Week 8 of Dopey Challenge Training
Monday, December 29, 2014 - Sunday, January 4, 2015
15 miles completed
202.65 miles completed in Dopey Challenge training so far
841.26 miles completed in 2014
131.1 completed in December 2014
Monday, December 29: 4-mile treadmill run
Last night I was thinking about how my 3 taper runs have gone so far...overall I would say they have been good, but not great. I was definitely expecting this decrease in mileage to feel awesome and easy, but mostly I’ve been feeling stiff and like my legs are heavy. So I did a little research and found that the heavy legs feeling is very common when tapering for a marathon, along with having phantom pains pop up (which I would also say is happening...I felt like I had a weird knot in my calf all last week, and just this morning it’s started to go away). I feel like I must have felt like this when I trained for marathon weekends 2012 and 2013, but I guess I just don’t remember since it’s been a few years. At any rate, I was VERY relieved to read that it’s normal not to feel great during taper (which I had been expecting mentally, but not physically)...and now I find myself getting super excited for race weekend!
Something helping that excitement...this YouTube video that my friend found on Facebook. It’s about 14 minutes long and goes through the marathon course. I believe it’s from 2013 (especially since it features the awful Mile 20 “Spectacular”)...no matter how closely I looked I did not see myself in the video. Sadness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB8aXaFeb28&app=desktop
Seriously obsessed with this video right now. I watched it twice yesterday and I’m sure I’ll watch it again more than once this week. It gives me goosebumps!
Anyway...got off on a tangent there. In my taper research I found that it’s recommended to stop cross training during this time...which means no more Core class for me until I return home from WDW. I’m more than okay with this. I really like Core class but I’m starting to get into that paranoid pre-race mindset where I’m hyper aware of any possible thing that could get me injured or sick. Core definitely falls in that first category. The article I’m referencing did say yoga was okay up until race week, so I’m signed up for 2 classes later this week. We’ll see if I actually go to them!
I have to shift my schedule around a bit this week, and since I axed Core this morning I decided to get my 4-mile treadmill run out of the way. The first 2 miles felt like my other taper runs have been feeling - I was stiff and sort of struggling. Finally, FINALLY, the last 2 miles actually felt good. Mentally I wasn’t super into it by then, but physically I definitely felt better. Now that the run has been over for a few hours I feel pretty good. I stuck to 3/1 intervals today with the run intervals at a 10:20/mile pace and the walk intervals at about an 18:00/mile pace. Total time for this run was 46:07, about an 11:31/mile pace.
What else, what else...oh! I started packing yesterday!
Not gonna lie, I started laying out my race outfits a week or two ago (or maybe before that…) - mostly so that I wouldn’t end up doing crazy last-minute laundry, but also because I’m JUST TOO EXCITED. My current plan is to take a smaller rolling suitcase as a carry-on along with my camera bag - in that suitcase I have packed my 5K and 10K outfits, and I’ll have my running shoes in there as well. My larger suitcase (which will be checked) will have my half and marathon outfits, along with all of my other crap, including throwaway clothes - how convenient! I’ll throw them away and have room for all that merch I want to buy!
I am a chronic over-packer so I’m hoping that I can fit everything in that I want to take with me. At least I won’t have to pack as many *normal* clothes, what with the 6 race shirts I’ll be getting at the expo...
Again, no pictures from this week, and I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel for my Disney pictures...so let’s look at some race bling! Because it is ALL about the bling, and Disney race bling is just so, so awesome. Here’s my 2011 Princess Half Marathon medal!
Tuesday, December 30: 3-mile treadmill run
Stick a fork in 2014 (running-wise), because it’s DONE!
Let me tell you, when my alarm went off this morning I was SO not into it. After snoozing 5 times (a habit I need to break) I finally dragged myself out of bed and to the gym. And I’m so glad I did, because this run was actually pretty good! I finally didn’t feel any of the stiffness I have been experiencing this past week. I do have a wee bit of soreness in the top of my left calf from time to time, so that’s something I’m going to watch closely, for sure.
For this run I stuck to 5.8 MPH (10:20/mile pace) for the running intervals and 3.3 MPH (18:00/mile or something) for my 1-minute walk intervals. I did two 5-minute running intervals, two 4:30 running intervals, and then two 4-minute running intervals. After a walk break I had to run for another minute or so to get to 3 miles. Total time for this run was 33:40, about 11:13/mile pace. Just two training runs left!!
That leaves me at 131.1 miles in December 2014, and 841ish miles for the year. I guess that’s not too bad for 3 weeks with zero running (1 week in Disney right at the beginning of the year, 1 week with bronchitis and an ear infection after the Royal Family 5K, and 1 week injured in the fall). Plus 2 more injury weeks followed by taking all of October to try to slowly building back up to where I was pre-injury.
Over the past few years I’ve had it in the back of my head that it would be cool to run 1,000 miles over the course of the year - a very common goal I’ve read about others achieving - but I never “officially” set that goal, and I’m really glad I didn’t this year. Just too many ups and downs for me, and I would have really hated to have finished 2014 feeling like I “failed” by not running 1,000 miles. Even though the injury I had in the fall really stands out to me, 2014 was really not a bad running year for me - I feel like I got my mojo back after being pretty burned out in 2013, I set PRs in 4 distances (5K, 5 miles, 10K and 10 miles) and I signed up for the Dopey Challenge. Not too shabby!
Goals for 2015? Not sure yet. One of my big goals for 2014 was to get my half marathon time under 2:10...if I couldn’t do that I would have been more than happy with breaking my half marathon PR of 2:13:32. But anyone who’s been reading this thread knows how that went. I definitely think I have sub-2:10 in me - I KNOW I am capable of breaking my now 2-year-old half marathon PR - but I’m a little nervous to try again after what happened this year, so for now, I’m trying to just focus on getting fast again. I feel like I made some speed gains this year before getting injured derailed me, so I’d like to get back to where I was before September of this year.
