This is part three of my six-part series on the 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. Part three covers training for the race (or half-marathons in general), as well as planning for the event (including official schedule for race week/end). Part 1 (Introduction) can be found HERE. Part 2 (History of the Race & Registration Process) can be found HERE. Part 4 (Course Preview with Virtual Run) can be found HERE. Part 5 (Travel, Event Expo, & Pre-Race) will be posted on Race Weekend. Part 6 (Race Day & Post-Race) will be posted after Race Weekend. The event's official website can be found HERE. The event's official Disney Event Guide can be found HERE. Now that the registration process is all said and done, the real fun begins. Now it's time to plan out the trip, and the training, which will be starting about the time this is posted. I will only be covering half-marathon training during the training section, so if you're doing any other distances, feel free to skip ahead to the Planning section below. I've already covered half-marathon training in the past, in my post for the Heartland 39.3 half-marathon series, but that was fairly specific to the 3-halves-in-5-weeks racing that I would be doing. This time, I'll cover training specific to just a single half-marathon -- and a relatively flat one at that. For those tackling their first-ever half, be it Walt Disney World or otherwise, this will be a great resource. Though my half-marathon training falls in to the intermediate-to-advanced category, I will be taking a fairly conservative approach to this one -- I want to be able to slow down and enjoy the sights and scenery this time, so my preparation won't need to be as intense. Not to say this won't be a great resource for intermediate runners, too... I will do my best to cover the whole gamut. After a few notes on training, we'll get in to planning out the event. Specifically, we'll look at all of the resources that are provided to runners by runDisney: information about the Health & Fitness Expo, and how to get there, parking information that is provided, course maps (although, that will be covered more in-detail during my Course Preview post later coming up next), what to pack (as opposed to 'what to wear on race day,' which may change mere hours before start line -- so now's the time to think about it rather than later), etc etc etc. As far as hotel and travel accommodations go, if you've traveled before, you should know how to plan that out. My only recommendation is to do it earlier than normal -- this will be a busy week for Orlando. I'll cover what I (and my family) did for accommodations during the Travel section, but won't likely cover in-detail how we obtained them (no need). And with that... Training for the WDW Half-Marathon "Know thy route." I don't want to give a full-out course preview (here, at least), but in order to adequately train for any targeted race, you need to know at least the basics of the route (particularly elevation changes). Knowing the elevation profile helps in two respects: the first is obvious -- just knowing what to expect. The second the the focus of this post: training. Specifically, knowing what type of training will best-prepare you for the route. So, for example, for my hometown heroes conquering the KC Half-Marathon this year, some hill training is vital. The KC Marathon includes several inclines, some long and shallow, and some short and very steep. The Walt-Disney Half? Not so much. In fact, elevation change is so minimal, Google Earth doesn't quite pick up on it (although I'm sure some of it has to do with limited ability to survey the lands as well). Training Peaks gives some idea...with not even 550ft of total climbing over the entire route, that means about 40 feet of change per mile -- not exactly a mountain expedition (despite the nearby Expedition Everest). Training the Kansas City area, regardless of where it is, should be perfectly adequate. In fact, given the January race date, even some treadmill work would be fine (although, to note, setting a treadmill to 0.5 on the incline gives a more accurate simulation of a outdoor run on your joints and muscles). That said, the distance (or time) should be the only target. Training by Time versus Training by Distance While we're on the subject, I've read numerous articles talking about the benefits of training by distance rather than time, or time rather than distance. They both seem to warrant their own merits. As far as I've been able to tell in my own training, hitting your distance is great for newbies, as speed doesn't quite fluctuate as much, and the simple fact that you've hit 13 miles already (or nearly so) is a great confidence boost. Training by time, however, gives you a better simulation for your legs on how long you'll actually be on your feet. So, if you're targeting, say, a sub-2-hour half-marathon, during training target that 2-hour mark. If you go over 13 miles, righteous. If you don't hit 13, then obviously additional training is needed (or the natural boost in speed you normally get on race day will take effect). Either way, you've gotten your legs trained to run for 2 continuous hours. For me, I like the confidence boost that comes with 13 miles. Then, after reaching 13 (usually at 1:50:00 or so), I focus on extending my time out further and further, rather than distance. But at least initially, training by distance has always been my preferred method. It's psychological, for sure! Picking a Training Plan If you prefer to train by your own accord, kudos. But when it comes to endurance events -- knowing all of the possible things that could go wrong in the span of 2 hours (and beyond) -- I prefer to have everything planned out to a T. And step one is laying out a training plan (we'll get to everything else later). Picking the best training plan is highly dependent upon