DCM 2015: Mentored Novices Thread

Toulouse wrote: »

Did my 15 mile LSR this morning. Came home to Laois to do it. I know I said I wouldn't but my Dublin lifeline is away this weekend and the last time I went running on my own in SCD I got very lost. Over dinner last night my Mum asked how far I had to run. I said '15 miles' and my Dad just raised his head, raised an eyebrow and said 'Ballyroan?'. 'Yes' I said, 'Ballyroan'.

Got up at 7 for the usual big bowl of porridge, chia and banana. Walked the dogs and then had a cuppa. Also had a couple of pints of water.

Left the house just before 9.30am. I was feeling a little apprehensive for some reason, perhaps it was the thoughts of running to Ballyroan! I had set my pace to 11:35 but took a couple of miles to even get anywhere near that.

It was fairly uneventful, no cows and only one dog who wasn't that angry. I had one pit-stop at 5.5 miles (too much water this morning!!). God was it tough going though. I didn't stash or carry any water and I only had one gel on me. I did bring a tenner for emergencies but I didn't really get thirsty until 13 miles and the only shop was back at 10 miles. I got really hungry at 8.5 miles so I took the gel and then after that all I could think about was food. I was surprised as I ate all around me last night and had a good breakfast.

Splits were:
12:15
11:51
11:43
11:29
11:30
10:57
11:28
11:32
11:28
11:46
11:34
11:31
11:15
11:18
10:52

which gives 15 miles at a 11:30min/mi average. Pretty happy with the consistency, I wasn't paying that much attention to the watch after the first couple of miles as in my mind it was just about getting it done. At about 13 miles I felt that if I stopped I wouldn't get going again. Didn't quite make it to Ballyroan, reckon it was about another mile down the road.

Calf is fine but I have a blister on the top of my second toe on my right foot. I know there's been a lot of talk about blisters but if someone could give me the TL;DR version that would be great. Burst or don't burst, that is the question.

Came home and baked a cake which I am going to murder later.

Nice going C enjoy that cake splits are nice and steady hopefully mine will go as well tomorrow.

TheBazman wrote: »

Did the Tullamore Half Marathon today as I wanted to do a half in August rather than the SSE in Sept. It was a real lesson for me. My pb was 1.41 on a tough course on the Aran Islands and given that Tullamore is fairly flat I had hoped to get a little inside that.

However...the heat was unbelievable. I've never felt so exhausted even from around half way. Talking to a few at the end and it seemed as if everyone struggled. Even quite a few people out on the road stopped stretching, walking etc.

I finished at 1.42.50 so almost 2 minutes outside my pb, but being honest the way I felt towards the end I'm actually happy with that. I was on target until around 12 or 13k but really struggled after that. It's funny that all you need is to pick up the pace by around 10 seconds/km but it just wasnt possible - the tank was empty.


So anyway - to the learnings for the DCM. The calculator would suggest that my marathon time is around 3.35. Ignore this! I have myself down to target 4 hours but in the back of my head I'm thinking that if I have a good day I could get close to 3.45...Ignore this!. My approach is normally to go out a little fast to build up a buffer for when I tire near the end. Ignore this!

If I am targeting 4 hours, then I need to genuinely pace myself for this. I do not want to be in agony and having to walk in the second half because I went out too fast. The other thing is that if the day is warm (like last year I guess) then stick another 15mins on to my target time. The heat will take that much out of you.

So in once sense while today was a struggle - I think it will genuinely benefit me by helping me to be a lot more realistic for the DCM.

This is a rare occasion that I can actually comment on a race where I took part ☺. I'm wondering if you were following the 1:40 pacers? I ran mine as 3 steady and 10 @ marathon pace effort which meant that I watched the 1:40 pacers pull away for the first few miles and then went past them between miles 5 and 6. The first half of the race was a good deal harder IMO but they seemed to be a little ahead of time and I was pretty surprised to hear them encouraging everyone to pick up the pace for the hills.

