DCM 2015: Mentored Novices Thread

Just back from a very conservative trot in the park to test out my soleus and I'm happy to report that it's fine. Did a lot of stretching and rolling before heading out. Also went back to my trusty Kayanos.

My calf is a little tight but no pain so I shall make the 10k on Sunday but will be careful.

Was great just to be back out there and have to remember to think about the bigger picture, it's all about getting to that start line in October.

Tonight I had one of the weirdest, most awkward runs I've ever had. I never want to experience that ever again. :mad: I did cover the 6 miles I had planned but (best estimate here as I was sans-Garmin) took about 1:40:xx. :mad::(:mad:

PJD wrote: »

Where are ye novices getting sports massages? Seems like a good idea. Is it a physio or sports therapist? Any recommendations in Dublin? Preferably north side as im in Raheny. I have been doing a reasonable job on my legs with the foam roller but my shoulders have more knots than a scouting jamboree!

Ill pm you details of mine P both in your area.

Quick post, will do a full report later but got myself a new half marathon personal best this morning at Run Killarney. Took 3mins 15secs off the time I set last month to come home with 1:52:30 (by my watch). Delighted!
Had set a goal of 1:53:40 today and to have beaten that as well felt real good!

The race went very well. I was going to stick to a 2,30 or so but I went out with the 2,20 pacers, a lovely guy and girl. I was able to comfortably stick with them for the whole race. I stuck to a 10,30 average (Dubgal is going to be so cross with me!) but it was extremely comfortable. I stretched the legs a little in the last 300m but other than that it was nice and easy. I finished in 2,18,19 so I was happy considering how well I felt after. No issue with the shin at all. I took a bath straight after and worked some kinks out. Pacers thought that I should be grand for Dublin considering my comfort levels for the entire race.

The scenery was amazing, by far my favourite race so far.

Dubgal72 wrote: »

You're grand . I'm just happy there were no probs with your niggles during the race. Your comfort levels sound spot on too. Well done. Now go enjoy the rest of your weekend (fuller race report pending of course?! )

Will do at some stage tomorrow once I'm home! Mobile typing for a report would not be fun.

Wanna try to meet up after tomorrow's Fingal 10k race? Sounds like there's a few going from these parts.

Tomorrow's weather looks like it'll be sunny but maybe a bit windy: http://www.yr.no/place/Ireland/Leinster/Swords/hour_by_hour_detailed.html

How about using the Airtricity tent as a landmark - somewhere across from the entrance (wherever that might be - the post-race stuff is allegedly in the castle this year).

I'll be wearing number 14 and I *may* bring flapjacks per dubgal's recipe

So, after moving the plan a day forward, I had hoped to get the LSR done yesterday. As I had said previously, I hadn't run more than 10km for over 12 months so was looking forward to it.

A lot of things conspired against me, so didn't get running yesterday, my only option today was to do the LSR on the treadmill.

Using the garmin and the footpod, because I figured it would be more accurate than the treadmill display (very little difference between them in the end though), I started at it, and ran the 14.5k at a pace of 6.37/km, with average H/R of 144, somewhere just short of 1Hr 40 Mins. I'm delighted to have done the distance, then 15 mins on the foam roller and stretching. The pace always felt fine, obviously there were no hills on the treadmill. Didn't feel any niggles or knocks at any time either.

I think today felt more of a mental challenge being stuck in the one spot for so long rather than a physical one, but not running the LSR just was not an option!!

Anither week done, onwards and upwards!!

Ok so done my LSR of 15 miles today and will do 13 mile next week instead. Average pace 9.25 min per mile. Last 2 miles was tough. Know i still need to slow it down a bit. Going for 3.50 in dublin

Singer wrote: »

Wanna try to meet up after tomorrow's Fingal 10k race? Sounds like there's a few going from these

Sounds good, I'll be 1048 with Sunglasses and a protein shaker. Save me a flapjack!

Finished my 14M LSR: 22.7km @ 6.10 min/km [14.2M @ 9.55 min/mi].

Like Omercon, longest run both in distance and time on feet - and hopefully to be better next week.

Felt good throughout and had some left in the tank at the end. I experimented bringing a small water bottle and waist-yoke. Took a while but I got used to them both and it turned out to be very useful.

I love my new visor. The poor thing was drenched, again, but I had no problem with sweat-in-eyes or the sun.

Hey all - haven't been able to read every post but looks like most people are doing so well. Sorry to hear about those of you visiting physios etc. Please don't rush back into training - you have loads of weeks yet. Don't go back into it too early!

