Since the Goofy is still fresh in your minds...

[MeredithRX]

What was your successful training plan? I'm hoping to participate next year and it will likely be my first full marathon distance. I will hopefully have quite a few half marathons under my belt by that point and will be comfortable with that distance. I will only be aiming to finish both with no time goals.

What did you do or would you suggest to someone a year out in order to train to successfully complete those back to back races!

I would LOVE to try this. I was completely jealous of each and every one of you this weekend.

Thanks!

 

[stitchfan18]

I'm really considering doing the Goofy next year as well. I've never done a full marathon either, although I'm looking at doing one this fall. If i'm just looking to finish both, what is the best advice for training. I have 4 siblings running the full next year, so if I put effort into running one race, the marathon would be the one that i'd really want to run. Right now i'm thinking about doing an easy run/walk for the 1/2 and finish in around 3 hours. I'm usually not too bad after my long runs the next day, but i've never run a marathon either, so I don't know how crazy I would be to actually do the Goofy challenge. I sure would love all those medals...

 

[Goofed98]

I think it depends on your goals. This was my second, and I learned a few things that will help next year.

I like to race to Half, and just run the full. IMO, there is a lot more to see and experience during the full, so I take my time. I settled into a walk/ run this morning for the half, and I think I'll definitely be going that route next year. I just need to practice before the actual race.

 

[forceword]

The first thing I would say is go for it. They are the most fun runs I have ever done and when I finished the half I would have been really sad if I hadn't the full to look forward to. For a Disney fan there are no better races in the world.

I've run quite a few and halfs marathons in decent times. I set my PRs this spring (1:37 and 3:33) so was already in decent shape (although I'd put on a bit of weight since then) and I just did my usual marathon training. No back to back runs for me.

My suggestion would be to sign up for an autumn marathon this year and train for that and not have the Goofy as your first. A lot of marathon running is a mental thing. I've done plenty of marathons and I found the 20-24 miles section mentally quite tough but I had the confidence of experience to get me through. If you've done a marathon before the Goofy it would be a huge boost to your chances and I'd hate for anyone to fail on the full after completing the half and not get those three precious medals.

For interest, my times were 2:38 and 5:02, way over my best and even my worst times for the distance. They do include huge amounts of time for my taking photos and videos and I stopped for every character. I took both races very easy as you can see.

Good luck and congratulations to all finishers,

Liam

 

[ultramickeymouse]

I do an unusual training plan for my 6 Goofy's. I DON'T do back to backs. I just train for the marathon with long day of 16 miles. Granted I know mentally I know how to deal with the miles above that but you want to be careful of injuries. I saw so many people during the marathon yesterday with signs on there back" I doing Goofy even though I am injured with...". People seem to over trained and thus come into the race injured. I go with the motto that better to be under trained and healthy that over trained and injured. The thousands of people and being at Disney will get you through those tough miles. It's how bad you want those medals!

Good luck next year and hope to see you out there!

 

[stitchfan18]

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking about doing a full this October, but I will definitely sign up and run it now. Even if I have to walk both the half and the full I want to do it so bad!

 

[FFigawi]

I don't treat training for Goofy any differently than a regular marathon. I don't do any back-to-back runs leading up to it. I put in a lot of miles as it is, so doing back-to-back runs doesn't seem necessary for me. My advice would be to do another marathon beforehand so you know what it is like to run one. Disney is one of those races where you want to be able to focus on all the wonderful sights and sounds around you, which you might not be able to do for your first time out. It's definitely not a race you want to do for time; you want to make the most out of the experience.

 

[TnTsParty]

I didn't follow a training plan other than my long runs each Sunday. I don't recommend that training plan for everyone but it seems to have worked since I did better than last years Goofy and close to a PR for the full (2 minutes shy)! I went into it knowing what to expect and kept telling myself it 90% mental and it worked!!

 

[fashionista311]

great discussion - i was kind of wondering the same thing. i only have one full marathon under my belt and i think i would like to get a few more under my belt before attempting goofy, but it's definitely something i would like to do at some point in my life.

i'm surprised that most seem to be using a regular marathon training program - no back to backs at all? my biggest fear is being spent from the half and not having to give to the full. i don't think i would be looking to "race" and do a pr, but i would like to be able to run both at a normal training pace for me.

