Marathon Weekend 2018

[Barca33Runner]

To piggyback the comments on Space Mountain hurting necks:

My father and BiL have both sworn off Space Mountain because it hurts their backs. Looks like many years of hardship for me to placate my nieces and nephews when they want to ride Space Mountain.

 

[AbbyJaws2003]

Space is probably first for me, but Big Thunder is a very close second for sure!

 

[dta87]

For those following the Galloway Dopey training plan I cannot believe there are only 3 more long runs left before Marathon Weekend. Long is double digit to me and I am not including the 2 Dopey simulation walks during training (so you could say 5 more long workouts). That definitely makes it seem a lot closer than the calendar is showing.

To answer the question I am going to have to break the rules and say Everest

 

[Keels]

Questions for everyone. I posed this question on the WISH board, but I guess that is a ghost town now. I've got a house in Champions Gate and I'll be staying there Marathon Weekend. Can someone give me some advice on the best routes to take coming into WDW each day for the races. I'm doing Dopey so I'll have to do it 4 times, and I'd prefer to make that part of my day less stressful. Secondly, what time should I plan to arrive? Every time I've done Run Disney races in the past, I've stayed on property so it was easier to get there. Normally, it takes me about 15 minutes to get to the Epcot parking lot when we're just going to the parks, but there's more traffic during that time, but all roads are open. I would love to sleep as long as possible each day so these two questions answered will hopefully help with that! Thanks!!!!

Coming from that direction, you should be fine following the Driving Directions in the event guide and just watch for signs diverting traffic:

 

[dragitoff]

Coming from that direction, you should be fine following the Driving Directions in the event guide and just watch for signs diverting traffic:
View attachment 277401

Thanks! That's definitely what I was planning to do unless someone had a secret route that was better. lol.

 

[Keels]

Thanks! That's definitely what I was planning to do unless someone had a secret route that was better. lol.

I drive in from the other side of the parks and tend to just follow the directions and signs. It's easy peasy.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

For those following the Galloway Dopey training plan I cannot believe there are only 3 more long runs left before Marathon Weekend. Long is double digit to me and I am not including the 2 Dopey simulation walks during training (so you could say 5 more long workouts). That definitely makes it seem a lot closer than the calendar is showing.

To answer the question I am going to have to break the rules and say Everest

I have 21 more runs longer than 10 miles scheduled. I am doing something wrong.

 

[GollyGadget]

I have 21 more runs longer than 10 miles scheduled. I am doing something wrong.

I haven't even run 10 miles yet in my training. That comes this weekend.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

I have 21 more runs longer than 10 miles scheduled. I am doing something wrong.

I must be doing something wrong too. I have 2 runs this week over 10!

 

[cavepig]

Favorite Mountain - Big Thunder all the way!

 

[FFigawi]

I have 21 more runs longer than 10 miles scheduled. I am doing something wrong.

Me too! Someone's math is off somewhere.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Sunday question:
Tough one! Splash embodies everything Disney does well: total immersion of theming with a bit of thrill.
But I've got to give it to BTMR. That ride is so fun, and there's nothing better than seeing my pre-schooler's proud smile when he/she rides it for the first time!

 

[michigandergirl]

Sunday question: This is tough, but I'm going with Space Mountain. My daughter rode it for the first time this past spring and her constant giggling throughout the ride was hilarious.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I have 21 more runs longer than 10 miles scheduled. I am doing something wrong.

If that's wrong, then I don't want to be right. I've got 30 left and I haven't even started training in earnest yet! To be fair though, most of those +10 mile runs only last about 65-80 min and to me it's all about the time.

 

[Anisum]

I have 4 more weeks (including this week) of running 5 days a week before I get to suffer throughenjoy running 6 days a week for 7 weeks.

 

[dta87]

I have 21 more runs longer than 10 miles scheduled. I am doing something wrong.

I haven't even run 10 miles yet in my training. That comes this weekend.

I must be doing something wrong too. I have 2 runs this week over 10!

Me too! Someone's math is off somewhere.

I know Galloway plans are mostly to get you to the finish line in an upright state but seeing all of these posts makes me think I copied something wrong into my tracking spreadsheet but it does not look like I did. Out of the 90 workouts prior to the Marathon weekend there are only 9 that call for double digit distances and about 528 total miles in training runs (using a 10 min mile for the 45 min maintenance runs). Comparing this (2018 Dopey) to my 2015 Dopey training (85 of the 90 scheduled runs accomplished) I am about 75 miles ahead of that schedule and about 95 miles ahead of the plan baseline for this week in the training plan. I still have about 300 miles more on the schedule and 39 workouts. I felt pretty good in 2015 after the races so hopefully I feel just as good in January. My wife already jokingly considers herself a running widow, I am not sure how she, or my knees, would take it if I was using one of your plans.

