Monday, July 29, 2013

Dopey Challenge Training Update

Today starts the fifth week of my marathon/Dopey Challenge training. For those of you who don't know what this INSANE challenge consists of, here's the gist: 5k + 10k + half marathon + full marathon = 48.6 miles in 4 days (and SIX glorious medals!). Yes, I know, it's completely ridiculous. But in the best possible way :-)



To train for this, I've been using Jeff Galloway's official Dopey Challenge Training Program. I have used his training plans for each of my distance runs and they have worked beautifully. If you are looking for a solid program that won't consume your entire life, check out his training programs. I love that I was able to download the training runs into my google calendar so I always know what's coming up each weekend.

For the past four weeks, the mileage has been pretty low (10-15 miles/week). The training consists of 3-4 runs each week: two conditioning runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays (30-45 minutes), and one or two longer runs on the weekend. So far, so good. My pace has been as low as 10:28 and as high as 13:58. For all Disney races, I try to train for a 12- 13 minute pace. This allows me extra minutes each mile for pictures, bathroom breaks, etc. In addition to the running training, I've been working on the costumes for the Dumbo Double Dare. Look for a post later this week with updates :-)

This weekend, the mileage for the long run increases to 7 miles. I'm nervous and excited for this run as this will be the first time since the Frederick Half in May that I've run longer than 6 miles. I've been battling plantar fasciitis for about 2 1/2 months. If you've ever had it, then you know how incredibly painful it can be. Needless to say, this has caused a lot of stress and anxiety with regard to training- Can I run at all? Can I get all the long runs in? What if the pain is too much?  I actually did not run for almost 30 days in an attempt to rest my feet. But I've been working with a sports medicine doctor and we've been employing several methods to reduce inflammation and pain: custom orthotics (no more sandals for me- so sad), at-home physical therapy, night splints, icing after all runs, etc. The doctor has approved my training plan and is confident that we can get this under control by the time I run Dopey.

I'm looking forward to week five of training and the Charles Street 12 next weekend! What are YOU training for?

2 comments:

  1. Woww so cool. Liked going through all your experiences and all the hard work you put in. Its great, keep running and sparkling & sharing :)

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