OFFICIAL 2014 WDW Marathon Countdown: WE DID IT! Congrats everyone!

[cewait]

Did 20 on the treadmill on Wednesday night. You would have enjoyed that. Watched the Magnificent Seven on Amazon.

For the 2001 marathon I ran most all long runs on the mill. It rained hard most every weekend that fall in Houston. Watched a lot of great movies and some football. I had to be careful when watching ball as I would get excited and start running up and pushing into the front of the mill. 20 miles, while kind of boring, is very doable if one has a diversion. I love the music in the Mag 7.

 

[cewait]

Training Question

Hello. Haven't had time to post much lately but am getting very excited for race weekend!

I am training to walk/run Goofy. This will be my second marathon. My training schedule got a bit off. My longest runs were 15 miles on 11/16. Then I did 18 miles on 12/2. I would like to get two more 20-milers. Would it hurt to do a 20-miler this weekend without a cutback weekend in between? This would leave me the 21st to do final 20 mile run.

Or would it be better to space the long runs every other weekend, leaving the final 20 miler only two weekends before race?

I'm feeling pretty recovered from the 18 miler, but wasn't sure if two week taper would be too short. Thoughts?

One other option would be to only do one last long run of 20 miles and on other weekends do 10-12 mile runs...except for the last weekend of taper. Just unsure which would be best. Not looking for PR, just want to finish feeling good and under the official race pace.

I would go with the latter. Running long on consecutive weekends could set you up for injury.

 

[buckeyecinderella]

I would go with the latter. Running long on consecutive weekends could set you up for injury.

Thank you for your advice, Coach.

I can't believe I'm saying this but only one more long run doesn't seem like enough. I guess that means I'm making progress in running (albeit slow) because last year at this time I couldn't wait to finish that last long run!

I guess I just don't like having two weekends in a row that are fallback weekends. This is like 3 weeks of taper before the final 20-miler. Then 3 weeks of taper again. It seems like I won't be as prepared as I could be. Though better to make it to the starting line a little undertrained then not make it there at all!

 

[steves1019]

Did 20 on the treadmill on Wednesday night. You would have enjoyed that. Watched the Magnificent Seven on Amazon.

WOW! That is crazy, to me anyway. Though it is nice to be able to catch up on some movies or shows. I'm off for my 20 miler in a few minutes. There is a break in the precipitation and my family calendar I can do it a day early and it shouldn't be too bad. Now if I'd just get off my phone and go ;-)

 

[steves1019]

Got lucky. Weather was actually very good for 20 miles this morning. A little cold in the wind and some standing puddles. But temp was pretty good and no precipitation. Feeling very fortunate to have gotten the run in. And the run felt "good" this is the longest I've ever run and I'm excited that I have one more 20 in 2 weeks and then I get to taper .
The downside, my Garmin file is somehow corrupted. I can see the data on the watch but it won't upload :-(. Gonna have to get that corrected fast, I love my data ;-)

 

[goofeygirl]

Got lucky. Weather was actually very good for 20 miles this morning. A little cold in the wind and some standing puddles. But temp was pretty good and no precipitation. Feeling very fortunate to have gotten the run in. And the run felt "good" this is the longest I've ever run and I'm excited that I have one more 20 in 2 weeks and then I get to taper .
The downside, my Garmin file is somehow corrupted. I can see the data on the watch but it won't upload :-(. Gonna have to get that corrected fast, I love my data ;-)

Good job!

I am planning to do between 13 and 18 miles tomorrow. Then I wanted to do a major longer distance in another two weeks and that's it for distances like that until the race weekend.

 

[steves1019]

Good job! I am planning to do between 13 and 18 miles tomorrow. Then I wanted to do a major longer distance in another two weeks and that's it for distances like that until the race weekend.

Thanks. It feels so good to see that taper coming!!!

 

[kmchisholm]

Hoping the group can help - was very consistent and stuck to training till mid-Nov. Did a half-marathon on Nov 16th (using Galloway method) and got a PR (previous ones were all running). Came home and did 7 more miles to get to 20 and started to have side knee pain. Since then have been fine on my 45 min runs, but for longer runs I start having side knee pain (which have determined is IT band flaring up) after 5 miles. Haven't done a long. Run since and decided to take this week off to concentrate on stretching, rolling, massage and some pool running.

Question - as my last long run was Nov 16th am I ok just getting in one more long run next weekend (20-23) then tapering till the full? There's even a part of me that says not to push another long run and allow time to healing while doing pool work, but think I need one more long run for mental purposes. Note: my first full but not concerned with time, just want to finish. Bib is in mid 8000's so hopefully have time gap.

Sorry this is a bit long. Thanks for any input or help .

 

[cewait]

Hoping the group can help - was very consistent and stuck to training till mid-Nov. Did a half-marathon on Nov 16th (using Galloway method) and got a PR (previous ones were all running). Came home and did 7 more miles to get to 20 and started to have side knee pain. Since then have been fine on my 45 min runs, but for longer runs I start having side knee pain (which have determined is IT band flaring up) after 5 miles. Haven't done a long. Run since and decided to take this week off to concentrate on stretching, rolling, massage and some pool running.

Question - as my last long run was Nov 16th am I ok just getting in one more long run next weekend (20-23) then tapering till the full? There's even a part of me that says not to push another long run and allow time to healing while doing pool work, but think I need one more long run for mental purposes. Note: my first full but not concerned with time, just want to finish. Bib is in mid 8000's so hopefully have time gap.

Sorry this is a bit long. Thanks for any input or help .

