The Running Thread - 2018

[LSUlakes]

QOTD: Todays question is somewhat running related. For those of you who run a runDisney race, or races over the weekend, how do you plan your trips? What I mean by that is, do you plan on having park days before the race weekend, after, both, or only during the event weekend itself? When running multiple races do you spend time in the parks after each race or do you focus on recovery and preparing for the next race?

ATTQOTD: My sample size is small with my only race being the marathon in 2016. We started our trip in Friday and stopped in Gainesville, FL that night. Saturday we drive to the expo before checking in and then spent half a day at Hollywood Studious. We took it easy and the main reason we went to HS was the carb loading meal at Momma Melrose. I was in bed by 8:30 that night. Post race we hit the parks and had a post race dinner at Ohana to "celebrate". It was not a great race and I was kinda disappointed with my effort and result. We spent the next few days in the parks. I struggle with the idea of touring the parks prior to the race for fear of to much time on my feet.

 

[SheHulk]

Saw this in a new issue of the Cognitive Science journal, Trends in Cognitive Sciences:
"Prominent models in the cognitive sciences indicate that mental and physical effort is costly, and that we avoid it. Here, we suggest that this is only half of the story.
Humans and non-human animals alike tend to associate effort with reward and will sometimes select objects or activities precisely because they require effort (e.g., mountain climbing, ultra-marathons)."

Jeez, the ante has really been upped. Marathons aren't the example of a high-effort activity, it has to be an ultra-marathon

 

[SheHulk]

Oh, and ATTQOTD: I do my best to plan park days after the event. Never ran multiple races. The first two (Disney) marathons I ran, I overdid it in the parks in the days prior and my feet were trashed by the time I got to the starting line. I learned my lesson for sure.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

QOTD: Todays question is somewhat running related. For those of you who run a runDisney race, or races over the weekend, how do you plan your trips? What I mean by that is, do you plan on having park days before the race weekend, after, both, or only during the event weekend itself? When running multiple races do you spend time in the parks after each race or do you focus on recovery and preparing for the next race?

I'm going to answer this for WDW only as Disneyland is more of a vacation.

For WDW trips, we usually go for a long weekend/challenge (10K/Half Marathon) with the following layout:

Thursday:
11:00AM - Leave House
2:00PM - Arrive at EXPO for Bib Pick Up
3:30PM - Arrive at Hotel
5:00PM - Eat Dinner (Usually in Disney Springs but sometimes switch it up)

Friday:
Morning - Park Time
Lunch - In Park
Afternoon - Relax at Hotel
Dinner - around 5:00PM - Italian Food
Relax in Hotel Room and bed around 8PM/9PM

Saturday:
2:45AM - Wake Up
3:15AM - Head to Race
5:30AM - Race!

9:30AM - Park Time
12:00PM - Lunch
Afternoon - Relax at Hotel
5:00PM - Dinner (Protein Based)
8:00PM - Dinner

Sunday:
2:45AM - Wake Up
3:15AM - Head to Race
5:30AM - Race!
Finish Race & Clean Up
Lunch
Drive Home

Our Park Time isn't intense but we at least do our FP+

 

[MissLiss279]

Back in the saddle....

-Experimented with a Honey Stinger wafer during my training run on Monday. Couldn't tell a difference afterward, but it tasted fine and didn't bother me at all. What does everyone put in their belt for longer races? I need to try new things between now and April.

I like Gu Chews. I usually have used the Watermelon flavor, but have recently started using the Strawberry flavor as well, because it has caffeine. For the most part, I haven’t disliked any of the ‘chew’ type nutrition that I have tried, I just seemed to stick with the Gu Chews. I’ve also used peanut butter pretzels before for marathons, but I can get tired of those pretty quickly. Occasionally I will use a Gu gel (mocha, chocolate, or vanilla type flavors). My stomach doesn’t seem to be too picky.

 

[PCFriar80]

QOTD: Todays question is somewhat running related. For those of you who run a runDisney race, or races over the weekend, how do you plan your trips? What I mean by that is, do you plan on having park days before the race weekend, after, both, or only during the event weekend itself? When running multiple races do you spend time in the parks after each race or do you focus on recovery and preparing for the next race?

We make it in to a full fledged vacation for Disney Marathon weekend with the 10K and 1/2 marathon book-ended with park and pool time. Arrive on Wednesday [Expo day], get settled in and prep for our two races. Come Sunday, we spectate the full marathon from the BC and head to Epcot to do the same. Followed by 4 days of pool and park time leaving on the following Thursday.

 

[MissLiss279]

ATTQOTD: For the most part, if I had a choice, I would choose to tour the parks for a few days after the races. But since, I have done Dopey or the Dark Side Challenge + 5k, it’s just too many extra days off work to make that work. I do usually go to the parks after the races. I’m usually back in my room by 7ish. I try to make a point of not standing too long in lines. If a line is longer than 20-30 minutes, I won’t wait. Standing seems to be harder on my feet than walking around.

