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DCM 2015: Mentored Novices Thread
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Hi JacEim, enjoy the step back week, you've earned it
Before you get a pass (and I'm going to pass that sign-off to Clearlier ), what's Saturday's parkrun? Is it an actual parkrun (*not a race race*) or tempo or...just five miles running around a park?!
Damn, you were in quick!!!:D
Can I claim ignorance and say I don't know :roll eyes:
Seriously - all it says is 5M park run fartlek in 45 mins..0 -
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You will have heard of fast twitch and slow twitch fibres. The speedsters have a glut of fast twitch fibres and endurance runners will have an overflow of slow twitch fibres. Slow twitch fibres, when trained to cope with miles and miles and miles in the right manner, will stave off fatigue, especially in the later stages of the marathon. Slow twitch fibres, especially for novices, thrive and multiply on many slow miles.
You might have an idea whether you are a speedster or a diesel engine. Bearing in mind the training you have done, you can compare your Pbs on a vdot table. If they fall off, it can suggest that you need to focus on endurance.
The good news is that you have medium twitch fibres and these are fickle little devils. You can recruit them to act as slow twitch fibres by sloooowing down your training runs. Bonus!
The bad news is, training at too fast a pace will leave these medium twitch fibres as exactly that. And that is where the wheels will come off on marathon day. You will have loads of miles under your belt, but loads of slightly-too-fast miles...and a healthy contingent of non-recruited medium twitch fibres.
These guys are no good at keeping fatigue at bay after 15 miles. They collapse and you're looking at hitting the wall a few miles later....
We recommend that your easy, recovery and lsrs (80-90% of your marathon prep) should be 45-90 seconds per mile slower than your PMP (planned marathon pace).
A four hour marathon is around 9m/mi pace so for slow twitch recruitment to be effective, you would ideally train at 9:45-10:30 pace.
A 3:40 marathon (not imposssible) is around 8:20 pace (0ff the top of my head) so you have been doing your lsrs at nearly PMP. Slow down to 9-10 m/mi pace and you will get that medium-to-slow twitch conversion going. You have two months to do this so all is not lost
This is the best explanation of fast, slow and medium twitch fibers I have ever read:) I think I can now fully appreciate why it's a Long SLOW run!!0 -
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Weekly post on the way but in the meantime, here's some homework for those of ye with a yen to be productive on this wet and wintery Monday night
Also should be useful for our Novices more recently come on board.
FOCUS FOR THE WEEK:
Listening to your body
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=95891709&postcount=746
Form
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95800665
WEEKS:
T-17 Now is the time
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96051326&postcount=1207
T-16 slowing down to go faster
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96145807&postcount=1565
T-15
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96220837&postcount=1790
T-14 links blank
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96308236&postcount=2037
T-13
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96395413&postcount=2294
T-12 back to the start
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96485492&postcount=2534
T-11 help I am eating the fridge!
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96566801&postcount=2768
T-10 the calm before the storm
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=96653943&postcount=31230 -
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REVIEW AND WEEK AHEAD
So you all survived your abandonment pretty well :rolleyes:
Last week saw the HHM1 plan ramp up the midweek mlr to seven miles and the lsr to 15! This week you go higher and higher with 8 miles mid week and 16 at the weekend. Many of you will be doing what used to be a week's training in. One. Day :cool:
The boards plan had a midweek easy 8 (dossville) and 19 at the weekend. This week sees you ramp it up again with another easy 8 but followed by 4 plus strides on Thursday....and 20 miles on Saturday!! This is the first of two scheduled 20 milers so take it easy, there is NO pressure to get it *right*, got that?? Take it slooooooow.
The EP group are sorted: lots of welly cross dancing, right?! We expect lots of pictures of drunken core sessions while rolling in the mud....
RACING
Some of you are racing this week...FeenaM, you're gently pacing a friend in Dingle, yes?! Use that discipline and save yourself for the Race Series, I'm excited about how you'll do in that. Diego, will get back to you in a bit on your plan.
JacEim, you have a free pass for ONE or the other...
Anyone else? Own up now, remember the running community is a small one.....hehehe
UPS AND DOWNS...AND UPS AGAIN
Some really great and always interesting lsr reports, keep them coming. There have been lots of comments about how far you've all come and sometimes among the target doubts, niggles and near despair you have needed to remind yourselves.
This is where you are all really gelling as a team. There have been some great pep talks, reminders and motivation going on.
FBOT finished with a timely pep talk and in between we had some pointers from Murph and more pep from Kennyg
Also:
Thanks chrislad for
"getting to where we are now is an achievement in itself"
And
JacEim for
"you must expect great things from yourself before you can do them"
UP THE ANTE
By now you should all be running minimum four days per week. Gym sessions and *other* sporting activities should be taking a back seat. All your energy from now needs to be diverted to running. At this stage, you can't afford to lose a session because you are too tired from gym work. The gym work is banked now and you only need to keep that plate spinning once a week now with a gentle to moderate session. If it's a hard one, make sure it's only once a week and precedes a rest or recovery day.
