Oh, you thought I was talking about August?! No, this blog is about July!! The month started with all sorts of new challenges, including the addition of another element to my training plan. I am no longer just training for the New York City Marathon. Oh no! Training has officially begun for the Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World in January 2027!!
Most of my friends and family will know this, but the Dopey Challenge involves 4 races in 4 days covering a total of 48.6 miles through all 4 parks at Walt Disney World!! It starts with a 5K on Thursday, a 10K on Friday, a 1/2 Marathon on Saturday and culminates with a Full Marathon on Sunday!! Am I crazy to do this?! Some might think so, but it will be my third Dopey Challenge in 9 years. I will actually be in much better shape this time around too, which is definitely a plus. I knew I would double up on marathons after New York, but Dopey was not originally in my plans this year. Disney announced a Donald Duck theme for the entire weekend and I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to run 4 consecutive races dressed as a duck!! So Dopey, here I come!
I have a history running as Donald Duck!!
So how does one train for the Dopey Challenge? It’s pretty similar to marathon training, but with the addition of back to back long runs and the occasional simulation with 3 to 4 training runs on consecutive days. Normally the second of the back to back runs would be double the distance of the first and they would grow in distance together. So I might do 5 mile and 10 mile runs one weekend and then increase to 6 and 12 the following weekend. This year will be different though since I am already doing double digit long runs. Basically my New York training is way ahead of the Dopey training so the distances for these back to back runs will be out of sync for the first few months. After New York, I will align the mileage to what it should be at that point in a normal Dopey training schedule.
Now that you are utterly confused, let’s check out the actual training! All this means is that my first run in July was 4 miles, followed by 12 miles the next day. To mark the beginning of Dopey training, I decided to wear my RunDisney Brooks Ghost Max 3 shoes. They seemed to be appropriate now that I’m officially training to run through the castle in January! Other than the symbolism of the shoes, there was nothing special about this run.
Since this was a holiday weekend and I had a day off, I did the 4 miles before work on Thursday and did a rare long run on Friday. But this wouldn’t be just any long run. The New York City Marathon is known for its bridges and the rolling hills of Central Park. I had done some hill repeats to prepare for the elevation of the race, but it was time to step that up a notch with 12 miles of hill training. Yes! Hills in Florida! There was only one place for me to go and that was Clermont. I was actually really nervous about this run because I just didn’t know how I would feel. Historically, I walk every time I come to a hill and then run down the other side. That would defeat the purpose of hill training, so I was committed to maintaining my run/walk intervals regardless of the terrain.
Although I was excited to run in a location that is outside the norm for me, that actually added to the nerves prior to this run as well. I started at Waterfront Park on the shores of Lake Minneola at 4:59am! This is actually where I did my first race ever way back in 2015. At that time I had race support and of course safety in numbers! This time I was all alone and it was very, very early in the morning.
Over the last 11 years, I have run 4 other races here, but most of them stayed along the lake shore. One ventured off the lake onto the trail that I would be taking, but only for a couple miles. This time, I had 6 miles out and 6 miles back, most of which was in unfamiliar territory. I headed out on the South Lake Minneola trail without knowing when the hills would start, how high they would be, how much shade I would have or if there would be any opportunity for a bathroom stop or water refill. Turns out, there were absolutely no businesses, bathrooms or water fountains anywhere! The one trailhead along the route was closed for refurbishment. Don’t worry though. I made it through without any emergencies!
I had a headlight on my visor, but found that this first stretch of trail was surprisingly well lit. There was also a short tunnel going under the highway that was lined with artwork! This wasn’t graffiti art. It was definitely commissioned and just brought some joy and distraction to the beginning of my run. I don’t have photos of the art, but I did get it all on video.
Click the video link below to watch a recap of this run on Instagram. It starts with artwork on one side of the tunnel in the dark and finishes with the other side in the light of day! The middle part might spoil the rest of the blob, but watch it anyway!
Maybe I was lucky to be running in the dark, because I couldn’t really see the hills in front of me. The light started peaking up beyond the horizon just after mile 3 and at that point I could see a massive downhill stretch of the trail. Downhill sounds great, right? Well it was great on the way down, but I knew that meant I would have to run back up that hill at some point later! And those big hills just kept coming, one after another! Some were short and steep while others were long and steady, but I had committed to running the intervals as planned. My glutes and hamstrings needed those hills to prepare for New York!
Believe it or not those first two are before the last one! Two hours in and still not impacted by sun! Woohoo!! I was definitely enjoying the scenery like what you see below.
Despite the terrain, the run was going pretty well!! Then the sun finally came up behind me and I felt it. I also felt that massive hill that I looked down on at mile 3. Only this time I was at mile 9 and I had just run UP that huge hill!
Luckily the sun stayed behind me and I would soon get back into a very shaded part of the trail. At this point, I was finally starting to see more people. A few runners and cyclists and a lot of people out for their morning walks. I was starting to run low on energy so I used the walkers as targets to keep me moving. I saw two women ahead of me and set them as my target, but not in a creepy way! It took FOREVER to catch up and pass them! That’s how I knew I didn’t have much left in me. It probably took half a mile to catch up. I told them that once I finally did reach them and they turned out to be very sweet British ladies who gave me some much needed encouragement for the end of my run!
I passed the closed trailhead and then the mural lined tunnel and knew the end was near! I just had to keep moving. My pace definitely slowed a little those last two miles, but I made it! As tired as I was, I still took some time to get photos by the lake!
