Marathon Weekend 2023

[Herding_Cats]

This kind of amazes me! Galloway has ONE long mileage day - and it isn't even once a week at this point. On my plan, I literally have 4 double-digit runs (including the Wine and Dine half) and 2 double-digit walks over the next 3 months. I know what weekends they are going to be and in my mind I just treat the long run day as a work day. I am unavailable for between 5-7 hours that day because I am SLOW. It's been on the calendar as non-negotiable for a while now.

The length of the long runs is exactly why I won't do a Galloway plan. Giving up 5-7 hours on a weekend is super hard for me to do because it's essentially an all-day endeavor for me by the time I eat breakfast, wait for it to settle, get my nutrition stuff set up, do the run, do the recovery stuff after the run, eat all of the food, etc. I wouldn't start before 10am, so that's 10am-5pm for one of the longest runs, and yeah. While I *could* make it happen, I would be pretty resentful of it, AND coupled with the fact that those really long runs hit late in the plan, I'd end up doing at least half of it on a treadmill and that's a big ask for a lot of people.

 

[GollyGadget]

This kind of amazes me! Galloway has ONE long mileage day - and it isn't even once a week at this point. On my plan, I literally have 4 double-digit runs (including the Wine and Dine half) and 2 double-digit walks over the next 3 months. I know what weekends they are going to be and in my mind I just treat the long run day as a work day. I am unavailable for between 5-7 hours that day because I am SLOW. It's been on the calendar as non-negotiable for a while now.

I will 100% give up those 3 days to have my evenings during the work week. I love being able to do my 45 minute runs or cross-training and being done. My short runs can easily be squeezed in without taking up the whole evening. On Mondays, I actually stop at the gym on my way home from my evening activity. Pop in, run, and be home less than an hour later.

It equally amazes me that you spend 5-7 hours running on a single day. It would be difficult for me to consistently find that large block of time on any one single day. Plus, I tend to psyche myself out over long runs and I know that I would be dreading that long of a run for days ahead of time.
Personally, I'm a creature of habit so running nearly every day is way easier for me than running only 3x per week.

I'm happy that you found something that works for you but I can't imagine that sort of plan going well for me at all.

 

[PrincessV]

SAFD: I’lll just lay it all out here, since you asked lol!

For the first time ever, I’m struggling. Something is going on that I don’t understand, but I think is a combo of menopause, autoimmune diseases, and a lifetime of sport and dance. Basically, everything hurts. Every joint, nearly every muscle in my body. Some days certain spots hurt more than others for no apparent reason, but general pain is a 24/7 thing. That isn’t new; I’ve been in chronic pain since adolescence. But the higher level of pain is new, and feeling like I ran 20 miles after 8 miles is very new.

Did y’all know that our bodies have estrogen receptors all over the place? And that estrogen is a pretty powerful anti-inflammatory/pain reducer? Yeeaaah… and of course, estrogen levels crash in menopause. So my doc and I are trying some things, and the 11 I ran this week felt better than the 6 I did last week, so there may be some positive progress here. Too late to do the WDW Marathon I planned, but enough that I think W&D will be okay.

Sorry if that’s all TMI for some, but I sure wish people talked about aging as an athlete more openly, because as a lifelong athlete, I had NO idea and have really struggled mentally with going from feeling fine with really high mileage to feeling awful after little 4-milers - just in the span of a few months. Woulda been good to know this could happen!

 

[jennysdcc]

Good Morning runDisney All-Stars! It is time for SAFD.

Here is this weeks question: I know in my training plan, and am assuming in yours, the runs are getting longer. How are you doing? Any challenges?

I’ll be honest - I was feeling pretty nervous about Dopey but feeling reassured by this thread. I rapidly realized this summer that training for my first marathon/Dopey, and planning a fall wedding, AND changing jobs (for the better!) maybe was a bit more than I could chew. I’m surviving thus far, but my training is behind schedule - I’ve been maxing out at around 7-9 miles on weekend runs but feeling good after those distances. I’ve got 13 miles on the docket for next weekend before a couple weeks of taper during the wedding + honeymoon before I come back and do a three day back to back with a 15 mile Sunday. Hoping for an additional two Dopey simulation weekends at 18 and 20 miles respectively, and then it’s just down to listening to my body and pacing myself during MW. Fingers crossed! Finish lines not finish times for me

 

[Herding_Cats]

Sorry if that’s all TMI for some, but I sure wish people talked about aging as an athlete more openly, because as a lifelong athlete, I had NO idea and have really struggled mentally with going from feeling fine with really high mileage to feeling awful after little 4-milers - just in the span of a few months. Woulda been good to know this could happen!

