Official 2014 Dopey Challenge Thread!

[JoeKir]

That 50 mile training plan looks insane, and a really good fit for the 4 runs in a row we'll be doing with Dopey.

EDIT: I just noticed it's a 50k training plan. I thought it was 50 miles. Either way I'm sure the back to back long runs will help build your endurance.

DW and I (having never run a marathon before) are using the Goofy Challenge training plan from Galloway. We've just extended it from a 28 week plan to a 40 week plan so we have a build up. That said, we aren't going for speed, just want to be able to participate in this awesome race.

40 Week Unofficial Dopey Training plan

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

After talking with a bunch of ultra experts, I think that an ultra plan actually wouldn’t be great for Dopey. Ultra plans are designed to get you through 50 miles at one time, and do not account for 20 hours of activity between runs, or 3 additional 2am wake up calls.

 

[buckeyecinderella]

I am only signed up for full (ha, I can't believe I am saying "only"), but I have been reading through this thread just because I am in awe of all you guys!

A thought occurred to me just now. Do you think there could be enough drop outs or injuries from the Dopey this year that Disney would consider not trying it again in 2015? Or, does Disney just see the $$ from this and not care how many people actually complete it?

Ok. I really have no idea if I ever will ever attempt Dopey! But I do hope it sticks around for awhile because if I can manage the Goofy challenge next year I would seriously consider trying Dopey the following year or the year after that. Even if I can't finish, I would like to take on the challenge just to see how much I can do and for the experience. That was my plan IF I had signed up for the Dopey this year. Which is also my attitude for even doing a marathon. It's a challenge and if I get ill or injured while running I'll allow myself to quit without shame and try again the following year.

There are plenty who have been running the unofficial Dopey for years now, right? Now there is only one more race to run. I don't think the injury or illness rate would be that much higher, as long as the runners participating in Dopey are well-prepared are smart about it and take recovery seriously after each leg of the Dopey.

 

[Shang Runner]

Did the 2013 Goofy and wasn't expecting to do it again for 2014, but the Dopey was just too much of a draw

I agree Mr. Bean. I took a solemn oath that I would not run Disney in January again after that disastrous Full in the heat this year. I registered for Wine and Dine a few weeks before Dopey was announced. Well, I swallowed the Dopey bait hook, line, sinker, rod, and reel. (And glad I did.) Now I am doing both.

 

[RnbwSktles]

That 50 mile training plan looks insane, and a really good fit for the 4 runs in a row we'll be doing with Dopey.

EDIT: I just noticed it's a 50k training plan. I thought it was 50 miles. Either way I'm sure the back to back long runs will help build your endurance.

DW and I (having never run a marathon before) are using the Goofy Challenge training plan from Galloway. We've just extended it from a 28 week plan to a 40 week plan so we have a build up. That said, we aren't going for speed, just want to be able to participate in this awesome race.

40 Week Unofficial Dopey Training plan

Interesting training plan! I never looked at the Goofy plan before so I didn't realize that the Saturday (1/2 marathon) training day was only walking. I guess that is a good way to avoid injury, but I am not sure I would feel prepared to do that amount of walking/running during race weekend.

Do you plan to do anything on Fridays to get used to 4 days in a row? Good luck!

 

[RnbwSktles]

There are plenty who have been running the unofficial Dopey for years now, right? Now there is only one more race to run. I don't think the injury or illness rate would be that much higher, as long as the runners participating in Dopey are well-prepared are smart about it and take recovery seriously after each leg of the Dopey.

That is my concern. I know there are a few people on this board who have said they are doing Dopey starting from scratch (no real running experience/races before). I just wonder how many people got caught up in the excitement of the challenge and don't realize what is actually involved in it. Can you imagine if it's another 80 degree weekend??

 

[HealthyDisneyGuide]

I'm thinking about doing a 50K training plan,

I found one I might use at http://www.trailrunevents.com/ul/schedule-50k.asp

That's interesting, hadn't seen it before. It's a little more aggressive that what I put together, which is a combo of Galloway's "to improve" marathon plan, Galloway's Goofy plan, and the "run less, run faster" plan for mid week speed & tempo runs.

I'm not planning on double long runs every weekend, though. Right now I have them only with my very long slow runs, which will be 17, 20, 23, 26, & 28-29 miles every 3-4 weeks during the fall. It worked for me last year as I trained for the 2013 marathon.

I'm running the Kentucky Derby mini-marathon (half) at the end of April and hope to just stay half-marathon trained with long runs at 10-14 miles through Julyish, then start into a more official plan.

 

[airtime247]

After talking with a bunch of ultra experts, I think that an ultra plan actually wouldn’t be great for Dopey. Ultra plans are designed to get you through 50 miles at one time, and do not account for 20 hours of activity between runs, or 3 additional 2am wake up calls.

It's a 50K plan and not 50 miles. People who run 50 miles are nuts. We are just Dopey!