I'm a big advocate of maintaining effort rather than pace up hills. Maintaining pace up a hill is just asking for trouble as the effort required is going to really hurt. You're far better off slowing down and maintaining your effort up a hill and also maintaining effort and increasing pace when going downhill.

Don't be too sure about your final race pace yet. There's a lot of training and resting to go yet and plenty of time to get fitter yet.

annapr wrote: »

I see you're really taking the 'slow down' message to heart... :eek:

I'm surprised I haven't been given up on already

In all seriousness though, this pace was technically within "Easy" per Vdot of my last race. Running is the easy part, figuring out what speed to do it at is tough

Welcome back DG we missed you but we were well looked after

Welcome back DG nice to have you back.

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Was that 'The Price of Gold' the one about Swedish elite athletes ?

Yes! Compelling stuff, I must say.

Hi Sunny, Did a 16 miler this evening. i felt like death warmed up. brought my regular partner a cocker spaniel, was afraid he would find the 16 too much, he dragged me most of the way lol.. did 9min 30 miles... sore enough now all over. I LOVE MARATHON TRAINING.

Just looked over my splits again - that sick tummy really messed me up! I was going so well until midway through mile 15.

1 11:11 /mi 11:08 /mi -1 ft
2 11:11 /mi 11:21 /mi -24 ft
3 11:00 /mi 11:07 /mi -18 ft
4 11:14 /mi 11:37 /mi -48 ft
5 11:05 /mi 10:52 /mi 23 ft
6 11:38 /mi 11:41 /mi -12 ft
7 11:10 /mi 11:16 /mi -16 ft
8 11:31 /mi 11:30 /mi -1 ft
9 11:27 /mi 11:21 /mi 8 ft
10 11:06 /mi 10:44 /mi 39 ft
11 10:56 /mi 11:23 /mi -54 ft
12 10:55 /mi 10:49 /mi -1 ft
13 11:21 /mi 11:13 /mi 10 ft
14 11:26 /mi 11:05 /mi 36 ft
15 11:42 /mi 11:33 /mi 16 ft
16 11:55 /mi 12:17 /mi -43 ft
17 12:36 /mi 11:48 /mi 70 ft
18 13:19 /mi 12:58 /mi 30 ft
19 12:21 /mi 12:26 /mi -15 ft

What is your athletics background? Have you run before? What other sports have you taken part in and at what level?
I did a couple of 10k in the early 80s.nothing since.

Have you raced before? If so what are your PBs? (Date and distance please!)
03/08/15 10k 57:26. 22/08/15 10mile 1:33:56

Do you still need to take walk breaks in your training ? (No problem if you do)
On long training runs I run a mile ,then walk 2 mins. Haven't needed too do it on races.

How much training do you currently do incl cross training? Distances, cross training - whatever you think is relevant to your current fitness level.
30 miles last week

How many days a week do you run only?
5 days
What do you want to achieve? Dream finishing time and realistic finishing time? Or just complete it in no specified time?
I'll be happy to finish it.4:30 would be the dream.

What marathon programme are you following/intending to use?
22 week programme from Irish Runner magazine.

Welcome back Dubgal!

Funny how these LSRs affect me, I am wide awake now after been knackered tired earlier and all the way through to this evening. Will get to bed soon anyways, planning on doing my recovery run in the morning. Last run in London for me in this little break.

