DCM 2019 - Mentored Novices Thread

Just got a ticket in the last 5mins if anyone has given up maybe try again now.

Hi All

I will be attempting my first marathon in October.. have been gradually increasing my weekly mileage since last March. I have ran 60km last week.The week before I ran 35 km..I have not been using any training plan. I originally had never even considered a marathon but as my weekly mileage continued to rise I decided to sign up for the Galway bay run in October.

I have a half marathon best of 1:44.

I sweat a lot when out running and am wondering how good running gels are?
The last month I have attempted to run the full marathon distance but have hit a wall at mile 20 and stopped each time..all though the route I have been running has a lot of hills.

I find running a lot of hills are a good help in training. Maybe I will try a flatter route the next time I try to run all of the 26miles.

Just wanted to share my experience with marathon training so far..Apologies for the random post!

Runner 79 wrote: »

Hi All

I will be attempting my first marathon in October.. have been gradually increasing my weekly mileage since last March. I have ran 60km last week.The week before I ran 35 km..I have not been using any training plan. I originally had never even considered a marathon but as my weekly mileage continued to rise I decided to sign up for the Galway bay run in October.

I have a half marathon best of 1:44.

I sweat a lot when out running and am wondering how good running gels are?
The last month I have attempted to run the full marathon distance but have hit a wall at mile 20 and stopped each time..all though the route I have been running has a lot of hills.

I find running a lot of hills are a good help in training. Maybe I will try a flatter route the next time I try to run all of the 26miles.

Just wanted to share my experience with marathon training so far..Apologies for the random post!

Hi Runner 79 and welcome. Have a look at the plans in the opening post and see if you like the look of either. I'd recommend taking a structured approach to training for the marathon and it's not too late to start following a plan. The Boards plan looks like it might be a good fit. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding your post, but please don't run 26 miles all at once in training. Leave that to the day itself.

Maybe it is crazy but I just feel like I need to know I can run the full distance..

I run all year around not just to sign up for races It's a way of life for me and I love running.
Will have a look at training plans but I just feel like going back to week one of a training plan would be a backwards step for me.

Thanks for your feedback

pd79 wrote: »

Week 1 review

Week one went well, did 25k over three runs, found run on sat difficult with heat, need to go out earlier in day. Also need to drink more water

Took it easy on all runs, hoping for 5hr or just under for marathon, doing lsr at 7;00 pace, and midweek runs at 6:45, would this be about right ?
I did dream about marathon all night Friday night, dreamt I couldnt find start line, got lost etc! Had bit of a mental wobble thinking I wont be up to the challenge, but I'm just going to take it one run at a time .
Here's to week two!

I think you're running too fast. If you put it into context: a 5 hour marathon is approx 7:00/km - so your runs are all at PMP or quicker. Try and slow your runs right down.

DBB wrote: »

Well done everyone... One week down, 17 to go! Eek!
Can I ask our fab experts... I've deviated a bit from the start of the marathon plan, in that I signed up for the Clontarf Half next Saturday, as a goal to get my miles up over the past few months for the start of the marathon block itself. It'll be the furthest I'll ever have run in one go, ever!
I've been following the HHN1 half marathon plan, but due to starting it a little earlier, I've upped my lsr to just short of 18km yesterday... Rightly or wrongly There has been a nice, gradual build-up to this point.
Now... I'm categorically not one of the people running too fast as I'm training to heart rate, which dictates my speed, and I know I'll never set the world on fire with my paces anyway! I'm a plodder, and that's fine with me
Anyway, my question is this... Once I get next week's HM under my belt (hopefully!), how do I go about merging back into the marathon plan? I plan to follow the HHN1 Marathon plan.
For instance, do I drop my mileage to fit with the HH plan? Or not?! I assume I'll drop the miles in the week after the HM at least, to recover. But what then?

Can I also ask, what intervals do you guys advise taking gels during long runs?

I'm very tempted to adopt the Bananaleaf Method for race reporting... Hopefully I'll have something to report on next week! Eek again!

Thanks all!

Take a down week after the half - you'll be glad of it. Are you plan on doing the Race Series 10k?

Wondering if you can help answer wondering thoughts... I am following the DCM advanced plan... this week it’s

Monday rest
Tuesday 4-6 miles
Weds 4-6 miles + 5x50 strides
Thursday 4-6 miles
Friday rest
Saturday 4 miles
Sunday 8-10 miles

The problem is - I have booked a sports deep tissue massage for Friday night and on Saturday I have the Roscommon 10 mile race.

Questions: How best should I rejig my week? Is it ok to proceed with the massage the night before the 10 miler? I am guessing I just swop Sat and Sun around? And I know you are going to tell me that Roscommon should be done 1 min per mile slower than PMP?

Well done and best of luck to all those who got marathon entries this morning.

Last week's training went fine - 27 miles in total including an 11-mile long run (was meant to be 10 but I ended up a bit further from my house than I'd calculated...).

I was put in touch with a group who are running about my pace (10.20 and slower) for the long runs so I went out with them on Sunday and really enjoyed it. Up to now I've been doing most of the long runs on my own because whenever I would run with clubmates I always ended up speeding up without even realising it. So it's nice to have a choice of running with company again!

Next week I'm planning a speed or hill session on Tuesday, short easy run Wednesday, longer easy run Thursday, rest Friday, easy parkrun Saturday and a 14 mile long run on Sunday. The Sunday run will be the longest I've done in a couple of years, but I've done 13 a couple of times so it should be fine. Looking forward to getting stuck in to the plan for a second week!

