DCM 2015: Mentored Novices Thread

Welcome to the seventh annual DCM Mentored Novices thread. My name is Dubgal (yes, really, and yes, school was tough ) and I will be accompanying you, this year's marathon novices, on your journey to *that* finish line. 

Along the way you are going to find yourself doing things you would never have dreamed of. You will become an expert on pain*, and lying exhausted, dripping, in pools of sweat.**
No, no come back! You will also have lots of good stuff...we'll get to that in a bit.

*the right sort of pain
** yes, you're still in the A/R forum


HISTORY OF THIS THREAD
Thanks to the super-thread intro by last year's mentor, Ososlo (and previous mentors), my work here has largely been done

There have been 6 legs of the DCM Mentored Novices Thread starting in 2009 when Amadeus kickstarted as the first mentor. He passed the baton in 2010 to rainbow kirby who in turn passed it into the trusty hands of Raycun in 2011. 2012 saw Younganne taking the lead with a huge group of runners behind her and passed the baton to career_move who sprinted ahead like lightening to take the novices to the 2013 DCM. CM passed on to Ososlo, whose infinite care, wisdom and kicking (not really) got us over the line in one piece last year.The baton hasn’t been dropped yet and the mentors and novices haven’t stepped out of their lanes so let’s hope we continue to surge ahead in the same vein for the 7th leg for DCM 2015!

WHO IS THIS THREAD FOR?

If you are doing Dublin City Marathon for the first time this year, then this thread is especially for you. If you are a little more experienced having already done a marathon, you are also welcome to join in the fun.

WHAT HAPPENS HERE?
We have two possible training plans for you to follow and we are here to guide you in your training. You are also invited to keep track of your mileage from June until DCM on the Google Doc tracker sheet linked to at the bottom of this post. 


THE TEAM
Oh, yeah...the team... (you thought I was doing this alone? :rolleyes: )
This forum encourages discussion about all aspects of your training and we are lucky to have a plethora of experienced runners and experts on running technicalities available so don’t be afraid to ask ask ask about anything you like – let's keep it running related for now - there is no such thing as a stupid question. If I can't answer you, I know someone who can We are here to help 

We will get you over that line safely and happily...if you listen to us Most of you will and you are the ones who will cross that line on Monday October 26th knowing that you have extracted the max from yourself to the utmost of your ability.
Some of you are going to hear things from us along the way that you don't want to hear. Sometimes you are going to do things we don't want you to do. We get it. We've been there too. 
What we won't do is sugarcoat it, if you're doing something or planning something in your build up that we know through our collective experience is wrong, we'll call it. What we will do is call it in a way that is polite & constructive and offer you tried and tested alternatives...that actually work.

Still here?

SO...SHOULD YOU ATTEMPT TO RUN DCM THIS YEAR?
Marathon training is HARD. You have to be insane to even think about doing it. Covering 26.2 miles continuously, at any pace is not easy. You need to be fairly healthy so it's a good idea to get a medical check up done before starting the training. You will also need to have a reasonable level of fitness before you start the 18 week plan.

To run DCM this year, ideally you'll currently be running a few days a week at this stage, be able to comfortably run 20 miles per week by the time the plan starts on June 22nd and you will have been running at least a year. However, if you're not currently at that level, but feel you can get comfortably up to running 20 miles per week by the last week in June then this thread is for you too. You might be fit from other sports and be able to get up to speed quickly enough. 
If you want to do DCM this year but you would struggle to get up to 20 miles per week comfortably by the end of June and you're not very fit, then you should strongly consider putting it off for another year. Yes you will still be able to complete a marathon in October, but as this is a running forum we want all the novices to attempt to fully run their first marathon or at least the majority of it. 
Look ahead at the schedule for the 18 weeks. Have you many social events which might impinge on getting your long runs done at the weekends? It might be ok to miss one, but you really don't want to be missing more than that, so can you fit them in around your busy lifestyle? If the answer is yes and you're willing to make some sacrifices to get them done then you'll be fine. 
Running a marathon is a fantastic goal to have but you must be prepared for it. Anyone can complete a marathon but not everyone can run one from start to finish at a good (it’s all relative) pace. To run a successful marathon you should be committed to your training and take it seriously whilst enjoying it. The key to this is to follow a plan and train smart.


SOME GOLDEN RULES FOR MARATHON TRAINING

• Follow a plan and stick to the plan. You can use one here or any other one, but follow a plan
• Don’t miss runs (especially your weekly long run which is integral to the build up to the marathon)
• Don’t make up for missed training as this is a recipe for injury and/or illness
• Don’t run on an injury or ignore a constant niggle and don’t run when sick and seek professional help about your problems sooner rather than later. If there is something abnormal going on with your body during training, seek professional help
• Prepare and practice in every way you can so that there is very little element of surprise on the day
• Run your training runs at the correct paces (more of that later)

• If you want to set yourself a goal time for DCM, ensure it is a realistic and fairly conservative goal. You are entering unknown territory on your first marathon. Don't be over-ambitious. You don’t want to be saying ‘never again’ on the finish line.
• Don’t rely on McMillan calculators or other calculators for determining your marathon goal. Yes it may work for a few but not for the majority

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR MENTOR....
I ran DCM last year as my first marathon. I stumbled upon this thread late enough into the schedule but immediately began to reap the benefit of the collective wisdom and camaraderie on here.
I have a background in running and decided to run the marathon in January – I needed that incentive to get me out the door on cold winter nights. It worked. Following a gradual build-up of mileage, I started a Jeff Gaudette beginners plan in June, supplemented by club sessions (I joined a club in July). I missed two of the early race series (5m and 10k) but completed the Frank Duffy 10 mile and half marathon races in August and September which allowed me to reassess my race target A and B goals.