your current level of fitness, as well as your expertise/past experience running distance events. When I first started running distance, I liked Hal Higdon's plans (link HERE). Through Hal Higdon's massive amounts of time as a trainer (and athlete himself), he has put together five separate plans, dependent upon your level of expertise. There are two Novice plans -- Novice 1 and Novice 2 -- for individuals that can already run at least 3 miles, three to four times a week (Novice 1), or for individuals with similar or slightly better fitness that have run a half-marathon before (Novice 2). The Intermediate Plan is purposed for individuals that run 40-60 minutes (note how the focus changes from distance to time) at least 5 days a week. The Advanced Plan is meant for runners that run up to six times a week of nearing 60 minutes each time, and have advanced skills in performing speedwork -- the focus here in competing for top spots at the targeted half-marathon race. Higdon even has a half-marathon Walker's Plan (even walking 13.1 miles is no small feat, people). After last year's KC Half (my first), this March's Rock 'n' Roll Dallas Half (my 1:48 PR), and this year's Heartland 39.3 Series (three half-marathons in five weeks), I have put my eggs in the Intermediate basket (although, I will say, since the high-speed focus -- including multi-sport -- of this summer, my distance fitness has suffered tremendously). By the time Disney comes around, I will also have competed in this year's KC Half and possibly even the Longview Half in November. Beyond the Intermediate plan, I also keep up on cycling and swimming fitness, so I've had to incorporate those in to my plan as well. That said, I've had to do a fair bit of revision (which is NOT recommended for newbie marathoners). Most the plans, particularly the Intermediate, are 12-week. The first week in that plan includes this year's KC Half, so that also revises it quite a bit. Also, on days with two recoveries planned, I like to swim at the very least for one of them. Like I said before, there's a good chance the Longview Half-Marathon will be included right smack-dab in the middle of this plan, so if you're interested to catch up on my progress, check out that race report. Planning Air Travel I have never done a RunDisney even before, so I came in to this knowing nothing about whether or not accommodations would be difficult. That said, as soon as ticket sales were available for flights to Orlando, I snatched them up through Southwest Airlines. It will be interesting to see the ticket prices climb (if they do). ALSO, as an added note, if you're searching for airfare, and find yourself frequenting booking sites, BEFORE YOU PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS, clear your Internet browser's cookies and history. Air travel (and hotel) websites like to access your history (via cookies) and see if you've been "in the market" for tickets. If they see you've been frequenting their site, they'll boost prices so they'll be a bit higher by the time you purchase them (the thought is that the traveler will see the small increase in price the next time s/he is on the site -- let's say Travelocity -- and say to themselves "oh my goodness prices are already going up, I should book them now!). Clearing your cookies will bring those prices back down to (near-) baseline. Hotel Accommodations & Car Rental This can get sticky for a destination run. In planning for my early-season Rock 'n' Roll Dallas half-marathon, I noticed hotel rates through the roof downtown (the location of the start line and expo). Further away, by about 40 minutes, in the sleeper town of Arlington, no so much. It was still off-season for the local Six Flags, so hotels near the park were below $100 for suite-style rooms. If you're willing to drive the extra distance, off-site stays are the way to go. In towns with more than one airport (like Dallas), often even rental car companies will drive down prices at the airports with the lower traffic. Luckily, in Arlington, that was the case for the R'n'R Dallas HM. So the price of extra travel was hugely offset by the cheaper car rental and cheaper hotel rates. For Disney, you have loads of on-site hotel accommodations, however. For an instance, we'd considered (traveling with my family) staying on the grounds to save on car rental and further travel. With enough research, we were able to find an off-site hotel that greatly offset savings. And with two-bedroom-plus-kitchen amenities, which would be perfect for day-before carb-loading (frozen pizza, anyone?). Whichever you decide, keep in mind the costs as well as the benefits of all available options. A little extra research (and Internet savvy, as it were) will pay off in dividends. Packing for a Destination Race In a day of baggage fees, it's easy to want to pack conservatively. But the added cost of a destination race doesn't end at registration check-out; packing conservatively would be extremely unwise. During my trip to Dallas in mid- to late-March, the part of the Midwest (or "South" for my Texas friends) that always sees the earliest signs of spring, the expectation was dead-set: we would be running in 50-degree weather at start time, with temperatures nearing 60 by race finish. Worse-case, we would see mid-40's in the morning. Then come race week, and the damned "Polar Vortex" hits again, sweeping sub-freezing temperatures and snow as far south as Southern Oklahoma -- not far from our Downtown Dallas route. Temperature at the start line? 39 and a strong, chilly breeze. And by the looks of many scantily-clad runners in the start chute (and the extra layers of Mylar Space Blanket snatched up in the finish chute by both runners and spectators), few were expecting such conditions. However, upon packing, I considered multiple scenarios. The resulting suitcase included four tech