing 12km ? Surely this isnt right and yes yes I know follow the plan - and then as I had all this spare time I had to actually come back home and - can hardly bare to say it - clean the house !!!!

budhistmonk · 17-10-2016 12:13PM

Hi UM1, This is great. I am planning on 4.30 (that's today's plan anyway

). Was thinking I may start off a bit behind you and work my way up to you if I have a good day. Will definitely say hello if I catch up. You guys do a wonderful job. I say looking on in awe (and envy)

RasTa · 17-10-2016 12:16PM

What time will the 3:50 pacers be looking to do the half in?

All or nothing · 17-10-2016 12:22PM

First of all really sorry to hear about CFR. The progress that you have made in your running in such a short space of time has been amazing. I hope your recovery goes smoothly.

Weekly update:

Monday: 4 miles @ 10:55mi
Tuesday am: physio appointment. Lots of dry needling and massage of both feet and dodgy knee.
Tuesday pm: 4 miles @ 10:30/mi
Wednesday: 5 miles @ 10:30/mi
Thursday: off (Galway for the night)
Friday: wedding in Sligo. As I was in Enniscrone for a family wedding I had to try and drink as little as possible, which is hard at a family wedding. All I ended up drinking was 3 pints all day. Drank lots of water in between. Got to bed at 3am.
Saturday: 12 miles @ 11:10/mi. Headed off for my run at 11am. Getting some funny looks from the relations when they say me in the reception in my running gear. Not much in the way of good running loops locally so I found a 2 mile loop and ran that 6 times..needs must.

25 miles for the week. I'm intentionally doing a small bit less mileage than the plan in the hope that it will help my feet.

They were sore again around 8 miles into the 12 mile run on Saturday. Don't think the physio can do much more for me at this stage. I just have to hope it doesn't cause me so much pain that I have to pull out of the race midway through it.

tony1980 · 17-10-2016 12:31PM

The knee is feeling great today after a good session of foam rolling last night, I used to hate foam rolling especially because of the IT band until I realised from watching James Dunne youtube videos that its the glutes and hip flexors that need foam rolling to sort the IT band, now I relax on the ground watching our tv shows while foam rolling and find it quite relaxing.

I done my 21 mile lsr a couple of weeks ago with my brother and his pal who is going for a sub 4 marathon so got caught doing the whole thing at pmp of about 9.05 a mile but we were chatting away throughout the whole thing and were quite comfortable even at the end. It involved 3 loops and the elevation was worse than any of the route at DCM including one incredibly long hill which had a very steep hill at the end and we were fine so I was incredibly happy about this even though I know it should have been at lsr pace. It did help that my brother was pacing for us and our splits were fairly even throughout the whole run.

My feeling was I had missed the best part of 3 weeks training and to be able to do this comfortably regardless of the missed training, was a huge relief. My other longest lsr was 18.5 miles at lsr pace and found that no problem at all.

My question is, would I be mad to go out with the sub 4 pacers or would it be ok if the knee holds up between now and then especially as the pacers will have consistent splits throughout so nice and steady?

UM1 · 17-10-2016 12:32PM

1:54:30

Wubble Wubble · 17-10-2016 12:35PM

Sorry to hear you're missing out again CFR. Good luck with recovery. Clonakilty too close time wise?

tony1980 · 17-10-2016 12:36PM

Gutted for you CR, maybe you might be able to target a spring marathon?

RasTa · 17-10-2016 12:54PM

I think I'm going to start with that group instead of the 4hrs.

kabuxa · 17-10-2016 12:56PM

Oh no! Really sorry to hear that.

nop98 · 17-10-2016 01:41PM

I am very sorry to hear this, CFR - as you say, a bitter pill this short out. Thank you for your contributions to the thread and the well wishes for the class of 2016. I hope you'll recover quickly and nail the marathon distance in 2017.

kittyclaws · 17-10-2016 01:51PM

Irish Runner Plan: Week 25

Second last week so I'd better do a quick weekly update.

Mon: Rest
Tue: Pilates & 8 miles straight after. Still a bit of hip pain on this run but it stopped around mile 4 (and has yet to return!)
Wed: X-training, gym & swim (dropping the cross training this week but will keep up swimming)
Thur: 5 miles, I tried to add in a bit of speedwork as it's been so long since I done any. Felt great on this run, was nice to stretch the legs a bit.
Fri: Rest
Sat: 21.1 miles

Still on a high from this, whenever I walk down the stairs and feel the DOMS in my legs I feel delighted, I didn't expect to get this far so I'm starting to get used to the idea that I'm running a marathon in less than two weeks time :eek:
Sunday: Rest day - physio has recommended an additional rest day instead of a recovery run and I think it has made all the difference.

Nearly there guys - mind yourselves this week

kin9pin · 17-10-2016 01:52PM

Really sorry to hear that CFR. Best of luck with the recovery.

kin9pin · 17-10-2016 02:13PM

Maybe too much time on my hands!

I was thinking about the benefit of going with the pacers and thought I'd look back at my 4 half marathons.

Dublin-Sept 2015: Ran solo. My first HM. For some reason I started in front of the 2hr pacers. Didn't really have a clue what I was doing except I was aiming for 2hrs. Made the common mistake of feeling too good at the start and went too fast for the forst 7km. I remember the blip at halfway where I walked for a bit, but really blew up in the last 5k, barely getting back to race pace in the final "sprint".

Clontarf-Nov 2015: Ran with a friend. Caught 2hr pacers after 2km and stuck with them for a bit before we both moved on. We did keep each other in check, always checking each others pace. Maybe went a bit fast in the middle. My mate ran out of steam around 16km, but I felt strong so kicked on with a good strong finish.

Berlin-Apr 2016: Ran solo. Not really too sure what happened here. Unusual heat? Stupid water cups instead of bottles? Thought I trained well, but it was pretty much a train wreck after half way. Again, barely got back to race pace with the finishing "kick"

Clontarf-Jul 2016: Ran with 1:50 pacer from start to finish. I'd say I was never more than 10 metres from the pacer the whole way and felt great. Really steady pace for the first 15km, but the wind on the beach caught us all out (including the pacer), but managed to finish strong again, running under race pace for the last 3.5km.

I'm not too sure how much use this is, it filled a quiet hour for me anyway

All I can say is, the two HM's where I've run with someone, pacer or even a friend, I've managed to finish strong.

budhistmonk · 17-10-2016 02:32PM

Hi TG, the problem I think I see with this strategy is that the 4.40 pace group is in the wave behind the one that the 4.30 pacers start in so falling back to and finishing with the 4.40 pacers would probably mean finishing at ~4.47 or so. I think I have this right.

tailgunner · 17-10-2016 02:38PM

Ah, scratch my suggestion in that case. I didn't realise they were in separate waves, apologies.

ToriV · 17-10-2016 03:30PM

So sorry to hear this. It sucks plain and simple. You will get there and I can't wait to read about it. Take care of yourself xx

ToriV · 17-10-2016 03:39PM

Hi all!

So bloody busy with life and running and reading this thread I don't get time to post! So hard to believe it's so close now. Into the last two weeks of the HHN2 plan and have only missed 1 short mid week run out of the lot.

12 miles done at the weekend, nice and slow and the miles just clicked by so fast. Now just dealing with my random fears of getting injured before it... Starting to see EVERY thing as a threat.

Just thinking about the day now. I am thinking of going out wit the 420 Pacers and taking it easy until the latter stages and then emptying the tank. Did my HM in 1 56 on an extremely hot day and felt I was really holding back, but loved going with the pacer. Took all the pressure off... I just followed him!!

Dublin Marathon 2016 - Mentored Novices Thread

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