Today's run went well but it was tough at spots. It was a challenge in ways planning a route but managed well and only had to do a small little loop for the last 0.3mile or so. Started at 9:20 running from my hotel on the North side of Hyde Park doing half an anti-clockwise lap of the park. Linking to Green Park at Hyde Park corner and then doing half a clockwise lap there before running past Buckingham Palace and up the Mall. Enjoyed those segments a lot and was cruising as I turned at Trafalgar Square to run down Whitehall. Ran down past Downing St to Parliament Sq and around the block there (past Westminster Abbey and Big Ben) anti clockwise before going across Westminster bridge and onto the South Bank. Crowds were starting to build there and I needed to slow down and weave a small bit, used the toilet facilities in a McDonald's there (aside from milkshakes and the very odd Big Mac that is all they are good for). Once I got past the London Eye it all opened up along the bank and started meeting loads of runners doing their runs. It was interesting to me as there was some real flyers about, just to note as well that non of the best form runners I saw were wearing earphones. They were smooth, almost effortless machines, one lady that passed me looked a bit like Jessica Ennis (I should say the ridiculously great and lovely Jessica Ennis that she is) but obviously was not her. This lady was clad in Nike top to toe.
I got down as far as the Tower Bridge then after a few miles and ran across...this was very cool too and then I did a full lap around the Tower of London before taking off back down the North Bank.
North Bank was more challenging as plenty of ducking and diving around buildings for a bit to find the route but managed grand. Having to run up steps at points were challenging!
Eventually at around 11 miles I was back down at Westminster Bridge and decided to stop for a min just to have a stretch and think about the next 7-8 miles or my route. Decided the South Bank was gonna be it but in the opposite direction to what I had ran and down towards Battersea Power Station.
That choice proved a good one and was able to rattle off a few more miles and cross back over the Thames on the Chelsea bridge. I was getting properly into the guess the road/path to follow but managed fine. Spotted a sign saying Westminster and said I'll follow that with the idea it would bring me right back to Parliament Sq and after 3 miles or so it did. Started to retrace my route then back up Whitehall to Trafalgar and back down the Mall towards the Palace. It was around 12-12:30 now and the heat had gone up a notch and good crowds around so started to feel it with those two challenges. Had to stop at traffic lights on the Mall and that hurt...really rather stay going than stop. Ploughed on through the middle of Green Park then. But then had another two min stop at traffic lights this at Hyde Park corner and that was even tougher to get going from. I had just over 17 miles done then and knew I was gonna find it tough, said I'd plough on right up the middle of Hyde Park knowing that I should be fairly close to 19 miles when I get back to my starting point. The last mile was tough going and yet I kept going even though my pace had gone to hell and heart rate upped too. Before that point down around Hyde Park corner when I was stuck at those lights with 17 miles done I said today is all about these last two miles to come, it's just I needed to run 17 miles first to get the feeling of that into my legs and to handle the pain and slog that is to come now. I just pulled myself up and said keep going till you hear the beep on the watch. I was delighted when it came, finished in 3 hours 16mins 16secs. My longest ever run by a good 20 plus mins and 2 miles.
Back to the hotel then I went with some slow watching for stretching and an Epsom salt bath.

Distance 19miles
Avg pace 10:20min/mi
Avg heart rate 151
Splits
10:49
10:13
10:39
10:08
10:46
10:15
9:52
10:24
10:39
10:01
10:41
9:51
10:25
10:03
10:11
10:34
9:58
10:12
10:35

Carried about 600ml of water (with high 5 zero) in it and drank all that. Would have taken more if I could. Took an ISOgel at 6.5miles and one at 13miles with 4 cliff shot bloks...one every 3-4 miles or so. Also took two sports beans I brought with me, seriously sugary things those, doubt I'd use them over something like the Cliff Shot Bloks.

diego_b wrote: »

Apologies for the nutty long post there, typing on my phone so had no idea of how long it was. Hope I don't bore the arse of ye reading it!

Nice run Diego B, careful not to have warm bath to soon after running
can cause swelling in Mussles. Sounds like great run, nothing like change
of seneary. Great achievement getting 19 under your belt

diego_b wrote: »

Apologies for the nutty long post there, typing on my phone so had no idea of how long it was. Hope I don't bore the arse of ye reading it!

Well done on the LSR diego_b. Particularly as you had to try and find your route!

Another great accomplishment is to be able to type such a long report on your phone.

Just under 2 mile recovery run done. Very tight the first mile, but felt much better on the 2nd. Never would have thought I ran 19 miles yesterday! Now a few days of rest until Tuesday evening!

diego_b wrote: »

Apologies for the nutty long post there, typing on my phone so had no idea of how long it was. Hope I don't bore the arse of ye reading it!

Sounds awesome, I love London!