DCM 2015: Mentored Novices Thread

I'm number 14, feel free to say hi! Been looking forward to the start of the Race Series all year, can't wait to get it started. Best of luck fellow novices, wise elders, lurkers and trolls.

Dubgal72 wrote: »

It may be that your body is adjusting to the demands of higher mileage also. Anyone else finding the same?

Yes - I am eating all around me. It didn't help that I had to skip lunch due to work cr*p today Absolutely famished!

Good tip re water. I am trying to get into the habit of carrying one of those proper water bottles with me everywhere and drinking it all during the day, not easy to remember tho.

Good luck to all running the 5 miler, or LSRs, tomorrow! It'll be 10M LSR for me.

Week 1 is almost done.

Dubgal72 wrote:

I am bringing my special recovery flapjacks to the Phoenix Park so keep your eyes peeled (oats, butter, syrup, seeds, raisins, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate chips...and there's one for every novice in the audience so come find me, because I know there are a few other boardsies running who won't think twice about jumping the queue )

If I had known about the flapjacks I would've done the race ;-)

I've been walking around the start area muttering 'pink jacket, purple scooter' to myself. That might just be my race mantra!

First LSR of the plan done last night. I know these are meant to be slow but that was sloooooooow. It was a real slog to be honest, I guess the muggy heat takes more out of me than I thought. I'm also happy that my groin held up through it, although it is aching slightly today.

I also ran it without the headphones for once, simply because I wanted to clear my head after a very long week. I'm not convinced that no music is better though, I missed that sense of being able to zone out and find that the kms have flown by, instead it seemed like I was constantly "on" and counting every step, and that made the run far more of a grind than I prefer.

Further experimentation needed!

First LSR done. I did a nice slow 8 miles (didn't get into my threshold heart rate at all) on a new route for me - all trail, and very narrow in places (which did help with going slow!) but very peaceful and quiet.

I did manage to kill a bird within the first half mile though. Little guy flew out of the high grass, straight under my foot. That's probably a first for a DCM Novices thread!

5 mile Race Series done and dusted God it was hot out there. Met KennyG and PJD beforehand and some of last years novices at the finish line. Disappointed not the get to the flap jacks DG ! Didn't get a PB today but delighted with my time 44.38 (pb 44.01 from recent Terenure 5 mile) considering I did the 5 mile last year in 46.59 I think a good years progress made. We had a big contingent there from St Anne's parkrun hope they managed without us all in St Anne's this morning ! Looking forward to meeting a few more boardies at the next race. Enjoy the weekend

Race report!

A few weeks ago I set my target for the Irish Runner 5m to be "< 37:30" on my training log. It was a little conservative but consistent with my other goals and no harm on having something do-able for the first of the race series

My morning got off to a terrible start as I bafflingly drove past the turnoff for Castleknock on the M50. I got off at the N4, went through Chapelizod, up into the park through the gate and parked on Chesterfield. I arrived about 9:20 so it wasn't a total disaster

Aside from navigation issues, pre-race was great, the announcer was as entertaining as usual for the Race Series, the weather was fab and the park looked amazing.

Mile 1: 6'55

I started in the first wave, place myself around the middle but got pushed up closer to the start as people moved forward. Lots of ducking and diving around people until mile 2 or so. A shame that stewards weren't there to stop lots of runners shortcutting across the verge on the first turn. Generally felt good.

Mile 2: 6'41

Still feeling good though a little nervous coming down Kyber due to the steepness and running fairly fast.

Mile 3: 7:01

Half-way through this mile was the first of the hills, and it hit me a bit harder than I was expecting. Slowed down a lot and started to be passed out a bit. I started to get a stitch and a sore tummy towards the end of mile 3, neither of which have been problems this year at all. I felt like I had a very full stomach and generally uncomfortable.

Mile 4: 7:18

Maintained pace for this mile. Legs felt a little tired, surprising for the distance. It was a little windy and exposed here which didn't help.

Mile 5: 7:33

Despite the hills and the slightly slower clock time I definitely picked things up in this mile, the stitch went away and I sped up towards the end.

Gun time: 36:19
Chip time: 35:52

So, on reflection it's a good time and I beat my original target. However I was disappointed with the tummy problems and how hard the hills felt. I'll need to tweak pre-race eating - I had some granola and a smoothie around 8 along with some water, this was probably not enough time before the race. Hill work will definitely be part of my training before the next races. My time was 20 seconds/mile slower than the Docklands 5k, given that that was flat and shorter, I think that's probably expected at the same level of performance.

