Marathon Weekend 2024

[BikeFan]

SAFD: No offseason for me. I've got marathons scheduled for February, March, and April, and maybe adding a second for April. Plus, a couple of ultras in the fall and however many marathons I can fit in for the rest of the year. I love a full calendar!

 

[FFigawi]

Yikes! Paying all that money for this challenge, and all they can come up with for one course is an overglorified track? Oh I'd be mad.

I'd be extremely infuriated by their choice because the beach track they ran on is about 6km long. They easily could’ve used more of it than they did. The guy who is with them and is doing an Olympic tri on each continent instead of a marathon used the entire beach track. No idea why the runners didn’t do the same.

 

[AJruns]

SAFD: I don’t really have an off season, because I’m not really sure I have an on season… I run the same distance (usually 20-23 miles/week) at the same pace (easy) all year, and I do races sprinkled in for the atmosphere and not time. I maintain a 13 mile weekend long run so I just add one mile a week at the end of Nov/Dec for MW, and I topped out at 27 miles/week at my peak this year. With that said, I’m taking longer to get back to normal right now because I had a few twinges in my foot after the full and I’m injury prone. Physically it’s good for me, and my next distance commitment isn’t til Cherry Blossom in April, but mentally it’s hard to watch my friends do their long runs and not join for all of it. But it’s advice I would give to them if they were in my place, so it I’m trying to embrace it. Also I’m in a weird place with strength training- I love it and need it, but I have such paralyzing anticipatory fear about my knee pain that I’ve been doing nothing (that sounds dramatic, but an example is having no problem going for a long run but refusing jump in a HIIT class )

 

[_shiny_side_up_]

SAFD: My off season doesn't start until mid-April. Until then, I'm training for the London marathon. After doing Berlin and New York last year (accidentally, the former via lottery and the latter from a 2020 deferral), I wasn't able to do the complete Dopey this year. I'm going to take a nice long break after London and look forward to next year's Dopey.

 

[DopeyRunner486]

Today’s Question: How are you managing the “off” season, and if it is not off for you what are you up to?

I have not nearly been running as much as I should. The weather has been so rough with cold and snow. Finally got out yesterday for an easy 5 miles. I have princess in a few weeks so need to at least stay maintained for that. February is always a rough month given weather for me.

 

[Dopey 2020]

SAFD: Like others, I don’t really have an off season. My usual is 10 miles every Monday and 5 Wed-Sat year round. If I put a race on the calendar I bump up speed and/or distance with some form of “plan” and if I’m hurt or on vacation I back it down as needed to feel better or fit the schedule.

 

[jrsharp21]

Been out of the loop the past few weeks because of work and my son's high school baseball season getting underway. I haven't been out running much since MW because of the above plus really crappy weather we had down in the Houston area. But now we are back up into the 70's! So starting tomorrow getting back out on the daily run schedule.

Wife and I decided last night that we are not going to try for a DL Half Marathon weekend registration. I said I would rather run Dopey again next year and the family all said they would like to do a MW run again also. Doing both WDW MW and DL HMWE would require me to take off 2 weeks of work in one of my most busiest times of the year. So looks like, if registration goes well, I will be back for the Dopey next year.

 

[Disney316]

SAFD: I took about 3 weeks "off" of structured training after the full and just did 2-3 miles a handful of times. I'm now launching into training for a local half at the end of March and am on the fence whether I aim to PR it, or run very easy with friends. Open to your advice, strangers on the internet: should I try to capitalize on the fitness I gained building to the marathon and focus on speed over the next 8 weeks to PR, or should I just enjoy the local race with friends?

My half PR is 1:56 from this same race in March of last year. In October I ran 2:00 as a marathon training race (having not focused on speed since the PR effort in March) and if I sought a PR this year I'd probably for 1:53 as a goal based on Corral A's typical cutoffs...

 

[The Expert]

I'd be extremely infuriated by their choice because the beach track they ran on is about 6km long. They easily could’ve used more of it than they did. The guy who is with them and is doing an Olympic tri on each continent instead of a marathon used the entire beach track. No idea why the runners didn’t do the same.

Looks like delays caused some additional issues in Spain. They had to move to an entirely different town than planned, and they were only able to get a permit for a very small, very hilly loop. They did THIRTY THREE laps with 2000 feet (610m) of climbs and drops. Sounds miserable!

 

[Naomeri]

Looks like delays caused some additional issues in Spain. They had to move to an entirely different town than planned, and they were only able to get a permit for a very small, very hilly loop. They did THIRTY THREE laps with 2000 feet (610m) of climbs and drops. Sounds miserable!

My thighs hurt just reading that

 

[nekonekoneko]

Looks like delays caused some additional issues in Spain. They had to move to an entirely different town than planned, and they were only able to get a permit for a very small, very hilly loop. They did THIRTY THREE laps with 2000 feet (610m) of climbs and drops. Sounds miserable!

Geez, paying EUR40,000 for a once in a lifetime experience should mean everything is planned out way in advance. two races that sound much less than advertised should be cause for people to be asking for their money back and heading home.

 

[The Expert]

Geez, paying EUR40,000 for a once in a lifetime experience should mean everything is planned out way in advance. two races that sound much less than advertised should be cause for people to be asking for their money back and heading home.

I'm sure the logistics are a nightmare, and as soon as one stop gets off schedule it's like dominoes falling. But still -- you know this is a possibility so have GOOD backup options maybe?? And my guess is you sign a thousand forms saying this could happen. But if this were my one time doing it I'd be pretty upset.

