What were you drinking? ..and other responses to my plan to do Dopey 2018 (Comments Welcome)

Well September is turning out to be rubbish. I dropped a box on my foot the weekend before and thought it was fine. I went out and did my first planned run and afterward it got more painful and I couldn't put much any weight on it. There's nothing broken just a bit of inflammation and I feel like I have a weirdly flat foot.

Week 31- 18 weeks to go: 4th -10 Sept
Mon: Easy A ~3.4 miles
Tues: Bike 13 km

Weds: Easy 4
Fri LR 6

Sat: Away
Sun: Away
Total: Me - 3.4miles (~7 mile on bike)

Before starting the next week I took some advice from a physio as I didn't want to stop running for too long what with my goal race coming up. They are treating it as they would plantar fasciitis. The guidelines I was given to set myself pain threshold of 3 out of 10. If it is higher than that beforehand or if it gets worse as I run then stop immediately. They recommended running short bursts up an incline but walking down. I did two lots of hill work this week with lots of stretching and foot massages on my days off. Monday's hill was fairly gentle but Saturday's hill was the steepest I could find. I quite enjoyed the first couples of times but the last one was brutal.

Week 32- 17 weeks to go: 11-17th Sept
Mon: 5 minWU + 3 min gentle hill + 1 min stretching X 5 ~3.3 miles
Tues: Bike 10 km
Weds: 2mWU+3HMtempo+2CD-6
Fri easy 5

Sat: 5 min WU, - 4 X Hill + 5 min Rec
Sun: Away
Total: Me - 5.3miles (~6 mile on bike)

This week I've started back on my DB plan. On Monday I put wedges in my shoes just in case. I have also cut the miles back to ease back. It's only two weeks until my race so I its just trying to keep me ticking over until then. At the end of this week I'll think about my goal pace and if I need to be less ambitious but for now I'm still optimistic I can get a PB on the day.
 
Last week I decided to cut some miles off my plan as I was short the previous 2 weeks and I didn't want to aggravate my legs and foot as well as fight off the usual colds that are doing the rounds.

107 days to go: 18-24th Sept
Mon: 6 mile LR
Tues: Bike 10 km
Thurs: 1.5mWU+1.5 HMtempo+1.5CD
Fri: Bike 10 km
Sat: Jeffing with DD 3 miles
Sun: rest
Total: Me - 14 miles 2hrs 52 (~12 miles on bike)

To make up for this I fitted in 2 bike rides. I'm pretty rubbish on a bike but every little helps right? I got a new bike this year and I love it but it does have skinny tyres which tend to slip around on the wet autumn leaves. We ride up a longish reasonably steep cycle track, through some roads then off road again for a short down hill section through the trees, dodging the squirrels and dog walkers and onto another cycle path. Coming back the short bit through the trees becomes a thigh burning incline but then the long cycle path home is one big wheeeeeeeeeeee downhill!!!

Also last week, I downloaded the StravistiX add-in recommended by @DopeyBadger and it was quite interesting to see my stats though slightly depressing that I haven't progressed as much as I'd like to have at this stage. On the positive side StravistiX is predicting that I am fitter and fresher than I was going into the last half marathon race in March. I plotted the route out on Strava and I have worked out roughly where the drink stations and loos are enroute. I'm planning on taking in 4 gels and starting a bit earlier on with a caffeinated gel at about 10 miles to carry me to the end. I have cut out caffeine so this should have a bit more of a kick. I have made a pace plan based on my goal time of 2:15 so I know what time I should aim to be at each mile post. I've put my name down for tail runner the day before at the parkrun so my friend can't goad me into chasing her. The rest of the week I'll do a couple of gentle runs. I think I have covered as much as I can at this stage.
 
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On Sunday I achieved one of my objectives by improving my POT to 2hr 17m 1 sec. This was my second HM race and the third time I’ve run this distance. I think that’s why I made a big mistake regarding the pacing. I thought the 2hr 15 pacers would be tracking 10:20 per mile but they were actually running to the clock time and it took 2-3 minutes to go over the starting mat. I planned to keep the 2:15 pacers in my sight but this meant running too fast at the start and paying the price later.


