Walt Disney World® Marathon Weekend

@eeyorepoohfan Thanks! I passed that along to my wife (who I encouraged to join the site). It’s her first Dopey as well. She’s run the 10k and the Half, but this will be her first marathon. She’s a little frustrated at the moment because she’s about a month behind on training because of some allergy-related illness and various other unforeseen circumstances, not to mention the heat… but I keep telling her that she’ll be ok. I hope training for you all is going well also, and maybe we’ll run into each other down there.

@eeyorepoohfan Thanks. I passed along the advice. She just joined. You can find her @chill7984

I was planning on going to the parks after each race but I didn’t really make major plans until after the marathon weekend is over. I really need my sleep so it will likely be really early nights too. I think I’m going to plan early afternoon fastpasses if I do any at all. Sometimes we just enjoy walking around and seeing the shows or easy entry attractions. We’re fortunate to be staying a full week and we have our dining reservations planned for Monday and Tuesday. (Character dining with all my bling since I decided to be Dopey ) I was supposed to do the Marathon last year but unfortunately was plagued with injury too close to make the attempt. We went anyway because duh, it’s Disney, and we really enjoyed the weekdays after the marathon because the crowds thinned substantially. Best of luck to everyone else participating. I’ve done my first 10K, half, and hopefully soon to be full all at Disney World.

I have a question. @eeyorepoohfan and @RIDisneyPinGuy may be able to help direct me. I was going over my training plan figuring out my comeback when I realized that I will be in Disney for my 26 mile run/walk. I will be at Old Key West and I know a few running routes but I don’t really want to do a 4 mile “loop” (more of an out and back between Old Key through Saratoga) 7 times if possible. Anyone have a good route suggestion? I’ve done the boardwalk/Hollywood studios area loops too but I think that would also be a lot of laps. I probably would even be able to get to another resort to make it work. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

@RIDisneyPinGuy yes I have a family trip scheduled on the last weekend before I taper. I have been trying Galloways plan with my long runs being run/walks to try to prevent injury and get used to walking some in case I want to stop for a photo or two. I’m quite behind though with injury issues, illness, and brutal heat. I did 6 miles yesterday for my long run and will be trying to safely catch up. I’ll try to look at mapmyrun and other sites for potential routes. I just want to make sure I am not getting myself into a not so safe area in the process! Thanks!

@chill7984 That’s a tough one. Is there any way you can shift your long run to either before your trip or after? We follow the Jeff Galloway plan but do have a few instances in which we have to shift our long run by a week due to travels. That 4 mile loop is probably the longest option I can think of on property. The loop from Hollywood Studios and the International Gateway at EPCOT is about one mile one way. So a loop would be approximately 2 miles I believe. I believe there is a path from the Grand Floridian to the Poly and the TTC area, but I have no clue the distance of that. It seems like it would be a good distance though. If you shift your long run to off of your vacation time, you can still do a good 6 or 8 miler or so at the resort! I don’t know what pace your run, but I know that for me my 1/2 marathon pace takes me anywhere between 2:36-3 hours to finish. So my full marathon pace will be around 6 hours. I couldn’t imagine running for that long during my family vacation time for a training run. Like @RIDisneyPinGuy said consistency is more important than anything! I honestly feel like if you have a good solid base of running miles in, then you will be strong for the distances! I’ve had to shift several of my training plans for my half marathons over the years. But I’ve always been able to finish each and every race and well within the Disney pacing requirements.

Thanks @RIDisneyPinGuy , @eeyorepoohfan , and @10dedfish for your searching and advice! I have been incorporating strength training and stretching. I guess I am just nervous about the really long runs coming up. I was training for a full when I got injured before so the most miles I’ve ever logged has been 15. Another question has popped up. (Sorry new to marathon training) Does anyone have an opinion on tapering?

Unfortunately with my work schedule weekends are really the only time available for the really long runs so rearranging the schedule to keep the weeks the same is out. I’m going over my training schedule again and think I can get to the 26 miles probably a week or two earlier, but that would probably give me at least an extra week taper. I was thinking maybe a more gradual taper than what the plan has would probably work?

Ultimately I just want to finish this so I am more worried about safety than speed at this point. My pace has been around 10:30-11/mile so I am thankfully within guidelines. Being my first marathon and first Dopey, I am up for the challenge but want to also be smart about it. And of course I want to have some Disney fun!!