running shirts, three cotton t-shirts, thermal arm sleeves, thermal leg sleeves, thermal tights, a tech-fabric and fleece-lined base layer, two long-sleeve tech running shirts, a sweatband, a running skull cap, a neck warmer, running gloves, two wind-proof jackets and one rain slick. Not to mention two pair of running shoes. I know it's Florida, the Land of Sunshine. But I've been to Florida during a cold snap, much to the conditions witnessed in Dallas -- Floridian chills can be unrelenting. And January? And a likely-still-active Vortex? Better come prepared. For me, I will likely be sporting the same get-up as Dallas. Overkill? Maybe. But come January 10th and Florida is suffering their first snow in three years (I was there during their last snow), I will be laughing. Also, bring an extra (empty) bag or backpack if you're like me and hoard free goodies at race expos. :-P And about checked baggage... Another note: all said running gear, albeit somewhat unattractive, can be lived in if Murphy's Law takes hold. So don't leave said gear and $250 worth of running shoes in the oh-so-trusting hands of the TSA and your chosen carrier's baggage handlers -- this should be your carry-on. If you roll all of your clothing, you can pack a lot in a tiny space. Add a few small toiletries (not to exceed 3oz!!!), and you should be golden even if your checked bag gets lost -- for both the race AND for every-day clothes. Race Events Planning As of early October, the following reflects information posted on the RunDisney website about all of the events leading up to and including the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. runDisney Health & Fitness Expo -- Location: ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex Times...
For those that are merely spectating (and to many who are even participating), the Health & Fitness Expo (including packet pick-up) promises to be of the more exciting events of the race week(end). According to reports (aka reports from friends), this is one of the best expos in the country. And the most exciting part (aside from the free goodies, and Disney character meet-and-greets, and etc etc etc)? Specifically, the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, which takes place every January, acts as runDisney's flagship event -- so if they are any new features, it will be likely to happen here. Including, my favorite: The shoes! New Balance first introduced special-edition runDisney shoes only a couple years ago, and has found enormous success as a result. Though retailing for a shade over $100 (in 2014), the kicks are rare, and result in ebay sales topping out over twice the MSRP. For this Disney Marathon Weekend, early press has gotten a sneak peak at the 2015 editions, although they have yet to be officially released. In the past, it has been just short of the WDW Marathon Weekend that runDisney/New Balance officially press-releases their 2015 runDisney lineup. The first time they're available to the public? The Health & Fitness Expo.
New for 2014 in to the 2015 runDisney calendar year is the New Balance Virtual Queue. Just short of any given runDisney event weekent, a "pre-order" of sorts is available through the Queue to athletes only (sorry spectators). In all reality, though, it's more akin to a reservation. You sign up through the Queue, you arrive at the Health & Fitness Expo with your Queue details, and you're guaranteed shoes while non-reservers (i.e. spectators) are left in wait. The date for the 2015 WDW Marathon Weekend's shoe queue has yet to be released. If interested, be sure to sign up for email alerts so you know when it is likely to happen: usually the queue fills up within hours of opening (at the time I am writing this, the queue is open for the 2014 Tower of Terror 10-Miler Health & Fitness Expo for the 2014 editions, and it has been open since 6am -- it is just about full). If you plan on taking advantage of this wonderful resource, read the website in-detail well before sign-up. There's a few peccadilloes worth noting. Other Lead-Up Events to Race Weekend (via runDisney official website) -- Taken straight from the official website, the following are events leading up to the various races offered on race weekend... FAMILY REUNION BREAKFAST: Dates & Times:
PASTA IN THE PARK PARTY: Location: Epcot® Park Dates & Times:
Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Races (up-to-date via runDisney official website) -- RUNDISNEY KIDS' RACES: Start/Finish Location: New Balance Track & Field Complex Dates & Times:
MICKEY MILE: Start/Finish Location: New Balance Track & Field Complex Dates & Times:
WALT DISNEY WORLD® 5K presented by CIGNA®: Start/Finish Location: Epcot® Park Date & Time: Thursday, January 8, 2015, 6:15am local time WALT DISNEY WORLD® 10K presented by CIGNA®: Start/Finish Location: Epcot® Park Date & Time: Friday, January 9, 2015, 5:30am local time WALT DISNEY WORLD® HALF-MARATHON presented by CIGNA®: Start Location: Epcot Center Dr., off Northeast corner of Epcot® parking lot Finish Location: Epcot® Center, East parking lot Date & Time: Saturday, January 10, 2015, 5:30am local time WALT DISNEY WORLD® MARATHON presented by CIGNA®: Start Location: Epcot Center Dr., off Northeast corner of Epcot® parking lot Finish Location: Epcot® Center, East parking lot Date & Time: Saturday, January 11, 2015, 5:30am local time Phew! That's all I got for now. Next up, in about a month or month and a half, we'll take a close-ish look at the course, including Virtual Run. Expect that beginning-of or mid-November. Until then, keep R/B/S-ing. -tds ~~__o _-/<,_ @/ @
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This is part two of my six-part series on the 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. Part two covers the history behind the race series, as well as step-by-step instructions how to register (for the 2015 event).
