Walt Disney World Marathon Video Recap

Finally, a video recap of my experience with the Walt Disney World Marathon is up and ready to go! I had SO much fun reliving this race while creating this video and it brought back so many memories, especially riding Everest mid-race. I mean seriously, where else can you do that during a marathon?!

For a full recap of our WDW Marathon Weekend experience, check out these links below:

• Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Expo & Vlog
• Walt Disney World 5K & Vlog
• Walt Disney World 10K & Vlog
• Kids Races (100 m Dash) & Vlog
• Walt Disney World Half Marathon & Vlog
• Walt Disney World Full Marathon & Vlog

Anyway, check out all the fun we had in the video below! Bonus, it's not nearly as long as I thought it would be! :)

Thanks for following along in my Dopey Challenge journey! I've enjoyed sharing every step of the way with you guys!

Also, stay tuned to my YouTube channel for more from our Marathon Weekend vacay! Have a magical day! :)

5 Marathon Training Truths (I Forgot About)...

So, most of you know it's been 4 years since I trained for and completed a full marathon. I've run 5 full marathons so far, so I felt like I kinda knew what I was doing when going into this training cycle (although I'm not going to lie - I definitely felt rusty)! Well, as I was out for my long run this past Saturday, I realized that there were SEVERAL things I somehow forgot about while training for a full.

#1 The amount of GU/Chomps I go through in a training cycle

I mean, really...who thinks about these things? I hardly use these guys while half marathon training but during my long runs lately, I've been eating them up! Guess I should have bought them in bulk over the summer as I've already made two trips to Academy this fall! 


#2 How much a long run truly is a mental game

On Saturday, I realized how true this statement really is. It's crazy how we train our minds as runners to distract ourselves from whatever mileage we are running at the time. I realized at one point on Saturday that I had completely distracted myself from what I was doing! It reminded me of a quote I'd read recently that said something along the lines of how a long run doesn't really start until the runner forgets they are running! All. Mental.

#3 Sore. Muscles.

This one explains itself - along with aching joints, etc. My foam roller and heating pad have become my BFF's here lately!


#4 Confidence Boost

When training for a full marathon, a few longer runs are a necessity and boy are they a confidence boost! I feel like once you pass that half marathon threshold (13+ miles) in training, everything starts to click into place and come together. It sure gives a boost of confidence on race day, too!

#5 Satisfaction knowing I just ran a REALLY long way

Ya know, there's just something about that feeling once a really long training run is over - your muscles ache, you have to limp a little to walk, and those endorphins are off the hook! Yes, I just ran 20 miles because I wanted to and yes, I might be a little bit crazy...but who cares! I feel amazing!


What are some things you learned while training for a race you'll never forget?

Dopey Challenge Training Week 13

Currently Training For:

• Dopey Challenge 2018 - Walt Disney World
• Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon 2018 - New Orleans, LA

Saturday - 10 mile run
Sunday - Rest Day
Monday - 3 miles
Tuesday - 4 miles
Wednesday - Rest Day
Thursday - Squats/Lunges/PT with Cross Training
Friday - 4 miles

This week has been another interesting one over here.

As you may know, Saturday's run was unplanned but went well minus the IT Band issue with both knees. Both knees were still bothering me the next day which really alarmed me as I don't want to walk down that road again. So, I decided keep my main focus on icing and foam rolling this week.

I also decided to take it easy with Monday and Tuesday's mileage. There are no pictures from either day, but I completed the mileage with my friend Melissa and her husband and we had a blast!

Thursday's run was nixed because Brayden ran fever all day and after I returned home from work, all I wanted to do was lay on the couch with him.

He also discovered a new "toy"...the button on the digital thermometer! This kid LOVES buttons and toys that make noise/light up!

After I put him down for the evening, I completed a Tone It Up arms/abs workout as well as my usual squats/lunges routine.

My parents also brought take out over for dinner on Thursday night and I thought the fortune was kind of unique!
 

Another yummy find from the week was this taco salad from a local Mexican restaurant. It was too much for me to eat in one sitting, so I saved the rest for lunch the following day!

The remainder of the week was spent trying to figure out when to reschedule our cruise and what excursions to take! No matter what happens, I know we will have an amazing time!

