Marathon Weekend 2016

[GreatLakes]

So, I could use a little advice from the awesome people on here...

I'm supposed to be going out for 3.5 miles tomorrow. Emphasis on out. My last run was on the treadmill, which I thought was a safer bet while I was still fighting a cold, but since I'm feeling a little better, I figured I'd go back to running outside (which I much prefer).
Problem is ... it's supposed to rain tomorrow (and Wednesday). I'm not sure that I want to be outside in the rain when I'm getting over a cold. But I really don't want to do the treadmill. Especially because I wouldn't be able to get on the treadmill until after 9 because it wakes up my brother and he's getting in on a late flight tonight (so I don't want to wake him up super early).

Any advice on what I should do? Should I go outside in the rain and hope it doesn't affect my cold? Or just suck it up and do the treadmill again?
I'm just really frustrated about this situation. Last year I had no sickness interrupting my training, and this year I'm on cold #2 ... which is something that never happens to me (seriously, I'm almost never sick more than once a year). I don't know what the universe is trying to tell me, but I don't like it.

Winter rain is no fun and I do try to avoid it. It really depends on how hard it is raining. Do you have any colleges near you with an indoor track open to the public? I don't mean a gym track where 11 or 15 laps is 1 mile but a real NCAA 200 meter indoor track? I found one near me and used it last winter and it was exactly what I needed. I actually like cold winter runs but on the -40 degree nights I'd hit that track as opposed to the treadmill. It also allows you to do winter repeats.

 

[SarahDisney]

Winter rain is no fun and I do try to avoid it. It really depends on how hard it is raining. Do you have any colleges near you with an indoor track open to the public? I don't mean a gym track where 11 or 15 laps is 1 mile but a real NCAA 200 meter indoor track? I found one near me and used it last winter and it was exactly what I needed. I actually like cold winter runs but on the -40 degree nights I'd hit that track as opposed to the treadmill. It also allows you to do winter repeats.

I wish I had a good track nearby! (Actually ... there is college nearby, I wonder if they have an indoor track that's open to the public)
I managed to make it out during a break in the rain today. I've gone out in light rain once or twice before, but I'm afraid of going out in the heavy rain.

 

[cburnett11]

We reached the end on the month which means only a few more hard weeks left of training and its time to post your monthly mileage.

Running Miles = 135.02
Running Time = 21 hours 9 minutes 35 seconds
Average Pace = 9:24 min/mile

 

[IamTrike]

We reached the end on the month which means only a few more hard weeks left of training and its time to post your monthly mileage.

Running Miles = 171.63
Bike Miles = 8.76

Hope everyone had a good month. The hard part is nearly over!

192.9 miles run.

Running Miles = 236.3 (New PR!)
Running Time = 36 hours 30 minutes
Average Pace = 9:16 min/mile

Super excited for Sunday because it is my fitness test half-marathon. This will be my gauge for marathon weekend!

That is a LOT of running.

Oh, and since I forgot earlier ...

November mileage: 59.77 miles
That's a personal record by a lot. I also hit 200 miles on my shoes, bought new shoes (because they were on sale), got pretty darn close to 8 miles (7.78), and ran my first non-Disney race (a 5 mile Turkey Trot in 55:50). So overall, a pretty big month for me!

Also ... I think maybe I need to work on my race picture pose ... the thumbs up works, but I need to work on smiling and not just opening my mouth ...

That's not a bad picture at all. I usually look I'm trying to drag a lead weight while someone has just told me my hamster died.

 

[SarahDisney]

That's not a bad picture at all. I usually look I'm trying to drag a lead weight while someone has just told me my hamster died.

That's probably pretty close to what I usually look like while running. But thankfully I saw the photographer and decided to try to look a little less like I was torturing myself.

 

[RunDisneyDad]

November 220 miles.

I'm 10 days out from Rocket City Marathon, so I've already started to taper. 1 more SOS (Something of Substance) run to go.

It's always amazing (and scary) how fast the time (and miles) go. Week 1 of an 18 week program with months of empty workout logs with blanks squares challenging you. Before you know it, week 17, with 4 months of workouts in the log book.