I don't think this is TMI at ALL! This is reality for half of the running population! People don't talk about menopause or peri-menopause much, and it's a reality that women are going to face. If we can talk about chafing and blisters and black toenails and GI distress we can definitely talk about the massive hormone changes that happen and affect exercise and running in a very real way.


FWIW I'm pretty sure Stacy Sims has a book out on female athletes and menopause Next Level: Your Guide to Kicking A**, Feeling Great, and Crushing Goals Through Menopause and Beyond.

​

 

[jrsharp21]

It equally amazes me that you spend 5-7 hours running on a single day. It would be difficult for me to consistently find that large block of time on any one single day. Plus, I tend to psyche myself out over long runs and I know that I would be dreading that long of a run for days ahead of time.
Personally, I'm a creature of habit so running nearly every day is way easier for me than running only 3x per week.

I'm happy that you found something that works for you but I can't imagine that sort of plan going well for me at all.

Agree that giving up 5-7 hours for a run is pretty amazing. I could never do that nor would I try. Just the thought of losing pretty much a whole day to running is crazy. I know it doesn't work for everyone and everyone has their different training, but the time it takes away from the day is exactly while I will not get above a half marathon for my Dopey training. Worked for me last year and continuing to do the same. I run almost every day during my lunch break so that I don't have to give up my evenings. I will get in 4-5 miles depending on how quick I want to go that day. I will mix in a day off somewhere during the week. Weekends is back to back 8 miles in the mornings. Get out around 7am and back around 8:15am. Gives me the whole day to do stuff on the weekends. As we get closer to MW (probably 3-4 weeks out), I will cut one of the 8 mile days on one weekend, usually the Sunday run, and do a half marathon on Saturday. Then I will go back to the 8 mile day weekends leading up to MW. It's not the best training plan, but it gives me the run/life balance that is best for me.

 

[pluto377]

SAFD: My training is going well. I'm not doing the marathon, so that's really helpful This weekend's long run was 7 miles and I felt great during it. The cooler temperatures are really helping. I do want to do Dopey again in 2024, but reading about all this misery with long runs has me reconsidering. I'm loving that I don't need to do such crazy long runs! I don't miss them at all.

During my run yesterday someone noticed my RunDisney shirt and stopped me to ask if I was doing W&D. As we were talking, another woman walked up with a RunDisney shirt on. Small world! It was nice to see some other RunDisney folks out there getting it done!

 

[sandam1]

by the time I eat breakfast, wait for it to settle, get my nutrition stuff set up,

Ah, see, that's where I cheat. I'm not a morning person AT ALL, but I know that the sooner I get going in the morning, the sooner I get done. So I prep everything the night before (good practice for race day) and preposition my morning food on my bedside. When I inevitably wake up around 4-5 a.m. (because it happens almost every night), I eat "breakfast" - and then go back to sleep for 2-3 hours. So by the time the alarm goes off, it's all settled.

It equally amazes me that you spend 5-7 hours running on a single day.

And I don't see it as remarkable because that's what I'm going to have to do on race day. Nothing new on race day, including the distance.

While I know intellectually that the other method works, there is a huge leap of faith in it as well because you don't know what the total time and distance is going to feel like since you've never done it. And last year, this compounded with me being in a very bad headspace led to poor race day decisions. This year I am a lot more relaxed because by race day, I will know what 20-23-26 miles feel like - and I will know what it feels like to run those miles on tired legs. Obviously, there are factors that I can't plan for (primarily weather and pacing), but the distance isn't going to be what takes me down this time.

Obviously, everyone views this differently and it is great that there are different methods that work for different people to get them to the same goal. I'm a person that, when faced with something scary that I don't want to do, just dives and does it and then realizes after the fact that it wasn't that bad. Other people like getting comfortable by nibbling around edges. Different strokes for different folks!

Plus, I tend to psyche myself out over long runs and I know that I would be dreading that long of a run for days ahead of time.

