Dublin Marathon 2012 - Mentored Novices Thread

A very tentative 4km covered with mixed news. The part of my foot that had me laid up behaved itself other than a slight twinge at one point for about 10 metres max. However there was lots of sharp pain (not too major) elsewhere which leaves me a few questions for the more experienced amongst us: (If this doesn't contravene the no medical advice rules)

Although it is very dangerous to self diagnose on the internet it does appear that I am suffering from shin splints at the front of both legs. I have already been to Amphibian King and am running in runners they fitted after gait analysis. Is it possible for gait to change / could it have been assessed wrongly (highly unlikely to be fair!) at the time or can shin splints occur even with correctly fitted runners? In this case what can I do to avoid / strengthen the area as needed ?

Again with the self diagnosis it appears I have a dose of achilles tendonitis but this has been present since before taking up running. In general the backs of my heels (not at ground level) can be very sore first thing in the morning to the point I can't walk down a stairs properly but this pain goes once I'm up and moving. Occasionally I feel it when starting to run too. My understanding is that this is caused by among other things tight calf muscles which I'm fairly certain I have - they are always the first things to start aching when running.

Now I've never stretched before or after a run - I'm inclined to think this is a bad idea (especially given the tightness and issues above) but am unsure what I should be doing. Is there a typical stretch plan / schedule someone could point me towards that would help me out. I'm dreading falling apart in the run up to the marathon.

Weekly update time.

Wowzer posted here that he was out due to injury. Really sorry to hear that mate. YoungAnne our fearless leader has been taken out of the sheet at her request as she is logging her runs in the improvers thread (where we all will be next year with a bit of luck!) We've lost a few more this week who seem to have left without saying goodbye. They have been moved to the inactive members section as explained last week. This means we currently have 60 active loggers.

During the week gone we smashed through 10,000 miles collectively logged since the start of the plan (and I predict we will be over 11,000 miles by the time everyone has logged this week)

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

No stretching at all is the honest answer. I know that's not good !

As for the landing - I'm not running at great speeds so I don't think I have changed too much. I do feel though that I am landing more on the outside of my foot than I used to. I have to concentrate to land at an even spread across the whole foot if that makes sense.

As per above, go and see a physio, rule out the serious stuff and get a good stretching routine going!

career_move wrote: »

How rude

Ha I sound offended

Did my 15 miles this morning and was bit of a disaster:( Took a gel (for the first time!) at the 10k mark and was doing grand up until then but shortly after seemed to lose all energy in my legs.. Not sure if related or just coincidental...

Well it had absolutely no benefit though as had to stop-start for rest of run after that as legs felt dead and like the muscles were seizing up, even sat on a bench at one stage for a mins rest:o (under the guise of sorting out my ipod of course...). Only started to feel better last mile but think that was knowing it was almost over.. Finished in 2.43 which is around my target pace for a LSR (am a bit of a plodder!) but completely drained and disappointed. On the plus side, suppose I'm building mental determination to finish come Oct to keep on going when all you wanna do is lie down on the ground...

Gel did NOT agree with me....was a High5 Isogel & drank a bottle of lucozade sport between start & 16k mark so was taking on liquids but still too hard on my stomach.. I'd thought these supposed to be easier one's to take? Do I just need to get used to them or does it differ per person that should try other brands? Shop also had jellies - can these be taken as equivalent to gel s?

FiiFii, I would be inclined to either take gel + water or Lucozade, not both together. That's a bit too much carbs in one shot - could turn your stomach.

Mr Slow wrote: »

To follow on from Anne's post above, here's my first marathon report - DCM 2010. Maybe some of the other contributors could post up theirs?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=68699444

Thanks for that Mr Slow. It was good to see how your first marathon went. I read your own log from start to finish.

I have one regret though. This post ....

Mr Slow wrote: »

Nope, I'm still on sub 4, to quote someone wiser than I "Oprah did it in 4:30"

FFS is all I can say to that. FFS (Coming from someone who will struggle to hit 4:30 and was thinking about setting a 5 hour target)

Younganne wrote: »

Week 9 /18 Halfway through already!!:D

Stepback Week so take it handy (except those racing on Sat) the 10m will match up with the plan, just the intensity will be different for those of you doing Frank Duffy 10m in the park and i would recommend that all of you doing it to race it to see where your fitness is and then this will give a better idea of the paces your should be training at...


Mon | Tue| Wed | Thur | Fri | Sat| Sun | Total
Rest | 3m/5k | 7m/12k | 4m/6.5k | Rest | 10m/16k | Cross | 24m/39.5k


Stay focused and Stay positive:D

For those of us not doing the Frank Duffy, is the 7m our pace run?