I totally agree with this...I have the San Antonio Marathon on Sunday and was thinking the same thing. Back in August when I started my training plan I was like 1 training run down, 100 and something to go and now I'm down to 5. Anyway, I'm not sure why but I find the taper phase to be tough, so I'll be happy when race day is here on Sunday!

 

[DopeyBadger]

That is a LOT of running.

Agreed. But the nice part is because of the way I have my training setup, I'm not even tired. I've always known that I would end up being a weekly/monthly high mileage person because of my naturally good recovery ability. It just takes a lot of time and patience. December will be my new max at 252 miles and 37 hours 34 minutes of training. Fingers crossed.

 

[gjramsey]

Running Miles = 165
Running Time = 27ish hours
Average Pace = 8:15 min/mile

started and finished with a 20 miler.

 

[derekleigh]

We reached the end on the month which means only a few more hard weeks left of training and its time to post your monthly mileage.

Running Miles = 171.63
Bike Miles = 8.76

Hope everyone had a good month. The hard part is nearly over!

Overall good month.

Total Miles = 84.9
Total Time = 12:21:44
Avg. Pace = 8:45

Mileage is down from last year when I was training for the full. Planning on another 10 and 14-miler before December ends.

 

[sammykster]

OK ... let's help break some of the training malaise and talk about the REAL important stuff!

1.) What are you wearing for the races?
2.) How are you celebrating over Marathon Weekend? I wanna hear about your awesome ADRs and other things!!

I'm a little late but want to play this one!!

1 - not sure yet. I need some motivation and ideas. I'm running with my brother in law and he won't wear anything weird so a t shirt combo maybe?

2 - we have Mama Melrose on Saturday afternoon and then we're going to Shumas Sunday night! We're oging without the kiddos for marathon weekend since it's a quick Fri-Mon trip so I'm excited to be busy and still feel less crazy than our recent long family trip for W&D!

I'm starting to get a little freaked out but pretty excited. I'm on the mend from illness but can't believe how long this is taking. I was only able to do 6 miles last weekend but that is 6 more than I have done since W&D so I'll take it. I'm hoping to do my 17 this coming weekend and do both my maintenance runs during the week. Even if they're extra slow I need to get the miles in to start feeling more prepared. We're getting so close!

 

[roxymama]

Anyone get annoyed by airline schedule changes? My flight had an hour and a half added to it for on my arrival day already and now they added 5 more minutes. And of course departure day they subtracted 15 minutes more (after already subtracting an hour.)
It keeps eating into my Disney time!!!!

 

[tspnmb]

Does anyone have any experience with driving to the race. (This would be for the half) We have something planned that morning and I would like to figure out the fastest way to get back after the race.
We are staying at the Boardwalk Inn so I am wondering if it would be faster if I drove to the start of the race and parked so I could drive back after I finished.
Compared to taking a shuttle to the start.
Do the shuttles running through the whole race so if I finish around a 1:40 time I can go hop on into head back to the boardwalk.

Thanks!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Anyone get annoyed by airline schedule changes? My flight had an hour and a half added to it for on my arrival day already and now they added 5 more minutes. And of course departure day they subtracted 15 minutes more (after already subtracting an hour.)
It keeps eating into my Disney time!!!!

That's annoying!

Talking about airlines. I found my coming home Southwest flight for cheaper this morning so we re-booked at the lower price. But then in the confirmation, I saw that the arrival flight was now on Tuesday instead of Monday. I freaked, because then I checked the last time we re-booked in August and saw that's when they accidentally changed it from Monday to Tuesday. Thankfully, we called and they said it was their error so they gave us the price for the flight to Orlando that we re-booked in August rather than the price it is now (over $200 more per person). I love Southwest!

 

[sammykster]

Anyone get annoyed by airline schedule changes? My flight had an hour and a half added to it for on my arrival day already and now they added 5 more minutes. And of course departure day they subtracted 15 minutes more (after already subtracting an hour.)
It keeps eating into my Disney time!!!!

I hate this!! They seem to do it all the time. I'm fine if you're adding time to my vacation but don't' mess it up. I will say I was annoyed one time when we went on a cruise and they cancelled our flight and put us all on one 3 hours later (months in advance). Since we took the shuttle from port this just meant spending even more time at the airport. Boring.

