Dopey on the Run

Wow! That was a whirlwind.  It’s now nearly 14 days after Marathon Weekend and I am just sitting down to write this.  So much as happened since January 1 .  January 2 was travel day, with a 6:40 am flight from Milwaukee to Orlando.  I figured getting up in the early morning to make that flight was good practice for getting up at 2:00 am for each runDisney event.  The flight to Orlando was uneventful, quite pleasant.  We collected our checked-in luggage and picked up our rental car without delay and headed off to Disney’s Boardwalk Resort.   We arrived at Boardwalk before noon, way before our room was going to be ready.  We parked and headed straight for Epcot for lunch.  After lunch we toured Epcot and checked out the recently opened World Celebration area behind Spaceship Earth and sat for a photo with Walt at Dreamers Point.  After that we headed to the Beach and Yacht Club resorts to check out t...

With the first day of the Dopey Challenge just days away, it’s time to zero in on pacing strategy. When I first started thinking about doing Dopey, I created a spreadsheet modeling different run/walk intervals and paces to see where I would end up.  Before I started training, I had this delusion that I could still run a 2:15 half marathon and a 4:45 full marathon on back-to-back days.   While participating in the Badgerland Striders Marathon Buildup program over the summer, I ran several long runs, 18 or more miles, under an 11-minute pace.  So 4:45 was perhaps a stretch, but 5 hours was within reason.   So I backed off my expectations to a 2:30 half-marathon and a 5-hour full marathon. Then I started my Dopey Challenge training plan with back-to-back training runs and Dopey Simulations with 4-consecutive runs.  That was eye-opening as to how hard day 4, the full marathon, was going to be.  After the first Dopey Simul...

Week 17.  The final week of training before runDisney Marathon Week.  Week 17 was the second week of taper with total of only 15 miles on the plan.  This week was more about letting the lingering aches and pains heal, getting those last strength training sessions in, and staying healthy.  Oh, and deciding what running gear to take to Florida and figuring out how to pack it all up. Here is how my actual mileage compared to the plan for the week starting December 25: Week 17 Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total Plan Rest 4 Rest 3 Rest 8 Rest 15 Actual Rest 4.2 Strength 3.2 Strength 8.1 Rest 15.5 As has been typical for me over the years, the last taper week felt sluggish and achy.  The 4 miles on Tuesday was much harder than it should have been.  But I think that is just the effect of cutting back weekly mileage from 45 to 15 miles, along with working out the lingering fatigue and soreness. Experience had taught me not to panic, I...

🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 Week 16 and 17 of my training plan were two weeks of taper before the main event. Week 16 ended on Christmas weekend and week 17 ends on New Year’s weekend.  I followed the Hal Higdon plan as my model for tapering.  Maintain the intensity but cut back the volume, about one-half of the longest weekly mileage in week 16 and about one-third of the longest weekly mileage in the week 17.  Higdon doesn’t state that in the plan, but that is the model that I have followed through decades of marathon training, and his plan seems to fit that model.  My longest mileage was 45 miles in week 15,  so Week 16 was 22 miles and week 17 is 15 miles. I also included 1-2 strength training days each week. Seems easy until you factor in the hazards of the holiday season.  Week 16 included the days leading up to Christmas which included last minute shopping, planning, and prepping for the holiday weekend, and having adult chi...

Week 16 was a recovery and taper week after my third and final Dopey Simulation in week 15.  Like week 14, I was feeling the effects of the 45 miles in week 15.  But I was able to approach week 16 with optimism because I knew I was over the hump.  The hardest part would be maintaining focus through the holidays and staying healthy. Here is how my actual mileage compared to the plan for the week starting December 18: Week 16 Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total Plan Rest 5 Rest 4 Rest 12 Rest 21 Actual Rest 5.5 Strength 4.5 12.3 Rest Strength 22.3 I covered 22.3 miles at an average pace of 10:26 /mile, right on target for a typical recovery week. I had some latent soreness from the previous week’s Dopey Simulation, but I felt like I had less fatigue than in the previous recovery week. I was also able to get two strength training sessions in, which is important after a week with no strength training.   The plan called for 12 miles on Saturday, but holiday...

I made it to the final test.  Week 15 of my 18-week training plan for the runDisney Dopey Challenge.  Week 18 is Marathon Week itself.  After this week, I have only two taper weeks before we leave for Disney. After week 14 ended with some beautiful weather for December in Wisconsin, winter returned on Monday of week 15.  It was 30°F colder on Monday, December 11, than on Friday, December 8.  With the windchill it was even colder.  So I headed to Planet Fitness to run on a treadmill.   The plan called for an easy 5 miles.  I, of course, over did it and ran 6.2 miles and pushed a little harder than I needed to.   That left me sore and fatigued and wondering if I would be recovered in time to start the final Dopey Simulation on Wednesday.   The weather forecast for the rest of the week was a little warmer with no precipitation, but still relatively cold. I was starting to get nervous an...

Week 15, the third and final Dopey Simulation Week.  I had a lot of anxiety getting through this week, knowing that if I made it through the 20-miler on Saturday, I could cruise through the next two weeks of taper before heading to Walt Disney World.   I vlog’d each of the simulation runs this time. In retrospect, it was great practice for Disney because I know now that I can manage carrying the GoPro on long runs.  Here’s a video from Day 1 and 2: Here is how my actual mileage compared to the plan for the week starting December 11: Week 15 Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total Plan 5 Rest 3 5 10 20 Rest 43 Actual 6.2 Rest 3.1 5.1 10.4 20.3 Rest 45.1   I covered 45.1 miles at an average pace of 11:36 min/mile, a little slower than my previous simulation week in week 13.   My average pace for each of the Dopey Simulation days were 10:27 /mi for the 3-miler, 10:40 /mi for the 5-miler, 11:25 /mi for the 10-miler, and 12:37 /mi for the 20-miler.  C...