And of course I CANNOT forget the big goal - surviving Dopey (aka step 1 of going Coast to Coast in 2015)! Duh. Isn’t that what this thread is all about anyway?!
More race bling! This time from the 2012 WDW Marathon!
Wednesday, December 31: Rest Day
Hooray for sleeping in! And boy did I need it. I had a HORRIBLE night of sleep on Sunday night - no marathon nightmares since the first one last week, I just have trouble falling asleep on Sundays. Never fails. Monday night was better, just went to bed a little too late. It all caught up to me last night when, around 9:30, I suddenly felt like I’d been hit by a truck. I was afraid I was getting sick
but I think it was just lack of sleep catching up to me. I got a pretty solid almost 8 hours last night and I do feel better, but I’m going to try to be smarter about getting enough sleep over the next few days.
Because just around this time 1 week from now, I will be BOARDING A PLANE TO DISNEY. SQUUEEEEEEE!
The race bling series continues, this time with my medallion and medals from 2013’s WDW Marathon Weekend!
Thursday, January 1: 8-mile run
Weather: sunny, 28 degrees and windy
Happy 2015!!
Last long run of training is done! Just one run left!
The run itself felt REALLY good, for the most part - I stuck to 4:1 intervals and that worked well for me today. Other than a little knee tweaky-ness around the half way mark, I felt great - almost springy. Yeehaw!
The second half of this out-and-back felt decidedly less springy, I think because I was running with the 20MPH on my way out. Different story running back home!
I had a headache for the rest of the day due to the wind, I think, but overall I’m happy with how it went - 1:27:53 for the run, a 10:59/mile pace.
Race bling...my finisher medallion from the first time I ran/slogged my way through the
Castaway Cay 5K (September 2013).
Friday, January 2: Warm Yoga Flow
Crowded class today! Nothing earth shattering to say about it, but I’m glad I went and it felt good.
Packing update: I decided not to bring my DSLR on this trip and just rely on my phone for pictures. I brought my DSLR for Wine & Dine and only used it to take pictures of the room - the rest of the pictures from that weekend are from my phone or my point-and-shoot. I'm actually pretty relieved by this decision - my camera bag is pretty heavy and lugging that and my rolling suitcase through the airport was just NOT appealing!
Today’s race bling is a special double-shot! First, 2013’s Jingle Jungle 5K finisher medallion...
...followed by my finisher medal from the 2013 Wine & Dine Half Marathon!
Saturday, January 3: Rest Day
Busy day today - “Christmas” with the in-laws, so I made sure to shuffle my schedule so my day would be free!
2014 Cinderella Royal Family 5K Finisher medallion...love how they worked SpaceShip Earth into this medallion!
Sunday, January 4: Hot Yoga Flow
Two yoga classes in a week! Look at that!
I said above I didn’t have any hard running-related goals for 2015, beyond gaining back some of the speed I had earlier this year...but I would like to get to yoga more regularly and make that my main form of cross training. Specifically I’d like to try to consistently make it to 2 classes per week, and eventually get strong enough to make my way into power yoga classes. We’ll see!
And with that…
3 days until Disney (including today)
2 days of work left
1 short run
Almost time to gooooooo!
Closing out the race bling for this week...my most recent set. The 2014 Jingle Jungle 5K finisher medallion (complete with ears and a lovely concrete backdrop)...
...and the spinner from Splash & Dash 2014.
Continued in Next Post
Too true! 
Seriously, maybe I just have a weirdly gigantic head, but I head a headache for the rest of the day after wearing the ears for the Jingle Jungle 5K. Lesson learned there!
Also, I'm pretty sure that green tank would have shown the sweat like crazy and would have looked awful by the end of the race. And then I figured out that the RT shirts don't really breathe or wick moisture super well (man, I'm really going to be dying in my RT shirt during the half, aren't I?!
) AND they chafe my arms, so that sealed the deal. I really love RT shirts for everyday wear - for races, they aren't my favorite. As time went on, another contender emerged, and I actually ended up selling both the tank and the skirt I'd originally planned on wearing (the SweatyBand survived my running clothes purge and I still use it regularly - it's part of my 10K outfit)...so there's no turning back now! I present...my topless/classic Minnie-inspired outfit for the marathon! First, an absolutely perfect SweatyBand - the Lil Bow Peep (the one on the left): I thought about wearing a pair of ears (specifically the black, sequined ears with red bow or the black ears with the red and white polka-dotted bow sold in the parks), but after the headache I got from wearing ears for the Jingle Jungle 5K, there's just no way I can stand it for the marathon. Plus, the SweatyBand option is cheaper than buying a new pair of ears and I have gotten, and I will get a decent amount of use out of it. Going much simpler with the top - just a plain ol', tried and true black Nike dri-fit top. And finally...a SparkleSkirt, natch. The RedMiniTech! And I can't forget my pink Brooks Adrenalines. I guess if I was really dedicated I'd attached yellow felt on them or something to make them look like Minnie's shoes. Meh...I'm too lazy for that. So this is the outfit that dethroned the Dopey-inspired outfit I had all ready to go at the beginning of this year. I just love Minnie (obviously since she's my avatar!) - wearing this outfit for the 10K seems too obvious, and it seems somewhat appropriate to represent Mickey's true love during the Mickey-themed marathon.
The big problem with this outfit? Wearing a black top out in the Florida sun. I may be cursing myself for this one in a few weeks. But at least I'll look cute doing it!
But I know you will do awesomely!! Good luck! 
