WiSHers doing their first FULL Marathon at WDW - Jan 2012

[joan4mickey]

Feeling a bit better now.

Keep up with those runs/walks and we will all get there. Ok so, I have a better attitude now. Keep the reports coming too.

The weather turned out very nice..actually hot. It was calling for overcast, passing showers, and wind. It was overcast and 60 when I started at 7:30am, then cleared, was sunny at times, and not really windy. I went out fast, but didn't feel like it. I got to the car at mile 12, in 2 hours..oh, way too fast. I got my bar and went to fill my handheld and at the fountain...NO WATER. I had to use some of my after run water so I ended up short on water as I didn't top off my bottle.

The numbers: first 7 miles sub 10 mm; next 9 miles 10:05-10:54mm's; next 2 11+mm; next 3 12+mm and last mile 14mm (lots of walking with a few run breaks). I'm adding two miles every other week..the new 2 are always killer for me.

Highlight... DH had fresh coffee when I got home.

I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and half a banana about 45 min. before my run. Also had a PBJ last night around 8pm.

 

[UNCBear24]

Due to the forecast of snow and cold, I moved my 20 mile run up from Friday to today. Got it done without as much hydration & carbo loading as I was planning since I moved the run up 3 days. My IT band pain the last 4 miles made it tough, but I pushed through the pain and finished just under my goal of 10 mm pace. 40 days until race day. Can't wait to experience it. Good luck everyone with your training! Remember to keep positive - we can all do this.

Dave

 

[Disney Yooper]

After catching up on this thread, I know I'm doing ok. I can complete the distance as long as I don't lose it mentally. I already know my best strategy. I can't think of the whole distance but each milestone. When I did my 15 miles last week-end, I didn't start out well mentally. Once I gave myself a good talking to, I was able to get the job done. I appreciate everyone posting their struggles and those giving us moral support and answers.

 

[Disney Yooper]

Ok I lied, you are not finishing anything. You are beginning your life as a marathoner. Relish the new life. Wear your medal while in the parks. Enjoy the attention and remember, your story will maze most folks in the parks. This Sunday or Monday while hobbling through the parks, you can give that little nod of the head to other runners and say - good run!

Now, for your goals - there are three
Finish
Finish Upright
Finish with a SMILE!

Train Hard

Ok, you had me teary just reading this. When I completed the Princess Marathon Half, I crossed the line and was surprised at how anti-climactic it all seemed. As they placed that medal over my head, that all changed. I burst into tears. It is an amazing feeling to accomplish something that you never thought you would do. Thanks for reminding me why I'm doing this.

 

[Disney Yooper]

I thought I had introduced myself on this thread but must have just subscribed. This will be my first full. I did the Inaugural Princess Half a couple of years ago. I turned 50 this month and set this as a milestone to prove that age is just a number. I'm following the MfM plan and my longest run was 15 miles. I just want to complete it without being swept. I was an athlete and runner in high school. I've been a couch potato for way too many years now.

 

[Ar2smile]

Great thread! I am also doing my first full! I am super excited and super...what's the word...oh yeah, terrified. I think I have doubts everyday, but after reading Coach's encouraging words and reading your stories I feel so much better. Good to know that these feelings are normal. Lol! Im doing a short 9 miler today! Hope everyone has a great run today!
Brittany

 

[dismagiclover]

Reading this thread is bringing back so many memories of last year for me! I completed my first (and so far only) marathon last January and it was an experience I will never forget! You are all on your way there too! I did a pretty thorough trip report about my race last year and thought some of you might be interested. Here is a link to the report. The race starts in post 213.

My 2011 Marathon report

 

[Ronda93]

Jenny, thanks for the link to your TR. Great preview!

I did my long run yesterday in the middle of the day. Slated for 18, my watch toted up 15 miles - FR60. I failed to restart it after a road crossing and I think it under credits walking. This mattered because I started with a 2:1 and dropped to 1:1 for the last 8 miles. I believe the distance was more like 16. At any rate, I was out there moving for 4 hours. I had a 3:00 meeting and needed to get back to presentable.

I followed all that moving up with a four hour car ride to St Louis. My shuffle to the gas pump was laughable. This morning I feel fine. A little stiffness in my feet, but I recognize that from last winter. Nothing to see there.

I plan to do the midweek 4 tomorrow. It will be nice to have the Saturday back.

Good luck to everyone this weekend!

