Training Talk - No Disney Race Planned for Awhile

[afan]

I lurked on the Wine & Dine thread since the spring, since two of my friends and I are planning to run it in 2016. It was a great place to learn and I enjoyed all the conversation, tips etc that happened, but it seems most of that is either in race specific threads or one off questions. I thought it would be nice to have a place to talk training, local races, waiting for the next RD race etc

I started my two week taper yesterday for a 10k on the 12th. It's my first of that distance, but I feel good about it as long as it's not too cold. My 7 mile run was at freezing, which I know a lot of you do, but I live near Seattle and won't be running in that cold of a temperature often enough to invest in warmer pants. I was good for the first 3 miles and had to stop because my chapstick got buried in my pocket, I was cold the last 4 miles. I'm hoping it will be closer to 40 for the run.

I'm also running a 12k in April, and think that will be the one I use for POT for W&D. I'll probably find a 5k or two to add in somewhere between April and August.

--Karen

 

[Miranda]

I already miss my threads. I spent pretty much all of 2015 in the Tinker Bell threads (there was one in this forum and also in the Disneyland forum) and then the W&D thread, but now my races are over, boo hoo, and I have no rD planned for 2016, although I do have a lot of non-rD planned!

I ran a make-up half marathon after W&D on 11/15, and since then I have just been taking it kind of easy and not working out a ton. I have done a long run of 6 miles the past 2 weekends, and I did a 5K turkey trot on Thanksgiving Day. I was going to do another half on 12/12 to qualify for Half Fanatics, but I am just not feeling it so I decided that was it for 2015 after my turkey trot. I'll try for HF next spring. I am tenatively planning on halfs in March, April, May, and June, so some combination of those 3 should theoretically qualify me, although I think I need to do either the first 3 or the last 3, since I'm not sure if the first and last are less than 90 days apart. It has to be 3 within 90 days and the first is 3/6 and the last is 6/5... I haven't gotten out the calendar yet and counted the days out.

Right now I'm just going to do what I feel like in December, keeping to a long run on the weekends, hopefully getting my weekday run mojo back this week, and continuing to cross train with spin and step aerobics. I am planning to run a 10K on New Year's Day to kick off 2016, and soon after will start ramping up half training aiming towards 3/6. I did the very long Galloway plans for both of my rD halfs this year, but I will end up doing something more like 12 weeks to build up to 3/6, and then I'll just maintain it between the spring races. They are all approx 1 month apart.

 

[Chaitali]

I miss the Wine and Dine thread too! That was the only Disney race I did this year and I don't have any plans for Disney races next year. I'm planning on lots of smaller, local races as well as Rock and Roll DC half (already signed up) and hopefully Rock and Roll Vegas half. I've been just doing short runs since Wine and Dine but I begin training for Rock and Roll DC next week. I've talked two of my friends into doing it with me as their first half marathon so I'm excited about that

 

[wilkeliza]

No races at all next year for me . Will be starting something on the 3rd not sure what yet but I need to loose about 30lbs minimum by September next year for the wedding. Well I guess need is a strong word, more like want. I was thinking of doing the 21 day fix starting on the third until Christmas. Has anyone done it? Everyone I know who has done it is a Beachbody Consultant and I just don't trust people who sell the product to give me an unbiased opinion. I'm either joining the gym in our building which is dance based work outs or will be joining a 24 hour gym in the new year since I have a habit of liking to work out at 11pm.

 

[ZellyB]

Great idea for a thread. We are also on a bit of a hiatus from rD races. We were really thinking we wouldn't do anymore until we shoot for Dopey in 2018, but we started talking about doing the marathon in January of 2017. That still means no Disney races for all of 2016 though. We will also still be doing local races although this time of year usually means a break from them.

I'm talking to my husband about doing a Heartland 39.3 challenge that consists of 3 half marathons over a 5 week period this spring. Would qualify us for Half Fanatic status. Wine and Dine was supposed to be part of a 3 half plan to get it this year, but obviously the bust of W&D stopped that from happening. BOO!!!

We've been talking quite a bit lately about developing a new training plan for next year. We are Galloway run/walk/run folks and really enjoy that, but I feel like we need to try some variety in our running. We've sped up a lot over the last two years, but I do feel like our bodies and minds are in a bit of a rut. We tried some things two years ago with some track/speed work, but I ended up hurting myself. After a good training year this year, I feel ready to push for some new methods. We just aren't sure what to do though, so I'm curious what others do for their run training.

Right now, we run only 3 days a week. We do two short maintenance runs on Tuesday and Thursday (anywhere from 3-5 miles) and then a longer run on Saturdays (8-10 miles or more if we are getting close to a race). My husband faithfully does weight training on M-W-F. I keep saying I will join him and then never do. We've also both wanted to start some yoga, but finding the time to do it is rough.

 

[Chaitali]

We've been talking quite a bit lately about developing a new training plan for next year. We are Galloway run/walk/run folks and really enjoy that, but I feel like we need to try some variety in our running. We've sped up a lot over the last two years, but I do feel like our bodies and minds are in a bit of a rut. We tried some things two years ago with some track/speed work, but I ended up hurting myself. After a good training year this year, I feel ready to push for some new methods. We just aren't sure what to do though, so I'm curious what others do for their run training.