 

[Herding_Cats]

SAFD: I took about 3 weeks "off" of structured training after the full and just did 2-3 miles a handful of times. I'm now launching into training for a local half at the end of March and am on the fence whether I aim to PR it, or run very easy with friends. Open to your advice, strangers on the internet: should I try to capitalize on the fitness I gained building to the marathon and focus on speed over the next 8 weeks to PR, or should I just enjoy the local race with friends?

My half PR is 1:56 from this same race in March of last year. In October I ran 2:00 as a marathon training race (having not focused on speed since the PR effort in March) and if I sought a PR this year I'd probably for 1:53 as a goal based on Corral A's typical cutoffs...

Incoming opinion from a member of Team Not-So-Fast, so feel free to ignore it. I only dream of things like being able to submit a Proof of Time.

When will you again have the fitness level that you have right now, post marathon training block (and race)? How is the weather usually for your March race? Are there other races that historically have good weather that you could try for a PR? Are there other races planned that you can/will run with your friends? How important is corral A for you? Is ~2 months enough time for you to get back into things, focus on speed, do a taper (if you do those), and then race?


If it were me, and there were going to be ample opportunities to do other races with my friends, I would go for the PR/Corral A time. Unless you live in a northern/snowy state, this is probably the best time of year for training and racing temps. I would rather go for the speed now, rather than trying to go for it during the summer/early fall when conditions will not be as nice.

 

[Disneyhanna]

SAFD: I took about 3 weeks "off" of structured training after the full and just did 2-3 miles a handful of times. I'm now launching into training for a local half at the end of March and am on the fence whether I aim to PR it, or run very easy with friends. Open to your advice, strangers on the internet: should I try to capitalize on the fitness I gained building to the marathon and focus on speed over the next 8 weeks to PR, or should I just enjoy the local race with friends?

My half PR is 1:56 from this same race in March of last year. In October I ran 2:00 as a marathon training race (having not focused on speed since the PR effort in March) and if I sought a PR this year I'd probably for 1:53 as a goal based on Corral A's typical cutoffs...

I am in a similar boat, I only need to shave off 23 seconds per mile on my 10-mile PR to make it into corral A for the Disneyland half (assuming the cutoffs stay the same). My 10-mile PR was set when the most I had run was 10 miles, and now I have done 2 marathons. But I have also only done 2-3 miles at a time since Dopey, so I've surely lost a good bit of fitness in the last month or two since I was out with Covid in December for a while. My race is further out (late May) so I think I will try and go for it. But marathon training has made me so slow, I have no idea if all that mileage will translate to a bit more speed now that my legs are mostly recovered from the pounding they got from eight months of marathon training milage. You only need to shave off a little over two minutes so if you're feeling good I would go for it if it were me...at least for me it is hard to PR in summer races so March is a much better time.

 

[GollyGadget]

SAFD: I took about 3 weeks "off" of structured training after the full and just did 2-3 miles a handful of times. I'm now launching into training for a local half at the end of March and am on the fence whether I aim to PR it, or run very easy with friends. Open to your advice, strangers on the internet: should I try to capitalize on the fitness I gained building to the marathon and focus on speed over the next 8 weeks to PR, or should I just enjoy the local race with friends?

My half PR is 1:56 from this same race in March of last year. In October I ran 2:00 as a marathon training race (having not focused on speed since the PR effort in March) and if I sought a PR this year I'd probably for 1:53 as a goal based on Corral A's typical cutoffs...

If I were in your shoes, I'd train for the PR unless the main reason you signed up for the race was to run with friends. As you eluded to, you likely have a lot of "bonus" fitness after the marathon training cycle.

Plus, if you train for the PR, you can always change your mind later. If the weather is bad or you just aren't feeling it, you can run with your friends.

 

[disneyrunnergrl]

SAFD: took a week off with no running after Goofy in January and then two weeks of low mileage. Ramping mileage back up for a few spring races. Skipping princess weekend this year to run rock n roll Las vegas half and then the springtime surprise challenge. Enjoying the shorter distances for maintenance and long runs! Thinking about trying for a half or 10 miler PR for POT though for the full marathon next year so off season may not last very long.

 

[garneska]

SAFD: My off season is when the PT says it is time to rest. Now the last few weeks i am not a schedule, but today i started my training plan for a 10k in May.

 

[BigEeyore]

SAFD: I try to maintain some base fitness year-round, so I don't really have an "off season". I took a week off of running after Dopey, and then slowly getting back to my base 20-25 miles of running per week.
I have been working on more cycling and swimming since Dopey, as I had to cut these way back during Dopey training (and Chicago training before that!).

I am signed up for a half marathon this weekend in Hilton Head Island - I need a new PoT and this one worked out with my schedule, but my current pace is a good 30 sec/mile slower than I used to be a few years ago so I need to accept that it won't be a PR, but any PoT is better than no PoT!

 

[GuinnessRunner]

SAFD: After taking a couple recovery weeks with little running, have started back training for HM in May to get a POT for Marathon Weekend. First time in awhile training for a time in a race so excited to see how it goes. Also trying to make sure I include 2x per week of strength work (TRX). Unfortunately, last Thursday I got the dreaded speach from my DS' teacher when I went to pick him up that he had just thrown up and we should be aware that 4 other kids had gone home with the same thing... So knew it was only a matter of time before I got to share in that joy. Fortunately it was pretty short lived and I am back at it today.

 

[DianaMB333]

For the ones that are frequent rundisney participants… is there something special/unique on the WdW marathon weekend that can’t be seen in the other dates later in the year?