I felt very proud in that moment. It was a really hard run but I conquered those hills and didn’t skip a single interval in the entire 12 miles!! It almost felt like a new milestone in my running journey simply because I hadn’t ever done a training run or a race quite like it. According to Garmin, I had 330 feet in total elevation inclines. I don’t generally trust Garmin when it comes to elevation, so I’m going with Strava’s estimate of 476 feet! The New York City Marathon has 810 feet of elevation gain so I’m half way there even if I average the Garmin and Strava figures! Of course this was also less than half the distance.
You would think I would take the rest of that holiday weekend to get some R&R, but no! I did the opposite. I did rest for a while on Friday before Laura and I headed to Magic Kingdom for one last ride on the Carousel of Progress before it closed, followed by their 4th of July fireworks! You can read all about that by clicking here. Then we went to Epcot for more holiday activities and fireworks on Saturday! Click here for more on that days activities.
We did finally rest and enjoy some pool time on Sunday. The difficult run and busy weekend must have taken their toll because I ended up missing one of my midweek runs the next week. All I remember is that I wasn’t feeling well after doing three miles on Thursday. I think I ended up deciding that night that Friday morning wasn’t happening. It was a good call, because I felt so much better by Friday evening when I was preparing for another long run. No, super-long run!!
That’s right, I had my first super-long run scheduled for the next day. It’s a thing, at least in my book it is! I consider anything longer than a 1/2 marathon a super-long run. It takes another level of mental preparation to go out for such a long run that I feel it warrants its own category. As usual, I had a very early wake up call at 3:30am or thereabouts. Even then, I got a ‘late’ start at 5:10am! For the third week in a row, I drove north. It was back to the West Orange Trail. I had run the central part of the trail two weeks earlier. This time I started at the Killarney Station Trailhead where the trail begins in the town of Oakland. I know this section of the trail well and feel very comfortable there even in the dark. When I say dark, I mean pitch black! There was no moonlight coming off a lake, no street lights, nothing. Just my own headlight.
Despite being in a favorite running location, this super-long run didn’t get off to a good start. It didn’t end well either! I just was not in the mood in the beginning. My legs were tight and I wasn’t in the right mental headspace. I think as I warmed up and started feeling better physically, the mental side also moved into a better position. It was going well until about mile 4.5. I was actually in a happy place when I approached historic downtown Winter Garden.
The trail moves into the middle of Plant Street and is flanked by trees on both sides covered in Christmas lights. It’s beautiful and I was there early enough that the lights were still on! I decided to take a video running down Plant St and the moment I started running with my camera in hand, I got a huge cramp in my left cramp.
Here’s a short, wobbly, completely unedited video of that exact moment!
I immediately stopped to assess the cramp and avoid injury. I was terrified that all my training up to this point might be for nothing. Two years ago, I strained my hamstring last while marathon training which resulted in 3 months of physical therapy and an overhaul of my training plan. I massaged my calf briefly and it didn’t feel too severe. Just a cramp for sure. I should have just walked from that point, but I wanted that video! 😂 I took it easy, but ran down the block amongst the lighted trees and got my video! That video is part of the Instagram reel found later in this blog.
While I was okay for that short run, I needed to make a decision on how to proceed. I sat down by the fountain and gave my calf a deeper massage. I had three choices. I could turn around and walk back to my car nearly 5 miles away. I could call my wife and ask her to come pick me up. Or I could continue moving forward. Again, it was clearly just a cramp, not an injury. I decided to continue as planned while simply walking it off. I walked until mile 5 and chewed on some salt tabs. This is precisely what the salt is for, I think! The muscle loosened up so I resumed my running intervals but kept the strides very short and didn’t push speed while running or walking. My leg wasn’t bothering me at all after a mile so. This run finally got back on track, for the second time!
My pace improved after reaching my turn around point at mile 7. The next 4 miles were great! And then, at mile 11 this run took a turn for the worse yet again. I started getting heartburn which really slowed me down. I started skipping intervals but tried to keep running when I could. I really don’t know what caused the heartburn, but it really put me on the struggle bus for the last 3 miles. I finally reached the bridge crossing over the Florida Turnpike which meant that I had less than a mile to go. I’ve developed my own rule over the years that I must always run across that bridge at the end of my run no matter how tired I am. So I pulled out the camera and caught it on video!
Click the link below to watch a recap of this run on Instagram from calf cramp to running the bridge!
So that was pretty much it. Except that it actually got even worse for the last 3/4 of a mile! I love this trail but this stretch is always terrible. There is no shade and then I have to go up a small hill before running down into the trailhead. I had already decided I was going to stick to walking after the bridge, but I also ended up with a side stitch! I don’t really know how to describe a stitch, but I guess it’s like a cramp in your side. I tend to get them when I drink TOO MUCH water during a high intensity run. I must have been drinking more while I had the heartburn. Whatever it was, I hit that 14 mile mark and gladly stopped my watch!! I was so ready for this one to be done!
This one wasn’t pretty, but I survived to the end and got it done. The last three weeks will likely be remembered as the most difficult of this entire training cycle. The long and super-long runs will only get longer from here, but I will also have recovery weeks in between all of them. These three weeks started with an awesome 11 mile redemption run, followed by the 12 miles of hill training that was difficult yet gratifying. That was capped off by this grueling, super-long 14 miler that had more ups and downs than a Disney roller coaster! And I am still in disbelief that I did all of this in late June and July, a time of year when I normally feel completey defeated by 5 and 6 mile runs! I’m just happy I got through it!
This one was really long, but so were the runs! Thanks for sticking with me if you made it to the end. You may not be surprised to hear the next blog will focus heavily on how much I wanted to sleep! It was time for recovery indeed! Until then, please let me know what you thought of the blog by commenting below or on social media!
Leave a Reply