Those are great!!
Love these! My coworker is doing these races. She’ll get all four medals!
Only 3 more weekends until Princess! After back to back weekends with half marathons, I took a 2 week break from long distance. I ran a 5k & then was out of town. My break is over & this weekend I will probably run 8-9 & then 10-11 before scaling it back down to 7-8 the weekend before Princess. I’ve been doing short runs & OTF, so not totally slacking 
I’ll run the 10k for time, and probably stop for some characters during the 1/2. I was in B for W&D & marathon weekend, so I will do my usual run until the castle & then stop for my castle pic. After that I can usually get some characters with very short lines.
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I was listening to Runners Without Limits (is that the name of it @Shellott_hill - you turned me on to that one) and they were discussing runner strategies for managing the back to back distances. It was something I hadn’t really considered before when I was thinking of Dopey (and am for some future date) but it makes sense to me to choose which races to go for time, which to just look to complete, and which to even walk (which a lot of folks doing challenges seem to do for the 5K)
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The 10k is probably my favorite distance & it can be harder to find them, so I like running it as fast as I can! I usually still get some really good photopass pics just none with characters & I’m fine with that.
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I agree about 10K - long enough to be a challenge, but doesn’t devour your life for training
That is the name of it!
When doing challenge races like Dopey, it is all about energy management over the four days. A lot of people do walk the first race, keep the second race to a very slow pace and then start running at their normal paces during the half and the full.
For me it is all about getting your body used to running back-to-back-to-back-to-back days. I purposely build this into my training plan so that I run 4 days in a row for the full 18 weeks. It feels like pure hell for a while during training, but it pays-off during the actual challenge.
I have only run Dopey 3 times (1 virtual in 2021 and two in-person 2022 & 2023), but here is what I am learning as I go:
- I could go out at race-pace for all the races, but that would leave me destroyed by the time I get to the marathon. I would not be able to walk without pain to the start of the last race. That was part of the mistakes I made last year.
- I typically run the 5k at my Easy-A/Easy-B pace; depending on the characters and crowding.
- I run the 10k at around my Easy-A/Easy-B pace again.
- I run the half marathon at my Long Run pace. It is difficult to not try and run it at my half-marathon pace, but I constantly remind myself that we have a marathon to run the next day and we have not even reached the half point in miles yet.
- For the marathon, I run it based on feel. There is no further races to save for, so there is no need to hold back anymore.
This year was so much easier for me, I knew what to expect. I also saved myself during the 5 and 10k. The marathon was also run at a slower pace this year to stay with my DS and his first marathon.
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Tell me more what you mean by Easy A Easy B?
OK. When I was learning to run, I was told that you need to vary the speed of your runs. You shouldn’t do every training run at the same speed.
WARNING there will be math
To setup the different speeds, I was told to find a specific race distance and provide my best time at that distance over the previous year. I typically use my 5k. From that, you can project your marathon pace.
The formula used is T2 = T1 x (D2/D1)^r
T2 is the time you want to find,
T1 is your measured time (for me the 5k)
D2 is the distance you want t project your time for (let’s say marathon)
D1 is the distance you measured (5k or 3.11 miles)
r is the factor to estimate your times. for Rigel it is 1.06 for McMillan it is 1.07. I use Rigel.
Now that you have your marathon time, you can get what your average expected pace will be. That is done by dividing the time by the distance. I call this my M Tempo pace (Marathon Tempo).
Now that you have your M Tempo pace, you can calculate what all your training paces should be.
Easy A = 1.2 x M Tempo - - so about 20% slower than marathon pace
Easy B = 1.12 x M Tempo - - so about 12% slower than marathon pace
LR = 1.09 x M Tempo - - so about 9% slower than marathon pace
For other speeds, you just use the formula above again to get them.
My training typically has speed work (intervals) on Tuesday where I run at my 5k/10k/Half Marathon pace., Thursday I run at M Tempo, Friday at Easy A, Saturday at Easy B and Sunday at LR.
The distances increase as I progress through the training block. The nice thing is the LR (long run) never gets above 2.5 hours.
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Oh forget it then 
Correct. That I knew.
These formulae are new to me though 
I forget what my plans call it but basically we arrive at the same end point only mine might be a tad less precise but I do zero math so I’m okay with that 
Thanks for clarifying
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Anyone doing the princess yoga? I happen to be in Orlando for work that day so signed up and am SO excited… working on figuring out what to wear… I always see fun ideas for run disney events, but coming up pretty short for yoga ideas.
I’m not doing the yoga, I don’t get in until Friday. I’ve heard good reviews though. I’m not sure if people dress up for the yoga.
Getting ready for my last long run before Princess. Running 10-11 today. I ran 2 half’s last month so I think that should be fine for distance. Next Saturday I’ll scale back to 7-8. I can’t believe it’s only 2 weeks away!
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Congrats!
Enjoy the taper!
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Wahoo!
No better feeling than feeling ready!
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I got some news shoes a couple weeks ago & I love them! I’m not thrilled with the weather forecast for next weekend, but other than that I’m ready to go!
What are you running in?
I am a New Balance girl. I went Brooks once and they did not work for me. I loved Saucony once a long time ago but nothing of theirs has ever fit me as well since. My original, first Half Marathon running shoes were Nike. But if you go through my pile-o-shoes you’ll find a bajillion New Balance 860s in various stages of wear and purpose LOL