Marathon Weekend 2017!

[Z-Knight]

That's the plan. Although given your pace, I think you're safe. So, see you at the finish line!





Back to the drawing board. I did have a historical weather forecast with Polar drift, Sun albedo effects and Earth's nutation... BUT DARN ME I FORGOT THE PRECESSION! UGH.... Looks like a long night of calculations ahead... Oh and I luckily don't follow baseball so does that mean I can ignore the cubs effect... Probably not...

It happens, people always discount the precession - that's because we all can't be rocket scientists. I mean, I can be because I am, you just can't be. And there you go, ladies and gentlemen, I have finally found the single flaw with @DopeyBadger - he's fast, but he is Dopey.

 

[jwblane]

Thank you to everyone who responded to my post. I didn't realize the 2015 cutoff date for the race time submissions. It is somewhat strange though that I submitted my ToT race time too and they must have accepted it. We both ran that Wine and Dine back in 2015, but because of the weather, it was cut from a half marathon down to a 7-ish miler. I wonder if they'd accept that race result at the expo considering it wasn't exactly our fault for the distance change.



I may look into that, thank you!

Many thanks again to everyone and I hope you have a happy holiday!

I used my Wine and Dine half of a half marathon from last year as my proof of time and they took it. I estimated a 2:45 finish and they put me in corral K.

 

[sammykster]

Also, seems appropriate to pull this out now.

Marathon Weekend Goals

Well well... it looks like I'll be sticking to some of these. Finish better than my last years marathon time, I think I have this trained for so we'll see! The whole no park time thing isn't going to happen since I reupped the AP lol

Corral question ... doing Dopey so I have heard that they push you back a little bit for the half and full. When you look at the times listed is that pre push back or is that the time they estimate based on your POT estimation plus whatever magical number they use to add on for Dopey? Just wondering because my POL based on the calculator would be right at 5:30 but that is not currently where I'm at. Guessing that the added time based on Dopey is what pushed me to the over 5:30 mark?

 

[DopeyBadger]

It happens, people always discount the precession - that's because we all can't be rocket scientists. I mean, I can be because I am, you just can't be. And there you go, ladies and gentlemen, I have finally found the single flaw with @DopeyBadger - he's fast, but he is Dopey.

LOL, at single flaw... There are so many numerous ones to count I ensure you.

 

[Dan1]

How does your body react on drinking a beer at Mile 25? My fear is, that I could mess up everything, doing that "stunt" at this time of the race and not be able to finish the race.

My sister in law swears that drinking a little beer helps with the typical tummy troubles which frequently occur after a long run (1/2 or full).

 

[AThrillingChase]

And possibly to Dopey, so be careful

*backs away slowly

Wow @DopeyBadger great job! But I am feeling very slow and lonely there in the back.

Don't worry I'm back there with you!

Me too! Unless runner relations goes well. In the past I've avoided it even when my corral was wonky. If anyone is there Thursday afternoon and sees someone pale faced and traumatized, that's me!

I have wrapped four boxes. Three have notes in them and the fourth has the bands. I am putting the first box under the tree with the first note. It is a clue to the next one. They will have to open each box and figure out the clue that leads them to the next box. It leads to the fourth box that has the bands which will be hidden in the living room in a chest.

I am hoping they are as excited as I am. Right now they are convinced I am going solo, doing my best not to spoil it.

I don't even have kids and I love watching the surprise videos! Their reactions are so funny

My sister in law swears that drinking a little beer helps with the typical tummy troubles which frequently occur after a long run (1/2 or full).

Perfect. My kinda runner!

 

[Keels]

Would FP+ really work during the marathon, or were you joking? Wouldn't they have to be activated at the front gate of the park to work at a FP scanner?

The guy that's really active on the Dopey groups on FB hit two rides (Test Track, Mission: Space) during the half this year and eight rides during the full (EE, Primeval Whirl, Triceratops Spin,Dinosaur, RnRC, Tower of Terror, Star Tours, and Test Track. He had FP+ for both races and did not need to scan in to the parks for the FP+s to work.

For our F&W Couples Weekend, B's husband didn't want to ride Frozen - instead, he stayed at Martha's Vineyard and watched football and drank beer with my husband, and he didn't enter Epcot but I was able to use his MB to ride the ride.

That's probably how it's supposed to work, but I'm guessing it will be fine. If not, nothing lost.

Pretty much. The way I've got it planned out, we're using other people in our party's MBs and their first FP+ of the day in another park. Is it cheating the system? Technically, sure. Though I'm pretty sure my Mom and my husband would prefer we use their FP+s while we're RUNNING 26.2 MILES instead of them having to get to the parks for them. So, people can go ahead and flame away.