Right now, we run only 3 days a week. We do two short maintenance runs on Tuesday and Thursday (anywhere from 3-5 miles) and then a longer run on Saturdays (8-10 miles or more if we are getting close to a race). My husband faithfully does weight training on M-W-F. I keep saying I will join him and then never do. We've also both wanted to start some yoga, but finding the time to do it is rough.

My next training cycle will be the first one I'm doing without a training group. So in the past, I've relied on the group to create a training schedule for me. This time, I chose the Hal Higdon novice 2 plan. I generally run 3 times a week, do body pump for strength training 2 times a week, and try to get in yoga once a week but that's the first thing to fall off the schedule when I get busy.

 

[Miranda]

I also do run/walk and do 3 runs a week, shorter ones Tues/Thurs (in theory... it's been quite a few weeks, before W&D, since I did more than 0-1 ) and a longer one on Saturday. All of this year I just did 30 minutes-ish on the Tues/Thurs ones... I have a 2.9 mile route I do on Tuesdays and a 2.5 mile one I do on Thursdays, and that is around 35 minutes and 30 minutes. I may stick with that, or I may try and up the mileage on the weekdays a little... I dunno.

My Saturdays have been filled with alternating 4 mile or increasing distance mileage according to the Galloway plans, but I'm going to shorten it up for my next cycle and eliminate the 4 mile weeks... I guess that would make it more like a Higdon plan without the 4th day of running.

I cross train twice a week... spin (Les Mills RPM) class on Wednesdays and either step aerobics or another spin/RPM class on Mondays. Normally it was step aerobics, but during the end of W&D training I switched to 2 days of spin to reduce pounding on my feet.

Before I really got back into running last year, I used to do BodyPump for strength 2 days a week and yoga once a week... both things I know I REALLY should get back to, but there's only so many days and it's hard to fit them into the schedule.

 

[GreatLakes]

I have no Disney races planned for 2016 and probably won't run any. There are just too many good races out there to keep overpaying for Disney races. I do want to do W&D again at some point but 2017 at the earliest. My next Florida race will probably be the Space Coast half or full. Maybe 2016, maybe 2017. It depends on some plans materializing over the next few months. I am hoping to get out to California next May with my wife to visit one of her friends and will try and hit a local half while I'm there. The Santa Barbara Wine Country Half is my preference but we'll see.

All I have planned for now is a 10K this weekend and a 5 miler on Christmas Eve then it is winter training until races return in February and decide on a few early spring halves.

 

[Miranda]

I never heard of Space Coast until this weekend and it was all over the Facebook groups. Might need to put that one on the todo list. My parents live down on the SW coast, so we could probably go down for the race and rent a car and go visit them for a short visit after... although more likely they'd end up driving up to the race and then just driving us back home with them.

 

[afan]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that skips cross training days. Though I've noticed once the time changed and it started getting darker earlier and colder I haven't been as motivated to go to the gym. I do my short runs on MW, cross train on TTh and long run on Saturday. I have been doing the bike, which I don't really like. Once the 10k is over in a week and a half I'll go back to doing weights. I stopped too long ago to start them this close to a race, I don't want to be sore. I've thought about doing a class, but none at my gym fit in to when I want to go.

Do you guys change the day you do your long run to the day of the race? My first 3 races will have all been on Saturdays, which is my preferred long run morning. The 12k I'm doing is on a Sunday. Would you change anything or just take an extra day off before the race, so my last short run would still be Thursday.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

I unfortunately am not in a position to be able to do runDisney events frequently (Wine and Dine this year was my first), so I too do not have any Disney races planned for 2016. It's a major letdown, since my one and only event to this point was supposed to tide me over for a while, but the incompletion of the race I registered for makes the itch to go back stronger. I'm hoping to try for the Glass Slipper Challenge or the Disneyland half (or possibly both - Coast to Coast would be awesome!) in 2017, but it's a long shot at this point. We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I am trying to get together a schedule for potential local races for 2016. My last scheduled event for this year is just a fun Christmas 5K this coming Saturday, which is all I need/want since I haven't run since Wine and Dine. For next year, I'm looking at a few different events, including a half marathon in June which I just signed up for last night on a whim (they had a Cyber Monday deal for 10% off, and the price is at the lowest tier right now, so I think I paid less for the half than I did for the same event's quarter marathon which I did this year and signed up for much later). I also have a few half marathons I'm trying to choose between for a fall event, and I'm looking into/strongly considering the short trip to Chicago in October for the Hot Chocolate 15K. I'm sure there will be some 5Ks thrown in at points throughout the year as well. So I will definitely get my fill of running and some fun events, even without runDisney.

In terms of the training, I'm hoping to get back into more consistent short runs throughout the winter, and then plan to find a training plan to pick up in the late winter/early spring for the June half marathon. I'm not quite sure what to do for some cross-training. Maybe biking or I'd love to pick up yoga.