 

[cloudnut220]

So do the folks here think it would be reasonable to do a first full marathon in say mid October and be able to do Goofy? I've already committed to a half in mid September (Philly Rock N' Roll) and I'm thinking about doing Goofy but I would like to have a full under my belt first.

 

[stitchfan18]

So do the folks here think it would be reasonable to do a first full marathon in say mid October and be able to do Goofy? I've already committed to a half in mid September (Philly Rock N' Roll) and I'm thinking about doing Goofy but I would like to have a full under my belt first.

I hope so because that's my plan. I could probably be ready for a full by this summer, but there really aren't any marathons around here during that time...

 

[cloudnut220]

yeah...sadly it seems a little hot in most of the lower 48 to have marathons in the summer (July would be PERFECT for my schedule!)

 

[FFigawi]

So do the folks here think it would be reasonable to do a first full marathon in say mid October and be able to do Goofy? I've already committed to a half in mid September (Philly Rock N' Roll) and I'm thinking about doing Goofy but I would like to have a full under my belt first.

Absolutely! That'll give you more than enough time to recover from Philly and still get in some more long runs to get you ready for Goofy.

 

[cloudnut220]

I am worried to do a half in September (Philly), full in October (likely Atlantic City) and then Goofy would be ambitious, but I guess Goofy is AMBITIOUS!

 

[mickeyncldkd]

I love this discussion. I did the full marathon last year and I been doing a lot of halves. I like the ideas and it appears everyone does the marathon training. I want to accomplish the Goofy next year.
Question, Do I need to do another Full before the Goofy in fall or can I do two halves and long runs on Sunday? Hope to keep this discussion up until next year Goofy. Congrats to the runners who accomplish this great feat.

 

[FFigawi]

Question, Do I need to do another Full before the Goofy in fall or can I do two halves and long runs on Sunday? Hope to keep this discussion up until next year Goofy. Congrats to the runners who accomplish this great feat.

I don't see any need for you to run a full sometime this year just to do Goofy next year. Following your standard marathon training program should be more than sufficient.

 

[Duanerice]

I might be the odd one as I ran back to backs for both my Goofy's. My only marathon was the Mickey the year before.

I used the Higdon Intermediate II plan for the Goofy. All weekends had back to back runs. I'd run on Friday after work half of what I ran Saturday morning. Pretty tough for those 20 mi Sat runs I would end up running 30 miles within 12 hours.

I know many others that don't. Even if you don't do it all the time it might be nice to throw a back to back in a few times just to feel what it's like to get up and run on tired legs.

Back to backs aren't for everyone, you have to know yourself. Remember, you would rather get to the starting line undertrained than not getting there at all because you are injured!

But by all means, go for the Goofy! It is a lot of fun. Heck, my first race of any distance was the full. You can do it!

enjoy,
Duane

 

[TnTsParty]

I did back to backs in training for my first Goofy in 2010 and at that point I had only done 1 full marathon - the Disney in 2009. As I posted earlier I didn't do much training this year and did NO back to backs and not very many during the week runs and still managed to beat my Goofy time from last year by 26 minutes - I am pleased with my improvement and felt like I didn't "kill" myself in training. I definately did not burn out on training which for me is a very good thing.

 

[Bephus]

I also did Hal Higdon Intermediate, but I did the Int I plan. It has back to backs built into the program and I tweaked it a little, but I really felt that it helped me prepare mentally for the race. I did a 10 and 20 one weekend and knowing that not only had I done that distance, but in a decent time really helped me push through the tough miles on Sunday.

 

[stitchfan18]

So if I'm running a full marathon 13 weeks before marathon weekend, should I jump back into marathon training at the week I would be at if Disney was the only marathon I was running (IE: week 7 of a 20 week program?) Should I just maintain decent length long runs on the weekends? I've only run 1 1/2 marathon, so I haven't had to deal with training plans overlapping yet, but I will have that issue after the princess 1/2 as well since i'm running another 1/2 the 1st weekend in April.