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

[5intexas]

I broke my toe over the weekend so I am sidelined for a couple of weeks... After having to defer the last race due to a different injury, I sure am glad we still have several months!!

 

[Ram7730]

I am planning to do the goofy and rent DVC points. Does anyone know how quickly the Boardwalk Villas fill up? I was hoping to get a 2br but may not be able to book until 7 months prior.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I've put in for my vacation time. I know it's far in advance, but if my boss approves it, I won't have to worry.

 

[Diskidatheart]

My reservations have been finalized. My DW is doing the half and I'm going to join her for that and go Goofy and do the marathon too. It'll be a great experience to cross that finish line with her!

 

[RnbwSktles]

I plan to do the marathon!

I LOVE Disney, but don't have the opportunity to go very often and I knew almost nothing about the race weekends. A friend of mine mentioned doing the Disneyland 1/2 at some point so it was in the back of my mind. I actually despise running (how ironic that I am going to try the marathon ) but looked up the info on RunDisney just for fun. I had convinced myself the 1/2 marathon was doable, but then I saw the 2013 course for the full and I just HAD to do it.

I might be crazy, but we'll see!

 

[RnbwSktles]

I wanted to add a question that I forgot to mention in my post above...

Is staying at one of the hotels that is NOT near the monorail or near EPCOT a really bad idea? I am not sure we can afford any of those so we were thinking of just doing one of the value resorts. We are planning to stay for the whole week, I have contemplated spending the weekend at one of the more expensive hotels, and then switching later. That would still double the cost of our trip though!

Do I need to book really early? I have actually never stayed on property so I have no experience with this. Am I correct that I won't be able to book online until the summer?

I just applied for a Disney Visa and would at least like to get that before I book anything (so I can use it!).

 

[FloridaNative8]

I wanted to add a question that I forgot to mention in my post above...

Is staying at one of the hotels that is NOT near the monorail or near EPCOT a really bad idea? I am not sure we can afford any of those so we were thinking of just doing one of the value resorts. We are planning to stay for the whole week, I have contemplated spending the weekend at one of the more expensive hotels, and then switching later. That would still double the cost of our trip though!

Do I need to book really early? I have actually never stayed on property so I have no experience with this. Am I correct that I won't be able to book online until the summer?

I just applied for a Disney Visa and would at least like to get that before I book anything (so I can use it!).

We stayed at AOA for Marathon Weekend this year and loved it! Plenty of transportation to and from the race, and it was affordable (we stayed in a Little Mermaid room).

 

[autoracepr989]

Trying to rank the resorts before I make reservations. I can do any of the values. I'm just waiting on one reservation system to open the dates. I'm going to be doing a split stay so have the option of two. Kinda thinking of art of animation for the first half of my trip then staying at all star movies for the second half of the trip. Let me know your feelings on them all.

 

[liznboys]

I'm in!!!!

I just booked OKW for Jan. 8 - Jan. 12.

This will be my first FULL marathon. I've run three halfs before.

If all goes well, my wife will run the half, which will be her return to distance running after knee surgery a couple of years ago. Before the surgery, she had run one full and several halfs.

Plus, I'm hoping that my kids will run in some of the kids' runs! All this and I hope to hit theme parks. Can't wait!

Hi NC neighbor (I'm near Charlotte). I'm staying at OKW too, with my friend. I stayed there for Marathon Weekend this year. I did Goofy and walked to the corrals, it was wonderful.

Best wishes to your wife and her knee!!

This will be my first full marathon...and I think I am going to do the Goofy.

I can not wait!

This years Goofy was my first full. It went great; I took the half easy and then met my time goal for the full. I actually did the 5K as well (which I walked). I'm so glad I went for it all!

I broke my toe over the weekend so I am sidelined for a couple of weeks... After having to defer the last race due to a different injury, I sure am glad we still have several months!!

Ouch, take care!

I wanted to add a question that I forgot to mention in my post above...

Is staying at one of the hotels that is NOT near the monorail or near EPCOT a really bad idea? I am not sure we can afford any of those so we were thinking of just doing one of the value resorts. We are planning to stay for the whole week, I have contemplated spending the weekend at one of the more expensive hotels, and then switching later. That would still double the cost of our trip though!

Do I need to book really early? I have actually never stayed on property so I have no experience with this. Am I correct that I won't be able to book online until the summer?

I just applied for a Disney Visa and would at least like to get that before I book anything (so I can use it!).

Staying at a resort not near the monorail or Epcot is definitely not a bad idea! People stay at ALL the resorts over marathon weekend.

The Value resorts are just fine! I stayed at POP for two marathon weekends and would do it again. A lot of WISHers stay at POP that weekend. They have great transportation there. If I were to stay in a Value I would try out AoA next. I've visited there and ate at the food court and I was impressed.