Oh, I know all about this. I had an epic meltdown over my last long run (17 miles). I had worked myself up so bad that I was terrified as I started it. But it needed to be done so I pushed myself out the door to do it. It was a turning point for me and I realized that I can do these distances (great lesson for race day) and that some of my long held fears were completely unfounded. Now, whenever I get nervous, I just remind myself of that experience.

 

[Naomeri]

Ah, see, that's where I cheat. I'm not a morning person AT ALL, but I know that the sooner I get going in the morning, the sooner I get done. So I prep everything the night before (good practice for race day) and preposition my morning food on my bedside. When I inevitably wake up around 4-5 a.m. (because it happens almost every night), I eat "breakfast" - and then go back to sleep for 2-3 hours. So by the time the alarm goes off, it's all settled.



And I don't see it as remarkable because that's what I'm going to have to do on race day. Nothing new on race day, including the distance.

While I know intellectually that the other method works, there is a huge leap of faith in it as well because you don't know what the total time and distance is going to feel like since you've never done it. And last year, this compounded with me being in a very bad headspace led to poor race day decisions. This year I am a lot more relaxed because by race day, I will know what 20-23-26 miles feel like - and I will know what it feels like to run those miles on tired legs. Obviously, there are factors that I can't plan for (primarily weather and pacing), but the distance isn't going to be what takes me down this time.

Obviously, everyone views this differently and it is great that there are different methods that work for different people to get them to the same goal. I'm a person that, when faced with something scary that I don't want to do, just dives and does it and then realizes after the fact that it wasn't that bad. Other people like getting comfortable by nibbling around edges. Different strokes for different folks!



Oh, I know all about this. I had an epic meltdown over my last long run (17 miles). I had worked myself up so bad that I was terrified as I started it. But it needed to be done so I pushed myself out the door to do it. It was a turning point for me and I realized that I can do these distances (great lesson for race day) and that some of my long held fears were completely unfounded. Now, whenever I get nervous, I just remind myself of that experience.

I’m with you, I could never go into a race not having practiced the distance—been there, done that, can do it again, so stop worrying

 

[Desdemona924]

FWIW I'm pretty sure Stacy Sims has a book out on female athletes and menopause Next Level: Your Guide to Kicking A**, Feeling Great, and Crushing Goals Through Menopause and Beyond.

​

Sorry if that’s all TMI for some, but I sure wish people talked about aging as an athlete more openly, because as a lifelong athlete, I had NO idea and have really struggled mentally with going from feeling fine with really high mileage to feeling awful after little 4-milers - just in the span of a few months. Woulda been good to know this could happen!

I started Next Level a few months and was getting a lot out of it. It was a library book, but I think may be worth purchasing. For anyone who isn't going through menopause, she also has a book called Roar that talks about working with your cycle.

I have a friend that feels the same way about not hearing of the changes that come with peri-menopause and menopause. I would love to hear about the experiences that back of the pack runners have and how their training changes. I love hearing about elite runners, but that's alien training to me.

 

[Kerry1957]

SAFD:
I'm "just, just" doing the HM this year so training is much different. I've been running an organized HM about every 3-5 weeks, so my training schedule looks like Week 1 race, Week 2 take it a bit easy, Week 3 train, Week 4 taper/race. Rinse and repeat.

I ran the Quad Cities HM two weeks ago and am running the Des Plaines River Trail race this weekend in suburban Chicago. After three years of running this as a marathon, I'm just doing the HM this year. Then three weeks later is W&D HM. I'll probably get another HM in late November/early December. Then Disney Marathon Weekend. Then three weeks after Disney, I'll run the F^3 HM on Chicago's lakefront. Then I'll take it easy for February and March before ramping up training for spring races.

I'm getting tired just typing this.

 

[kps7795]

It equally amazes me that you spend 5-7 hours running on a single day. It would be difficult for me to consistently find that large block of time on any one single day. Plus, I tend to psyche myself out over long runs and I know that I would be dreading that long of a run for days ahead of time.
Personally, I'm a creature of habit so running nearly every day is way easier for me than running only 3x per week.

I'm happy that you found something that works for you but I can't imagine that sort of plan going well for me at all.

How many days do you run per week? I'm currently running five days with rest days on Monday and Friday. I'm afraid that my body will break down if I don't give it two rest days.

