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Walt Disney World Marathon Dopey Challenge 2015 Week 3 Training: Adding Races to your Training Plan

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398888-R1-004-0A_002Okay so I missed posting last week but I did my training and I am really enjoying the plan!  I know this will be a solid plan moving forward.  Week 1 and 2 provided some great training and the weather was pretty cooperative.  I even got to run in a 15k with my good friend and fellow Dopey trainee, Michelle.  While this was a little more than double than the mileage I was supposed to do on Saturday it was a run I had already signed up for and was glad Michelle joined me.

Which brings me to topic for today, how to handle the long runs in your training plan.  The first time I ran Disney, I did a lot of long runs solo and waking up early.  I even stashed food in my mail box for my long multiple loop runs.  While it was effective in getting the miles on legs it does get a little boring.  One thing I have learned to do over the years is try to find races that will support the mileage I need for my training.  While this does have an extra cost, having a supported run has several added benefits to help offset the cost:

  • Running with others --- 20 miles by your self is not as much fun as running with other people.  Misery does love company. 
  • Support --- Having not only great volunteers to cheer you on but the added benefit of food and water stops.  Additionally having medical there just in case will put your mind at ease. 
  • Financial Accountability --- you are more likely to get out bed if you spent money on a race, especially if the weather is not cooperating.
  • Peer Accountability --- you are more likely to get out of bed if your friends are running, especially if you talked them into the race
  • Bling ---  training runs with medals what more do I need to say!

When you are setting up your training plan you can find races in several places.  I have used 2 main places over the years:

  • https://www.halfmarathons.net/   This is a great site that will allow you to search across the world for half and longer runs, a great place to start especially when you have your training calendar in front of you.  This is how I have found races I knew nothing about.  This year even found out about a 20 mile run, on the exact day I have to do 20 miles…that is awesomesauce!
  • Running Stores
  • Most running stores will have race calendars and race flyers so when you stop in for you new pair of shoes take a look around
  • Social runs  A new thing I am seeing a lot of running stores do is have weekly social runs, that not only allows you to have a good training run, but to chat with other runners about the races they are running. 

If none of those work for you, please contact me and I will help you find some races that fit into your plan.

Here is my schedule for this week: