Week 6 of Dopey Challenge Training
Monday, December 15, 2014 - Sunday, December 21, 2014
37.5 miles completed
166.65 miles completed in Dopey Challenge training so far
813.26 miles completed in 2014 so far
Monday, December 15: 60-minute Core class
Oy, another Monday. But weirdly enough, I actually feel...excited (??) for this week. I cannot believe that one week from now I'll be tapering for Marathon Weekend! Woohoo!
Speaking of taper...I need to decide how to handle it from a Core perspective. I'm definitely planning on keeping up yoga during taper (may try to add back in my Friday class so that I'm going Friday and Sunday), but I'm not sure if I should keep up with Core class. Core is really, really tough so I'm afraid if I keep it going it'll break my taper. Hmm...having said that, I'm leaning toward keeping it in my schedule right now and just making modifications as usual. Class was good today though - I felt like I kept up pretty well overall.
My remaining pre-taper schedule/weather forecast...
Today - 60-minute Core class (sort of wish I was running today - forecasted high of 54 degrees!!)
Tomorrow - Rest Day (sort of wish I was running today - forecasted high of 50 degrees!!)
Wednesday 12/17 - 2.5-mile treadmill run
Thursday 12/18 - 5-mile treadmill run
Friday 12/19 - 10-mile run (high of 32 degrees, 0% chance of precipitation)
Saturday 12/20 - 20-mile run (high of 35 degrees, 20% chance of precipitation)
Overall the forecast is better than what I was looking at on Thursday...a few degrees colder but less chance of precipitation all week is definitely a good thing. When I was training for the 2012 marathon I couldn't do my 20-miler at all because of a blizzard...and then when I was training for Goofy 2013 I had two 20-milers on my schedule - I managed to get the first 20-miler done but cut the second one short at 16 miles because the weather was awful and I was miserable. So I am 1-for-3 when it comes to 20-milers during training. Hopefully after this weekend I'll be 2-for-4!!
In trip planning news, I tried again with the BoG Fastpass+ and was able to push ours back - I finally figured out that if I go to the page where the available windows of time are listed, I could just refresh and make different times come up. It seems like it would be much easier to just have ALL available times listed on the screen, like they do with Fastpass+ for the rides...but whatever.
But mostly I'm just glad to have a FP+ time that we will (hopefully) be able to use. LOVE Be Our Guest for lunch.
Tuesday, December 16: Rest Day
Yay for sleeping in! I am feeling oddly anxious to get this running week started though - I just want to get it done already!!
The weather forecast still looks good..we have a chance of snow tonight/tomorrow but it's not supposed to be anything crazy. Then the chance of any kind of precipitation is supposed to hold off almost completely until Saturday night. So Friday/Saturday will be chilly, but dry. Here's hoping!
Random one...look at how pretty!
Wednesday, December 17: 2.5-mile run
Dopey simulation week has officially begun!
Nothing too exciting about this run...except that I did it wearing Haunted. How appropriate!
I stuck to 3:1 intervals...during the 3-minute run intervals I set the treadmill to 6 MPH (10:00/mile pace). This felt surprisingly not good for the first 0.5 miles or so, but once I warmed up it felt fine! Total time for the run was 28:12, about 11:17/mile pace.
I read this on Facebook and though it was pretty cool...
1 week from today is Christmas Eve
2 weeks from today is New Year's Eve
And 3 weeks from today is Dopey Eve!
It's coming up quick!
Thursday, December 18: 5-mile run
Moving right along over here...
After bailing on my 5-mile treadmill run last week, I had been sort of dreading this one. But once I got to the gym this morning I was ready to get it done. So far I have been in a really good mindset this week - I'm excited to get these runs in! I think mostly because I'm excited to get to tapering.
I played around with the intervals similarly to how I've been doing it with other 5-mile runs. Todays run took me 57:30, an 11:30/mile pace. After I was done, I thought, "woohoo! Two runs down, two runs to go - I'm halfway!" Until I thought about it more and realized that mileage-wise, I'm not even a quarter of the way done with this week. Oh well!
Random aside: I have been going to bed a little later than usual this week. Why? I have recently discovered a new show on HGTV -
Tiny House Hunters. Description of the show: "Follow home seekers across the country as they look to downsize, way down. They'll check out three unique streamlined houses
under 600 square feet before deciding on the perfect compact kingdom to call home."
This show is FASCINATING. I cannot stop watching it. I love HGTV anyway, but even Will has gotten sucked into this one. The problem is that the show goes from 10PM - 10:30PM, and ultimately I'd like to be in bed somewhere in that window. I need to get smarter and start DVRing.
ANYWAY...
The weather forecast for this weekend still looks REALLY good - little-no chance of rain and little-no wind. Temperatures will be in the mid-low 30s, so it'll be chilly...but realistically this is about as good as I could hope for, for this time of year.
3 weeks until the WDW 5K!! Woohoo!
Friday, December 19: 10-mile run
Weather: 32 degrees and overcast
Day 3 is DONE!
Today began with a slightly panicky moment - I got up, looked out the window to the backyard and...SNOW. It had snowed overnight! I was shocked and disappointed...this wasn't in the forecast at all. And now I was looking at a backyard covered in white.