Late to the party so hope its ok posting this now?

•Have you raced before?
I have done various race distances mainly 5Km and 10Km (Raheny 5mile is my favourite) and I completed the DCM 1/2 marathon last year, my longest race but I have completed this distance during training a few times.
Recent PBs are as follows 5Km 20:58 2018 (21:16 May19)
10Km 46:54 2018
1/2 Marathon 01:47:18(Date and distance please!)

•Do you still need to take walk breaks in your training?
No
•I'm training anywhere between 2 and 5 times a week. I'm working shift and find it very hard on nights to get motivated to do anything. I run anything from 3 miles to 10 miles at present at varied paces. Tempos are usually 3 to 5 miles @ 7:30-8:00 Min/Mile, LSR done @ 8:30-9:00 Min/Mile, Hills done at 6 Min/Mile and 400s @ 1 min:20secs. Cross training is non existent, and on my long weeks working motivation is very low. I think I could be preforming a lot better than I am with the right mindset.
• I would love to hit 3:30:00 but realistically I'm probably looking at 4 hours or sub 4, third goal if all goes horribly wrong is to just finish.
•Realistically 4 days but I can push that to 5 on my short weeks if not six and then 3 on my long week working. Looking at the Intermediate plan so far but as I have never tackled this sort of training it is very hard to make your mind up as not every plan will suit everyone.
•My biggest fear is not finishing. Or making a bags of my training and feeling like I could have given/done more
•I used to follow my dad around the road running circuit when we were kids and after giving up athletics in my early teens I though now was as good a time as any to get back into it and do some of the races my dad did

mister paul wrote: »

A quick question for those more experienced than I with this whole marathon thing, I'm following the meno plan after talking to people from these parts who've used it before and reckon I'll be able for it. Just starting week 2 now.

My 5k PB (May '19) is 19:44 (also ran 19:46 in the same month)

Based on the "more accurate" marathon calculator (https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/marathon-calculator/) and a plan that should average 44 miles per week during marathon training, I should be able to run a 3:24 marathon. That's a pace of about 7:47 per mile.

The general consensus seems to be that other calculators are relatively accurate for every distance up to and including half-marathon but they have me running about 3:10 for the marathon (not a snowballs hope in hell of hitting that).

So my question, should my 10k, 10m and HM target paces be derived using my 5k time on the tinman calculator, or should I enter the project 538 marathon time into tinman and use that as a basis to get the other paces?

Or is there a third way of calculating them that I haven't considered?

There's a fairly big difference between working up from 5k and down from marathon (Project 538 estimate).

Distance|Project 538|Pace|Tinman|Pace
26.2|3:23:59|7:47|3:09:59|7:15
13.1|1:37:57|7:28|1:31:14|6:57
10m|1:13:19|7:19|1:08:18|6:49
10k|44:08|7:06|41:06|6:36

Hope the question makes sense to someone...

I’d be interested to hear from those who’ve done the Meno plan to see what they did. I’d a quick look at Murph D’s old log and it seems he used McMillan for a guide for the FD10 mile using his 5 mile PB. I’m not sure what his training paces were based on.

You could plug in a few of your more recent PBs into a calculator and take an average? You could also do the sessions using the HR guidance given by Meno but I appreciate that’s not for everyone.

[So I’ve decided to sign up to the race series south dublin 10k... did anyone do it last year? What’s the course like and the parking situation (still not over missing the race series 1/2 a few years back due to the traffic debacle ) I loved the Fingal 10k course just wondering how it compares. Thanks!

I enjoyed the course, not sure on parking as I used my work carpark on the day and walked but I didn't hear any complaints over it. Well organised and marked out, started in Grange castle and headed out onto the duel carriageway up towards corcaigh park, it's a slight uphill like swords. Then into the park, seems tight on Google maps but it was well strung out by that point.out of the park at the far side and down through clondakin for a water stop. Turn left onto the canal path, I found this the hardest part as it's just a long straight. Under the bridge at Grange castle and it's about 800 m to the finish then. I really enjoyed it for a change,but like you I loved the swords route, I'm local so probably a bias ��

Soulsun wrote:

would regular legs massage be of any benefit?

Up to yourself really. Some people get them once a month, others never! If you've niggles at all, then might be no harm to go for one but otherwise no need for one right now.
Personally I get them a fair bit but really because one of my besties is a physio and I get a nice mates rate

Mr. Guappa wrote: »

Hi kemcloughlin!

I have a couple of general observations based on your posts so far and your Strava history:

You are running far too fast on ALL your runs, you can afford to take it much, much easier. You are also racing far too regularly - the marathon is a goal that you need to fully commit to. Do you have many more races planned after the weekend?

I also worry that you may have been overly ambitious with your choice of plan. It has a lot of miles for someone relatively new to running - would you consider taking a look at the two plans in the first post if this thread? Both have less miles than the plan you are following.

Mr Guappa, thank you for investing time in us! This running too fast things makes me smile - as everyone is faster than me - but I understand the benefit of running slow, having read the posts. The race thing is an addiction I have developed - trying to prove to myself I am getting better - but as you say my goal now as to be DCM and I tear around the park in the winter.

I am confused though. I have looked at the different prediction time pages and every page I go to is different - some times by an hour. So its impossible for me to know what I am supposed to be aiming for pace wise. Is a sub 5 hour marathon realistic for someone with a 5K time of 31:31 and a 10K time of 1:05:33 or am I fooling myself?

I think I will go with the HHN1 plan from now on - but I need to be able to work out the paces for the LSR and the Easy ones. confused? very.