Official Dopey 2017 Thread

[AmynVal]

Posted on twitter today pretty scary when thinking how consistently inconsistent my training has been

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Did my prep runs of 4, 7, 11 & 22 miles this week. 5 more weeks.

 

[rteetz]

Did 17.2 yesterday. Little sore today but not bad.

 

[PrincessV]

Did my 2nd Dopey sim this past weekend of 2/5/11/20. I'm amazed that I feel as good as I do today! A little sore in spots, but nothing crazy. The 20 was rough: very warm, starting at 68 degrees and rising to 80-something, and not a cloud in the sky. Slow as I am, the sun was high in the sky that last hour or so, which limited shade. Oof. But I did it, and I didn't want to die at the end, and I can totally see the Dopey finish in sight. I have a final simulation planned in 2 weeks for 3/6/12/22, but will adjust if it's hot again; I think the priority at that point will be avoiding heat-stress.

So, question for the veterans (one of maybe many before we're through): I'm curious about how y'all go about reloading between each race. 5k to 10k is little more than a couple days in the parks, really, but adding up the entire thing, especially between the half and the full, is new territory. I've done other rD challenges (10k/13.1) and haven't given it much thought. This time around will, of course, be different. Thanks in advance!

I'm not a Dopey vet, but I've done my share of 5K/10K/13.1 challenge weekends, plus a marathon and Dopey training so far - and I hold by "Know thyself" and "Trust the training." I'll stick to what's worked well for me so far! My resort room has a full kitchen, so I'll be eating mostly my own proven foods that have worked well in training. I'll do a small amount of park time after the 5K and maybe after the 10K, but no parks after the half: I plan on enjoying lots of restful TV-watching and reading. I know lots of folks find it helpful to walk between races, but it's not what works for my body. I do try to increase my healthy calories in the days leading up to race weekend, and will on the 5K and 10K days, because I have no appetite at all from the half on and it's an effort to get calories back in me.

 

[sammykster]

Hi everyone.
I just want to take a minute to introduce myself. I'm a little late joining this group considering that the Dopey Challenge is only 44 days away. I signed up with a friend who is now injured and unable to run. The thought of training, traveling, and running this challenge alone is a little daunting. I was glad to find this group and read all the posts.

Welcome! I will be doing the challenge technically alone as well as a few friends are only doing one race. I have met a lot of people through the boards and can't wait to start hearing about corrals to get a better idea of where everyone will be.

Glad to see I'm not the only one that hasn't been as consistent as I had hoped. I have one final full simulation this week and then a taper. I'm only going up to 20 miles as that is what I did last year and it worked really well! I have done two other much shorter simulations so I'm anxious to see how this goes. My original plan had it for next weekend but I'm traveling for my birthday and didn't think it would fit well with the plans Getting excited for the race and all of the fun (mixed with some extreme nerves). I know I can finish in the allowed time - I just really want to do better than I did last year on the full so working on a plan to be in a good position to do that. One month!

 

[pixarmom]

Did 17.2 yesterday. Little sore today but not bad.

Yay!!! Congrats on the mileage! Did you find a good route for the long run?

 

[rteetz]

Yay!!! Congrats on the mileage! Did you find a good route for the long run?

I ran in my neighborhood. I don't feel comfortable doing that kind of mileage around campus.

 

[CP3uhoh]

Are you guys running the whole way in your simulations? Going at a slower than normal training pace even? Just curious, always wondered how people handle this leading up to and then on race weekend as far as if it's a normal race or you crank it down a few notches especially when you hit the half.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Are you guys running the whole way in your simulations? Going at a slower than normal training pace even? Just curious, always wondered how people handle this leading up to and then on race weekend as far as if it's a normal race or you crank it down a few notches especially when you hit the half.

Personally, my Dopey training plan resembles my normal marathon training very closely. My last non-taper week looks like this:

12/12/16
M- 1:04:10 (easy)
T- 1:26:31 (easy/hard)
W- OFF
R- 1:54:36 (easy/hard)
F- 55:00 (easy)
Sa- 1:25:23 (easy)
Su- 2:27:46 (easy/hard)

The paces on each of those days are relative to my current fitness level. However, with the exception of Tuesday's paces, they aren't anything different than my normal marathon training schedule. I do not go the full distance during training because my training philosophy is based on relative training pace x time.

