Goofy Challenge Training Plan

I start training for the 2013 Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge on Monday.  My training plan is below.  I've modified one of Hal Higdon's training plans to include Saturday runs that are at least half the distance of Sunday runs.  I also had to modify to accomodate a bunch of races that I'm planning to run between now and January.

This will be my third marathon.  As crazy as it seems, I'm hoping to beat my best marathon time (4:36) at this one!

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 1	30-60 cross	3 miles	5 miles	3 miles	rest	4 mile race	8 miles
Week 2	30-60 cross	3 miles	5 miles	3 miles	rest	6 miles	9 miles
Week 3	30-60 cross	3 miles	5 miles	3 miles	rest	5 miles	6 miles
Week 4	30-60 cross	3 miles	6 miles	3 miles	rest	6.5 miles	Half Marathon
Week 5	30-60 cross	3 miles	6 miles	3 miles	rest	10K	Half Marathon
Week 6	30-60 cross	3 miles	5 miles	3 miles	rest	5k and 10k (9.3 total)	Half Marathon
Week 7	30-60 cross	4 miles	7 miles	4 miles	rest	7 miles	14 miles
Week 8	30-60 cross	4 miles	7 miles	4 miles	rest	7.5 miles	15 miles
Week 9	30-60 cross	4 miles	5 miles	4 miles	rest	5k, Half Marathon	rest
Week 10	30-60 cross	4 miles	7 miles	rest	8.5 miles	17 miles	4 mile race
Week 11	30-60 cross	5 miles	8 miles	5 miles	rest	9 miles	18 miles
Week 12	30-60 cross	5 miles	5 miles	5 miles	rest	8 miles	Half Marathon
Week 13	30-60 cross	5 miles	8 miles	5 miles	rest	10 miles	20 miles
Week 14	30-60 cross	5 miles	5 miles	5 miles	rest	8 miles	12 miles
Week 15	30-60 cross	5 miles	8 miles	5 miles	rest	10 miles	20 miles
Week 16	30-60 cross	5 miles	6 miles	5 miles	rest	6 miles	12 miles
Week 17	30-60 cross	4 miles	5 miles	4 miles	rest	4 miles	8 miles
Week 18	30-60 cross	3 miles	4 miles	rest	rest	Disney World Half Marathon	Disney World Marathon

2012 Disney World Half Marathon (The Donald)

My first of 12 half marathons (or greater) in 2012 was the Walt Disney World Half Marathon.  The instructions said that I needed to be on a race bus by 4:00 AM or I would risk missing the start.  It claimed that there was a minimum 20 minute walk from the drop off area to the last starting corrals.  It also said that runners not in their corral by 5:00 AM would not be able to run the race.  I assumed these were fear mongering tactics to get people there early.  Regardless, I left the hotel at 3:30 AM with Alek and my parents (my chEar squad).  

There was a very long line for the buses at the hotel.  It moved quickly though.  Once on the bus, we hit a traffic jam caused by all the runners trying to arrive at the same time.  I used the trip to nap so I wouldn't stress about making it to my corral on time.  We got off the bus around 4:50 AM and I said goodbye to my chEar squad and headed to the start.  I entered the runners area around 5:00 AM.  I thought I'd just completed the 20 minute walk they mentioned.  I thought wrong.  I got to my corral at 5:20.  As I made my way there I regretted starting in the second corral and having to walk further.  I barely made it in time and saw many runners miss their corral start (they started with later corrals instead).  It turned out that the only bit of fear mongering that Disney used was stating that runners wouldn't be able to start unless they were in their corrals by 5:00 AM.

The first wave went at 5:30.  My wave started about 5 minutes later with Donald Duck giving the "ready, set, GO!" and fireworks as the starting gun.  The course had cheerleaders, bands, and Disney characters along the way.  It was mostly flat with a few highway ramps at the beginning and the end.  I started too quickly but by mile 2.5 I was able to slow down.  My goal was to run the second half of the race faster than the first half, a tactic known as negative splits.  The race entered the Magic Kingdom around mile 4 and exited around mile 6.  While I ran my way through the Magic Kingdom, I found myself racing the 2:15 pacer.  I wanted very badly to finish with or ahead of him to beat my half marathon personal record of 2:17.  He stopped at the bathroom between the 6th and 7th miles.  I never saw him again.  

Halfway through I knew I could pick up my speed since I still had energy.  By the 9th mile the sun was coming up, the sky was beautiful, and I was feeling great!  At the 11th mile I knew that even if I ran with a 12 minute pace I would come in at 2:14.  I worked hard for the last 2 miles and felt great coming in at 2:10:46.  My average pace was less than 10 minutes.  One year ago I couldn't even maintain a 12 minute mile for greater than one mile on a treadmill.  I felt awesome!

Next year, I think I'll try the Goofy Race and A Half Challenge.  This requires running the half on Saturday followed by the full on Sunday.  I'll avoid setting any new personal records then but it'll be an awesome achievement.

With medal at the race finish. Epcot globe [left] and finish line[right] in the background