TBH I feel a bit frustrated at the moment as I haven’t really had a consistent run of decent training. The title of this journal reflects the doubts from some of my friends and family who just don’t understand why I want to do this, but also my own doubts that I can make it. I am generally a positive person but my confidence has been on the wane for a while now and September was a bit of a struggle. Every time I update this journal where I’m crossing out the training sessions that I couldn’t do, I feel bad about it. I felt Sunday was proof that I need to be better trained but also I need to get my mojo back.


I’m on a rest week this week but I’ll give the journal a rest as well.
 
I was in a big funk a couple of weeks ago. They happen and sometimes just giving yourself a break is just the right ticket to get you back on track.

Congrats on your race on Sunday and improving your PoT even if it didn't go exactly as you wanted. A 2:17:01 is still a really good PoT and will get you a good corral placement! Doubts are normal, but you can do this. You just ran a HM in a great time. You have 3 months still until Dopey. Take your time. Give yourself a break and then start back up with renewed energy and a sense of Can-Do, because you CAN!!
 


Ok so I had about a week off running after the HM and I'm feeling better about it all now. I was chatting to a guy who is doing his second Dopey in 2018 and he said he had a bit of a downer at this stage in his training last time and he's feeling the same this time round as well. I spent the week decorating my top for the 5k, and I went swimming and cycling instead.

13 weeks to go: 2nd -8th October
Mon: Rest
Tues: 500m swim then hogged the jacuzzi
Weds: Rest
Thurs: Rest
Fri: 10k bike
Sat: 3 miles jeffing 75 sec:30sec
Sun: 6 miles LR pace 11:16/mile

Total: Me - 9 miles (~6 miles on bike)

The week after I had a work trip so I juggled again. During the meeting there was a fire drill which involved walking 8 flights of stairs in my work heels (which I never wear any other time) and then 8 flights of stairs back up. Plus romping through the airport, chasing taxis...well I think that kind of counts.

12 weeks to go: 9 -15th October

Mon: Rest
Tues: 3 miles easy
Weds: 3 miles easy
Thurs: Travelling
Fri: Travelling
Sat: 6 miles Easy
Sun: 5 miles LR pace 11:16/mile

Total: Me -17 miles

This week I'm on to do 24 miles and have done half already, only the weather has taken a turn for the worse and we have 40mph winds predicted for this weekend (thanks Brian).
 
CONGRATS on your HM time! That's an envious time, and like @ZellyB said, will hopefully mean good corral placement. I'm sorry to see that you went through a bit of a funk but it looks like you're making good progress this week. Hope you get a break in the clouds (both weather-wise and mentally/emotionally) soon!
 
@FredtheDuck and @ZellyB thank you for your support and your kind words. I am pretty happy with my HM time, I just wasn't happy how I got there as I felt so awful afterwards. I am feeling much more optimistic.

So another week done and I've got a good stint of running in. Saturday I went to my usual parkrun and it was pretty breezy though not as bad as the weather forecast had said and it was at least warm and dry. Worst bit was the final part of the course which is ~0.4 km uphill and happened to be right into the wind though I got up in about 3 mins. I've been running this course for about two years now and once upon a time I couldn't run up that particular hill at all.
Sunday I set out to do 6 miles but cut it short as I was just so cold in the wind and rain. This week I'll be better prepared as I've got all my running layers out.

11 weeks to go: 16th- 22nd October
Mon: Rest
Tues: 5 miles 1 WU + 3.5 HM tempo + 0.5CD
Weds: 3 miles jeffing 60:30 with DH
Thurs: 4 miles LR pace
Fri: Rest
Sat: 6 miles (5k parkrun HM tempo + ~3 miles LR)
Sun: 4 miles easy

Total: Me -22 miles

This weekend I'm going to start my second costume. I've got two Donald Ducks to do (for me and DD who's doing the half with me), a Minnie Mouse and of course a Dopey.
 


Crazy how quick things can change from being miserably hot to run to cold and miserable. We runners are just never satisfied are we? LOL I'm starting to get out my layers and hats and gloves as well.

Great work on your costumes. I still have no idea what I'm planning to wear for the races. :D
 
Crazy how quick things can change from being miserably hot to run to cold and miserable. We runners are just never satisfied are we? LOL I'm starting to get out my layers and hats and gloves as well.

Great work on your costumes. I still have no idea what I'm planning to wear for the races. :D

We've had a pretty glorious Autumn so far and it's quite warm today, well warm for us (about 15C ~59F) so I'm heading out before the rain sets in.