As for race weekend, I've done Dopey three times thus far. I try to do my best in each event. I find I can run about:

5k - 100%
10k - 100%
HM - 95-96%
M - 92-98%

Thus, if my predicted HM time was a 2:00:00. I could reasonably expect to run a 2:05:00-2:06:19 (95-96% of capability). I race purely by effort. I know what it "feels" like to run a 5k. Or run a 10k. Or run a marathon. So I just run what it feels like to run a marathon, and whatever time that ends up being is the time it ends up being. I will run completely blind to pace by not ever looking at my GPS watch (and doing my best to avoid looking at the mile marker clocks). If I "feel" like I gave my best effort, then that's all I can reasonably expect myself to do.

My goal at this point (which is free to change up until race mornings) is to PR at each of the six events. Although, there are lots of different appropriate strategies for completing the Dopey including:

-Racing all 4 events
-Racing some and pulling back on others
-Getting lots of pics
-Riding lots of rides
-Goofing off
-etc.

Most of all, it's all about having "fun". However, you choose to define "fun" is up to you!

 

[camaker]

Are you guys running the whole way in your simulations? Going at a slower than normal training pace even? Just curious, always wondered how people handle this leading up to and then on race weekend as far as if it's a normal race or you crank it down a few notches especially when you hit the half.

My plan is a bit different than @DopeyBadger. I ran a goal marathon in early November, so I was in recovery until the week of Thanksgiving. My training goal is to rebuild as much of the fitness from my marathon as possible without risking injury. As a result, I'm not going to run an explicit Dopey simulation, just trusting in my training to have me where I want to be. During my September training runs, I hit 44 miles in a 6 day period, so I feel pretty good about the Dopey mileage given that I can go a lot further faster on a typical race day. My plan at this point is to take the 5k, 10k and half pretty easy to manage the fatigue in my legs and then run the marathon at whatever pacing feels good on race day.

 

[Ariel484]

Are you guys running the whole way in your simulations? Going at a slower than normal training pace even? Just curious, always wondered how people handle this leading up to and then on race weekend as far as if it's a normal race or you crank it down a few notches especially when you hit the half.

No to "going the whole way." I'm maxing out at 2.5/5/10/20. I AM going at a slower pace, though.

 

[PrincessV]

Are you guys running the whole way in your simulations? Going at a slower than normal training pace even? Just curious, always wondered how people handle this leading up to and then on race weekend as far as if it's a normal race or you crank it down a few notches especially when you hit the half.

I'll top out at either 20 or 22 miles... I leave that up to how I feel and the weather for my final long-long run. As planned, my final simulation is 3/6/12/22. I have no time goal for my races, so I don't pay close attention to my pace: in training, I just make sure I'm comfortable - no pushing hard outside of designated speed work days.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Are you guys running the whole way in your simulations? Going at a slower than normal training pace even? Just curious, always wondered how people handle this leading up to and then on race weekend as far as if it's a normal race or you crank it down a few notches especially when you hit the half.

I ran 4, 7, 11 & 22 last week. I run 4, 7, 12, 24 next week - then taper. I have run as far as 28 miles before a marathon before, but that was a long time ago and my weekly base was really high. 70 miles each week was a breeze for me back in the day.

As for effort, my rD race pace is slower than my easy pace for a whole bunch of reasons (friends, pictures, etc), so I am doing more easy running now than usual. I made the mistake of doing normal marathon pace training before the 2014 WDW marathon and hated how I felt during the race. I simply had not trained for all of the walking and stops. For me, it is just as hard to run slower in a race as it is to run faster. So I train for the slower race now.

 

[CP3uhoh]

sorry, i was unclear, by way of "running whole way" i meant at "full speed" or without walk breaks. I would think it would be insane to simulate the entire event. i seem to get some pretty decent IT Band Inflammation (like my knee will barely bend for a day) anywhere around a 20 mile run.