Once I looked out front I was relieved to see that 1. It hadn't snowed too much, and 2. Whatever snow had come down had already melted off of the sidewalks, which were wet, but not ice- or snow-covered. Whew! Apparently the threat of snow was a bigger worry to me than I realized (although, looking back at the entries for the rest of this week I DID mention the weather forecast almost every day...
)
After I realized conditions were in my favor, it was time to get ready. I wasn't nervous for this run at all...more annoyed that I had to do it. Let's face it, this training plan - really, this entire year - has been building to this week all along, but more than anything it's been building to this 20-miler...and I'm just so ready to get it done! But no...gotta do the 10 first. I
am looking forward to the confidence boost finishing this mock Dopey will give me, though (assuming I survive!).
Today I tried something different - don't worry, I didn't mess with the intervals again.
If I listen to anything when I run its music - specifically Disney Parks Loops. My friend (who is training for the marathon) mentioned she likes to listen to podcasts and specifically said she's been enjoying "Serial" lately and thought I'd like it. So I downloaded the first three episodes (about 2 hours worth) and listened to them on my run.
I LOVED it! It was so interesting! And it made my run go by so quickly. I downloaded the rest of the episodes and can't wait to listen to them tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm not sure if it was the podcast distracting me or what, but this run felt very easy for the mostpart. I had some weird foot pain for the first mile or two, but once I got warmed up that seemed to go away. After last week's ill-fated attempt at 3:30/:30 intervals I went back to 4/1 and that worked much better for me. Total time for this run was 1:54:35, 11:27/mile pace. I'm hoping tomorrow's run will be at a similar pace, but overall I'll be happy with anything under 12:00/mile. If I do 12-minute miles the 20 miles will take me 4 hours...and I'd REALLY like to be done in less than 4 hours. I mean, realistically I can't do it much faster than 4 hours (I'm thinking I'll finish somewhere in the 3:50-4:00 range) but still...4 hours just SOUNDS so freaking long. Somehow even 3:55 seems shorter...which it is, but not by much. Just because the time doesn't start with a "4." You know what I mean. I'm sitting here chugging water and getting loopy. Time for Tiny House Hunters!
Just one more run left and then it's TAPER TIME!!!
Saturday, December 20: 20-mile run
Weather: 28 degrees and overcast
TAPER TIME!!!!!
And it could not have come at a better time!!
My mental state was pretty good the morning of this run...I was starting to dread it just a little bit, but mostly I was excited to do it, get it done, and have confidence going into Dopey weekend.
After running out of water during my 18-miler and calling Will for Gatorade, I decided not to take any chances today. I filled my Camelback up with water and stuffed a 12-ounce bottle of fruit punch Gatorade inside.
This isn't the exact one I have (I have had mine for a few years and it's no longer made) but it's a lot like this one:
I thought it would be heavy and annoying, but it really wasnt. More than anything it was good to know that I had everything I needed with me.
The first 15 miles of this run were really good. My legs felt tired, but not sore and I was listening to "Serial" again...which wasn't holding my attention as well, I think just because I was more nervous today. Id planned out a route that had 2 out-and-backs, and right at the turn-around of the second out-and-back (15.25 miles) I had freaking soreness in my left arch...again.
It wasn't the same area (or foot) that I hurt in September, and the pain wasn't as bad as it was then, but it was still very disappointing. I took extra long walk breaks and my pace climbed from about 11:45 to over 12:00/mile. The weird thing was, I would walk long enough and the pain would go away, and then I'd run, and the faster I ran, the less the arch bothered me.
So I'm guessing as I got more tired on the run I ran slower - too slow, similar to what I did during Wine & Dine - and my form got weird...and thus the arch pain. Also, the shoes I was wearing were pretty shot. I have 2 new pairs ready to go, so hopefully that will help.
I'm trying to explain this all away, but it still makes me pretty nervous.
There were so many times during that last 4.75 miles I wanted to quit...I just kept taking walk breaks and managed to finish in 4:09:29, 12:29/mile pace. Obviously not what I wanted, and not quite the confidence booster I was looking for, but I'm happy I did finish.
After the run I sat in a tub of colder water for as long as I could stand (about 6 minutes...with all of the extra walking I suddenly became VERY aware of how cold it was outside!) and overall the arch feels okay. A little soreness on occasion but overall it feels normal. I will definitely be watching it closely over the next 2.5 weeks... will be wearing compression sock a LOT.
But despite the 20-miler not going perfect, 75% of it WAS pretty good...and overall I am proud of my effort this week.
Sunday, December 21: Warm Yoga Flow planned, unscheduled rest day taken
Worst night of sleep EVER last night! And I thought I would sleep like a rock after running 20 miles...nope. I must've woken up 15-20 times...no exaggeration. Ugh! So I slept in.
Overall foot feels good today! The arch has only bothered me once. My quads and hamstrings are SORE.
Hooray for taper!
Continued in Next Post
Hopefully I will run into Ariel on the course to get a good picture!
So cute. And it totally goes with the Snow shirt.
This was exactly my mindset as well! For some reason I have been able to do these long long runs faster than my short 5 milers. 
I hope it's feeling better!