I've been a bit all over the place since the Clontarf HM to be honest. Really shocked at how bad I did and lost a lot of confidence.

I kept running even though I wasn't enjoying it (just couldn't face reading or posting about running). I'm hoping the Fingal 10k tomorrow will give me some confidence back. I've prepared well in my opinion. I hope I feel good in the morning. Think I've been putting too much stress on performing well in races. I build it up in my head and it becomes a huge test - which only means disaster mentally when I don't do well. So trying not to think too much!

---

Footwear:

I'm currently rotating my asics gt3000 and my very new kayano 21 lite (got a very good deal online as the RRP is a crazy price). I've only done one 10k in them and walking so far. I really love how light they are. I can see why they wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, the upper is stiff but compared to my gt3000 these are so light and once I break them in, I think they'll become my half and full marathon shoes!

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Food:

I remember sympathising with a poster who had problems resisting junk food. How are those cravings? I was having the same problem. Buying the blender really helped. I've had it over two weeks and all I can say is wow. My diet has drastically improved as I'm able to make even healthier dishes now.

Smoothies (healthy only)
Chickpea burgers
Chickpea cookies
Soup
Protein flapjacks


My cravings for junk have almost totally diminished. (almost being a key word here)

I used to eat good but was still having chocolate most days! And craving super bad things like crisps waaay too much!

Pink11 wrote: »

I've also been trying to adapt this approach now that I have a heart rate monitor: http://duathlon.com/articles/1460/

I'll report back on the results.

Good to hear from you again, and I'm sorry you're having a hard time lately. I really hope tomorrow goes well for you and you enjoy the race no matter what happens. I can't really give any advice but if I did I'd borrow Dubgal's and just say 'run tall, relax, smile'.

Can I get your recipe for chickpea cookies please? I do crave a treat now and then and those sound really good and a lot healthier than the usual options!

So time to do my race report from today's Run Killarney Half Marathon.

Preparation
Thursday evening...
Struggled with my final run before the race, this was the 1m w/u 4m pace 1m c/d but got some nice words on here so said just do the best you can with it. The training has been going well so far.
Researched what I could online about the race to find out what info I could on the route and previous race threads online here. Seem to be a lot advising to not go completely flat out going down the hills as when it levels out you will really struggle. Started to think of what my pace was possibly going to be or moreso attempted pace.

Friday
daytime...
Looked at my previous half marathon race where I managed an average pace of 8:43min/mi so decided that I should be able to beat that through a combination of a good months worth of training in the mean time and the downhills at the start. Decided to go for a pace of 8:40min/mi which according to a calculator would give me a time of 1:53:40....two mins off my previous PB. Printed out a pace band off runnersworld that I could refer to during the race if I wanted too to be sure I wasn't going too fast.

evening...
Got all my gear together, tried on my club singlet (second time using it, first time in a race) and affixed my race number using my number magnets.
Left on my gear ready to go for first thing as it was going to an early start at 5:20am.
Not knowing what way conditions were going to be I packed both a hat (was gonna use if very heavy rain), sun cream and sunglasses (if by chance it was sunny).
As I was driving over to the race event I actually packed spare shorts, socks, club top and even runners. Given I had the car with me I might as well let that obsessiveness behavior have full reign in preparation in case I wasn't happen with something. Got to bed around 10pm and went to sleep pretty soon afterwards.

Race day
Saturday morning, I woke at 5:09am....the internal clock was working well this morning and it was up and at the day.
Showered, put on my running gear and a pair of tracksuits bottoms and running jacket (said I might as well keep as warm as long as I could). It was hard to call the weather so put on sun cream just in case (my shoulders got nicely toasted on a lsr I worn the singlet on a few weeks back).
Had a small breakfast and a berocca before hitting the road at 6:15. Sipped a bit of High 5 drink on the drive over.
Made it to the Gleneagle Hotel for 7am, strolled into the hotel and used the facilities (number 1 and number 2, good sign for the day!). Back out to the car park then and onto the bus for the 40-45min drive to the startline. Brought a small bag with a banana, my sunglasses and hat in it and to dump my running jacket and tracksuit bottoms in.
Admired the scenery on the drive up the hills, took not at how many turns there was on the route and the amount of ups and downs. Figured I'd try get myself a decent running line with the turns if I could. I had a chat with the guy beside me on the bus as well, nice fella was telling me about his experience of running the race in previous years so tapped him to find out what my strategy on holding back on the hills a good one knowing what was to come. He pointed out that there is a lot of ups and downs once it levels out at 6 miles and people struggle with that. I wanted to have my legs good to go at that point so why burn up on the hills even going down hill.