My costumes are going to be pretty basic. I need to look up how to make a Peter Pan collar the rest is just sticking or paintiing stuff on. I'm having flashbacks to my school days as I was so bad at needlecraft I took a whole term to make 3/4 of a cushion cover.

I'd be interested to know what you are thinking of wearing @ZellyB. You've got such a nice collection of shorts.
 
10 weeks to go: 23rd to 29th October
Mon: Rest
Tues: 5.1 miles jeffing 60:30 with DD
Weds: 2 WU + 4 HM tempo + 1CD (supposed to be Thurs but done Weds instead).
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Rest
Sat: 6 miles easy (5k parkrun pacing 40 mins + ~3 miles Easy (-should have been 4 miles)
Sun: 8 miles Easy (+ ~5 mile walk)

Total: Me -26.4 miles

Last week I managed 5 runs by squeezing in a 3 miler with DH, but this week, I decided to have a two day break between the tempo run and the weekend stint. Still, this week was the most mileage I have ever run in one week, and other than the tempo run I ran everything quite easy.

Wednesday session was the one I was worried about, hence the two day rest afterwards, and I must admit I was happy to get it over with. There is a wood with a 2.5k circular outer path and 1.5k inner path so I ran round one then the other again and again until it was over. I think I confused my dog who was walking with DH on the outer path as he couldn't figure out how I could go away in one direction but then appear in front of him.

Saturday was great. It's convenient for me to do the local parkrun on Saturday so I just added on 3 miles to run home afterwards. As they were short of volunteers I paced 40 minutes which felt wonderful and then easy home where my cooked breakfast was waiting for me.

Sunday I had to squeeze the 8 miler in as I had a lot to do that day but I was quite good and didn't run it too fast, which I am prone to do when I'm busy. It was such a warm day I went out in my shorts. Afterwards we jumped in the car to visit some friends, who wanted to take our dog out for a walk in the local woods. I thought a walk would be fine and it started off quite warm but as the sun went down it got quite cold. The clocks had gone back that evening so sundown was a hour earlier, only we were still in the woods and my friends didn't seem to know the way back. There were loads of paths but none seemed to go anywhere. After two hours of walking, using our phones for light, we finally made it out. I think we walked nearly 5 miles in the end. But I felt absolutely fine, in fact I think I felt better the next day than after my usual long runs, no stiffness nothing, just a bit tired. Anyway, we made up for it by getting a takeaway curry and my dog slept all the way home.

This upcoming week is the third week building up my mileage, with a bit of a step back the week after before building again. I've been tracking my runs on Stravistix and I can see the fitness line has been zigzagging upwards since 13th October, coinciding with my form hitting the optimal zone. I can't wait to see where I am after another productive week.

upload_2017-10-31_13-5-32.png
 
10 weeks to go: 23rd to 29th October
Mon: Rest
Tues: 5.1 miles jeffing 60:30 with DD
Weds: 2 WU + 4 HM tempo + 1CD (supposed to be Thurs but done Weds instead).
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Rest
Sat: 6 miles easy (5k parkrun pacing 40 mins + ~3 miles Easy (-should have been 4 miles)
Sun: 8 miles Easy (+ ~5 mile walk)

Total: Me -26.4 miles

Last week I managed 5 runs by squeezing in a 3 miler with DH, but this week, I decided to have a two day break between the tempo run and the weekend stint. Still, this week was the most mileage I have ever run in one week, and other than the tempo run I ran everything quite easy.

Wednesday session was the one I was worried about, hence the two day rest afterwards, and I must admit I was happy to get it over with. There is a wood with a 2.5k circular outer path and 1.5k inner path so I ran round one then the other again and again until it was over. I think I confused my dog who was walking with DH on the outer path as he couldn't figure out how I could go away in one direction but then appear in front of him.

Saturday was great. It's convenient for me to do the local parkrun on Saturday so I just added on 3 miles to run home afterwards. As they were short of volunteers I paced 40 minutes which felt wonderful and then easy home where my cooked breakfast was waiting for me.