 

[FFigawi]

Do you guys change the day you do your long run to the day of the race? My first 3 races will have all been on Saturdays, which is my preferred long run morning. The 12k I'm doing is on a Sunday. Would you change anything or just take an extra day off before the race, so my last short run would still be Thursday.

I never change my long run day to match the weekday of a race. I do my long runs on the day that works best for me, and that's how my coach and I set up my training plans. In your case, I'd consider doing a short run on Saturday morning, maybe just 10-15 minutes to keep your legs fresh.

 

[Miranda]

Do you guys change the day you do your long run to the day of the race? My first 3 races will have all been on Saturdays, which is my preferred long run morning. The 12k I'm doing is on a Sunday. Would you change anything or just take an extra day off before the race, so my last short run would still be Thursday.

Sometimes I take an extra day off, sometimes I do my last short run on Friday instead of Thursday.

 

[Chaitali]

Yeah, I don't change my routine for the whole training cycle just because the race is on a different day. I'll generally just adjust that last week as needed by taking an extra rest day or moving my short run to Friday, like Miranda said. I don't generally run the day before the race.

 

[ZellyB]

Ditto other replies, I don't change my day for my long training runs based on race day.

 

[IamTrike]

I miss the Wine and Dine thread too! That was the only Disney race I did this year and I don't have any plans for Disney races next year. I'm planning on lots of smaller, local races as well as Rock and Roll DC half (already signed up) and hopefully Rock and Roll Vegas half. I've been just doing short runs since Wine and Dine but I begin training for Rock and Roll DC next week. I've talked two of my friends into doing it with me as their first half marathon so I'm excited about that

I did RnR DC a couple years ago. It was fun. We stayed at the JW Marriot which was right around the corner. If the start is in the same place the lower level of the JW has huge really nice bathrooms and you don't need a keycard to get in. It also had some couches there too. If you are taking the metro into the city it might be a place to relax a bit before the race. Do you know if the course still has the crazy hill on it about mile 6 or 7?

 

[Chaitali]

I did RnR DC a couple years ago. It was fun. We stayed at the JW Marriot which was right around the corner. If the start is in the same place the lower level of the JW has huge really nice bathrooms and you don't need a keycard to get in. It also had some couches there too. If you are taking the metro into the city it might be a place to relax a bit before the race. Do you know if the course still has the crazy hill on it about mile 6 or 7?

I did the race last year and it still has the crazy hill. I'm assuming it does this year as well. The thing I like about this course is it starts in some of the scenic areas with the smithsonians and monuments but then goes through the neighborhoods before ending with the run towards the Capital building. And I don't think you can get from the tourist area to the neighborhoods without a big hill of some sort. I'll look and see if I can find a good rate at the JW Marriott, thanks for the tip! I live in the DC suburbs but the race is early enough that it's worth it to me to get a hotel room for the night if I can get a decent rate.

 

[escriven75]

Following along. My friend and I are hoping to do W&D Half 2016 and it will be our first half. Neither of us run much so this year up until then will involve a lot of training. We'll probably follow allow with the Galloway plan as so many folks seem to like and recommend it.

 

[IamTrike]

I did the race last year and it still has the crazy hill. I'm assuming it does this year as well. The thing I like about this course is it starts in some of the scenic areas with the smithsonians and monuments but then goes through the neighborhoods before ending with the run towards the Capital building. And I don't think you can get from the tourist area to the neighborhoods without a big hill of some sort. I'll look and see if I can find a good rate at the JW Marriott, thanks for the tip! I live in the DC suburbs but the race is early enough that it's worth it to me to get a hotel room for the night if I can get a decent rate.

My parents live in NoVA but we didn't want to deal with getting into DC for Packet pickup driving all the way back to their place then turning around and doing it again so saying down town seemed like a fun mini vacation. I had buddies that took the metro in with no issues, but it was pretty nice to be staying just a short walk from the starting line. The only pain was taking the metro back there after the race.

 

[Chaitali]

Following along. My friend and I are hoping to do W&D Half 2016 and it will be our first half. Neither of us run much so this year up until then will involve a lot of training. We'll probably follow allow with the Galloway plan as so many folks seem to like and recommend it.

Yay for your first half! I started running in January of 2015 and did my first half in November of 2015 (the richmond half marathon) so you definitely have plenty of time. I like the Galloway plans. I did my training with a running group as I felt more comfortable having people to run with so i just used the plans they gave me. I started out in January with a 5k plan, then trained on my own for a 10k from March to June, and in June started the official half marathon training with a group again. If you can find a local 10k to do so you have a proof of time to submit for W&D, I would recommend it.

My parents live in NoVA but we didn't want to deal with getting into DC for Packet pickup driving all the way back to their place then turning around and doing it again so saying down town seemed like a fun mini vacation. I had buddies that took the metro in with no issues, but it was pretty nice to be staying just a short walk from the starting line. The only pain was taking the metro back there after the race.

Yeah, the metro back afterward was a pain this year too I guess maybe it's just too many people trying to get on at once? I think my plan for 2016 might be to find somewhere walking distance to the finish line to get brunch after the race and let some of the crowds dissipate and then uber from brunch to the hotel.