Anyone run the Goofy Challenge at Disney? Advice?

11 weeks to Disney and the Goofy Challenge. I'm doing the 5K on Friday-1/2 on Saturday and full on Sunday. Its Disney so I am thinking its going to be flat-fun-and crowded. Not looking for a personal best-just "start-enjoy-and finish" before the cut off time, which is generous I think. That being said;

I have a marathon training schedule I am following-novice level-but there is nothing really out there for the Goofy Challenge type of run.....

Any thoughts? advice? I'm thinking I have to work on endurance if anything.....

Alright, here we go!  First of all hello. 

I ran the goofy last year after running the marathon the year before.  I completed it last year with three long runs of 18 miles.  It was a bad training cycle but I had some time issues.

The course is definitely flat except for the overpasses which are bigger than you would think.  Mile 19 during the full is tough.  The time limit for the half is 3:30 and the full is 7 hours.  That is just over 16 minute miles which equates to about 3.7 MPH. 

Most of the people on my running board (a disney running board) run it to finish and simply enjoy the characters and take pictures along the way.  It is crowded for the first 5 miles or so but thins out a bit after that.  Although there is always someone within 10 feet of you and more than likely there are 7 people within that distance.  Main Street is very crowded.

For training, I would do a long run like normal but when I get to the point, that I have to skip a week with the long run, I will do back to back semi long runs to simulate the Goofy.  For example, if I have to do 18 miles this week, then next week I will do a 7 and a 12 back to back.  The following week I will do another long run.

one week  LR 18
Next         7 and 12 back to back
Following   LR 20
Next         8 and 13 back to back and so on.

This way you are not killing yourself with back to back killer runs.

Here is the biggest advice I can give you and you probably already know.

ICE BATH!!  After the half take an ice bath.  I usually start with luke warm water and have my team add ice to it until it stops melting.  Then I stay in for as long as I can stand it which seems to be about 20 minutes total.  That will be a hugh help for the marathon the following day.  I took one after the full also to help in the parks on Monday.  I also went to Magic Kingdom after the half and would definitely not recommend that. 

I have my marathon reports and my goofy report linked in my signature line.  They are not bad.

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=109
That link is my DIS WISH board.  it is a Disney running site

http://www.disneyrunning.com/
This is another one I frequent and the title is self explanitory.

I love answering disney running questions so ask away!

Thank you Scott. I did not know about the ice bath-thank you AND I would have hit the parks on Sat after the 1/2 so thank you for that!!

Race starts at 7am-what time did you show up? I plan on getting my stuff the days before.

Did you stay on the grounds at a resort? I imagine the buses will run then...

I'm doing the 5K just for fun. They really give you alot of time to complete. Is the EXPO cool where you pick up your packets?

Lastly---how was the weather, I'm thinking for the 1/2 and full I will wear throw away sweats until start time then throw them away. Any advice?

Oh-and they say no headphones? Isn't it boring without headphones or is the entertainment enough?

The races start (not sure about the 5K) at 6am.  The buses run starting about 3am from the resorts.  They say that the last bus leaves at 4am for Epcot but they really run them for a while.  The first year I got on the 3:15 bus and there were about 5 of us on it.  This year I waited until about 3:50 and the line was through the building.  They had about 6 buses waiting to pick up up so the wait wasn't that long.   After they drop you off there is a walk of about 1/2 to 3/4 mile to the staging area.  You stay there until about 5am when they start encouraging everyone to go to the start.  That is where you have to leave family and friends.  The start is about a mile from the staging area.  You have to get there early but then wait around a while.  The electric feeling at the start makes up for the wait.

I always stay on grounds for the races.  I just like to leave all the logistics to Disney.  They are masters of moving hoards of people.  I let them do what they do best. 

The EXPO is pretty cool.   There is plenty to buy if you so choose and there are always tons of speakers.  I have never seen one but I have bought my share of, "been there, done that" stuff.  Get there early to get the nice shirts and hats.  You will follow the pack to pick up your race packet.  When you enter the milk house bear to the left and follow it around.  It takes you to the packet area.  You will be mailed a packet that tells you your number.  You get in the appropriate line for the Goofy using the Marathon #.  After you can go pick up your shirts.  They make you walk through the EXPO down stairs to do it.  There are buses that run from the resorts to the sports complex and back so that is easy.

The weather the two years I have run has been oppressively hot.  I would add 2 minutes per mile to your goal if the forcast is the same.  It was also very humid for all three races I ran there.  It is something you certainly can't train for in the Northeast in November and December.  I like your just finish and have fun goal.  There is too much going on to try to fly past it all.  I also walk through most of the parks to take it all in.  It is hard because that is where it is easy to go hard.  I didn't need sweats at all.  Just my running gear was enough for the day.  They do have hundreds of garbage cans at the ready though.

They don't enforce the headphone rule.  I brought mine the first year but didn't use them much.  Last year, I brought them on vacation but didn't bring them to the race.  They may come in handy from mile 18 on though.  It gets tough there for many people.  I use the other people for entertainment and if I am not doing that, I just keep thinking how miserable I am and what an idiot I am for signing up.  That passes the time.  Keep em comming.

Hey Scott

Thanks for all the fantastic information. Are you running it this year?

I will have to look for the times of when you can pick up packets. I plan on going down on Wed, picking up packets on Thursday and just enjoying everything Disney.

How are the rest/beverage aid stations equipped? Anything bad for use RNY people?

http://adisneyworldsports.disney.go.com/media/dwws_v0220/en_ US/pdf/08MarathonCourseMap.pdf

That link is the full marathon course.  You can see all the stops there.  There are 20 or so.

Disney's beverage contract is with coke.  They own Dasani and Powerade which are the two beverages given out on the course.  I have no problem with either beverage but you may want to try them out ahead of time to make sure.  There are a few kinds of water that I can't handle including Poland Spring so it is something worth looking into. 

There are also a few aid stations that have bananas.  Again, if you have not tried these in training, I would be wary of trying them in the race.  Other stations have Gu and one has crunch bars.  There is only one or two Gu stations and one candy station.  Those are both near the end of the races.

The half course has 9 water stops and one food stop.  I cant remember what the food was there.

Most of my info is about the full simply because once you are trained to run a full, the half is nothing except a speed bump to get to the full. 

Just make sure that you don't anything in the race that you didn't do in training.