DCM 2015: Mentored Novices Thread

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Singer estimated finish time 68 mins :cool:
Nop on track for nearly 10 min PB

Singer's in... unofficial 70:28, I think we can safely say he slashed his PB!!!
And yep, looks like Nop got his 10 min PB!
Can't find anyone else so far

My shameful positive split out in the open like this :pac:

Thank you , thank you, thank you Toulouse for those flapjacks (I pb'd and had three!!!!!!!!). Great to put a few more names to faces and glad to see that the event worked out for everyone. As an even older and more considered runner said to me as we waited for the start " any day you can get out of your bed and line up for a race like this is a good one".

I had never run a 10 mile race before and fed my 10km Fingal time into McMillan. Suggested time was 1.18.37. I decided to try for that and used it to pace myself through the course. I managed to steal a few seconds on the more favourable parts of the course and got in at 1.18.00 on the button. Managed a 15 second negative split (bit marginal I imagine) which I was happy with considering we had a fair kick up that last hill for the guts of a km.

On Reflection: my runners are perfect, carried a water bottle belt and used it, could have gone out maybe 5 secs per km faster for the first 7km and should have pushed on for the 2 km run outside the park. I had steadied up a little trying to keep something in reserve for the hill. Plenty learnt and am really believing in the "run slow to run fast". The legs felt good throughout the race and I think the endurance is improving. This is what I would have been most concerned about.


Splits Time Cum. Time Avg HR Cadence
1 4:45.4 4:45. 148 167
2 4:54.7 9:40. 152 168
3 4:56.3 14:36 153 169
4 4:52.6 19:29 155 169
5 5:01.3 24:30 156 170
6 4:59.6 29:30 158 170
7 4:55.3 34:25 158 170
8 4:47.7 39:13 159 171
9 4:54.2 44:07 159 171
10 4:47.2 48:54 158 171
11 4:46.5 53:41 159 171
12 4:44.7 58:26 158 171
13 4:55.8 1:03:21 160 171
14 5:02.9 1:08:24 163 170
15 4:56.5 1:13:21 167 172
16 4:29.0 1:17:50 170 171
17 0:13.7 1:18:03 174 157

Time Distance Avg. HR. Max HR
Summary 1:18:03 16.06 271 4:52 158 175

Singer wrote: »

Very nice consistent times and great negative split! Not easy on that course. At least that's my excuse

And a serious congrats on your pb. You had time to cool off and look very relaxed by the time the rest of us arrived.

Aww thanks everyone, glad you enjoyed them and nobody objected to the prunes (they can be polarising!).

Big thanks to Mrs. Mc for the company, wasn't having a great time of it up until we met again at mile 5 so huge kudos for the help!

My week was a bit strange. Did 6.5 miles on Tuesday and hurt my calf. Stretched, rolled and rested for the remainder of the week until this morning. Also my diet re-jig is not really agreeing with me so have been very bloated and uncomfortable all week, that is getting the boot this week!!

Last night I was restless. Made the flapjacks, did my batch cooking for dinner for the week, got all my gear organised and eventually sat down to relax at about 10pm. Slept fine and then this morning was up at 7am to have breakfast (porridge, banana and chia seeds). I also had a big cup of strong coffee which I don't normally have but didn't really have an option (draw conclusions from diet re-jig above).

Mooched around the house until leaving at 9am to head over to the park. I jogged the last mile to warm up taking care not to upset the precious cargo (flapjacks) I was carrying. It was really warm and not the warm I like but muggy and sticky. I was sweating after a mile at 12min/mi pace! Dropped my bag and spent about 20 mins searching for the loos. Queues were big but moved pretty quickly and I bumped into my boss. Was good to see a familiar face and when we entered Wave 2 I also met Mrs. Mc. We got a bit lost then between the waves and suddenly we were off, I hadn't even heard the starting announcement.

Mile 1: 9:36min/mi
I have to admit, I wasn't feeling the love. I told Mrs. Mc to do her own thing and off she sped. This mile was right on pace for me but I'd decided that if I had to do 10 like that one then it was going to be a rough day at the office. Having said that I also reminded myself that it would take a little while for the the endorphins to kick in so I just put my head down and kept on keeping on.

