Last Saturday I successfully ran the 2010 Disney half marathon in 2:44:50. That morning we got up at 3am and made it to the busses at 3:30 to head to the starting line. A friend of mine from Kansas City called… he was just getting in from a late night out. I guess it was about 1:30 in the morning there, and while he was winding down we were gearing up. It’s definitely a strange feeling being up that early what it’s a time I more often see because I’m still up. So they herd us down to our corrals (fyi, the reason they call them corrals is because you really are being herded.. it’s probably the worst part about running a huge road race,) where we stood for over an hour FREEZING. I signed up for the Disney because I thought that Florida in January would be the best running weather, but boy was I wrong. As we stood there it began to sleet on our heads. So it was definitely in the 20’s and now freezing rain. Finally at about 5am they started letting the wheelchairs go.. then the first heat, second heat, then ours, shooting off fireworks for each. Remember folks.. the sun still hasn’t risen! When they let us go it was one of the happiest moments in my life. After a few minutes I could even feel my feet again which was comforting to know they were still there. My friend Courtney and I jogged a couple of miles together and we decided to stop for a bit of water. I’d say we walked about a tenth of a mile and picked it back up again. I paid little attention to the mile markers because I was having so much fun chatting with her, seeing the sights of the parks and the dedicated supporters on the sidelines. We ran through part of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and even right through Cinderella’s castle, which aside from getting to start, was the highlight. We would stop to walk at the drinking stations, and only walk about 3 to 5 minutes each time, probably once every mile and a half. Courtney and I crossed the finish line together with a time of 2:44:50. At no point did I ever feel tired.. maybe delirious towards mile 10, but I felt good. We paced ourselves quite well by keeping track with my watch.
To prepare for running 13.1 miles I did a lot of running on a treadmill. I chose to run indoors because I don’t live in the greatest area to do much long distance running safely. And not to mention the fact that I’m far more entertained by Snooki and The Situation from MTV’s the Jersey Shore than I am by other runners and oncoming traffic! I started in early October with Mon, Tues I doing my regular CATZ workout, Wednesday running about 3 miles and going to yoga for a good stretch, then Thurs CATZ, Sat morning CATZ, then Saturday afternoons a long run. That was a typical week for me, give or take the order of days. Basically I kept lifting every bit as much as I was before, because I love lifting. I would lift every day of my life if that meant I never had to do cardio. So that tells you I’m definitely not a runner! So The first “long run” I did was on a Saturday, I did 6 miles. If you have ever run a road race you know there’s going to be a water station approximately every mile to mile and a half, so I would run a mile, then if I felt like continuing I’d continue on to mile two, then walk a tenth of a mile. I would allow myself to stop at the top of any mile I felt necessary. The next Saturday I did seven miles. I essentially increased my distance by a mile every weekend. There were exceptions though. Some weekends I wasn’t in town.. some weekends I had too much going on, but I knew this ahead of time, which is why I began training in October. And I only ran between 5.0 and 5.5 mph for the most part. And rarely increased the incline because I knew, being in Florida, there wouldn’t be any hills.
Here’s my basic training schedule, excluding all of the mid-week short runs:
Sat, Oct. 10 – run 6 miles
Sat, Oct. 17 – run 7 miles
Sat, Oct. 24 – run 7 miles
Sat, Oct. 31 – run 8 miles
Sat, Nov. 7 – OFF
Sat, Nov. 14 – run 8 miles
Sat, Nov. 21 – OFF
Sat, Nov. 28 – run 9 miles
Sat, Dec 5 – OFF
Sat, Dec 10 – run 9 miles
Sat, Dec 19 – OFF
Sat, Dec 26 – run 10 miles
Sat, Jan 2 – run 10 miles
So as you can see I didn’t run every single weekend, but I did start my training several months in advance. If you check out running websites such as Jeff Galloway’s, http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/half_marathon.html you can learn about what the professional’s suggest. I followed his loosely, but I do other work outs aside from strictly running. Another website I would recommend checking out, especially if you run outdoors is www.mapmyrun.com. You can log all your runs, and find out about others’ that people nearby you have logged, and trails as well. You could join a running club in your neighborhood, and sign up for other road races to use to challenge yourself to go further.
One thing that I think was super important was making sure I stretched A LOT. I have really tight hamstrings and hip flexors as it is, so I would make sure to get a good stretch in after all of my runs, and sometimes get up early in the morning just to stretch out. I do lots of yoga a couple times a week which helps too. And make sure to eat before and after! I found that having a small snack about an hour before my run was the best way to go about it. There were definitely a couple times where I was quite aware that I had eaten too much before hopping on that treadmill! That’s not something you want to happen before a road race. And I’m a huge proponent of Redbull. I never got on the treadmill before having one! Ever. I mean, if you can run with wings why wouldn’t you?? And eat after! A time or two I didn’t eat after and tried to go out with my friends and ended up having to leave early. Sometimes running that far made me feel yucky and I wouldn’t want to eat, but it’s totally necessary. More than likely though you will just crave insane amounts of carbs when you start running a lot so try to get those through fruits and vegetables.
So that’s how I trained and accomplished 13.1 miles. And I bet very few people out there can say they ran the Disney Half Marathon in the snow!!
Kyra Williams
The Get In Shape Girl
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