DCM 2015: Mentored Novices Thread

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Hi, you mean in reverse/countdown order? I can't right now, won't be at a PC till later but our resident geek expert might have a look, or Adrian please if either of you are free. TIA

In the column titled 'ant run-app'
There or a new column just basically showing the date of that particular week.
Thanks

Busy weekend so it’s a late report on the 5 miler. 50.24, pb by 23 seconds

Pre-race
Hydrated well and ate well in the days leading up to the race. Got 7.5 hours sleep the night before, woke up at 7, pulled back the curtains and went oh crap because the sun was already shining and it was supposed to get cloudy later which meant humidity as well as heat. Had usual pre-race breakfast of muesli, yoghurt and orange juice at 7.15. Got to the start area at 9.15, found some shade and stretched there, warmed up along the Furze Road, beyond the finish line and back. Took my place at the back of the second wave, to have a bit of space to myself at the start, only to realise I was actually at the front of the third wave and mobbed.

Mile 1
Started up the middle of the road to avoid the camber at the side, turning on to North Road a few people cut across me trying to take a big chunk off the corner (seriously folks, if you’re going to sign up for a 5 mile race, run the 5 miles!). Felt comfortable along the North Road.

Mile 2
Thinking about my form and breathing crossing from North Road to Acres Road, going comfortably. Got to Khyber Road and moved to the right-hand side as the cycle path is a bit smoother.

Mile 3
Take it easy coming down hill and a few go ahead of me. Breathing and form feel right. Turn on to Military Road and start uphill. The best I’ve ever run Military Road, consistent pace from bottom to top, legs feel good and the rest of me isn’t feeling any great discomfort.

Mile 4
As well as being net downhill, do the S bends have some sort of psychedelic quality? Always feel better at the end of them. Take it easy on the downhill, concentrating on my form and trying to relax as much as I can. Feels good starting the uphill on to the Glen Road until….
Mile 5
I’ve had stitches before in races but never anything as bad as this. Felt like I was shot on the right of my stomach. Tried to htfu but had to stop let it ease for a moment. Got going again but wasn’t any better than lsr pace. Got going a little bit more down the Furze Road but it was hard work. Got to the finish line and wretched twice, thought I was going to vomit. Wasn’t following my splits on the Garmin but I know the last mile took nearly 13 minutes.

Post-race
Thank god the cups of water were close by. Joined in the boot camp warm-down which was good and walked down Chesterfield Avenue to get the bus from Heuston with no problems. Did a warm-down of about 2.5 miles with no stiffness or soreness. Was in a fouler over the race afterwards. Wife took me to Mad Max Fury Road to cheer me up. Film was awful but at least the race didn’t seem so bad by comparison so I cheered up unintentionally.

Positives
- It’s a pb
- Legs felt good during the race, after the race, that night, the next morning, no stiffness or soreness. Best they’ve ever felt after a race.
- I know my form and breathing does lapse from time-to-time but it still improved significantly in the last 2 weeks thanks to our guru DG72.
- Ran Military Road well and comfortably.

Negatives
- The stitch. I’ve read up a bit this morning and orange juice in the morning might not be helping, so will stick to water in future. Will try a few things out pre-lsr in the coming weeks and see what works. Might need to get up earlier to have breakfast earlier. Any other suggestions will be gratefully received.
- Not being in the right position at the start, my own fault, not going to blame signs.
- Might need to get more sleep midweek.
- No flapjack.

Wasn’t going to do the 10k in Swords initially but signed up for it now. Working down in Limerick this week so looking forward to the change of scenery and getting a few miles done along the Shannon.

Mrs Mc wrote:

Having Achilles trouble myself related to calf have exercises from physio but I also started doing these stretches

I've never heard of half those muscles but I'll certainly try the calf stretches, cheers.

