Marathon Weekend 2018

[mbwhitti]

Just to add to the previous poster - you do have to register for the new event and pay for that in full plus a transfer fee and then wait for runDisney to refund your original entry fee. I've never done it so maybe someone else can speak to the turnaround time on the refund.

I got my refund within a few days after the request.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Hoping the experts here can help me:

I am excited for our first marathon weekend in ‘18. My wife wants to do the half. I told her I would run it with her since she is not a runner and we will have fun doing it together. But since I am a runner and because I have never done one before, I am considering also doing the full (by myself). When I mention this to folks, everyone says, “if you are going to do the half and full, you might as well do the Dopey…”

First of all, I am not sure I am even up for the full marathon as I don’t have a huge desire to prepare for 26 miles. I can stretch my typical runs of 6-8 miles to 13 miles easily – but 26 is a different story. I usually run 3-4 times a week and did my last half in 1:47 so I am in pretty good shape but I have to think I will need to do a few runs of at least 15-20 miles to prepare for 26, right?

Then there is the idea of getting up for early mornings multiple days. Doing it once for the half – OK. Again for the full? Hmmmm. But to get up 4 days in a row?? Not sure I can do that.

So I have 2 questions:

1) If I sign up for just the half, can I “upgrade” to the Goofy or Dopey later assuming there is space available?

And 2) for those of you who run the Dopey, how do you deal with getting up so early 4 days in a row without it messing up your sleep and/or your entire vacation?

I'm one who believes in cumulative fatigue training and diminishing returns after 2.5 hours of training at "long run" pace (around 45-90 seconds slower than marathon tempo). Between that and my belief in aerobic training (i.e. train slow to race fast), it is my opinion that you would max out at 16 miles as a long run in preparation for your marathon. This 16 miles is based on your HM tempo of 8:10 min/mile, with a long run pace of 9:13 min/mile, and thus 2.5 hours is around 16 miles. The key is the balance amongst the rest of your training days, but as an example no it wouldn't necessarily be necessary to do runs beyond 16 miles for you. I help write training plans for others and wrote a training plan for one person that maxed at 13 miles (based on their pace). This person finished Dopey right in the amount of expected time based on the training we set up. Although this person did do 6 days per week for the last 10 weeks of training.

As for sleep and fatigue, best advice I can give is find what works best for you. I personally make sure after my long weekend runs to stay active and do things. Sort of like simulating being in the park. Once the race week comes things aren't abnormal. In fact my average steps per week from Dopey and previous weeks were right in line with each other. As others have said the only real major difference between Goofy and Dopey is the extra 2 days of waking up. Because once you're prepared for a marathon, you can tolerate the 5k and 10k on proceeding days. For my first Dopey (2014), I actually simulated getting up at 1:30 in the morning, sitting around, then running at 3:30-5:00am. I thought it would be necessary to help the process. Although, I've found in subsequent years that it wasn't necessary for me to do that. I just change my sleep schedule while in Disney to 6pm-7pm. I've been able to manage with that strategy.

 

[Barca33Runner]

2) for those of you who run the Dopey, how do you deal with getting up so early 4 days in a row without it messing up your sleep and/or your entire vacation?

I'm a once a day sleeper (no naps) so I just adjust my time frame and either "stay up" until 9-10 PM and deal with a little less sleep the next day or I go to sleep in the 6-7PM range and I'm fine. It's all about scheduling, making value choices (sleep or Fantasmic?), and living with the consequences.

Also, I've always found the last 26.2 miles (and the first 22.4) to be the toughest part.

 

[courtneybeth]

Then there is the idea of getting up for early mornings multiple days. Doing it once for the half – OK. Again for the full? Hmmmm. But to get up 4 days in a row?? Not sure I can do that.

I've opted to sacrifice park time for running time. I booked Beach Club and will be enjoying the villa and pool / property. This will help with the early wake-ups and long runs.

I'm not even sure that I can do all this, but this is a HUGE running goal for me. If I can hit RNR HOF with 16 HM races in one calendar year, then I can do a Dopey Challenge.

 

[g8rben]

Planning to run my first marathon in 2018! BWV already booked and going to be on there next Tuesday to get registered.

 

[bananabean]

That 4 early morning thing is going to kill me. In a perfect world, I would be completely nocturnal, so 7 am is when I want to go to sleep! Why do Disney vacations always seem like so much work?!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I have no idea how you all go to bed by 10PM for 2:30AM/3AM wake up calls!

We're asleep by 8PM the day before races!

 

[FFigawi]

I have no idea how you all go to bed by 10PM for 2:30AM/3AM wake up calls!

We're asleep by 8PM the day before races!

Simple - don't get up at 230am. Take a later bus and you can get more sleep.

 

[Anisum]

Simple - don't get up at 230am. Take a later bus and you can get more sleep.

My bus has gotten lost in the past. I for one will wake up exactly 10 minutes before the first bus (5 to get dressed, 5 to walk from the room to the bus) then sleep in the corral if I arrive early.

 

[cavepig]

nd 2) for those of you who run the Dopey, how do you deal with getting up so early 4 days in a row without it messing up your sleep and/or your entire vacation

The getting up early wasn't too bad for me. We flew in on Tuesday and that was an early morning 3:00am wakeup, then Wed we got up early like 4:00am just to keep with the schedule and have a better chance of being tired enough to try to sleep between 8-9pm. I don't do naps and we hit the parks all day till 7:30ish so by the time 9pm came I got to sleep pretty well. It might have been closer to 9:30 the first night before the 5k. My trouble was falling asleep at a decent time my first race weekend, but what I've found is if I put on old cartoons on to watch they make me sleepy.

