Dopey Challenge Training Update: Week 25

I can't believe we have just finished week 25 of Dopey Challenge training. It feels like only yesterday Matthew and I were talking about signing up for this crazy endurance challenge. But here we are, only 15 days from the start, feeling as ready as we'll ever be. This was the last week of long training runs and was the closest mileage to the actual challenge: 2.5 on Wednesday, 5 on Thursday, 12 on Friday, 24 on Saturday.

What went well:

• We actually stuck to the training plan. We walked the 5 and 12 miler, as hard as it was to just walk.
• We changed up the scenery for the long run and ran throughout the city of Hazleton, PA. While hilly, it was great to have something different to look at for hours and hours.
• I think we've nailed down the fueling for the marathon. We used clif bars, walnuts, and Weight Watcher's bars and we felt pretty good throughout.
• I only used the bathroom three times during the 24 miler. :-)

What could have been better:

• We did the 12 miler from 7-10pm on Friday night. We were out on the road for the 24 miler by 9am on Saturday. We had only 11 hours to recover and I think our bodies were still in shock when we started our run on Saturday.
• The weather, while warm on Saturday, was rainy. And as the snow was melting, there was a lot of slush and ice on the roads/sidewalks, making us more cautious as to where we placed our feet. I think this slowed us down some.
• We could have planned our routes a little better. While it was nice to be running in a different area, there were times where we had to make several loops of a neighborhood to get all our miles in.

I loved Jeff Galloway's training plan for this challenge because it was always manageable. Every three weeks, we would run for 4 days in a row to simulate the Dopey Challenge. And each time, that mileage would increase slightly. On the other weeks, we would run only 3 times per week and our "long" run was between 6-7 miles. Now that we've finished the last week of long training runs, we have only a few short runs between us and our next run Disney adventure.

Matthew and I both are very fortunate to have supportive families who understand why we may need to run while we are home for the holidays- our last Dopey simulation was over Thanksgiving weekend. Now that our longest runs are behind us, we can relax with our families and enjoy the holidays.

Happy holidays and happy running!