Firedance wrote: »

yes sorry I should have been clearer, as Clearlier said make sure you pick an exact spot and tell them where to be and roughly what time. I gave a 30 min window and an indication of what pace group I would be coming after and there is the official tracker too. I never ask my friends or family to help out with running related stuff but this was my exception, I was running a a marathon and I needed their help!! even if it was to know there were out on course cheering me on, I'm not suggesting that you rely on them for hydration etc, for me that was an extra back up 'in case' they also had things like Vaseline, extra gels, my energy drink pre mixed etc etc. Its just one option though and not necessary at all.

To me, this reads that Firedance is planning on manning a special "Novices-goodies" table, maybe at about 15M or so...

All in favour shout "Aye!"...!

SOOOOO many races popping up on Facebook that my buddies are doing and I'm looking at my plan for the next 17 weeks and I only have two events in it. I'm very very jealous and also a little tempted to rejig things a little so my first event (Monaghan 10 mile) is replaced with one a week earlier and my second (Athlone HM) is replaced with one two weeks later, that way they're 7 weeks apart and I could fit another HM in the middle.

Of course I'd probably get given out to so I'll most likely leave things the way they are and just grumble about missing out on all the fun.

So now we have Flapjacks and energy bars for our Novices Table at DCM - keep them coming

Hi guys,

I've been training with a marathon in mind for months on my own but just hadn't decided which one I'd do. Now that I've the all clear from work in October, I've decided I'll do the DCM.

I would love to join this thread for motivation and have so much respect for Dubsgal. Been lurking through the thread for weeks now and you all seem great - love the positive attitude. I really think this thread will help me and I hope I can help others too from my mistakes to date!

So, I'm having trouble picking a training plan. I've been doing a lot of research but just not sure which will suit me best.

I have a strange routine with work/travel so my long runs would have to be done on a Monday Or Tuesday evening after work. I can train mid week easily enough. My weekends can be messy at times but they are days I could get my short runs in.

I can commit to 4/5 days a week of training. And I also do TRX, circuits and free weights/toning at least once, if not twice a week.

Sometimes life gets in the way and I have to move things around so that's where I need help picking a somewhat flexible plan. Sorry for asking in this thread, just really need help picking one.

Thanks in advance to all. This thread is so inspiring. I'm really excited to run my first marathon!

Took two days rest after the SSE 5 mile race on Sat. Went out for my usual 6k run this am. Was feeling grand & taking it very handy @ 5:45/km because it was very warm/muggy (even at 6:15am!).

Then, right at 5k, felt a twinge in my hip & it quickly became painful. It wasn't an excruciating pain, but was too uncomfortable to run. I walked the 1km back home. Been limping around the place today. Dunno what happened. Off the the physio later. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

I'm glad diet has been mentioned, I'm keen to find out what I should be eating. A typical day for me;

Breakfast - 2 toast with peanut butter

Snack - boiled egg and toast + a banana.

Lunch - tuna/mackerel with 2 slices of bread, yoghurt, apple + easy peeler orange.

Snack - small handful of nuts with a spoon of Nutella/Peanut butter.

Dinner - Pasta/rice with chicken/fish and sauce or potatoes with fish and veg.

Snack - cereal.

I've cut out the cereal lately because I think it leaves me bloated so replacing it with bread and Peanut butter.

Whatever's in the fridge/press/local Spar.

I've been starving for the last few weeks but I had probably not been eating enough up to then so just tried to increase my intake in a healthy way.

Breakfast is porridge with chia seeds and banana made with 50:50 skimmed milk and water

Lunch is a wholemeal wrap with chicken, spinach and low fat Mayo

Dinner is something like chilli con carne with brown rice, lentil stew with sausage or grilled salmon, brown rice and veg.

I have a cereal bar at break time, drink at least 2 litres of water a day and after a weights session or my LSR I'll have 1g per kg body weight of whey protein.

If I fancy something I'll generally have it, I try to be good most of the time though and usually only drink every 2 or 3 weeks. I'll keep an eye on my weight as the training plan progresses as I really don't want to put on any but probably shouldn't lose any either.

Oh and I've switched to decaf tea and coffee, not sure why, just don't feel like drinking caffeinated stuff all of a sudden!!