Marathon Weekend 2018

[BuckeyeBama]

It gets very mixed reviews.

Only from crazy people with no taste.

 

[robinsce]

I know this is probably a long shot.... but does anyone know of any travel providers still offering race registration for either the 10k or the Half Marathon? Or if there is any chance that Disney might open any more spots for the races on the Run Disney site?

 

[Keels]

#math isn't popular with some on this board, but I'll take a crack at this anyway

Don't talk about me like I'm not here.

 

[Eric DeMuth]

So you're saying you entered an estimate of 2:15, but submitted no POT. If that's the case, then you may end up in the last corral.

Actually, I put in that my time was 2:15. However, I did not have any results in the past 12 months. i did talk with them and they said that my estimated finish should be ok, but no guarantees.

 

[Simba's Girl]

Just putting this out there: I listened to the latest episode of The Moth podcast today. Couple stories about first time marathoners. Thought some of you might be interested.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

#math isn't popular with some on this board, but I'll take a crack at this anyway .

Hey! #math is popular with some of us!

 

[bryana]

Training mileage question, so I guess I'll page @DopeyBadger for this one:

I have a job interview on Friday so hopefully I just get a new job and don't have to worry about this but for the time being: I'm doing Higdon Novice 1 for the marathon. I'm in Week 6 and the weekly T/W/Th runs are starting to increase. Is the weekly mileage strictly "just miles" or does it serve a purpose to be tiered the way it is (3, 7, 4 this week, for example)? Currently, I work for a toy company so while I've already been on mandatory OT, it's about to get more insane. If I'm working 11+ hours (so, basically never seeing the sun except for my lunch break), I just don't see how doing anything more than 6 or 7 is doable, especially in the small neighborhood I live in. Not to mention, I'm a supervisor in a warehouse so I'm on my feet, running around all shift so I'm basically always running on tired legs during the week. Would it matter if I evenly spread the mileage over the three days instead of doing two shorter and one longer?

 

[DopeyBadger]

Training mileage question, so I guess I'll page @DopeyBadger for this one:

I have a job interview on Friday so hopefully I just get a new job and don't have to worry about this but for the time being: I'm doing Higdon Novice 1 for the marathon. I'm in Week 6 and the weekly T/W/Th runs are starting to increase. Is the weekly mileage strictly "just miles" or does it serve a purpose to be tiered the way it is (3, 7, 4 this week, for example)? Currently, I work for a toy company so while I've already been on mandatory OT, it's about to get more insane. If I'm working 11+ hours (so, basically never seeing the sun except for my lunch break), I just don't see how doing anything more than 6 or 7 is doable, especially in the small neighborhood I live in. Not to mention, I'm a supervisor in a warehouse so I'm on my feet, running around all shift so I'm basically always running on tired legs during the week. Would it matter if I evenly spread the mileage over the three days instead of doing two shorter and one longer?

So your current fitness pace matters. I'll assume the 2:28 HM on your Strava profile is your accurate HM PR. So, the 2:28 HM would be a race equivalent 5:09 marathon (11:48 min/mile). Per Higdon's instructions for Novice 1 the long run is +30-90 and the mid-week runs are easier than that with the Wednesday (semi-long run). So, that means your Wednesday/Saturday pace should be around 12:18-13:18 and your Tuesday/Thursday pace should be around 13-14 min/mile.

The golden zone of aerobic gains in endurance are made between 90-150 minutes in training runs. So for your Wednesday semi-long run at a 12:40 min/mile would be 7 miles minimum (1:28:40). That's a pretty substantial mid-week run. To maximize your endurance gains on those Wednesday runs, I'd try not to cut it below 7 miles @ 12:40 when Higdon schedules it.

The follow-up would be - do I add it to my other Tuesday/Thursday runs? The Tues/Thurs pace is ~13:30. So, a 3-5 mile run would be 40 min to 67 min. This seems appropriate. I like to keep those easy days around a 60 min cap. The one consideration you could give is shifting the Wed longer run to Thursday, cutting it down to 7 miles from say 10, and then bumping the now Wed easy to at most 6 miles. Making it a 5, 6, 7 instead of a 5, 10, 5. But I'd be wary of doing 7, 7, 7 instead of 5, 10, 5 because you aren't allowing yourself a recovery type easy day.

