Dopey training question....

[Hockeychic]

Help please.

Tweeking my plan and I am trying to combine a few things I like about Galloway and Higdon but my question is for my goofy and Dopey friends.....

How many back to backs are you doing and how often?

How many dopey simulations and how often?

Thank you

Kim

 

[camaker]

My answer to both questions is none. I've found that a good basic marathon training plan is perfectly adequate to complete Dopey. I generally run Tues/Wed/Thur/Sat on my base plan and the three mid-week days do a fine job of getting my legs used to running multiple days in a row.

From my perspective and experience "Dopey simulations" may provide mental reassurance prior to race weekend, but the trade off in increased injury risk from their additional miles isn't worth it.

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

My answer to both questions is none. I've found that a good basic marathon training plan is perfectly adequate to complete Dopey.

I agree 100%. The back to back runs seem more mental than anything. Plus, I use the Hanson plan, 6 days a week, so they're ALL back to back runs!

I did find some value in back to back 5K races (if your area offers Sunday races). To me the value was preparing my race gear, getting mentally ready, and having to 'go' 2 days in a row. It would have been perfect if I'd been able to take a bus...

 

[ZellyB]

I follow a Galloway plan basically. I try to do a couple of back to backs for Goofy and plan one 4 day run for Dopey but won't do full mileage.

 

[jlovesee]

I agree with everyone else unless you are planning on trying to PR on all the Dopey races no reason to do Dopey simulations. I Know many do, but I have done 3.8 Dopeys (the 0.8 is for this year, because of the cancelled half), and have simply trained for a marathon, and just ran/walked the Dopey each year. Except for this year I have ran a marathon in the fall prior to Dopey, the only reason I didn't this year was because I was recovering from a stress fracture.

Jennifer

 

[Z-Knight]

I have done 3.8 Dopeys (the 0.8 is for this year, because of the cancelled half),

Jennifer

Technically you've only done 3.73 Dopeys.

 

[Hockeychic]

Awesome. Thank you all for the input. No PR just looking to finish upright.

Need to get my plan figured out before I know it marathon weekend will be here...lol

 

[Ariel484]

I did 1 Dopey simulation and maybe 2-3 out & backs.

It's different for everyone...I don't think I NEEDED to do that but it was helpful to see how my body reacted and to keep that in mind during race weekend.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I agree with others. A good marathon training plan will successfully enable you to complete Dopey. I think the key to the training overall is realizing that Dopey (and the marathon) is a 99% aerobic event which means a ton of your overall training should be done way slower than your goal paces for any of the races. I personally follow and advise people to do about 80% of their training at 40-60 seconds slower than goal marathon pace and much much slower than that (as slow as 90-120 seconds than goal marathon pace). This will help build the endurance desired to complete Dopey. I help build custom training plans for many DIS members so I'd be more than willing to help you through the process of creating a custom training plan tailored to your needs as well. Just send me a PM if interested.

 

[FFigawi]

The only real Dopey simulation you need is getting up at dark o' clock four days in a row

 

[Z-Knight]

The only real Dopey simulation you need is getting up at dark o' clock four days in a row

why is that always so hard for people? is it because you have lives and so this is a disruption? i have no life but i'm also a night person yet I have no trouble doing these early wakeups...I just go to sleep early the night before.

 

[FFigawi]

why is that always so hard for people? is it because you have lives and so this is a disruption? i have no life but i'm also a night person yet I have no trouble doing these early wakeups...I just go to sleep early the night before.

I'd say people find the early mornings troublesome because a) they tend not to have their alarms beginning with a 2 or 3 on a regular basis, and b) don't want to eat dinner and go to bed at early o' clock in the evening.

 

[jlovesee]

Technically you've only done 3.73 Dopeys.

Details....

 

[rteetz]

why is that always so hard for people? is it because you have lives and so this is a disruption? i have no life but i'm also a night person yet I have no trouble doing these early wakeups...I just go to sleep early the night before.

It wasn't as bad as I thought however I didn't have to wake up at 3AM all four days this time only 3. For me it is hard being at Disney and wanting to be out at night knowing I need to go back and go to bed for races the next morning.

 

[Nole95]

I use a modified Hanson plan where I am running 5 days a week instead of 6. Started with Hanson last year and took 13 minutes off my previous marathon PR the first time out, and I could have done much better if not for a hernia acting up. I fully plan on using it again for Dopey.

The final week of that plan actually has a 6 miler on Thursday, a 5 miler on Friday, and a 3 miler on Saturday right before a marathon. For Dopey, that pretty much fits perfectly. There are also back to backs in the plan that have you doing 8/16 as well as speed and tempo runs during the week. It's an intense plan, but it got results for me.

 

[bumbershoot]

(from the perspective of someone who has done 10K and Half challenges, and Princess+5K...haven't done Dopey and won't, because I don't want to do a marathon LOL)

The back to back runs seem more mental than anything.

As someone who has been overinjured and therefore not as trained as I should be the last year or so, running back to back is far more than mental.

For me, working out what shoes work for what runs (turned out I simply ran in my almost brand new Altras for all of Princess) is big, and also how to treat my body in between. And what to eat (though my stomach has gotten LESS sensitive as the years of doing this have gone on).

Plus, I use the Hanson plan, 6 days a week, so they're ALL back to back runs!

Well, see now, you're getting the back to back training anyway. So of course you don't need extra back to back training LOL.

why is that always so hard for people? is it because you have lives and so this is a disruption? i have no life but i'm also a night person yet I have no trouble doing these early wakeups...I just go to sleep early the night before.

Try coming from the pacific coast for an east coast run. You're basically going to bed at 5 in the afternoon your body's time (I take a spectacularly LONG time to adjust to new timezones no matter what I do) and getting up at midnight to go run at 3am. This is not a fun thing to do.

Oh how I miss TOT and nighttime W&D...those were as close to being on my normal run schedule as I could have gotten (I tend to train between 5 and 7pm pacific time).

 

[PrincessV]

I had the W&D 5K + Challenge leading up to Dopey, and my body responds really well to back to back to backs, so I was already doing them every other week by early Nov. - I just kept adding distance to them after W&D and added the 4th day into the mix. I topped out at 3/6/12/22* for my final training weekend, 3 weeks out from Dopey.

(I'd have been fine at 20 miles for my longest run, but it was a beautiful day and I felt good, so I did the 22. I honestly don't think the extra 2 made a difference one way or another, so I stand by my usual claim that topping out at 20 is sufficient.)

~~~

About the 4 early mornings... they never bother me! I mean, I don't love getting up that early, but I just adjust my entire schedule around it: I shift all meals to earlier times and go to bed at 6pm. I'm normally up at 5am, in bed by 9pm, in the first place, so it's not a huge change.

 

[onetoescape]

I did the sort of dopey this year and the thing with it I just trained like I did for a marathon however I took each race a lot slower than I would've run them individually and ran them as an experience and stopped of to get photos etc. It also depends how your body reacts and what is your base is and if you are "racing". How do you train? Im normally doing at least 3 days in a row anyway and the shortest would be a 5k even when doing a hill session and before my long run I would do a parkrun on the saturday. Disney runs for me aren't races they are experiences and if you bomb round them you will miss out on so much. They are perfect for PBs but I wouldnt want to set one there!