I agree that a plan for that many miles over one day may not help us much. I am more interested in getting used to running 45-50 miles in one week, not one day.

This plan I linked to led up to three back-to-back days with 4, 12, and 4 miles and then has a long run up to 26 miles (I may only go to 20 or 22) followed by a 10-mile day.

I can see customizing something like this to only go up to week 9 or so but have a longer mid-week long run to help get the weekly mileage up closer to 45-50.

Has anyone here done Galloway's Goofy plan before? Did you do well or did it basically just allow you to finish? It just seems like a 3x/week marathon plan with some walking days before long runs. Does that really help build the endurance to run a half followed by a full? I'm worried I would crash after mile 10 of the full. I've never done more than the 5K and half at Wine & Dine back to back so I'm genuinely curious.

Aside from having another baby, I really don't have any ideas for training myself to be up at 3am each morning! I live on the west coast so my internal clock will probably be way off on this trip. Midnight long runs anyone?

-steve

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

I had to give up my Dumbo bib since I had foot surgery in February - but I just signed up for Dopey. My doctor says I'll be more than good to go for that weekend - BRING IT!

 

[HealthyDisneyGuide]

Has anyone here done Galloway's Goofy plan before? Did you do well or did it basically just allow you to finish?

I did his "to improve" marathon plan but did 3 days of mid-week runs plus the weekend long run that was sometimes really long, sometimes the mile repeats, and sometimes the Magic Miles. I'm not a newbie runner but I'm not fast either. I've done half-marathons everywhere from 2:14 to 2:36 and finished the crazy hot marathon in 5:16. I was hoping for a 5 hour finish. I'm not sure I could have been better trained, I just got sapped by the heat & humidity.

 

[JoeKir]

Interesting training plan! I never looked at the Goofy plan before so I didn't realize that the Saturday (1/2 marathon) training day was only walking. I guess that is a good way to avoid injury, but I am not sure I would feel prepared to do that amount of walking/running during race weekend.

Do you plan to do anything on Fridays to get used to 4 days in a row? Good luck!

We're not sure yet - the plan is totally unofficial and will probably get changed up a bit as we incorporate official races throughout the year. We're already planning on adding some long walks on non running days just to get some endurance. I would imagine depending on how well we develop we'll probably add them in the fall. For first time runners, does that make sense?

 

[MrBean]

Has anyone here done Galloway's Goofy plan before? Did you do well or did it basically just allow you to finish? It just seems like a 3x/week marathon plan with some walking days before long runs. Does that really help build the endurance to run a half followed by a full? I'm worried I would crash after mile 10 of the full. I've never done more than the 5K and half at Wine & Dine back to back so I'm genuinely curious.

Honestly, I only followed the full marathon plan and did quite well during this years Goofy, even with the higher temperatures. The Goofy plan is supposed to be for experienced runners. I'm sure you'll do great following either, as they both require the necessary discipline to finish strong

Sent from my Nexus 7 using DISBoards

 

[NitroStitch]

I preregistered for Dopey. I ran the full in 2010 and am running the Big Sur Marathon in a little more than two weeks which will be my second full. I am turning 40 at the end of the year and was going to celebrate (mourn?) by running Goofy but if I'm going to have a planned mid-life crisis, I might as well do it in style and run Dopey, right?

I'm trying to figure out the best training plan for it. I know I can do the mileage for the marathon but I'm much more comfortable with the half distance.

I'm thinking about doing a 50K training plan, not so much for the overall distance but I find they tend to peak at 50 miles per week which is pretty much what we are going to be doing that weekend.

I found one I might use at http://www.trailrunevents.com/ul/schedule-50k.asp

I like the idea that it has training runs three days in a row which will hopefully prepare me for the four days of Dopey. It also has the long run back to back with another fairly long run. I might swap the days and do the shorter run the day before the long instead of after. I think I will take about five weeks before this to lower the mileage of each day to get used to the number of days of running as I'm only running four now.

What is everyone else thinking for training plans?

-steve

I'm not sure what plan to use, but I'm checking out everyone else's ideas! I like the 50k plan you're looking at, but doubt my ability and time to do really long run during the week. Got to do more thinking...

 

[Shang Runner]

There are plenty who have been running the unofficial Dopey for years now, right? Now there is only one more race to run. I don't think the injury or illness rate would be that much higher, as long as the runners participating in Dopey are well-prepared are smart about it and take recovery seriously after each leg of the Dopey.

Here is my experience, for what it is worth:

I ran Dopey in 2012, at age 62, and had no problem. My training plan was the Team-in-Training marathon plan, which I modified slightly. I ran Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. The modification was - whatever I ran on Saturday (long run), I ran half that distance on Friday. I felt quite prepared on Marathon Weekend.

My recovery method is two 8 oz. bottles of Ensure Muscle Revigor immediately after crossing the finish line (at bag check); get back to the hotel quickly for a 20-minute ice bath; put on compression socks and walk Epcot for a few hours while downing several $8 beers. I experienced no aches or pain.