The event's official website can be found HERE. The event's official Disney Event Guide can be found HERE. Welcome back! Now I'll walk through some background on the event's history, followed by the registration process point-by-point (which often feels like a daunting process). Onward! Background on the Walt Disney World Marathon Surprising enough, other than results and records, the history of the Walt Disney Marathon is few and far between. The WDW Marathon's first running was in 1994 with just short of only 7,000 runners. Over the next two decades, the Marathon Weekend would actually struggle to meet registration quotas, forcing Disney Parks to reconsider. In 2012, Disney offered free admission to the parks on the Monday following the event for participants of any of the events of Marathon Weekend, which did help boost sales. 2013 marked the 20th running of the WDW Marathon, and, despite the incentive being removed, saw its largest registration year in the Marathon's history. Though official numbers for 2014 have not been released yet (that I know of), given the quickness with which registration filled up, another record year seems almost likely. Due to the rise in popularity of marathons and half-marathons, registration across the US have spiked in the last few years. Not surprisingly, to match the rising demand, runDisney now hosts 9 event weekends at their two US parks. All races have kids-specific races if the offered 5k's may be too much for the little tykes. At the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, runDisney hosts the following, as of 2014 (and 2015):
Finally, the focus of this race report series, the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. For the WDW Marathon Weekend, eight running events are offered...
Again, this is the oldest of runDisney events, and one of the largest. The Health & Fitness Expo itself is a large draw for many, and given the nice beginning-of-year placement, is often great opportunity for health and fitness companies to roll out new products for the new year (I will be eyeing New Balance's runDisney Special Edition Shoes -- more on that during the Planning and Expo posts). That's it for the background. Let's get in to the actual race (or at least, let's register for the damn thing). For those that will be registering for the up-coming Tinker Bell and Princess HM Weekends, this should provide a great cheat-sheet on the registration process, as runDisney uses all the same portals for registration. Registering for the Walt Disney World Marathon Registration for any runDisney event is a popular demand, so spots fill up very fast. Sometimes, spots for the more popular events will fill up within minutes (seriously!), so make sure you are online as they roll it out. There are also some finicky website things that are important to note going in, so be sure to read on. For the 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, scheduled for January 7th through January 11th, registration was set to be open on April 22nd, 2014, at 11:00am Central Time. I made sure to set an alert on my Google Calendar with a link directly to the Marathon Weekend home page. To get to the specific event, all runDisney events are centralized around their runDisney website at rundisney.com. From there you can use the "Events" tab at the top of the page to find the specific event you are interested in. Be it the Disneyland Prices Half-Marathon, or Disney World's new Start Wars Marathon. I, obiouvsly, opted for their oldest-running Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. I would run the half-marathon. Once you arrive at the WDW Marathon Weekend page, you get a nice little ticker right at the top, including how full each of the offered events are at the present moment. Clicking the "Registration" tab will take you to a list of each of the events (and combination of events) offered, with hyperlinks highlighting those that are still open to registration (aka not sold out). Now...here's the tricky part. Registration opened up promptly at 11:00am CENTRAL TIME on April 22nd, 2014, for the 2015 running. These are very popular events, so you can imagine that right at 11:00am, site traffic skyrockets. Clicking on an event may not work the first one or two (or twelve) times. I recommend clicking on the event, and if (and when) it displays an error message, just keep clicking Ctrl-R (to refresh the page) until you get through. Do not assume waiting for site traffic to slow will help! By the time site traffic clears, your chosen event may already be sold out (yes, they sell out that quickly). After about 10-or-so refreshes, I finally got through to the registration portal, run by popular registration management website Active.com. I clicked in the "Register Now" button, Again, you may hit site traffic here. But don't worry -- once you finally get on the pages where you enter your name and registration deets, you shouldn't