Here's a great website that you may want to read through on rates and booking: http://www.mousesavers.com/walt-disney-world-vacation-discounts-and-deals/

Trying to rank the resorts before I make reservations. I can do any of the values. I'm just waiting on one reservation system to open the dates. I'm going to be doing a split stay so have the option of two. Kinda thinking of art of animation for the first half of my trip then staying at all star movies for the second half of the trip. Let me know your feelings on them all.

I am not a fan of the All Star Resorts, expect for visiting and seeing the fun grounds. I recommend POP and as I said above I was impressed with the AoA grounds and food court. I think the All Stars are getting older and the newer values are more up to date and fresh. So if I were you I'd do POP and AoA. Happy planning!

 

[DOOM1001]

I wanted to add a question that I forgot to mention in my post above...

Is staying at one of the hotels that is NOT near the monorail or near EPCOT a really bad idea? I am not sure we can afford any of those so we were thinking of just doing one of the value resorts. We are planning to stay for the whole week, I have contemplated spending the weekend at one of the more expensive hotels, and then switching later. That would still double the cost of our trip though!

Do I need to book really early? I have actually never stayed on property so I have no experience with this. Am I correct that I won't be able to book online until the summer?

I just applied for a Disney Visa and would at least like to get that before I book anything (so I can use it!).

The values are fine to stay at for marathon weekend,I did the full marathon this year and stayed at the All Star Movies.I don't have a negative thing to say about the transportation,next year however I'm going with Pop Century mainly due to the food at the All Stars,aside from breakfast which was fine the rest of the day the food was a let down.After the marathon unlike some other runners who venture out all over WDW after running 26.2, I just wanted to get back to the hotel,get something to eat,take a shower and take a good nap,going back later at night to grab something else to eat.With all that eating in the hotel I hope PoP has a better menu and quality of food,I looked it up and at least it looks different than what they had at the All Stars.With that said I still like staying at the All Stars I just think they need to improve their food.

 

[DancinDaisyDuck]

Marathon weekend friends, I need your advice! A local run is being advertized and I don't know if I should register for it. It's a half marathon on May 4th. There's also a 5k. I don't know which one to pick. I would like to have a half marathon time to send to runDisney for corral placement, but I don't know if I'll be ready to run 13.1 miles by that time. I feel really comfortable with a 5k but want to push myself. I wish there was a 10k, it would be the perfect "in between" distance for me at that time. What do you think I should do?

 

[Diskidatheart]

Marathon weekend friends, I need your advice! A local run is being advertized and I don't know if I should register for it. It's a half marathon on May 4th. There's also a 5k. I don't know which one to pick. I would like to have a half marathon time to send to runDisney for corral placement, but I don't know if I'll be ready to run 13.1 miles by that time. I feel really comfortable with a 5k but want to push myself. I wish there was a 10k, it would be the perfect "in between" distance for me at that time. What do you think I should do?

I think it depends on how much you run now and what your farthest distance that you can run is. If you've only ever completed a 5k, then you may be pushing it to do the half marathon in early May (although it can be done). If you've run 4 or 6 miles before, then I think you would be fine to go for the half. Most plans are 12 week plans and I think we are 11 or 12 weeks from the first weekend in May. I used Hal Higdon's Novice 2 plan and modified it slightly so that I built in a taper week, but overall it was a great 12 week plan. Good luck in whichever you choose. Also, if you are planning on running in Disney, I highly suggest you get at least a 10k time (which can even be in the fall) to get a better corral placement.

 

[LSUfan4444]

I wanted to add a question that I forgot to mention in my post above...

Is staying at one of the hotels that is NOT near the monorail or near EPCOT a really bad idea?

No, not at all. I have stayed at Pop Century, Port Orleans and Boardwalk and the differences are not that big. Staying at the Boardwalk was easy because we could walk back (if we wanted to) to our resort after the race, even though non of us did.

Honestly, as petty as it might seem, the biggest difference I found was the hot tub. The hot tubs at values and deluxe resorts are a nice way for me to spend my mornings in the days following the race. Typically, I jump in the pool and swim for about 20 minutes at 7 am, then relax and stretch in the hot tub each morning after the race before we head to the parks.

it used to be that value resorts didnt have a mini fridges, so that was another factor, but that has changed now too.

 

[LSUfan4444]

1-I'm thinking it'll be ok to do my cardio + weights as the workouts are only 40-60 minutes on the short run days of Tues & Thurs. Is my thinking accurate?

Whether you put weight training, bodypump, an 8 hr work day or a spin class before you run, it will have an effect on your run, there is just no way around it. As your aerobic and endurance base builds, your runs after weight training might seem easier, but the weight training will still be taking away from your running.....ie, what could you be doing on that run if you hadn't just done weights.

Ideally you would like to have rest and recovery time in between your workouts (like a day one AM workout and one PM workout after work), but like happens. Schedules happen, kids happen, soccer happens, dinner happens, so we have to make do with what we have.

If you're going to go back to back with some training sessions, I suggest doing your key session for the day first, then follow with the secondary workout.