Do you have an Excel sheet with your weather forecasts, and the historical trends, making sure to account for Polar drift, Sun albedo effect, and Earth's nutation and precession? Keep in mind that the Cubs won the World Series this year, so hell is likely frozen over at the moment, and hence all of you estimates are probably wrong.

I guarantee you that Hell is most definitely frozen over, as it was 1 DEGREE YESTERDAY in DFW. ONE. LIKE A SINGLE DEGREE. I did not sign up for this. Thanks a lot, Cubs. Some lovable losers ...

 

[2girlsR2good]

But I am feeling very slow and lonely there in the back.

Don't worry I'm back there with you!

I'm also going super slow. Been training with a Galloway group in the 13:30 pace group. However, I'm not sure I can run the marathon at that pace. In fact, I've been worried about being swept, but I'm over that now due to some really good long runs (25 today--woohoo!)

Folks who've been clearly mis-corralled:

So--I'm in that category. Except I'm in a slightly better corral than I should be, which means I will not be swept. I feel really weird about it, though. I registered the day registrations opened (like at that minute) and that was in the spring, so I put my expected finish at 6 hours since that was the group I was training with. No POT--I ended up with a sprained ankle and never did the half I was going to do. It seems like something weird happened.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I am running another guess my time prediction contest using my Dopey 2017 race times. Stop on by my journal for a free chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card. All rules and data points are contained within that post there. Please make the predictions in my journal if you wish to participate to reduce the clutter in other threads. This is just for fun among us friends, so keep it nice!

DopeyBadger's 2017 Dopey Challenge Prediction Contest

 

[SheHulk]

Is everybody tapering now? One day in and I'm all
Spectating question: It looks like there is no bus to the WWoS during the marathon this year? It's DH's spot to meet me in the past so he rented a car. My question is: Is trying to drive around the day of the race merely a bad idea, or a really really terrible idea ? If he is leaving from the Beach Club do you think there is any way that will be an easy drive to see me at WWoS or should we just plan on him meeting me elsewhere? I know the boardwalk area has been discussed but I'm concerned he will never get back to the finish line on time if he and DS see me there on foot.

 

[FFigawi]

Is everybody tapering now? One day in and I'm all
Spectating question: It looks like there is no bus to the WWoS during the marathon this year? It's DH's spot to meet me in the past so he rented a car. My question is: Is trying to drive around the day of the race merely a bad idea, or a really really terrible idea ? If he is leaving from the Beach Club do you think there is any way that will be an easy drive to see me at WWoS or should we just plan on him meeting me elsewhere? I know the boardwalk area has been discussed but I'm concerned he will never get back to the finish line on time if he and DS see me there on foot.

Trying to drive to WWoS is a pretty bad idea. The roads around there will be closed and/or very congested. If you're staying at Beach Club, I'd have them see you there as you go by. It's very easy to set a spot for them to be and also very easy to stop for high-fives, hugs, kisses, etc. If they walk over after seeing you at BC, they'll be there by the time you come out of the finisher's area. I wouldn't stress over them not making it to the finish to watch you cross the line. Unless they're there very early in the race, it's hard to get a good view of people as they go by. The stands get pretty crowded.

 

[daisyamy]

I used my Wine and Dine half of a half marathon from last year as my proof of time and they took it. I estimated a 2:45 finish and they put me in corral K.

@Ph03nix7 I have also used it for previous races. runDisney will accept it as a 10k time only. Even though it was roughly half a mile longer, that was the guidance they sent us regarding that race. Good luck at the expo! I'm crossing my fingers for you that they are understanding considering everything that happened with that particular W&D race.

 

[SheHulk]

Trying to drive to WWoS is a pretty bad idea. The roads around there will be closed and/or very congested. If you're staying at Beach Club, I'd have them see you there as you go by. It's very easy to set a spot for them to be and also very easy to stop for high-fives, hugs, kisses, etc. If they walk over after seeing you at BC, they'll be there by the time you come out of the finisher's area. I wouldn't stress over them not making it to the finish to watch you cross the line. Unless they're there very early in the race, it's hard to get a good view of people as they go by. The stands get pretty crowded.

Thanks, I'll talk to DH about it. In the past he has taken the bus to WWoS and back, and somehow has found a way to squeeze in a spot, climbing a post or whatever and seen me cross the finish to get a picture. But we have discussed that the picture MarathonFoto (or whoever it is now) takes of you crossing the finish line is so much better and at a great angle that it isn't necessary. Especially if you get those photos from MemoryMaker, we have APs so that may be the best way to go. Definitely less stressful for him. My selfish concern is that I am going to need moral support way before mile 24 or so, WWoS is the perfect spot for me, when I start to feel down, to see smiling faces I know and love.