Ronda

 

[dsnyfan21]

Hello///

Nice to see a few more first timers! I have updated the first thread, so I hope I have everyone so far.
I did the Spacecoast Half Marathon this past weekend as a "drop down" week . at first I was thinking I would just take it easy, but I was feeling so good and started off way to fast and at the half way point I was on my way to doing a 2:35 Half (best overall was a 2:46), but the sun came out a bit, I had a weird inner thigh/hip twingy thing and realized I was going to fast, so I slowed it down and finished in 2:50:20. My first half after surgery in April on my right big toe joint and beat my last half (princess) by 14 min.
I have my 20 miler tomorrow morning. I will do my intervals and may do a few miles of just my racewalking - but only the day will tell what will happen.
Keep it up everyone - we can do this!

 

[Shannon84]

Hello///

Nice to see a few more first timers! I have updated the first thread, so I hope I have everyone so far.
I did the Spacecoast Half Marathon this past weekend as a "drop down" week . at first I was thinking I would just take it easy, but I was feeling so good and started off way to fast and at the half way point I was on my way to doing a 2:35 Half (best overall was a 2:46), but the sun came out a bit, I had a weird inner thigh/hip twingy thing and realized I was going to fast, so I slowed it down and finished in 2:50:20. My first half after surgery in April on my right big toe joint and beat my last half (princess) by 14 min.
I have my 20 miler tomorrow morning. I will do my intervals and may do a few miles of just my racewalking - but only the day will tell what will happen.
Keep it up everyone - we can do this!

Way to go!!! Thats a great time and it sounds like you are right on track with training!!

I was supposed to do 18 today, but I only managed 12.5 I am beyond scared about being swept...my pace was avg 15 min 15 sec today

 

[dsnyfan21]

Way to go!!! Thats a great time and it sounds like you are right on track with training!!

I was supposed to do 18 today, but I only managed 12.5 I am beyond scared about being swept...my pace was avg 15 min 15 sec today

Shannon - and this is just my personal experience. When I did my first Half, I remember being swept up with all the emotions and the people around me and going faster than what my training was at the time. Don't worry too much. Now is just about getting the time and miles in. A 15:15 average is good and will get you to the finish. (don't forget about that little cushion of they start that sweeper clock when the last person crosses the start line!)
Keep and eye on your pace during the actual event (like I forgot to do) so you don't actually start off too fast and then burn out at the end.

You can do it!

 

[Disney Yooper]

I did 18 miles today. I started out too fast. Ended up at about a 16 minute mile for all 18. I would have done better if I hadn't started at too fast. I was dragging by the end. It didn't help that I did a lot of shopping yesterday and didn't have supports in my shoes.

I had hoped to run outside but just like the 15 mile run I did two weeks ago, the night before the run the snow starts coming. We had no snow yesterday afternoon and have about 6-8 inches today.

We are at Disney World for the next two weeks starting Tuesday. I'll be getting some experience outside in Orlando so I'm happy about that.

 

[DrMomof3]

Great job Tracy!
These long, long runs are HARD!
I did 20.4 miles on Saturday. (four 5.1 mile loops so I could leave drinks/fuel in my driveway and use indoor plumbing for pit stops.) I wrote a more complete report in the other thread about marathon weekend.
Summary: I did it! It was ugly! I started with 2+ miles of walking to "catch up" since my previous distance was 15.34 miles. My 1st 2 loops were fast - probably close to race pace (oops!) and my 3rd loop was a struggle. I cut my run/walk ratio fom 1/1 to run 30 sec/walk 1 min for the last loop. My stats were 20.4 miles in 4:31:00 for a pace of 13:17. My faster half is 2:32 so this was fast for a training run.
My right knee wa sore yesterday but fine today. My quads are sore but less sore than after any half that I've done. But I have a weird pain behind my left knee. It's hard to explain and seems to be improving. Luckily I was planning a light week (my partner at work is away so I'm covering everything and I'm flying to DISapalooza next weekend for a quick weekend getaway).
Part of me wants one more super long run (18 miles?) in 2 weeks and part of me is more worried about potential injury than finishing.
I was feeling a little frustrated after my 20 miler but now I realize that it was a good experience because I learned a lot from it.

Amanda

 

[KristinS]

Hello everyone!

I'm Kris, I'm training for my first full marathon! This will also be my first race ever...definitely jumping in feet first with blinders on.