 

[Jennx36]

SAFD:
I am using the 29 week Galloway training program, and I am mentally preparing for a 17 mile run this weekend. My 15 mile run last weekend went to heck after about mile 4 when I rounded a corner only to find part of the trail closed with a very intimidating "no trespassing" sign. Unfortunately I had already prepositioned water (in the dark) about two miles on the other side of the closure. With a chunk of the trail closed, I would not be able to reach my water stop as planned. I quickly came up with a plan B, and I thought all was good. However, I got lost along my route at about mile 11 and started to lose motivation and speed. I made it back to my car where I had extra water and salt tablets at about mile 13. I walked a quarter mile as I sipped on water and then cranked out the remaining mileage. I really wanted to quit at mile 11, but I kept going and completed my goal. My hips and back were tight, but the part of my body that hurt the most was a single toenail on my right foot. To prevent a repeat disaster, I am doing a different trail that I am more familiar with, and I am doing a recon in the daylight to make sure there are no surprises! As for the toenail, does anyone have any tricks or tips to prevent toenail pain? My shoes are plenty wide enough; it's the top of the nail that is being pushed on causing a blister to develop underneath.

 

[camaker]

And I don't see it as remarkable because that's what I'm going to have to do on race day. Nothing new on race day, including the distance.

While I know intellectually that the other method works, there is a huge leap of faith in it as well because you don't know what the total time and distance is going to feel like since you've never done it. And last year, this compounded with me being in a very bad headspace led to poor race day decisions. This year I am a lot more relaxed because by race day, I will know what 20-23-26 miles feel like - and I will know what it feels like to run those miles on tired legs. Obviously, there are factors that I can't plan for (primarily weather and pacing), but the distance isn't going to be what takes me down this time.

Obviously, everyone views this differently and it is great that there are different methods that work for different people to get them to the same goal. I'm a person that, when faced with something scary that I don't want to do, just dives and does it and then realizes after the fact that it wasn't that bad. Other people like getting comfortable by nibbling around edges. Different strokes for different folks!

I’m with you, I could never go into a race not having practiced the distance—been there, done that, can do it again, so stop worrying

This is such a fascinating discussion seeing the different approaches and mindsets. Personally, I don't think I'd stick with the sport if I had to go the full distance in training. Even the (relatively) shorter distances I go to in training are a huge time sink that I feel like are eating my life.

I think my approach is colored heavily by my first marathon experience. I had a major injury the fall before MW 2016 that kept me from training at all until November. When was able to resume running, I was heavily restricted by my PT and only got back to a 12m long run before race weekend. I was able to do the 10k, half and (my 1st) full successfully. That gave me a huge amount of confidence in what I could accomplish without running all the way up to race distance. Even now, I don't go beyond 16 in training for any difference.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying one way is in any way "better" than the other, just that it's interesting seeing the differing philosophies at work. Everybody's got to do what works for them and the mental side is just as important as the physiological.

 

[HangWithMerida]

This is such a fascinating discussion seeing the different approaches and mindsets. Personally, I don't think I'd stick with the sport if I had to go the full distance in training. Even the (relatively) shorter distances I go to in training are a huge time sink that I feel like are eating my life.

I think my approach is colored heavily by my first marathon experience. I had a major injury the fall before MW 2016 that kept me from training at all until November. When was able to resume running, I was heavily restricted by my PT and only got back to a 12m long run before race weekend. I was able to do the 10k, half and (my 1st) full successfully. That gave me a huge amount of confidence in what I could accomplish without running all the way up to race distance. Even now, I don't go beyond 16 in training for any difference.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying one way is in any way "better" than the other, just that it's interesting seeing the differing philosophies at work. Everybody's got to do what works for them and the mental side is just as important as the physiological.

Yes, it is really interesting to read. I definitely was nervous about my first HM and having never run the distance before. But the training, taper, and race day magic carried me and at that point I bought into the idea of trusting the training. So much so that for this MW, and my first marathon, I picked a plan that caps at a 16 mile long run. Now, of course the trade off is running more days and miles during the week. But I see that as more back to back days replicates the multi day running you see on challenge weekends. I also can’t imaging slogging through a marathon in training all alone.

 

[sandam1]

I had a major injury the fall before MW 2016 that kept me from training at all until November. When was able to resume running, I was heavily restricted by my PT and only got back to a 12m long run before race weekend. I was able to do the 10k, half and (my 1st) full successfully. That gave me a huge amount of confidence in what I could accomplish without running all the way up to race distance.