On race day, the wheels came off around mile 15. A few things went wrong, mostly unseasonable humidity which drove me to picking discarded bottles off the road in between water stations. It wasn't pretty but I got over that line exhausted, happy and inside my C goal.
My advice to you is forget about the time goals as much as you can and enjoy the experience. Dublin crowds are seriously amazing. Now, I am a complete running junkie and as I'm not attempting another marathon until 2016, this is the next best thing. So, I am not an expert, but I know where to find one

A little more advice....

RESPECT
Over the next few months, you are going to hear the word 'respect' a lot. Respect the marathon, respect the input and respect yourself.
You are going to attempt to do all of these but, on at least one, you are going to fail. That's ok because even if you think you respect the marathon, add some knobs on for decoration, you will still come out the other end knowing the respect you had wasn't enough.
That's ok too because it's a bit like childbirth, you have to go through it to *know* it :eek:

You only get out of a marathon what you have put in...and sometimes less than that.
Anything can happen during, and in the run up to, a marathon. There will be things you can't control. Your job is to concentrate on what you can control. 
You can control your training and you can control your health. 

Which leads me to...

COMMITMENT TO TRAINING

It's more than just about the run, you're going to put your body through a lot so you need to be nice to it:
• Always start your runs with baby steps, give your muscles time to warm up.
• Always allow a cool down period, whether that's back to baby steps or walking it out.
• Read up on stretching and start to think about what's going to work for you. We'll talk more about that later but stretching after a session is very important.
• Get a foam roller or tennis ball or sliotar. You're going to need it :eek:

GEAR
You will definitely need:
Runners (more later)
You will find these useful:
A watch (stopwatch will do, GPS not essential)
A t shirt that wicks away sweat
Socks designed for running

COMMITMENT TO YOURSELF
Get enough sleep. Your body can't repair, adapt and build without it. 
Don't eat crap. If you do, don't eat too much of it. 
Processed food = bad 
Whole food = good
In between = okish
Drink lots of water. You are going to become very familiar with the various shades of urine. 
We'll do the alcohol discussion later. *collective phew*
Don't hang around in wet or damp running gear. Your granny is right, you'll catch a chill.
Get shares in Epsom salts. You'll need them.
Buy an understanding family and friends. This is an essential.


TRAINING AND OVERVIEW 
We're a little late starting this year but better late than never
That's not to say that late is a good thing...as mentioned above, ideally you will be building to comfortably run 20 miles per week, including one long run of at least 6-8 miles. Here is our Pre-Marathon training plan if you need one:


Jump in on the appropriate week. Alternatively, continue with your current training as you might already be running more miles than what's required for the start of our Marathon Training Plans so no need to decrease your current mileage.



BUT

Unfortunately every year there are casualties due to injury but the best way to avoid this is to have a good running base (ideally you should have been training at shorter distances for one to two years), to build up the mileage slowly and consistently and to vary your training programme so that you have 1 or 2 hard days a week and the rest all easy.

In case you missed that...




THE PLANS FOR 2015:
The plans we will be using are the Hal Higdon Novice 1 and for slightly more experienced runners, the 2015 Boards Plan which is based on career_move’s super plan from 2013 and some tweaking by Ososlo in 2014. You can use one of these plans or any other plan as long as it involves mostly running!

Hal Higdon Novice 1 Training Plan:
A tried and tested plan for novice marathon runners. It’s a simple plan to follow and many Boardsies have followed this plan over the years with great success. All runs in this plan are done at the same pace, which is a pace that should feel very comfortable and you should be able to chat while running (to yourself or your running buddy!). If you can’t chat while running then you’re running too fast. Slow down. If you’re not enjoying the majority of your training runs, you’re probably running them too fast. Slow down! We'll go into pacing in more detail later.

Boards 2015 Training Plan
This includes a little bit of speedwork and marathon pace running with the addition of warm up and cool down miles for the sessions and races. Everything else is pretty much the same as previous years. Many novices followed this plan with much success in previous years.

INVALUABLE TRAINING PACE GUIDE HERE
Again, pinched from Ososlo 2014

So, if you’re on board for DCM this year or just thinking about it still, please jump in and answer the following so we can get an idea of where you are with your training currently and get the chatting underway:

1. What is your athletics background? Have you run before? What other sports have you taken part in and at what level? 
2. Have you raced before? If so what are your PBs? (Date and distance please!)
3. Do you still need to take walk breaks in your training ? (No problem if you do)
4. How much training do you currently do incl cross training? Distances, cross training - whatever you think is relevant to your current fitness level.
5. How many days a week do you run only?
6. What do you want to achieve? Dream finishing time and realistic finishing time? Or just complete it in no specified time?
7. What marathon programme are you following/intending to use?

AND THE BORING STUFF...
Office hours are twice a day, first thing in the morning (well, first thing after coffee) and after 8pm
If you really really need a reply outside this time it will be done...
but try to remember,  life exists outside of boards during the run up to DCM. No, really, it does




Welcome on board your Odyssey, Heroes of 2015. There will be blood, there will be sweat and there will be tears. Mostly mine
 Let's do this :cool: 

Dubgal



Finally for an index of useful posts from last year click here