To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[disneygpa]

Billy, it was great to finally meet you and your wonderful family! Looking forward to seeing your progress toward Boston! I have no doubt you will accomplish your goal! Wish I had gotten a pic with you. Maybe next year!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

I really enjoyed reading the trip report. That sucks about the pain during the marathon but it sounds like you have a good plan to address that for next time.

Thanks! Live and learn.

Loved your report. It was not the race many of us expected, but you have a great attitude about it, and “positivity in the face of adversity” is an important lesson for your little one, just as “working hard to achieve goals” is. I love your fun family photos and especially love seeing G growing into such a lovely little girl! Keep searching for your El Dorado!

Thanks! Great thoughts. G had a blast and it was fun to experience the vacation with her and the family.

Billy, it was great to finally meet you and your wonderful family! Looking forward to seeing your progress toward Boston! I have no doubt you will accomplish your goal! Wish I had gotten a pic with you. Maybe next year!!

It was a pleasure getting to meet you as well. I won't be at Marathon Weekend 2021. But it's possible I might find myself at Princess 2021. I do have plans to run in the Pacific Northwest some day. Probably after Oregon finishes the renovations/rebuild of Hayward Field.

 

[disneygpa]

It was a pleasure getting to meet you as well. I won't be at Marathon Weekend 2021. But it's possible I might find myself at Princess 2021. I do have plans to run in the Pacific Northwest some day. Probably after Oregon finishes the renovations/rebuild of Hayward Field.

That would be awesome! I'll bring my cheerleader and we'll come see you race!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

That would be awesome! I'll bring my cheerleader and we'll come see you race!!

Or race with me!

 

[StacyStrong]

This sounds like a really great trip with the family! Is your mom a regular runner too? Congrats to her as well!

That picture of G on the Safari is SO adorable. How did you guys like the Skyliner/Pop? Pop is my favorite of the values.

 

[DopeyBadger]

This sounds like a really great trip with the family! Is your mom a regular runner too? Congrats to her as well!

She used to run some when I was in middle/high school. I think back in the day we used to do 10-12 min/miles for 3-5 miles. But she stopped when I was in high school, I think around the time my parents divorced. I'd guess she had less time available. When I picked up running to help lose weight in 2012 she wasn't too far behind (not that she needed to or needs to lose any weight). She ran her own "Dopey Challenge" over several years. The 5k in 2014, 10k in 2015, HM in 2016, M in 2017 and Dopey in 2018.

That picture of G on the Safari is SO adorable. How did you guys like the Skyliner/Pop? Pop is my favorite of the values.

Thanks! We really loved the POP/Skyliner. It made traveling to DHS and EPCOT a breeze. And eating at Riveria was a real bonus as well. It really opens up the ability to resort hop without the added expense of Uber or time suck of doing resort-theme park-resort. So being on the Skyliner route was nice and a definite consideration moving forward.

 

[disneygpa]

Or race with me!

Hmmmmm.... What the heck! I'm in!! Keep me in the loop!

 

[FFigawi]

Great trip & race reports. Like Lee said, we were following you all morning & were bummed out for you when you didn’t get the time you wanted. Glad to read you’re mentally recovered and ready to give it another shot later this year.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Hmmmmm.... What the heck! I'm in!! Keep me in the loop!

I wouldn't say it's anything immediate. Looks like the Eugene Marathon is in April. So maybe April 2021? WAY too early to say anything.

Great trip & race reports. Like Lee said, we were following you all morning & were bummed out for you when you didn’t get the time you wanted. Glad to read you’re mentally recovered and ready to give it another shot later this year.

Thanks! Another learning experience. Excited to see if I can build off that 1:28 HM.

 

[rteetz]

Great job despite the disappointment. It’s never easy when you work so hard for something. I’m glad you had a great trip outside of that. Sorry we didn’t get to talk.

If I have any advice to offer for you going forward I do wonder if maybe an outside source such as a coach or professional looking over plans or nutrition could benefit you even further. Almost like a second opinion when you go to a doctor for something.