Will you lose some gains by not going to 10? Some, but you'll be ok as long as you keep it close to 7 miles. I always like to harp on balance. Balance in paces, mileage, etc. But the balance extends to everyday life. If you look at a training run and say to yourself - "I'm just beat from the work day and don't have the time or energy", then feel free to reduce the run. It's important to remember that sleep and nutrition play integral roles in the training process just as much as the actual running itself. So you certainly can cut back the longer Wednesday run to help make it fit into your busy life. Putting a little extra mileage on the Tues/Thurs can work, but I'd try and keep at least one of those two to no more than 60 min and the other no more than 90 min.

Thoughts?

 

[bcarey2k]

So your current fitness pace matters. I'll assume the 2:28 HM on your Strava profile is your accurate HM PR. So, the 2:28 HM would be a race equivalent 5:09 marathon (11:48 min/mile). Per Higdon's instructions for Novice 1 the long run is +30-90 and the mid-week runs are easier than that with the Wednesday (semi-long run). So, that means your Wednesday/Saturday pace should be around 12:18-13:18 and your Tuesday/Thursday pace should be around 13-14 min/mile.

The golden zone of aerobic gains in endurance are made between 90-150 minutes in training runs. So for your Wednesday semi-long run at a 12:40 min/mile would be 7 miles minimum (1:28:40). That's a pretty substantial mid-week run. To maximize your endurance gains on those Wednesday runs, I'd try not to cut it below 7 miles @ 12:40 when Higdon schedules it.

The follow-up would be - do I add it to my other Tuesday/Thursday runs? The Tues/Thurs pace is ~13:30. So, a 3-5 mile run would be 40 min to 67 min. This seems appropriate. I like to keep those easy days around a 60 min cap. The one consideration you could give is shifting the Wed longer run to Thursday, cutting it down to 7 miles from say 10, and then bumping the now Wed easy to at most 6 miles. Making it a 5, 6, 7 instead of a 5, 10, 5. But I'd be wary of doing 7, 7, 7 instead of 5, 10, 5 because you aren't allowing yourself a recovery type easy day.

Will you lose some gains by not going to 10? Some, but you'll be ok as long as you keep it close to 7 miles. I always like to harp on balance. Balance in paces, mileage, etc. But the balance extends to everyday life. If you look at a training run and say to yourself - "I'm just beat from the work day and don't have the time or energy", then feel free to reduce the run. It's important to remember that sleep and nutrition play integral roles in the training process just as much as the actual running itself. So you certainly can cut back the longer Wednesday run to help make it fit into your busy life. Putting a little extra mileage on the Tues/Thurs can work, but I'd try and keep at least one of those two to no more than 60 min and the other no more than 90 min.

Thoughts?

Just sayin ... your insight rocks.

I am that 5 hr marathoner ... love it

 

[bryana]

You are amazing, @DopeyBadger ! That all makes a ton of sense. That is an accurate HM PR, and in a non-Disney marathon, somewhere between 5-5:30 is what my goal time would be. It was my goal for Philly in 2014 but I ended up slacking on training and hurting myself during the race. (And then still did Disney 6 weeks later ). I am being much more responsible about training this time around, because I certainly learned my lesson about letting life get in the way too much.

While I have been a lot better this time around about actually keeping my long runs slow, I will admit that I'm not very good about that for my week day runs. I've been making a special effort to keep the Wednesday longer run slower and treating it more like a "long run lite", but sometimes it really only feels like I have one speed. I guess it's just that whole "if it's not difficult - is it really a workout" mentality a lot of us seem to have. A lot of posts here lately though have been motivating me to really make an effort at it though. The one not too long about trying to PR every training run really resonated.

I will definitely keep your post in mind going forward - but for this race and any future ones. I'm just looking to finish this marathon in good shape and am not too worried about time (pictures and all of that!). I am toying with the idea of maybe finding a spring marathon because I'd like to have a "real" (they're all real but you guys know what I mean!) race with a time that more accurately represents what I'm capable of, so I am really soaking up all of the great information you've been contributing here.

 

[Keels]

Actually, I put in that my time was 2:15. However, I did not have any results in the past 12 months. i did talk with them and they said that my estimated finish should be ok, but no guarantees.

I would go ahead and plan to spend some time at Runner Relations armed with this information/communication because you will likely be in one of the last corrals.