Post-race was great though, I met up with Dubgal along with other A/R boardsies and got a flapjack for for my troubles

My wife's delighted with the women's vitamins from the goody-bag and the mug's nice, so a good morning's work :rolleyes:

Well that was kind of awesome! The last time I did the Irish Runner 5 mile was in 2011 with feck all training and it nearly killed me. I think I had a time of 52.XX and I remember stopping to walk.

So this morning I got organised and headed over to the park. I only live across the road and it was such a beautiful morning. I quickly came upon the 4 mile marker and stopped to take a photo. The next time I saw this marker I would be 1 mile from home.

I hadn't slept that well but I felt good so to warm up I jogged from the marker to the finish. That would bring my total to 6 miles for the day and so the training plan was fulfilled for this week. The Body Sculpt class I did on Thursday was possibly not the best idea ever as I had hamstrings and glutes like rocks but I stretched as best I could.

I had a little think about what pace to run at. I decided that I would be more than happy with a 47.30 finish so I popped a 9.30 min/mi into my Garmin, met a friend, dropped off my bag and pottered around the Wave 2 start where I met some lovely fellow runners and spent 10 mins telling myself I didn't need to pee. (I didn't, it's something I always think at the start of a race)

Mile1:9.15mins Then we were off! The race leaders were at the mile mark before we even got going I kept a bit of an eye on my watch, just to make sure I wasn't falling behind but mostly I just ran by feel and waited for the crowd to thin out a bit. Mile 1 was an eye-opener. I didn't have my head-phones on and I was amazed that coming up to the first marker that I wasn't even out of breath! I felt strong and comfortable, wahey!

Mile 2+3:9.15mins + 9.30mins I missed the 2 mile marker here. Had stopped looking at my watch at this stage as I felt really good but I knew I was ahead of pace. Again, my breathing was fine, I made a conscious effort to run tall and not to clench my hands. I also started to remember Dubgals advice about others breathing - god there were some shockers - but they were in pain and I was not. We headed down the Khyber Pass and I made sure not to peg it like some of the others, I was really enjoying this feeling and wanted to stay in control. Plus it was kind of congested. Then around the corner and up Military Hill. It didn't scare me, I run it every time I train so it was a non-event.

Mile 4:9.03mins Again, this was along a stretch that I run at least three times a week and I was still feeling really good so I enjoyed it. I knew the 4 mile marker was coming up so I started to quicken slightly and pick people off. My chest felt a little tight towards the end of this but one 1 mile left and I knew I had bags of energy left!

Mile 5:8.36mins God I talk some awful sh*te to myself when I run. This was the main thought in my head for this mile along with being very happy about how my breathing sounded compared to some of the others. I had already come this way earlier so I knew exactly where we were going and how long was left. I kept picking people off and sprinted comfortably for the end.

So that was that really, I was thrilled with my time and the way the race went but I know I could have done better. I recovered really quickly after but I'm just not experienced enough to have done it any differently. So yeah, happy happy! Really good to have such a positive experience at the start of the whole series and I think it will stand to me.

Chip Time: 45:53
Gun Time: 50.09

Well done everyone!!

Toulouse wrote: »

Was the mug in the goody bag? I didn't get one and neither did my friend

Mugs were being handed out separately after bag collection - sounds like you missed 'em.

Singer wrote: »

Mugs were being handed out separately after bag collection - sounds like you missed 'em.

Ah balls, home was back the other way so I didn't go any further than the baggage collection. Feck it anyway.

I haven't signed up for anything yet. I was going to do Letterkenny half in August but I'm thinking now I might try get down to dublin for the half in September it will be good practice for the big day.

Well done to everyone who did the 5 miler today loving reading ur report's. I did a nice 10 miles today. That's the first week almost over and still alive YAY !!!

Phoebas wrote: »

Good luck to all my fellow novices racing tomorrow.

I'd be interested to know what other races people have signed up for.
I've signed up for the Clontarf half next weekend and the the Rock'n'Roll 1/2 at the start of August (which I may not actually be around for, but if I am, I'll probably do as at a slowish pace).
I'll also do the race series 1/2 in mid September and maybe one or both of the other race series races, depending on if I'm around and how they might fit in with the plan*.

* Edit: (Question for DG et al) Looking at the Boards plan, it has a 10m race on the the weekend of the race series 10m. It has a 13m lsr on the weekend of the 10k race series race.
(1) It is a good idea to do these races?, and
(2) How would you tweak the boards plan to accommodate them?