Looking forward to following along in your further goals. We all know you can get there.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Great job despite the disappointment. It’s never easy when you work so hard for something. I’m glad you had a great trip outside of that. Sorry we didn’t get to talk.

Thanks! I really would have wished the ROTR didn't get called right in the middle of DATW. Because we fully intended on spending more time there with more opportunities to chat. I'm sure our paths will cross again in a local race soon enough.

If I have any advice to offer for you going forward I do wonder if maybe an outside source such as a coach or professional looking over plans or nutrition could benefit you even further. Almost like a second opinion when you go to a doctor for something.

It's a definite consideration. I've been looking at different options locally over the last few days. Not quite ready yet to pull the trigger.

Looking forward to following along in your further goals. We all know you can get there.

Appreciate it.

 

[Nightriders19]

Great race/trip report! It was nice to "meet" you. I'm sorry your marathon didn't go quite as planned, but it looks like you've got a great race schedule for the rest of 2020!

 

[Baloo in MI]

It has been said but I just need to repeat, I have always been impressed by your commitment and hard work. The results show how far you have come as a runner; it is inspiring! But I am most impressed by your commitment to your family. I really admire how you shifted your focus from the race to your family and investing in that time! Especially given that you put a year into preparation for that race. Who could fault you for being down, yet you simply focused on your family! I hope I can be that good of a father and husband!

My girls are now in junior high and high school; it goes too fast! The pictures in your report convey how your are not wasting a second of that time! In the long run you will treasure that soon much more than any race outcome. You have inspired me again!!!

Now an important question. On TSMM when you say “cleared the rocket” to what are you referring? Jasmine,my older daughter, destroyed me at both the Space Ranger ride and TSMM this year! I need all the help I can get.

 

[lahobbs4]

Loved reading your trip report! Like many others, I was waiting to hear how you did and I'm glad you are dealing with the results in a positive way.

On another note, that picture of G with Prince Eric?? My heart bursted. And, I said long ago that the Astro Orbitor is the one ride at WDW I will never ride again! It's deceptively terrifying.

 

[DopeyBadger]

It has been said but I just need to repeat, I have always been impressed by your commitment and hard work. The results show how far you have come as a runner; it is inspiring! But I am most impressed by your commitment to your family. I really admire how you shifted your focus from the race to your family and investing in that time! Especially given that you put a year into preparation for that race. Who could fault you for being down, yet you simply focused on your family! I hope I can be that good of a father and husband!

My girls are now in junior high and high school; it goes too fast! The pictures in your report convey how your are not wasting a second of that time! In the long run you will treasure that soon much more than any race outcome. You have inspired me again!!!

Admittedly, I spend a lot of time sleeping, at work, writing training plans, or training myself during normal life. So my time is always stretched thin day to day, but I try really hard to be present for G as well. So when a vacation comes up, I can really step up and turn other things off to get some good quality time in together. If I let the race outcome impact that short vacation time we have together then I'd really be doing a disservice to my family. And like you said, I know the time together is fleeting. So I'm trying to be in the moment as much as I can before she grows up too fast.

Now an important question. On TSMM when you say “cleared the rocket” to what are you referring? Jasmine,my older daughter, destroyed me at both the Space Ranger ride and TSMM this year! I need all the help I can get.

Ready for your mind to be blown...

There are "bonus" balloons in many of the screens. So knowing where to focus on each screen is how you can dramatically increase your score.

Loved reading your trip report! Like many others, I was waiting to hear how you did and I'm glad you are dealing with the results in a positive way.

Thanks!

On another note, that picture of G with Prince Eric?? My heart bursted.

Thankfully she's gone back to believing they're real. She had a moment of clarity a few years ago and let us know they weren't real (especially the "people in costume suits"). But she appears to have forgotten that and is back to believing again.

And, I said long ago that the Astro Orbitor is the one ride at WDW I will never ride again! It's deceptively terrifying.

Agreed! I think that'll have to go as an end of the day type ride for me. Because I got so dizzy afterwards.