Here is what I mean - if you are run training three days a week for a marathon your plan likely looks like this (or it should):

run 1 - recovery/easy run
run 2 - tempo or interval run
run 3 - long steady run

So, on run 1 days, your run is an active recovery. Pace and effort is not as important. It is more about recovering at an easy pace and low heart rate, so yeah, do your weights first, BUT do not do legs on these days.

On run 2 days your pace and effort are extremely important. These are the runs that will increase your VO2 max/speed (these adds to your body's carbeurator)


Run 3 your focus should be your long run and I would advise not going into these fatigued. If you run Tues, Thurs and Saturday, a good day for a light leg workout might be wednesday.

My bigger question is before the long run days, is it ok to do the workouts before the long runs? These workouts can be intense. I know it's not best to do them the day after long runs to give them a rest, but what about the day before?

Thanks.

Anything that causes lactic acid buildup and will cause fatigue will hurt your long run. It doesn't mean you can't do it, it just means it might be harder or you might have to go slower.

We have to remember, our improvements come as we rest and recover, not as we train. We continue to burn off calories and improve as athletes well after we take off our running shoes.

I believe as with anything, it is about balance, focus and focusing our attention where we really want it.

Are you running for exercise? To look good naked? So that the marathon just won't be a suffer-fest? To complete or to compete? Is this a one time thing that is a lifelong dream, etc etc etc and that differs from person to person - there is no wrong answer. BUT, it is up to you to answer that question and then focus your training and energy to support that.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Trying to rank the resorts before I make reservations. I can do any of the values. I'm just waiting on one reservation system to open the dates. I'm going to be doing a split stay so have the option of two. Kinda thinking of art of animation for the first half of my trip then staying at all star movies for the second half of the trip. Let me know your feelings on them all.

As far as values go, I prefer Pop Century if available.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Marathon weekend friends, I need your advice! A local run is being advertized and I don't know if I should register for it. It's a half marathon on May 4th. There's also a 5k. I don't know which one to pick. I would like to have a half marathon time to send to runDisney for corral placement, but I don't know if I'll be ready to run 13.1 miles by that time. I feel really comfortable with a 5k but want to push myself. I wish there was a 10k, it would be the perfect "in between" distance for me at that time. What do you think I should do?

I suggest waiting until later in the year to submit proof of time.

Most people race really well at distances shorter than what they are training for. What I mean is, during marathon training, alot of people tend to race half marathons quite well. If training for a half marathon, that might be a good time to race a 10K so submit proof of time for that.

If a 5K is good enough for corral placement with Disney for the half (not sure because I am not that familiar with the half), race it for now as a good "where am I", submit the time and you can always change it later if something improves.

 

[rmgreenesq]

As far as values go, I prefer Pop Century if available.

Count me as another fan of the POP. I stayed there for marathon weekend this year and have no complaints.

Rick

 

[croach]

Marathon weekend friends, I need your advice! A local run is being advertized and I don't know if I should register for it. It's a half marathon on May 4th. There's also a 5k. I don't know which one to pick. I would like to have a half marathon time to send to runDisney for corral placement, but I don't know if I'll be ready to run 13.1 miles by that time. I feel really comfortable with a 5k but want to push myself. I wish there was a 10k, it would be the perfect "in between" distance for me at that time. What do you think I should do?

You can get your corral changed at the expo on marathon weekend if you need to.

 

[DancinDaisyDuck]

Thanks for the responses, all. I should have clarified I'll be running the half marathon at WDW in 2014.

I think it depends on how much you run now and what your farthest distance that you can run is. If you've only ever completed a 5k, then you may be pushing it to do the half marathon in early May (although it can be done). If you've run 4 or 6 miles before, then I think you would be fine to go for the half. Most plans are 12 week plans and I think we are 11 or 12 weeks from the first weekend in May. I used Hal Higdon's Novice 2 plan and modified it slightly so that I built in a taper week, but overall it was a great 12 week plan. Good luck in whichever you choose. Also, if you are planning on running in Disney, I highly suggest you get at least a 10k time (which can even be in the fall) to get a better corral placement.

Someone just suggested that plan to me! It looks very doable and I'll likely use it when I prepare for the 2014 WDW half. I am keeping my eyes peeled for local 10k's in the fall, maybe one of the area Turkey Trots will offer one.

I suggest waiting until later in the year to submit proof of time.

Most people race really well at distances shorter than what they are training for. What I mean is, during marathon training, alot of people tend to race half marathons quite well. If training for a half marathon, that might be a good time to race a 10K so submit proof of time for that.

If a 5K is good enough for corral placement with Disney for the half (not sure because I am not that familiar with the half), race it for now as a good "where am I", submit the time and you can always change it later if something improves.

I don't know if runDisney would accept a 5k time for half marathon placement, either. Which is why I'm on the fence about registering for this one. I may just do the 5k instead and wait for a 10k as you suggest.

You can get your corral changed at the expo on marathon weekend if you need to.

I did read that's possible, so even if I can't send a 10k to runDisney there's always that option!

 

[LSUfan4444]

Proof of time must be from a 10K or longer - if it were me, I would wait.