hit any more brick walls. After signing in with my Active.com profile, it's time to select my event -- for me, the half-marathon. Any events that are sold out will be noted here. Then you got your "we're not responsible if you die" agreement. Also known as the participant waiver. Then, having signed in to Active.com already with my user credentials, most of my personal information (name, address, etc etc) is already filled out for me. If you sign in as a guest or are creating a new profile, presumably all of this will be empty for you (at least, I hope). After your personal info, you'll have a few additional quiz items to attend to, the most notable being previous half-marathon history. In order to set up corral assignment, you must provide an anticipated finishing time, along with info on a previous half-marathon finish (or a marathon, if you chose that event), including the name of the race, the official distance, the city and state, the date, and the finish time. If you've never done a similar-distance event before, just enter N/A and move on. Likely, you'll be assigned to the last few corrals. Then you got your common quick questions, such as t-shirt size, and you're ready to pay. Once finished, you should receive an Active.com email within 24 to 48 hours (I think it took about 8 hours for me). If you don't a confirmation email within two days, email the event organizer using the runDisney home page's information...there may be a problem. Additionally, you may receive two emails that look similar, but in fact are not: One is your transaction confirmation, the other is registration confirmation.
And that's it! Print off the confirmation and bring it to the packet pick-up and expo. Electronic copies work, too, but you can never trust that you'll be able to pull it up on-the-spot. But all of that stuffs will be covered in my Packet Pick-Up and Marathon Expo post on race weekend. That's all she (or I) wrote for now. Keep posted for Part III next, including info about training & planning. That will likely go up in a few months (late October-ish) once my training gets underway. Keep R/B/S-ing. ~~__o _-/<,_ @/ @ This is part one of my six-part series on the 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. Part one is an introduction to the series.
Part 2 (Background of the Race & Registration Process) can be found HERE. Part 3 (Training & Planning for the Event) can be found HERE. Part 4 (Course Preview with Virtual Run) will be posted mid-October to beginning of November. Part 5 (Travel, Event Expo, & Pre-Race) will be posted on Race Weekend. Part 6 (Race Day & Post-Race) will be posted after Race Weekend. The event's official website can be found HERE. It was after only the first race of the Heartland 39.3 half-marathon series that I, along with my sister and brother, decided to finally take seriously what we'd been wishfully toying with for a couple of years now: to run the Walt Disney World Half-Marathon. Growing up, as a family, we'd frequented Walt Disney world nearly every year. Regardless if experiencing it as young children or (relatively) fully-grown adults, Disney World has always been The Happiest Place on Earth to us, and despite our almost-annual visits, experiencing it over again and again always brought a renewed and shared sense of adventure and imagination. As odd as it would seem, Disney World would almost become an unofficial second home to us, always greeting again the familiar sights, sounds and smells upon touchdown in Orlando, and looking back with homesick nostalgia upon wheels up. For 2015, it would have been nearly three years since we'd been back. So what a better way to re-experience our second home by running through it. Over just the last few years our family has rallied around its members' newly-formed passions for all things sports (be it as a spectator or participant). Combining one family interest with another only seemed natural. Plus: what a cool way to experience Disney World! In researching for detailed info about the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend (and one of the many things that triggered me to start blogging about racing), I was surprised at the scant amount of first-hand experiences with the race. Some were about the expo, most were about the race itself. In the coming months through to the end of race weekend (and beyond), I will be covering -- in immense detail -- one of the top-ten most popular marathon events in the world. Because of the detail, and the breadth of the event itself, blogging about the WDW [Half-]Marathon will have to come in several smart parts, likely using the following format...
With that, look for Part II: History of the Race & the Registration Process. By the time you're finished reading this, Part II should be finished and posted. And, of course, thank you for reading. Keep R/B/S-ing. -tds ~~__o _-/<,_ @/ @ |
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