 

[bryana]

Annual Passholder discounts are released. We aren't very flexible in our dates and don't want to change hotels so it won't save us more than the existing RO discount, but maybe it can save someone in here some money.

 

[Anisum]

I know this is probably a long shot.... but does anyone know of any travel providers still offering race registration for either the 10k or the Half Marathon? Or if there is any chance that Disney might open any more spots for the races on the Run Disney site?

I don't want to say it's impossible but given that Goofy Challenge is sold out I would say there's not a likelihood of them opening half marathon slots (usually they pull from Goofy if it doesn't sell out to open more Marathon and Half Marathon spots. Looking at the list of travel providers I believe at least one has half marathon spots (Woodbrey Family Travel via the runDisney websites) and a few have waitlists so you could try for the half. There's almost zero chance of finding a 10k spot open.

 

[jack'smom]

Question about Photopass...
I was thinking about not renewing my Annual Pass and just purchasing a new one for our summer trip (so we would get 2 summer trips out of it). But if I do that, I wouldn't have Photopass. Not a big deal for in the park (just DH and I on this trip) but wondering about the races. Do you all purchase Photopass and is it worth it ($169!) for the races? At most character stops, they will use your phone to take a picture, right?
We are DVC, so I will get the same discounts on merchandise and dining that I would with my AP but I figure I will save about $160 on my tickets if I wait to get my Annual Pass until the summer.
Any thoughts?

 

[ZellyB]

Question about Photopass...
I was thinking about not renewing my Annual Pass and just purchasing a new one for our summer trip (so we would get 2 summer trips out of it). But if I do that, I wouldn't have Photopass. Not a big deal for in the park (just DH and I on this trip) but wondering about the races. Do you all purchase Photopass and is it worth it ($169!) for the races? At most character stops, they will use your phone to take a picture, right?
We are DVC, so I will get the same discounts on merchandise and dining that I would with my AP but I figure I will save about $160 on my tickets if I wait to get my Annual Pass until the summer.
Any thoughts?

We have purchased Photopass and I do feel like it is worth it. I've always gotten a lot of pictures and they are good quality. While they will use your phone at the character stops, in the early hours when it's dark, the pictures are often not very good. What I like even more than the character photos though are the on course pictures while you are running. There are usually quite a few of those as well and especially love the good ones I've gotten running out of the castle. So, at least for me, we buy it every time.

 

[Sailormoon2]

FP+ question: Saturday would be my 60 day mark, however when I look right now in my account (like pretending to make a FP) it only shows the calendar open 30 days away. Will it suddenly enable me to see my dates (the 60 days out) on Saturday, and I shouldn't worry about what I can/ or can't see right now? I know the app has had a lot of glitches lately, so I'm a little worried.
What is the earliest time on your day you can make reservation? 5am or7am?

 

[Nole95]

FP+ question: Saturday would be my 60 day mark, however when I look right now in my account (like pretending to make a FP) it only shows the calendar open 30 days away. Will it suddenly enable me to see my dates (the 60 days out) on Saturday, and I shouldn't worry about what I can/ or can't see right now? I know the app has had a lot of glitches lately, so I'm a little worried.
What is the earliest time on your day you can make reservation? 5am or7am?

From what I have seen on other posts about this, on Saturday you should be able to see everything for your trip. My day is Saturday as well, and I see the same thing right now.

7 AM Eastern is when the window opens up.

 

[hauntedcity]

Speaking of FP+....

I have a split hotel stay, with one night on January 2, and the rest of the nights at a different resort. Tomorrow is the first day I can make FP for Jan 2. Can I make FP+ for the rest of my trip tomorrow, or will I only be able to book for January 2, and then have to make the rest of the FP on Saturday?

 

[dobball23]

From what I have seen on other posts about this, on Saturday you should be able to see everything for your trip. My day is Saturday as well, and I see the same thing right now.

7 AM Eastern is when the window opens up.

I thought it was 6 am on the 60-day mark that you can make FP+? Or is 6 am the ADR time?

 

[rteetz]

Speaking of FP+....

I have a split hotel stay, with one night on January 2, and the rest of the nights at a different resort. Tomorrow is the first day I can make FP for Jan 2. Can I make FP+ for the rest of my trip tomorrow, or will I only be able to book for January 2, and then have to make the rest of the FP on Saturday?

You should be as long as both are Disney hotels. I am not positive though.