 

[apdebord]

ATTQOTD: Sunday will be my 7th runDisney event and this is the first time we are not having too much park time prior to race day. I personally have only done 1 challenge weekend, 2017 Wine and Dine, and we spent a lot of time in the parks. We arrived Tuesday and went straight to Epcot. We are not really go-go-go people in the parks, we take our time walking around and take breaks (like at La Cava!). On Friday before the 10K, we walked to DHS from Swan, then back to Epcot, then back to the Swan for bed and I think I was asleep by 8:30. After the 10K, we walked to Epcot for the Parisian Brunch event, walked around Epcot for a few hours using some Fast Passes and snacking at the booths, before going back to the Swan where I took a nap and then we had dinner at Il Mulino. Going to the parks keeps my mind occupied before a race, so I don't mind it at all.

For Princess, we will be landing around 8:30 tomorrow morning (yay!) and then going all day...expo, DHS, Epcot and hopefully Trader Sam's! Early morning on Saturday at AK, then probably hitting some spots at Disney Springs before going back to our room at Wilderness Lodge to get ready for dinner at Artist Point.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

QOTD: Todays question is somewhat running related. For those of you who run a runDisney race, or races over the weekend, how do you plan your trips? What I mean by that is, do you plan on having park days before the race weekend, after, both, or only during the event weekend itself? When running multiple races do you spend time in the parks after each race or do you focus on recovery and preparing for the next race?

I have also done 1 rD race (2017 Princess) and was really happy with our schedule. I hope to do something similar for Marathon Weekend, but unfortunately might have to cut a day off the end. We didn't hit park opening any of the days, but stayed for all of the night shows, which was a good balance.

Friday: Flew to MCO, arriving early evening. Went to Disney Springs.
Saturday: Expo 1st thing in the morning, then AK.
Sunday: Race, Epcot
Monday: MK
Tuesday: Slept in a bit, then DHS
Wednesday: DS in the morning, flew out at 1pm

 

[camaker]

QOTD: Todays question is somewhat running related. For those of you who run a runDisney race, or races over the weekend, how do you plan your trips? What I mean by that is, do you plan on having park days before the race weekend, after, both, or only during the event weekend itself? When running multiple races do you spend time in the parks after each race or do you focus on recovery and preparing for the next race?

I like to plan my WDW trips so that I show up a day or so before the Expo. I go into the parks as normal and plan to hit any fireworks shows that I've targeted for the trip the day of arrival or the day of the Expo. Once the races start, I will typically race, head back to the room for a shower and a quick nap and then go to the parks from lunch through dinner. After an early dinner I head back for "quiet time" and try to get to sleep early. The races don't really affect my time in the parks other than heading out a little early to go to bed for the next insanely early wake up call. The park time helps me recover more efficiently than laying around at a resort. I'll also generally fly home the Monday after the races, so all my park time is front-loaded.

 

[LSUlakes]

100 pages!

 

[PrincessV]

QOTD: Todays question is somewhat running related. For those of you who run a runDisney race, or races over the weekend, how do you plan your trips? What I mean by that is, do you plan on having park days before the race weekend, after, both, or only during the event weekend itself? When running multiple races do you spend time in the parks after each race or do you focus on recovery and preparing for the next race?

ATTQOTD: I think I'm kind of an exception in this area, as I live 100 miles from WDW and visit multiple times a year, so race weekends are first and foremost about the races, not vacation/park time. If I'm not feeling up to it, I'll skip the parks entirely on a race trip. But I usually do get a little park time between races - I'll pop into a park to do a couple rides and grab lunch. And I always go to a park the night after my last race of a weekend for dinner, rides, and fireworks.

 

[cburnett11]

ATTQOTD: I've done the marathon the last 3 years. I have not done Dopey, but that would probably change my strategy. Anyways, for my 1st and 3rd trip, we arrived on Friday... did Expo on Saturday... raced Sunday... and then had a full week to play down in WDW afterwards. I liked that a lot. However, I think the runner vibe would be higher the week before the race. By Wednesday (after the marathon) I just assume I'm one of the very few runners left down there. It's probably more fun/exciting (from a runner's perspective) getting down there earlier. But I'd probably end up in the parks too much and then just would crash.

On my 2nd marathon, we actually just went down there for ~4 days (Fri through maybe Tuesday morning) and did NO parks. It was actually very relaxing. We filled our time with expo, eating at random places, checking out hotels we hadn't seen before, Disney Springs, mini-golf, etc. It was actually really fun and we never entered a park.

 

[Nole95]

We usually do a combination of parks and races. This year DW and I did Dopey without the kids in tow.

