Goofy Traning

Disney Marathon Weekend is just fifteen weeks away now!! Its really here and its time to get busy, we're training for real. Really for real. And if you're running Goofy, then oh baby its time to get serious!

If you look on my Goofy training plan you'll see that we've started doing back-to-back weekend long runs. Its hard, I know. I did my first last weekend, and the first mile on Sunday was pretty rough. Mentally, I was all done after Saturday's long run, so on Sunday it was hard to make myself go.

I've done some reading on training for extra long distances (especially on pavement) and everything I've read says that you have to teach your body to "run tired." The bones and muscles have to get used to all that time on your feet and the only way to do it is to back-to-back runs. Here's part of an article I found from a coach in Arizona on training for Goofy:

Though your total mileage should remain similar to any marathon preparation, where you place your runs in the week needs to be tweaked. Build into your training “long weekends.” Run a long run on Saturday and come back with another one on Sunday. For example, run 18 on Saturday and run 12 on Sunday (or whatever other two consecutive days of the week you choose).

Do some double workout days. By running twice in a day you train your body to run while tired (essential for this event), mentally cope with short recovery and repeated effort (essential for this event), and simultaneously allow you to practice pre-run & recovery diets. Run 10 miles in the morning and 10 in the evening for instance. Try running the morning session faster than the second… and vice versa.

The entire article is here: http://coachjoeenglish.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/goofy-challenge-training-part-ii/ This guy has his races backwards, he says the full is on Sat, half on Sunday, but the advice is the same.