I'm a run/walker, I typically do a 1:1 ratio. I'm also quite slow. Quite as in.....very. My long runs usually are around 15:30-16:00 mm, and I more than realize that this puts me right at the cut off for being plucked off by the course by the dreaded sweeper bus. I have the endurance, I don't have the speed.

I know that on January 8th, I will be physically able to run 26.2 miles, what I don't know is if I can do it in time.

Honest thoughts on my chances?

Appreciated,
Kris

 

[Ronda93]

Honest thoughts on my chances?

You. Will. Make. It.

The sweep clock doesn't start until the LAST runner crosses the start. Get to the front of the corral and get a couple extra minutes on it. You will be riding a high and 15:30 will be a piece of cake.

Ronda

 

[joan4mickey]

Everyone sounds like they are doing pretty well. Seems like the legs are getting a little tired, but I keep telling myself that's ok as these next two weeks will be getting all I can out of them before I cut back and let my body recoup. Anyone else feeling the leg fatigue?

I did my "long short run" 12 miles yesterday...as I feared the weather change for today. It was beautiful and great temps and although I wasn't feeling it, I did great. Avg. 9:30mm. All miles between 9:15-9:55. Left foot is bothering me today so I'll have to nurse it this week. My last LR, 24 miles, will be next week. Then one more 15 mile the following week. I am doing some speed work on the TM.

I haven't tapered much for the few half marathons I have done until this past February. I got sick...really sick 3 weeks before the Princess and just didn't run. Two weeks before the race, I was in bed and really thought I would die before morning. My girls had come home to run our last LR, but I was unable and so they ran without me. Finally 5 day before the race I went out to run/walk and did about 4 miles and the next day 5 miles. The day before the race I got sick again and lay in bed until 3am Sunday morning. I did fine in the race and later found out I was carrying around an infection that was draining me of all my energy. BUT that was a lot of crap just to say that if you are training, the taper will be important to heal the body as it will stay strong..perhaps even stronger after a time of rest.

Ok. Time to get down to it and finish strong!

 

[KristinS]

BUT that was a lot of crap just to say that if you are training, the taper will be important to heal the body as it will stay strong..perhaps even stronger after a time of rest.

I was over-trained when I hit the mid range of my long distances, 12 and 14. A hip injury that I'd just sort of pushed to the back burner became immobilizing. I finally went into the chiropractor and he's been working on me for about 2 weeks, and I've run 1 long distance in that time and only about 2 training runs. The last training run, I felt more fresh than I had in a long time. Today, I'm going out to do 18, and I hope that trend continues. Perhaps those days of rest really worked to my advantage, even though the whole time I was fretting over how much I thought my conditioning would be set back. The body just needs to repair itself at times.

Hope to have a good strong run today! Second to last long distance!

 

[dsnyfan21]

Well my 20 miler is DONE and it was pretty much a bonk!
The last 4 miles, I kept thinking I should call someone and have them pick me up, but this was my idea to do a FULL, so I just kept moving forward. The last 4 miles I had like a 16-17mm pace. Although I did a lot of 14s in there, so I think I did ok.
Joan, I had a lot of leg/knee fatigue and horrible foot pain, my feet were killing me!!!
My next thought was if my last 3-4 miles of a 20 miler was that bad, I am not sure if I could have done another 6.2 miles. I think some of this is the result of doing a Half Marathon the week before and pushing my pace in that. At least that is my story and I am sticking to it.
I am kind of glad I picked a schedule that includes a week longer than 20 miles (not looking forward to it) so I can get that distance before then doing 26.2!
I wasn't as sore for as long as I was after my Half Marathon, so maybe that is a good thing.

Keep it up everyone!!

 

[joan4mickey]

Tracy I feel sure you will be just fine. On race day there will be many others out there. I think that we are out on our training runs/walks alone and a lot of trash can get in our heads. I think that all the extra people and on course entertainment will help divert our minds. I also think resting our bodies for a couple weeks before the race is going to make a big difference. We are so close...stay strong, stay healthy.

Today I ran easy with 30 sec. pick-ups every 5 min. for an hour. I took an extra day after my Sunday run and actually felt a little better. Tomorrow yoga and Friday tempo run and then I am going to take 3 days off before my 24 miler.

 

[dsnyfan21]

Thanks Joan - and that does make sense as I am out on my own for my long runs!

OK, my official FULL Marathon bib number is..................

6151, how about the rest of you??