Unfortunately, because Dopey seemed too easy in 2012, I did not take training for 2013 Goofy as serious. I did the Half ok, but the Full kicked my butt. It was a combination of lack of preparation and the extreme heat. I vowed never to run Marathon Weekend again.........until the 2014 Dopey Challenge was announced. I am going back to my 2012 training plan.

Dean Karnazes says, "Listen to everyone; follow no one." In other words, listen to what others say, but do what works best for you.

Bob

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

98%!

 

[timmac]

Regarding training, I generally don't (anymore) follow any specific plans, so take my advice for whatever it's worth.

By this fall, I plan to be running, on most weeks, something like this:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Mid-distance, mid pace
Wednesday: Speed work and/or local 5k race (happens every Wed near me)
Thursday: Mid-distance, mid pace
Friday: Off
Saturday: Long run, slow pace
Sunday: Longer run, slow pace

For me, the biggest thing I've ever found that helps with my training is longer runs on back to back days. Getting used to short recovery periods and running on tired legs is critical to success, in my opinion.

I'm hoping that, by October/November, I'm up to 60+ miles per week.

 

[John VN]

Regarding training, I generally don't (anymore) follow any specific plans, so take my advice for whatever it's worth.

By this fall, I plan to be running, on most weeks, something like this:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Mid-distance, mid pace
Wednesday: Speed work and/or local 5k race (happens every Wed near me)
Thursday: Mid-distance, mid pace
Friday: Off
Saturday: Long run, slow pace
Sunday: Longer run, slow pace

For me, the biggest thing I've ever found that helps with my training is longer runs on back to back days. Getting used to short recovery periods and running on tired legs is critical to success, in my opinion.

I'm hoping that, by October/November, I'm up to 60+ miles per week.

Information that never seems to be given when examples of training routines are mentioned.

What's a mid-distance, long-distance, slow pace, mid-pace, or your race pace or speed pace? How old are you and how long have you been running?

I think answers to these questions should be given when information is posted so we can do a comparison to ourselves.

 

[timmac]

Information that never seems to be given when examples of training routines are mentioned.

What's a mid-distance, long-distance, slow pace, mid-pace, or your race pace or speed pace? How old are you and how long have you been running?

I think answers to these questions should be given when information is posted so we can do a comparison to ourselves.

Excellent point. I was intentionally a bit vague, as this general plan kind of grows along the months of training, but I'll try to fill in a few details. Keeping in mind that this is what I've found works for me in the past. I'm currently 32, and have been a bit out of shape and not doing much running, though I've done plenty of races (including several marathon distance).

Longest distance is something that you build up over the course of your training. Build it up slowly, generally peak at around 20-22 miles. Once I'm at that level, I typically will do that distance every 2nd or 3rd week until it's time for the "big race". (If you do enough races, then this training peak never really goes away) Slow pace of a long run is something like a minute off of marathon goal pace.

Short distance = 3 miles or 5K, roughly. When I'm doing 5k races on a fairly regular basis, I'm not running for a PR every time, but am going at pretty close to my max.

Mid distance or mid speed are anywhere in between those two bounds.

Again, I'm intentionally a bit vague on this, as it really does ebb and flow for me a bit, depending on how I'm feeling. Sprinkling in some races every so often is a nice sanity check to see how things are going during the process. Particularly if you're planning on doing the Dopey (but really in any case), I'd highly recommend a few shorter events during the training time.

ETA: I don't mention my race paces because I'm not yet sure what they'll be, and will likely evolve a bit over the course of the training.

 

[buckeyecinderella]

Now I'm not running the Dopey and not an extremely experienced runner, so definitely take this for whatever it's worth!

It seems to me that one of the most important things one can do to train for the Dopey, is to train for a strong Goofy. That challenge will obviously be the toughest part of the entire Dopey challenge.

The 5k on Thursday can be taken slowly and easily. Most marathon and goofy runners would be doing a 5K on Thursday anyway just as part of their taper program. Then there is the 10k on Friday. To be sure, a little more challenge. But again, taken slowly and easily it is still very early in the morning and runners would have plenty of time to recover throughout the day, doing whatever works best for them as part of their post run recoveries. Many would be walking that many miles throughout Disney World anyway!

So I think the true challenge running- wise and training wise is still the Goofy. If you are well prepared for the Goofy, you should be prepared for the Dopey. Again running wise.

I think what is going to be really tough for dopey participants are those 4 early rise mornings and lack of sleep. 4 days of extra Adrenaline flowing. Four days of possibly challenging weather conditions, like too hot or too cold or too rainy. Fatigue from general travel or time zone changes. I don't know about others but for me these types of things can really wear me down. If Dopey runners are not much bothered by these things or can learn to manage these things, you will have half the challenge conquered.

I better stop reading this thread or I will soon talk myself into the Dopey as one of the last 2%!

 

[homerjay316]

Dopey is 99% full!