Also, my wife thinks I'm nuts when I tell her this but I'm the same as BuckeyeBama in that it hurts more to walk later in races then to keep running. This is also why I would be to keen on stopping for pictures for very long. I'm going to see how I handle my full here in Houston in January and I'm scheduled for another in mid March. I wish the sign up wasn't in February for 2018 Dopey but if January goes well I'll probably give it a whirl.

 

[Ariel484]

sorry, i was unclear, by way of "running whole way" i meant at "full speed" or without walk breaks. I would think it would be insane to simulate the entire event. i seem to get some pretty decent IT Band Inflammation (like my knee will barely bend for a day) anywhere around a 20 mile run.

Also, my wife thinks I'm nuts when I tell her this but I'm the same as BuckeyeBama in that it hurts more to walk later in races then to keep running. This is also why I would be to keen on stopping for pictures for very long. I'm going to see how I handle my full here in Houston in January and I'm scheduled for another in mid March. I wish the sign up wasn't in February for 2018 Dopey but if January goes well I'll probably give it a whirl.

Full speed at training? Noooooooo.

I do walk breaks during every run, so yes to that part.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

sorry, i was unclear, by way of "running whole way" i meant at "full speed" or without walk breaks. I would think it would be insane to simulate the entire event. i seem to get some pretty decent IT Band Inflammation (like my knee will barely bend for a day) anywhere around a 20 mile run.

Also, my wife thinks I'm nuts when I tell her this but I'm the same as BuckeyeBama in that it hurts more to walk later in races then to keep running. This is also why I would be to keen on stopping for pictures for very long. I'm going to see how I handle my full here in Houston in January and I'm scheduled for another in mid March. I wish the sign up wasn't in February for 2018 Dopey but if January goes well I'll probably give it a whirl.

I did the Goofy in 2014, running the whole way in training. That is the only way that I ran back then - no walk breaks at all, even when taking water. I ran the entire marathon race that year, but did a lot of walking during the half because my wife injured her IT band and I ran that with her. But the breaks for pictures totally messed with me. I was just not used to it.

I am pretty sure that @DopeyBadger does it all this way.

 

[sammykster]

I'm going to top out this week at about 2.5/5/10/20. I did 20 last year for training and it worked well for me! I will definitely be going very slow just to make sure I'm feeling OK at the end.

Anyone else really antsy about the corral release? I know it's silly and nothing can be done once it's out but I keep checking anyways. Anyone have that sneaky link we have used in the past to find our numbers before waivers go up? I can't help myself lol.

 

[Ariel484]

Courtesy of our friend Hacker @Keels...

http://rtrt.me/wdwm
http://results.xacte.com/?kw=WDW&x=dude

I was gonna say no on the "am I antsy about corrals" thing but since I have both of these links up and keep refreshing...well, I can't really say no, can I?

 

[DopeyBadger]

sorry, i was unclear, by way of "running whole way" i meant at "full speed" or without walk breaks. I would think it would be insane to simulate the entire event. i seem to get some pretty decent IT Band Inflammation (like my knee will barely bend for a day) anywhere around a 20 mile run.

Also, my wife thinks I'm nuts when I tell her this but I'm the same as BuckeyeBama in that it hurts more to walk later in races then to keep running. This is also why I would be to keen on stopping for pictures for very long. I'm going to see how I handle my full here in Houston in January and I'm scheduled for another in mid March. I wish the sign up wasn't in February for 2018 Dopey but if January goes well I'll probably give it a whirl.

I run 80% of my training at marathon pace + 45 seconds or slower. Relatively speaking, I do very little actual training at 5k, 10k, HM or M paces. I believe physiologically this method is sound for my goals as endurance events such as the HM and M are almost exclusively aerobic events. So, I neither run the whole distance in training (but I do do 48 miles in 4 days, just not 26.2 in a single day, but this is merely a function of my training paces) nor do I go very fast relatively during training.

But come race day, I do the best I can during each race.

If you want a VERY detailed description of how I came up with my training plan see the link below.

2017 Dopey Challenge Training Plan

 

[sammykster]

Only a few more weeks! I finished day 3 of 4 for my long run simulation. Shorter runs after this! I had originally planned to do it next weekend but I'll be in CA celebrating my bday and I don't think I'll want to do all these runs on a hotel treadmill after being out late. It's starting to feel real and very close! ahh!