 

[Keels]

That 4 early morning thing is going to kill me. In a perfect world, I would be completely nocturnal, so 7 am is when I want to go to sleep! Why do Disney vacations always seem like so much work?!

THIS. If I was solo, I would legit treat every Dopey race as a "night race" and then go to bed for the day afterwards.

 

[jeanigor]

THIS. If I was solo, I would legit treat every Dopey race as a "night race" and then go to bed for the day afterwards.

Sometimes its good to be single with no kiddos.

 

[FFigawi]

THIS. If I was solo, I would legit treat every Dopey race as a "night race" and then go to bed for the day afterwards.

You might be onto something there.....

 

[steph0808]

When do you all anticipate the marathon selling out?

I remember for the 20th anniversary, I didn't register until July when they gave a $10 or $20 discount.

I was on the fence because I was a fairly new runner who never did more than 6/7 miles at that point.

I'd love to push registration out for a few months (so I can make sure that marathon training matches with my life these days), but I'm afraid of missing out if I don't register on the 14th.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

THIS. If I was solo, I would legit treat every Dopey race as a "night race" and then go to bed for the day afterwards.

For the Dopey races this year, we came back to the room and slept for a few hours before hitting the parks each day. It was new for me as I typically don't sleep when the sun is up, but it worked out very well.

 

[courtneybeth]

THIS. If I was solo, I would legit treat every Dopey race as a "night race" and then go to bed for the day afterwards.

Hmmm.... You may be on to something. Our plan was to skip parks these days and relax in the room. I wonder if this could realistically be done and how you would treat the times. What gets me is the fueling/food issues the day before and how to plan for that.

 

[ZellyB]

When do you all anticipate the marathon selling out?

I remember for the 20th anniversary, I didn't register until July when they gave a $10 or $20 discount.

I was on the fence because I was a fairly new runner who never did more than 6/7 miles at that point.

I'd love to push registration out for a few months (so I can make sure that marathon training matches with my life these days), but I'm afraid of missing out if I don't register on the 14th.

I think it's really hard to predict right now just because a couple of years ago things were selling out so quickly but that certainly seems to have changed in the last year or two. But, of course, this year you have the 25th anniversary which will increase demand at least some I assume. Still, though, I would be surprised if the marathon as a solo race sells out any time soon. I think the last few years it hasn't sold out at all. The challenges seem to suck up many of the marathon registrations leaving the solo registrations out there longer.

 

[ZellyB]

So, here's a question that is waaaaaay premature, but I'll ask opinions anyway.

DH and I want to eat at Victoria & Albert's again this year, but I'm struggling to decide what day to try for. Since we are running Dopey this year, practically every night we are there is a pre-race night and we aren't staying long after the races.

Our plan is to arrive on Jan. 2nd and leave on the 9th. I'm afraid to schedule for the first night because if we have any kind of flight delays (like we had this year) we might miss our reservation. The next four nights then are pre-race nights. That leaves the night of the marathon, when we will be utterly exhausted or Monday night which will be the night before we fly home. We'd do the early dinner time, but also really enjoying doing the wine pairings.

So, I'm debating between doing it the night before the 5K - because it is just a 5K and we can go back to the resort right after and sleep. Or doing it Monday night before flying home on Tuesday. My DH thinks we do it Monday as a celebration and who cares if we are a bit tired and maybe hungover for the flight home. I agree with that, but also wanted to do some DATW on Monday, so not sure how enthused we will be about dinner and more drinks after DATW all day.

Thoughts? What would you do?

 

[croach]

So, here's a question that is waaaaaay premature, but I'll ask opinions anyway.

DH and I want to eat at Victoria & Albert's again this year, but I'm struggling to decide what day to try for. Since we are running Dopey this year, practically every night we are there is a pre-race night and we aren't staying long after the races.

Our plan is to arrive on Jan. 2nd and leave on the 9th. I'm afraid to schedule for the first night because if we have any kind of flight delays (like we had this year) we might miss our reservation. The next four nights then are pre-race nights. That leaves the night of the marathon, when we will be utterly exhausted or Monday night which will be the night before we fly home. We'd do the early dinner time, but also really enjoying doing the wine pairings.

So, I'm debating between doing it the night before the 5K - because it is just a 5K and we can go back to the resort right after and sleep. Or doing it Monday night before flying home on Tuesday. My DH thinks we do it Monday as a celebration and who cares if we are a bit tired and maybe hungover for the flight home. I agree with that, but also wanted to do some DATW on Monday, so not sure how enthused we will be about dinner and more drinks after DATW all day.

Thoughts? What would you do?

Hhhmmmm I think I would do it after the races. That's a pretty big meal right? Not sure how that sit before a race but I don't really know what the dining options are there. I guess I would go Monday but I get your dilemma there too. How about a big nap Sunday and then dinner?

 

[ZellyB]

Hhhmmmm I think I would do it after the races. That's a pretty big meal right? Not sure how that sit before a race but I don't really know what the dining options are there. I guess I would go Monday but I get your dilemma there too. How about a big nap Sunday and then dinner?

Yes, it's a big meal - and very rich - with a lot of wine. Sunday is workable maybe. We'd still be pretty physically tired, but I mean we are just sitting and shoveling food into our mouths right? And if we do the early seating we'd still get back into bed pretty early. I like the idea of after the races too because then it feels more celebratory because we completed Dopey! We might opt to split the wine pairing this time instead of each getting our own. That way we would still be in good shape for round two and DATW.