Your probably more than OK with not running another longer run but if you need the mental help, then one may be in order. Keep in mind that an IT issue can take 3-4 weeks to clear up. The roads at WDW have a funny camber so it could be better to minimize the next longer run and be healthy on race day as opposed to pushing 23 through some pain.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[kmchisholm]

Your probably more than OK with not running another longer run but if you need the mental help, then one may be in order. Keep in mind that an IT issue can take 3-4 weeks to clear up. The roads at WDW have a funny camber so it could be better to minimize the next longer run and be healthy on race day as opposed to pushing 23 through some pain.

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it. Think I'm going to focus on getting in the pool for runs 2-3 times a week and doing some strength training knowing I can make it through mentally, no matter what.

 

[goofeygirl]

So I actually did a grand total of over 17 miles on the treadmill at 11% incline...if that even matters.
It was broken up mainly because I had to leave to go to the bank which is open for a few hours on Sunday...
So I did 9.5 miles...then 5 and then 2miles...so it was broken up.

I feel it in my hamstrings and calves but nothing that would concern me...I stopped because I got bored....I was watching dvd's.

I know a few weeks back I did 18 miles outside...I think it was 13 miles and then later another 5.

Now I have to put them all together and add on another 8 plus miles and I am there.

 

[CaptHomer]

So I actually did a grand total of over 17 miles on the treadmill at 11% incline...if that even matters.
I

11%! I didn't know a treadmill would go that high. I run at a 1.5. When I want to do a tough workout I go to a 2.5. How fast can you go at the %?

 

[FFigawi]

11%! I didn't know a treadmill would go that high. I run at a 1.5. When I want to do a tough workout I go to a 2.5. How fast can you go at the %?

In our training for Two Oceans and Comrades, we crank ours up to 11 or 12% to practice for the steep mountains. We also try to set it negative to train for running downhill.

 

[goofeygirl]

11%! I didn't know a treadmill would go that high. I run at a 1.5. When I want to do a tough workout I go to a 2.5. How fast can you go at the %?

I was walking it...I mostly did 4.5 speed on the treadmill and its too early to calculate what that really is...my left knee bothered me so I dropped it to 4.2 and then 4.
My treadmill goes up to a 15% incline...I actually started out with that but it was too high to keep up.

If I had no incline on the treadmill I probably would have speed walked it at 5 or 5.5 for a while and then dropped it. I didn't find that challenging though. 15% feels like I am climbing a steep hill that has no end in sight and 11% seemed to be doable for me. My goal was to maintain a 15minuet mile at that height...

I don't know what I will do to prep for this next weekend. I was thinking of doing something Saturday night to start and then getting up early and finishing it. To get used to the, get up and do another race feeling.

Meanwhile I did all this a few months ago....but now I have LESS than 30 days left. Yikes!!!

 

[cewait]

So I actually did a grand total of over 17 miles on the treadmill at 11% incline...if that even matters.
It was broken up mainly because I had to leave to go to the bank which is open for a few hours on Sunday...
So I did 9.5 miles...then 5 and then 2miles...so it was broken up.

I feel it in my hamstrings and calves but nothing that would concern me...I stopped because I got bored....I was watching dvd's.

I know a few weeks back I did 18 miles outside...I think it was 13 miles and then later another 5.

Now I have to put them all together and add on another 8 plus miles and I am there.

Impressive. I have hill profile runs that zoom up to 15 % for 8 minutes or so, but then come back.

A quick side note on breaking up a run. If you are breaking them up with a small 30-60 minute pause, you are more than likely not degrading the training effect. If you are breaking for 3-4 hours or longer, you should start to discount the mileage. There is no exact formula or science out there to give an exact guidance on the discount, I generally use a 10-20% discount on the latter run. The logic here is that the one major purpose of the long run is to create adaptations within the body so that you are pushing up the percentage of fat utilization on the run. In a high level explanation, a long break causes a reset in the fuel system.

I would also encourage you to lower the TM for you next long runs. Running on hills is a great ting for training the hams and glutes and I encourage folks to hit hills often. However, your December runs should mimic your marathon course rather than Pikes Peak. The smaller stabilizer muscles in the legs may not react favorably if your long runs are at a 11% incline then you ask them to push through 26 miles on a level course. If you are forced to a TM for you remaining, set the incline to 1-2% and run. The small incline helps offset the lack of outdoor wind friction and the motor effect.

Again, impressive distance at that incline.

 

[CaptHomer]

I guess I am going to have to train harder.

 

[BlackPearl695]

My husband and I were hoping to do the Family Fun Run 5K in January, but it was sold out long before the deadline. Is there any chance of registering on race day? I understand you can't run it at all unless you are registered. Any suggestions or are we just out of luck this time?

 

[FFigawi]

I guess I am going to have to train harder.

Train for DATW. It's a lot more fun than training for Goofy or Dopey.

 

[Dug720]

Got 14 in in 3.5 hours on Saturday - and that was with hills, cold wind, and not having really fueled properly (good reminder...when more than half distance, I need more than a luna bar 2 hours before and honey stinger chews during - those are fine if i have more before), and a lot of that was walking (see aforementioned poor fueling), so I'm feeling better about it than I was before Saturday.

Still, this one is just about "finish and have fun" this year.

 

[dumbo_buddy]

My husband and I were hoping to do the Family Fun Run 5K in January, but it was sold out long before the deadline. Is there any chance of registering on race day? I understand you can't run it at all unless you are registered. Any suggestions or are we just out of luck this time?

sorry, unfortunately you're out of luck for running this year. the races sold out super fast this year. and they won't let you just run it. i think registration opens for WDW marathon weekend in April(ish) so mark your calendar for next year!