Time To Buckle Down

There has been some controversy this week when runDisney delayed the registration for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon by 2 weeks.  The talk online was that something was changing because of the lack of announcement and there were rumors going crazy about what those changes could be.  Well today we finally got some answers...

Two of the ideas that were swirling around online have ended up coming true.  runDisney has added a 10k race, and thus added a 2 race challenge, and then it has gone from a night race to a morning race.

A lot of people seem to be madder at the fact that the race was switched to the morning, but I'm happy about it.  The weather in Florida in the fall is so crazy and the last two years worth of Wine and Dine races has had issues with the weather so the change to the morning should ensure a full race and hopefully a nicer race.  Plus, I love running in the morning a lot more in the evening.  The late night is what actually made me the most nervous about this race.

I will be running Lumiere's Two Race Challenge with the 10k and Half Marathon.  So I guess it's time to really get down to business and get ready for the challenges to start...

4 Days 4 Runs

The three biggest challenges of running the Dopey Challenge are:

1. Mileage
2. 4 Consecutive Running Days
3. Early Mornings

The mileage I'm working on with each run, both short and long.  I've been building up my strength and endurance in the last few weeks and the changes are starting to show.

The early mornings I'll push through and help with naps the weekend of the races.  Luckily I'm used to early mornings for work and also from morning practices still.  Unfortunately I suffer from the inability to sleep in.  Seriously, sleeping in for me is like 7:30AM, maybe 8:00 if I'm lucky.

So the consecutive days of running.  That's the only challenge I haven't really faced yet.  Well hadn't until this week.  Friday through Monday I made sure to get some sort of cardio in. 

The first two days were on the elliptical, one after a killer weight workout and the other just focused on the elliptical run.  On Sunday I hit the pavement and felt ok.  My knees weren't the happiest, but I got through the few miles I needed to before work and then made it through the rest of my day.  I was still feeling positive from my run by the end of the day, that I had decided to run again on Monday morning before work.  So I set my alarm and got out there for a slightly longer run.

As crazy as it sounds the last run, my 4th day, felt the best out of any of the other runs.  That has probably made me the most excited about what I had done.  The mileage was no where near what I'll need it to be for the actual challenge, but I haven't done that much running in that many consecutive days ever really.  It made me pumped for my training and my success with the Dopey Challenge.  Yes it's still two years away but I'm taking these minor wins because they'll add up to the overall win!

What I've decided to do now is for the rest of 2016 I am going to do a 4 day/4 run mini-challenge every other month.  In 2017 I'm looking at boosting it to every month.  It should make sure I'm as ready as I could ever be for the Dopey!

I Came In 3rd

No I didn't have a race this weekend and got some amazing super power to run a lot faster than I already do.  Instead my friends and I engaged in some friendly virtual competition through the Nike+ app.

Apparently when I wasn't running, a few of my friends started running and started to use the Nike+ app to make it a bit more social.  I connected with mostly everyone and quickly realized this was going to be bad for me because I'm decently competitive.

Now Nike+ allows you to see how far you've run by month and week compared to others in your social group.  So that made it competitive enough for me, but we recently decided to have a challenge.  The challenge was simple, and friendly enough... Run 29.9 miles in February.

Of course I wanted to get there first, but I was at a disadvantage as a few of my friends had 10k races this month and others were training for a half marathon next month.  I was ahead of those training for the 10k, but behind those training for the marathon.  Every time I thought I was catching up to one of the half marathon trainees, they took off again.

So those running the half marathon ended up reaching the 29.9 mile goal about a week before me.  It drove me insane, but also helped push me to get out there and run on some days I didn't want to.  It helped push me to my 6.2 mile marker yesterday.  I could have easily stopped at the even 6.0, but needed that extra bit to ensure my 3rd place finish.

Currently, I'm 3rd overall for the month and will probably finish third.  I'll keep trying to catch up to #2, but she is ahead of me in training and I have to remember to train smart rather than train to beat someone.

Race Schedule

When I decided to run the Dopey Challenge, I also realized this meant that I was going to need to sign up for some other races building up to the challenge.  The main reason is that I'll need a seed time for the Dopey.  I really don't want to be placed in the last corral just because I don't have a start time.  That's a little too close to the pace line than I need to be.  The easy part was deciding this years race, but the hard part was deciding next years races.

This year all I can sign up for now is the Wine and Dine Half Marathon.  It is a night race, which isn't my favorite, but doable.  All the other options were already full (these races seem to sell out in minutes nowadays) and were just too soon.  So I have until November now to get ready for this.  Still gives me some time to breathe and train at my own pace, but that also means anticipation is going to build for a lot longer.

2017 was the challenge, mainly because there are so many options.  I figured on the Wine and Dine Half again because it would be like my last practice race before the challenge.  I still wanted to do something earlier on in the year so I was debating between the half marathon during WDW Marathon weekend, Princess Half Marathon, and Star Wars Half Marathon.

I decided on doing the Glass Slipper challenge during the Princess Half Marathon next year.  It will be good for me to get some practice doing a back to back race and challenge since it includes a 10k and half marathon.  Plus, I have such history with the Princess Half Marathon.  I've run it 3 times now, and each run has left some sort of impact on me.  The first one was my first race at WDW, the second was with a close friend of mine, and the last time I ran on a healing, but still painful sprained ankle.  I just wonder what will happen during the next one...

There are a few 5ks I'll run throughout the year.  Mainly Run for Wildlife 5k at Busch Gardens in Tampa at the end of November, a run at Sea World Orlando in December, and a virtual 5k for Run3rd foundation which is going on right now.  I constantly keep my eye out for other fun runs, but so far none of the others have really caught my attention.

So my schedule as of right now is:

November 6th 2016- Wine and Dine Half Marathon

February 2017- Glass Slipper Challenge

November 2017- Wine and Dine Half Marathon

January 2018- Dopey Challenge