We did three parks in one day after the 5K, which was fine. We did have a little nap in between park 2 and park 3, and we were still in bed by 9:30.
We did not do any other parks until after the marathon. However, we kept moving to keep the legs fresh, and that seemed to work out fine for us.

When I did Goofy back in 2015, the whole family was along for the trip. We did MK right after the half, and while I was tired, it did not seem to affect me much the next day when I had to run the full.

On the flip side, we did Dark Side in 2016 and did no parks. We told the kids ahead of time that we were staying at Beach Club, and they would be able to swim in that great pool every day we were there. Surprisingly they were fine with that, and we had a great little vacation.

 

[SarahDisney]

QOTD: Todays question is somewhat running related. For those of you who run a runDisney race, or races over the weekend, how do you plan your trips? What I mean by that is, do you plan on having park days before the race weekend, after, both, or only during the event weekend itself? When running multiple races do you spend time in the parks after each race or do you focus on recovery and preparing for the next race?

I only have a small sample size, but previously I've done races either at the very beginning or the middle.

100 pages!

So ... how does this compare to last year?

 

[TinkerBellLiz]

QOTD: Todays question is somewhat running related. For those of you who run a runDisney race, or races over the weekend, how do you plan your trips? What I mean by that is, do you plan on having park days before the race weekend, after, both, or only during the event weekend itself? When running multiple races do you spend time in the parks after each race or do you focus on recovery and preparing for the next race?

This will be our 3rd runDisney race and we’re doing all 3 this time. We arrive Wednesday and will hit the expo Thursday. After that, Park time will come Tuesday and after since we leave Friday. Bling > Parks! If we were not DVC owners, we might do things differently though.

 

[Miranda]

ATTQOTD: How do I plan? "Poorly" as my feet can attest I have only done 2 rD weekends. The DL one went better in terms of how I felt at race time, maybe because the parks are smaller, maybe just because the race was right when I got out of bed and I didn't have a chance to make poor life decisions and do half a park day on the same day as the race. For DL, I did 2 of 3 park days before, and the other one the same day as the race. For WDW, I did 2 before, 1 day of, and 2 after.

Tink 2015 - Arrive mid-afternoon Thursday and wandered around the hotel and DD. Friday, expo and park time across both parks. Saturday, arrived at rope drop, ate breakfast in DL at a place over near the Haunted Mansion and saw this line forming, so we went and got into it after we finished eating... turned out to be the grand reopening with the Hat Box Ghost, stayed at the park all day until we had dinner reservations at DD, then we relaxed with a long dinner that evening. I think we ended up watching the fireworks? Sunday was race day, then we did DCA that day and closed the park down even though I was exhausted, but I really wanted to see the World of Color show. Flew home midday Monday, so no Disney stuff, just breakfast at the hotel and off to the airport. So, we did 3 park days: 2 before and 1 day-of the race.

W&D 2015 - Arrive Wednesday late-afternoon and chilled out at the hotel. Thursday, expo, then parks. Friday, parks. Saturday, half a day of parks, then got ~1-2pm "lunch" that was a dinner sized meal, went back to the hotel to rest and relax, then had "dinner" that was a normal pre-race breakfast meal, and off to the craziness that was the lightning delayed last night time W&D. My feet were already killing me by the time the race started even though I did manage to finally find an aisle in the baseball stadium to sit down on the steps to wait out the delay. While I was disappointed the race was shortened, my feet were not. Then I stayed at Epcot until like 15 minutes before the after party was over... 2:45am? 3:45am? I can't remember if it ended at 3 or 4am. Anyway then I slept in and met my parents for lunch before they headed home... it was the first day of MVMCP that year, so I got a bracelet for that instead of using a day on my hopper and I bummed around until I could enter MK at 4:00 for that, and I was there right until midnight. Monday, I did just about a full park day, my flight home was really late and I didn't need to be on DME until like 4 or 5pm. So, for that one I did 5 park days (4 day hopper and 1 MVMCP bracelet)... 2 days before race day, 1 day of race day, and 2 days after.

 

[LSUlakes]

I only have a small sample size, but previously I've done races either at the very beginning or the middle.



So ... how does this compare to last year?

Last year we hit 100 pages on 2/16. A little behind last years pace at the moment.

 

[jennamfeo]

Hey y'all! Just FYI:

It's National Margarita Day!!

 

[JeffW]

ATTQOTD: Our family always does the 5k together during marathon weekend, so we have to arrive by Wed at the latest. Since marathon weekend is always right around when school starts (or, in the case of this year, the weekend after school starts), we usually can't hang around after race weekend to do the parks. So we end up going to the parks almost every race day, but usually are a bit leisurely in our touring and we'll head back to our resort right after dinner to relax and go to bed early