Mile 2: 9:46min/mi
Another tough mile. There was an upward drag at the Zoo that I wasn't prepared for. I was too tuned into my watch and I knew it. Seeing that little 'behind pace' message was not helping me. Still I philosophised that even if this mile was crappy, that didn't necessarily mean that the next one would be.

Mile 3: 9:32min/mi
Started to feel a bit better. The route was quite crowded but already there were people starting to stop and walk. I checked in with myself, my breathing and form were good. I decided to stop checking the watch. I was starting to feel better.

Mile 4: 9:32min/mi
More of the same really, kept catching glimpses of Mrs. Mc's arm shooting up from the crowd in front, waving to people she knew, and it made me smile. Didn't bother to get any water as it all seemed to be big bottles and I wouldn't have been able for it. My calf had also started to hurt but I said hello to the pain and kept going.

Mile 5: 9:21min/mi
From here on in is what I like to call the Mrs. Mc effect. Finally caught her and even though I always thought I liked to run my own race it was fantastic to have her company. Pace picked up a bit.

Mile 6: 9:15min/mi
We were tipping away now even though I thought this part of the course was very congested and difficult to run on. I told Mrs. Mc about my calf and she gave me some tips to loosen it up which worked for a bit.

Mile 7: 9:03min/mi
Got a little sip of water at the station. We were flying now coming out of the park and it was nice to be out on the road outside with plenty of room to run. I know this part well so knew how far we had to go.

Mile 8: 9:15min/mi
I decided to take a gel in anticipation for the uphill drag that I knew was coming up. It was the first time to try the Isogel type of gel but it went down okay and anyway, it's all practice for the big day. (Thanks to PJD for the suggestion).

Mile 9: 9:37min/mi
The calf was screaming at this stage but there was no way I was listening to it. I saw the uphill and just had to start passing people. Apart from the pain in my leg I felt good.

Mile 10: 8:31min/mi
I knew there was only 1 left so I might as well go as fast as I could. I reflected that there was no point thinking that I could have done more afterwards. It would be too late by then. As one of the supporters said 'there are no miles after this' and she was right. Finished strong. Had no idea what time as I'd long stopped looking at my watch.

Result: PB: 1:33:24

Headed off to meet the gang and get the flapjacks. Was great to see you all!!

Happy with the result, gives me a good idea of what I need to do for the Half and makes me feel that yes, I think I can do the marathon in the time that I want to. Thanks to KennyG, Nop and FBOT for the advice and encouragement.

Walked home and stretched my calf. Now that I've sat down for a bit, it's getting sore but I'm not concerned about it and it's not the same place that I hurt the first time or indeed the same place that hurt earlier this week. Think I might book myself in for a sports massage as I think I could do with it. Will look after it for the next couple of days and if I think I need the physio then I'll go but I don't think I will.

Hi All
Well done to everyone. I was hoping on saying hello but it was fairly chaotic after the finish line, especially as I was staring at people's hands to see if they were eating flapjacks!! next time hopefully
Anyhow it was fairly warm this morning but didn't affect me too much. My watch was acting up prior to race so I planned to think less about times and get the head up and enjoy. Really enjoyed it today and found it a really good distance. Leaving the park out on the road around mile 8 was a bit uncomfortable and I was strangely glad to turn in even I was met with the hill.
Finished bang on 1.30 and would've been happy with anything under 1.35 so it feels great.
1 9.06
2 9.14
3 9.13
4 8.59
5 8.50
6 8.44
7 8.50
8 9.03
9 9.23
10 8.32

eyeball kid wrote: »

Ah, the post race pint! Is there anything more refreshing?

I agree! Screw flapjacks, I want beer after the half

menoscemo wrote: »

In past years we always met in Ryans of Parkgate street (opp Heuston) after the half. Just saying

This is turning into the best day ever!