This week was kind of boring but given the fact that I technically wasn't even supposed to be here, I guess it went ok! I'm debating on what mileage to run for the weekend. If my IT Bands hold up, I might even try a back to back!

I hope you have an awesome weekend! Any fun plans?

Fitness Friday - Dopey Challenge Training Week 2

Happy Friday once again! Almost two full weeks of Dopey Training have passed and it's hard to believe that in just six short months, I'll be running the most magical 26.2 miles on the planet! If you're training for Dopey, Goofy, the Disney Marathon, or any Half/Full Marathon for that matter, I hope your training is going well so far!

Currently Training For:

• Dopey Challenge 2018 - Walt Disney World
• Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon 2018 - New Orleans, LA

Sunday - 5 mile run
Monday - 3 mile run/walk with a friend
Tuesday - 3 mile walk with friends
Wednesday - Rest Day
Thursday - Cross Training with the Tone It Up Girls
Friday - Squats/Lunges/PT routine

As I mentioned on Monday, this weekend was an eventful one that consisted of a long run on a Sunday (which I NEVER do)!

Despite continued rain throughout the week (almost every day), I feel as if training went well and I was able to slip in a few miles between rain showers.

On Monday, I honestly wasn't feeling it. I needed to run but it was raining and I had Brayden with me (otherwise, I would have just gone for it). After waiting a while for the rain to clear up, I texted a friend to ask if she wanted to join us. She said yes and off we went!

In total, we completed three miles (it was sort of a run/walk for me as I ran about half a mile before she joined us).

After the rain stopped, a beautiful sunset came into view! Love it!

Brayden and I also sported purple and gold that evening for LSU Tigers Baseball. They were playing in the finals of the College World Series and although they didn't win, I'm happy for Florida as they've never won a College World Championship! I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to say that out loud, but that's how I feel anyway! :)

On Tuesday afternoon, my friend Melissa asked if we wanted to go for a walk all together. Of course we said yes and we had a great time!

Having company along sure does make the miles fly by!

On Wednesday, I sent this picture to Jason via text with a bunch of sad crying emoji's. If you've read my blog long enough, you know my obsession with McAlisters and their tea. Well, our local McAlisters shut down last year around this time which means that Free Tea Day and I had to break up. Jason knew my sadness and had a surprise up his sleeve!

As I arrived home on Thursday from work, he told me to be fully dressed and ready to go in 30 minutes but wouldn't tell me where we were going.

Imagine my surprise as we kept going and going and going....until we reached McAlisters! (It's seriously like a 45 min-1 hour drive from our house!) Y'all. It was so worth every minute!!

This is the face of a girl who's been away from her favorite sweet tea for far too long.

I ordered all of my favorites - the patriot, broccoli cheddar soup, and sweet tea! Yes sir!

My husband...gotta love him!!

After returning home, we put Brayden to sleep then I completed a cross training workout from the Tone It Up girls. Today, I plan to do my PT routine followed by a long run on Saturday. After Saturday's run, week 2 of Dopey Training (for me) will officially be in the books!

I hope you've had a great week and have a great weekend!!

Marathon Training Truths

It's been several years since I last ran a marathon. In that time frame, I feel as if I've forgotten so much about the training cycle - long runs, fueling, aches and pains, etc. Now that I have waded into the shallow end of the pool so to speak with Dopey Training, there's a few things I realized about training for a marathon that I'd forgotten from prior training seasons...so ready or not, here they are!

 

• It's called a training "season" for a REASON. You can't build up your mileage overnight and it takes weeks and months to "get there". I've always trained myself to be 10K or Half ready at any point but I definitely don't run anything over 10 miles on a regular Saturday morning long run (and lately it's been 5 or 6 miles). Knowing where I'm at and how far I have to go kind of makes me a little nervous but I know it'll be ok because I have the luxury of time until January of 2018. I love how Jeff Galloway's training plan allows plenty of weeks for marathon and Dopey training, that way runners are ready and prepared come race day!

• Weight loss isn't always possible during marathon training and that's OK! It's so important to properly fuel your body with the intake it needs to get you through those long runs. The focus during this time frame should be on nutrition and proper intake, not cutting carbs or calories.  