And the award for the strangest sentence in the entire thread goes to.....

career_move wrote: »

then a bloody horse stood on my big toe and ripped all the skin off under the nail Lucky for the horse I can still run

:D:D Seriously though, that sounds painful! Hope you're ok.

tang1 wrote: »

Plantar faciitis it is, at least two weeks of no running. Could be worse, at least i haven't been told DCM is a no go. niteowl1 he told me to manipulate the area with a tennis ball in a socked foot 4-5 times a day and do heel drops, leg on a step and lower the foot down below level of step till you feel stretch on plantar, hold for 5 secs and bring foot back up. Made sure to say do it with both feet.

That's crap Tang, sorry to hear that, but you are a strong runner and you've loads of good quality miles done, so I'm sure the two weeks won't affect you're fitness, in fact, the rest might even do the legs some good.

So, I had my first even ½ marathon yesterday in Clonmel. Great race, nicely organised, small field of 400-500 so didn’t feel crowded. I was a bit nervous as my husband was working so I was on my own, and I couldn’t find the place so felt a bit frazzled! The weather was warm and muggy, not ideal running weather. The first two miles were tough, a steady incline, one of those ‘not really a hill’ hills that you don’t notice in a car but you sure as hell notice when running! My plan was to try and keep the 1hr45 pacers in sight, but I soon realised that wasn’t going to happen so I just plugged on at my own pace. Enjoyed miles 3-7 when we got off the main road and on to the back roads. Plenty of water stations, but not much local support unfortunately, I suppose the match being on affected that. Took gels at 6 and 10 miles. Started to find the going tough at about 9.5 miles, legs felt heavy, was feeling like I was in a cold sweat. A guy came up beside me and said, “I’ve been behind you from the beginning, you don’t want to let me beat you now!” Turns out that guy was our very own Dilbert75! Total random meeting! Dilbert was fantastic, he was like my very own pacer, he kept me going during the last 3 miles and kept my pace up, I genuinely would have slowed down if it weren’t for him, at one point it was like a war movie “you go on without me, I’m just slowing you down!” :P But I kept up (sorry if I slowed you down Dilbert) and we crossed the line together in 1hr48! Beyond delighted, was really hoping to do it in 1hr50 so to beat that by over a minute was fantastic. :D:D


I was surprised how wrecked I was though, I’ve only done two races before, a 10k and 9 miles relay in the Cork Marathon, and in each of those I felt fine at the end. But yesterday, I was really wrecked, would have struggled to run on much further, but I’m hoping that’s just due to the heat and the pace I was running at. I have never felt so tired at the end of any run before. Is that normal in races???

Well done everyone on some great LSR’s last week. Can’t believe we’re at the half way mark already!

ncmc wrote: »

So, I had my first even ½ marathon yesterday in Clonmel. Great race, nicely organised, small field of 400-500 so didn’t feel crowded. I was a bit nervous as my husband was working so I was on my own, and I couldn’t find the place so felt a bit frazzled! The weather was warm and muggy, not ideal running weather. The first two miles were tough, a steady incline, one of those ‘not really a hill’ hills that you don’t notice in a car but you sure as hell notice when running! My plan was to try and keep the 1hr45 pacers in sight, but I soon realised that wasn’t going to happen so I just plugged on at my own pace. Enjoyed miles 3-7 when we got off the main road and on to the back roads. Plenty of water stations, but not much local support unfortunately, I suppose the match being on affected that. Took gels at 6 and 10 miles. Started to find the going tough at about 9.5 miles, legs felt heavy, was feeling like I was in a cold sweat. A guy came up beside me and said, “I’ve been behind you from the beginning, you don’t want to let me beat you now!” Turns out that guy was our very own Dilbert75! Total random meeting! Dilbert was fantastic, he was like my very own pacer, he kept me going during the last 3 miles and kept my pace up, I genuinely would have slowed down if it weren’t for him, at one point it was like a war movie “you go on without me, I’m just slowing you down!” :P But I kept up (sorry if I slowed you down Dilbert) and we crossed the line together in 1hr48! Beyond delighted, was really hoping to do it in 1hr50 so to beat that by over a minute was fantastic. :D:D


I was surprised how wrecked I was though, I’ve only done two races before, a 10k and 9 miles relay in the Cork Marathon, and in each of those I felt fine at the end. But yesterday, I was really wrecked, would have struggled to run on much further, but I’m hoping that’s just due to the heat and the pace I was running at. I have never felt so tired at the end of any run before. Is that normal in races???

Well done everyone on some great LSR’s last week. Can’t believe we’re at the half way mark already!

Excellent time - congrats. And fair play to Dilbert

Ran my 14mile LSR on Sat morning. It was the same course I ran my 12mile LSR the previous week but I added a small 2 mile loop with a hill to extend to 14miles.

I was fine the day after the 12 mile but after the 14 mile I was shattered and my legs are still sore today. A callus on my right foot dug in and gave me a blood blister.

I've 989km on the runners. I think my runners are shot.

Should blisters be burst?

Should hard skin be filed down a bit?

As said by a previous poster, negative thoughts started running through my head near the end of the run. Doubting if I can pull off the marathon.