If that's wrong, then I don't want to be right. I've got 30 left and I haven't even started training in earnest yet! To be fair though, most of those +10 mile runs only last about 65-80 min and to me it's all about the time.

I guess I would have a lot more 10 mile runs in my training if I could run at your pace.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

My wife already jokingly considers herself a running widow, I am not sure how she, or my knees, would take it if I was using one of your plans.

That's why you have to get her to run with you. My wife now runs with me 4 days/week. She is becoming as addicted to running as I am.

 

[camaker]

I have 21 more runs longer than 10 miles scheduled. I am doing something wrong.

I must be doing something wrong too. I have 2 runs this week over 10!

I'm right there in the boat with you guys. 2 scheduled runs over 10 miles this week and 13 scheduled between now and Marathon Weekend. I don't even want to consider @DopeyBadger's schedule!

 

[DopeyBadger]

I guess I would have a lot more 10 mile runs in my training if I could run at your pace.

And to me that's the critical part when people compare training plans to each other. If my current fitness pace dictates that my easy pace is an 8 min/mile and I want to do an 80 min workout, then I need to do 10 miles. But if someone else's current fitness easy pace is a 16 min/mile and they do an 80 min workout, then they would need to do 5 miles. On the surface it seems like I did more given 10 vs 5 miles, but based on my training philosophy we put in the same workout. My training philosophy is centered around the basis of relative current fitness pace X duration. Mileage is just a product of that.

This is an old post I made about a year ago but anytime these types of discussions come up I always dust it off:

To me, there are two types of impressive (and neither is necessarily more impressive than the other). My basis for my opinion is the following.

1. I believe in perception of effort. The harder you run the faster you go. But everyone's 75% is equal to everyone else's 75% when relating perception of effort.
2. I believe that time spent running is an important factor, more so than mileage.
3. Mileage is a function of perceived effort x time. If you run faster (effort), or longer (time), then you increase your mileage.

Scenario 1

We have two people standing next to each other. I tell them both to run at 75% effort for 90 minutes. They both complete the workout.

Person A - 75% effort at 90 minutes
Person B - 75% effort at 90 minutes

Which is more impressive? Based on the information given, they are equal.

Person A ran 10 miles
Person B ran 5 miles

Which is more impressive? Based on the information given, Person A is more impressive. Person A's 75% effort is faster than Person B's 75% effort.

Scenario 2

We have two people standing next to each other. I tell them both to run at 75% effort for 13.1 miles. They both complete the workout.

Person C - 75% effort for 13.1 miles
Person D - 75% effort for 13.1 miles

Which is more impressive? Based on the information given, they are equal.

Person C finished in 1:45
Person D finished in 3:00

Which is more impressive? Based on the information given, Person D is more impressive. Person D ran at the same effort level as Person C, yet did it for 71% longer in time than Person C.

So, to me there are two kinds of impressive.

1. It's impressive to me that Galen can run at 75% effort and that equals a 5:00 min/mile. It's impressive because when I run at 75% effort it equals an 7:30 min/mile. Galen is faster than me at the same effort level.
2. It's impressive to me that Person D ran at 75% effort for 3 hours. It's impressive because when I run at 75% effort it equals 1:45. Person D is able to maintain the same effort level as me, but for 71% longer in time.

Hopefully this helps make sense of my idea. So when someone says I ran a 15:00 min/mile for a half marathon, but I gave it everything I got. I come away impressed. That person's perception of effort was the same as mine, but yet they maintained that effort for significantly longer than me.

Look at it one other way. When someone goes out and runs a marathon in 5:00, for me to match the same physical feat (same effort X time) I would have to run 40 miles instead of 26.2 miles. I don't believe I could run 40 miles in 5:00.

So I come away impressed by anyone that's running no matter what. Every one of you impresses me!

As a personal example, I've written 121 training plans to date, and @MommaoffherRocker's Dopey 2017 plan still ranks in the Top 2 hardest plans ever written. Far harder than many of the training plans I use for myself. Her current fitness is a 5:30 marathon, and mine is a 3:02 marathon. Yet, she trains significantly harder than I do because she has shown she can handle a much higher training load then I can. So I may have 30x 10 mile runs and she has 4 for this upcoming Dopey, but our plans are just about equally as difficult.

 

[dta87]

That's why you have to get her to run with you. My wife now runs with me 4 days/week. She is becoming as addicted to running as I am.

Tried that for the Disneyland Half in 2015 and she still has IT band issues from it so she is in a forced retirement state.