• Mantras and songs can be a runner's best friend. In the past, I've always had a "song" that made me look forward to a race experience or race weekend. Any former Jonas Brother's fans out there? Rolling your eyes yet? Yep, me too. Well, during the time of my obsession, my "song" for the Inaugural Wine & Dine Half (which was at night) was "Feelin' Alive" by the Jonas Brothers. "This is the night...for feeling alive..." I have to admit, that just made me smile a little bit! :)

• Visualization helps SO much with training. There are times during long runs where I don't think I can keep going, so it's fun to check my mileage and try to visualize where I would be on the marathon course at that point in time...like running through the castle, Animal Kingdom, or Wide World of Sports to name a few!

• Last but certainly not least - it's not easy but it's definitely doable! I'm a firm believer that you can do ANYTHING you put your mind to. Twenty six point two may seem like a daunting task (or forty eight point six in this case), but if you take it one step and one mile at a time, you can do it! The human body is such an amazing thing - it can do way more than we give it credit for. Put away those negative thoughts and do the things you think you can't do!

What's your best Marathon training truth or tip?

Join Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness every Friday for the Friday Five 2.0 linkup!

Dopey Challenge Game Plan

After much debated thought and research, I've made a somewhat concrete training plan for the 2018 Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World. If you aren't familiar with Dopey's Challenge, it's a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, and Full Marathon all on consecutive days. I'm still a bit in shock that I actually signed up for this race....

As a veteran marathoner (although I sorta feel like a newbie since it's been SO long since my last full marathon), I kind of have an idea of what has and hasn't worked for a training plan and my cranky knees.

This is the first year since I began running that I don't have a running coach lining out a training plan for me and telling me what to do. To be honest, that kind of scares me. Dopey's Challenge - it's 48.6 miles in 4 days. Y'all. Seriously, what was I thinking??

Thankfully, the folks over at runDisney have utilized an amazing individual who has a wealth of knowledge on all things running, and he created a Dopey Training Plan! Yes I'm talking about Jeff Galloway and yes...I love you runDisney!

Jeff's training plan for the 2018 Dopey Challenge officially begins next Tuesday and I am SO excited. After Princess, I took a little break from a rigid training plan because my brain and body needed a break. Now, I feel refreshed and ready to go once again!

One thing I love about Jeff's training plans is the functionality of them! His Dopey plan has runners training three times per week at the majority with a few four day weeks in there as well.Three days per week? I can handle that!

I've used the concept behind Jeff's training plans where he has runners run a training run or two at a distance longer than their upcoming race. This worked incredibly well for me as I was able to obtain a sub 2 half marathon using this training mentality.

For 48.6 miles however, my main goal is to finish the full marathon upright and not break any crazy PR's, so that's where a few of my tweaks to this training plan come into play.

• On three occasions, this training plan has runners tackling distances over the 20 mile mark. Sadly, I'm pretty sure my knee would not agree with that idea, so I'm cutting these three down to one 20 mile run that I'll tackle some time in December.
• In total, I'll have several 13-18 mile training runs as well, scattered throughout the 29 week training period. 
• This plan also includes about four "mock Dopey" weekends with training runs/walks back to back. I think I'm going to cut these down to two total.
• For the three day a week training weeks, I'm going to add one day of cross training as well as my PT/squats/lunges routine throughout.

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a running coach nor am I an expert at this. However, this will be my 6th full marathon and I sort-of have an idea of what has and hasn't worked for my IT Band issues in the past. Hopefully, all goes well and come January, I'll have a shiny new medal (or six) to show for it and I'll remain injury free! :)

Dopey, here I come!!

Today I'm linking up with these lovely ladies (Erika, Marcia and Patty) for Tuesdays on the Run!

Adventure (of the runDisney Kind)!

When I first heard about today’s Wordless Wednesday theme, my mind raced with all of the adventures runDisney has taken me on! From Florida to the California coast to the Bahamas, each and every race has held a special meaning and the adventures I’ve taken along the way have been countless!  I mean, where else could I run with Goofy, visit tropical islands, meet Joey Fatone, fly through castles, and have a blast with my friends?

What’s next? Paris, I hope (not sure if it will work for 2016, but it’s definitely on my “list”)!

Today’s Wordless Wednesday theme is:
Adventure
Host: Deb at Focused on the Magic

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What’s been your favorite runDisney adventure?