 

[ckb_nc]

2020 Disney Marathon in Review

So, the obvious question is, “Why?” Why did I have quad pain on Sunday morning that started almost immediately, never let up, and increased in pain throughout the race. All that while never experiencing anything like that on Saturday during the last warm-up run.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m both at peace with this race and somewhat disappointed. I spent a significant amount of time training for this. In addition, I spent a significant amount of resources both preparing and completing it. So, it does hurt some to have that particular day. But in an honest retrospect, I think it would have been darn near impossible for me to crack 3 hours in the weather conditions of the race. It ended up being the hottest marathon and possibly one of the hottest races I’ve ever run in. That’s the way race day goes sometimes.

I don’t have a great answer. My gut instinct is that the training ended up being too much for me. Another situation of “Surviving the training instead of thriving because of it”. I was able to complete the entire training in full with little edits. But I think after the November HM I was just grinding myself into the ground.

The nutrition was good. I never really felt out of energy (albeit I was running much slower than goal marathon tempo).

The aerobic conditioning was good. While my pace was falling throughout the race, my HR was actually falling as well. Chicago 2018 only fell by 2-4 bpm from beginning to end, but pace fell by about 45 sec/mile. Dopey 2018 fell by 4-6 bpm, but pace fell by 50-60 sec/mile. Lakefront 2017 only fell by about 2bpm, but pace fell by 50-60 sec/mile. Compared to Disney 2020, which the HR fell by 23bpm, and pace fell by 140 sec/mile. So certainly, the pace fell considerably more during Disney 2020, but the drop in HR was huge comparatively. So, I do think aerobically I was well conditioned.

I ran the tangents really well. This marathon ended up at 26.34 miles which is my second-best Disney marathon (26.33) and 3rd best overall marathon (26.29 Lakefront 2017).

The issue I think was muscular. I think all the training pushed the muscles into a place I didn’t want them to go to. I had mentioned to Steph right before the November HM that my quads were absolutely popping. The muscle right above the knee was bulging and felt great. But a few weeks prior to Disney, that muscle seemed all but gone. Instead there seemed to be some small bruising in the area above the knee. Not anything concerning, but the lack of muscle seemed strange. In retrospect, maybe this was a warning sign that the muscle was not tolerating the training.

Let’s be honest, I chose the highest available training plan from TrainerRoad. The Ironman High Volume plan was really demanding. And it was written for cyclists with years of training trying to qualify for Kona. So, while I felt like I could do it, it was probably a case of where I shouldn’t of. I wanted to go full go on the training because it was going to be over a year of my life devoted on it. And I didn’t want to look back and say I didn’t do enough. But I think I’m now looking back and saying I probably did too much. I can’t say this with a definitive answer, but it’s my best bet.

So where to go from here? It goes without saying that I won’t complete the Ironman HV plan in full again. Because clearly that was too much. I also didn’t really enjoy riding the indoor trainer for much more than 4 hours. Everything past that seemed like a real chore and not all that enjoyable. I was hoping it would pay off, but I think moving forward I can probably do fine with less. I felt like I was in fantastic shape entering the November HM. So maybe consider doing a training plan but only the Base/Build portions since that’s where the November HM fell in the last plan (right before Specialty).

So, I think the plan at the moment is to aim for the November Madison Marathon as my next BQ attempt. It’s not flat, but it is nearly guaranteed to be cold. And I love running in the cold. And then hills of the HM didn’t affect me that bad when I took the GAP into account. Having a strategy like that might allow me to be in a good place. I haven’t signed up yet, so we’ll see how I feel about this plan going forward. I’m thinking of the following race schedule:

3/29 – First Call HM w/ some friends?
4/19 – Parkinson’s HM
5/23 – Brat Fest 5k
6/21 – Hot2Trot HM (marks end/beg of training plans)
8/23 – Madison Mini 5k?
9/20 – DoLittle HM (tuneup race)
11/8 – Madison Marathon

I think I might ease into training with 5 weeks of very easy riding/running (just to test the quad out). Then maybe follow the Sprint Triathlon training plan which is a much lower volume with lots of speed work. Then move into either the Full Tri or maybe HM Tri cycling with Full Tri running in late June. I might limit the brick workouts and make them longer marathon tempo workouts instead. But it’s still up in the air at the moment.