At the starting area I took advantage of the half an hour to get another trip to the toilet in and start doing some warm ups. I actually did two warm ups, one with my jacket and tracksuits pants on and another one about 15mins before the race once I exposed my bare arms and legs to the morning air.
Bumped into a friend from the running group in Tralee who was running also today. I had hoped to bump into Chris, I was gonna check his profile pic on Strava when I got there but good oul O2/3 had no coverage. Sorry Chris if I walked passed you or anything. I was the cold looking fella in the blue St. Brendan's AC vest if you saw me.
Also I ate a small banana about 20mins before we started and drank some water.

At 8:35 we were called to assemble in the starting area, things didn't take too long and as conditions appeared to be taking a turn for the worse (no hat or sunglasses needed) we got underway at 8:42 (3 mins early).

Mile 1...8:16
Quick start, I keep an eye on my HRM to see I wasn't going too hard but I think the downhill was the main driver of the quicker than planned pace.
A lot of people around me seemed to be absolutely flying it at the start but I said I will go as I feel here now and hold back a bit to not overdo it.

Mile 2....8:37
Little bit of kick upwards in this mile and could see the first lot of people start to wilt. Passed a good few on the short hill here before we were back to the down hill running. The scenary was ridiculously good to be honest. Really nice place to run.

Mile 3....8:45 (25:38 for the 3 miles, 26:01 was the target)
Settled into pace at this point and was enjoying it.....watching my pace and effort but was feeling good. Time was a bit slower this split but I think we'd a few more kicks up and down in this mile. Also there was a water stop so took a few sips on.

Mile 4....8:01 and Mile 5....8:05
Grouping these two together as they kinda ran into other in regards being the fastest part of the course. All downhill with a 90 degree turn at ladies view as well. Felt I was feeling really good at this point and was confident of breaking my personal best but not sure by how much.

Mile 6...8:24 (50:08 for the 6 miles, 52:03 was the target)
Finally the end of the main downhill section and now the real race was on. At this point I knew my PB was in the bag barring a blow up or injury and was wondering could I actually break my target time as well. The race started to feel a lot harder now as it was generally flat or else up/down hill pretty often.
At 6.5 miles I took the one gel I had decided to bring with me for the race, happy with that decision at all points of the day.
We also got water at this point, there was fruit offered as well but declined.

Mile 7....8:34
The miles start to run into each other now, also I had lost sight of the 1:50 pacers who I had seen at the start but was not trying to keep up with them.
Just kept plugging along then with all the ups and downs.

Mile 8....8:42
More of the same

Mile 9....8:52 (1:16:16 for 9 miles, 1:18:05 was the target)
We had a short sharp downhill here just before taking a sharp left into Muckross Park. I had been running alongside/behind my colleague from Tralee during this mile but I pushed on a bit more as I was feeling like I could.

Mile 10....9:00 (1:25:16 for 10miles and new PB for 10 miles, 1:26:46 the target)
Running what appeared to be a trail run for quarter of a mile with some zig zagging under trees....GPS was useless but kept my effort the same based on a quick glance at my HRM. At this point in the race there was 3 miles to go so decided to push on my best to give it what I had.

Mile 11....8:15
Really flying it now, wondered could I do a few more of these at this pace. Was enjoying running in the park and was passing a lot of people at this late stage.

Mile 12....8:38
Starting to feel the pace now and starting to tire. One final hill in the park kinda did for me a bit and just said I would just keep my pace where it was at for now as there was no more pushing left to be done really and I had my time.

Mile 13....8:58
Yup I was done diddly done at this stage, wanting the race to be done...the callusus I've had under my right foot for a few years now was starting to ache a little bit so was a bit concerned was their a blister forming (there was not....thankfully).

Finish....1:52:28 (target was 1:53:40, previous PB was 1:55:40)
Delighted going the line, really was but proper tired to be honest. Felt I had given it my best and those last 7miles had been hard going but I was delighted with the result. Breaking the PB was a nice one but exceeding my not unreasonable target was a real bonus.
Nice t-shirt to add to the training rotation and a good chunky medal. Ate a hotdog, changed out of my gear, posted a note on boards, meet some clubmates who were doing the 10K and saw Gary O'Hanlon take the marathon title. All in all an enjoyable day.

Good luck to everyone running tomorrow.