Good run this morning, cake and ran into Gordon Darcy this afternoon (BIG Leinster fan) and the possibility of beer after the Half this evening. Well happy

Had to collect kids, home, shower, ice dragged around pavilions.
Time today 80.06 mins

Well done FBOT on naked run & thanks for shot out at end,found
Little more, didn't know I had.

Post more tomorrow, well done all novices & good meeting up,
Lovely flapjacks tolouse

Well done to all! Sounds like a very successful day for the DCM novices

Was great to see a few of you (albeit briefly as I didn't want to miss my lift and have to run home :eek:) after the race.

I'm delighted with my time of 75.49 and especially because I wasn't absolutely wrecked when I finished and no sign of any niggles, etc. Funny how my opinion of a successful race has changed in the past few weeks!

I'm not great with the race reports but there were two things that I might share so that you might all learn from my mistakes (this could be a fairly common theme with me).

Firstly, I popped two gels in my lovely new shorts, one in each pocket, and at the first roundabout didn't one fall out! Wasn't too put out as I had another gel and had a bit of a laugh about it with some lads running beside me. Didn't I only then pull out the other to hold it in case it fell out too, saying 'It's ok, I have another' as I proceeded to then throw it in the air behind me. Shhhhiiiiiit!!!! But it was ok because I managed to find one when we returned to the roundabout 5 miles later! Happy days

Secondly, my watch went crazy at about 6 miles and started telling me I was running 4 min/mls and that I was at mile 11, etc so luckily I am fairly ok with running naked as it was useless to me.

All in all, it was a nice race and I'm looking forward to the Dublin Hm (and the Dingle Hm in two weeks, even though I'm not racing it).

Now for a nice glass of kale juice :pac::pac::pac:

menoscemo wrote: »

In past years we always met in Ryans of Parkgate street (opp Heuston) after the half. Just saying

Well who are we to mess with tradition we must take the baton and carry on !!!!

Congratulations to everyone on their fantastic PB's / personal achievements / just getting it done or whatever other positives people took from the race today!!!! (Even the flapjacks seem to be a highlight!!!)

Weekly report:

This has been an up and down week for me. Training for this program has really been by the book for me. I'm following the program and probably doing a couple of miles more per week than the program calls for. I've also gotten comfortable with the fact that I can run all my runs a little faster than the program calls for (which will hopefully give me some cushion in the race!)
This week I was planned for some recovery after my HM race last weekend and then a couple of tempo sessions mid week which I flew through despite the exertions of the HM, and gives me great confidence that my body can sustain the training levels.
HOWEVER.... I've been getting a funny feeling in my chest since Tuesday..
It feels like my heart is racing a little bit and while not painful or anything it just feels odd!!. Was away all week so when I got home yesterday I put on my HR strap and lay down on the bed. Interestingly when I had the feeling that the heart was racing my HRM was reading 48 bpm!!! On one level I was thinking that this was great, my fitness levels must be pretty good at the moment, but still worrying that I'm feeling like this. I slept till 10am this morning and I had a nap for an hour with my son this afternoon before my LSR - perhaps I have a virus or something!!
Didn't tell the better half yet (I'm a man so obviously ignore any signs or symptoms of something being wrong!!)

Today was a 16m run - longest run I've ever done by 2m. Didn't get out till 4.30 and had read a good few of the reports from today which really gave me an adrenaline shot going out the door!

Felt great on the run and had to consciously slow down. Did the first 8m in 1.08.21 (8.33 average) and felt good. Planned negative split again but didn't want to push too hard.
Took two gels with me today for the first time. Had one at 10m and one at 13m. Really felt a boost from them - how am I going to manage 6 of them in the race
Second 8m in 1.04.43 (8.05 average) for a total time of 2.13.16 for the 16m.
Legs felt strong and I think I could have done another 2-3 miles at the same pace!!!

Heart is still fluttering again this evening, but am going out for beers with friends. Am thinking I need a trip to doctor on Monday.
Anyway, I might die.... But I did 16M today and it felt great, Yippee!!!
Enjoy a celebratory beer / wine / ice cream or whatever tonight - you deserve it!!!