The volume of bike training you did was super impressive but yeah extremely high. Anything over Olympic training level combined with your volume is way high. Your aerobic base is clearly there - now its fine tuning for speed.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Reading your race report was very inspiring. I nearly injured myself about half a mile into my first Half and it made for a painful finish to the race that day and I was just sore. My quads hurt for a few days after that. I cannot begin to imagine dealing with that kind of pain for an entire marathon and then finishing it.

I was glad I got to meet you before you had to head off to ROTR. I literally rearranged all sorts of my plans for to experience that twice so I'm glad that my timing worked. I was hoping to thank you in person for all the help you have given me over the years.

So using the 4th FP option was pretty slick. Might have to reconsider our plans on FP moving forward to see if we can’t better utilize timing of these things.

I try to line up my first 3 FP+ so they're used by 1:00pm or so. Granted I'm usually by myself at WDW, but getting them early can allow you to get more than just that 4th FP+.

Thanks! There was certainly a moment or two during the marathon that I truly felt like it was the end. I wasn't willing to go through all that training again to try for another BQ. It just sucked so much. But towards the end of the marathon, that feeling faded. The fire re-grew and I knew I needed to learn from this attempt and try again. And Steph felt the same way at the finish line. It's not a matter of "if", but "when" I break 3 hours.

And when it does happen, know that so many of us will be so excited for you.

Thankfully she's gone back to believing they're real. She had a moment of clarity a few years ago and let us know they weren't real (especially the "people in costume suits"). But she appears to have forgotten that and is back to believing again.

You're creating memories for G that she will never forget and treasure forever. Above all else that made for a very successful marathon weekend.

 

[DopeyBadger]

The volume of bike training you did was super impressive but yeah extremely high. Anything over Olympic training level combined with your volume is way high. Your aerobic base is clearly there - now its fine tuning for speed.

Agreed. I'm going to try the Spring Tri plan for the Spring. It peaks at 5.5 hrs cycling and 4 hrs running. So the peak of this plan is roughly half the volume of the peak of the last plan.

Reading your race report was very inspiring. I nearly injured myself about half a mile into my first Half and it made for a painful finish to the race that day and I was just sore. My quads hurt for a few days after that. I cannot begin to imagine dealing with that kind of pain for an entire marathon and then finishing it.

Thanks! Not a fun experience for sure.

I was glad I got to meet you before you had to head off to ROTR. I literally rearranged all sorts of my plans for to experience that twice so I'm glad that my timing worked. I was hoping to thank you in person for all the help you have given me over the years.

Same here. I wish I would have had more time to spend at DATW, but the BG dictated the day.

I try to line up my first 3 FP+ so they're used by 1:00pm or so. Granted I'm usually by myself at WDW, but getting them early can allow you to get more than just that 4th FP+.

I can see the benefits now. Hard to pull off with a group of people, but I'm thinking flexibility going forward could allow more day of FP selections.

And when it does happen, know that so many of us will be so excited for you.

Thanks!

You're creating memories for G that she will never forget and treasure forever. Above all else that made for a very successful marathon weekend.

Agreed!

 

[ckb_nc]

Agreed. I'm going to try the Spring Tri plan for the Spring. It peaks at 5.5 hrs cycling and 4 hrs running. So the peak of this plan is roughly half the volume of the peak of the last plan.
Agreed!

I do a structured spin class each week with intervals - nice break from the Trainer plus get out on the road some come spring just to ride. Also entertaining jumping on Zwift again to just ride...

 

[DopeyBadger]

I do a structured spin class each week with intervals - nice break from the Trainer plus get out on the road some come spring just to ride. Also entertaining jumping on Zwift again to just ride...

Sounds like a solid plan!