 

[Wendy98]

Alright everyone, attached is the PDF which is the first draft of the Marathon Weekend DIS List. This is the first draft as I expect when some people see this they may decide they want to join in as well. If you have any input that would help make the sheet more useful for you please let me know. I have sorted everyone by corral and pace within corral so that like paced people can find each other if they wish to do so. Also, please QA your information you have provided me for mistakes and let me know. If anyone gave me a range of paces for an individual race I typically chose the middle of the range. I anticipate sending out the final copy on Dec 27th/28th to allow as much time for stragglers to get their times in. Almost time everyone!

Holy cow, that is one impressive spreadsheet!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Well as most of us start entering (or have entered) our taper for our Marathon Weekend races, I'll offer a suggestion for the next few runs. Heat acclimation training. If you've been training outdoors, then you're likely acclimated to whatever your current temp is (and it's not just us northerners dealing with cold, yikes @Keels 1 degrees in Dallas?!?!). So I suggest doing some heat acclimation training during this recovery/maintenance (the taper) time period of your training.

According to the research I've read, it takes about 14 days or 10 workouts to acclimate to a new temperature. So around today marks a good time to consider starting. For me personally, I typically dress in whatever I would normally wear for the weather conditions, and then act as if it's the next level of cold. So when I would wear shorts and tank normally in such weather, now I'll wear tights and a thermal. Or if I were to dress in a thermal and tights, now maybe a thermal+jacket and two tights. The point is to dress warmer than you need to be to create a micro-climate close to your skin. You want to be sweating and "feel" hot. This sweating and feeling of being "hot" will induce an adaptation in your body to acclimate to a warmer climate (primarily higher blood plasma and volume level, increased sweat rate, decreased salt amount in sweat, decreased fatigue rate of sweat glands, and quicker onset of sweating).

A few things to keep in mind if you choose to heat acclimate and have never done it before:
-Make sure to increase your fluid intake. Because you'll be sweating more, you'll need more fluids than a normal winter run. So make sure to stay hydrated. There is conflicting research as to whether dehydrated training is the key to heat acclimation, but I personally will not intentionally withhold water from myself.
-Be prepared to sacrifice some of the quality of your workout. You're going to be hot and you may find your pace will slow a bit naturally. In my opinion, that's ok. Don't push it. I would prefer to sacrifice a touch on pacing so that I can better prepare my body for the possible heat in Florida. The minimal gains made in pacing at this point in training would be far-outweighed by the potential gains made through heat acclimation training.
-When the run is finished, make sure to get inside quickly. Because of the excessive sweat rate for a winter run, you're more susceptible to getting cold quickly with all that moisture hanging around your body. So as soon as you finish the run, get inside your home, gym or car. Stretch indoors if possible.
-I will use this method on all types of paced runs from easy to long run to tempo so that my body acclimates at all types of paces, but more-so to get in the necessary workouts (or days) I'm looking for.

I used this strategy last year pre-Dopey 2016. When I left Wisconsin it was a wind chill of -50F (yea no joke that was crazy, but thankfully didn't have to train in anything that crazy last year, this year not so lucky). The Dopey marathon was one of the hottest and most humid yet. And yet coming from Wisconsin I was able to be within 10 minute of my goal marathon Dopey pace. I credit a good portion of this to my heat acclimation training I did before I left last year.

Any other suggestions for heat acclimation?

Sources:

http://www.irunfar.com/2009/02/heat-acclimation.html
https://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/science-of-hot-weather-running/
https://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/summer-training-for-a-marathon/
http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/preparing-for-a-hot-race-while-training-in-the-cold

 

[DopeyBadger]

Holy cow, that is one impressive spreadsheet!

Love my spreadsheets! My "running" spreadsheet has well over 50 tabs with all sorts of nifty data I've collected about myself, calculators I've made to predict fueling needs, training plans for myself and others, and future race predictors based off historical HR and pace logarithmic line of best fits. Hooray for excel!

 

[JeffW]

Well as most of us start entering (or have entered) our taper for our Marathon Weekend races, I'll offer a suggestion for the next few runs. Heat acclimation training. If you've been training outdoors, then you're likely acclimated to whatever your current temp is (and it's not just us northerners dealing with cold, yikes @Keels 1 degrees in Dallas?!?!). So I suggest doing some heat acclimation training during this recovery/maintenance (the taper) time period of your training.

I think this is a great idea. I've done it for Disney in the past, as well as when racing in the southern hemisphere coming from the U.S. As you noted, coming from near 0 or sub 0 temps to Orlando is a big shift. I've done quite a few runs inside on the treadmill, where the temp is in the 60's, to help as well.

My struggle this year is that the treadmill has been causing me recurrent achilles issues, where running outside is not. So I'm going to do some cross training indoors, but I think the running will have to stay outside with layers.