Sunday I had to squeeze the 8 miler in as I had a lot to do that day but I was quite good and didn't run it too fast, which I am prone to do when I'm busy. It was such a warm day I went out in my shorts. Afterwards we jumped in the car to visit some friends, who wanted to take our dog out for a walk in the local woods. I thought a walk would be fine and it started off quite warm but as the sun went down it got quite cold. The clocks had gone back that evening so sundown was a hour earlier, only we were still in the woods and my friends didn't seem to know the way back. There were loads of paths but none seemed to go anywhere. After two hours of walking, using our phones for light, we finally made it out. I think we walked nearly 5 miles in the end. But I felt absolutely fine, in fact I think I felt better the next day than after my usual long runs, no stiffness nothing, just a bit tired. Anyway, we made up for it by getting a takeaway curry and my dog slept all the way home.

This upcoming week is the third week building up my mileage, with a bit of a step back the week after before building again. I've been tracking my runs on Stravistix and I can see the fitness line has been zigzagging upwards since 13th October, coinciding with my form hitting the optimal zone. I can't wait to see where I am after another productive week.

View attachment 280694

Looks like a great chart to me and right on target!
 
9 weeks to go: 30th October to 5th November
Mon: Rest
Tues: 5 miles Easy
Weds: 2 WU + 4 HM tempo + 1CD
Thurs: Rest
Fri: 3 miles easy
Sat: 7 miles easy (5k parkrun pacing 40 mins + ~4 miles Easy )
Sun: 10 miles @LR (Fuel)

Total: 32 miles!!!

This week was really hard but I'm chuffed I got it done. Weds session was the hardest but each lap seemed a bit easier than the last one. The ten miler was more of a mental thing as I had to talk myself into going out the door, then talk myself into 'just get to the cycle path......just up to the park..." and before I knew it I was halfway and had no choice but to finish it. I had one gel before I went out (cranberry, a bit blurghhh) and one halfway (orange) and sipped water a few times.

This week is a bit easier. Hoorah!
 
8 weeks to go: 6th -12th November
Mon: Rest
Tues: 4 miles Easy
Weds: 2 WU + 4 M tempo + 1CD -supposed to be blind
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Rest
Sat: 3 miles easy (5k parkrun)
Sun: 6 miles @LR (attempted to do it blind)

Total: ~20 miles

This week was a step back week so much easier. @DopeyBadger pointed out I was supposed to have switched to M tempo at this point for my mid-week run. I didn't run this blind as I haven't done this pace before so I tried the LR blind instead. A massive fail as I just ran most of it too quickly.

This week I'm juggling my training plan around as I have a local 10k race on Sunday as DD really wanted to do it. It'll be her first 10k race though I'm encouraging her not to race it just to get round. It is supposed to be flat though I'll believe that when I see it. We happend to live between the Ridgeway, Marlborough Downs and Cotswolds, so a properly flat route is hard to come by. My heart did little backflips when I saw the WDW routes described as pancake flat.

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I am doing a bit of fund raising for a friend's charity. Instead of asking people for donations I've started a sweepstake where people have to guess how long it'll take me to do 48.6 miles.
The guesses have ranged from "Well I can run 5k in 15 minutes so you should finish in 4 hours" ....to .....you will finish in "an ambulance". Ur, yeah thanks a lot.
But it did get me thinking that I should make a little plan @ZellyB/ @Chris-Mo style to work out where the water and toilet stops, and most importantly the margarita stalls are on the marathon course and when I should be flying by. I don't have any idea how long I'm actually going to take except it'll be in my own sweet time.
 
My heart did little backflips when I saw the WDW routes described as pancake flat.

Someone lied to you. Not necessarily hilly, but definitely not pancake flat. The 5k has no real hills, but the 10k, HM and M all have overpasses. In the grand scheme though, they are nearly flat with less than 100 ft elevation total.
 
Have you had good luck with your 630? I have really struggled with my 620, the first one I had completely died and I had to send it back to garmin.

Luckily I've not had any issues with my watch but I've had a few problems with the app on my iPhone. My husband had issues with his Garmin vivoactive HR and has had to get it replaced after 9 months.

Someone lied to you. Not necessarily hilly, but definitely not pancake flat.
I did take it with a little pinch of salt as the definition of flat seems to be quite loose! I've just looked up the course I'm running at the weekend and it isn't that flat either. Maybe it was the word 'pancake' that got me excited.
 
Late to join - but Dopey training is no joke - I’m so impressed with your hard work!

Also, I love that there is a place called Picklewick! It looks beautiful!
 

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