Yeah, 10 miles during the week is going to be tough for me with my commute. I'm old and I need at least 6 hours of sleep. Maybe I could go back to the riverside park here and do a bunch of 3 mile laps after work. It is a one-time deal after all. So do you all think a straight Higdon plan would be good for the Dopey?
I know Shannon did Novice 1 for the "unofficial" Dopey this year and I think she said it prepped her pretty well. @
Ariel484. I just checked them out again and Novice 1 has a 10 mile during the week whereas Novice 2 only goes up to 8 during the week but includes race pace runs for those semi-long midweek runs. It definitely looks to be more miles weekly with step backs that aren't as conservative so you can keep your miles/week up more than the Galloway. I don't think I would ever do the Dopey but I would lean toward Higdon's plans.
Yep, that's what I used for Marathon Weekend 2013.
http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51137/Marathon-Novice-1-Training-Program
I did make a couple of changes:
1. I juggled the days around to fit my schedule better, so I think most weeks were Tuesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday. Some where Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday/Sunday.
2. I made sure to do a few - but not all - of the long/longish runs back-to-back (i.e. I made sure there was a weekend where I did the 9-miler one day and the 18-miler the next day).
3. From the beginning I planned to repeat weeks 14 and 15 so that I'd have two 20-milers on my schedule...so I made it a 20-week schedule instead of 18 weeks. Good thing I did this because while I was able to get the first 20-miler in fine, I bagged the second 20-miler at 16 miles because I was pretty much doing it in the middle of a blizzard and wanted to die. Poor planning for the weather on my part there, but I digress...
4. I did 2 days per week of strength training too, which he doesn't have in his plan, but I think it really helps.
I had talked to a few people that have done Goofy before (one is perfectly Goofy) and they recommended training for it just like I'd train for a marathon, except to throw in some back-to-back weekends. I had someone else (who I don't think has ever done Goofy) tell me I wasn't running enough to be ready for Goofy and that I'd be sorry. Beyond crazy foot cramping that started at about the halfway point of the marathon (which a few people have told me was probably due to low sodium levels/electrolytes) I felt pretty great the whole weekend.
I have heard that his Intermediate 2 plan is popular for Goofy too, but I don't realistically think I could fit this into my schedule:
http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51140/Marathon-Intermediate-2-Training-Program
The challenge of the weekend itself, I think, is making sure you hold back earlier in the weekend (both during the shorter races and in the parks) so that your legs are saved for the marathon. I made the mistake of walking around Epcot for too long the day before the half. DUMB!
But I feel like if you're trained for a marathon and you're smart about taking it easier in the shorter races and around the parks, and if you recover well from the shorter races, you'll probably make it out okay. That was my experience this year, at least. The toughest things for me were the early wake-up calls 3 days in a row and accepting that the weekend as a whole wasn't a "vacation" at all.