This almost exactly mirrors the lead up to my MW experience from last year. However, I was barely able to complete the half and could only complete one mile of the full. Around mile 9-10 of the half, my lack of training reared its head at which point I knew that completing the full wasn't an option. Then, for good measure, my injured feet seized up at the end of the half and that was the final nail in the coffin for the full. I started, walked one mile to the first medical tent, and pulled myself off the course. It was 100% the right thing to do, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't traumatic.

My experience from last year has colored my training for this year in so many ways. I will be the first to admit that there are certain things that spook me and cause me to overreact because it seems too much like a repeat of what happened last year. The good news is that I'm starting to catch these gremlins when they pop up and deal with them. Like you, @camaker , used your experience to inform you that you can do a full without doing 26 miles in training, mine has told me that I do need to do the very long distances to feel mentally ready for race day.

 

[The Expert]

Did y’all know that our bodies have estrogen receptors all over the place? And that estrogen is a pretty powerful anti-inflammatory/pain reducer? Yeeaaah… and of course, estrogen levels crash in menopause. So my doc and I are trying some things, and the 11 I ran this week felt better than the 6 I did last week, so there may be some positive progress here. Too late to do the WDW Marathon I planned, but enough that I think W&D will be okay.

Sorry if that’s all TMI for some, but I sure wish people talked about aging as an athlete more openly, because as a lifelong athlete, I had NO idea and have really struggled mentally with going from feeling fine with really high mileage to feeling awful after little 4-milers - just in the span of a few months. Woulda been good to know this could happen!

FWIW I'm pretty sure Stacy Sims has a book out on female athletes and menopause Next Level: Your Guide to Kicking A**, Feeling Great, and Crushing Goals Through Menopause and Beyond.

I started Next Level a few months and was getting a lot out of it. It was a library book, but I think may be worth purchasing. For anyone who isn't going through menopause, she also has a book called Roar that talks about working with your cycle.

I have a friend that feels the same way about not hearing of the changes that come with peri-menopause and menopause. I would love to hear about the experiences that back of the pack runners have and how their training changes. I love hearing about elite runners, but that's alien training to me.

Thank you for ALL of this! Now that work is kicking back into gear with events and the training is ramping up at the same time, I'm having a hard time recovering and am flat out exhausted by things that weren't that tough for me just a few years ago. I'm certain it is all related to this. Going to get this book NOW!

 

[GollyGadget]

How many days do you run per week? I'm currently running five days with rest days on Monday and Friday. I'm afraid that my body will break down if I don't give it two rest days.

I've been running 5 days per week all year. That ramps up to 6 this week. I'm VERY good at easy running so my body is able to recover without multiple rest days. I think that's really the key, learning how to enjoy running slowly. In fact, my legs are a bit sore right now and all I want to do is go for a run to shake them out. I've got some commitments to finish first but I'm excited to get out later today.

I agree that this discussion is interesting. We're all experiments of one so it's important we find what works for each of us.

 

[kps7795]

I've been running 5 days per week all year. That ramps up to 6 this week. I'm VERY good at easy running so my body is able to recover without multiple rest days. I think that's really the key, learning how to enjoy running slowly. In fact, my legs are a bit sore right now and all I want to do is go for a run to shake them out. I've got some commitments to finish first but I'm excited to get out later today.

I agree that this discussion is interesting. We're all experiments of one so it's important we find what works for each of us.

I think that you hit the nail on the head. You've been running five days per week for almost an entire year, so your body is prepped to handle the training load of running six days per week. This is proof that consistent easy running leads to being able to push yourself when the time is right.

 

[Desdemona924]

Thank you for ALL of this! Now that work is kicking back into gear with events and the training is ramping up at the same time, I'm having a hard time recovering and am flat out exhausted by things that weren't that tough for me just a few years ago. I'm certain it is all related to this. Going to get this book NOW!

I also follow Steph Gaudreau on Instagram, if you're on there. She has a podcast -Fuel Your Strength- and she is all about making sure you're eating right as well. She had Dr. Sima on the podcast and that's where I first heard about Next Level. And in the book, there was mention of another podcast that focuses on menopause in athletes. I don't have it in front of me, but I'll see if I can find it