NIGGLES
Niggles are ever-present, especially at this stage. The trick is to stop them developing into anything more sinister. IMO, and this is strictly personal, you should aim to knock it on the head as soon as possible.
- If it doesn't go away during a run, stop.
- If it gets worse during a run, stop, see a physio.
- If RICE is having no benefit, see a physio.
- If it's still there after 3-4 days, see a physio.
Better safe than sorry....
Prevention is better than cure and those of you following a regular core and strengthening routine will have given yourselves a head start here.
Have a look at this again and I can't repeat TRR's advice enough should you have to take time off:
"Look at the training you missed and try put it into context. It will amount to about 5% of your entire marathon plan. When I sit down and do out a training plan I hope that I can cover 90% of it. There will be days that you miss through sickness, work, tiredness, life etc. Just accept these and concentrate on what you have done and what you will do rather than what you haven't done. If you get to the start line healthy, this last week or so won't even register!"
Hip niggles are also very common during marathon training, prevent yours collapsing and incorporate this into your routine. Wish I'd had this 12 months ago!
No harm having a pain reminder while we're here:
For degrees of pain try this
For running through pain read this.
And for the fun type of pain...hehe...read this.
King Mambo reminded me that we need to have a proper pain discussion this week for pain management during racing. Tunguska, we need you on board this week, calling Tunguska....
Neilthefukeone, you're on your way back, great to hear. Take it easy! Eyeball kid, keep us posted, Phoebas too. JacEim, that heart still behaving? Toulouse and Diego, how are those calves and achilles? Toulouse, have you got supportive wellies
Mrs Mc have your aches settled down after treatment etc? And Stevo how's that back?
Finally...skittles, really hope you're on the mend soon but you must take whatever time you need to get fully better. Wishing you the very best.
HELLO AND GOODBYE
I don't think we've said goodbye to anyone last week have we?! Yay...
We've said hello to sudzy, neady83, Sunny Disposition and PeterD61. Welcome guys and don't be shy, they're a really friendly bunch here. Also do not listen to what they say about me....tis all fibs
hope I haven't missed anyone?
AOB
Some other interesting and timely discussions about another lsr meet, night time running (stay visible), supplementing (not necessary if diet is good) and pre and post-lsr nutrition. I find as a general rule of thumb that I can stomach carb-based meals before a lsr (and the night before) and protein-based ones straight after. But you all know by now....NOW IS THE TIME
There has been some discussion re weight control with all these lsrs and 'eat the fridge syndrome' :eek: Try to get something into you within half an hour of your run, preferably protein heavy but with carbs too. Like smashiner, I love chocolate milk. Scrambled eggs on toast are a goody too. There is a formula that you burn 100 calories per mile run. NOT NECESSARILY TRUE. This depends on a range of factors so that 17 mile run is not a licence to eat/drink an extra 1700 calories....-and don't forget your gels, drinks and what-not on the run have to be counted too.
Prosecco post-run is generally calorie-free tho
There has also been some target worrying from post #3454 onwards. Don't. By now you will have established your training zones and be quite regulated on how fast/slow you run. We'll do a whole session on targets at the right time, now is not the time. Put them put of your head (see how I said plural). There is no one target, no 'only target', no 'if I don't get this target, it has all been in vain' target. BE CONSERVATIVE in your target (when we let you think about it ) and in your race plan.
Annapr very wisely said"Until you do the distance, you don't know if you can do the distance"
5 stars there missus
But I should say, looks like the 4:30 group are going to totally rock
FFTW: matters of the heart and keeping you on the straight and narrow
KEEPING A RECORD OF YOUR RESTING HEART RATE
This week, I want you to start to keep a record of your resting heart rate. Here's a general link from the nhs re taking your pulse and here's a more running specific article by the US coach, Jeff Gaudette.
Your morning resting heart rate can be a really useful tool, especially at this stage in proceedings. As Gaudette recommends, you need to have a record of around three weeks before any real patterns can be established.
An elevated rate (over seven bpm) can indicate general tiredness, fatigue from training or - as career move taught me - even that you are coming down with something. So it might be that invisible little nudge that warns you to back off slightly just in time. We all want you to make it to the startline!
AND TAKING THE RACING LINE
So while you're busy checking that form, tucking in those abs, running tall, breathing, relaxing, smiling, waving that wand....I now want you to practice taking the racing line.*
What is the racing line I hear you say?
The racing line is the shortest line between Point A and Point B.
Have a look here, old wikipedia will explain it better than me
This is very important, you could save yourself 100s of metres come DCM Day by applying this approach....and you will thank yourself, trust me
So needless to say, keep safety in mind and do NOT attempt the racing line approach in busy traffic :eek:
*Juggling on the run next week.....