 

[Ariel484]

Anyone get annoyed by airline schedule changes? My flight had an hour and a half added to it for on my arrival day already and now they added 5 more minutes. And of course departure day they subtracted 15 minutes more (after already subtracting an hour.)
It keeps eating into my Disney time!!!!

YES, I hate that. I especially hate when United does it because they don't text or email me...so I have learned to open my reservation every once in awhile to check. Arg!

 

[PrincessV]

Does anyone have any experience with driving to the race. (This would be for the half) We have something planned that morning and I would like to figure out the fastest way to get back after the race.
We are staying at the Boardwalk Inn so I am wondering if it would be faster if I drove to the start of the race and parked so I could drive back after I finished.
Compared to taking a shuttle to the start.
Do the shuttles running through the whole race so if I finish around a 1:40 time I can go hop on into head back to the boardwalk.

Thanks!

Yep, I drive to all WDW races - it's very easy! Whether or not driving after the race would be faster is another thing... roads are closed for a time during the race and that could impact your ability to leave quickly. I'm considerably slower and have never had a problem getting out of the EP parking lot, but with your faster finish it's possible you may hit the road closure and/or congestion getting out of the lot. You can do some math to plan it out when waivers and corrals are released, then see how your corral placement and expected finish time play out against the road closures, which will be detailed in the Event Guide.

 

[roxymama]

YES, I hate that. I especially hate when United does it because they don't text or email me...so I have learned to open my reservation every once in awhile to check. Arg!

That's us...we are flying United! We usually always fly Southwest but this time we used United because of a points redemption reason through my hubby.
My head is hurting thinking about it already. Two years ago we got booted off a plane with my then 8 month old who had just fallen asleep to only wait 5 hours for the our plane to finally leave. My worrying nature has me worrying already. I think next time we go to Disney I am going for like 12 days because I hate wasting time in airports on really short trips!

But in happy news...all of you posting your monthly mileages is very very very motivating. I'll be like you guys one of these days!

 

[Ariel484]

@roxymama we've flown United quite a bit recently and it's been fine...I hope your flights are too. I just wish they could send me an email or a text message, I mean, I give them that info when I book with them so I know they know how to reach me!

 

[MeridaAndAngus]

Has anyone driven to the marathon from off-property? We might have the opportunity to stay with a friend who lives about 15 miles from Epcot. It would be awesome to stay with her both for support (she's a fellow runner) and to save some money. However, I'm wondering if getting up an extra 30-45 min earlier to get there would be counter productive.

Even if we stay on site, I plan to drive & arrive by 4am (like I did for the half last year) just to avoid the stress of traffic and buses. DH will come over to see me at the finish line either way, but staying off site would eliminate any possibility he'd be able to set up someplace on course to provide me snacks/support around 3/4 of the way through the marathon since we'd only have one car (unless my friend will be able to come over as well). Thoughts?

 

[AThrillingChase]

Going off Wine & Dine, I'm anticipating it'll be warmer than the last two years

If we are going off Wine and Dine, I am predicting tornados. Maybe actual flying cats and dogs.

You guys. I'm screwed.

I try to do cardio classes (Body Combat and Turbo Kick) 3-4 times a week and I tend to walk around a LOT at work, but I haven't done a single training session for the Goofy Challenge. As of now, my game plan is to walk the 1/2, and jog/walk the Marathon and not push myself to finish within any specific time frame... I've walked the San Francisco Women's Half in 2:51 with minimal pain afterwards. Also I've jog/walked 14 half marathons already so I know what to expect in that realm.

Bets on whether I survive or not based on this tentative plan of attack. :nervous:

I am behind as well. I did the Wine and Dine half-half. So that 7 miles was my last long run. I was fully trained for that one though. I have only run once the last couple of weeks. When I got back from W&D I was sick, and then Thanksgiving happened and a lot of family commitments. And now I am feeling a little bit of a cough again (though hoping it is allergies from sudden temp changes). So now I have to start out a little slow I think and not jump right back into high mileage. Unless I go with the worlds longest taper! I am thinking I will do 6 this weekend, then 8, then 9, then drop down to around 4 miles the last couple of weekends before the half. And hope that my body remembers enough. I need a POT for the dark side challenge that isn't filled with photo stops, injuries, or an extra mile.