 

[ZellyB]

Yeah, I need to probably do some heat training too and the easiest way for that is probably on the treadmill. Blech. Not sure I can actually make myself do that.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Well as most of us start entering (or have entered) our taper for our Marathon Weekend races, I'll offer a suggestion for the next few runs. Heat acclimation training. If you've been training outdoors, then you're likely acclimated to whatever your current temp is (and it's not just us northerners dealing with cold, yikes @Keels 1 degrees in Dallas?!?!). So I suggest doing some heat acclimation training during this recovery/maintenance (the taper) time period of your training.

According to the research I've read, it takes about 14 days or 10 workouts to acclimate to a new temperature. So around today marks a good time to consider starting. For me personally, I typically dress in whatever I would normally wear for the weather conditions, and then act as if it's the next level of cold. So when I would wear shorts and tank normally in such weather, now I'll wear tights and a thermal. Or if I were to dress in a thermal and tights, now maybe a thermal+jacket and two tights. The point is to dress warmer than you need to be to create a micro-climate close to your skin. You want to be sweating and "feel" hot. This sweating and feeling of being "hot" will induce an adaptation in your body to acclimate to a warmer climate (primarily higher blood plasma and volume level, increased sweat rate, decreased salt amount in sweat, decreased fatigue rate of sweat glands, and quicker onset of sweating).

A few things to keep in mind if you choose to heat acclimate and have never done it before:
-Make sure to increase your fluid intake. Because you'll be sweating more, you'll need more fluids than a normal winter run. So make sure to stay hydrated. There is conflicting research as to whether dehydrated training is the key to heat acclimation, but I personally will not intentionally withhold water from myself.
-Be prepared to sacrifice some of the quality of your workout. You're going to be hot and you may find your pace will slow a bit naturally. In my opinion, that's ok. Don't push it. I would prefer to sacrifice a touch on pacing so that I can better prepare my body for the possible heat in Florida. The minimal gains made in pacing at this point in training would be far-outweighed by the potential gains made through heat acclimation training.
-When the run is finished, make sure to get inside quickly. Because of the excessive sweat rate for a winter run, you're more susceptible to getting cold quickly with all that moisture hanging around your body. So as soon as you finish the run, get inside your home, gym or car. Stretch indoors if possible.
-I will use this method on all types of paced runs from easy to long run to tempo so that my body acclimates at all types of paces, but more-so to get in the necessary workouts (or days) I'm looking for.

I used this strategy last year pre-Dopey 2016. When I left Wisconsin it was a wind chill of -50F (yea no joke that was crazy, but thankfully didn't have to train in anything that crazy last year, this year not so lucky). The Dopey marathon was one of the hottest and most humid yet. And yet coming from Wisconsin I was able to be within 10 minute of my goal marathon Dopey pace. I credit a good portion of this to my heat acclimation training I did before I left last year.

Any other suggestions for heat acclimation?

Sources:

http://www.irunfar.com/2009/02/heat-acclimation.html
https://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/science-of-hot-weather-running/
https://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/summer-training-for-a-marathon/
http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/preparing-for-a-hot-race-while-training-in-the-cold

I would add that you should be sure to carry a cell phone and have an injury plan. I have done this a few times, and it works, but if you tweak something and have to walk a long distance in very cold temps while soaked with sweat, you put yourself at risk (and if you are not soaked with sweat, you didn't add enough layers). I have had to call my wife twice over the years to come and pick me up on one of these runs because of a minor injury. You get cold a lot faster than you might imagine when you stop running. Hypothermia is an immediate threat.

I do deprive myself of fluids on these runs, but I do that in the summer, too. I know my limits. If you are not used to liquid deprivation running, don't try it in the winter. For the reasons that I outlined above, it is a lot more dangerous in the winter.

 

[cavepig]

Thanks, I'll talk to DH about it. In the past he has taken the bus to WWoS and back, and somehow has found a way to squeeze in a spot, climbing a post or whatever and seen me cross the finish to get a picture. But we have discussed that the picture MarathonFoto (or whoever it is now) takes of you crossing the finish line is so much better and at a great angle that it isn't necessary. Especially if you get those photos from MemoryMaker, we have APs so that may be the best way to go. Definitely less stressful for him. My selfish concern is that I am going to need moral support way before mile 24 or so, WWoS is the perfect spot for me, when I start to feel down, to see smiling faces I know and love.

My sister-in-law drove to AK & saw both of my brothers in the parking lot there then drove to EPCOT & saw them by Spaceship Earth. I was too slow for her to wait for me at AK & see them at EP. If no car, then a bus to AK from the resort bus could come as early as 7:30 (due to breakfasts ADRs) & get someone to AK by 8 if their runner isn't speedy & then bus to EP. I was in AK at 9 so someone could have seen me if they bused there, I was in F but going very slow being sick. So, depending on your corral start & pace AK could be an option even if by bus, it's halfway too.