Happy racing line running Novices**
**I take no responsibility for any run-ins with traffic, ok?!0 -
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Hi conor, thanks for that update Was a 20 miler on the schedule? At this stage, throwing in an extra unscheduled mile or three on the lsr can have repercussions. Most plans are carefully structured with the week before and the week ahead in mind. Of course, plans can be changed but be a little wary at this stage of changing on the hoof....
And yes, was delighted to see your observation about posture helping. I've had very similar experiences recently. A long run will tire your body everywhere, and tiredness manifests itself in a slumping torso. A slumped torso does not allow the hips to drive forward and a lot of energy therefore is wasted as the hips sway sideways. We don't want that! Be careful also to keep a balance between a strong torso AND glutes. Runners can be guilty of neglecting the glutes in favour of strengthening the psoas and abs.
I'm following the boards plan DG, so it was a 19-miler on the schedule. Even though I thought about it around the halfway mark, I had Murph_D's wise words ringing in my head from my doubles question last week....
So I stuck to the plan rather than adding the extra mile just so I could tick the 20-miler box a week early.And if you depart too much from the plan, well then it's a different plan.
PS: Signed up for the marathon tonight too!:eek:0 -
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Did'nt check the plan this morning before heading out for my 3 mile run. Hals plans two four miles this week just in case anyone else does the same. I will make it up during the week. Beautiful morning for a run. Happy Tuesday 0
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Great to have you back DB This is straight out of my log
Saturday
19.80 miles @ 10:00/mile
Disclaimer No. 1: Moving pace was a bit slower than this as I forgot to turn off the auto stop on my watch & I stopped for a drinkie on each loop - I forgot to look at the clock when I finished the 6th loop
Disclaimer No. 2: This LSR was longer than prescribed because the looped course I did was 3.275 & I couldn't bring myself to stop before the end
I figured there'd be no better way to get around this weekends LSR then to sign up for the Craughwell looped half marathon and tack on another few loops to make up the difference. The half was 4 loops and the marathon was 8 loops so I figured 6 would sort me out. It was a really well organised (& cheap) low key race. There was a clock but there was no official timing, each person kept count of their own number of loops and told the organisers at the end what their finish time was.
I left two bottles of electrolytes and some gels at the table provided at the start. There was also a table with plenty of water and half way around the loop there was another table with flat coke, jellies, water, jaffa cakes - you name it, it was there. There were only about 25/30 people at the start line at 9am but some had got a head start and begun at 8am (they had a separate clock).
I was determined to stick to my LSR pace and as soon as we hit off I fell into line with two lovely ladies from the Marathon Club Ireland (MCI) - there were a lot of runners with this singlet on it. We chatted away and the girls told me about their amazing running CVs and their plans for the future. We were also joined by a guy in the same club who was running his 11th marathon this year. There were some great stories exchanged and before we knew it we were nearly finished the second loop (the miles were flying by). The girls eased back a little bit but 11 marathon man and myself kept a nice steady pace together.
I found the third loop quite tough and was wondering if I'd have it in the legs to keep going at all but by the end of the third loop I was picking up again. I could not believe how quickly the fourth loop went by (miles 10 - 13ish). I was on my own for a bit of this as marathon man stopped to put on compression socks but he soon caught me and we chatted away. Loop 5 went equally as quickly with some of the faster guys passing us and us telling them how great they were doing. As we passed the clock for the fifth time, there was a nice crowd gathering to cheer us on. I stopped to take a gel and knock back a lot of water & off I went again. My legs were screaming a little bit now but the distraction of chatting to marathon man was working a treat. I was keeping an eye on my watch and knew I was going a bit too fast but I couldn't ask this guy to slow down a bit and I didn't want to loose him either as it was such a great help to have him (turns out he does some motivational speaking, I think he was working his magic on me).
I had broken the loop into 6 sections after the third loop so I was mentally ticking them off as we made our way around - I felt this really helped. We stopped for some flat coke at the half way mark on the last loop (my last loop, his 6th out of 8th) and off we went again. I was feeling really good - my hamstrings were a bit tight - but I felt I could have kept going. It did cross my mind to do another loop or even to finish the marathon but I knew better and was happy to have passed the 19 mile mark. Coming up to the clock for my last time, I thanked marathon man for being such great company and wished him well on his last two loops.
I wish there was a looped marathon I could do my LSRs on every week as it made it so much easier to keep going with all the little discussions and chats along the way. I usually run with earphones but I left them behind me today and didn't miss them in the slightest. To boot, I got a half marathon medal, a nice bit of bling for a training run.
Straight to Salthill for a paddle in the icy cold water after and my legs are feeling good. Delighted to have my longest run ever behind me0 -
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In mornings. 59 mins, harder to get pacing exactly right in
Mornings. But all went well.
I find the same Kennyg, falling out of bed and slipping my feet straight into runners really messes with my run times. On race days or long run days, I get up and have breakfast at least 2 hours before I run and I'm fine but weekday runs before work are a little more difficult 0
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